Chapter 576 Farewell Banquet

Tutor Xu came to the upper study and heard the guards at the door say that the emperor was already inside.

He straightened his clothes and stepped into the study room. He saw Yan Ning reciting the lesson with his head shaking, and he seemed to be in a good mood.

Although his Majesty is young, he is somewhat moody. Even Master Xu sometimes has to be cautious around him.

Master Xu glanced at Ma Yan and felt relieved when he saw him smiling at him.

He also roughly guessed why Yan Ning was in a good mood today, because tomorrow was the day when Zhu Zhongcheng would leave Beijing.

Tutor Xu cleared his throat. As usual, he would quote an anecdote every day to introduce today's lesson.

What Yan Ning loved to hear the most was the story of how young emperors throughout history broke free from the constraints of powerful ministers and harems and concentrated all power in themselves.

The lesson was over, and Tutor Xu was about to leave when Yan Ning suddenly discovered something and called him:

"Master, what's that on your sleeve?"

Master Xu looked down and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, it's just a patch."

Yan Ning tilted his head and asked in confusion: "Patches? Is this a popular trend in the capital?"

Master Xu explained:

"Your Majesty, this is not a fashion. When the clothes that ordinary people wear are torn, they can't afford to buy new clothes, so they will patch the holes, so that the clothes can be worn longer."

Yan Ning understood, but had new confusions, so he asked Master Xu:

"Is your family poor?"

Master Xu gave an awkward smile, and Ma Yan at the side spoke at the right time:

"Your Majesty, the old Grand Tutor lived a life of poverty. His family only ate vegetable porridge every day, and he often helped the poor. Everyone in the court and the country knew about this.

I heard that the imperial court delayed the distribution of the spring gift last year, so the old tutor went to borrow three dou of rice from Lord Shao of the Honglu Temple, and the family was able to celebrate the new year in peace. "

There was a hint of shock in Yan Ning's eyes.

He thought for a long time before saying:

"Officials have fixed annual salaries, and I cannot touch the national treasury without permission."

Yan Ning said as he took off the jade pendant from his waist and handed it to Grand Tutor Xu, "This jade is my personal property. If I take it to the common people, I should be able to exchange it for a lot of silver."

Master Xu knelt down and declined immediately, "Your Majesty, this is impossible. This is absolutely impossible!"

Yan Ning said, "I heard that students from the common people would pay a tuition fee to their teacher. I am the emperor, and Master Xu is the emperor's teacher. This jade pendant can be regarded as the tuition fee that the student pays to the teacher. Why not?"

Master Xu waved his hands repeatedly, refusing to accept it no matter what.

Ma Yan smiled softly and said, "Old Master, His Majesty is impressed by your integrity and hopes that all officials in the world can follow your example. If you insist on not accepting it, wouldn't you be letting His Majesty down with his sincerity?"

After several rounds of persuasion, Master Xu finally held up the jade pendant with trembling hands, tears streaming down his face. He said that he would devote his life to Your Majesty and would never be able to repay Your Majesty's kindness even if he died a thousand times.

…

Tutor Xu was still wiping away tears until he walked out of the palace.

At this time, a man came towards him, bowed to him and said respectfully:

"Old Master, the officials from the Imperial Censorate invite you to go to Xianglan Restaurant to attend the farewell banquet for Zhu Zhongcheng."

Master Xu hiccuped and asked with tears in his eyes, "I have never had any contact with the Lord Zhongcheng, so what kind of banquet am I attending?"

"The old tutor has misunderstood. The Minister of State will leave the capital tomorrow, so today the officials of the Imperial Censorate held a banquet for her to celebrate her farewell. They also invited many other officials in the court. The emperor is also aware of this matter."

Tutor Xu asked him who else would attend the banquet besides the people from the Censorate.

The man reported a series of names, from the six ministries to the nine temples, almost all the officials were present.

"Lord Zhongcheng is a Hanlin, and you are also a senior Hanlin, highly respected, so I invite you to the banquet."

Tutor Xu nodded. Since the invitations were widely sent out, it was just an ordinary official social event. It would be fine for him to go. Not going would be impolite.

So he wiped away his tears, asked someone to take a message home, and then walked to Xianglan Restaurant.

…

Xianglan Restaurant is only two stories high and is far smaller in scale than Yuxiang Pavilion. In the capital city where nobles and wealthy businessmen struggle for survival, it can only be considered middle class at best.

But for official banquets, this level is perfect.

Of course, such a scene would inevitably involve someone "sitting at the door", that is, a eunuch of high status in the palace would sit at the door to observe and record the words and deeds of officials to prevent anyone from taking advantage of such an occasion to form a clique for personal gain.

Since the banquet invited a wide range of officials, Xiao Wan, Zhao Sicheng, Zhou Da and Xu Shiming were all present.

The relationship between Xiao Wan and Zhao Sicheng was no longer a secret. They sat at the same table, while Zhou Da and Xu Shiming sat separately.

As for Chang Yunxiao, he remained his usual aloof personality and did not come at all.

Most of the people at the table where Grand Tutor Xu sat were officials who came from the Hanlin Academy, just like him, including the current Hanlin Academy Academician Shen Qingzhou.

Like Zhu Qingyan, Shen Qingzhou was a top scholar in the imperial examination, and they had a good relationship as colleagues when they were in the Hanlin Academy.

Now that Zhu Qingyan has gone to the northwest, he has become the new academician of the Hanlin Academy, but he still hasn't gotten rid of his talkative habit.

"Oh, the Grand Tutor is here, please take your seat!"

After all, Shen Qingzhou was a junior in front of the Grand Tutor, so when he saw him coming, he immediately stood up to greet him.

Taifu Xu greeted everyone with a smile. He had the highest official position and the most seniority among the group, so there was nothing wrong with him sitting in the seat of honor.

After he sat down, he glanced around the hall and not surprisingly saw the figure of Li Zhengqing, the Minister of Rites.

But there was another person beside him, who was Li Mao, the son of Duke Weiguo.

Li Mao is a well-known playboy in the capital, uneducated and unskilled. Now he has nothing to do but live a carefree life. How come he was invited here?

Shen Qingzhou sat next to Master Xu, followed his gaze, then understood, and joked:

"Although Mr. Li doesn't have much ability, he is reborn as a duke.

I heard that Duke Wei was originally invited to the banquet today, but Duke Wei is too old to move around, so they asked him to come.”

Master Xu said “oh” twice, but he was a little confused.

Although the Censorate had great power, the censors were extremely poor. Even if they could scrape together money, they could not invite so many ministers to the banquet. Where did the money come from?

As soon as he thought of this, he heard Li Mao laugh over there and said in a sarcastic tone:

"Oh, you are worthy of being the Chief Censor. Even when he goes out of the capital for inspection, he has to make such a big scene, with all the civil and military officials coming to see him off. If you don't know, you would think he has been exiled again and won't be able to come back for three to five years!

Tsk tsk, even though this restaurant is just so-so, it’s quite generous to invite so many of us.

Your Censorate is really well-funded, unlike ours, which is just a government office with little money..."