Yan Keji envied Li Lifang for his every move of "doing whatever he wants" in the court over the years, especially when the current saint Zhao Kuo also held a very indulgent attitude towards Li Lifang. This made Yan Keji deeply envious of the various privileges of his royal relatives, and even hoped that one day he would be able to do whatever he wants in the court like Li Lifang.

The Minister of Works was transferred to the Minister of Justice, and the Minister of Justice was transferred to the Minister of Revenue. As long as Li Lifang wanted it, almost no one would come out to stop it, so Li Lifang's career was extremely smooth.

Although the officials in the court knew that with Li Lifang's ability, he could not be competent for the mission of any Shangshu, over the years, Li Lifang has been in the six ministries as if he were in water and prospered.

As a Grand Secretary and Minister, Yan Keji had the pride and integrity of a literati, but deep down, he still envied Li Lifang for being able to do whatever he wanted in the court.

"Wouldn't that mean that after you offended Yan Keji today, you will establish another enemy in the court?" Xie Daoqing asked with some concern for Ye Qing.

Ye Qing looked at the figure where Li Lifang was talking to Yan Keji below, and showed a hint of disdain at the corner of his mouth, and smiled and said, "Yan Keji is very proud of himself in daily life. Although he is quite proud and honest,... it is precisely because of his ability and integrity that he has become extremely ambitious in the court than Li Lifang."

Ye Qing turned around, looked at Xie Daoqing's bright eyes, and after thinking for a while, he continued: "But the most important thing is that Li Li has no ambitions in the direction. Whether it is the Empress Dowager or the Emperor, they all know this well, and they also know that Li Lifang will never form cliques and private gangs in the court, so he is quite indulging in Li Lifang in the court. But Yan Keji is not..."

"But isn't Li Lifang having a personal relationship with you? This... isn't this the one... standing on a unified standpoint?" Xie Daoqing asked with his beautiful eyes blinking.

Xie Daoqing obviously finds it difficult to talk about the words "forming cliques and forming cliques" and "making cliques" in her opinion, such words should be used to describe the treacherous people in the court and should not be used to Ye Qing, because Ye Qing is a good person in her heart.

"Yes, Li Lifang and I have a good personal relationship, but it is only limited to private relationships." Ye Qing looked at Xie Daoqing who was a little confused and paused and explained: "In recent years, I have actually known Li Lifang quite well, but it was not until the incident of the founding Prince's Mansion a few days ago that I thoroughly understood Li Lifang's principles and positions. Putting aside some things, Li Lifang, who seems to like to serve various missions in the court, actually has his principles and bottom line, and that is, his loyalty to the Empress Dowager and the Emperor will not change anyway. It is precisely because of this that Li Lifang is willing to date me, and even chooses to stand on my side in many things."

"Why does he trust you so much? But... since he trusts you so much, why don't you tell the emperor that you can trust you completely?" In Xie Daoqing's opinion, the affairs of the court should be simple between the monarch and the ministers, right?

Since Li Lifang believes that Ye Qing will not do anything harmful to the court, then he can report to the emperor and let the emperor believe that Ye Qing is loyal to the court? Why doesn’t Li Lifang say anything to the emperor again?

In Xie Daoqing's opinion, this should be a very simple thing. A few words can actually solve the problem. It should not be so complicated now.

Ye Qing smiled and looked at Xie Daoqing, who was not very experienced in the world. If he said that there was something attractive to this young woman, it should be... the simplicity and simplicity left on Xie Daoqing after removing the trivial matters of the world.

"It would be as simple as you said." Ye Qing sighed slightly and sighed.

It is precisely because Li Lifang knew the relationship between him and the Empress Dowager that

Li Lifang has great trust in Ye Qing, but this trust does not conflict with Li Lifang's own principles. Ye Qing now knows that Li Lifang is willing to support him all the time because he knows that Ye Qing will not rebel.

And if Ye Qing wants to rebel one day, then Li Lifang will definitely be the first person to oppose him.

Although Li Lifang would also compete with other officials in the court, no matter what, Li Lifang, who is in the court, has always adhered to the principle of being an independent official over the years.

Li Lifang has both the trust of the current emperor and the support of the Empress Dowager. These could have easily become Li Lifang's huge advantages in expanding the court and extending his influence and interests. However, Li Lifang never relied on these to form cliques to expand his power. Instead, he always insisted on doing whatever he wanted in the court, which also made Zhao Kuo and Li Fengniang never worry too much about Li Lifang.

Li Lifang himself obviously knew very well that with his own unique advantages, he had nothing to do in the court, which made him seem to have been like a fish in the court over the years, but in fact he was very cautious and had been relying on his own to fight alone to prove his loyal side to Li Fengniang and Zhao Kuo.

If you don’t trigger the principle for Zhao Kuo and Li Feng Nongya, you will never test the bottom line between Zhao Kuo and Li Fengniang. Instead, Li Lifang’s current situation has become a situation that even Yan Keji envies.

Yan Keji obviously was not willing to offend Li Lifang. After all, Yan Keji was also very clear about the Empress Dowager's strength in the court and his influence on Zhao Kuo. So when Li Lifang stopped him, Yan Keji's heart began to hurt involuntarily.

These two shops, including some other shops, were not so earned by Yan Keji, but rather as the benefits and wealth given to him by Shi Miyuan to please him as the father-in-law.

This is exactly the difference between Yan Keji and Li Lifang: Although Li Lifang likes vain and loves wealth, he is never greedy for money and does not use side-by-side to accumulate wealth. In a sense, Li Lifang is even more squandering as much as he has, and if he doesn't have it, he will squander less, and if he really doesn't work, he won't squander.

But Yan Keji was not the case. Especially after receiving Shi Miyuan's first show of goodwill, he began to favor such easy-to-get benefits. This also made Yan Keji not as good as Shi Miyuan in accumulating money, but his desire and pursuit of money have now exceeded his bottom line and principles as a literati, and even applied some of the methods of making money that he saw from Shi Miyuan, including colluding with other officials.

"Mr. Li, I have worked hard to manage these shops for many years..." Yan Keji looked at the two shops not far behind him anxiously, and felt as if they were cutting his flesh.

"Mr. Yan, is it a bit involuntary to say this? Although Li is not very clear about the ins and outskirts of these shops, he also knows a general idea. Lord Yan, Li has to remind you now that the left prime minister Shi Miyuan has been detained by the emperor and entered the Dali Temple. I am afraid... it will be a matter of time before or after Lord Yan has always regarded these shops as himself, once everything from Shi Miyuan is shaken out, it will be difficult for you to explain to the emperor. Don't forget that you are not just a simple Grand Secretary or Minister, you are also my father-in-law of the Song Dynasty." Li Lifang's expression seemed to have a hint of regret for Yan Keji: "Making money and being an official can be said to be the same as the same path. You must know how to choose and advance and retreat."

"But..." Yan Keji could not hear these reminders at this time. He had only these shops that could accumulate money for him. From tonight, he would no longer belong to him. He looked even more anxious at this moment.

: "Mr. Li, can you make it convenient? Yes, Xiaguan... These shops in Xiaguan are indeed closely related to Zuoguan, but... but now these shops are actually under Xiaguan's name. Mr. Li, look..."

Li Lifang looked at Yan Keji's painful and anxious look, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, even feeling a little grateful that he had always kept a distance from Shi Miyuan over the years and had never been tempted by Shi Miyuan with various temptations.

Li Lifang was even more worried about the title of Yan Keji who had just called himself Yan and now he had called himself a subordinate official: If I had known this, why would I have to be the first one?

However, at this time, Li Lifang obviously hadn't forgotten the task assigned to him by Ye Qing. He sighed sympathetically and said, "Mr. Yan, let's give up some things outside of him, otherwise he would lose the big picture because of the small, but he would be too late to regret it."

"This... these officials all have deeds and so on... Otherwise, why don't you wait for a while, Lord Li?" Yan Keji looked around anxiously, as if waiting for someone.

Li Lifang saw Yan Keji's anxious look in his eyes, and then he couldn't help but look at the second floor of the teahouse opposite. At this time, he realized that Ye Qing had already expected that Yan Keji might have pleaded in the palace. Otherwise, with his current prestige in Lin'an, even ten Yan Keji would not dare to stop him from blocking these shops.

Li Lifang obviously did not intend to show mercy. He smiled and shook his head. When he was about to speak up and persuade each other, Yan Keji took Li Lifang's arm, and the two of them took two steps to a more secluded place.

Yan Keji seemed to be making some decision, and then gritted his teeth as if he was accepting his fate. After letting go of Li Lifang's arm, he took out a stack of silver notes from his sleeve bag. He trembled with some pain and hesitation, and his throat whispered in a low voice: "Mr. Li, this is a little bit of a small meaning. The lower official has always wanted to visit Lord Li in the mansion, especially since the empress entered the palace, but the lower official also knew that Lord Li was very busy on weekdays and could not find a suitable opportunity. He was even more afraid of disturbing Lord Li. And today he happened to have this opportunity, and I hope Lord Li must not be polite."

Looking at Yan Keji's trembling hand holding the silver bill, Li Lifang's expression was always calm and calm. He stretched out his hand and slowly pushed back Yan Keji's hand that was not strong. He looked at Yan Keji with the flow of retracting his arm and silver bill, shook his head and said, "Mr. Yan, although Li is very vain in daily life and is even a bit of a mischievous official, he also knows... the reason is reasonable, so I hope Master Yan..."

"Then like this, maybe Lord Li waited for a moment and went to the palace to invite the queen..."

"This is what the emperor means. Does Lord Yan think the queen is the master?" Li Lifang simply abandoned Ye Qing and moved Zhao Kuo out directly.

In his opinion, even if Zhao Kuo knew about scaring Yan Keji in the name of Zhao Kuo, at worst, he would be scolded by Zhao Kuo. Anyway, it would not hurt, and it would be for the sake of the court.

However, just in the flash, Li Lifang seemed to suddenly realize something, and suddenly looked at the second floor of the teahouse opposite unconsciously. A premonition suddenly arose in his heart: Is Ye Qing moved Yan Keji? Could it be that he was taking the opportunity to test the current attitude of the emperor towards him?

At this time, Ye Qing on the second floor of the teahouse also looked at Li Lifang who was surprised. Although he couldn't see Li Lifang's expression clearly, the two could still feel that they were looking at each other at this moment.
Chapter completed!