Chapter 123 History Writes Me
In the city gate, Zhang Zhuo stood holding his horse.

He looked at Chen Ji, his eyes sparkling: "Do you have a way to find the Liu family? If you can find them, this official... this official..."

Zhang Zhuo wanted to say, "I will guarantee your promotion." But he changed his mind and thought that Chen Ji was a member of the inner court, and even if he had great power, he could not promote Chen Ji.

He thought for a moment and said, "It is because of you that I was able to keep my job today. If you can find these people, I will owe you a huge favor. If you encounter difficulties in the future and need help, as long as I can do it, I will never refuse."

Chen Ji was puzzled: "Are there no additional conditions, such as 'not violating principles'?"

Zhang Zhuo smiled and patted Chen Ji on the shoulder: "Don't worry, I have no principles."

Chen Ji: "..."

Zhang Zhuo smoothed the wrinkles on his official robe and looked at Chen Ji with a sharp gaze: "Tell me, how can you find them?"

Chen Ji looked at the crowd of disaster victims and said softly, "They will jump out on their own."

At this time, a horse-drawn carriage drove into the city, accompanied by hundreds of servants.

Zhang Zhuo subconsciously glanced at Chen Ji and said nonchalantly, "This is the carriage of Chen Liqin, the Tongzhi of Luocheng. He must have just heard about the civil uprising, so he rushed here regardless of his own safety. Well, although our Tongzhi is a bit pedantic, he is also a rare gentleman in the officialdom."

At this point, Zhang Zhuo changed the subject and said proudly, "Of course, Master Chen is still far behind me. At least I am easier to get along with than him."

The carriage approached.

Without waiting for the carriage to stop, Chen Liqin lifted the curtain, took a stick from the official, and walked over aggressively: "Master Zhang, what is the situation now?"

Zhang Zhuo teased, "Master Chen, if we wait for you to help us now, I'm afraid thousands of people in Luocheng will have suffered."

Chen Liqin's expression froze: "After drinking at the Luming Banquet last night, I went to bed early, I..."

Zhang Zhuo smiled and waved his hands: "It's okay, it's okay. The civil unrest has subsided for the time being, and Lord Chen doesn't need to blame himself. Lord Chen will come to preside over the porridge distribution later."

Chen Liqin breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhang Zhuo looked at Chen Liqin and asked, "Where are you from, Mr. Chen?"

Chen Liqin frowned, "Today is the day to report to Zhixing Academy. I sent Wen Zong and Wen Xiao there early in the morning. I also happened to visit Mr. Wang and ask him to be stricter in disciplining my son. Who would have thought that on the first day of entering the academy, Chen Ji made me lose face..."

Zhang Zhuo was stunned and subconsciously wanted to look at Chen Ji, but he held back.

Today is the day Chen Ji starts school!
Wang Daosheng’s rule is to roll in at 1 a.m., but now it’s already 15:30!

But Chen Liqin continued, "Master Zhang, you said yesterday that Chen Ji had agreed to Prince Jing's request. At that time, I thought that as long as he could concentrate on studying, I wouldn't have to worry about anything else. But this boy is simply stubborn and hopeless!"

Zhang Zhuo opened his mouth but couldn't say anything for a long time. After a long time, he hesitated and asked, "Does Chen Ji have something more important to do?"

Chen Liqin sneered, "What's more important? I thought he was sleeping in, which is understandable, after all, it's understandable that young people are playful and sleepy. But I even went to the clinic, only to find that he wasn't there at all."

"Did Doctor Yao tell me where he went?"

Chen Liqin became angrier and angrier as he spoke: "Dr. Yao refused to say anything, and neither did his two senior brothers, but I guess this guy went to the gambling house again and didn't come back all night. He talks about changing his ways, but I think he's just a dog that can't change its nature!"

Seeing that his words were getting more and more unpleasant, Zhang Zhuo also became a little angry: "As a father, how can you always doubt your own child? When someone said that Chen Ji was a gambler, did you investigate seriously?"

Chen Liqin was puzzled: "The gambling house came to me with a written IOU, how could it be fake?"

Zhang Zhuo's eyes widened. "So, you believed it after seeing the loan agreement? If someone comes to slander my child, I will get to the bottom of it. Sir Chen, it's a good thing that you are a Tongzhi, not a Tongpan. Otherwise, how many unjust, false and wrong cases would have happened in my Luocheng government office over the years?!"

Chen Liqin glared at him: "You!"

A voice interrupted the quarrel between the two: "My Lords, why don't we talk about business first."

The voice was as calm as a basin of cold water, poured over the two of them.

Zhang Zhuo turned his head.

But Chen Ji was still wearing the mask in his pocket, with his face covered, leaving only a pair of calm eyes.

He was a little worried, but didn't know how to comfort her.

However, Chen Ji only analyzed: "The two adults should quickly arrange the porridge distribution. Not to mention whether there will be more trouble if it is delayed for too long, I think those people are really at the end of their rope. If they don't have food, I'm afraid they can't bear it."

For some reason, Zhang Zhuo suddenly had a feeling that this apprentice in the medical clinic had really severed all of Chen's blood ties.

Like a wild grass in the wilderness, it doesn't matter where it comes from or where it goes, it grows wantonly. But the other party's action last night was like a heavy rain in August, majestic and powerful. Chen Liqin looked at Chen Ji: "Who is this?"

Zhang Zhuo pointed at Chen Ji and said, "The quelling of the civil unrest was all thanks to this colleague from the Secret Service. He has the demeanor of a great general at such a young age."

Chen Liqin, dressed in a red official robe, looked Chen Ji up and down, frowned slightly, and said, "Secret Service?"

Zhang Zhuo said angrily, "Master Chen, you should really thank him. If he hadn't been alone outside the city as a hostage to hold back the disaster victims last night, you and I would not be able to keep our official positions now."

Chen Liqin said calmly: "I will not go along with the eunuch party just because they occasionally do something good. Mr. Zhang, I advise you to stay away from the eunuch party."

Zhang Zhuo laughed angrily: "Master Chen, sooner or later you will fall into trouble because of your pedantry!"

After saying that, he turned around and waved to the officials in the government office: "What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and borrow an iron pot from a nearby citizen to cook porridge!"

……

……

Sixteen large iron pots were set up outside the city. The white rice porridge was bubbling in the pots, giving off a thick aroma. The victims stretched their necks and stood on tiptoe to watch.

But in front of the porridge stall, there was a row of officials holding hands and blocking the way so tightly that nothing could be seen.

Behind the human wall, Chen Liqin inspected each pot.

He held up the long sleeves of his official robe with his left hand, and with his right hand, he inserted a chopstick into the thick porridge, and did not feel relieved until he was sure that the chopstick would not fall over.

Zhang Zhuo curled his lips and said, "Master Chen, it's good enough for these disaster victims to have a mouthful of porridge to eat. What's the point of talking about the rules of sticking chopsticks in without falling over or wrapping with a towel without leaking?"

Chen Liqin said solemnly: "Master Zhang, chopsticks must not fall down and two meals a day are the iron rules of the court's porridge distribution. You and I serve the court and should abide by them. There is no order without rules. If everyone can ignore the rules, in the end, only the powerful will benefit, and only the common people will be hurt."

"Aren't your Chen family powerful?" Zhang Zhuo said sarcastically, "Do you know that if you give out porridge like this, the food available in Luocheng will only last for fifteen days at most. What will they eat and drink after fifteen days? If you are really capable, you can take back all the land in the hands of the noble families according to the law and distribute it to the people. Then the people will not need your porridge at all."

Chen Liqin waved his hand and said, "Master Zhang, I am not as good as you in terms of sophistry. I only do things according to rules and laws."

While the two were arguing, Chen Ji came back with a bag of sand and grabbed a handful of sand to throw into the pot.

"What are you doing?" Chen Liqin grabbed Chen Ji's wrist and glared at him: "This is porridge for the disaster victims. You threw sand into it. Aren't you deliberately mistreating people?"

Chen Ji looked up at him, then without saying a word freed his wrist and continued to throw sand into the pot.

But Chen Liqin shouted angrily: "Someone, stop him!"

Several officials holding killing sticks blocked Chen Ji's way, while Jin Zhu and his secret agents blocked Chen Ji's way and said with a smile, "What are you doing? We are trying to protect the two masters' official hats, but the two masters are using killing sticks to attack us?"

Chen Liqin said angrily: "Let's not talk about whether they are in a high position or not. These disaster victims are already miserable enough. Why do you want to mix sand into their porridge and mistreat them?"

Jinzhu hesitated for a moment and looked back at Chen Ji.

Chen Ji explained: "There are Liu family's assassins among the victims. If we don't find them, there will be a civil uprising sooner or later. But there are so many victims, and it is impossible to tell who are the victims and who are the assassins from the outside."

"What does this have to do with you mixing sand?"

Chen Ji picked up a sack and took out a handful of sand. He said, "Those disaster victims have eaten all the tree barks bare, so they don't care if there is sand in the porridge. But those dead soldiers are different. They are not hungry, so they will pay special attention to the sand in the porridge. Maybe they will take the initiative to jump out and take the opportunity to incite civil unrest again."

Chen Liqin shook his head and said, "This is against the laws of Da Ning. Giving out porridge is giving out porridge, and we can't break the rules. Moreover, if the victims think that the officials of the imperial court mixed sand into the grain in order to withhold the disaster relief grain, we won't be able to explain ourselves."

Seeing that he insisted, Chen Ji threw the sack aside and said, "There is another way. There are many large-leaf hollies along the road in Luocheng. Let the officials pick them and put them in the pot to increase the bitterness of the porridge."

When humans are extremely hungry, neurons in the arcuate nucleus and lateral area of ​​the brain become particularly active. At this time, humans become more sensitive to sweetness and more tolerant to bitterness and sourness.

This is also the reason why everyone feels that food tastes sweeter when they are hungry.

Therefore, increasing the amount of holly leaves to increase the bitterness is also a method, but it is not as direct and effective as sand.

Chen Ji looked at Zhang Zhuo and said, "Master Zhang, let the officers pick the big-leaf holly."

But after a moment's deliberation, Zhang Zhuo picked up the sack and threw handfuls of sand into the pot. "What a bullshit rule! How long do we have to wait to pick Holly? People who accomplish great things don't care about small details. If there is any problem, I will take the responsibility!"

Chen Liqin swung his sleeves and stood aside: "Master Zhang is indeed courageous, but if you are so reckless, who knows how the history books will criticize you?"

In front of the cauldron, Zhang Zhuo's hand that was throwing sand suddenly stopped. After a few breaths, he grabbed a handful of sand and threw it into the cauldron again. He then picked up the killing stick and stirred the porridge in the cauldron: "No matter how history writes about me, I have a clear conscience."

(End of this chapter)