Chapter 1158: Wanting to Serve at the Heaven Prison

As a sinner of the Chen clan, those old vegetables were no match for Chen Chen Guanlou at all; each one was scolded into such shame they couldn't lift their heads.

It wasn't that they lacked experience.

The truth was, when it came to the art of hoodwinking and brainwashing, even the dignified Minister of Justice couldn't withstand it. Whatever noble family's young master, whatever old fox of the officialdom—once they fell into Chen Chen Guanlou's hands, their heads would go fuzzy for a while.

Crooked logic and heresy, one after another.

Their experience was enough, but their thinking couldn't keep up! By the time their thinking caught up, the matter was already settled.

And so, the plan to spend a thousand taels to buy off disaster was unanimously agreed upon amid Chen Chen Guanlou's furious cursing.

The original plan was a hundred taels—now it's multiplied by ten!

By the time the old vegetables came to their senses, Chen Chen Guanlou had long since run off. The words "a thousand taels" had already been let loose and couldn't be taken back.

Sigh!

Then let's go with the scale of a thousand taels—spend money to buy off disaster, and get rid of this bad luck as soon as possible.

After Chen Chen Guanlou left the clan, the younger generation member Chen Mengzhi had been following at his side the whole time.

"Uncle Lou, what do you think of me?"

Chen Chen Guanlou turned his head and glanced at him. "Pretty good."

"Uncle Lou, can I go serve at the Heaven Prison?"

"You want to serve at the Heaven Prison?" Chen Chen Guanlou was quite surprised.

Any member of the Chen clan could find a job one way or another. Leaning on the Hou Fu, as long as they could swallow their pride, they could work as a clerk at a merchant house, an apprentice at a shop, learn farming at an estate, or pull strings to enter the Hou Fu for a post...

In any case, there was no shortage of jobs or paths. Tough it out a few years, and life would get better.

If they had guts and weren't afraid to die, they could become a soldier. Following the Marquis, sooner or later they'd earn merit and become a military officer.

This is what they call leaning on a big tree for shade.

The Heaven Prison's reputation stank to high heaven; it wouldn't improve just because of Chen Chen Guanlou's few years of reform. In the world's eyes, a jailer was always a degrading profession. How could a good man from a respectable family go to a place like the Heaven Prison and ruin his own reputation! In the future, he wouldn't even be able to find himself a decent wife.

Chen Mengzhi looked a bit embarrassed, lowered his head and eyes, but still nodded. "I heard people say the Heaven Prison pays well, so..."

"Is your family that hard up for money?"

Chen Chen Guanlou asked while trying to recall—who was Chen Mengzhi's father again, what was his family's situation...

There were too many clan members; many were only nodding acquaintances, he really couldn't remember. Even if he did remember, the person and the name didn't match up.

Chen Mengzhi said softly, "I have three older brothers!"

Chen Chen Guanlou understood instantly.

The family's resources were limited—given to the three older brothers above, by the time it was his turn, there was nothing left.

"Your parents don't care about you at all?"

"My father needs to take medicine, my mother has to help my eldest and second brother look after the kids... I've been doing odd jobs around the clan, barely making any money. I thought it over and over, I can't keep going on like this. So, Uncle Lou, can I go serve at the Heaven Prison?"

Chen Chen Guanlou stared at him, thought for a moment. "If you want to go to the Heaven Prison, it's not impossible. There aren't many easy jobs at the Heaven Prison. Can you read, write, and do accounts?"

"I can be a jailer!"

"You little bastard!" Chen Chen Guanlou kicked him directly. "Jailers are steeped in all five poisons. If you hang around that bunch of jailers every day, at your age and lacking self-control, you'll be deep in it within days. The money you earn won't even cover your gambling. Tell me—can you read, write, and do accounts or not?"

"I barely studied for a few years, I can do basic accounts."

"That's enough. Come to the Heaven Prison tomorrow, I'll arrange something for you. Start out in the Document Room working under the secretary. Once you've learned the skills, I'll make other arrangements!"

Chen Mengzhi was overjoyed at the words. "Thank you, Uncle Lou, thank you, Uncle Lou! I'll kowtow to you, Uncle Lou."

The moment his words fell, the kid really did drop to his knees and kowtow—bang, bang, bang—he knocked his head quite hard.

Chen Chen Guanlou laughed. "You don't even ask how much the monthly pay is? What if the income doesn't match what you could get in the clan?"

Chen Mengzhi's face was all smiles. "I trust Uncle Lou wouldn't cheat me. The income must be better than in the clan."

"You've got some spark. Once you're at the Heaven Prison, do your job honestly, ask when you don't understand, don't pretend to understand when you don't. Matters of life and death—don't try any tricks on me. I'd rather you be a little slow than have you play clever with me. Got it?"

"Got it!"

"Good that you remember. The job in the clan—find time to quit it, don't leave loose ends. Since you've decided to serve at the Heaven Prison, do a proper job for me. I don't want you half-hearted, working three or five months and then running off. At the very least, you have to stick it out for a year."

"Don't worry, Uncle Lou. I'll keep at it."

Young whippersnapper—all big talk!

Chen Chen Guanlou sent the kid off, not taking his words to heart. He went to the Hou Fu!

The atmosphere at the Hou Fu was a bit strange.

He met with the head steward and voiced his puzzlement.

The head steward smiled, not taking it seriously. "You've heard, right? The Hou Fu is splitting up. The servants' minds are unsettled, everyone's angling for connections. Some want to stay with the Hou Fu and follow the First Branch. Some want to follow the Second Branch! A total mess!"

"Aren't you going to manage it?"

"Manage what? Let them scramble. Who's loyal and who's treacherous will be clear at a glance. This old man heard you came from the clan. How did you have the time to run over to the clan? Aren't you the most impatient with these things?"

"Heh, those old vegetables..."

Chen Chen Guanlou didn't hide anything and laid out the whole matter.

After hearing it all, the head steward sighed. "Embezzlement—there's no avoiding it anywhere. Inside the Hou Fu, there's also a pile of termites. Wherever people are involved, you can't escape such things. Still, when a roof beam collapses, it's a big or small matter. Just as you said, in the larger sense, that's the Chen clan's pillar of support! No, this matter must be taken seriously. Spending money to buy off disaster—that line of thinking is correct. The only worry is that a thousand taels won't be enough."

"I quoted a thousand taels, and those old men were already wailing as if I was taking their lives. If you say a thousand taels isn't enough, isn't that forcing them to go hang themselves? Those old fellows love to throw their age around—don't you go wading into this muddy water. If it really won't work, have the Heir Apparent step in. He's the clan's designated heir; with the Marquis away, he's the biggest. The old fellows all have to give him some face."

The designated heir was the clan leader's successor—the face of a family.

If Chen Chen Guanfu was willing to step forward, those old fellows in the clan, even if unhappy, would have to pinch their noses and accept it. The designated heir's face had to be given—no choice. If they didn't, what if in the future he gave their own sons and grandsons a hard time, canceled their various hidden benefits? All the good things going to other families and not theirs—how could that be acceptable?

The head steward said, "Since the Heir Apparent entered the Ministry of Personnel, he's been terribly busy. Now he has to form a marriage alliance with the Empress, with all kinds of conflicting interests behind it. This kind of matter, this old man can handle—no need to trouble him."

"Then let Chen Chen Mengzhao step forward. He's the Hou Fu's heir, not young anymore—it's time he stood on his own and did some proper work. Why not start with the clan's affairs and use it to temper himself a bit. Chen Chen Guanfu would surely agree."

The head steward mulled it over, then nodded. "That's a line of thinking."