The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 223 - 198, Destiny encounter, discussing heroes over wine with childhood friends

When the Young Master was arrested, on the Cloud Water Tower in the Capital, an entire floor was reserved, leaving only a lonely table occupied.

"Prime Minister Li, the situation at the Hanlin Academy is mostly settled now," said Chen Zhengru wearing a Grand Scholar robe and dressed as a Confucian, smiling.

Sitting opposite him was none other than the current Prime Minister, former "Old Master," and leader of the "Li Party," the most powerful subordinate next to the Empress, Li Yanfu.

Due to his old age, Li Yanfu appeared somewhat listless sitting in his square chair, but his downturned eyes concealed a sharpness:

"Indeed, very good."

Li Yanfu spoke slowly:

"The court is in turmoil now, Dong Xuan stubbornly pursues policies known as golden but are actually harmful to the people. The scholars of the realm, in their passionate prime, should rightly speak out for justice. If the young scholars of the Hanlin Academy could submit a joint memorandum, surely Your Majesty could see the pros and cons clearly, unswayed by Dong Xuan’s deceptions."

In recent days, following his release from prison, Chen Zhengru hadn’t been idle, but had tirelessly used the Hanlin Academy as a breakthrough point.

Gathering scholars from scholarly families, young officials discussed politics.

This stirred public opinion.

The Hanlin Academy was originally under Grandmaster Dong’s jurisdiction, but firstly, although the Grandmaster held the title of scholar, his control over the Hanlin Academy had slackened due to his lack of energy.

Secondly, more crucially,

In these times, those who were educated were mostly from scholarly families, who naturally banded together to discuss politics for the sake of their own interests.

Li Yanfu hinted to Chen Zhengru to mobilize this force, attempting to shake the stalemate in the court.

Using external pressure to break the balance.

The Empress had come to power "unjustly"; if the scholars of the land raised their voices, she would inevitably need to take their concerns into account—thus, the west wind would prevail over the east wind.

The debate over the new policies would also see outcomes.

This was the decisive move Li Yanfu had prepared.

On the Imperial Faction’s side, they were still contemplating how to sway another third of the court’s power.

Li Yanfu was ready to strike back.

"Prime Minister Li speaks wisely, then I shall proceed according to the plan..."

Chen Zhengru showed a triumphant expression, knowing that if he succeeded this time, not only would his status increase within the Li Party, but he would also gain the friendship of the country’s scholarly community.

Originally, he had yet to decide to act, but after offending the Empress due to the matter with Zhao Douan, Chen Zhengru resolved to do it.

"Thud, thud, thud..."

At that moment, footsteps suddenly neared from the stairway entrance, it was two people.

The two conversing secretly fell silent and looked over.

The leader was none other than Li Yanfu’s personal guard who had stayed downstairs, and following him was, unexpectedly, the escaped bodyguard of Li Yinglong.

The former respectfully said:

"My lord, the son’s bodyguard has come with urgent news."

Li Yanfu frowned.

Beside him, Chen Zhengru stood up and said:

"If the Prime Minister has family matters, I shall take my leave first."

Li Yanfu hesitated but did not stop him.

After Chen Zhengru left, he spoke in a relaxed tone:

"What did Ying Long send you for?"

The bodyguard who had come upstairs looked unusually troubled and anxious. After hesitating to speak several times, he finally said:

"Prime Minister Li, there’s bad news. The young master fell into a trap and was captured by people from the Imperial Court!"

"What?" Li Yanfu was startled, then said sternly, "Explain clearly!"

The bodyguard hurriedly said:

"This afternoon, Xu Hanlin, a disciple of Chen Zhengru, came to the Ministry of Industry looking for the young master, claiming that Scholar Chen had urgent matters to discuss and invited the young master. The young master, suspecting nothing, was escorted by me. Upon arriving at a tavern, as soon as the young master went upstairs, Imperial Court officers emerged from hiding, surrounded the inn, and blocked the front and back, raiding the building under the pretext of searching for rebels..."

"I tried to rescue the young master and used Qinggong to reach the upstairs, but was targeted by the Jinyi Captain... They came out in full force, and to avoid a mishap, I had to escape to report..."

Li Yanfu listened quietly, his relaxed posture gradually tensing:

"A student of Chen Zhengru invited him?"

A glint of cold light flashed in the old fox’s eyes, followed by confusion.

Had Chen Zhengru turned against him?

No... The thought barely arose before he dismissed it.

So, it was "Xu Hanlin" using a false pretext... Imperial Court officers...

Seemingly guessing the Prime Minister’s thoughts, the bodyguard hurriedly said:

"Yes. Xu Hanlin must have been scheming, probably bought off by the Imperial Court. The officers I saw were all subordinates of Lihua Hall, with no other Jinyi involved."

The implication was clear: Zhao Douan was undoubtedly the trap-setter.

"Do you know what trap Ying Long fell into? Was he falsely accused of conspiring with rebels?" Li Yanfu asked.

His first thought was that Zhao Douan knew of some rebel in the building and deliberately lured Li Yinglong there.

But on second thought, he found the plan too crude, and not a problem at all.

The bodyguard shook his head:

"I didn’t get a chance to go inside, so I don’t know, but... I faintly heard a woman’s scream as the young master escaped."

A woman? Given this answer, even someone as calculating as Li Yanfu was taken aback.

He couldn’t figure it out for a moment.

He did not get up immediately; instead, he closed his eyes and calmed his mind, reviewing the recent political situation in the court.

Then, the veteran powerholder opened his eyes and said calmly,

"Get the carriage ready..."

He had intended to say, to the Imperial Court.

But downstairs, hurried footsteps sounded again, and a personal aide ascended the stairs and said while bowing with clasped hands,

"Sir, downstairs... Zhao Douan from the Imperial Decree Department requests to see you."

...

...

DONG...DONG...DONG...

When Zhao Douan, clad in exquisite attire, following the address given by Xu Hanlin, arrived at the Cloud Water Pavilion and proceeded step by step to the empty third floor.

The view suddenly opened up, the distant waters vast and endless. Outside the railings surrounding the building, the sky was dark and unclear, with layers of clouds like ink splashed on white paper, spreading out in clusters.

It appeared like a giant ink wash painting.

The air was slightly cold today, especially with the lake breeze blowing, which dispelled any dryness completely.

Inside the pavilion, Li Yanfu sat next to a table.

The elderly man, whose temples were as bristly as a hedgehog and eyebrows like purple stone, had disheveled stubble that spread along his cheeks, intersecting with his temples, his expression tranquil.

He wore a bright red official robe, with the black cap already removed, set aside.

The vivid red robe, contrasting with the ink wash background in black and white, complemented each other, like a dot of cinnabar.

In front of Li Yanfu, on the table, there were utensils for brewing alcohol. The cloudy wine quietly simmered in a jade pot, the flame licking the bottom of the pot, and beside it were utensils for drinking wine.

At that moment, Li Yanfu, focused in demeanor, pinched a small spoon, took several green plums from a porcelain bowl next to him, threw them into the wine pot, and did not even glance at him.

"Prime Minister Li has quite the elegant interest,"

Zhao Douan smiled, not minding the other’s casual attitude towards hosting, stepped forward directly, pulled out a chair opposite, and sat down carelessly.

His gaze swept over the wine utensils left by Chen Zhengru, casually moved them aside, and took new ones:

"I thought, given the Prime Minister’s busy official duties, he would be difficult to meet, yet unexpectedly I have the chance to share a table with Prime Minister Li, tsk, these plums are past their prime season, aren’t they? And yet still in such condition?"

Li Yanfu slowly placed the jade spoon back into the bowl and upon seeing him pick up a green plum, he said slowly,

"Transported by water to the Capital from the south, preserved along the way in ice urns, these few plums are indeed quite valuable. Fortunately, just adding some to the wine as a flavor enhancer is still affordable."

Zhao Douan smiled and said,

"In the Great Yu, who doesn’t know that Prime Minister Li’s family is grand and wealthy, the Li family of the Huai River, also a prominent family of officials generation after generation, and in Jianghu, it is said that every hundred years the Li family produces a First-rank official of the current court, a legend indeed. Why would they lack a few plums?"

During this conversation, he slowly twisted the stem of the green plum with two fingers, his gaze scrutinizing the seemingly frail elderly man before him.

But he knew that this man was truly a formidable character.

Compared to Yuann Li’s youthful revelry and the legendary story of his family’s fall and rise, Li Yanfu’s life experience was rather unremarkable.

Born into the Li family, he was intelligent from a young age, modest, not inferior to, yet not outstanding among, his generation’s talents in the Li family.

Later, entering the officialdom, his start was also not high, at one point not favored by the Family Head of the Li family.

If there was anything special, the only peculiarity was his frequent position changes.

Movement referred not only to promotion but also to lateral transfers.

While other Li family members were busy advancing, he quietly served in various key positions in one county.

When entering the Prefecture, he continued in the same manner.

Even after being transferred to the Capital, he did not change his style.

After many rounds, he had experienced, more or less, all the important government positions in the Great Yu Dynasty.

By then, Li Yanfu was nearly fifty, still not outstanding, just "average."

However, in the following twenty years, he steadily climbed up, step by step, until he placed himself in the position of First Assistant of the cabinet.

Focused on being "stable."

It is said that the late Emperor once asked him why he changed so many positions when he was young, wondering if he didn’t know this was detrimental to promotion?

At that time, Mr. Li only calmly said,

"I just wanted to understand the Great Yu Dynasty more clearly."

After hearing this, the late Emperor laughed heartily, patted his shoulder, and walked away.

Li Yanfu held that position until the dissolution of the cabinet.

After understanding these details, even though Zhao Douan considered him an enemy, he couldn’t help but respect him.

Especially considering that this current Prime Minister was the first significant figure he saw after his arrival in this era.

At that time, Zhao Douan had just entered the Great Yu, arrived raggedly at the palace.

After waiting outside the Royal Study for a long time, when Li Yanfu came out and he called out "Prime Minister," the other didn’t even move his eyeballs in his direction.

At that moment in the palace, Zhao Douan stood like a mere lackey.

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Today, however, he was "sitting equally" with the other party.

In between, it was just a mere few months.

"Under the whole sky, is there any place that is not the Emperor’s land? The Li family doesn’t have any wealth of its own; it’s merely managing affairs for His Majesty."

Li Yanfu spoke indifferently, lifting his head, his deep-set eyes containing a hidden fierceness, calmly scrutinizing the young man.

Even as an enemy, he couldn’t help but admire Zhao Douan’s composed and self-assured manner:

"Just a few months ago, I did not expect that someone of great talent would emerge from beside His Majesty, perhaps in the future, there might emerge another Zhao family."