Chapter 368

She liked to make some pastries in the kitchen of the inner quarters.

Or tend to flowers and plants and such.

She looked much more ethereal as a whole.

At first, Su Qiao worried that Liu Rushi would feel stifled inside the house at number 28, so he urged her to go out for walks more often.

Liu Rushi went out twice, but instead found the outside scenery tiresome, preferring to relax at home.

So Su Qiao let her have her way.

"Oh my! This is..."

Liu Rushi saw ten thousand taels of silver notes on the table, plus two hundred-year-old ginseng roots.

She only felt her scalp go numb.

Her heart pounded wildly!

"What's wrong? Just take the things; you can keep and manage the silver notes too."

Su Qiao said to Liu Rushi without the slightest concern.

Liu Rushi had seen plenty of money before; she herself had saved several thousand taels of silver.

But that was accumulated slowly over many years, whereas now there was a sudden ten thousand taels in silver notes.

It was truly too shocking!

Liu Rushi quickly covered the silver notes and glanced twice into the courtyard.

Seeing no one, she hurriedly whispered to Su Qiao, "Accepting such a heavy gift, this is bribery!"

Seeing Liu Rushi's flustered state, Su Qiao thought she was extremely cute and burst out laughing on the spot.

"Hahaha, you're far too nervous!"

Seeing Su Qiao's manner, Liu Rushi glared at him and said somewhat reproachfully, "This is a matter that could cost your head! Even if Your Majesty favors you, if someone reports you, you will surely not fare well!"

Su Qiao knew she was worried about him and quickly began to explain.

"Rushi, you need not worry. Just keep these; I will speak to Your Majesty later. Besides, I hold no official post, nor am I a proper official of the court; I am merely a commoner now, so the charge of bribery does not apply to me."

"Ah?!"

Liu Rushi was somewhat stunned by Su Qiao's explanation.

She had always thought Su Qiao was some high-ranking official of the court.

Mainly because he was so highly favored.

He did not need to attend morning court, yet held great power.

She thought this was the case and did not dare to ask further.

After all, due to the times, women's status was extremely low.

Liu Rushi herself originally came from the mean registration.

So she kept her posture very low and generally did not interfere with Su Qiao's affairs.

But after Su Qiao explained like this today, she finally understood that Su Qiao was not an official at all, but merely something like the Emperor's advisor.

Hmm, instantly Liu Rushi felt both joy and worry.

The joy was that Su Qiao would not be bound by officialdom, just as Su Qiao said; there was simply no so-called charge of bribery.

The worry was that since Su Qiao was not an official, if imperial favor suddenly vanished one day, Su Qiao would easily be cast down to his true form and become an ordinary person.

Changes in power and status, though Liu Rushi was young, she had witnessed many.

What she worried about was Su Qiao's future situation.

Su Qiao comforted Liu Rushi with a smile, "It's fine, do not worry about me. Do you think I, who can offer strategies to Your Majesty, would not consider the future?"

As for what the future would actually be like, Su Qiao had not truly decided yet.

Right now, he was simply comforting Liu Rushi with words.

Having confirmed that both the silver notes and the ginseng could be accepted, Liu Rushi took the silver notes decisively and called Qing'er to carry the gift box to the rear courtyard.

Cui Linyu returned to the guesthouse from Su Qiao, his face pitch black.

On the way, he had reviewed the interaction process with Su Qiao.

He was alerted!

Because he verified one point: Su Qiao knew very detailed information about their embassy's affairs.

This proved that their delegation was being watched.

He had been somewhat taking things for granted before!

They were strangers after all; no matter how quiet they remained, they would always be specially watched.

Fortunately, today only three people caused trouble in three different places.

And it was merely minor quarrels and arrogance.

It would not expose their true purpose.

Another point: giving gifts to Su Qiao today, plus adding ten thousand taels of silver notes, was also a test.

He was testing Su Qiao himself.

The result was mixed.

What relieved him was that Su Qiao accepted the heavy gift, even taking the ten thousand taels of silver notes.

And though Su Qiao was young, his status and position were worth a high price to buy.

This was a breakthrough.

What worried him was that Su Qiao's appetite was somewhat large.

Today was just a meeting, yet he directly paid out ten thousand taels of silver notes plus two ginseng roots.

The value is at least around fifteen thousand taels!

Then if we want to continue using money to bribe and handle another major matter, how much will it cost?

Cui Linyu dared not think about it; the mere thought made her heart ache.

The next morning after court ended, Su Qiao went to the palace to see Zhu Youjian again.

It was not that Zhu Youjian wanted to see Su Qiao, but rather Zhu Yuanzhang, for some reason unknown, wanted to ask Su Qiao about something.

"Su Qing, Great-Grandfather has something to ask you."

Zhu Youjian opened his mouth with just this sentence.

Su Qiao widened his eyes, looking completely bewildered.

Whoosh!

A streak of white light suddenly flashed out.

Su Qiao was startled.

Zhu Youjian was startled as well.

After the white light passed, Zhu Yuanzhang appeared in the great hall.

"I have managed to come over this time. Su Qiao, how have you been staying here with Zhu Youjian?"

Zhu Yuanzhang casually grabbed Zhu Youjian, who was sitting on the dragon throne, yanked him outward, and pulled him straight down to the floor.

He himself sat down decisively.

Only then did the dazed Zhu Youjian and Su Qiao react.

"This subject greets Your Majesty!"

"Sun Chen, prostrating before Laozu Sect!"

"Very well, rise."

"This subject feels it is quite good, just a bit busy."

Su Qiao spoke the plain truth.

"Being a bit busy is good; if you are not busy, you will become a useless person who just eats and waits to die!"

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said.

"I just happened to have something to ask you today. A few days ago, a memorial from Quanzhou was presented, stating that a queen and a princess from a foreign kingdom fled by ship and arrived at Quanzhou Guard. We told them to head north directly. These down-and-out queen and princess want Zan Gang to avenge them and restore their kingdom, saying they will give us a vast new continent, no smaller than Great Ming. What do you think?"

"Replying to Your Majesty, this subject wishes to sit and watch!"

222, Su Qiao: Burning the bridge after crossing the river?

Zhu Yuanzhang: "..."