Chapter 356

Wang Qiren's disappearance initially made Chen Guanlou furious, feeling he had been toyed with by Zhang Daohe; he had to expend time and money searching for the body and covering up the mess, nearly exposing himself.

He had also considered investigating the moles.

But later, he abandoned the idea.

Moles?!

From top to bottom, everyone in the Tianlaomiao was a mole.

Privately, nearly every jailer had secretly taken money from prisoners, slipped messages between inside and outside, or run errands for them—this was called extra income!

A jailer who never earned extra income was not a qualified jailer.

Jailers at the Tianlaomiao were lowly, greedy, and addicted to gambling—utterly corrupt—and yet they were the favorite clients of gambling dens. They had fixed monthly salaries, substantial extra income, and no risk of bad debts. Their long-term stability made them beloved by the gambling dens.

The jailers from the neighboring Zhao Prison were not nearly as popular.

After all, Zhao Prison answered to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and gambling dens feared dealing with them above all. They treated Zhao Prison jailers with extreme caution, afraid that saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing might reach the Embroidered Uniform Guard's ears and become leverage.

Tianlaomiao jailers had no habit of secretly reporting to the Six Ministries; they made money fast and spent freely when gambling. If they lost, they simply took on two more outside jobs to recover their losses.

Under these circumstances, investigating moles would mean turning the entire A- and B-cell blocks upside down—bad for internal stability and bad for work.

He was a jail clerk, not a jail warden, let alone a chief official—why should he care?

Besides, the Ministry of Justice knew full well the state of the Tianlaomiao, yet had never investigated moles; why should he break the unwritten rules?

Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents.

He didn't want to spend his meals and drinks constantly fearing poison. Even if no one poisoned him, someone spitting into his water would be enough to disgust him. He didn't want to come home at night and find a dead woman in his bed.

Jailers had strong grudges and ample means to retaliate.

Everyone benefits, everyone gets along, everyone lifts each other up—that's the proper attitude for those who draw salary from the state.

He was no passionate reformer like Zhao Mingqiao, nor an ambitious schemer like Yu Zhaoan.

Xiao Jin, upon confirming Chen Guanlou had no intention of investigating moles, seemed to exhale a quiet sigh of relief.

Chen Guanlou glanced at him—perhaps Xiao Jin himself was someone's mole, secretly taking money and running errands, delivering messages.

Why dig deeper?

He laughed, waved his hand, and dismissed Xiao Jin.

When he had nothing to do, he descended into the Tianlaomiao and stood before Xie Changling's cell, telling him, "Yu Zhaoan, upon assuming the post of Chancellor, did his first earth-shattering thing: during a court meeting on how to crush Prince Chu, he impeached Prince Zhong. What do you think of this news, Master Xie?"

Xie Changling: …

His expression looked dazed, as if still lost in his books, not yet returned to reality.

After a pause, he slowly said, "As Chancellor, Yu Zhaoan has the freedom to impeach whomever he wishes—even Minister Li cannot stop him. What can I do? As for Prince Zhong, he still enjoys freedom and is never short of strategists; it's not my place to worry about him."

Huh?

This attitude was truly surprising.

"You seem utterly unsurprised by Yu Zhaoan's impeachment of Prince Zhong. Did you already know about it?" Chen Guanlou speculated.

Previously, Xie Changling had asked him to deliver a letter to Yu Zhaoan—he refused. He hadn't paid attention afterward. Now it seemed clear the two had secretly colluded.

"Could it be you told Yu Zhaoan to impeach Prince Zhong?" Chen Guanlou ventured boldly, letting his imagination run wild. With these clever men, one must fly far beyond ordinary logic—ordinary thinking always misses the mark. Only wild speculation might catch up to their deep, hidden thoughts.

Xie Changling raised an eyebrow and sneered, "What merit do I have to make Yu Zhaoan listen to me? Jail Clerk Chen, you've dealt with Yu Zhaoan—you know what kind of man he is. Do you think I have the standing to make him obey me?"

Well, that… made sense.

Yu Zhaoan was too arrogant to be manipulated.

But…

Always beware of "but."

"There are ways to convince Yu Zhaoan to listen to you—if it serves his interests, he has no reason to refuse."

Chen Guanlou said this.

Xie Changling spread his hands, "I have nothing—barely able to save myself. What can I offer to sway Yu Zhaoan? Jail Clerk Chen, don't guess anymore. Your theories are laughable—even if creatively bold."

"As for Yu Zhaoan impeaching Prince Zhong, it was bound to happen. As a new Chancellor, with Prince Chu rising in rebellion, he must prove himself, win the Emperor's favor. What better act than impeaching Prince Zhong?"

After all, Prince Chu's rebellion is at least somewhat tied to Prince Zhong—if Prince Zhong hadn't been deposed, Prince Chu would never have dared move.

The Emperor is narrow-minded and will never admit his own faults caused Prince Chu's rebellion. Who must bear the blame? Only Prince Zhong. In other words, sooner or later, the Emperor will pin Prince Chu's rebellion on Prince Zhong. Yu Zhaoan merely acted ahead of time."

"You knew Prince Chu would rebel?"

"If I could foretell the future, how could Prince Zhong have been deposed?" Xie Changling laughed bitterly. "If I could foretell the future, the throne would be Prince Zhong's, and I'd be the youngest Chancellor in court."

His angry demeanor looked far more alive now, no longer the lifeless corpse he'd been before.

Chen Guanlou quietly exhaled—he'd worried Xie Changling might have secretly tried to kill himself; now he saw he'd overthought it.

"You're jealous of Yu Zhaoan?" he teased, as if uncovering a secret. "Master Xie, you're the top imperial scholar. Yu Zhaoan is merely a second-rank jinshi. And you're barely thirty."

Xie Changling snorted, "Does being barely thirty disqualify one from being Chancellor? Am I worse than those old men in court? Aside from lacking seniority, I'm superior in every way."

The scholar-god's confidence was unmatched.

"Those old men you mention? They were top scholars, runners-up, third-place winners too—not inferior to you," Chen Guanlou retorted.

"But they're outdated," Xie Changling sneered. "All stubborn traditionalists. The court is stagnant water. No wonder the Emperor crushes them so easily—he even pulled off a military coup to depose the Crown Prince, a ludicrous absurdity—and succeeded!"

"Jail Clerk Chen, you're a scholar too—have you ever read in official or unofficial histories of a military coup deposing a Crown Prince? Have you ever seen a Chancellor as incompetent as Li Liangcheng, manipulated by the Emperor, powerless to resist when he wanted to depose the Crown Prince? A bunch of useless fools!"

Xie Changling's nostrils flared with rage; he slammed his fist against the wall, sending dust cascading over his body.