The Assistant Minister of Justice holds a Third Rank position in the Great Jin Dynasty, one rank higher than Wang Ye's position of Deputy Minister at the Judicial Court, and even half a rank higher than the Judicial Court Minister himself, yet the age of his counterpart caused Chen Qing to marvel at how impressive connections can be.
Isn't he not even thirty years old?
In the modern day, he'd at least be the head of the Supreme Court or the Supreme Procuratorate. Thirty years old... tsk... only the French president who sought out an older lady could compare.
"Junior official has seen Minister Fei!" Chen Qing grumbled internally, but his expression was one of respectful salutation.
The handsome young Assistant Minister looked at Chen Qing expressionlessly and said indifferently, "You have not yet taken office, so it is inappropriate to call yourself 'junior official'."
The corner of Chen Qing's mouth twitched, and he cupped his hands, responding, "The student has not considered it thoroughly, my apologies..."
Fei Jun, sipping his tea, silently observed the young man, who still maintained a gentle smile even after being poked by himself, not at all like a young person, but rather like an experienced official.
The imperial edict stated the two would work together on the case, but there was also a line stating that Chen Qing would be the lead!
This made Fei Jun quite curious about what made this youngster so special.
"How much longer does Minister Fei plan to pretend?" Weichi Peng, who was on the side, grew impatient, "Does the top brass give us plenty of time?"
"The bigger the affair, the more one should not be rash. General Weichi, this flaw of yours must change if you are to shoulder great responsibilities!"
"Ha..." Weichi Peng laughed coldly in resentment, "Whether I am capable or not, I fear it's not for you, Minister Fei, to decide!"
Seeing the two on the verge of losing their temper, Chen Qing felt embarrassed. How could such young Third Rank officers be so abrasive in their dealings? Could it really all be due to the Crown Prince's support?
"Gentlemen, shall we discuss the pressing matters first?" Chen Qing hastily presented the list given by Wei Gongcheng and cautiously said, "There are many names on this list, and it will take a lot of effort to investigate."
"Your list is useless..." Without even raising their eyelids, the other party took a sip of tea and produced another list, "The list from the Ministry of Rites is just for show to the Imperial Court, to imply that the Crown Prince is broadly considering candidates for his consort. But the actual predetermined spots are not so numerous. The Crown Prince will only choose from this list."
Chen Qing was stunned, delicately taking the new list. The new list was indeed much shorter, with fewer than thirty candidates, making it much easier to investigate than the previous one.
"May I presume to ask... how many people know about this list?" he asked cautiously.
At these words, Fei Jun put down his teacup, finally giving Chen Qing his full attention, "You seem to have some reaction."
Weichi Peng, on the side, looked bemused – what did that mean?
"Apart from the naive young Duke next to you, all eight dukes residing in the Capital City know about it!"
Chen Qing frowned at this, and Weichi Peng, recovering, realized they were sifting through the candidates for the person behind the scenes!
Only a person of significant influence could help set the stage for the Thousand-Faced Fox; if the Fox wished to infiltrate the selection, they would first need to get acquainted with those who knew this list to lay the groundwork in advance!
"Minister Fei should watch his words!" Weichi Peng's face darkened, "It doesn't matter if you look down on me, but the eight great Dukes are not for you, a mere stripling, to malign. Surely the nine department heads know about this list, don't they?"
Facing Weichi Peng's interrogation, Fei Jun couldn't even be bothered to glance at him, simply replying indifferently, "The department heads may know the list, but their motives are much smaller compared to those of the Dukes."
"Hah... who can be certain of that?" Weichi Peng scoffed, "Most of you Magicians are remnants of the former dynasty!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room instantly turned ice-cold. Weichi Peng's eyes held a terrifying blue glow, while Fei Jun's were even more extreme, flickering with a hint of burning flame!
As an ordinary person, Chen Qing felt unbearably uncomfortable between the two, even breathing became difficult!
Fortunately, the stand-off only lasted a moment before they ceased, or else, under the pressure, Chen Qing seriously doubted whether his fragile existence might be crushed by the aura of these two sons of bitches...
It seems that after this affair, he must hasten to advance into transcendence. The vulnerability of being squashed like an insect with such ease is too much to bear...
Fei Jun glanced at Chen Qing, who was gasping heavily, a flicker of doubt in his eyes – was he really just an ordinary person?
Chen Qing, struggling to breathe, quickly pondered over the situation.
From the conversation between the two, the conflict between the Magicians and the noble families of the Great Jin seemed significant, having evolved into an opposition between civil and military officials.
But this was to be expected. Throughout the history of Huaxia, civil and military officials never got along; after periods of peace, civil officials always tried to wrest control from military hands.
This world is special; noble families, with their powerful innate talents, naturally suppressed ordinary civil officials. Now that Magicians, being capable of contending with the noble families, had emerged, it was only natural that they would be antagonized, pushing them to align with civil officials.
This made Chen Qing realize that this case was more than just a little troublesome; if he was not careful, he feared it would become a spark for mutual assaults between civil and military factions.
At the thought, Chen Qing shivered.
"Let's take a look at the candidates first," Fei Jun spread out the list and explained, "To avoid risk, the descendants of previous dynasties' Great Confucians have been directly excluded. The selection list consists only of officials with untarnished family histories, and they are primarily from Scholarly Families that have always been in the Capital City."
Chen Qing took the list and started reading it carefully. Even though the other party had an arrogant attitude, his work was meticulous. Each person on the list had detailed background information, family members, and risk assessments marked by the other party.
As Chen Qing looked at the list, he said, "Avoiding risks is not very useful. As long as the other party can find out the list in advance, there's the risk of replacing someone on the list."
Fei Jun nodded; he agreed with this point. The selection of the Crown Prince's consort wouldn't consider families of blood lineage, and to appease the Military Officers, magician families would also not be considered. Since they would be choosing from ordinary families, no matter how much they tried to protect the list in advance, the risk of substitution remained.
"You are acquainted with the Crown Prince; do you know if His Highness has someone he fancies?"
"Nonsense!" Fei Jun gave a cold rebuke, "How could His Highness, with such a precious status, engage in such reckless matters as having secret meetings with women before marriage?"
"Are you sure there's none?" Chen Qing asked very seriously.
"Er..." Fei Jun's face showed a rare moment of difficulty.
Chen Qing rolled his eyes; he knew it. The more pure the bloodline of the bloodline families, the more lustful they are. It's the biological instinct in their bodies wanting to carry on the lineage. Would he, as the designer, not know?
Even proper etiquette can't stop the lascivious traits he designed back then!
Under Chen Qing's gaze, Fei Jun finally said, "The Crown Prince had once encountered the Assistant Minister of Rites Yang Lin's second daughter by chance. The lady is well-educated and has an extraordinary temperament. The Crown Prince... cough... had a bit of a young man's admiration..."
Tsk tsk...
Chen Qing's face twitched; indeed, the well-read sure know how to phrase things.
"Has there been any private contact?"
"How could that be possible?" Fei Jun immediately lost his previous haughtiness and snapped defensively, "What kind of person do you take the Crown Prince for?"
"Minister Fei is an official of the Judicial Court; you should know that one must be objective in investigation..." Chen Qing couldn't be bothered with the other party's guilty rebuttal, "Are you sure there hasn't been any?"
"Cough..." Fei Jun, in the end, couldn't keep up and let out a cough, "A young man's admiration... occasionally couldn't restrain themselves and met in private, it's... understandable..."
"Hmm, yes, the exuberance of youth..." Chen Qing echoed, and then asked the question he was most concerned about, "Was there any impropriety?"
"What... What kind of impropriety?" Fei Jun asked nervously.
"I mean, have they had any private dealings..." Chen Qing, tired of seeing the other person's evasive manner, asked directly.
"Chen Qing!!" Fei Jun immediately became furious, "Do you realize what a crime slandering the Crown Prince is?" he looked toward the guard in black who was still taking notes, "What are you recording?"
The guard in black looked at Fei Jun, paused, and then jotted down (Fei Jun said: What are you recording?)
Fei Jun: "......."
Weichi Peng: o-O!
Taking a deep breath, Fei Jun couldn't be bothered to argue with a paper person, and looked straight at Chen Qing, "Chen Qing, I'm telling you..."
"Is there... or isn't there?" Chen Qing's face darkened as he directly cut off the other person's words!
"You..." Fei Jun swallowed, feeling somewhat at a loss for the first time before a youngster younger than himself.
Damn it, the mess that Siao Yan made, the key was not to let oneself know about it...
Weichi Peng watched in curiosity; he had never seen the normally arrogant Fei Jun show such vulnerability before someone else.
"Is this really important?" Fei Jun asked in a cold voice after taking a breath.
His tone might have been cold, but it felt somewhat feeble.
"It's very important!" Chen Qing became even more serious, and his face turned even uglier.
Damn, he was just casually probing, yet he had inadvertently uncovered a serious issue. Judging by the other party's reaction, it was likely that the Crown Prince had indeed done it!!
Hopefully, it wasn't like what he was thinking, otherwise...
What he would be facing now might be an existence close to Nine-tails!!