Pei Che was actually quite satisfied. He was transferred back to Liangjing this time to get promoted based on his political achievements, and he did not inform in advance which position he wanted to go to. He was able to work in the Ministry of Revenue, probably because the people in the Ministry of Personnel gave him the job for the sake of his uncle.
It's funny to say that the news of his death was so widespread that when he went to the Ministry of Personnel to take over today, as soon as he reported his name, the man looked at him in horror, with an expression of "Aren't you dead?". He didn't complete the formalities quickly until he was sure that Pei Che was alive, with an expression on his face that showed he wanted to send him away quickly.
Pei Che took the things and went to see his uncle. Uncle Feng naturally didn't believe Liang Jing's rumors, but he was still a little worried. When he saw him, he asked him about it for a long time and told him to go back to see his grandfather when he was free. Regarding this rumor, the Feng family didn't dare to let Feng Jianshan hear any news. Pei Che naturally didn't refuse. Even if his uncle didn't say anything, he would go to see him in the next two days.
After leaving the Ministry of Personnel, Pei Che went to the Ministry of Revenue. The same thing happened again in the Ministry of Revenue. Pei Che felt helpless. It seemed that in the near future, explaining that he was not dead would have to be the first thing he did when they met.
The Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue was quite polite to him. He personally took him around the government office, then took him to the office, and asked the others to take care of him when Pei Che officially took office.
There was more than one Deputy Director of the Ministry of Revenue, and each of them was responsible for different things. Since Pei Che was new, he had no choice, so the only things he could take over were the civil affairs.
To others, this was the most thankless position in the Ministry of Revenue, with little pay and much work, and little attention. But it was exactly what Pei Che wanted, as he was worried that he could not get any news about Zhao Wei.
He had already tried to test his grandmother in the morning, and she said she didn't know this person. Liangjing is a prosperous place, with countless people in the inner and outer cities. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack to find a person named Zhao Wei among these people. He couldn't go looking for him in a big way. If he alerted the enemy and caused the person to leave Liangjing, he might never find out the truth in his life.
Now that he had the household register, he could look it up directly. Although the register was long, as long as he looked through it diligently, he would eventually find the person.
Jiang Miao listened to his analysis and immediately felt that this job was good. Besides, his Pei Che was not short of money, so there was no need to deal with money. If something went wrong, it would be bad.
"By the way, are we going to live here in the future?" Jiang Miao suddenly thought of this question.
Seeing that he didn't look unhappy, Pei Che said, "The Ministry of Revenue is only a minute's walk from the Duke's Mansion, so it would be more convenient to live here. Of course, if you're not used to it, we can move back. Anyway, I'll live wherever you live."
Jiang Miao smiled and said, "Do you think I would say that you live here by yourself and we live over there?"
Pei Che hugged him and joked, "Have you never thought about it this way?"
"Of course not," Jiang Miao complained, "I live wherever you live. Although I like that side more, for your convenience at work, let's live here." In the past, Jiang Miao had to commute four hours a day for a period of time in order to rent a cheaper house. After working for a few months, he figured it out. Life is short, and it's not worth it to work so hard. Now Pei Che has the conditions to live closer to work, can he still move to the outer city
"Miao is so considerate of me. I am really touched." Pei Che sighed exaggeratedly and was scolded by Jiang Miao.
As they were talking, there was a knock on the study door. Jiang Miao stood up, straightened his clothes, and went to open the door.
"Master Jiang, someone from the Duke's side sent a message, saying that the Crown Prince is invited to come over."
"Do you want to go?" Jiang Miao turned around and asked.
Pei Che said: "Tell him to go back and report that I will be there soon."
"yes."
"Do you really want to go over there?" Jiang Miao was a little worried. These people were not good people. What if Pei Che was bullied if he went over there
"Don't worry, they are not that brave." Pei Che knew what Jiang Miao was worried about.
"Then you should go early and come back early. We will wait for you to have dinner together." Jiang Miao said.
In Jiang Miao's slightly worried eyes, Pei Che replied with a "yes", and then walked towards Rongfu Hall, the main courtyard of the Duke's Mansion. After the old Duke passed away, Grandmother Pei didn't want to live here. This place carries too many beautiful memories for her, and every plant and tree here will remind her of the past. Not long after she moved out, Pei Shiyuan and his wife moved in happily. In their opinion, only living in Rongfu Hall can be considered a proper head of the family.
"Just say it directly if you have something to say. There's no need to use these tricks." Pei Che refused to play the uncle-nephew drama with him anymore.
Pei Shiyuan's smile froze. He didn't expect that Pei Che, who was always gentle and polite, would be too lazy to even put on a show today.
"Ache, you see, you have misunderstood. In fact, what your second uncle said to your grandmother today did have his own reasons." Pei Shiyuan said hurriedly.
Pei Che glanced at him sarcastically: "Do you have any difficulties?"
Pei Shiyuan said, "Of course there are. There have been too many rumors in Liangjing these days, and they are all about you. Second uncle was afraid that your grandmother would be upset by these rumors, so he went to her yard early in the morning."
Pei Che sneered: "Since you know that grandma hasn't heard the news, why bother with this?"
Pei Shiyuan had obviously anticipated this question and answered it without thinking. He said, "It's like this. Rumors have always been mixed up. No one can say whether they are true or false. We thought that if it was true, we would tell mother so that she could make a decision. If it was false, everyone would be happy. But we didn't expect that mother would faint because of it. It's really a sin."
"Oh, the decision was fake, but they were deliberately provoking her, right?" Pei Che would never believe their lies. "When grandma fainted, Second Aunt kept shouting for Grandma Gao to hand over the key to grandma's storehouse. I guess Second Aunt was unwilling to let these things be in grandma's hands."
Pei Shiyuan's smile became forced, but he still lied with his eyes open: "I dare not say that. Your second aunt has served her for many years. How can she be so shallow? Ah Che, you have been away from the mansion for many years. You don't know that the servants in the mansion are all bold and lazy. It would be bad if they took advantage of your grandmother's fainting to do something shady. So your second aunt wanted to keep it for her, but she has always been outspoken, so you misunderstood."
Pei Che chuckled: "In this case, I should thank Second Aunt for her good intentions?"
Pei Shiyuan took the opportunity to say, "I can't say I'm grateful, but I just wanted to prevent you, Ache, from having a grudge against us because of this matter. Now that you've been transferred back to the capital, we'll see each other every day in the future. How can we let this matter cause unrest in our family? If it gets out, people will think that our Duke's Mansion has no rules. Ache, don't you think this makes sense?"
Looking at Pei Shiyuan's shameless face, Pei Che was speechless. This really proved what A Miao said: If a person has no shame, he will be invincible.
However, considering that they didn't do anything substantial and just said a few words, and they couldn't do anything to them, Pei Che decided to put the matter aside for now. It wouldn't be too late to make plans after his grandmother recovered and listened to her opinions.
"Since Second Uncle has said so, I won't say much. Let's just treat this as a misunderstanding."
Pei Shiyuan immediately laughed: "I said that Ah Che always understands the big picture."
Pei Che didn't want to talk to him any more, so he left after a few perfunctory words.
There are still two days before Pei Che officially takes office, and they have been very busy these two days. The first thing they did was to visit Old Master Feng. He is very old, and now that he has retired from the court, he stays at home almost all day. When he heard that Pei Che and Jiang Miao came to see him today, Old Master Feng was very happy and ordered people to prepare the chessboard. He would play a few games with the two of them later.
When they left Beijing, Mr. Feng's chess skills were not as good as theirs. In recent years, chess has become popular throughout Liangjing. After playing against countless masters, Mr. Feng's chess skills have improved rapidly, and now he has few rivals.
After Pei Che and the others came in, they exchanged pleasantries for a while. Then Old Master Feng asked Pei Che about his administration in Cangzhou, gave him a few pointers, and then ordered someone to set up the chessboard.
After playing chess for a long time in the morning, they boarded the carriage in the afternoon and returned to Jiangjiawan. Uncle Jiang had not been to Liangjing during this period, so he naturally had not heard the rumors in the capital. When he saw Jiang Miao and the others, he was only pure surprise. He watched them constantly talking about being thinner and darker, and his concern was overflowing.
At night, the whole family sat in the yard and had a reunion dinner. They talked and laughed, and the atmosphere was full of joy and happiness, which lasted until late at night.
(End of this chapter)