"Old Man has been hungry for days—can't my stomach growl?" Albert Carter, his Old Face unblushing, huffed and glared, saying, "What are you standing there for? Go get me some rice!"

……

In a short while, the five members of the family, grandfather and grandsons, each holding a bowl of porridge, squatted under the eaves, slurping as they continued eating.

"See, wasn't I right to tell you to cook more?" Edward Carter glanced at Big Brother, quite proud of his foresight.

"Get lost." William Carter, sulking, ignored him and asked Albert Carter in confusion, "Dad, how did they let you out?"

"They locked me up to get money from you. Once you paid, why would they keep me for the New Year?" Albert Carter looked around at the pitch-dark, sprawling residence, shivering with heartache, and asked, "How did it end up like this? How much did they force you to pay?"

"They wanted a hundred thousand taels. I sold off all our property and only managed to scrape together half." William Carter answered honestly, "There’s still fifty thousand left. I was going to borrow the rest, but Henry Carter messed it up."

As he spoke, he noticed Albert Carter's face turning ashen and quickly asked with concern, "Dad, you must have suffered a lot in there, right?"

But Albert Carter suddenly flew into a rage, repeatedly smacking William Carter on the head and cursing angrily:

"You idiot! Are you trying to kill Old Man with anger?! Old Man has a superior in the ministry, and even a Left Vice Minister above him. Three thousand taels would have been the most you needed to pay! And you added another two thousand? Old Man worked hard his whole life, and you, you wastrel, squandered it all!"

If he weren't squatting on the ground, he would have given his Eldest Son a beating with both fists and feet.

"I just wanted to get you out sooner!" William Carter could only cover his head and dodge, crying out in grievance, "You have no idea how urgent it was! It felt like if we didn't pay immediately, they'd execute you on the spot..."

"Fool, can't you see they were scamming you? In these matters, everyone chips in—why would my family pay it all?! You're worse than a child!"

"You are not as good as my son." Edward Carter looked at his own Big Brother with pride.

"What are you so smug about, you bookworm!" Albert Carter shot Edward Carter a glare, but his expression gradually softened. After scolding his Eldest Son, he turned and patted Henry Carter on the shoulder, speaking gently:

"Good grandson, get grandpa another bowl."

"Uh, okay."

Henry Carter dumbly took the empty bowl. He finally understood—the root of the The Carter Family's eccentricity was right here.

Chapter Six: Sleepless Night

Albert Carter ate three bowls of porridge in a row, finally sitting on the threshold, satisfied and holding his belly, no longer venting his anger at his Eldest Son.

Only then did Edward Carter muster the courage to tentatively ask in a low voice, "Dad, they said you offended Gao Gong. Was that just a ruse to scam us?"

"Not at all. Old Man really did offend that Gao fellow badly." Albert Carter gave a wry laugh, his tone tinged with loneliness: "Who would have thought, with that dog-shit temper of his, he could climb to the position of Vice Grand Secretary in the Cabinet!"

Henry Carter shuddered at these words... Gao Gong was practically invincible during the Longqing era! And now it was only the second month of the first year of Longqing—how could the Old Man ever hope to rise again?

"But this time, it had nothing to do with Gao. They just used me as a scapegoat!" Albert Carter spat fiercely and said, "Otherwise, why, when you gritted your teeth and refused to pay, did they obediently scrape together the silver and let me out?"

"What, they made up the fifty thousand themselves?" William Carter was stunned.

"Of course! If they didn't bleed, they'd all be in trouble together!" Albert Carter sighed gloomily, "In the past, the capital evaluations were mostly just for show, so this time in Nanjing, they planned to do the same. But unexpectedly, things changed dramatically in the capital, and the crackdown was unprecedented—over a hundred officials of seventh rank and above were dismissed in just the first month..."

Henry Carter, being a Ming history major, naturally understood what Albert Carter was saying.

The so-called capital evaluation was the court's triennial assessment of capital officials. Those dismissed in the evaluation were never reinstated, making it a veritable gate of hell for every official. But precisely because of this, those in charge of the evaluation usually didn't go too hard. In Nanjing, this was even more the case—after all, everyone was just biding their time, so why make things difficult for each other?

By convention, the Ming dynasty had two capitals with two separate administrations. The Nanjing officials were evaluated by the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate, and only the results were reported to the capital for review. This time, it started out the same, but who could have expected a bloody storm in Beijing? How could Nanjing dare to be perfunctory after that?

"With the mess in the Southern Ministry of Revenue's accounts, how could it stand up to scrutiny? This was the first time in years they checked seriously, and in no time, they found a deficit of a hundred thousand taels. That's no small sum—if it got reported to Beijing, not only would the Southern Ministry of Revenue be in trouble, but the Southern Censorate would be dragged down too!" Albert Carter gave a self-deprecating laugh and finally said:

"The hole had to be filled, and someone had to take the fall so most people could get through unscathed. At that point, some bastard dug up the old grudge between Old Man and Gao Gong. They decided I was doomed anyway, so they came up with this nasty trick—trapping Old Man in the Southern Courtyard to extort you two idiots!"

Edward Carter hurriedly defended himself, "Dad, I really didn't know anything..."