Another thing that Zhang Shou was curious about was that Grand Secretary Kong agreed to Zhu Tingfang's conditions but did not show up at Chen Xianzhang's lecture, and that was even when the Crown Prince, the Third Prince, was present in person - most likely he felt that it would be better for him not to come at all, so he just bit the bullet and pretended to be busy and was lazy - wasn't he worried about Zhu Tingfang's revenge afterwards
What's more, before the first lecture, Zhang Shou asked Zhang Dakuai to personally make a comment to the elder, and he found out a clue that Academician Kong seemed to be prepared.
So on the next day, the news that the emperor and the empress dowager had a falling out and stayed in Fengxian Hall for a night did not spread, and the news that the prince stayed with the empress dowager in Qingning Palace for a night did not spread. However, the news that Mr. Kong Jiu, who lived next door to Mr. Kong's house, fell ill and eventually died spread like wildfire.
But in the capital, there were many people dying, and the death of a doctor of the Imperial Academy was nothing. At most, he was the cousin of Confucius, so he attracted some attention. But the news spread too fast. Because he left a suicide note before his death, deeply reflecting on the sins he had committed in the past years, this was really big news.
What is even bigger than the big news is that Master Kong Jiu took out all his property in one go, claiming that he would compensate the previous victims. When this news came out at this time, it was simply shocking!
The Kong family was originally a big family with rich family wealth, so in the most expensive place in the capital, the two brothers could live next to each other, with several houses, pavilions and towers, grand and exquisite. Therefore, Master Kong Jiu could dance with his sleeves in the capital with a mere official title of Taichang Doctor, and his life could be said to be more ostentatious than that of Master Kong.
On that afternoon, when Scholar Kong appeared in the cabinet, outsiders saw that he seemed to have aged ten years, with countless white hairs on his head. Although he was not emaciated, traces of tears were evident on his haggard face.
Of course, a great minister would never tell everyone about his brother's affairs like Xianglin Sao, and others did not dare to ask casually. However, Wu and Zhang, as colleagues of similar status, could not pretend to be deaf and dumb, and they had to go forward to comfort and appease. Regarding these two colleagues who were not in harmony with each other, Kong just nodded woodenly, and finally sighed.
"His family suffered misfortune, but he finally came to his senses at the end. After all, we are brothers, and there is no way I can protect a sinner with a long history of bad deeds. When I had someone arrange for his funeral in his house, I had already spread the word that if his property is not enough to compensate the victims, I will pay for it on his behalf!"
"It was all because of me, as his elder brother, that I failed to supervise him and didn't discipline him strictly this time, which led to his big mistake! Now that he's dead, he finally realized his mistake, but it's too late!"
As he spoke, Grand Secretary Kong pounded the table heavily, his grief was beyond words. Grand Secretary Zhang was not that familiar with him after all, and he had already persuaded him. He sighed and shook his head, but he obviously couldn't think of anything else to say, so he could only go back to his own room. However, Grand Secretary Wu did not leave, but continued to look at Grand Secretary Kong with a smile.