Uncle Detective Di Renjie, I build a crime-solving team

Chapter 256 Bribery, Birthday is Coming

From the faces of the three childish children, Li Gui could vaguely see Li Lingyue's appearance.

Over the past half year, three descendants of the Li family have taken action one after another, intending to overthrow the Wu family. Unexpectedly, in the end, he was the only one left.

"Alas, Lingyue, alas, Lingyue." Li Gui sighed deeply, with a trace of pity in his eyes, "Let me raise my three nephews and nieces from now on. I guess Cunxi thinks so too."

Li Gui was not in a hurry to open the letter Li Cunxi sent him. Instead, he held the little girl in his arms, and took another younger child by the hand, and brought the three children into the house.

Ma Rong followed patiently behind without interrupting.

Li Gui picked up a bag of cakes from the table, handed them to the two boys, and said to the maid who was busy in the room:

"Boil some hot water and make some tea."

The maid responded and went out.

"Please sit down." Li Gui said.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Ma Rong sat down.

"What are their names?"

"The oldest one is called Xue Chongyin, the second one is called Xue Chongjian, and the youngest one has not been named yet."

"it is good."

Li Gui stretched out his hand and teased the little girl in his arms, making her laugh.

"Just like her mother."

Li Gui's eyes were full of regret. He reached out and picked up the letter, unfolded it and read it carefully again and again. Finally, he handed the baby girl to Ma Rong and went to write a reply to Li Cunxi.

"Send him back to Luoyang."

"Your Highness, I will take my leave now."

"Goodbye, Horse Warrior."

Ma Rong said goodbye to Li Gui and came to the store of Xize Silver House. He had a drink with Tao Gan and another with Zhao Wanquan before setting off for Luoyang.

I have been out for a long time. If I dawdle a little longer on the way back, maybe I can make it in time for Li Cunxi's birthday party.

It was not the first time that Ma Rong had done such fun things as sightseeing on business trips. He ate and drank along the way and did whatever made him happy.

In Luoyang, the Bleeding Eagle case that Li Lingyue had instigated came to an end, and the news that Li Cunxi had officially taken over the non-permanent position of Shao Yin of Henan Prefecture spread throughout the court and the country.

It was unprecedented in the Wu Zhou Dynasty to hold the position of Shaoyin of Henan Prefecture at the age of thirteen, not to mention that the position of Shaoyin of Henan Prefecture was not a permanent official position. Li Cunxi was the only one who held this position for a long time.

On the second day after he officially took office, which was also the day after Li Lingyue was beheaded in Caishikou, Zong Qinke brought Zong Chuke to deliver gifts.

The two brothers were smart people. They did not give the money directly to Li Cunxi. Instead, they gave Qiao Tai a total of 50,000 taels of silver, which made Qiao Tai rich and live a worry-free life.

They are all within the capital city, and there is no governor of Henan or prefect of Henan to put pressure on Li Cunxi. Now Li Cunxi only has Wu Zetian above him.

In addition, Wu Zetian gave Li Cunxi the buff for "convenient reasons", and Li Cunxi did not need to handle government affairs, and the memorials were directly submitted to Wu Zetian, so that the Secretariat, the Ministry of Palace Affairs and the Ministry of State Affairs were basically useless to Li Cunxi.

Officials in the court who saw this clearly chose to give gifts to ensure safety. Then, seeing the gift-giving method of the brothers of the clan, those who came to give gifts later followed suit and gave gifts to Qiao Tai and Xuguzi.

The two brothers received gifts all day long, and they never forgot Ma Rong and accepted all the gifts in Ma Rong's name.

The rules of gift-giving in this shabby era are almost the same. It is a foolish act for an official to accept a gift. Most of the gifts given between officials are actually given to people in the other party's house. On the surface, the gifts are received by the housekeeper and the legal advisor, but in fact, the gifts will eventually fall into the hands of the official himself.

The biggest advantage of this is that even if the investigation into bribery is finally conducted and the official himself is implicated, the only charge left is one of negligence. After all, there is no substantial evidence to prove that the money given to your butler ended up in the hands of the official himself.

Qiao Tai and Xuguzi received many gifts for more than half a month, and Li Cunxi also took the time to meet many officials of the dynasty, who basically came to establish relationships with him. Among them were some of Li's old ministers. For example, several of the prince's guests and the prince's secretary from the prince's mansion came together once and gave Li Cunxi some good things.

Being an official naturally involves dealing with personal relationships, but Li Cunxi was not interested in this. From then on, he stopped meeting officials below the fifth rank.

Another day passed, and another day came. Li Cunxi got up from the bed and counted the days. It had been almost a month since Xiaomei and Kui Wenzhong left, and his birthday was getting closer and closer.

A few days ago, Li Cunxi asked Di Renjie and Wu Chengsi about whether or not to host a birthday banquet. The answers they gave were surprisingly consistent: they would only accept gifts but not do any favors or host banquets.

Now that the gift has been accepted, there is no need to treat anyone to a meal.

So Li Cunxi didn't plan to invite many people to the birthday party, and just set up three tables simply to show his appreciation.

Everyone knew how shabby the Li Mansion was, so Wu Chengsi sent a group of beautiful Western beauties that he had trained to Li Cunxi, a total of 16 people. Di Renjie also sent a few cooks from Di Mansion to Li Cunxi to make the place look more presentable.

The servants in the mansion were handsome boys found among beggars, the people who made tea and poured water were also old men in the Di mansion, and the invitations were written and delivered by Di Chun.

Li Cunxi didn't have to worry about anything and his birthday was about to go smoothly.

"Sir, what are you daydreaming about?"

Qiao Tai's big face came very close and suddenly spoke, scaring Li Cunxi so much that he almost kicked him away.

"Atai, you're scaring me to death."

Li Cunxi rubbed his face and tried to calm down.

"Who did I invite for my birthday?"

"Di Gong, King Wei, Lord Zhang, General Xiao, the leader of the Inner Guard, General Hu, the Lieutenant General of the Thousand Bull Guards, General Li, the Crown Prince's guest and the Imperial Guardsman, Lord Li."

"That's almost all of them." Li Cunxi thought about it and asked, "My brother Chuan Lin hasn't arrived yet?"

"Sir, news has come from Young Master Liu that they will be staying in Yongchang County tonight and will arrive in Luoyang tomorrow, just in time for your birthday party in three days."

"That's great. By the way, why hasn't Ma Rong come back yet? He's been out for almost a month."

"Maybe he was traveling around. I know Brother Ma's personality best. He has read a lot of books, and he likes to indulge himself in the mountains and rivers, writing articles and practicing swordplay among the mountains and rivers."

"six."

Li Cunxi held his forehead, not knowing what to say.

I'm afraid Ma Rong himself doesn't know how much bribes Ma Rong, known as the evil slave of the Li Mansion in Luoyang City, has received.

"It's okay. When Ma Rong comes back, you and Xuguzi remember to tell him how much bribe he received."

"Sir, you want me to die!"

"You have all turned him into a vicious slave in the Li Mansion, what are you afraid of?" Li Cunxi stood up, "Also, from now on, no gifts will be accepted. His Majesty can smell the fishy odor on you."