The Valued Lady is Truly Dominant-Chapter 795: Intentionally Grilling Our House on Fire?

When Song Zhicheng came to find his elder brother, Song Zhiyuan, he was still lost in his mother’s words, the more he pondered, the more he felt his heart stirred.

"Elder brother."

Song Zhiyuan jolted back to reality, noticing his hand was almost at his face, he instinctively slapped it away: "What are you doing?"

"I should ask you, I called out several times and got no response." Song Zhicheng rolled his eyes dramatically.

"I was just pondering over something, why?"

Song Zhicheng’s expression turned serious as he asked, "Elder brother, are you worried that my obtaining this official position is not beneficial for our family’s development?"

Song Zhiyuan was momentarily stunned, then replied with a smile, "Why would you think that?"

"Even a fool could figure it out by wiggling their toes. Look around the capital, where do you find four brothers serving as officials in the same court? To be quite irreverent, I feel like someone out there doesn’t like us and is painting us as targets just to see us burn." Song Zhicheng muttered while touching his nose.

"Mind your words." Song Zhiyuan glared at him with mild annoyance, saying, "You’re overthinking this. Your official position, including your wife’s decree, were all exchanged for you by Zhao’er. They are titles without real power. The same goes for our fourth brother’s idle position, being a husband and by marriage arranged by the Emperor, it’s a face-saving measure for Prince Dingbei’s Mansion, a form of compensation."

So, although several of them hold official positions, the only ones with actual power are him and the third brother.

"But they really didn’t have to reward us, it’s overly generous and makes people uncomfortable. I dare say, the moment Eunuch Zhou walked out the door, rumors must have spread fast from the servants to everywhere, undoubtedly now they’re gossiping about how we don’t match our positions."

Song Zhiyuan: "..."

If you want to call them spies, just call them that, but you don’t have to say it with such flavor.

"The Emperor’s grace, it’s not their place to criticize, but tomorrow, the court will likely see impeachment petitions against us." Song Zhiyuan was already well aware of the tendencies of the Imperial Censors.

Even if they didn’t want to take action, his opponents would force them to.

"So, elder brother, let them say what they want, after some time, I will resign from this position. After all, my wife’s decree won’t be retracted, and we don’t really need the salary from this official position and its meager grain allowance."

The main thing is, now that his wife has a rank, she won’t be ridiculed in private as a merchant’s daughter when she attends those social gatherings and poetry salons.

Song Zhiyuan smiled, "You and mother really think alike, mother and son, of one heart."

"How so?"

Song Zhiyuan then recounted Song Ci’s words, which were the same as his.

Song Zhicheng laughed heartily, "Biological ones are indeed different."

"Second brother, do you really not care about this official position? Don’t you want to be an official?"

"What’s there to care about, maybe I was a little unsatisfied in my youth, but now you see, at my age, to be honest, if I’m lucky, I could become a grandfather in a few years. Why should I bother with being an official, toiling in the bureaucracy, scheming and calculating? I’m not a fool. I’d rather be a carefree elder, like father, isn’t that better?"

Song Zhiyuan couldn’t quite express what he felt, but he patted his shoulder, saying, "Then keep things as they are, there’s no rush to resign, wait for the right opportunity."

"Alright." Song Zhicheng, being the obedient younger brother, flashed a sly smile and took out a gourd from his sleeve, shaking it: "In good spirits today, how about a couple of drinks between brothers?"

Song Zhiyuan nodded with a smile, and had some side dishes prepared to accompany their drinks.

"Elder brother, may you and I become old men and still drink like this together." Song Zhicheng raised his cup.

Song Zhiyuan clinked his jade cup against his, "I accept your kind words."