The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 224 - 199. Fable: The Bellwether and the Sheepdog

"Glug, glug..."

From the wine pot on the table, green plums bobbed up and down in the cloudy liquor.

Beside the table, Zhao Douan only smiled:

"Prime Minister Li jests. My Zhao family is small and humble, only wishing to toil like dogs and horses for Your Majesty, with no aspirations for scholarly family status."

Ah, he only had aspirations for the Imperial Family...

Li Yanfu didn’t know his thoughts and even if he did, he wouldn’t care. He leaned back against his chair, appearing very casual, and sighed,

"Sometimes, when you reach a certain position, many things are not for you to decide whether you want to or not.

Take family, for example; it’s not necessarily up to you to want to expand and branch out. If you don’t want to, can you ensure your family members or relatives don’t want to either? It’s easy to control oneself, but hard to control those around you."

Zhao Douan expressed deep agreement and pretended not to catch the implication in the other’s words, saying:

"As long as Prime Minister Li understands. Just like this time, Prime Minister Li can control himself, but not your son."

This was getting to the point.

Li Yanfu’s expression remained unchanged, and he uttered an inquisitive "Oh?"

"Has Ying Long sought you out to blame again?"

Zhao Douan sighed and said with a bitter smile:

"Prime Minister Li misunderstands me. I’m not here to seek retribution; although your son has had some grievances with me, they are all in the past, and I am not the type to bear grudges over every little offense..."

Hearing this, the corner of Li Yanfu’s mouth twitched slightly, thinking that the young people today are indeed shameless:

"Then, Master Zhao, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

Zhao Douan pretended to be surprised: "Does Prime Minister Li not know?"

Li Yanfu maintained his composure, as if truly oblivious:

"What should I be aware of?"

"Sigh," Zhao Douan said with great regret,

"Then, it seems I have arrived just in time. In fact, my coming today is also quite coincidental... My Lihua Hall was lying in ambush to track down a rebel but unexpectedly, we didn’t find the rebel, instead, we accidentally stumbled upon your son, in a rendezvous with a woman, it was really..."

Li Yanfu frowned and interrupted, not wanting to hear his nonsense:

"Does the Imperial Court now have so little to do that it deals with affairs between men and women?"

Zhao Douan’s tone was sincere, but his posture became more and more relaxed:

"If it were an ordinary woman, I wouldn’t be surprised, given your son’s fondness for taking concubines, his flirtatious nature... I’ve long been aware of it. However, the identity of this woman is a bit thorny... she is that..."

While speaking, he gestured mysteriously by lifting a finger and pointing upwards, the name that came from his mouth causing the seemingly calm Li Yanfu to suddenly change complexion.

"The late Emperor’s widow, Yuan Ru, Imperial Concubine Yuan!"

Whoo, whoo!

From inside the wine pot, a cloud of white vapor burst forth, popping the lid off and emitting a low whistle.

Clad in a crimson official robe, with thick hair at his temples, this eminent official of the nation, despite his excellent Qi Cultivation Skill, felt his pupils suddenly contract and his heart skip a beat at this moment!

Yuan Fei!

Ying Long, secretly meeting with Yuan Fei?

Li Yanfu’s first thought was that it was impossible, but then he dimly remembered that he had indeed heard Yuan Fei had returned home to visit her family a few days ago.

As for the severed, hidden past relationship between Li Yinglong and Yuan Ru, outsiders did not know, but Li Yanfu was aware.

Back then, when Li Yinglong learned that Yuan Ru was to enter the palace, he had sought his father’s intercession, and it was Li Yanfu who had suppressed the matter.

Connecting this to the "accidental" exposure by Lihua Hall and the betrayal of Xu Hanlin...

In the blink of an eye, this old man, who had dominated the Great Yu Dynasty for twenty years, looked at Zhao Douan with a gaze cold and sharp as a knife.

At this moment, any slight appreciation he might have had for the young man before him had evaporated, turning to anger, and... disbelief.

"Ha, why does Prime Minister Li look at me this way? I, too, did not believe it at first. After all, Yuan Fei should be at home visiting her family at this moment; how could she, disguised as a man, be meeting with your son in an inn?

My subordinates, furthermore, vaguely heard a reference to ’Mr. Li’... Ha, it must have been a mistake...

It’s also my fault for not strictly controlling my people. They were careless and burst in, prompting your son to jump through a window and run away.

Because of this, I wanted to control the situation, but it was no longer possible, so I had to invite your son back to the Imperial Court first..."

As Zhao Douan spoke, he always wore a slight smile.

As if he wasn’t the one behind the curtain pulling the strings but an innocent bystander:

"Of course, I am sure I believe in your son’s innocence. Though the late Emperor has passed away, no matter how much Vice Minister Li covets beauty, he would not go so far with Yuan Fei...

There must be a misunderstanding, and that’s why I hurriedly came to inquire, believing that Prime Minister Li should surely know the reason."

At this time, the sun was already sloping westward, with broken gold light reflecting on the surface of the lake outside the building.

Li Yanfu stared at him intently, his face expressionless, showing neither joy nor anger.

This look... reminded Zhao Douan of the day he made Pei Kaizhi spit blood at the Meridian Gate, and the glance back from the Old Minister.

For a long while.

Li Yanfu’s hands, which were clenched on the arms of his chair inside his sleeves, slowly loosened as he said evenly:

"I know nothing about this matter, you might be asking the wrong person."

The meaning of these words was:

Don’t try to trap me; I claim ignorance. I will firmly distance myself from Li Yinglong to prevent getting dragged down with him, father and son both.

So cold-blooded and cunning... Seeing his attitude, Zhao Douan felt disappointed but undeterred, he pressed on:

"There’s a saying, ’The father knows his son best.’ Prime Minister Li must be aware that your son recently took a new concubine, who, rumor has it, bears a striking resemblance to Yuan Fei."

Li Yanfu closed his eyes, as if wearied by age, and sighed:

"There’s also a saying, ’When children grow up, they’re no longer within one’s control.’ As for Ying Long’s household, I have always been unaware."

Don’t bluff me, isn’t it supposed to be ’daughters are hard to keep?’

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Passing the buck really is quick, slippery as an old loach... Zhao Douan sighed, straightened his robes, and stood up to say, "Given that the Prime Minister is ignorant on all three counts, this official has no choice but to report the matter. After all, it’s a substantial issue, and I, a mere sixth-rank official of Lihua Hall, dare not make a rash decision."

Saying this, he walked away, mentally counting to three...

Li Yanfu remained expressionless and didn’t rise to pursue. He simply watched Zhao Douan reach the staircase before calmly saying, "Let’s dispense with these little tricks. If you truly intended to take it higher, why would you have come to me, the Vice Minister?"

Zhao Douan paused in his steps and turned back, his face already bearing a smile.

His movements smooth, he returned to his seat and glanced at the boiling teapot, "Don’t you offer your guests a drink, Prime Minister Li?"

Li Yanfu replied, "If you want to drink, serve yourself."

Zhao Douan shook his head with a smile, "I wouldn’t dare drink the Prime Minister’s wine indiscriminately."

A sarcastic smile appeared on the corner of Li Yanfu’s mouth, "Are you afraid I’ll poison it?"

Zhao Douan sighed, "I come from a humble background, far from the scholarly family of Prime Minister Li. Yet when I was a child, my father also taught me some simple truths, such as the person who eats your food becomes your servant, and the person who takes your money becomes compliant."

His meaning was clear.

To make him "servant" and "compliant," so as to lift this issue high and then gently set it down, one would need to fill his mouth and stuff his hands.

Li Yanfu understood.

Or it could be said that the moment Zhao Douan, with his painstakingly crafted plan, successfully lured Li Yinglong into a trap, and didn’t immediately report but instead came to him full of "misunderstandings"...

From that moment on, he knew that this cunning little fox had come to do business with him.

Politics is the art of compromise.

Negotiate, and everything can be discussed.

From Zhao Douan’s perspective, did he want to bring down Li Yinglong? To topple him in one fell swoop?

Yes.

But he couldn’t.

Just as Old Director Sun Lianying had said, it all depended on the situation.

The current state of the court didn’t favor action against the Li father and son. Once started, it might well lead to a complete loss.

Even if Zhao Douan truly submitted this evidence, the Empress would suppress it, because at this critical juncture, it was impossible to discard Li Yinglong.

That would only provoke the hatred of the scholarly families.

Therefore, Zhao Douan had never considered, not even for a moment, disposing of Young Master Li with this small plot.

His target had always been Li Yanfu.

It was the Li Party.

It was the New Policies.

It was this political storm that had swept through the Great Yu Dynasty for some time, drawing the attention of countless people.

He, a small player on the edge of the storm, sought to exert a little force at a pivotal moment to do something big.

So, this meeting was actually a negotiation solely between the two of them.

But at this moment, Li Yanfu, sitting at the other end of the negotiation table, still didn’t know what Zhao Douan truly wanted.

Yet even so, this former senior official, who had dominated the imperial court for twenty years, still read a key piece of information from Zhao Douan’s flickering gaze:

This little wolf had a big appetite!

And it was doubtful that "a pot of cloudy wine" would be enough to satisfy him.

Thinking this, Li Yanfu suddenly shifted the topic.

He didn’t ask what Zhao Douan wanted, but, building on the earlier topic, shook his head to say, "Although I hail from the Li family by the Huai River, what I’ve learned and applied to reach today are also simple truths from the fields, as you have."

A topic change? The cunning old fox, what is he plotting...

Tsk, is he trying to drive the price down? Zhao Douan’s expression showed curiosity: "Oh? Like what?"

As if he were a junior sincerely seeking guidance in governance from the Prime Minister.

Leaning back in the armchair, swathed in his red official robe as if it had swallowed him whole, the white-haired old man said, "Have you ever herded sheep?"

Zhao Douan shook his head.

Li Yanfu said, "In my youth, I would follow my elders to visit the tenant farms and saw shepherds herding sheep.

Quite interesting. Those flocks would sometimes number in the dozens, yet a small shepherd boy could manage them with ease.

Curious, I asked my elder for advice, and he pointed at an old ram in the flock and at a strange-looking dog, like one that might’ve wandered in from the Western Regions, crouching in the bushes.

He told me, ’Farmers herd sheep relying entirely on this one sheep and one dog.’"

"He said sheep are a very foolish animal, with short sight and dull minds, lacking in independent thought. So how do they survive and act? Simple, they follow the ’lead sheep.’

Every flock has a lead sheep. Whatever the lead sheep does, the flock will follow.

Even if the lead sheep jumps off a cliff, the rest of the flock will jump after it without a second thought. Strange, isn’t it?"

"So, the shepherd boy doesn’t need to herd so many sheep; he just needs to herd that one lead sheep, and the entire flock will follow.

That elder told me, farmers raise sheep to sell for slaughter once they’re fattened up, so aside from the ewes which are better off, the rams don’t usually live very long...

But the lead sheep is an exception, because it helps manage the flock, so it gets to face the knife later than the rest."

...