The empress is pregnant, and the emperor's incense continues

However, she was a virtuous woman who would never do such a thing. While massaging Chen Qianmo's shoulders, she praised him, "My young master is too kind and honest. He doesn't know the dark side of the officialdom. How can he just give money? Giving gifts must follow a set of rules. Giving money directly is called bribery."

"You are right that accepting bribes is against the law. How should we give it?" Chen Qianmo asked sincerely.

Liu Ruyan smiled sweetly and explained to Chen Qianmo in detail: "Gifts should naturally be elegant things, such as jade, calligraphy and paintings, which are expensive but not vulgar."

"Especially Lord Xu. If he just gave money, people would inevitably look down on him. But as a disciple of Grand Tutor Zhuang and a senior brother of the Grand Master, if he gave a painting of the Grand Tutor and a painting of the Grand Master, it would show that the gift is good and let people know that he has a close relationship with our family. Even for the Grand Master's sake, people would definitely agree."

Chen Qianmo felt as if the clouds had been cleared and the sun had risen after hearing these words. He looked at Liu Ruyan with gratitude and said, "When Lord Xu gets the official position, I will be the first to thank you."

Liu Ruyan lowered her head and smiled. In Chen Qianmo's storehouse, there were several paintings and calligraphy by Master Zhuang, but not a single one by Chen Yanqing.

If Chen Qianmo wanted to take a painting of Chen Yanqing's calligraphy from Uncle Fu, Meng Wen Yao would definitely know it. If Meng Wen Yao took action at that time, Chen Qianmo would definitely be in trouble, and Lord Xu would most likely be implicated and leave the capital.

And she just needs to sit back and reap the benefits.

On the second day, Uncle Fu found Meng Wenyao and said respectfully, "Madam, the young master did not do well in the imperial examination this time. Now he wants to calm down and practice calligraphy. I want to find a painting by the old man in the storehouse, that is, the painting of winter plums, and take it out to copy."

This request was reasonable, so Meng Wenyao naturally couldn't refuse. She smiled and said, "Okay, but I'm going to take people to sort out the warehouse these two days, and I don't know where the calligraphy and paintings are. Please let me look for them and I'll send them to you as soon as I find them."

Uncle Fu thought that Meng Wen Yao was really easy to deceive. As long as Meng Wen Yao took out Chen Yanqing's painting of winter plums, he would immediately have someone copy it, then sell the original and give the fake to Chen Qianmo to copy.

In this way, if the painting of winter plum blossoms is discovered to be a fake by the minister in the future, it will not be blamed on him in any way. However, Meng Wenyao is in charge of the warehouse and will be the first to be blamed by the minister.

He had beautiful thoughts and was just waiting for Meng Wen Yao to give him the painting of winter plum blossoms.

Of course Meng Wen Yao didn't know about all these calculations. When she found the painting of cold plums in the warehouse, she saw that the calligraphy and painting were well protected, so she was a little worried that if she gave it to Chen Qianmo, he would damage it.

"Tell me, did Chen Qianmo deliberately ask for a copy of the painting, then ruin it, and then say it was me who did it, so that the elder would blame me."

Xiaoju thought it was very possible and nodded, "What should we do then, should we send it or not?"

"Of course I have to give it to you, but you can't give you an original. You can take it out and have someone copy it, and then give him a fake. Even if Chen Qianmo finds out it's a fake, I can say that I'm worried about damaging it, and the elder won't blame me."

Soon, Xiaoju took the painting of winter plum blossoms and had someone make a fake one. She then gave the fake one to Uncle Fu, and the original one naturally remained in the warehouse.

Uncle Fu took the painting of winter plum blossoms and asked someone to make a fake one for him. Naturally, he gave the second fake one to Chen Qianmo and kept the first fake one at home for future use.

The master who copied the painting was a little confused. How come this painting was copied twice in such a short time? Could it be that this painting of the elder was going to be a big seller?

Naturally, he kept one for himself and could make a lot of money by selling fakes.

In this way, Chen Qianmo took an original painting by Master Zhuang and a fake by Chen Yanqing to the Zhuang Mansion and asked Xu Tongfu to find a way.

When Meng Wen Yao's people found out that Xu Tongfu was going to give the painting away to ask for an official position, they knew that Chen Qianmo had schemed against them. Fortunately, what she gave was a fake. If it was an authentic painting, and Chen Qianmo denied that he had borrowed it, wouldn't she have to take the blame?

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, so Meng Wen Yao told Chen Yanqing that night.

"Lord, there is something I am afraid I will do wrong, so I want to tell you in advance."

Chen Yanqing usually saw Meng Wenyao as warm and cheerful, and she had never seen her look so aggrieved. He asked distressedly, "What happened? Did someone bully you?"

"No, it's just that the young master asked for one of your plum blossom paintings, saying that he wanted to copy it and learn your handwriting. I was worried that he would damage the painting, so I sent him a fake one. I hope you won't blame me."

"I thought it was nothing. That kid has never been interested in writing since he was young. You were right to send him a fake one."

As Chen Yanqing spoke, he kissed Meng Wenyao and said with a smile, "Don't tell me about such trivial matters in the future. You are the one who manages this family. I trust you completely. And Qianmo, although he is one year older than you, he is not very stable. You should take care of him more. If he does something wrong, just tell me and I will discipline him."

"Okay, thank you, husband."

With Chen Yanqing's words, she could go ahead and do whatever she wanted with the subsequent operations on this painting.

After that, a few days later, the Minister of Personnel found Chen Yanqing after leaving the court and said to him in a friendly manner: "Sir, I recently got a painting by Master Zhuang, and I want you to come over to identify its authenticity."

Chen Yanqing never wanted to get involved in this kind of thing, but since it concerned Master Zhuang, as a son-in-law, Chen Yanqing had no choice but to go along reluctantly.

He looked at the scroll unfolded by the Minister of Personnel, carefully examined it and nodded: "It is indeed the authentic work of the Grand Master."

It was just that in a trance, he remembered that the Master had kept this calligraphy and painting in his home and had not given it away!

He would never have thought that it was Chen Qianmo who sent it out himself. At this time, the Minister of Personnel's eyes lit up and he picked up another painting.

"I was fortunate enough to receive a piece of calligraphy from you a few days ago. I am truly honored."

The Minister of Personnel slowly opened the fake painting of plum blossoms and said with a flattering smile, "Your Excellency's writing skills are profound. I really admire you. If it weren't for Lord Xu's gift, I'm afraid I would have rarely seen such an authentic painting."

He was not discussing the painting, but mainly wanted to confirm whether Chen Yanqing knew Lord Xu and whether Lord Xu was supported by Chen Yanqing behind the scenes. If so, Xu Tongfu's official position would be determined soon.

If Chen Yanqing showed that he was not friendly with Lord Xu, he would give up the two paintings and return them, and would not help Xu Tongfu arrange an official position.

Chen Yanqing looked at the fake painting of winter plum blossoms with an extremely ugly expression. He clearly remembered that Meng Wenyao said that she gave Chen Qianmo a fake painting. How come this fake painting suddenly became a bribe gift from others?

Could it be that when Meng Wen Yao took the painting out for copying, someone secretly copied it again? At this time, he had not yet completely suspected Chen Qianmo.