He could understand Su Shichang's current mood. After King Qin's death, he once thought about resigning and going into seclusion to avoid the prince's future liquidation. But then he thought about it and found it unrealistic. If the prince ascended the throne, he would be lucky to be suppressed.
The prince avenged Liu Wenjing, and one can imagine his own fate.
As an old member of the Prince of Qin's palace, and having an unspeakable grudge against the Prince of Qi, he had no way out.
Seeing Su Shichang's hesitation, Chen Shuda said in a deep voice: "Actually, the King of Chu is not without any advantages. Now there are many talents in the Shence Mansion, and even the aristocratic families are inclined to do so. The prince is confined to the East Palace. In the court, only the King of Chu is following his lead, and there are even saints.
Support King Chu, what are you worried about?"
"The saint prefers the King of Chu?" Su Shichang said in astonishment: "But the King of Chu is neither his direct descendant nor his eldest son."
"The sage does not care about the King of Chu, but supports him." Chen Shuda corrected his wording and said, "I don't believe you can't see the sage's intention."
Su Shichang frowned and thought for a moment, then said: "You mean, the sage wants to use the King of Chu to check and balance the prince?"
As an old member of Tiance Mansion, Su Shichang naturally knew that the sage had used the King of Qin to check and balance the prince.
"Isn't it?" Chen Shuda asked.
Su Shichang was dumbfounded. After thinking about it carefully, it was true, so he sighed: "Sage doing this will sooner or later bring trouble to Xiao Qiang."
"This is not something you and I can speculate on."
Chen Shuda doesn't care about the royal family fight. He only has two thoughts now, one is to save the lives of his family, and the other is to avenge the King of Qin.
Su Shichang cupped his hands and said: "In that case, Shichang is willing to serve His Highness the King of Chu."
He also knew that as a former member of the Tiance Mansion, once the prince ascended the throne, the second most important thing was whether he could keep his functions. The most important thing was the life of his family.
"Okay." Chen Shuda was overjoyed, held up his palm, and said with a smile: "If there is a long-term assistant to King Bi, there is no need to worry about the failure of great things."
Su Shichang smiled bitterly, this time he was just forced to have no choice.
After Chen Shuda left, another person came to visit him. The person who came was his fellow villager and former member of Tiance Mansion, Su Xu.
Su Xu is the grandson of Su Wei, the former prime minister of the Sui Dynasty, and is one of the eighteen bachelors of the Qin Dynasty.
Su Xu and Su Shichang were both Jingzhao martial artists, from the same clan but from different branches.
"Why are you here today, dear brother?" Su Shichang asked Su Xu as he sat down.
Su Xu smiled bitterly and said, "Oh, I have something important to ask my brother."
"What's the matter?"
"My ancestor is critically ill, but my younger brother is short of money and really has no money for medical treatment, so I came here to help my elder brother."
"Mr. Su is sick?" Su Shichang was surprised and said hurriedly: "How much do you want, I will have someone bring it to you."
Su Xu found it difficult to say: "Five thousand taels."
"Ah?" Su Shichang said in shock: "What kind of medicine is so expensive?"
Su Xu sighed: "The doctor wrote a prescription for my grandfather. One of the medicines requires Liaodong wild ginseng, so it costs so much money."
Speaking of this, Su Xu felt ashamed. He had never thought that one day, Su would be in trouble because of money.
He didn't dare to tell his grandfather about this, for fear that he would faint from anger.
Su Shichang frowned and said: "I have also heard of Liaodong wild ginseng. The most expensive thing is only one thousand taels a piece. How could it become five thousand taels? Isn't this just raising the price!"
"Well, to be honest with you brother, I naturally know that this is the drug dealer trying to raise the price, but they said that the Gaokai Road is currently under martial law in Liaodong, and it is difficult to transport wild ginseng, so we can only take the sea route, which is why it is so expensive."
Hearing this, Su Shichang sighed and said truthfully: "My dear brother, you and I are our own people, and I won't lie to you. The livelihood in my house is not good at the moment. The salary from the court can only support the lives of the people in my house, and I don't have much savings.
However, I can give you a little help."
What he told the truth was that without King Qin providing benefits, there would be almost no money to be made in his department. What's more, he didn't even bother to do such dirty things.
Hearing Su Shichang say that he had no money, Su Xu felt even more embarrassed and said quickly: "No, it's okay. I'll go see someone else."
After saying that, he left quickly.
After sending Su Xu to the door of the house, Su Shichang suddenly stopped him and said hesitantly: "Maybe there is someone who can help you."
"Who is brother talking about?" he asked puzzledly.
Since the death of King Qin, these old people in Tiance Mansion have been like gods of plague. The attitude of the dignitaries who usually come and go towards them has dropped sharply. Many people are not even willing to see him.
I think the Su family was once rich and powerful, but since the end of the Sui Dynasty, my grandfather Su Wei had been loyal to Yu Wenhuaji, Li Mi, and Luoyang Emperor Tai, and later submitted to the imperial court. He was not summoned by the saints, so he could only live in depression.
Almost all of them have been sold.
With the little savings he had in Tiance Mansion, he couldn't afford five thousand taels of silver.
"King Chu." Su Shichang said.
"King of Chu?" Su Xu was stunned, then smiled bitterly and said: "Brother, I have never had any contact with the King of Chu. How could he lend me money?"
Su Shichang said: "Maybe you can try it."
Su Shichang did not intend to tell him clearly about some things. He would not imitate Chen Shuda and directly persuade Su Xu to serve the King of Chu.
He let Su Xu make his own choice.
"My dear brother, if you really can't find anyone to help you, I am willing to accompany you to the Shence Mansion. It just so happens that I am about to go to the Shence Mansion to perform my duties."
"Performing your duties?" Su Xu was stunned and said in disbelief: "Brother is going to become an official in Shence Mansion?"
"That's right." Su Shichang said directly: "Just now, Prime Minister Chen personally invited me. I thought about it and agreed to him."
Su Xu was not stupid either. He quickly realized something was wrong and said, "Brother, are you planning to switch to the King of Chu's court?"
It's embarrassing to say that although they are court officials, in the eyes of everyone, they are officials of the King of Qin.
Since the death of King Qin, the Tiance Mansion has been abandoned, and Su Xu can only stay at home. After all, his previous official position was given by King Qin.
Su Shichang is different from him. The former still has the title of admonishment doctor and can receive a salary.
But Su Xu didn't. He used to be just a signer of Tiance Mansion.
Su Shichang smiled bitterly and said, "Otherwise, why don't we go to the East Palace?"
Su Xu stopped talking. After a while, he said: "I understand. If I am really desperate, I will come to find my brother."
"good."
After Su Xu left, he went to several acquaintances' homes to borrow money. As expected, they basically had no money to lend him.
When I returned home in the evening, I was greeted by my younger brother Su Dan.
"Brother, have you borrowed the money?"
Su Xu felt so uncomfortable that he wanted to cry, but he didn't dare to cry. Now that the Su family relied on him to support him, if he fell, the whole family would be doomed.
"Second brother, don't worry, I already have a clue."
Their father Su Kui died during the Daye period, and their grandfather Su Wei was not favored by saints. Their second brother had not yet become an official, so he was the only one in charge of the family.
Bitter!
Su Dan said happily: "That's great, my grandfather can be saved."
Hearing this, Su Xu reluctantly smiled.
After Su Xu returned home, he first visited his sleeping grandfather, then sat with him for a while, and then returned to his room.
He told his second brother that he had a clue, but in fact he had no clue. He knew very few of the powerful people in Chang'an, and because of King Qin, not many people were willing to associate with him now. Although he used to have a higher status in Tiance Mansion
Although he is low, the imprint of Tiance Mansion is still there on his body.
Therefore, not many people dare to contact him.
The root cause is still the Prince of the East Palace.
The courtiers all know about the past struggle between the East Palace and the Tiance Mansion. Now that King Qin has passed away, who dares to offend the East Palace and help the old people of the Tiance Mansion?
No!
After thinking about it, Su Xu remembered Su Shichang's words.