jdhmnovel Chapter 532 The Liu Family Comes to the Door
Chapter 532 The Liu Family Comes to the Door
Liu De didn't know how long he had been kneeling, and this time Consort Liu didn't give him a chance to explain.
He felt as if his legs, like his manhood, had disappeared, leaving his lower abdomen completely empty.
Consort Liu wanted someone to send a message to the Prime Minister's residence overnight; this was a privilege she, as a favored concubine, still possessed.
It's just sending a message to her family; it's not like she's going out herself. They'll give Consort Liu and the Prime Minister's residence some face.
The Liu family did indeed receive a message from the palace in the middle of the night, and the gatekeeper was unsure whether to pass the message on to the main courtyard.
Helpless, he could only ask the Liu family steward for advice, as he was also afraid of delaying the important person's business.
"Alright, never mind that, I'll go and report to the master."
That's exactly what the doorman wanted to hear. He was just a doorman; his job was to guard the door and he would never get involved in important matters.
Prime Minister Liu had already gone to bed, and the steward had to bite the bullet and go in to report, inevitably having to endure Prime Minister Liu's bad temper.
"What? They smashed up the Jiang family's shop? These lackeys are starting to act like they're in charge of their masters! They have no manners at all!"
Liu De was a servant who came from the Liu family. Back then, Prime Minister Liu was worried about his daughter, so he picked a few servants from among those who had signed life contracts with his own family.
After asking them their own wishes, those who were willing to enter the palace were given five hundred taels of silver as compensation for being castrated and having no descendants.
At that time, Liu De was not called Liu De, but Feng San. It was after the decision to enter the palace that Prime Minister Liu gave each of them a new name.
Besides Liu De, there were three others, but none of them were as good at getting things done as Liu De. They simply did their jobs diligently in the palace.
Liu De thus caught the eye of Consort Liu, who kept him by her side and instructed him on tasks. Although he made many minor mistakes, he never committed any major ones.
Unexpectedly, after so many years, a big surprise has arrived.
"Damn it! What a bastard! Making wild guesses about the emperor's intentions, this is the good thing he's done!"
The Imperial Concubine was also at fault; she shouldn't have employed such a foolish and incompetent fool!
The steward kept his head down, not daring to breathe, and waited until Prime Minister Liu had finished scolding him before cautiously saying, "Master, the Imperial Concubine intends to find a way to salvage the situation."
After all, there's a marriage connection; if all else fails, we can ask Vice Minister Jiang's wife to intervene.
Prime Minister Liu slammed his fist on the table in anger. “Make amends? Doesn’t that just mean I have to use my power to intimidate the Jiang family and stop them from making a big fuss?”
Does he even realize that the Jiang family is no longer the small, insignificant family it once was in Xinghe Prefecture? Peng'er has mentioned Jiang Mingfei's excellence to me countless times.
Now he also serves as the tutor of the Second Prince. Although the Second Prince has no chance to inherit that position, he is, after all, the legitimate son of the Second Prince and has the Empress as his backer!
Even if it's just to save face, the Empress won't stand idly by if Jiang Mingfei is bullied like this!
Tell me, no matter how powerful the prime minister is, can he defy his superiors? Can he be more powerful than the empress?
Even so, since it was his own daughter who had spoken up, Prime Minister Liu couldn't just sit idly by.
Prime Minister Liu was also furious in the middle of the night and wanted to vent his anger.
He paced back and forth in the room, pondering a solution. Suddenly, he stopped, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.
"So be it. He's just a servant. He was the one who started it all. It's not unfair to make him take all the blame now!"
Consider this his life as his final contribution to the Liu family.
Upon hearing this, the steward nodded hurriedly, "Master is wise. This is how it should be. The Imperial Concubine has truly been wronged this time. It was all Liu De's doing."
Prime Minister Liu sighed, "I hope this matter can be settled now and that there will be no further complications."
The butler should naturally be one.
"By the way, prepare some gifts, and you should visit the Jiang family tomorrow."
"Well, sir, should we go to Vice Minister Jiang's house or Compiler Jiang's house?"
Prime Minister Liu was somewhat helpless, but the steward's question was not wrong; it was better than Liu De's wild guessing of the emperor's intentions.
Fortunately, with Liu De as a control group, Prime Minister Liu showed some rare patience.
"Go to Vice Minister Jiang's place first and explain the matter clearly. If Madam Jiang is willing, she will go with you to see Compiler Jiang."
The butler understood and was glad he had asked clearly.
Liu De serves as a cautionary tale.
The butler thought that since Madam Jiang came from the Liu family, she would never refuse to give the Liu family face, but he miscalculated.
Madam Liu did not refuse directly, but said that she had already made an appointment and could not change the date. She then took some more things from the storeroom and said that she might not go to Jiang Xiaoqi's house. She asked the steward of the Liu family to take them with her.
Instead of finding a helper, the steward of the Liu family ended up being a deliveryman.
However, she dared not show her displeasure. After all, she was an official's wife. Although she was born out of wedlock in the Liu family, she was still a proper young lady.
Because of the difference between master and servant, the steward dared not act presumptuously and had no choice but to obediently take the things prepared by Madam Jiang and go to Jiang Xiaoqi's house.
Old Li, the gatekeeper of the Jiang family, had eyes like an X-ray machine, and his ability to remember faces was exceptional.
As soon as the steward of the Liu family arrived, he remembered that this person had been here before, but it had been quite a while.
Last time, they sent some things over, but they didn't even bother to come inside, acting all high and mighty like they were doing me a favor.
Are the Jiang family beggars? Do they need a mere steward to come here and act all high and mighty?!
Old Li didn't smile when he saw this person; he simply blocked the person and their gifts at the gate.
This person probably doesn't care about coming in, so stopping them isn't a big deal.
"I am the steward of Prime Minister Liu's residence. Please announce my arrival."
Old Li glanced at the two carriages behind the Liu family steward. Were they here to deliver something again? Didn't they just drop off the things and leave last time?
It was as if the Chiang family was plagued by an epidemic; they didn't even bother to climb the steps.
What's going on this time? They even let me in to give instructions.
Old Li told his servant to keep watch at the gate, while he turned and went inside. He decided to ask Steward Wen about the matter.
"The steward from the Liu family came with two cartloads of gifts? What's going on here, not during a holiday?"
The two old men, Steward Wen and Old Li, huddled together and whispered for a while, but they still couldn't figure out what the Liu family was up to.
"Oh well, the young master is at home. Let's just tell him. We don't need to tell the master about this. The master hasn't been assigned to his post at the Ministry of Revenue yet."
Butler Wen had become accustomed to the landlord Jiang's daily overtime work, and he would report almost everything, big or small, to the young master.
The two old men had come to the right person; the Liu family steward had come specifically for Jiang Xiaoqi.
After all, the real owner of Liuxiang Pavilion is Jiang Xiaoqi, and it was Jiang Xiaoqi whose shop was vandalized.
The subsequent compensation should also be paid to Jiang Xiaoqi. Today's two truckloads of goods are just an apology and have nothing to do with the losses of Liuxiang Pavilion.
After the case at the Prefectural Magistrate's Office is closed and Liu De confesses, the specific losses of Liuxiang Pavilion will be properly calculated. The Liu family will have to pay for these losses.
There's no hope for the Imperial Concubine; money is needed everywhere in the palace, and the Concubine's life isn't easy either.