The Lucky Farmgirl

Chapter 1717 - 1692: Implications

Manbao looked sympathetically at the Crown Prince, who furrowed his brows and glanced down at her, asking, "So why did you submit the memorial?"

"I submitted to impeach Wang Ji and others."

The Crown Prince raised his eyebrows slightly, looked Zhou Man over, and asked, "Arguing with the Censorate?"

Manbao said seriously, "Your Highness, how can it be an argument? I’m doing this to make the court, Imperial Hospital, and nation better."

The Crown Prince nodded perfunctorily, "Indeed, good impeachment. But if you can’t win the argument, don’t cry."

"Am I that type of person?" Manbao said with ambition, "As long as I’m reasonable, I won’t lose."

The Crown Prince curled his lips, thinking she was too naive. In this world, especially in court, winning or losing was never about reason.

The Crown Prince glanced at her and then sped up his pace, passing Zhou Man and heading to the backyard where he lived.

Eunuch Wu hurried to catch up, and Manbao, trailing behind, caught him and whispered, "What does His Highness mean?"

Eunuch Wu murmured, "He means you can play on your own."

After saying that, he immediately freed himself from Zhou Man’s grip and jogged to catch up with the Crown Prince, trailing three steps behind.

Manbao scratched her head and couldn’t help but mutter, "I was already planning to play on my own, you’re the one who called me."

She shrugged, turned, and went to Chongwen Pavilion.

When she arrived at Chongwen Pavilion, Bai Shan and the others were just finishing their lessons.

Manbao thought of something, immediately jogged to find Mr. Zhuang.

Mr. Zhuang was gathering his copied manuscripts to go home. Seeing Manbao rush in, he smiled and asked, "Why are you running?"

Manbao said, "Sir, please tell my sister-in-law that I want to eat lamb bamboo shoot noodles tomorrow morning."

Mr. Zhuang asked, "Aren’t you supposed to have breakfast before leaving the palace tomorrow morning?"

"I can eat a little less and save my appetite for the noodles at home."

Mr. Zhuang raised his hand to tap her head and agreed.

At this time, Mr. Zhuang didn’t know that Manbao had submitted a memorial and argued with people, so he responded with a smile. It must be said that most of the court officials, including the Censorate, were still unaware.

The memorials were submitted to the Imperial Secretariat late, and everyone was preparing to leave. Some unimportant memorials were piled up there, selected by those on duty, and then decided whether to send them to the Central Secretariat and the Emperor for review.

Zhou Man, a fifth-rank editor, impeaching Wang Ji and others wasn’t a top priority, so her memorial was left with others in the backlog.

It was only because Wei Zhi, who was on night duty, got bored and had people categorize these memorials to send the important ones to the palace for the Emperor to review the next day.

That’s right, most officials, especially grassroots ones, could have time off, but upper-level ones had rotation duty regulations.

The Emperor didn’t have time off either; he could skip morning court if officials were on leave, and have fewer memorials, but he still had to work every day.

Zhou Man’s memorial was also sorted out, and Wei Zhi happened to be reviewing recent impeachment memorials.

Impeachment memorials have always been critical to overseeing the official behavior, from these memorials you could tell which official went to a brothel to get drunk; or which official or family member committed something corrupt or illegal...

Wei Zhi always believed that the integrity of governance could be seen in whether impeachment memorials could be submitted freely.

The day speech officials dared not speak was when governance had decayed substantially. Although there were cases in the Censorate where officials impeached for personal gain, he still didn’t advocate forbidding the Emperor from them.

Because people seek benefits and avoid harm, once speech officials are punished without evidence, it greatly impacts open communication channels.

He flipped through several memorials, most of which he placed in the right, meaning they didn’t require the Emperor’s attention, only submission to the Central Secretariat; only one was in the left, needing the Emperor’s direct view.

He casually picked up a memorial, opening it, seeing the dense words gave him a headache, though they were neatly written, but so many words...

How many times have he said it, even for an impeachment, be concise, avoid excess talk, those in the Censorate just don’t get it... huh?

Wei Zhi became alert, sitting up slightly, returning to read from the first line...

Wei Zhi spent quite some time finishing the memorial, thought for a while, and placed it on the left.

Imperial Secretariat’s selected memorials were sent to the Emperor’s desk early the next morning.

However, the Emperor wasn’t in the mood to be diligent that morning, so after breakfast, he spent half the day playing in the Imperial Garden with his daughters and sons, relaxing until he finally went to review the never-ending memorials.

Seeing Zhou Man’s memorial, the Emperor couldn’t help but happily slap his desk, laughing aloud at it, telling Gu Zhong, "This child is not bad, her scolding is brilliant, how did I not know she had this talent?"

Gu Zhong smiled while pouring tea for the Emperor, casually asking, "Which little official are you referring to, Your Majesty?"

"It’s Zhou Man, yesterday Wang Ji submitted a memorial to impeach the Crown Prince and the Imperial Hospital, today she submits one against Wang Ji," the Emperor shook his head smiling, "Just not sure if she does this to vent for the Crown Prince or to stand for the Imperial Hospital."

The Emperor hadn’t finished reading it, barely halfway through, he laughed while sipping tea, continuing to read, gradually losing his smile, making Gu Zhong stand apprehensively without daring to express.

The Emperor tapped the desk, after a while, smiling dryly said, "Turns out I underestimated her, send this memorial to Libationer Kong’s estate, considering she wrote it as a fifth-rank editor of Chongwen Pavilion, Libationer Kong is the head, it’s his responsibility."

Gu Zhong didn’t know what was written in the memorial, nor dared to peek, bowing to take the memorial into a box, instructing his apprentice to send it out of the palace.

Libationer Kong seldom had time off, at home enjoying a drink with friends, leisurely playing chess.

Receiving the palace-sent memorial, he curiously unfolded it.

County Duke Yu, playing chess with him, noticing his prolonged silence, lifted his eyes to look at him, asking, "What’s the matter?"

Libationer Kong stroked his beard, smiling contentedly, "Nothing, just an official submitted a memorial impeaching some officials."

"What big issue did they commit for His Majesty to send the memorial specifically for you to view?"

Libationer Kong chuckled, placing the memorial back in the box, carelessly saying, "Not a big deal, County Duke, it’s my turn now, isn’t it?"

County Duke Yu didn’t press further, responded with a smile, and after finishing the chess game, left for home.

After County Duke Yu left, Libationer Kong reopened the box to glance at the memorial, then turned to his study, telling a servant, "Invite State Duke Zhao and Minister Guo over."

State Duke Zhao was the Emperor’s uncle, who always had good relations with the Crown Prince, and Minister Guo even more so, as he was the head of the Office of Palace Affairs.