The Ministry of Public Works was not in much of a hurry, while the Ministry of Revenue was a little anxious, but the Ministry of Personnel was extrely anxious.
The person was examined by them, and if the emperor did not approve, the responsibility would inevitably fall on them first.
An Assistant Minister holds a position only next to the Book of Docunts, so the role is very important. The data for the assessnt was personally reviewed by the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
Now he took it out again, carefully reviewed it from start to finish, and then handed it over to his two Assistant Ministers, asking, "Any problems?"
Both shook their heads simultaneously, "We can’t spot any issues."
"Yes, we can’t spot any issues," Minister Li tapped on the desk and said, "Chen Fulin had no major achievents but also no faults in the Ministry of Revenue, and his experience is sufficient. If His Majesty wishes to appoint a more capable Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Public Works, he could have called into the palace to discuss this, so why return the morial directly through the Imperial Secretariat?"
"Did Assistant Minister Chen offend His Majesty?"
Minister Li replied, "He isn’t qualified to attend the morning court sessions daily, and have you ever heard him speak at the grand court assemblies?"
"Go check his character, and whether he’s caused any trouble recently. The person was selected and assessed by us. If the Censorate finds sothing first, then not only His Majesty and the Censorate, but also the Central Secretariat, Imperial Secretariat, and the other Five Ministries will hold us accountable. Moreover,"
Minister Li lightly tapped his finger and said, "Prepare another recomndation morial, sothing more comprehensive. If nothing wrong is found, we must submit the morial at the latest the day after tomorrow; as long as he doesn’t have any major flaws, we still recomnd him to be the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Public Works."
Both Assistant Ministers understood that they could not simply yield to the Emperor’s personal likes and dislikes, so they responded in unison and left imdiately after bowing.
Of course, they wouldn’t go and inquire themselves; they had their subordinates to do the investigating, but they must speak with Chen Fulin themselves.
After all, he is an Assistant Minister, so one cannot simply send another Assistant Minister, can they?
The Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel looked at the Right Assistant Minister, asking, "Should one of us go, or?"
"Let’s go together," the Right Assistant Minister said, brushing off his sleeves and standing with his hands behind his back, "Let’s have a look at what kind of person he is. I rember we just had a drink together recently. He didn’t seem any different?"
How did he manage to offend the Emperor?
Assistant Minister Yu had just left the door of their senior Minister, when imdiately following, he passed by Doctor Liu, signaling him to co inside for a talk.
Doctor Liu looked up, scanned his surroundings, leisurely tidied up the things on his desk, and then casually picked up a docunt from the desk to join Assistant Minister Yu.
Assistant Minister Yu had just put in a good word for Doctor Liu, naturally wanting to share this good news so that he could owe him a favor.
Doctor Liu was not foolish either; he expressed his gratitude to Assistant Minister Yu and after leaving, found an excuse to stroll outside. He called over his servant waiting outside the ministry and said, "Go ho imdiately, and let the Second Old Master check on Chen Fulin of the Ministry of Revenue. See what he has been up to lately, whether he has offended anyone or made any enemies."
"And you, Master..."
"After I get off work, I’ll be going out for drinks with so colleagues, so I can ride in their carriage, no need for you to co pick up."
The servant understood imdiately, obeyed, and swiftly returned ho to find the Second Old Master.
Doctor Liu watched his retreating figure and mused, if a selection was to be made from the departnt, then it could only be from the four of them Assistant Ministers.
His experience is not the highest, but indeed he is the most capable one in the past two years, so he had a thirty percent chance. With Assistant Minister Yu’s recomndation, that added another twenty percent.
But if the selection is open to all Six Ministries, then he didn’t even have a twenty percent chance.
Especially compared with Chen Fulin, he had been seated in the role of Doctor for nine years. In terms of seniority, it was undoubtedly his turn.
Therefore, his greatest rival was not the other three from the sa departnt, but Chen Fulin himself.
By the ti Manbao learned about this, it was already late afternoon. She was already on her way out of the palace, when Auntie Shang casually inford her of the situation while accompanying her.
"Her Majesty dislikes a certain Lord Chen from the Ministry of Revenue. His Majesty just learned about it a few days ago, and coincidentally, there was a proposal for Lord Chen’s promotion yesterday, but today it was rejected by His Majesty."
Manbao was so surprised that she couldn’t help but stop in her tracks, "Rejected, does that an he won’t be able to be promoted anymore?"
Auntie Shang smiled and said, "Naturally, he can’t be promoted if His Majesty doesn’t agree."
Manbao tried to keep a straight face, but a smile still burst through uncontrollably, so she lowered her head in an attempt to hold back her laughter.
Auntie Shang saw her face twitching, looking like she wanted to laugh but was also trying to control herself, her whole little face contorted, and she couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter.
As soon as she left the palace gate, Manbao was overjoyed and took off running towards Daji’s carriage, leaving Young Manager Zheng, who was carrying the dicine chest, to chase after her, "Doctor Zhou Junior, don’t you want your dicine chest?"
Daji took the dicine chest, while Manbao had already clambered onto the carriage using her hands and feet, lifting the curtain and waving to Young Manager Zheng, "I’m going ahead, see you tomorrow."
Young Manager Zheng waved back wearily. He wanted to ask about the Lord Shang that Auntie Shang had ntioned, wondering why she had specifically told her about it and wanted to remind her, but seeing her like this, he decided to let it be. They could talk tomorrow morning when they t at the pharmacy.
Manbao, already excited, asked Daji, "Where are Bai Shan and the others?"
"They have a lot of schoolwork today and have to stay at the Imperial Academy to write and read, so they sent to pick up Miss Man first."
"Then hurry up, let’s go pick them up."
Daji couldn’t help but ask with a smile, "Does Miss Man have so good news?"
"Yes, great news!"
But they couldn’t enter the entrance of the Imperial Academy anyway. The managent here was much stricter than Yizhou Prefecture School, and the guards at the gate were not willing to relay their ssage.
Manbao was buoyed by excitent, a belly full of joy she wanted to share with soone. After waiting for a while without seeing Bai Shan and the others co out, she felt an itch of impatience, "Daji, where is the wall of their Academy?"
Daji said, "Miss Man, is this really okay?"
"What’s not okay? If the guards are unwilling to pass on a ssage for , I’m not entering either. It’s just about asking soone to relay a ssage for us."
"Why not wait a bit longer? Maybe one of the Young Masters will co out, you never know."
"School has been out for a while. Those still inside are either studying or playing; how could they possibly co out now? Tell quickly, which side of their wall is it? Which side is more secluded and easier to climb?"
Daji: "...I don’t know."
"That’s not possible. Don’t think I’m clueless. You’ve always loved scouting out paths, you did the sa when we were at the prefectural school; you’ve felt up every wall there."
Daji: ...Truly, is there anything you don’t know? He thought he had been so secretive; when exactly did they find out?
Manbao certainly wouldn’t tell him that this was Keke’s doing; she just stared at him.
Without any choice, Daji urged the carriage forward and then began to trot around the periter of the Imperial Academy, eventually stopping the carriage after a long, long ti.
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