Chapter 941 Zhu Xiyan
Xue Ru felt both sympathy and pity for Zhu Xiyan. She whispered a few words of comfort, but unexpectedly met Zhu Xiyan's somewhat amused gaze. She paused and asked, "Why, you don't believe me?"
Zhu Xiyan shook his head, as if he wanted to say something. After looking around, he walked to the water tank not far away for fire prevention and waved to Xue Ru.
Xue Ru walked over curiously and saw Zhu Xiyan pick up a branch, dip it in water, and write on the steps:
"It's not that I don't believe it, I've heard of Madam Qin's medical reputation a long time ago."
Xue Ru looked at him: "Then what were you laughing at just now?"
Zhu Xiyan wrote: "My injury was an accident. Whether I can be cured or not is up to me. I am deeply grateful to the Empress for finding a doctor for me. You don't have to worry about me harboring resentment."
Xue Ru was stunned: "You..."
Zhu Xiyan smiled. He was extremely thin and his face was paler than that of an average person. It seemed that he had not recovered from the torture he had suffered before. He looked sick all over. But at this moment, he was squatting at the foot of the steps, and when he looked up and smiled, he looked very gentle.
Xue Ru relaxed and walked to the edge of the stairs to sit down. "But don't you hate it? You were once a genius with a bright future, but now you've become like this. Don't you have any resentment in your heart?"
"Of course there is."
Zhu Xiyan took the branch, dipped it in water, and wrote quickly:
"I studied hard for over ten years and finally made it this far. My parents and family had high hopes for me, and I had so much I wanted to do. But all of it was ruined in one day. How can I not feel resentful?"
"But no matter how much I complain, I understand that this matter has nothing to do with the Queen."
The wind was strong in late autumn and the water marks on the ground dried up quickly. Zhu Xiyan dipped a branch in water while writing.
"The court has a lot of work to do. We need to suppress Southern Qi first and then retreat to Beiling. The Empress and His Majesty are both wise rulers. There are people who want to use the imperial examination to target the court. If it wasn't me, it would be someone else. I'm just unlucky and caught their eye."
"If the Empress hadn't noticed the cheating that day, those people wouldn't have kept me alive after the exam. Your Majesty, please save my life. I can tell right from wrong."
Xue Ru's eyes fell on the slightly sloppy and quickly dried handwriting on the ground, and then she looked up at Zhu Xiyan who had a calm expression.
He smiled back, his eyes calm.
Xue Ru raised her lips: "I am narrow-minded."
Zhu Xiyan shook his head and wrote with water: "You only care about the Queen."
Xue Ru didn't think much of it when she saw this. Although she also addressed her elder sister as "Empress" like everyone else, the incident of the Song family had caused such a big stir, and when her elder sister ascended to the throne, many people dug up her past, and her identity became known to the world.
Xue Ru held her chin up and asked curiously, "I heard that the Queen originally wanted to arrange for you to stay somewhere else. Did you decide to come to the academy to recuperate on your own?"
Zhu Xiyan nodded. "Originally, I was going to the Imperial Medical Bureau, but I've heard for a long time that Rongsheng Academy has the best library in the world, which contains all kinds of rare and precious books that are rarely seen outside. I've wanted to come and see it before, but I heard that non-academic students can only enter the outer cabinet of the library and can't see the rare books in the inner cabinet."
"I think I've been really unlucky this time. The Queen has sympathy for me. If I beg her, I should be able to get in."
When the branch stopped, Zhu Xiyan smiled with a hint of mischief.
Xue Ru was amused by his words and said with a squinting look, "So it's for the library. Then you don't need to ask the queen, I'll take you there."
Zhu Xiyan looked at her in surprise, as if he was astonished.
Xue Ru raised her eyebrows: "Why, you don't believe it?"
"The library was originally built to prevent the wealthy and powerful from monopolizing rare books. It was built for students from poor families to study. The reason it was divided into inner and outer chambers was because some of the content was too obscure and profound, not suitable for ordinary students."
"Education is a gradual process. Without sufficient foundation, going straight to the innermost parts will only lead to premature learning. Moreover, most of the books in the cabinet are unique copies, and some are even incomplete. The Empress has been ordering people to repair them, so on weekdays, few people are allowed in."
"But as long as someone wants to borrow it, they can inform the academy and get permission from Mr. Tong and others. It's not that outsiders are not allowed in."
Zhu Xiyan's expression suddenly dawned on him. So that's what it was.
Xue Ru said, "Since the Empress has allowed you to enter the academy, you can naturally enter the library. If you don't believe me, it's still early. I'll take you there."
Zhu Xiyan threw away the branch and nodded, rarely showing a hint of anxiety.
Xue Ru led people to the library and took Zhu Xiyan into the innermost part. Seeing him holding the book as if it were a treasure, she couldn't help laughing. She stayed with Zhu Xiyan for a while, and after having someone take care of him, she left the academy and returned to the palace.
In Yongzhao Palace, Tang Ning was resting. When Xue Ru whispered a few words to Yue Jian and was about to leave, Tang Ning's voice came from the inner room.
"Aru."
Xue Ru quickly turned back to the inner room and saw Tang Ning trying to get up from the small couch. She quickly walked over to the couch and supported Tang Ning: "Sister, why are you awake? Did I disturb you?"
Tang Ning was still a little sleepy: "No, I haven't been sleeping well these past few days."
When her belly was nine months old, it had stopped growing, but the baby that had already taken shape in her belly was pressing on her internal organs, making her feel uncomfortable. She had been waking up frequently at night since she became pregnant, and had trouble sleeping after falling asleep due to numerous dreams. In addition, there were many things to do in the court, and Xiao Yan had not returned to the capital yet, so she could not completely relax and had not had a good night's sleep for a long time.
Xue Ru frowned and looked at the dark circles under her eyes, feeling a little worried: "Didn't Sister Qin prepare a tranquilizing soup for you? Why can't you sleep well again? Should we ask the imperial physician to come and take a look?"
Tang Ning waved her hand: "Forget it, I check my pulse every day, and my aunt said that pregnant women are like this." She touched her belly: "It's not long before I give birth. I think everything will be fine after the little one in my belly comes out."
Yue Jian brought some honey water over. After Tang Ning used some, he asked:
"You've been out of the palace for quite some time. Have you dealt with the things outside?"
Xue Ru hummed, "It wasn't a big deal. The manager we sent to buy grain was a bit careless. He took advantage of the lack of supervision and embezzled the money he earned from buying grain and passed it off as good grain. He even passed off some coarse rice from previous years that had been soaked in water and infested with insects as new rice from the autumn harvest. He even used my sister's name to sneak it into the grain being sent to Beiling County."
After Beiling surrendered and was incorporated into the prefecture, the court promised to help them survive this cold winter. The two previous wars in the north and south had already exhausted the Ministry of Revenue's grain reserves. Although taxes were collected after the autumn harvest, it was far from enough for Beiling County, so the Ministry of Revenue purchased it from the public.
They also have a grain store under their command, so Xue Ru naturally would not miss the opportunity to make money, but she didn't expect that someone would be so bold as to interfere.
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