Chapter 2016: Chapter 2013: Cooperation?

Although the Deng Family is now being tasked with dealing with officials once implicated in the case of King Huainan, Minister Qi always felt that Emperor Xuanming’s actions were not because of his efforts but because that was what the latter originally intended.

It was precisely this realization that worsened Minister Qi’s mood.

During the morning court session, after clashing with Grand Tutor Deng and exerting all his strength to leave the other party in an awkward position, he also managed to make the Deng Family offend quite a few court ministers.

Seeing the rage in Grand Tutor Deng’s eyes, Minister Qi’s gloomy mood finally felt somewhat relieved.

Towards the Deng Family, he wished he could immediately bring them down.

Yet, previously during the palace upheaval, even Consort Jie from the Deng Family remained unscathed. Recently, with Emperor Xuanming in a bad mood, he became increasingly obsessed with beauty. Although dissatisfied with Consort Jie, he had not entirely fallen out of favor with her.

Because of this, Minister Qi increasingly felt that to deal with the Deng Family, he must first ensure they fall out of favor.

Previously, when the other party amassed wealth, the Eldest Son of the Deng Family fraternized with people like the Princely Heir of the Marquis of Ande’s Mansion; this evidence was laid bare, even leading to an Imperial Censor denouncing them directly in court.

The Eldest Son of the Deng Family only ended up in confinement, without causing any significant loss.

At that time, Minister Qi suffered a setback and realized that Emperor Xuanming wanted to favor the Deng Family, and unless they committed a grave mistake, there was no way to bring them down.

He thought of the illegitimate daughter of the Qi family sent to the palace, who hadn’t even seen the Emperor once.

And Imperial Concubine Qi Zhao Yi, who could not return to the palace.

Along with this instance, where King Qi was implicated and had to remain indefinitely in the capital, with his chance to go to the Northern Region perpetually postponed.

Minister Qi was filled with hatred.

The fleeting sense of pleasure he felt vanished instantly.

He hadn’t succeeded in making the Deng Family pay any price this time!

In this gloomy mood, Minister Qi noticed Chu Heng, who was more low-key than usual.

He stepped forward promptly and called out to Chu Heng, "Lord Chu, how have you been?"

"Great Minister Qi." Chu Heng replied courteously and respectfully, allowing no fault to be found.

Minister Qi looked at him, smiling kindly, "I heard, Lord Chu, that you’ve recently taken your female family members to the manor to escape the summer heat?"

"Great Minister Qi is very well-informed." Chu Heng’s demeanor turned cold.

Unusually, Minister Qi did not get angry but smiled profoundly at him, "I know this because I heard, Lord Chu, that you encountered assassins when leaving the city this time."

"Is there a matter Great Minister Qi wishes to discuss with me?" Chu Heng replied indifferently.

"Has Lord Chu found out who was behind the assassins? Could it be that Lord Chu is so magnanimous as to pretend nothing happened?" Minister Qi indeed had something in mind.

He had assigned people to watch Chu Heng naturally.

In this instance of assassination, Chu Heng hadn’t deliberately concealed it, making it easy for interested individuals to uncover the news.

He even revealed that he had sent people to inquire about Chu Heng’s situation because he also found out who was behind the incident. The colder Chu Heng acted towards him, the more it showed that Chu Heng cared about his family.

Having a weakness is advantageous.

At the very least, he could use this to compel Chu Heng to deal with the Deng Family.

Chu Heng squinted, "Is this what Great Minister Qi wanted to tell me?"

"Of course not, I just feel that the Deng Family is too obtrusive, too audacious, extending their hand to the inner residence, blatantly bullying people. Surely, Lord Chu also wishes to teach them a lesson." Minister Qi spoke confidently.

Chu Heng was indeed angry and did not intend to spare the Deng Family. He hadn’t acted yet, simply because he knew that what he could do at the moment wouldn’t cause any substantial harm to the Deng Family.

He was waiting, waiting for an opportunity.

Not to mention, even if he disliked the Deng Family, he wasn’t planning to cooperate with Minister Qi.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.