Chapter 331: Immortal Powder
The uncle and nephew chatted for a while in the back hall. When Zhao Wuwei finished supervising the execution and came in to report, he asked him to pass a message to Wang the cobbler, asking him to try not to let the child be alone with Li in the future.
After all, it was obvious that the woman was prone to extremes. If she was found out later, she might do something crazy again. If possible, it would be best to move away quickly, as far away from the Li family as possible.
Zhao Wuwei took the order and left. Then Sun Shaozong took Sun Chengye back to the Criminal Law Department.
"Dong Weng."
As soon as he entered the living room, Cheng Rixing came up to him and held up a document in front of Sun Shaozong: "This is the document that the Ministry of Justice just sent."
An official document sent by the Ministry of Justice?
Sun Shaozong shook it open and took a quick look. It turned out to be a meeting notice, asking him to go to the Ministry of Justice at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow to participate in a special meeting on "rectifying the recent chaos among the gods and immortals."
This "Shenxiansan" is a soft drug derived from the "Wushisan" of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. It has been circulated among the people for several years, but it has not become a trend.
It was not until the end of the autumn imperial examination last year that this magic powder suddenly became popular among the failed scholars, and it became even more popular after the beginning of spring this year.
It is said that if you hold a literary gathering in the capital nowadays without preparing "Shenxiansan" as a diversion, you will feel embarrassed if you tell others about it.
At present, this trend has also spread to the circle of nobles. Although it has not yet spread completely, those dandy young men who like to pursue fashion have already been deeply involved in it early on.
Since April, there have been frequent incidents of people streaking due to excessive intake of Shenxiansan and unbearable heat, and some have even died.
In view of the increasingly serious situation, His Majesty the Emperor, who is wise, intelligent and always correct, issued an edict yesterday, ordering the relevant departments to immediately carry out a special rectification campaign in order to eliminate safety hazards in the bud.
The "special meeting" convened by the Ministry of Justice was precisely to implement the will of Emperor Guangde.
In addition to the Ministry of Justice, which was responsible for the overall situation, the Imperial Medical Bureau, which was responsible for providing technical support, and the Shuntian Prefecture's Criminal Law Division, which was responsible for leading the charge and taking the blame, the Ministry of Public Administration was also specially invited to attend as an observer in order to prepare the minutes of the meeting as a document to be used as one of the alternative news for the court bulletin.
After roughly reading the document and pressing it down on the desk in the inner room with a paperweight, Sun Shaozong asked, "Master Cheng, have you finished writing the regulations I asked you to draft yesterday?"
After receiving the imperial edict from Emperor Guangde yesterday, Sun Shaozong knew that this matter would definitely fall on the head of the Criminal Law Department, so he immediately drew up an outline for the special rectification and then handed it to Cheng Rixing to draft a set of regulations.
“It’s almost there.”
Cheng Rixing said, but then asked tentatively: "Do you want to ask Master Sun to help polish it? His writing skills are much better than those of students."
Sun Shaozong said without hesitation: "No need, he is new here and is not clear about the various explicit and implicit rules. You should take care of the copywriting. Teach him to handle the mundane affairs first."
Ever since Sun Chengye took office, Cheng Rixing has been worried that he would be marginalized - after all, not only is he his employer's uncle and nephew, but he is also much more eloquent than he is.
Now, hearing what Sun Shaozong meant, at least in the short term, he was still the priority. Cheng Rixing felt relieved and said hurriedly, "Since that's the case, I'll fetch the charter for you to review."
Having said that, he hurried out.
Sun Shaozong hesitated for a moment, then told Sun Jiye, "Go and inform Judge Wei and Prosecutor Qiu, and have them go with me to the Ministry of Justice to discuss the matter tomorrow."
Unlike later generations, the main users of this magic powder were officials and wealthy businessmen who had nothing to do after eating, and very few ordinary people. Therefore, the obstacles to its regulation were greater than in modern times.
At this time, the advantage of the Criminal Law Department was reflected - in front of the two top playboys Wei Ruolan and Qiu Yunfei, the so-called obstacles did not exist at all.
As for those literati...
It took the scholar three years to rebel but failed. Moreover, those who take the Immortal Powder are mainly down-and-out literati. Without the support of the official high-level officials and the public opinion of the literati, it is effortless to deal with them.
"That's right."
Just as Sun Chengye was about to bow and accept the order, Sun Shaozong said, "You don't need to come to the government office tomorrow. Get ready at home and see if there is anything you need to prepare in advance, so that you won't be flustered when the time comes."
It was estimated that the people in Jinling were also worried that Sun Chengye would have thoughts of giving up on himself after failing the exam, so as soon as they received the news that he would stay in Beijing to prepare for the exam, they immediately packed up his wife and children and sent them over.
The servant who went ahead yesterday has arrived, and said that if nothing unexpected happens, the passenger ship will arrive at Datong Bridge Pier around noon on April 16, which is the day after tomorrow.
In comparison, Yu Qian is much more stable. It is estimated that his wife and children will not take the boat north until the new house is mortgaged.
However, after reviewing the draft of the charter prepared by Cheng Rixing and proposing several suggestions for revision, Sun Shaozong leisurely left the Criminal Law Department and came to the courtyard where Jia Yucun was.
Because of his effective tax collection, Jia Yucun had recently been commended by his superiors and even received a personal audience with Emperor Guangde. Although there was no such thing as first-class collective merit these days, with this commendation as a foundation, the word "excellent" would always be included in the annual performance appraisal.
Therefore, the officials below were also very excited, and they seemed to be more energetic in their words and deeds than usual.
Of course, the morale in the Criminal Law Department was not inferior, and was even better. After all, the contributions made by Sun Shaozong in the past year or so could be said to be innumerable.
It is said that the two major "pillar industries" of finance and taxation and criminal law have achieved a double harvest, and Shuntian Prefecture is now in a good period of prosperity - unfortunately, Han Fuyin obviously does not think so. Ever since Jia Yucun was commended, he has been frowning all day long.
Stop talking nonsense.
Sun Shaozong was welcomed into the living room . After the host and guest sat down and exchanged a few polite words, Sun Shaozong went straight to the point and said, "Mr. Prime Minister, I just received an official document and must go to the Ministry of Justice to discuss matters tomorrow. I am afraid that I will have to trouble you, the Prime Minister, to act as my agent for the prosecution."
"This is my job, how can I call you 'trouble'?"
Jia Yucun shook his head and smiled, but then he said, "In fact, if you didn't come to look for me, I would have gone to look for you later - Master Zhen of Ningguo Mansion is going to have his fortieth birthday on the 17th, and he specially asked me to invite you, my brother, to the banquet."
The Sun family has always been on good terms with the Rongguo Mansion and has really no connection with the Ningguo Mansion. So why did Jia Zhen suddenly ask Jia Yucun to invite himself to the birthday banquet without saying anything?
Sun Shaozong was suspicious and tried to find a random excuse to shirk his responsibility, but Jia Yucun had read his expression and figured out what he was thinking. He quickly said, "I have given my guarantee to Brother Zhen. You must give me this face."
face?
Wasn't that thing already torn apart?
Now, if the two are not as hostile as water and fire, they are at least fighting openly and secretly.
But since Jia Yucun lied so blatantly, it was difficult for Sun Shaozong to make excuses. Especially if he still refused, he would not only lose face with Jia Yucun, but also offend Jia Zhen .
Forget it, just deal with it casually.
Anyway, it's just eating, listening to some music, and flattering the birthday boy. It won't take much effort.
Thinking of this, Sun Shaozong made an appointment with Jia Yucun to go to Ningguo Mansion together on April 17 to celebrate the birthday.
