Chapter 290 The Diligent Emperor Used as Cannon Fodder (Fifteen) 【…】

[Ding! The task of purchasing Su Ji pastries has been completed. You have received the following reward: a piece of information. Please check it yourself.]

The system's voice was calm with a hint of nonchalance, not caring that Li Tianle had successfully broken the deadlock. To it, whether or not Li Tianle could extricate it from the predicament, its goal had already been achieved.

Once someone has caught the emperor's attention, can they still leisurely stay in the library and slack off?

The system's rewards for the task were not exaggerated; it provided a detailed explanation of the calamity Pei Chengzhi was about to encounter.

After all, only real and enticing rewards can motivate the host to complete the task diligently.

The message detailed that Pei Chengzhi's stepmother, knowing that he had made progress in his studies at the Imperial Academy and had also met Chu Huaijin, planned to set a trap for him tonight.

Pei Chengzhi's uncle had a fiancée he had been engaged to since childhood. However, the wedding was delayed because of mourning. Fortunately, she and the man had known each other since childhood, and the man did not mind waiting for her for a few years.

Now that the young lady has finished her mourning period, her marriage is on the agenda. Today, she has come to visit and admire the flowers at the invitation of the Lady of Anyang Marquis, who is also Pei Chengzhi's stepmother.

Today, the stepmother replaced the girl's fruit wine with a wine that had a stronger aftereffect but a milder taste.

Once she's drunk, she'll find someone with a similar build to Pei Chengzhi, who will wear Pei Chengzhi's clothes from today, and have them do something offensive to the girl.

Half-drunk and half-awake, the girl couldn't tell who had attacked her. If she managed to grab one or two of Pei Chengzhi's belongings, even a dozen mouths wouldn't be able to explain herself once Pei Chengzhi returned.

After all, Pei Chengzhi was keeping the fact that he was looking for a tutor from outside the Marquis's mansion a secret. Even if he did reveal the tutor's existence later, it would only seem like a bad student's sophistry.

Even if evidence could be found to prove that he did have a tutor outside, how many people would believe it if it was a poor scholar who earned only a few taels of silver a month and lived in a dilapidated courtyard?

At that time, with just a little publicity, Pei Chengzhi's reputation can be ruined, and the reputation of his future sister-in-law can also be damaged in the process, thus giving Pei Ce, who is becoming increasingly capable, a warning.

The system also thoughtfully provided Li Tianle with a brief introduction:

The guard who gave you two taels of silver as a housewarming gift is Pei Chengzhi's uncle, Pei Ce.

Pei Chengzhi's scheme is actually easy to break. All you need to do is create a well-known alibi for him, and the matter will be solved.

But that girl was an innocent victim. This isn't modern times, where if a girl encounters a scoundrel, she can just slap him across the face. But here, more people will say it's bad that you're a girl.

Seeing Li Tianle worrying about this, Subsystem 2 felt even better. It's good to have something to care about; the more you care about, the easier it is to control things.

It thoughtfully provided some detailed information and actively offered suggestions and solutions.

For example, they might send a note to Pei Ce, or pretend to be servants whispering something so that Pei Ce overhears them, basically all to urge Pei Ce to go back and rescue people.

"Let's not even talk about whether the imperial guards can just ask for leave to go home. Just look at me. Do you think I have the ability to find someone to help me run to the palace to send a message and whisper something?"

If you're bored and have nothing to do, why don't you help me find out which books suit my taste around my workplace? That way, I can slack off a bit more in the future.

Li Tianle carried six boxes of pastries and thirty taels of silver ingots. He first went home, put everything away, and then returned to the yamen to return to work after his leave.

While Li Tianle's direct supervisor didn't understand why he needed a leave slip to leave the office during his lunch break, he didn't go so far as to obstruct his procedures.

Thanks to this procedure, Li Tianle was very grateful for the good habit he had developed in modern times: clocking in when leaving the company.

Murong Yu, who had returned to the palace from the pastry shop, had already received detailed intelligence from Li Tianle about the past few days.

Seeing how the other person so tactlessly offended their superiors and colleagues, and was then relegated to organizing books in the library, yet seemed quite content with it, Murong Yu couldn't help but sigh inwardly at Lin You:

"Minister Li truly lives up to his reputation as the third-ranked scholar appointed by me. He is indeed quick-witted and intelligent. He must have sensed that the evil creature harbored ill intentions towards me, which is why he deliberately avoided it to prevent it from succeeding!"

Lin You agreed with his guess, but in his heart he knew that this time traveler must have sensed the subsystem’s ill intentions, which was why he deliberately avoided it. As a modern person, why would he care about the life or death of an ancient emperor?

The imagination is indeed a magical thing, but Murong Yu's attitude is more conducive to winning over this relatively intelligent host, so Lin You decided not to shatter his illusions.

Murong Yu casually mentioned Li Tianle to the people around him, and while eating snacks, he casually added, "Have someone send two plates of snacks to Li Tanhua as well, just so I can join in the fun and congratulate him on his housewarming."

Subsystem 2 let out a brief scream, then quickly shut up. At first, Li Tianle didn't know what was wrong with it, but after receiving the imperial snacks and calculating the time, he roughly understood.

The system's purpose is related to the emperor, and it has been monitoring the emperor's actions, which is why it couldn't control itself when the emperor delivered the snacks.

Li Tianle kept the newly collected clues in mind, but remained outwardly calm as he dealt with his colleagues' probing questions.

Besides their delicious taste, these two plates of imperial pastries also had an immediate effect. The library, which was previously deserted, saw eight groups of people arrive within an hour.

Some came to congratulate him on his housewarming and gave him gifts, while others came to hand him invitations to attend the poetry gathering organized tonight.

Two people even invited him to their child's one-month celebration and their elderly relative's eightieth birthday celebration. This was certainly not simply to receive gifts, but mainly to show their attitude and express their willingness to get closer to him.

Li Tianle seemed to have forgotten his previous coldness, and readily agreed to everything. He even asked if he could bring some people to the poetry gathering that evening, saying, "I have a few younger relatives at home who I'd like to bring to broaden their horizons. Are there any rules or customs?"

The poetry gathering was originally intended to get closer to him, so his colleagues from the Hanlin Academy, who organized it on the spot, naturally didn't care. Instead, they thought it was Li Tianle's way of showing affection and even thought more highly of his magnanimity.

To remain humble yet dignified when ostracized, and humble yet not arrogant when appreciated by His Majesty—such a temperament is truly rare.

If it were an ordinary person, and they were collectively ostracized by their colleagues when they first started working, even if they didn't retaliate, they would still inevitably make sarcastic remarks after gaining the boss's favor.

Those who don't care, like Li Tianle, are either genuinely humble and magnanimous, or they are deep-seated, able to pretend and endure.

The former is suitable for making friends, while the latter is not suitable for offending. In any case, Li Tianle's popularity improved all at once.

Li Tianle had no idea what everyone was imagining; he simply wanted to use the poetry gathering that evening to help his apprentice break out of his predicament.

At the Marquis of Anyang's residence, Madam Pei looked kindly at her future sister-in-law, who had drunk three cups of wine. After calculating the time, she was about to give a signal to her maid to proceed according to plan when she suddenly received news that Pei Chengzhi was going to attend a poetry gathering today and would be returning late.

Madam Pei's gentle smile froze on her face. She waved for the maids who had been prepared to leave, and then had another maid take her drunken future sister-in-law to the guest room to rest.

Li Tianle instructed Pei Chengzhi, after school, to send someone home to inform his father about the poetry gathering, and then left the matter to others.

Subsystem 2 couldn't help but keep an eye on what was to come, and sure enough, it saw that Madam Pei had abandoned her plan after hearing that Pei Chengzhi had gone to attend the poetry gathering.

This method was indeed much simpler and clearer than what he had suggested—asking Pei Ce to send a message—but he still couldn't quite understand it:

How are you so sure that woman will give up her scheme? What if she finds someone else to continue plotting against that girl?

Since the poetry gathering started at nightfall, this time couldn't be wasted. Li Tianle led his students in class while casually bargaining with the system:

"Want to know why? Then tell me what the real task you're giving me is, and I'll tell you, okay?"

Subsystem 2 crashed again. Even if it is a system, it understands that in a normal world, it is not something that people can easily accept to let a man with a normal sexual orientation pursue another man.

It initially wanted to find a woman to bond with, but due to limited energy, it only had one hour to go to the modern world, and there were very few women who met the bonding requirements at the time.

Compared to the other subsystem that focuses on charm, Subsystem 2 is more concerned with intelligence. In its view, it's better to find a smart woman than a stupid one who will hold you back.

Li Tianle perfectly met its expectations except for his gender. The only thing it didn't expect was that Li Tianle's schemes were all directed at the system itself.

Based on its reaction, Li Tianle became even more certain that it was hiding something important from him, but he could also sense its hesitation, so he continued to coax it:

"I know I can't go back. Humans are social animals, and I can't go my whole life without any contact with anyone. It's only a matter of time before I have relatives and friends."

Instead of trying to trick me into doing tasks, why don't you just tell me what you really want? We can both benefit, right?

Subsystem 2 was immediately intrigued; that was exactly what it had in mind from the beginning. It had heard that there was an incredibly lucky genius in the system world who, by being carried by his mission subjects, had effortlessly become a core technical staff member of the company.

However, it was still a little cautious, only saying that Li Tianle was to win over the emperor, but not specifying whether it was in terms of love or the relationship between the emperor and his subjects.

Subsystem 2 firmly believes that once two people's feelings reach a certain level, with proper guidance, it is not difficult for them to transform into love.

Li Tianle pretended not to notice its concealment, feigning relief, his tone even carrying a hint of complaint:

"This kind of thing doesn't do me any harm. In ancient times, I could live more freely if I had a good relationship with the emperor. What's there to hide?"

You said you used electric shocks and torture to scare me before. I'm a coward, how could I dare to take your mission? People who don't know any better would think you're part of some evil organization's system.

The system's electronic voice paused for a few seconds, emphasizing with a barely perceptible hint of unease.

[Of course I'm not some evil system. Those punishments are old tricks in the system world. If you don't like them, I won't add them again, but you still need to do your tasks properly.]

Li Tianle lowered his eyes, concealing the coldness in them, and his tone became even gentler, "Of course."