latelenovela Chapter 152 The younger brother is still the same younger brother; he hasn't learned any tricks
Chapter 152 The younger brother is still the same younger brother; he hasn't learned any tricks
Lin Shiming's sudden remark startled the other three people in the study, but Li Yi and Yu Sheng quickly recovered and readily accepted the order.
"I obey my orders."
After bowing, the two got up and left decisively. Lin Shiming stopped worrying about his temper and quickly walked to the tatami closest to the desk and sat down.
Lin Shihe rested one hand on the table, leaned forward, and asked, "How did you pinpoint the Sixth Prince?"
"This method of profiting secretly seems familiar." Lin Shiming poured himself another cup of tea. "Brother, do you remember that time in early February when they sold fake exam questions?"
This incident caused a great uproar and marked the beginning of the purge of Prince An's faction from the court and the country, something Lin Shihe naturally remembered.
Now that Lin Shiming has suddenly brought up this matter again, he must have discovered something. Lin Shihe then quickly recalled the entire case from beginning to end.
The case of cheating in the imperial examinations at the beginning of the year involved Prince An ordering people to sell fake exam questions in order to obtain money. The facts are clear and the evidence is conclusive, but one question remains unanswered.
Tingyunjun immediately discovered that a large number of those who bought fake exam questions were not even taking the exam themselves. Their purpose was clearly to use Prince An to abolish the provincial examination held at the beginning of the year, thereby dealing a heavy blow to the Crown Prince, the chief examiner.
However, the matter was handled in secrecy, making it extremely difficult to investigate. In addition, the great wronged Prince An was blocking the way, so Lin Shiming and his team have not yet been able to find the real mastermind behind it.
Looking at this matter again now, it's the same tactic of hiding behind King Ping, manipulating his schemes to cover up their own actions and purposes. Their methods are identical: secretive, extremely difficult to detect, maximizing profit with minimal risk.
“They are indeed too similar.” Lin Shihe immediately understood. “It seems highly likely that these two events are the work of the same person.”
As he spoke, Lin Shihe suddenly smiled, looked Lin Shiming up and down with great interest, and asked with a smile, "But how did you connect these two things?"
This wasn't something his straightforward younger brother would think of. Could it be that spending too much time with Lu Yuxi had really made him "be influenced by bad company" and given him a bit more common sense?
Lin Shihe's mocking, amusement look was undisguised, and Lin Shiming understood it all too easily. He immediately flew into a rage:
"What do you mean? Can't I be smart just this once? No, I'm not stupid at all!"
Lin Shihe smiled and remained silent, still looking at Lin Shiming.
Do you think I believe it?
"Alright." Knowing that the bloodline suppression was indeed unbreakable and he couldn't defeat his brother, Lin Shiming looked away unhappily and replied absentmindedly and awkwardly, "I'm just holding a grudge."
The great Crown Princess is never petty. If someone offends him, he usually lets it go without holding a grudge. This is because he settles his scores on the spot and has never failed in his revenge.
The only person he couldn't catch and vent his anger over was the one behind the cheating scandal in the imperial examinations. Naturally, he kept it in mind day and night, reviewing it from time to time to remind himself not to forget revenge.
As it happened today, he stumbled upon a stroke of luck, connecting the two events together.
The younger brother is still the same younger brother; he hasn't learned any tricks or schemes.
This reason was truly astonishing, leaving even Lin Shihe speechless.
This result surprised him for a long time, but it was also clearly reasonable. Lin Shihe finally gave up on dwelling on it and waved his hand helplessly, "Alright, let's get down to business first."
Looking at today's events alone, it is indeed difficult to discern the true purpose of the person behind the scenes. However, once the two events are considered together, it becomes clear that this person is not after any petty gains, but is directly targeting important political matters, and there is an 80% chance that he is aiming for the succession.
"Then how did you come to focus your attention on the Sixth Prince... and his two personal maids?"
After all, there's still a 20% chance they might be foreign spies or other members of the imperial family. Moreover, Lin Shiming's direction was too precise, directly pinpointing those two inconspicuous palace maids.
It should be noted that maids in the imperial family were usually bestowed by the palace, and as a man's first woman, they naturally held special significance, easily causing discord among wives and concubines.
Therefore, according to the customs of the imperial family in this dynasty, even if a maidservant was not dismissed after the mistress entered the household, her status was generally only that of a concubine. At most, if the mistress wanted to show her generosity, she might give her a higher-level concubine title, but that was the highest she could hope for.
How did Lin Shiming notice such a small matter?
"This matter is even more interesting." Lin Shiming fiddled with the teacup in his hand. "A couple of days ago, the Sixth Prince's residence submitted a memorial, stating that the Sixth Prince's wife was grateful for the two maids bestowed by Consort Yu for their excellent service, and requested that they be granted the rank of concubine."
Such matters concerning the imperial family and the inner quarters have always been under the Empress's jurisdiction, so it was only natural that this memorial was sent to Lin Shiming.
"I had learned some royal etiquette before I got married, so I refused outright."
Concubines, considered legitimate concubines, were the lowest rank that could be granted the title of Imperial Concubine, and their number was naturally limited. According to the rules of this dynasty, since the sixth prince had not yet been granted a title, he could only have a total of four concubines.
As for the palace maids in charge of personnel, Lu Yuxi had spoken to him about it once, and he naturally knew that under normal circumstances it would be absolutely impossible to be promoted to a higher rank so quickly.
This memorial contained two entries, and the author was a former palace maid in charge of personnel. Lin Shiming naturally didn't even think about it and immediately returned it.
"At the time, I thought that Consort Yu was trying to compete with the new bride, but she was also worried about her reputation and dared not send people to the prince's residence when the new bride had just entered the palace. So she chose to promote these two women who were under her command and had special significance to oppose the sixth prince's wife. Therefore, she was particularly disgusted with them and not only did she not allow it, but she also summoned the sixth prince to the palace and gave him a good scolding."
Although Lin Shiming didn't have the power to completely change the status of women in the inner quarters of a feudal dynasty, he truly couldn't stand this kind of scene where the mother-in-law bullied the new bride. Not to mention that it was a blatant slap in the face to the new bride by promoting her to a higher rank.
Therefore, he ignored the four women at the center of the matter and instead went straight to the root of the problem, giving the Sixth Prince a good beating.
"But today's events happened so suddenly that I realized this might not just be a power struggle within the inner quarters."
It was too abrupt and illogical. He had met Consort Yu a few times; she wasn't stupid enough to come here and invite trouble, knowing that he couldn't tolerate any dissent.
Although Lin Shiming didn't say much, Lin Shihe had already easily figured out the cause and effect and sorted out the logic.
"Now, all we need to do is wait to find out the identities of these two palace maids."
The palace maids and eunuchs here are different from those selected during the Qing Dynasty. The palace maids and eunuchs in Changping Palace were all sold into the palace because poor families could not afford to support them. They were truly slaves.
If these two women are indeed commoner daughters with no history of wrongdoing, then the matter remains to be seen. But if their identities are truly questionable…
Lin Shiming rubbed his hands together, eager to prove himself: "It's been a long time since I've bullied anyone with my power."