Chapter 168 1/3

Wu Baichuan stepped off the ship onto the dock of the capital, but he didn’t feel grounded.

He felt like he was still swaying on the river.

Moreover… after this stretch of road, he felt that his clothes had loosened, and he felt like he was floating. He was really tired during this time and felt like he had lost some weight.

His hired crew was even more exhausted. Wu Baichuan saw them sitting at the bow of the ship, not wanting to move at all.

The crew of the Shen family’s fleet was the same, but while they didn’t want to move, there was excitement in their eyes.

There was no other reason, mainly because the master of the Shen family had given them too much silver.

Although this trip was tiring, the master of the Shen family promised double wages!

For the crew members who followed the fleet on such long journeys, their income was not low. Going out for a total of three to four months could earn them twenty taels of silver, and if doubled… that would be forty taels!

So during this time, they had been working hard.

Now that they had reached their destination… they could finally rest for a few days!

“We’ve finally arrived in the capital!” The master of the Shen family stepped off the ship.

He wore a hat to cover his bald head, and he felt particularly excited when his feet touched the ground.

Along this journey, while others were tired, so was he.

After years of living in comfort, he was no longer accustomed to such fast-paced travel.

Although it had been less than half a month, he felt that time passed particularly slowly.

Mrs. Shen followed behind the master of the Shen family.

Although the fleet traveled together, everyone was on different boats, and Mrs. Shen never disembarked along the way… the stewards in the fleet had never seen Mrs. Shen.

There were rumors in the fleet that Mrs. Shen had fallen ill from the hardships of the journey.

But now…

Wu Baichuan and the others were a bit bewildered when they saw Mrs. Shen’s appearance.

Mrs. Shen looked radiant and full of vitality.

Mrs. Shen’s condition was indeed very good.

Firstly, she was born in a water town, so traveling by boat wasn’t very uncomfortable for her.

Secondly… during this journey, she had been admiring the words of Dusan.

Accompanied by such good calligraphy and books, what was there to be tired about?

The only regret she had was that the boat would occasionally sway, making it difficult for her to copy Dusan’s words.

But it didn’t matter, she still had two copies of Dusan’s words at home! She could go back and copy them again!

Moreover… when she returned from the capital, she might be able to acquire more words from Dusan.

“Is this the capital?” Mrs. Shen looked around curiously.

She had lived for more than forty years, and this was her first time visiting the capital.

Before this, she had traveled extensively in Jiang’an Province but had never ventured far from home.

And her desire to come out and see the world was actually related to Dusan.

Seeing what Dusan had written, he should have traveled to many places.

Life is unpredictable. If she didn’t come out for a walk now, who knows if she would have the opportunity in the future?

“Yes, this is the capital, but this side is the dock, which is relatively dirty and messy… Madam, I’ll find a few carriages for us to settle in the city. After I’m done with my business, I’ll take you for a stroll in the capital,” the master of the Shen family said.

Before departure, the master of the Shen family was very dissatisfied with Mrs. Shen’s obsession with Dusan’s words.

But along the way… he had lost his temper.

What was there to argue about regarding calligraphy and painting? Besides, even if Dusan appeared, his wife probably just wanted him to write a few more words and wouldn’t bother to look at him.

The most important thing was… he was about to send Dusan’s manuscripts to Lu Gonggong!

The Shen family traveled between the capital and Jiang’an Province every year, for convenience and because property prices in the capital had been rising… the Shen family bought a house in the capital.

The master of the Shen family brought many servants and belongings on this trip. He hired several carriages on this side of the dock, and with people and belongings, they all went to the Shen family’s residence.

When they arrived in the capital, it was already afternoon, and it was even later after settling in.

Since there wasn’t enough time to visit Lu Gonggong and he needed to freshen up himself… the master of the Shen family took a bath, had his servants shave him, wash his hair, and cut his nails, intending to tidy himself up and visit Lu Gonggong the next day.

Of course, he only had a few hairs left, so whether he washed them or not didn’t matter much.

The next day happened to be the fifteenth day of November.

The current emperor’s health was poor, and he didn’t attend the early court sessions much, but he attended the early court sessions on the first and fifteenth of each month, which happened to be the day he attended court.

Since Governor Zhang’s massacre in Linhu County in April, half a year had passed, and the once-under house arrest King Jin had reappeared in the court.

Although the current emperor had brought in a royal child to raise in the palace, there were still many people who supported King Jin in the court.

Firstly, the current emperor’s health was very poor. If he were to pass away… that little child might not be useful.

Secondly… behind that little child stood Lu Gonggong and Liu Guifei. If that little child were to ascend to the throne in the future, Lu Gonggong would definitely hold power, which was something many people didn’t want to see, especially officials from the King Jin’s faction.

Some of them were not very satisfied with King Jin, but if they didn’t support King Jin, did they have to support Lu Gonggong? Some of them had offended Lu Gonggong more or less. Who knew if Lu Gonggong would settle the score after gaining power!

So, although the incident in Linhu County had caused King Jin a lot of trouble, the King Jin’s people could still compete with Lu Gonggong evenly.

But the King Jin’s power had actually been weakened. Before, Lu Gonggong had to rely on the emperor’s favoritism to compete evenly with King Jin, but now… he didn’t need to rely on the emperor to suppress King Jin anymore!

This made King Jin very irritable. However, there were some clever people among the King Jin’s faction. Someone advised King Jin to show weakness to the emperor and work on some achievements honestly.

Of course, these achievements didn’t need to be achieved by King Jin himself; his officials would help him with them.

So, King Jin was given the task of cleaning up the capital’s waterways and repairing the city walls of the capital, both of which were done very well.

Today, in the court, King Jin received praise from the emperor.

Lu Gonggong was not very happy.

After leaving the court, he complained to the emperor.

The emperor sighed, “He did make actual

achievements…”

The emperor knew that Lu Gonggong didn’t want King Jin to ascend to the throne; he wanted the child being raised by Liu Guifei to ascend.

He also liked that child very much.

But he was very worried. Worried that after he handed over the throne to that child, King Jin would use banners like ‘protecting the emperor’ to do something.

The old King Jin, back then, had actually wielded military power, which was one of the reasons why he had kept King Jin around for so long.

If chaos really broke out in the world, he would be the scapegoat.

His ancestors would probably not spare him.

If he could live a little longer, even if he gave him ten more years, he wouldn’t tolerate King Jin anymore, but he couldn’t live that long anymore.

Now, on the one hand, he wanted the child in the palace to ascend to the throne, after all, that was the only way for Lu Gonggong and Liu Guifei to be safe.

On the other hand, he felt that for the stability of the world, he should pass the throne to King Jin.

Lu Gonggong knew the emperor’s thoughts very well. He made a fuss, and then… the emperor promoted a newly defected official.

But even so, Lu Gonggong was still not very happy. When he returned to his residence, his face was stern.

Just as he returned, his subordinates came to report that the master of the Shen family was seeking an audience.

Lu Gonggong was not in a very good mood. If it was the steward of the Shen family who came, he might not have seen him, but this time it was the master of the Shen family.

He had someone bring the master of the Shen family in.

“Why do you want to see me? What is it?” Lu Gonggong asked casually.