Cui Zhaoqian swept his gaze over them, then suddenly smiled. "Gentlemen, ministers of our realm, I have a business proposition. Would you care to take part?"
Oh, it was Cui Zhaoqian. What was he planning?
Business? Had he brought his business dealings all the way into the Grand Secretariat?
Only then did the grand secretaries raise their heads and look at Cui Zhaoqian.
Despite their inward grumbling, they knew that Cui Zhaoqian, the minister of war and a grand secretary himself, would hardly gather the dignitaries of the Grand Secretariat to conduct actual business. This "business" probably meant something else.
Seeing their surprise as they all turned toward him, Grand Secretary Xie Zhi laughed. "Old Cui, you've actually brought your business into the Grand Secretariat? You deserve a beating!"
Xie Zhi had become a Presented Scholar at twenty-seven. He had served successively as a Junior Compiler and Compiler of the Hanlin Academy, an expositor-in-waiting, and a censor. He was now grand academician of Canopy Hall and a participant in state affairs.
"What sort of business could tempt even Lord Cui?" another man teased. This was He Yuduan. Although Xu Bin had been "born exceptionally gifted, reading ten lines at a glance once he began his studies, and universally hailed as a child prodigy," he had passed the provincial examination at twenty-six and only become a Presented Scholar at thirty. He was now grand academician of the Pavilion of Literary Profundity, granted imperial favor to serve in the Grand Secretariat.
After tossing out that remark, Cui Zhaoqian merely smiled without speaking. He slowly unrolled the painting in his hands, covering the seal. His colleagues initially looked puzzled, then gradually drew closer, their expressions turning to wonder. Only then did he say, "Please take a careful look. What do you think of