Song Wan Yue said, “Lord Li must have thought it through, your injury was no accident! In that case, if you resign after your leg has healed, I’m sure you won’t be allowed to do so.”
Li An had never really thought that he would not be accepted. In the Ministry of Works, there was no more than one of him, and no less than one of him. But when he heard Song Wan Yue say this, he immediately thought of the Marquis of An Guo’s residence. As long as the Marquis of An Guo’s son kept thinking of Ling’er, he might not really be able to resign.
Having thought of this, he immediately became anxious, “What should I do?”
Song Wan Yue moved her round stool back and said, “My big brother has a solution.”
……
An hour later, the two came out of the mansion.
After they left, the gates of the mansion were shut tightly.
It was already dark and Xiao Yao should have gone back by this time, so Song Si followed Song Wan Yue to the Xu family.
Having been given a date by Master Jingfan, Xu came back and consulted with Meng and Sister Wu until now.
Song Si was now a retainer of the Ministry of the Household, so he could not be too shabby when he got married. Although he did not have to be compared to a famous family, he could not be short of the necessary pomp and circumstance.
Fearing that Xu did not have enough silver in her hand, Meng asked Sister Wu to hold out the money box to Xu, “Take it and use it as you wish.”
Xu could not take it.
“Listen to me ……”
Meng said, “Our two families are now linked together, Song Si’s face is the face of the Xu family, only when his face is shining will our face be shining! I mean to make his marriage bigger, as big as it can be.”
“I know that, but not with your money.”
She was not an only child, she had brothers and sisters-in-law and nephews, and even when Yue’er got married she could not use her mother’s money.
When Song Wan Yue came in she saw the box of silver cheques on the table and smiled and joked, “Grandmother, are you trying to secretly add to my mother’s money?”
Meng was amused by her, raising her hand and nodding her head, “Grandmother doesn’t need to supplement secretly, grandmother is supplementing openly and honestly.”
Only after saying this did she realise that something was wrong.
“I’ve been led astray by you, this silver is for your mother to prepare her for Song Si’s marriage.”
Song Wangyue’s eyes went round, “So much?”
Meng was once again amused, “I just told your mother that the Song family and the Xu family are now one, so if Song Si’s marriage is done well, the Xu family will also have a good face.”
Song Wangyue closed the box and pushed it back in front of Meng, “Grandma keep this money, I have silver in my hand.”
How could she have any silver in her hand when she had to build a workshop and a restaurant? Meng pushed it back, “Grandma doesn’t need it either, if your mother doesn’t need it, you can take it first.”
“I do have it.”
Song Wangyue reached into her pocket and pulled out the silver certificates, placing them on the table with a smile, “This is 100,000 taels, it’s enough for you.”
Looking at the thick pile of silver cheques, not only was Meng stunned, even Xu was stunned, although she didn’t know exactly how much silver the family had, she had a rough idea of the family’s income, the building of the workshop and the restaurant had almost all been spent, where did Yue’er get this?
“Grandmother and mother don’t know, didn’t I recruit agents and let them take some of the money first?”
Song Wangyue lied without changing her face.
These silver tickets were part of the ones Gu Yi had given her, and she had brought them with her when she came.
So that was it.
Meng and Xu both breathed a sigh of relief.
“I think we should still tidy up the mansion on my elder brother’s side, so I’d like to ask my grandmother to send someone over there. As for the rest, you and my mother should discuss it. I will send a letter to my family tomorrow and ask them to come over early. Also, don’t let big brother know about this.”
Song Si had made it clear from the start that the wedding would be simple, and if he knew about it, he would definitely not agree.
Meng and Xu both naturally knew.
……
The next morning, Song Wangyue went to Li An’s house in a carriage and had his stitches performed.
An hour later, Li An was carried on a carriage by four underlings to the Ministry of Works gate.
The people of the Ministry of Works came in and out and naturally saw Li An’s carriage, but none of them paid any attention to him until they saw him being carried out on a board by four underlings, then they looked over in surprise.
It had been nearly twenty days since Li An was injured, and even if he hadn’t gotten better he shouldn’t be like this now.
Li An’s face was pale and his forehead was still covered in cold sweat, obviously in severe pain.
Although the crowd usually ostracised him, they had after all been colleagues for many years, and someone could not help but come forward, “Brother Li, what are you ……”
Li An shook his voice, “I, my leg is ruined, I can’t serve the court anymore, so I’m here to hand in my resignation.”
I’m here to tender my resignation?
The crowd looked at me, and I looked at you.
Li An was an upright man, somewhat uncomfortable, and in the past, they did not dare to exclude him because of the Xu family. Later, after the Wen Zhong incident, they learnt that Li An’s family of three had been expelled from the Xu family, which gave them the guts to do so. But they only ostracised, they didn’t want to squeeze him out, after all, it was Li An who did all sorts of work that they didn’t want to do.
“No, it’s not that serious, is it?”
The man who spoke gulped.
Liam struggled to lift a corner of the quilt, and his swollen and uncomfortable legs were exposed to the crowd.
All of them drew back a breath of cold air in unison.
Li An covered up the blanket and gestured for his underlings to carry him inside.
Today, the court was dismissed early and there was nothing to do. The Minister of Works was drinking tea inside the house when he heard the report and, thinking of the Grand Prince’s gesture, he unprecedentedly got up and came to the door.
Almost all the people from the Ministry of Works had gathered.
Li An gestured for his subordinates to stop and wanted to salute, but as soon as he moved, cold sweat integrated into large beads on his forehead and rolled down.
“Great, my lord ……”
His words were incoherent with pain, “I ……”
The Minister of Works didn’t expect it to be this bad, suppressing the rice of guilt in his heart, he spoke steadily, “You’re ……”
Li An signaled the subordinate who carried him at the forefront to hand up the resignation he had written, and said with difficulty, “Also, please allow it, Your Excellency.”
The Minister of Works naturally could not allow it, he did not accept the resignation, “What are you doing? If you’ve hurt your leg, you should take care of it and come back after more time.
“Your Excellency, it’s not that I have to leave the Ministry of Finance, it’s just that ……”
Li An lifted the quilt again.
The Minister of Works saw it clearly and also drew a breath of cold air.
The pain on Li An’s face was clear, “The doctor said that I am afraid that my legs are ruined, I, I am afraid that I will spend the rest of my life in bed.”
There was another gasp in the courtyard.
The Minister of Works steadied his mind, but he must not let the man go!
“You were wounded in the line of duty, so naturally the Ministry of Works will take care of you, so how about this, you first draw ten or twenty taels of silver to go back and take good care of your illness, as for anything else, don’t think about it yet.”
“Your Excellency ……”
A man ran quickly to the Minister of Works and whispered a few words in his ear.
The Minister of Works froze slightly before commanding, “Ask him to wait.”