Chapter 5 — Brother Poinsettia Forced Me to Replace Him as Official

Until that day. The day of the great dynasty. Trieu Binh took action for the second time. But this time, he did not directly play the harp to my brother. Because after the previous failure, he understood one thing clearly - wanting to use ordinary means to pull Tham Tri Hanh off his horse is not easy. So, he changed another way. An even more sinister way. He deliberately brought up the matter of the Ministry of Household's deficit, and took advantage of the time when His Majesty was angry at the loss of national treasury, and proposed to assign the investigation to Tham Tri Hanh. Just give me three days to find out the truth. If you fail to investigate, not only will you lose face in front of the court, but your position in the Cabinet may also be shaken. Therefore, when I learned about it the night before, I immediately objected to continuing to replace him in court.

"No, this time you go yourself. It's such a big deal, what if something goes wrong?"

My brother Tham Tri Hanh lay on the chair, staring at me with wide eyes.

"Do you think I want that?"

"Yesterday, Your Majesty gave me a task. Within three days, I must thoroughly investigate the deficit of the Household Ministry."

"If I go to court today, the old foxes in the court will definitely surround me, look for information, and even try to disrupt the investigation."

"So you go instead of me."

"You keep saying your body isn't feeling well, your throat is hoarse, it's inconvenient to say much."

"Just keep your head down and stay there."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"That's easy for you to say. So what if someone intentionally tries to talk to you?"

He waved his hand, his expression completely unconcerned.

"Just say your throat is hoarse."

"Just don't open your mouth too much. With my cold face, no one will suspect anything."

I looked at the face in the bronze mirror that looked exactly like my brother Tham Tri Hanh, clenching my teeth. The next morning, at the hour of the Tiger, I dressed in Tham Tri Hanh's official uniform, wore his saffron hat, and walked step by step without recognition into Kim Loan Palace. I was extremely panicked inside, so scared that I didn't know what the sky, moon, and clouds were, but my face still had to remain calm like an experienced old dog. After all, my brother always has a cold face like a dead person, without the slightest expression, so others can't tell the difference at all. In the first half hour of the court session, everything went extremely smoothly. I bowed my head and stood in the ranks, like a high-class wooden stake, standing motionless, not even daring to move a finger.

"Tham Tri Hanh."

The above dragon leaned open his mouth. I have no reaction. The colleague next to me gently poked me with a spoon. I was startled and suddenly raised my head: The entire civil and military court simultaneously turned their heads to look at me. His Majesty raised his eyebrows:

"I ask you, how far have you investigated the matter of the Ministry's deficit?"

There was a "beep" sound in my head immediately. Investigate what? That damn lazy guy, Tham Tri Hanh, never told me at all what step he had investigated! I took a deep breath, imitated my brother's usual leisurely appearance, clasped my hands and replied:

"Your Majesty, I... am still adjusting."

"Correction?"

His Majesty took the medal from the dragon bench and threw it down.

"The time limit is three days, today is the second day. Tham Tri Hanh, I give you this opportunity. If you don't finish, this position in the Cabinet ——"

People don't speak next. But the meaning was extremely clear. Cold sweat "suddenly" flowed down my back. Tham Tri Hanh! You bastard! Just wait for me! I clenched my molars, but still maintained my brother's iconic calm smile.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, I will definitely present the results when the time comes."

"Tham —— Tri Hanh ——"

He opened one eye and yawned.

"You're back? How's that, nothing happened?"

"Nothing happened?"

My voice was so high that it seemed like it could penetrate the glass door.

"Your Majesty told me to submit the results of the investigation into the Household Ministry's deficit tomorrow! That's tomorrow!"

My brother was stunned for a bit.