Chapter 24: Soliciting and Demanding an Official Post

"You really are a piece of work, Wu Tiande. A minor matter the size of a palm, and you insisted on stirring up such a tempest across the city. People like Lai Er and Yu Lu—you could have just had them arrested and given them a few dozen strokes with the military staff; that would have satisfied everyone. But no, you had to set an ambush at Qin Ye’s home, and worse, you dragged the Embroidered Uniform Guard into it, leading to a shocking bloodbath and heavy casualties among the Ning Mansion's servants. How am I supposed to answer to the other three great families now?"

"This subordinate knows his error. At the time, I only thought to detain Lai Er and Yu Lu. I never imagined those servants would be so audacious as to engage in looting and pillaging in broad daylight. The soldiers of the Divine Strategy Camp were overcome with righteous indignation and lost control of their strength, which led to the brawl. As for the men from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, they arrived quite suddenly; I, too, am at a loss as to why."

"Do you take me for a child? Some say the Embroidered Uniform Guard only received word because you tipped them off behind the scenes."

"Slander! This is absolute slander. The day before the incident, I was busy preparing for my wedding and never once stepped foot off Ning-Rong Street. I had no means to tip anyone off. Besides, why would I collude with the Embroidered Uniform Guard? The Ning Mansion suffered heavy losses, and that does me no good."

"Speaking of which, you can hardly shed the suspicion. Some say the reason you made a mountain out of a molehill and used my hand to strike at the Ning Mansion was because you wanted to snatch a woman away from Jia Rong. I hear that Qin Keqing is as beautiful as a celestial being. Under normal circumstances, why would she choose you?"

"I am wronged! Truly wronged! My father-in-law is merely a seventh-rank minor official; how could he possibly be a match for the legitimate heir of the Ning Mansion? If the Ning Mansion had really been interested, my father-in-law would have agreed on the spot. Why would it ever come to me courting her? I suspect the Ning Mansion never looked at the Qin family at all; they only saw that my wife and I were deeply in love and wanted to cause us trouble. Otherwise, why has there never been a whisper in the streets of the Ning Mansion proposing marriage to the Qin family?"

"That is true. I have never heard that fellow Jia Zhen mention it before. I doubt I would ever dream that their Ning Mansion would seek a marriage with the daughter of a seventh-rank official."

"Exactly. If you haven't heard of it, there is no way I could have. The claim that I am fighting Jia Rong for a woman is pure nonsense!"

...

Wang Ziteng thought about it and decided it was true, so he stopped dwelling on the topic and shifted to his preliminary plans for handling Wu Tiande's personnel reassignment.

"This matter has blown up too large; I can no longer protect you. You must go to a post outside the city for a while. Once things have calmed down, it won't be too late for you to sneak back," Wang Ziteng said with a pained expression.

Truth be told, he did not want to discard the tool once the work was done.

He had already used thunderous methods to seize control of over a dozen coal mines in the Western Hills and had persuaded the officials of the Ministry of Works to promote the widespread use of honeycomb briquettes in Beijing within a year or so. Just as the wealth was about to roll in, sending away Wu Tiande—the man who first proposed this—seemed rather ungracious.

But he had no choice.

If Wang Ziteng wanted to monopolize the Western Hills mines and control the coal supply, he could not do it alone. He needed the help of the other three great families: the Jia, Shi, and Xue clans.

For instance, Jia Zheng, as a Vice Director in the Ministry of Works, could play a vital role in promoting the use of honeycomb briquettes and managing the pace of the rollout.

Under these circumstances, if Wang Ziteng insisted on shielding Wu Tiande, he would face the alienation of the other three families, which he was certainly unwilling to do.

Choosing the lesser of two evils, he had no choice but to sacrifice Wu Tiande.

Wu Tiande was inwardly delighted, thinking that he could finally fly far away and shed his identity as a former servant of the Jinling Wang family and the Four Dukes and Eight Lords faction. On the surface, however, he pretended to be distressed. "I haven't done anything wicked, so why does the Jia Mansion refuse to let me go? Can't I just change my ways?"

"Besides, every debt has its debtor. It was the Embroidered Uniform Guard who were heavy-handed and killed the Ning Mansion's servants. If the Ning Mansion has any backbone, they should seek trouble with the Guard. Why must they make things difficult for me?" Wu Tiande said, acting increasingly indignant.

"Enough, enough. You've already gained quite a bit. You've married a beautiful wife and received a handsome dowry. What more could you want?" Wang Ziteng said impatiently.

Wu Tiande feigned magnanimity. "I don't mind, really. I'm still young; going to the provinces to seek my fortune will be like a tour of the mountains and rivers. My only concern is my father-in-law. He saw that my fast-food shops were doing well and studied them carefully, and he actually came up with some ideas. He spent the night writing a proposal for the promotion of honeycomb briquettes, hoping to find his former classmate from the provincial examinations to review it and see if he can use it to climb the official ladder."

"Who is your father-in-law's former classmate?" Wang Ziteng asked, sounding slightly tense.

He had only just acquired the Western Hills mines and did not want to make a big show of it. He needed to wait for his recent actions to be forgotten before he could slowly make his fortune from behind the scenes. He did not want his main intentions exposed so quickly.

"I believe he is the Chief Clerk of Prince Zhongshun’s Mansion, though I'm not entirely sure," Wu Tiande said vaguely.

Wang Ziteng felt a surge of panic. If his acquisition of the Western Hills mines entered the field of vision of Prince Zhongshun too early, it would surely cause complications.

"Seeking an official promotion, are we? Tell your father-in-law to send the proposal to me. I will consider it, but tell him not to spread it around," Wang Ziteng said, clearly displeased.

...

"Once this matter is settled, our cooperation is concluded. Unless there is something important, do not come to bother me again," Wang Ziteng added.

Although his tone was stern, it implied that he agreed to step in and help facilitate Qin Ye’s promotion.

Wu Tiande was finally satisfied and, with a smile, took his leave.

Soon, Wu Tiande returned home, where the fragrance of food mingled with a faint scent of powder.

Under the dim oil lamp, Qin Keqing was wearing an apron, busy at the stove. Her movements were gentle, and her profile looked exceptionally tender in the lamplight.

The two maidservants, Ruizhu and Baozhu, who had been helping Qin Keqing, saw Wu Tiande appear and quickly found an excuse to slip away.

"You're back?" Qin Keqing turned around, her face showing a hint of fatigue but still beaming with a smile. "You must be tired from the road. I saved some hot soup for you."

"Isn't Du Guan the head chef? Even though the shop is closed for a few days, it's a bit much for him to stop cooking dinner, isn't it? Where is he?" Wu Tiande asked.

"Don't blame him. I asked him to escort Miss Deng home to deliver some things to her family," Qin Keqing said with a smile.

Wu Tiande knew his wife was trying hard to play matchmaker between Du Guan and Miss Deng, so he didn't bother to intervene.

However, watching his wife’s busy figure, a wave of indescribable warmth surged in his heart.

He stepped forward, gently wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, rested his chin on the top of her head, and began to act with a mix of playfulness and intimacy, his hands wandering a bit restlessly.

Qin Keqing possessed a top-tier figure—slender yet curvaceous, soft in all the right places. Her beauty was intoxicating, and Wu Tiande found her irresistible. His movements soon became a bit rough, causing Qin Keqing to let out a muffled groan of pain.

"Don't do that yet," Qin Keqing said, struggling gently. Her voice was very low, tinged with a hint of reproach. "Father is still waiting for you in the study."

"Father-in-law is here?" Wu Tiande’s movements froze. He quickly withdrew his hands, the playful look on his face instantly fading and being replaced by a sense of guilt.

He instinctively glanced toward the study, as if Qin Ye were watching him with a stern gaze from behind that closed door.

If his father-in-law knew he was being handsy the moment he walked through the door, the situation would be far too awkward.

He steadied himself, straightened his lapels, and gave a dry cough. "I’ll go right over."

Inside the study, Qin Ye was pacing back and forth by the window with his hands behind his back. Hearing footsteps, he turned around. His face showed little expression, but his eyes could not hide his worry.

He had come for two reasons: first, he was concerned for his daughter, Qin Keqing, wondering if she had adjusted to life in the Wu household and whether she had suffered any grievances. Second, and most distressing, he was worried for Wu Tiande.

Offending the Ning and Rong Mansions was no small matter. The Jia clan’s influence in the capital was deep and tangled, with connections reaching even into the palace. Wu Tiande was a young man with no foundation; offending them with nothing but raw strength would lead to unimaginable consequences.

These past few days, Qin Ye had been unable to eat or sleep, constantly fearing that the Jia Mansion’s retaliation would fall upon Wu Tiande.

"Father-in-law," Wu Tiande said, bowing.

"Sit," Qin Ye said, pointing to a chair by the desk, his tone heavy and slow. "I heard that Lord Wang Ziteng intends to send you to a post in the provinces?"

Wu Tiande nodded and gave a general account of what he had learned from Wang Ziteng.

After listening, Qin Ye’s brow furrowed, then slowly smoothed out. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "That will do. It is better to go to the provinces; as the saying goes, a whip cannot reach that far. Even if the Jia Mansion truly wants to harm you, separated by mountains and rivers, they will have to go to great lengths and won't be able to act as conveniently as they could in the capital."

He paused, looking at Wu Tiande, his eyes showing a touch of relief. "Besides, I know your martial arts are good; three or five ordinary men cannot get close to you. As long as you are careful, you shouldn't have to worry about any underhanded attacks in the provinces."

Wu Tiande felt a warmth in his heart, knowing his father-in-law truly cared for him. He stood up and said solemnly, "Thank you for your concern, Father-in-law. I will take it to heart. Upon reaching the provinces, I will surely act with caution and take good care of Keqing, so you need not worry about us anymore."

Qin Ye nodded, and a satisfied smile finally appeared on his face.

The atmosphere in the study gradually eased. Seeing his father-in-law’s expression relax, Wu Tiande changed the subject, seemingly offhandedly:

"By the way, Father-in-law, is the proposal you wrote about promoting the use of 'honeycomb briquettes' in the capital almost ready to be delivered to the Chief Clerk of Prince Zhongshun’s Mansion?"

"This is madness; I never did such a thing!" Qin Ye retorted instinctively. His heart skipped a beat. He was just an insignificant minor official who couldn't even touch the gates of a princely mansion. How could he possibly send a proposal to the Chief Clerk of Prince Zhongshun’s Mansion? This was absolute fantasy.

Wu Tiande smiled confidently. "It can be done."

Then, he shared the details of his exchange with Wang Ziteng with Qin Ye.

"You mean... you want to manipulate my promotion?" Qin Ye, being a shrewd man, immediately understood his son-in-law’s plan. His heart fluttered—who wouldn't want a promotion?

But he was immediately terrified by the immense risk. "But if this deceives Lord Wang, someone of his stature—if he were to blame us, our Qin family could not bear the consequences!"

"Don't worry, Father-in-law," Wu Tiande waved his hand, his smile carrying a hint of cunning. "I have already used your name to send a generous gift, worth several hundred taels of silver, to that Chief Clerk through Qi Guan Jiang Yuhan."

He paused, watching Qin Ye’s astonished expression, and continued, "Once someone has accepted your favor, and you then go to explain that your families share some distant connection, he will naturally 'acknowledge' it. In this world, who can turn away from silver?"

Qin Ye was dumbfounded; this son-in-law’s methods were too... too direct!

"And... and what about Lord Wang Ziteng?" Qin Ye still felt uneasy.

"That is even simpler," Wu Tiande said lightly. "You only need to send that proposal to the Capital Garrison Command. Wang Ziteng will handle the rest. All he wants is your token of loyalty; how it is handled afterward is none of your concern."

Qin Ye was completely bewildered. He opened his mouth, and after a long while, he managed to blurt out, "But... but I don't even know what a honeycomb briquette is, let alone how to write a proposal!"

He thought to himself that this was like forcing a duck onto a perch—simply unreasonable.

Hearing this, Wu Tiande laughed out loud, turned to rummage through a drawer in the desk, and quickly produced a thin booklet, which he handed to Qin Ye. "Father-in-law, please take a look. This is it."

Qin Ye took the booklet with skepticism and saw the title clearly written on the cover: *A Proposal for the Promotion of Honeycomb Briquettes in the Capital Region to Benefit the People*.

He opened it and found it clearly organized, detailing the manufacturing process, cost advantages, and the benefits of reducing firewood consumption and improving air quality in the capital. It even included a preliminary promotion plan.

"This... did you write this?" Qin Ye looked at his son-in-law in shock. He had never imagined that this young man, known for his martial prowess, would possess such foresight and literary skill.

Wu Tiande scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed. "I thought of it by chance a while ago and felt it was a good method to benefit the country and the people, so I wrote it down. It just so happens that using your name will pave a way for you."

Holding the booklet, Qin Ye’s hands trembled slightly. He looked at the bold and meticulous son-in-law before him, feeling a complex mix of emotions: longing for the future, fear of the risks, and, more than anything, a sense of being pushed forward by forces beyond his control.

He took a deep breath and clutched the booklet tightly, as if he were grasping the fate of his own official career.