Chapter 1081: Running for Office! (1)

November 21, Yijing,

There were some snowflakes floating in the evening sky. Escorted by a team of guards, a carriage slowly stopped in front of a mansion in the eastern part of Yijing City...
This luxury house is located on Jiuhua Avenue, one of the best locations in Yijing. Jiuhua Avenue is basically full of large mansions with three entrances, and there are no smaller courtyard houses at all!

The average price of a house on Jiuhua Avenue is basically more than three thousand taels of silver, and the most important thing is that if you want to buy a house here, it is not enough to have silver, you must also have the corresponding status. Otherwise, even if you are willing to buy it at a premium, no one is willing to sell it to you!
It is no exaggeration to say that being able to live on Jiuhua Avenue can already prove your status!
At this moment, under the protection of the guards, a middle-aged man with a slender figure, elegant temperament and a slightly exotic face slowly walked down from the carriage. This man was none other than the new Minister of Personnel of the Yijing court of the Great Zhou Dynasty - Gu Sansi!
At this time, Gu Sansi had just returned home from get off work at the Ministry of Personnel. He looked a little tired after a day's work, and immediately walked into the mansion that Ye Mingsheng had rewarded him!
After returning home, Gu Sansi didn't want to do anything, so he walked into the study room of his home, leaned on the very comfortable armchair, closed his eyes and took a rest...

With the reorganization from the Central Council to the Yijing Court during this period, although Gu Sansi's power has increased, the burden on him has also become heavier!

Although Ye Mingsheng was appointed to various key positions in the Yijing court, he did not have the energy to take care of some middle-level positions such as Siwu, Langzhong, Zhushi, and Yuanwailang!

Therefore, this requires the Minister of Personnel Gu Sansi to communicate and discuss with the officials of various ministries. According to the procedure, they will submit the list after discussion, and Ye Mingsheng will officially appoint him if he thinks there is no problem!
In this process, the right of speech of Gu Sansi, the Minister of Personnel, is very important. As Ye Mingsheng's trusted and beloved general, Ye Mingsheng rarely refuses his face. Basically, Ye Mingsheng will most likely approve the people he reports!

Although he holds great power and the Marshal trusts him very much, Gu Sansi did not let his guard down and still strictly controls every position to ensure that the appointed officials not only meet the needs of the officials of various departments, but also have no major problems in terms of moral character!

Although Gu Sansi thought he was mature after all the experiences in these years, but with this reorganization, Gu Sansi once again felt the pressure coming. Some of this pressure came from outside, but more came from some old acquaintances in the Central Court...

Although this time Ye Mingsheng used the old team of the Central Academy as the main body of the Yijing Court, and most of the people in the Central Academy continued to do their previous work in the Yijing Court, there were some people from the Luoan Court who integrated in after all!

However, there are only so many positions in the Yijing court. Zhang Juning, the left vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue, who is in charge of financial work, has repeatedly stated that the court is currently under great financial pressure and that the number of court officials should be streamlined, and the salaries and subsidies paid out should be reduced to ease the fiscal deficit!

In this context, many old friends and colleagues from the Central Institute came to Gu Sansi, hoping that Gu Sansi would remember their previous friendship and help him to move to a higher level!

Even if you cannot make progress, you must keep your current official position to avoid being squeezed out or laid off!
Under such circumstances, Gu Sansi's job is extremely difficult. After all, there are too many wolves and too little meat to go around. And those who want to make progress and keep their official positions may not thank you!
But those who have lost their official positions will definitely scold you, and even throw dirty water on you, distorting the facts and slandering you with all kinds of dirty words!
Although he felt helpless and even painful, Gu Sansi knew that this was something he had to go through. This was also a test given to him by the Marshal. He must show more determination and courage to solve these difficulties at work and must not be trapped by these hardships····························

Just as Gu Sansi was cheering himself up in his heart, a fragrant breeze wafted beside him. Smelling the familiar scent, Gu Sansi opened his eyes with a smile and skillfully grasped the slender waist of the beauty in front of him.

"Wanting! Why are you here!"

Chen Wanting gently stroked Gu Sansi's face and said with concern:
"I heard that you were in a bad mood, so I came to see you. Please don't put too much pressure on yourself!"

Gu Sansi smiled and nodded when he heard this:
"My husband is the Minister of Personnel of the imperial court. This is just a small matter to me. Don't worry about it, Wanting!"

After being ostracized from officialdom because of his foreign ancestry, the disheartened Gu Sansi no longer had any ideas or ambitions, so he married a woman from the same hometown, Wang, at the arrangement of his family.

Wang was a typical rural woman who had not received much education and who only cared about taking care of her husband and children.

Although Wang gave birth to several children for Gu Sansi during his low point, she did her best to take good care of Gu Sansi and won Gu Sansi's respect!

However, Gu Sansi often felt that he and his first wife Wang were not on the same wavelength and they did not have any common language. In Wang's eyes, all she cared about were the daily necessities, trivial matters!

When he was at his lowest point in the past, Gu Sansi was incapable of having any other thoughts. He could only choose to endure and accept······························
However, as he followed Ye Mingsheng, Gu Sansi's official position became higher and higher, the power in his hands became greater and greater, and his horizons became broader and broader!
Gu Sansi found it increasingly difficult to tolerate his first wife, Wang. He even felt that he and Wang were from two different worlds, and that their union was an absolute mistake!

To be honest, Gu Sansi was very surprised and even felt disgusted by his own thoughts!

After all, although he and Wang had nothing in common, Gu Sansi was still very grateful to Wang for sticking with him when he was at his lowest point, being filial to her father-in-law and taking care of the children, and managing the household chores by herself, so that he had no worries!

Therefore, Gu Sansi's conscience made him feel ashamed of his thoughts for a time. He also tried to change or accept his original wife Wang, but unfortunately, it is not so easy to change a person. Gu Sansi's attempt ultimately failed, and this also made Gu Sansi fall into painful entanglement!

Ultimately, Gu Sansi chose to escape, using a lot of work to numb his mind and exhaust his body!
After the Fengwu Army entered the pass, Gu Sansi once again met his confidante, Chen Wanting, a woman who understood him, by coincidence!
In order to enter the Pass, Ye Mingsheng expanded the size of the Fengwu Army, which undoubtedly increased the financial burden of the Fengwu Army. So after successfully entering the Pass, Ye Mingsheng urgently needed to recover his blood to reduce the financial burden of the Fengwu Army. The source of the blood recovery was undoubtedly the beneficiaries of Zhao Fuqu’s regime at that time························

As Ye Mingsheng's trusted and beloved general, Gu Sansi was also ordered to search and confiscate the homes of the generals and ministers of the Youyan Army. Cai Min, the then Deputy Censor of Youyan, was the target of Gu Sansi's search!

Cai Min is Zhao Fuqu's lackey. He will bite whoever Zhao Fuqu tells him to bite. Therefore, under Zhao Fuqu's protection, Cai Min became a corrupt and lawless big tiger who has been entrenched in Youyan for many years!

There are no telling how many people in Youyan wanted to eat Cai Min's flesh and sleep on his skin to vent their hatred, but they had no choice but to rely on the power in his hands. However, with the Fengwu Army entering the pass and the fall of Zhao Fuqu's regime, everything changed!
Although Cai Min was Zhao Fuqu's lackey, he had a very sensitive political sense. After realizing that Zhao Fuqu had fallen, he immediately wanted to sell out his master for fame and fortune and join Ye Mingsheng to continue doing evil things. For this reason, he also presented Ye Mingsheng with a lot of money and beautiful women!

However, Ye Mingsheng wanted to recover his losses on the one hand, and on the other hand he also wanted to win the hearts of the people of Youyan, so he didn't bother to care about Cai Min at all, and directly asked Gu Sansi to raid Cai Min's house. Chen Wanting was the wife of Cai Min's second son, Cai Yaozu! Chen Wanting was also from a scholarly family in Youyan. Her family conditions were very good. Her grandfather's generation had been a fifth-rank lecturer in Luoan. Although her father's generation did not reach this level, he had also passed the imperial examination and served as a county magistrate...
However, when choosing sides again, Chen Wanting's father chose the wrong side and was framed by the opponent. Not only was he to be beheaded, but his family was also to be confiscated.

Cai Min’s second son, Cai Yaozu, had always coveted Chen Wanting’s beauty, so he told Chen Wanting that if she married him, he would ask his father to save her and her entire family!
As a weak woman, Chen Wanting naturally had no other choice but to surrender herself to the thief. In this way, Chen Wanting sacrificed herself to save her father and family!

Although Cai Yaozu got Chen Wanting after marriage, he did not get her heart. In addition, Chen Wanting deliberately used contraception to prevent Cai Yaozu from having children, so this second-generation rich man gradually lost his patience with Chen Wanting. He would beat and scold Chen Wanting at any time, and his life became extremely miserable.

When Gu Sansi went to raid Cai Min's house again, he found Chen Wanting, a poor woman. After learning about Chen Wanting's life experience, he inevitably felt pity for her. As the relationship between the infatuated man and the resentful woman grew, the two became closer and closer.

Chen Wanting is not only tall and beautiful, but also comes from a scholarly family and is proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting.

Therefore, in the process of interacting with Chen Wanting, Gu Sansi felt more and more that this unfortunate woman was the one who understood him. The two of them could discuss history and present affairs together, and their thoughts could be constantly sublimated...

However, as Cai Yaozu's wife, Chen Wanting was also implicated. For this reason, Gu Sansi specially wrote to Ye Mingsheng to pardon Chen Wanting!
Ye Mingsheng was also happy to fulfill Gu Sansi's wish and pardoned Chen Wanting as Gu Sansi wished. In this way, Gu Sansi took Chen Wanting as his concubine, and the two of them lived a sweet life in Yijing's mansion!
Although Gu Sansi got what he wanted, he was criticized for leaving his original wife Wang in his hometown of Dongning. This was one of the few stains on Gu Sansi. However, because the matter was suppressed by Ye Mingsheng, no one could say anything about it!
At this time in Yi Jing's mansion, Gu Sansi and Chen Wanting were having dinner. Although they were eating, the two people who were deeply in love were also exchanging glances.

Just when the two were preparing to applaud their love, a servant brought them a message.

"Master, Lord Ma wants to see you!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Sansi couldn't help but frowned slightly. There were several people in the Central Court with the surname Ma, and they had all asked him to do things for them recently, so he instinctively thought that those people had come to his house. Although he instinctively wanted to refuse, Gu Sansi asked again out of caution.

"Speak clearly! That Mr. Ma?"

The servant preached without hesitation:
"Deputy Governor of Qi and Lu, Mr. Ma Runchuan..."

After hearing this, Gu Sansi was stunned for a moment, and then immediately ordered:
"You bastard! Hurry up and invite my senior brother in!"

"No! I'll go myself."

After saying that, Gu Sansi was about to tidy up his clothes. Seeing Gu Sansi's flustered look, Chen Wanting walked over to help Gu Sansi tidy up his appearance and asked curiously:

"My husband, this Lord Ma Runchuan, is he the senior brother who has done you a great favor?"

Gu Sansi nodded and said:

"That's right! It's him!"

After saying this, Gu Sansi gave a somewhat emotional sermon:

"Without the recommendation of my Senior Brother Ma, I, Gu Sansi, would not be where I am today!"

Chen Wanting blinked her beautiful eyes when she heard this, and then she also said with a smile;

'Then you better go quickly, don't keep them waiting anxiously!'

"Well! Madam, you must wait for your husband well!"

While Gu Sansi and Chen Wanting were flirting with each other, Ma Runchuan, who was standing outside the door, felt a little nervous. Although he had been promoted in recent years, and the speed of promotion was not slow, he had now been appointed as the deputy governor of Qilu!
However, Ma Runchuan still secretly regretted not following Ye Mingsheng immediately, otherwise he might be more than just a deputy governor now!
However, what made Ma Runchuan feel fortunate was that another right thing he did in his life was to recommend his junior brother Gu Sansi to Ye Mingsheng!

However, although he had a very good relationship with Gu Sansi, that was only the friendship they had back then, and now Gu Sansi was the Minister of Personnel and his superior!

Thinking of this, Ma Runchuan was a little worried. After all, he had seen too many different kinds of life in the officialdom over the years and knew too well the filthiness of it...

(End of this chapter)