Chapter 32: The Imperial Palace's Deep Palace Meets a Noble Person (Part 2)

  This exchange undoubtedly brought the two sides closer together. Based on the good atmosphere between them earlier, Empress Liu also didn't dare to hesitate and directly told Zhou Wenbo the reason for her change of heart.

  "Liu Chengen came to see me that night, and Ma Gonggong brought a thick gift to visit me. Although it can't compare with the handwriting of your Zhao Guogong Mansion, it's also worth 10,000 taels of silver. He's about to take over as the head of the Imperial Secretariat, so I couldn't afford to fall out with him either, and could only pretend not to know each other."

  "How did Marquis Gong think of coming to find Your Majesty the Empress? If it's said that my father and elder brother died in battle, Marquis Gong should have already been in an unbeatable position together with the eunuchs. How could he bear to spend such a large sum of money? If it's said that eunuchs don't love wealth, then that's truly something that can't be found in a hundred cases. That Marquis Shao Hong would take out tens of thousands of silver taels from his own pocket is truly beyond Zhou Wenbo's expectations."

  "Liu Chengen told me that he had just left my place when Magong found him. I suppose he already knew about your arrangements, a thief in the family is hard to prevent, you must be careful."

  Empress Liu was also tempered in the midst of great winds and waves, so this small conspiracy that revealed many flaws was naturally not worth mentioning to her. What Marquis Ma probably never thought of was that although Empress Liu maintained a neutral front, she had secretly reached an understanding with Zhou Wenbo. The consequence of being one move short on the chessboard was that his carefully planted mole was now in danger.

  Although Zhou Wenbo couldn't think of who was the thief at first, after being reminded, he still had confidence in exposing this sinister enemy.

  Because of the importance of Liu Huanguo's case, there were less than ten people who knew about it and handled it, and by excluding each one, the final result could be obtained.

  After getting what he wanted, Zhou Wenbo had a cordial conversation with the queen who was over 40 years old but still maintained an astonishing charm for an afternoon, and then they also had a cordial dinner together.

  When Zhou Wenbo walked out of the palace of the Queen Mother, the sky had already turned dark and the stars on the horizon were beginning to twinkle.

  Just as Zhou Wenbo let out a long sigh and was about to leave, he was stopped by a tall palace maid.

  "Are you Zhou Wenbo, the young master of the Zhou family?" Under the light of the palace lanterns, all Zhou Wenbo saw was that this palace maid was extremely tall, with two legs that were both slender and long. Although they were hidden under thick cotton clothes, he could still make out her lithe and elegant figure.

  "Right under, don't know......?"

  "My young mistress has ordered me to come and ask you, sir, whether there are any remaining copies of 'The Listening Pine Studio Collection'?"

  Zhou Wenbo didn't think that his poetry collection would be so popular, even the last spare copy could be used, which should be the third subscription of new books since he came to this world.

  He was very enthusiastic about his book-loving friends, so he didn't ask in detail about the identity of this unknown lady, and handed over the last copy of "Listening to the Pine Pavilion Collection".

  The palace maid obviously breathed a sigh of relief, and she probably didn't expect Zhou Wenbo to still produce a poetry collection after meeting the Emperor and Empress. Now that the task is completed smoothly, she won't be scolded by Her Majesty when she returns.

  She carefully held the not-too-thick blue-clothed poetry collection to her somewhat ample bosom with both hands, a strong Republic of China style that added five points to Zhou Wenbo's impression of this palace maid.

  "My family's Niangniang is actually Consort Fu, you must remember that, Master Zhou!" After saying this, the tall palace maid ran off like a puff of smoke and disappeared into the night. With her thick clothes, she still had agile movements, probably because she was a chivalrous woman with martial arts skills.

  Zhou Wenbo could only shake his head helplessly. Although he had never met Fu Gui Fei, he had a good impression of the former Empress Fu, who was now famous in Luoyang as the Phoenix of the Fu family. Unfortunately, she had already married into the palace and it was impossible for him to have any chance with her.

  Zhou Wenbo still thought that Fu Fenghuang was a literary girl like Hong Zhu, but he didn't know that two days ago she had already taken notice of him and remembered him in her heart. This led to today's evening when she intercepted him to borrow books, but unfortunately, it was all handled by this tall and slender maid, so Zhou Wenbo still hadn't been able to see the true appearance of Fu Fenghuang, the daughter of the Fu family.

  Today, from dawn till dusk, Zhou Wenbo stayed in the palace for a whole day. His attendant, Zhou Bao, who was waiting outside the palace gate, shivered and shook his hands, occasionally looking up at the palace gate. As soon as he saw the young master's figure, he hurried to greet him.

  On his way home, Zhou Wenbo was thinking about who might have leaked the secret. The people who knew about this matter were only Zhou Wenbo, Zhou Dexiu, Zhou Deyu, Lüshi, and the steward Zhou De. These few people could be said to be completely dependent on the Zhao Guo Gong Fu for their lives, and it was impossible for them to be bribed. Could it be that one of the lower-ranking servants in charge of collecting gold and silver had leaked the secret?

  In the past, Zhao Guo's position was high and his power was great, and many people were offended by him. To prevent trouble from arising in the rear, all the servants in the household were honest and upright people with a good background, and over these years there has not been any leakage.

  Zhou Wenbo suddenly thought that in order to comfort or show respect for Fourth Uncle Zhou Dexiu as a member of this family, Zhou Wenbo finally handed over the task of contacting Liu Gonggong to him. Was it leaked from Fourth Uncle?

  Zhou Wenbo was not in a hurry at this time. The enemy who had already exposed his foot was not to be feared. The final battle between the Zhao State Duke's Mansion and Ma Gonggong would take place after Wei Wang Li Jicheng entered the capital, which should still be more than two months from now. He had enough time to sweep away this poisonous snake, and even turn the tables on them.

  Zhou Wenbo's job as a Shangshu Daifu was quite easy, with the emperor holding court only once every thirty days. His fixed working days were just the day of the court session and one day before and after, totaling three days.

  Although the nominal work of a Bachelor is to be responsible for some simple document collation and proposal of advisory opinions, Zhou Wenbo can obviously make a reasonable positioning for himself. He knows that he can obtain this official position only because the emperor attaches importance to his talent or identity in a certain aspect, just like Emperor Tang Minghuang Li Longji's flattery to the poet Li Bai in those years.

  If he really regarded himself as the emperor's confidant, forcibly taking some of the eunuchs' work from their hands would be to create a new group of enemies for the Zhao Guo Gong Fu for no reason.

  Since he only needs to work for three days a month, he has plenty of free time to go out of Luoyi and come to the manor and land belonging to the Zhao State Gongfu to preside over the recruitment and training of new soldiers.

  It wasn't until then that Zhou Wenbo realized how hard it was to find talent. In his past life, he had only been a writer, and although he had some theoretical experience, it was really too difficult for him to be in charge of training this new army on a scale of thousands of people.

  However, at this time, Liu Meng and Zhou De could only do some work within their power, and it was unrealistic to expect more from them.

  Alas, Zhou Wenbo suddenly resonated with Liu Xiang's turbulent life, and thought that the unsuccessful entrepreneur Liu must have been like himself in his early years, having great ambitions but lacking good assistants, a sad fate indeed.