The man walked away quickly.
The Minister of Works looked at Li An, his tone was gentle, “It is cold outside, have someone carry you inside to warm you up first, this official has important matters to deal with, I will talk about you when I return later.”
Li An opened his mouth to say something else, but the Minister of Works walked towards the side.
Looking at his slightly faster pace, the crowd of people watching looked at each other in disbelief.
Li An was unable to do so, so he had to ask his subordinates to carry him first to the room where his office used to be.
In that house, Song Si was sitting in a chair for guests, and someone diligently served him tea, saying curtly, “Our lord will be here in a moment.”
Of the six ministries, the Ministry of the Household was the first. With Song Si’s position as Minister of the Household Ministry, and his donation of one million taels to the Ministry of War together with his younger sister, officials in the capital were now always eager to pay court to him when they saw him.
The Minister of Works walked to the entrance of the house, straightened his official uniform, covered his mouth and coughed, and lifted his feet to enter the house.
Song Si rose at the sound of his voice and bowed to him, “Greetings, Lord Shang Shu.”
The Minister of Works was flattered but did not show it on his face. He walked over and sat down with unhurried steps and waited for the tea to be served before asking, “Is Song Si here to …… today?”
“For the matter of Li An’s resignation.”
The Minister of Works froze.
“Your Excellency is unaware that Li An and I have had our differences.”
The Minister of Works froze again.
Then he remembered that Xu Qingwan had been victimized by the Wen family and lost her memory for years, and naturally Wen couldn’t get away with it, as well as that Xu Ling’er, who had been expelled from the Xu House ……
Wait a minute.
The Minister of Works remembered something, Li An’s family was kicked out of the Xu family before Xu Qingwan returned to the Xu family, what could have made the old man so angry, could it be ……
“Exactly what Your Excellency is thinking.”
Song Si’s voice carried a faintly imperceptible anger, and although he tried his best to conceal it, the Minister of Works still heard it.
“When Xu Ling’er tried to set up a marriage to me, it was fortunate that the old man discovered it and expelled them from the Xu family.”
That was really true!
The Minister of Works’ hand touched up his tealight and asked tentatively, “What you mean is ……”
“Please, Your Excellency, oblige him, as long as he is without official status ……”
The latter words Song Si did not say, the Minister of Works understood that it was easy to want a few commoners to disappear without a sound. However, the Grand Prince had first had a message sent to him that he could not let anyone leave.
He lifted his tea and took a few sips.
Song Si suddenly changed the subject, “I heard that Your Excellency plans to build a new ditch outside the city tomorrow at the beginning of spring.”
The Minister of Works paused in his tea drinking and looked at Song Si.
The ditch outside the city was many years old and needed to be repaired every year, but even though a lot of manpower and resources had been invested, the result was very little. This is a big project that will require a lot of silver, and the old fox, the Minister of Household Affairs, may not be able to give it to him quickly, but if he has Song Si’s promise ……
The Ministry of Industry has taken another sip of tea before putting the tea down and playing official, “I fully understand Squire Song’s feelings, but Li An has not done anything wrong in the Ministry of Industry over the years, not to mention that he was injured at work, so letting him go like this would make me uneasy in my heart. I’ll ask someone to get a doctor and listen to what he has to say.”
Song Si nodded his head.
The Minister of Works got up and left.
When he walked outside, he called a believer over and whispered a few instructions. The believer flew out of the Ministry of Works, walked to the hitching post and untied the reins, flew on his horse and went to the Grand Prince’s residence.
Yesterday Zheng Fan personally came over to tell him that the house steward had seen Xu Liang at Li An’s house. The Grand Prince was so happy that he turned around the house a few times, and he knew that even if he had driven Xu Ling’er out of Xu’s house, the old man still had her in mind.
He was about to order another trip to Li An’s house, but thought better of it. Li An was a stinking, hard stone in a thatched pit, and he would not give in until he had suffered for a few more days.
When he heard that the Minister of Works had sent someone over, he immediately asked his butler to bring him over, “What is it?”
“Li An has gone to resign today.”
“Resigned?”
“Yes, he can’t even walk now, he was carried there by four underlings, saying that the doctor said that his leg would be ruined.”
“Ruined ……”
The Grand Prince subconsciously wanted to say “not ruined”, but he swallowed the words at the edge of his mouth, he was the one who instructed the housekeeper to have a medicine changed in Li An’s medicine, he knew exactly what the condition of Li An’s leg was.
“Squire Song also went there, he wants His Excellency to answer Li An’s resignation.”
“Squire Song Si?”
The Grand Prince confirmed.
The visitor answered yes, and gave him Song Si’s words word for word.
The great prince got up and paced a few steps behind the table, he only wanted Zheng Fan to take Xu Ling’er as his noble concubine because he wanted to draw in the Xu family and Song Si, and now a great favor was in front of him ……
He made his decision at once, “It shall be done.”
The visitor answered yes and flew out of the Grand Prince’s residence.
As soon as he left, the Grand Prince called out to his butler, “Send someone to tell Zheng Fan to send someone to Li An’s house quickly and to admit Xu Ling’er into the house in three days.”
The steward answered and quickly went down to give the order.
The Grand Prince leaned back in his chair and smiled happily.
He was so happy. When the time was ripe, he would have the Minister of Works tell Song Si that he would definitely accept the favour. And by allowing Zheng Fan to take on Xu Ling’er, he is also giving him a break, and if he is solicited by himself in the future, he will certainly not refuse. He would not refuse if he was recruited by himself in the future. Moreover, by accepting Xu Ling’er, he would also have a relationship with the old man, so how could he not be happy?
The visitor flew back to the Ministry of Works and told the Minister of Works what the Grand Prince had said.
The doctor also happened to finish looking at Li An and shook his head repeatedly, saying that there was nothing he could do.
The Minister of Works had a pityful face and had someone bring over fifty taels of silver to Li An, “Take it and use it first, you have been in the Ministry of Works for so many years, dedicated and diligent, this official knows it well in his heart, if you have any difficulties in the future, just come over, this official will certainly find a way to help you.”
Li An thanked him again and again, and asked his servants to carry him back.
Once he had left, the Minister of Works went to the other side of the room and asked the person who was talking with Song Si in the room with his eyes, and seeing him nod slightly, he knew that Song Si had not left the room.
Song Si got up and bowed, “I’ll take this favour from your Excellency.”
The Minister of Works gave him a false support, “Please remember your words, Squire Song.”
“Your Excellency, don’t worry, I will do my best to help you get more silver.”
The Minister of Works was happy in his heart, but his face did not show it, and he personally escorted the man out of the Ministry of Works.
Over there, Zheng Fan received a message from the Grand Prince’s people and immediately sent his butler to deliver the message, but when the butler arrived, he could not call the door open even though the gate was unlocked.