Chapter 54 Trouble: You're Someone Close to the Emperor

Yao Ruyi glanced at the man who rode into the palace first and curled his lip. He wasn't going to learn that; who knew what would happen if he did? Just now, the two of them were admiring the moon on the mountain when the man beside them leaned down and kissed them.

He didn't know how much time had passed before he was released, and the person even blamed him for not being able to breathe or move.

She followed slowly behind, muttering under her breath, "I'm not going to learn."

The two weren't far apart, and Gu Huizhou knew without looking what the person behind him was muttering. He turned his head seemingly unintentionally, but it startled Yao Ruyi, who swallowed hard. "What?"

A soft chuckle escaped his lips. "I'm going to court. What's the Nineteenth Prince doing there?"

So that's what happened. It startled him. "I'm going to sleep."

"Okay, sleep well."

Mushroom smiled, "Your Majesty, please attend court properly."

Gu Huizhou was taken aback, then his eyes crinkled with laughter. After parting ways with the person at the corner, he waited there for a long time until the figure disappeared around the corner before the man finally moved.

The smile on his lips gradually disappeared, and the warmth in his eyes faded, leaving only a cold and impatient expression as he faced his ministers.

Meanwhile, Yao Ruyi returned to the Cloud Palace, took off his outer robe, and fell asleep immediately. He didn't know how long he slept, but after waking up and eating something, he wandered over to the library. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. Yao Ruyi browsed through the library, and finally left carrying a large stack of books.

Seeing the Nineteenth Master carrying such a large stack of books, the young eunuch hurriedly stepped forward, "My lord, let this servant help you carry them!"

However, Yao Ruyi dodged him. He carefully covered the book titles and chuckled, "It's just a few books, I can take them myself."

The young eunuch stepped back in response, and as the man was about to leave, he kept saying nice things, "If Mr. Wang knew that the Nineteenth Prince was working so hard, he would surely praise him."

Yao Ruyi chuckled and walked away quickly.

He returned to the Cloud Palace without entering the main hall or going to the side hall. He made three trips back and forth, carrying more than a dozen books of strange tales and supernatural stories to the roof. He found a comfortable position to lean against the tiles, and began to read one with a focused expression.

He had recently noticed that he used to need to replenish his blood with a drop of the emperor's blood every three or four days, but the intervals had been getting longer and longer. This time, he had not used His Majesty's blood for ten days, yet he still maintained his human form.

Could it be that his cultivation level is high enough? But feeling the spiritual energy in his dantian, Yao Ruyi frowned. He had only been cultivating for a short time, and his cultivation level was not enough to maintain his human form.

Let's see if it's recorded in the book.

Yao Ruyi wasn't afraid of suddenly turning into a mushroom if he wasn't by the emperor's side. There was soil mixed with the emperor's palm blood buried under his flowerpot in the palace, which had been there for a long time.

If you don't have time to find His Majesty's soil, it can be used as a temporary measure, but its effectiveness is not as good as licking it directly from a person.

Thinking about it, I opened the first book.

"The Jade-Faced Fox and the Prince of the Dynasty..." What a strange name.

He frowned and looked at it for a while. The book told a story from a previous dynasty, which was praised as a beautiful tale. Yao Ruyi read several pages, but when he turned to one page, the text was replaced by an illustration. Two naked men were entwined together. The author drew it in an extremely flamboyant and eye-catching way, making it hard for him to miss.

This is……

She turned to the first page again; it was indeed a storybook. With a "snap," Yao Ruyi slammed the book shut, her face still burning, her heart pounding wildly.

What's this……

He had only read a few of the Thirteen Chambers books before, which were drawn in rather obscure and difficult-to-understand illustrations, and he had read them many times, but this one...

It was almost identical to what he had seen at the alley entrance of Jiangzhou City that day, and it didn't even have any clothes.

This book was immediately picked out by Yao Ruyi and placed aside. She secretly vowed that when she returned the books later, she would definitely put this one at the very bottom, "I can't let anyone know that I've read this book."

But as she reached for the second book, a thought crossed her mind, and a conflict flashed across her fair face. Her gaze kept drifting to the book he had placed furthest away. Finally, she gritted her teeth, reached out, and tucked the book into her bosom.

With no one around, Yao Ruyi coughed lightly, "I still don't know what happened to the fox and the prince in the end..."

He neatly tucked the book into his chest, looked down and examined it several times to make sure he couldn't see anything in his arms, before finally relaxing and looking at the other books.

The other books were correct, and Mushroom read them carefully, but everyone's situation was quite different. Most of them were animal spirits who transformed into human form after absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for a period of time.

"After foxes and other spirits transform into human form, they absorb the vital energy of men, resulting in a significant increase in their cultivation..."

The Jade-Faced Fox did all this just to improve her cultivation and get closer to the current prince...? Yao Ruyi thought about it for a while and then silently shook her head.

He didn't think so. The Jade-Faced Fox also helped the Prince apply medicine and read books; the two did more than just that.

"Very few plants can take human form, and there are very few places in the world where they can absorb the essence of the sun and moon. If they grow in a place with abundant spiritual energy, they can develop intelligence earlier..."

"Qinghua Mountain should be a place with abundant spiritual energy."

He smiled with satisfaction. So it seemed that his hundred years of cultivation on Qinghua Mountain hadn't been entirely useless. He was just lucky to have been born in such a place.

But none of that mattered. What puzzled Yao Ruyi most was Gu Huizhou's blood: "The Emperor's essence blood, the Emperor's essence blood, the Emperor's essence blood..."

Why hasn't anyone mentioned this?

With only one book left to read and still no answer to his questions, Yao Ruyi's brow furrowed with growing melancholy. He hadn't had many questions before, but now, after reading so many stories and learning how other spirits transformed and cultivated, he was even more puzzled about the reason for his own transformation.

While flipping through the pages, he continued muttering, "The Emperor..."

Unbeknownst to Yao Ruyi, Thirteen approached from behind her, carrying his longsword close to his chest. His steps were light and unnoticed. As he drew nearer, Thirteen suddenly shouted, "What are you looking at? What's wrong, Your Majesty?"

"The Emperor—ah?"

Yao Ruyi was startled and slammed the storybook in his hand shut again. He turned his head blankly and met Thirteen's astonished gaze. He blinked guiltily and said, "I didn't read anything, just some picture books."

Thirteen blinked too. He had only startled Little Nineteen, but he looked like he had done something wrong. "Why do you look like you've made a big mistake? You were just looking at some notebooks."

Thirteen suddenly grinned slyly, "Could it be..."

"Let your brother see!"

Yao Ruyi thought he wanted to look at the book in her arms, so she quickly stood up. But she didn't expect that Thirteen would reach for the other books on the roof. When he stood up, he reminded her, "This is on the roof. Be careful when you get up. Don't fall."

"Okay, sure."

Mushroom, feeling guilty, craned her neck to look, muttering to herself that the books Thirteen was reading probably weren't anything special.

"A collection of supernatural tales?" Thirteen shook his head, uninterested. He put it down dejectedly. "I didn't expect you to be interested in this kind of storybook."

He chuckled and rubbed his nose. With summer approaching, there were more and more willow catkins in the air, and he'd been sneezing a lot these past few days. "Achoo—" he quickly covered his nose. "If you want to see them, go back to your room. Don't end up like—Achoo—"

"Don't end up like me."

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the notebook being put down, but seeing Thirteen like this, Yao Ruyi couldn't help but squint his eyes; he felt uncomfortable just looking at him.

He kindly suggested, "Why don't you bring some veils..."

Thirteen waved her hand dismissively, "Those are for young ladies, I don't wear them." As she spoke, she sneezed again and said absentmindedly, "My God, I'd better go downstairs and stay there. Why are there so many willow catkins on the roof?"

"Be careful on the roof, your brother is coming down."

"Okay." Yao Ruyi smiled and waved her hand, watching Thirteen tumble down.

After landing, Thirteen waved to the people, turned around and left.

As he walked, he rubbed his nose, his eyes concealing a deep seriousness as he looked down. He himself didn't know why he had such a guess.

On their first day in Jiangnan, the two encountered bandits. He saw Xiao Shijiu cut open the flesh on a bandit's neck and let a drop of his own blood seep in. The bandit leader immediately fell unconscious.

He later asked and learned that the bandit leader had slept for three days.

Xiao Shijiu's strangeness didn't stop there. At first, he thought he had a special talent for swordsmanship, but now it seems... But Shijiu isn't a bad person. Thirteen pursed his lips and stopped thinking about it. He strode into the corridor and smiled as he looked at Fourteen walking towards him.

"Oh, Fourteenth Lord's veil is truly exquisite. Ah, yawn—"

Fourteen chuckled helplessly, "Why don't you go find one to take with you? Eunuch Cui has plenty."

"Come on, it'll be fine in a few days."

"Fine, then you'll have to bear with it. If you encounter an assassin, before they even draw their sword, you'll scare them away with a sneeze."

Thirteen remained silent. "Where is Cui Xiangzhu?"

"The Imperial Study".

"..."

On the rooftop, Yao Ruyi patted his chest, panting heavily. When Thirteen suddenly appeared, he thought he had been discovered. "Good thing." He looked at the last book on the rooftop, slowly reached out and took it, sighing helplessly, "The last one. If I can't find it, so be it."

There are some things you can't do when you want to, but once you let go of them, you can accomplish them very quickly.

Yao Ruyi stared intently, and finally simply pointed and read aloud, "Ancient legends say that emperors were reincarnations of true dragons. The aura of the true dragon surrounds their bodies, which spirits and monsters greatly appreciate. The essence and blood of emperors can help them transform into human form..."

What does "dual cultivation" mean?

The book says that the effects of dual cultivation are more exquisite than those of semen and blood.

"Let's look for it again later." He was already very fortunate to have found this answer, even though he didn't fully understand it, it was still much better than before.

Satisfied, Yao Ruyi returned the other storybooks except for the one about the fox and the prince. Fortunately, the book wasn't big, and he hid it under his pillow so it was completely unnoticeable, but he didn't have time to read it for several days.

The teacher made him recite texts, the thirteenth prince pestered him to practice swordsmanship, and after the emperor returned, he kept kissing him on the dragon bed, even criticizing him, saying, "The nineteenth prince should learn more; his technique is terrible."

Every time he said that, Yao Ruyi would disagree, glaring at the emperor and pressing her lips against his, and the two would become entangled again.

Unexpectedly, after half a month, there was still no progress whatsoever.

Yao Ruyi sat on the steps by the corridor, muttering, "This isn't my problem at all; it's just that he's different every time..."

The weather has been getting hotter these past few days, and his robes have turned into thin gauze. A few days ago, Thirteen told him that from a distance, this thin gauze made him look like he was going up a mountain to cultivate Taoism.

"Hey, what's the little Taoist doing?" Just as she thought of Thirteen, Thirteen walked over from the other side of the corridor, holding something in his hand. He squatted down next to Yao Ruyi with a smile on his face.

"The book the teacher asked me to memorize."

Thirteen glanced at it, "This... never mind, you can see for yourself."

"Thirteen, are you looking for His Majesty?"

"Hmm, is His Majesty present?"

Yao Ruyi shook her head. "His Majesty is in the Imperial Study."

"Why don't you read it in the Imperial Study? It's much cooler there than here."

Yao Ruyi remained silent. If he were in the Imperial Study, he might be sitting on the Emperor's lap right now. He quickly shook his head and smiled, "It's quite nice here."

"Alright, then you can take your time memorizing it. I'll go find His Majesty first."

"Okay." Smiling and waving to Thirteen, Yao Ruyi continued reading, but he couldn't continue reading after reading halfway through. He stood up to stretch, and a warm breeze made him turn the pages of the book.

He had just smelled the fragrance of plum blossoms on Thirteen, so he must have just returned from Twelve's place. Thinking this, Yao Ruyi also wanted to leave the palace. He wanted to go to the aunt's stall at the market to buy some steamed buns to eat.

"I've been craving it for a long time."

Thinking this, Yao Ruyi placed the book in the side hall, hung up her sword, and left.

"The streets are so lively?"

Has he been away from the palace for too long? There are many more people on the streets than usual, quite like during the New Year holidays, and even more than during the holidays.

Perhaps it was because the fields were getting better that people were finally able to go out and stroll around. Yao Ruyi was in a good mood, and he slowly walked over to the old woman selling steamed buns. "Auntie, I've come to buy some steamed buns."

The old woman was delighted when she heard him call her "Auntie," and said, "Oh! Young master, wait a moment, Auntie will get you some freshly cooked food."

"Thank you, Auntie!"

The old woman liked him even more because of his sweet smile. When she handed the bun to Yao Ruyi, she reminded him, "Be careful, it's hot!"

"good."

Yao Ruyi handed over two copper coins, took a bite of her steamed bun, and casually asked, "Auntie, are there so many people on the street lately? Is it because everyone's crops are growing well?"

The old woman was taken aback. "Yes, the fields are doing very well lately. But what about the capital... young master, do you not know?"

"What?"

"Oh dear, it's the matter that's been making headlines in the capital these past few days." The old woman looked around, sighed, and beckoned Yao Ruyi over, saying, "Come this way."

The two stepped back, the sunlight blocked by the eaves. Yao Ruyi listened to the old woman while keeping an eye on her steamed bun stall. "These past few days, I don't know who it was, but suddenly someone said that His Majesty values ​​military over civil officials. The scholars thought it made sense, saying that His Majesty first had some great Confucian scholar beaten to death, and then richly rewarded the military generals."

The old woman gave a helpless sneer, "This is how it started. The commotion in the capital is getting worse and worse, but the imperial court doesn't seem to care."

Yao Ruyi finished the two buns in big bites and thanked the old woman, "Thank you, Auntie. The imperial court will take care of it."

The old woman smiled upon hearing this, "Really? Then this old woman will listen to the young master."

"Young master, eat slowly, be careful not to choke!"

"Thank you, Grandma." Yao Ruyi waved his hand, turned and walked into the crowd. He wanted to see who was talking nonsense in the middle of this.

"Snacks for sale!"

"Come in and take a look, sir! Everything here is fresh!"

...

Amidst shouts and cheers, Yao Ruyi slowly came to a stop.

"Have you heard? His Majesty values ​​military prowess over civil administration and acts with such cruelty. Even if grain is successfully grown in the fields, so what? It's all because of the court's previous mismanagement that everyone has suffered."

"Yes! What you say is true, Brother Wang! There weren't so many problems during the late emperor's reign, not to mention the many ministers he killed and the bloodbath in the capital when he first ascended the throne. Looking at it this way, we might not even know how Lord Liang, who hanged himself a few days ago, died..."

"Hmph, how did he die? He was killed, of course!"

"Yes! Brother Wang is absolutely right. If we continue to remain silent like this, we will all die sooner or later."

In a secluded alley, Yao Ruyi frowned as he listened to the rambling incoherently. His lips were pursed, and he exuded a cold aura. The way he looked at the people inside was exactly the same as how an emperor would look at people.

"you--"

"Ruyi! I really did run into you in the capital."

Yao Ruyi originally intended to argue with those people, and if that failed, to send them to the authorities. But someone called out to him, and he turned around, "Chen... Zhuyue?"

"Fortunately, Ruyi still remembers me." Chen Zhuyue smiled. He was thinner than when he was in Jiangzhou City, and his eyebrows and eyes were more deep-set.

The two first met at a teahouse, and they never expected to meet again in a teahouse. Chen Zhuyue smiled and said, "I thought Ruyi didn't remember me. Your previous reply was so unfamiliar that I didn't dare to reply again."

rusty?

Yao Ruyi hurriedly explained, "It's not that I'm unfamiliar with it; once you start writing, you should write it well."

It doesn't mean we're being distant or overly polite.

Hearing him say that, Chen Zhuyue said helplessly, "Okay, but just speak normally in the future."

Mushroom smiled. "Zhuyue, what brings you to the capital? Did Xunyang come too?"

"No, Xunyang still has to stay in Jiangzhou City to oversee the school, so I took some time to come." He took a sip of tea and continued, "No matter how well Jiangzhou City develops, it can't compare to the capital, especially for teachers."

He sighed helplessly, "While there's still time, I thought I'd come to the capital to see if there are any good teachers who can come back to Jiangzhou with me. Since we've accepted the students' money, we should do a good job."

"I didn't expect this..."

Even without him saying it, Yao Ruyi understood. He hadn't expected that such a thing would happen in the city in just half a month. "We don't know who is stirring up trouble in the capital yet. It will take some time for this situation to improve. If you can't wait, you can go back first, and I'll help you check things out in the capital."

Chen Zhuyue suddenly met Yao Ruyi's eyes and seemed to wake up. He awkwardly rubbed the tip of his nose, his mind replaying the coldness in the other person's eyes when he spoke, a coldness that made his heart tremble. He chuckled and said, "It's nothing, I'll come again another time."

This is good too.

Yao Ruyi poured tea for the two of them. They weren't exactly close, and their initial instant connection had only existed that one night. Yao Ruyi thought about it for a while. She asked, "Miss Han, are you doing well in Jiangnan?"

“That’s great. Miss Han’s business guild is growing bigger and bigger. I heard that it has close ties with a business guild in the capital called Wanyou. I’m here to see Wanyou Business Guild.”

"Just came from over there, the stuff is good."

After Chen Zhuyue finished speaking, she held up the calligraphy and painting in her hand to show off, "I just bought it, I'll hang it in the school when I get back."

Yao Ruyi nodded, "It looks good."

"Yes, I spent a long time choosing it." He spoke with pride as he carefully put the painting away.

They looked at each other and smiled.

As the tea in the teacup gradually dwindled to the bottom, Chen Zhuyue stood up. "Alright then, let's leave it at that. My original intention was only to stay in the capital for two days, and then I'll be leaving."

Yao Ruyi was taken aback. "Have you tried any of the restaurants in the capital? Since you've come to the capital, I want to show you the hospitality of a good host."

"Next time, next time I'll come with Xunyang."

Yao Ruyi had no choice but to nod, "Okay." After he finished speaking, he glanced at the crowd. The figure looked like the Princess of Xiao Kingdom. The last time she saw the Princess was at their wedding, so she might not recognize her.

Chen Zhuyue turned her head. "What did you see?"

"It's nothing."

"Okay, goodbye then."

"Goodbye."

Chen Zhuyue nodded, then turned around but suddenly turned back. "There's one more thing. Young Master Qiao of the Qiao family is very concerned about you and keeps asking about you, Miss Han. He found out about my trip to the capital and asked me to give you my regards."

Qiao Yu?

Yao Ruyi now understood that Qiao Yu also had those feelings for him, just like he and the emperor. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "Thank you, and please give my regards to Young Master Qiao as well."

"Alright, farewell!"

"Farewell."

Yao Ruyi stood by the teahouse and watched Chen Zhuyue walk towards the city gate. When he looked back in the direction where he had just seen Xiao Xiaoyuan, he could no longer see anything.

He must have misread it.

He left two copper coins behind, turned and left, heading towards the alley he had just entered.

"Big brother! We'll follow you from now on! There are so many powerful forces in the capital now, we might as well follow Brother Wang. Sooner or later, our day will come!"

"become!"

"Then we'll follow our boss!"

There were about a dozen people, speaking in undisguised voices. Yao Ruyi walked from the alley entrance into the alley, where the sunlight shone in less and less as he went further in. His face darkened, and he raised his voice, "Why are you following him?"

"What are you doing? Of course, it's..." The man turned his head sharply before he could finish speaking, "Who are you!"

"So you're here to join our Li Hu Gang too?" The leader surnamed Wang looked Yao Ruyi up and down. "With your small frame, who can you beat? Forget it, young master, you'd better stay home and play the zither and write poetry."

His tone of voice fluctuated wildly, making it unpleasant to listen to.

"I asked you what you're going to do?!"

"Hmph, we, the people of the Lihu Gang, are upright and hate evil. Now that the emperor is so muddle-headed and incompetent, it would be better to hand over the position to a more suitable person!"

The right person, but who else is the right person?

Yao Ruyi remained silent for a long while, his expression darkening further. "Will you go to the government office yourselves, or shall I take you with me?"

"What did you say, the government?!"

"Hahahaha, Brother Wang, listen to this! This pretty boy is going to take us to the government office!"

The leader surnamed Wang also laughed. He looked at Yao Ruyi as if he were looking at a rabbit that didn't know its own death. "Young master, don't just read those stories about punishing evil and promoting good all day long. Now you don't even know right from wrong!"

"Who exactly is ignorant of right and wrong, good and evil!"

Yao Ruyi shouted sharply. At this moment, he suddenly wanted to open a school like Chen Zhuyue. If the people in the city were not illiterate, he would not have been pushed out as a shield.

"No matter what you say, if you're not here to join our Li Hu Gang, then get lost!"

With his hand on the hilt of the sword, he said, "Then I'll take you there."

"Go—ah!"

"You, you go first!"

"Damn, this pretty boy's got training!"

...

Yao Ruyi held a long sword, the blade still hidden in its sheath, but the sound of it cutting through the air never diminished. Every move she made carried a sharp wind, and when it struck a person, it felt like being hit by a boulder.

"ah--"

"Stop! I told you to stop—"

Yao Ruyi frowned slightly, wondering if he had gone too far. But the group, gathered in the alley and vowing to overthrow the emperor, gripped their sword hilts even tighter.

People were coming and going on the street when suddenly they heard several sharp cries of pain. People at the alley entrance stopped in their tracks and peered inside, but they couldn't see anything clearly.

"Ah!" One of them was knocked to the ground by Yao Ruyi's sword. He clutched his arm and yelled, "Damn it, you're asking for it!"

"Ouch—" Immediately afterwards, several other people also collapsed one after another.

There were fourteen people in total.

He lay sprawled on the ground, clutching his arm or leg, his face contorted in pain. "You pretty boy! You've gone too far!"

"Damn it, wait till we brothers make it big in the future, and see how we get our revenge on you!"

He said all sorts of harsh and hurtful things, but Yao Ruyi ignored him with a cold face.

He raised his voice and asked, "What do you want to do? Overthrow the emperor?"

The leader surnamed Wang, terrified after being beaten, shouted, "Overthrow my ass! Are you out of your mind or are we out of ours? We're just fourteen of us trying to make a living. Brothers banding together can intimidate anyone!"

"If the emperor were something that a dozen or so of us could overthrow, there would have been countless emperors by now!"

Yao Ruyi frowned.

“You’re someone close to the emperor,” the head of the group surnamed Wang said, panting heavily. “I recognize you; you often come out of the palace.”

His brows furrowed even more.

"Ha, no wonder they're the people around our Emperor, treating us common folk like ants! They've certainly learned the tyrant's bloodthirstiness!"

The leader, surnamed Wang, spoke viciously, as if his earlier submission was merely a temporary measure.

Seeing that Yao Ruyi was about to raise her hand again, he quickly shut up.

Yao Ruyi turned around. He wasn't going to argue with these people. If they wanted to argue, they should go to the government and argue with the officials.

Standing at the entrance of the alley, Yao Ruyi looked at a group of soldiers not far away and was thinking of calling someone to take them away when she suddenly saw the leader.

Zeng Ran.

Mushroom was stunned. Wasn't he stripped naked and paraded through the streets? How could he still have the nerve to patrol the streets?