The Lucky Farmgirl

Chapter 1618 - Capítulo 1618: 1593: A Willful Day Off (Happy Birthday to Fellow Reader "Hua Xu Can Meng Shang Liu Nian")

Capítulo 1618: Chapter 1593: A Willful Day Off (Happy Birthday to Fellow Reader “Hua Xu Can Meng Shang Liu Nian”)

Manbao opened her lunchbox, took out her dishes and arranged them, then picked up chopsticks and stared at Bai Shan, Bai Erlang, and others, saying after a while, “I was wondering why your faces are all so red; turns out it’s the sun. You’re done for; you’ll definitely be even darker tomorrow.”

Bai Shan felt he couldn’t swallow his food, and asked, “Can’t you comfort us a little?”

“Who’s going to comfort me,” Manbao said, “I’ve been impeached too. You guys are better off, twenty-nine of you were impeached, and counting the Crown Prince, that’s thirty. The main focus is on the Crown Prince taking the hit for you. I’ve only one, and I still have to write my own rebuttal.”

Upon hearing this, Bai Shan immediately looked up and asked, “You’ve been impeached too? Were you punished?”

“No, just got scolded a bit. Director Xiao said I just need to sincerely admit my mistake on the report, humph, we’re officials, who hasn’t been late before? They can’t really do anything to me.”

Bai Shan and the others: …

The Chongwen Pavilion students eating together in the dining hall suddenly felt miserable.

Feng Zongping brought his bowl from next door and sat with them, “Alright, don’t feel bad. Zhou Man is not like us; she’s an officer. Although she’s linked with the Crown Prince, the greater responsibility lies with the court. Unlike us, who are companions to the Crown Prince, doing well is fine, but we don’t get any praise, just safety; do poorly, and we’d ruin the heir’s reputation, which carries weight.”

Manbao picked up a piece of meat and asked, “Would you be willing to take on this risk?”

Feng Zongping thought for a while and said, “Since I’m in, leaving in disgrace would just make me a coward.”

“That’s right,” Zhao Liulang also brought over his bowl and said, “I’ll find my cousin, the Crown Prince, and let him know our hard work, and then get my father to scold those who impeached us back. I don’t believe it; they’ve been officials for so long and never been late or left early.”

Yin Huo silently ate his meal beside him. This matter had little to do with him; his father wouldn’t get involved in these faction disputes, even if it slightly touched them.

But others clearly didn’t think so. Just one afternoon, several people appeared beside Yin Huo, saying guiding words, either trying to win him over or sow discord between him and the Eastern Palace…

Regardless of whether these people targeted the Crown Prince or because his father blocked someone’s path, or the interests in his father’s hands, Yin Huo said nothing, sometimes even feigned dizziness, so those people dared not be too blatant.

Bai Shan witnessed the whole scene and couldn’t help telling Bai Erlang, “I prepared myself before entering the palace, but the past two months in have been calm, every day was about studying, much like at the National Academy, so I relaxed. Now I realize, it’s actually quite different.”

Bai Erlang wasn’t as perceptive, so he had a rather carefree attitude, “Who cares, they can’t really do anything to us anyway, maybe just scold us or punish us a bit, at most sunbathe, but with Libationer Kong around, we don’t even have to do that.”

As for copying texts, Bai Erlang, who had done it since childhood, didn’t take the punishment too seriously.

Bai Shan realized it was true; if the sky fell, there was still someone taller to shoulder it. Above them, there was the Crown Prince and Libationer Kong.

Sure enough, without waiting for the next day, by afternoon, the Crown Prince mentioned it when he went to Daming Palace to deliver reviewed reports to his father and the Department of State Affairs, saying he remembered everyone’s hard work from the first half of the month and specially relaxed their time.

Libationer Kong was also present, stating that although it was the Crown Prince’s permission, as students, they were indeed lax in their studies, so he had already punished them.

The two pulled and tugged, taking the responsibility and penalties, leaving some people speechless.

The Emperor smiled and nodded, “I know, wasn’t it just a few kids being a little late to the palace? It’s not even that late, I heard they arrived precisely on time. It’s just that Chongwen Pavilion is too far from the palace gate, causing the delay.”

A censor was about to speak when the Emperor said, “As long as they don’t delay their study and work, it’s alright. Don’t some of you dear ministers also have left the imperial city and duty stations when dealing with household affairs?”

Those with opinions immediately fell silent.

“Disrupting everyone’s work process over such a minor matter isn’t worth it,” the Emperor complained with a smile, “Today I wanted to ask Zhou Man some questions when she came to Daming Palace, but she directly didn’t come over because she was busy writing her rebuttal, so the Crown Princess and Prince Gong’s health checks weren’t attended to.”

Someone then said, “As you can see, Zhou Man is slick and hasn’t even done her main duty properly.”

The Crown Prince snorted and said, “She’s not a god with three heads and six arms. If you stubborn officials hadn’t nitpicked, would she have delayed affairs at Daming Palace here?”

This stirred a hornet’s nest, and some ministers with opinions were poised to speak when Wei Zhi, who had been silent all along, suddenly said, “Your Highness’s words are off; it’s within officials’ duty to correct the errors of others. Of course, Zhou Man going to the Censorate to counter is also within her duty. Limited manpower makes it understandable that she can’t do everything. Fortunately, the inquiries by the Crown Princess and Prince Gong were only routine checks. Whether these violated any rules or not, just ask the Imperial Hospital.”

Thus, those ready to speak were silenced again.

Over their side, the Imperial Hospital naturally said it was not violating any rules. Although it has the duty to conduct routine checks for royal family members, it doesn’t have to be daily, right?

Normally, the Emperor would be more frequent, basically every other day. The Empress, due to poor health, is also every other day, while the Empress Dowager, being older and in worse health, has Imperial doctors sent daily.

As for others’ routine checks, they are supposed to be once every ten days. Zhou Man’s daily visits to Daming Palace for the Crown Princess were due to the Crown Prince’s orders, directed at Zhou Man, not the Imperial Hospital, so it wasn’t violating any rules;

As for visiting Prince Gong, that’s more about Zhou Man being the main physician. If she says there’s an issue, there is; if not, then no issue. Of course, whenever she feels like visiting, she visits.

As long as Prince Gong doesn’t have an incident, it’s alright.

In case something does happen, then they’d check the pulse records, following the rules accordingly.

The Censorate asked if Zhou Man violated any rules, but Director Xiao wasn’t foolish enough to drag the Imperial Hospital into such disputes, hence he simply replied that Zhou Man’s actions currently complied with Imperial Hospital rules.

By evening, Manbao and a few others were holding a big plate of watermelon, eating it as fruits post-dinner on the pavilion, while all day the ministers handling state affairs were just dispersing from Daming Palace.

Lord Tang walked slowly, and Wei Zhi walked beside him asking, “What is your Censorate trying to do this time?”

Lord Tang replied leisurely, “Who knows? It’s not my Censorate, it’s the Emperor’s Censorate, and also the court’s Censorate.”

So fighting over interests is normal. If Lord Tang managed everything, he’d be exhausted to death, probably not just tired to death, but also potentially doubted by the Emperor or killed by the ministers.

Wei Zhi also shook his head, saying, “It’s like Prince Xiang wielding his sword, but his aim is Mr. Pei.”

Lord Tang nodded slightly, said something secretly about some people’s dislike for the Crown Prince’s stability, wanting the realm to have a different heir.

However, Prince Gong had no hope, so who knows who these people are backing this time?

Lord Tang sighed, “The clash between nobility and royal power is as fierce as any struggle for the throne.”

Wei Zhi stopped talking.