Half an hour later, the morning province was gone.

Under the sympathetic gaze of everyone, Jiang Shishi returned to her own residence happily.

Chun Xing saw that her little master was so happy that she couldn't help but remind her.

"Little master, you don't really think that Concubine Tang is taking care of you, right? In fact, she has ulterior motives, she wants to feed you fat and make you ugly! ”

"I know." Jiang Shishi took a sip of tea, "But this care really has an appetite for me." ”

The meals of the concubines in the East Palace are arranged according to their positions, and Jiang Shishi only has one meat dish and one vegetarian dish per meal.

The price of goods in the palace is ridiculously high, and she usually adds some nourishing medicinal food to herself, which is a little painful, let alone buying those big fish and meat.

It's just that she's a meatless one.

As far as the money she made with Xiao Linzi in private, she could live a rich life outside the palace.

But she was in the palace, and she spent all her money without eating a few meals of meat.

Now Concubine Tang asked the imperial dining room to add nourishing meat dishes to her, which can be regarded as playing into her arms.

At noon on the same day, the imperial dining room added a "hanging stove pheasant" to Jiang Shishi.

It stands to reason that Concubine Tang will not poison the food she is rewarded, otherwise she will only reap the consequences.

In addition, the imperial dining room is full of imperial kitchens, and Concubine Tang's hand can't reach that far.

But Chunxing still tested the poison with a silver needle, and after confirming that it was not toxic, Jiang Shishi was a bright white prostitute, and she was satisfied with eating!

**

Jiang Shishi in the East Palace had a good life, but the prince of the Ministry of Rites did not have a good life.

At this moment, he was sitting in the study of the Ministry of Rites to review the official documents, and Huang Dechang came to his side with a whisk of dust, "Your Highness, Lord Fan Songkang Fan asks to see you." ”

Pei Xuanling: "Announce him in." ”

Fan Songkang is the "host and guest langzhong" of the Ministry of Rites, and he has been in charge of the tribute recently, presumably because he needs to discuss matters related to the tribute.

Sure enough, after Fan Songkang came in, he hurriedly saluted and said anxiously: "Your Highness, it's not good, among the tributes sent by the envoys, two pieces of jade are missing. ”

Pei Xuanling's eyes tightened, "When did you lose it?" ”

Fan Songkang: "I was still there when I checked the tribute before, but it disappeared when I put the tribute into the warehouse today." ”

Pei Xuanling: "Did you lose a very valuable jade?" ”

"That's not it." Fan Songkang explained the situation, "One is the Hetian beautiful jade rough stone paid tribute by southern Xinjiang, and the other is the Bahrain stone paid tribute by the northern desert. ”

Among those tributes, there are some superb jade.

Thieves keep carefully carved fine jade ornaments and jewelry and don't steal them, but steal rough stones that are not very valuable?

"......" Pei Xuanling raised his eyebrows in some surprise, "How much is it worth?" ”

Fan Songkang calculated the price in his heart, "If it is converted into cash silver, the two pieces of jade add up to about five hundred taels of silver." ”

Pei Xuanling: "......"

Five hundred taels of silver, not much, but not too little, is worth the money of ordinary officials for several years.

The main thing is... Some officials of the Ministry of Rites did not like him to be in charge of the Ministry of Rites.

And Fan Songkang is not only the official in charge of the tribute this time, but also one of the few officials who supports him.

He saw that Fan Songkang was loyal, honest, and talented, so he used it for him.

Therefore, I am afraid that someone will try to take advantage of this matter to cause trouble!

Thinking of this, Pei Xuanling immediately convened the officials of the Ministry of Rites to discuss the matter.

When the officials got the news, some of them gathered in the hall of the Ministry of Rites one after another, and some of them had not yet arrived.

When everyone heard that the jade for the tribute was lost, they either hung it up without their own concern, or shirked their responsibilities to each other.

"Anyway, this time it is Lord Liang Chunrong of the main and guest department who is responsible for receiving the tribute, as well as Lord Fan Songkang Fan, and now that there is a problem with the tribute, just look for the two of them." An official shifted the blame entirely to the host and guest department.

The Ministry of Rites is in charge of the decrees of the world's rituals, sacrifices, and tributes.

There are four of them, namely the Rite Department, the Ancestral Department, the Catering Department, and the Host and Guest Department.

Basically, each department has a division of labor according to its responsibilities, and the well water does not interfere with the river water.

When Liang Chunrong, who was named, heard this, he immediately began to shirk his responsibility, "Colleagues, although Lord Fan and I are in charge of this tribute, we have a clear division of labor, he is responsible for the collection and storage of tributes, and I am mainly responsible for reception. ”

"As for the tribute, so to speak, I basically didn't care much about it, but Lord Fan, this tribute is in charge from the collection to the storage, and you are fully responsible for it!"

Fan Songkang is an honest man, he neither justifies nor shirks responsibility.

Instead, he honestly said: "This tribute is managed by me, and now that the tribute is lost, I do have a great responsibility and am willing to take responsibility for it." ”

There are a lot of tributes in the southern and northern deserts, and these days, in addition to checking the gift list, he also has to register the same.

Some valuables, not only to instruct the people under him to be careful, but also to prevent the loss of tribute, he was so busy that he was exhausted.

didn't think about it, but there was still this thing.

"Responsible? Can you afford to be responsible for your little money?! Liang Chunrong questioned, "By the way, your mother was seriously ill before, didn't you have no money for treatment?" But the day before yesterday, I saw you taking your mother to the best hospital in the capital. ”

"Although I don't know where you got the money, I didn't think much about it at the time, and now, the tribute happens to be lost in the past few days, so I have to make people think about it more!"

If he just shirked his responsibility at the beginning, then what he said at this moment is to suspect that Fan Songkang has filled his pockets.

Although Fan Songkang is an honest man, he also has the arrogance of a literati.

Now that he was slandered in public, he glared at Liang Chunrong angrily, "You, you... Don't spew blood! ”

"I'm not spewing blood, I'm just stating what I've seen." Liang Chunrong pressed step by step, "Why don't you tell everyone, where did the money for your mother's treatment come from, and I will retract what I just said." ”

Fan Songkang: "I ......"

Fan Songkang moved his lips hesitantly, then looked at the prince, and swallowed his words aggrievedly.

This kind of appearance looks like a thief's heart, which makes the officials present suspicious.

Seeing this, Liang Chunrong said quite proudly: "What's the matter, you can't say it now, right?" I think you exchanged the jade for silver and used it for your mother's treatment. ”

"I know, you are loyal and honest, if it weren't for the compulsion of life, you wouldn't be like this, although you are also a filial piety, but you can tell us, after all, colleagues, everyone can help you, but no matter what, you shouldn't fill your pocket!"

Pei Xuanling knows a lot about Fan Songkang, he believes in Fan Songkang as a person, and he also knows where the money that Fan Songkang used to treat his mother came from.

Now seeing that Fan Songkang was hesitant, he said to Fan Songkang: "You admit that you did it, if you didn't do it, you can say it generously, don't be afraid to cower." ”

Listening to the prince's words, Fan Songkang felt confident in his heart, he looked at Liang Chunrong, "Don't you just want to know where the money I used to treat my mother came from?" ”