"Sun Dewen!"
That was the name of the Tongzhi who had deliberately raised his voice just now. What was Zhang Dai, Deputy Imperial Commissioner Zhang, trying to do? Was he going to confront Sun Dewen?
If that were truly the case, it would be far too beneath him.
The other man had not even named anyone. People had only ever heard of picking up money; for a Deputy Imperial Commissioner to voluntarily pick up abuse, that was truly beneath contempt.
Who would have expected that, after calling the name, Zhang Dai began coughing repeatedly? He wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and saw a patch of red, his heart turning cold. Yet he turned to Tongzhi Sun and, without arguing over what had happened just now, gave a cold laugh. "I heard you recently took a new concubine and bought two hundred mu of good farmland?"
"Two hundred mu of good farmland—at seven or eight taels per mu—would cost fifteen hundred taels."
"You are merely a Tongzhi. Even including your imperial stipend, your yearly income is no more than one hundred and fifty-nine taels, and you still have an entire household to support. Where did you get that money?"
"Moreover, officials are forbidden from taking women from their place of office as concubines. You have already violated the laws of the court. If you were under my command, I would impeach you!"
Though what he meant was, unfortunately, you were not under his authority, so he truly could not impeach you.
But would Zhang Dai impeach him, or not?
Taking a new concubine and buying two hundred mu of good farmland would ordinarily be no great matter. But at such a critical juncture, it could truly be thrust into the eye of the storm. A small matter could become a