Su Rong bought a total of seven or eight kinds of pastries and brought them back to the Eastern Palace.
Upon entering the back door of the Eastern Palace, she handed a share to the gatekeeper, saying, "Brother, thank you for your hard work. This is for you to eat."
The gatekeeper hurriedly waved his hands, "Your servant doesn’t need it, Miss, you should eat it yourself!"
"Just take it, don’t be shy." Su Rong has always been accustomed to bribing gatekeepers since she was a child, and even after moving into the Eastern Palace, she couldn’t change the habit of buying an extra share for the gatekeeper when purchasing things.
The gatekeeper could only accept it, utterly flattered, "Thank you, miss."
Su Rong waved her hand and said, "No need to thank me." Then she went into the palace with Fen Ling.
When they arrived at the intersection leading to the Crown Prince’s study and the Yuzhen Pavilion, Su Rong took out the walnut flower cake from her hand, thought for a moment, took an additional bag of hawthorn cake, and said to Fen Ling, "The Crown Prince should still be in his study, I’ll take these to him. You can’t eat first when you go back, wait for me to eat with you."
Fen Ling swallowed, "Alright, please come back soon, mistress."
"I know." Su Rong took off her Lu veil, gave it to him, took the pastries, and went to the Crown Prince’s study.
Yan Huisheng was indeed in the study, reading a letter from Ning Chi. Hearing footsteps, he looked up towards the door.
Qin Luan put down her teacup, peeked, and softly reported, "Your Highness, Miss Rong has returned."
Yan Huisheng nodded.
Qin Luan immediately opened the door. Su Rong had just arrived at the doorway and was about to call out when the door was opened from the inside. Qin Luan greeted her, "Miss Rong."
Su Rong smiled at her, "Madam Qin."
She handed the hawthorn cake in her hand to her, "This is for you to eat. Eating hawthorn cake at night won’t make you put on weight, and it helps with digestion."
Qin Luan was taken aback, "This servant..."
Su Rong raised her hand to stop her, pushed the hawthorn cake into her hand, stepped into the Crown Prince’s study, and saw Yan Huisheng sitting at the desk reading a letter. Without bothering to say excuse me, she directly placed the walnut flower cake on his desk and smiled, "Your Highness, you were right. The pastries from Chengji House indeed sell well. Fen Ling spent ten taels of silver to hire someone to queue at the front of the line, and barely managed to grab the last serving of the walnut flower cake."
Yan Huisheng looked down and asked with a smile, "The last serving?"
"The last two servings. I kept one for Fen Ling to take back."
Yan Huisheng nodded slightly with a smile, "Thank you!"
Su Rong waved her hand, "You’re welcome."
Yan Huisheng put down the letter in his hand and asked kindly, "Did you have a good time? Did you encounter any trouble?"
"No, I went to Zhuangyuan Building for a meal. While queuing, I happened to get acquainted with Lu Fengyan and Zhao Shu from Chuānxī. Halfway through the meal, I bumped into Xie Lin coincidentally. I was wearing a Lu veil and did not acknowledge him. However, he’s probably suspicious. I do not wish for the Duke Residence to find out about my entry into the Capital City, lest it affects Zhou Gu’s examination. I would have to trouble Your Highness to erase my traces today as much as possible. You don’t need to erase it completely, just as long as people can’t trace it until the examination starts."
"That’s easy. I’ll have someone do it." Yan Huisheng nodded and agreed.
Su Rong was relieved and brought up Lu Fengyan, "Zhou Gu said that Lu Fengyan’s writings are too unconventional? But when I met him, he seemed not like that type, very introverted and steady. This is quite dissimilar to what he writes, isn’t there a great disparity? From his appearance, he does not seem like someone who prefers extremes and lacks tact."
Yan Huisheng pondered, "Is that so?"
Su Rong nodded, "We shared a table and had a meal. He was respectful in his speech and measured in his actions. I speculated, could the writings that came from him have been intentional? To hide the truth? Was he afraid of attracting attention, thus letting people misunderstand that although he is talented, he likes to be unconventional in his writings? Those who like to be unconventional are often difficult to control. Even if someone wants to pull him over, they will observe and consider for a long time, and will not easily win him over. Is he deliberately protecting himself?"
Upon hearing her words, Yan Huisheng considered for a moment, "I trust your ability to judge people. If you say so, it’s indeed possible."
Su Rong said, "Have you read his writings? Do you have any now? Why don’t I take a look, let’s analyze him."
Yan Huisheng nodded, "Yes."
He reached out, pulling out a stack of papers from under a pile of memorandums, "These are the essays revealed by the scholars who will be taking the examination in the golden autumn season. Among them is one by Lu Fengyan, transcribed by someone."
He flipped through it and pulled out that essay, handing it to Su Rong, "This is his most recent work, indeed as Zhou Gu said, he likes to use his sword on the barrel and to blaze a new path."
Su Rong accepted it, reading swiftly, and quickly finished Lu Fengyan’s essay. She didn’t spot any issues, but she felt something was off. So, she carefully read it a second time, then a third time, frowning. Only after pondering for a moment did she put down his essay and confidently told Yan Huisheng, "Had I not read it a third time, I wouldn’t have found the contradictions within this essay."
She pointed out a section for Yan Huisheng, "See here, isn’t there a deliberate change in his writing style? It is from this point that his essay takes a turn, albeit subtle and unobtrusive, making the entire essay smooth and compelling, celebrated as a good piece. But on careful contemplation, one could see that it is from this point, he reveals his deviation. This skill, hidden behind his strokes, done subtly to the point of leaving no trace, if I hadn’t met him person today, and had close dealings with him during a meal, I wouldn’t feel any dissonance from this image projected by his essay."
After Su Rong finished speaking, she sighed, "This essay is indeed exceptional; it penetrates deeply into the heart."
Upon completion, she speculated, "Zhou Gu must not have had close interactions with Lu Fengyan, otherwise his assessment wouldn’t be as such."
Yan Huisheng noted that she had mentioned Zhou Gu twice, discussing matters with composure. He glanced at her, suppressing his thoughts and said gently, "Indeed, he hasn’t had contact with Lu Fengyan. That day, the scholars of Capital City gathered at the Juxian Building for a strategy discussion. He, along with your elder brother and Xie Lin went to listen. Jibei’s scholar Zhao Li’an represented the conservatives, pitted against Chuānxī’s scholar Lu Fengyan’s radicalist faction. They said that Lu Fengyan was very sharp that day, possessing the talent of sophistry, consistent with the essay’s deviation, quite identical. As there were a multitude of people at the Juxian Building that day, his arguments became widely spread through Capital City after the meeting. Hence, no one suspected Lu Fengyan of having ulterior motives, simply believing him to be as his name suggested."
After saying this, he added, "If the situation at the Juxian Building was also an intentional act by him, then it wouldn’t be surprising. It is said that even my elder and second brothers went to Juxian Building that day. Even my younger brothers, who are younger than me, joined the fun."
"You didn’t go?" Su Rong questioned.
"I didn’t." Yan Huisheng shook his head, "Father keeps an eye on me, I can’t casually go anywhere."
With this statement, Su Rong understood. It appeared that the Emperor was strictly monitoring the Crown Prince to the point where even a presumptive monarch wouldn’t dare to visit Juxian Building casually. She sighed, "Doesn’t His Majesty fear that the elder Crown Prince, the second Prince, and other Princes are plotting for power and profit? They can go, but you can’t?"
"They are not the Crown Prince, so the Emperor doesn’t feel threatened by them. Also, they don’t have as much fame as me," Yan Huisheng replied.
Su Rong now understood. She looked at Yan Huisheng without saying a word, "Your Highness, as the Crown Prince, are you satisfied with merely achieving seventy to eighty percent perfection? Why strive for perfection?"
Yan Huisheng fell silent for a moment.
Su Rong sighed again, "There’s nothing else we can do at this point. The only solution is to break the stalemate and alleviate the Emperor’s caution concerning you."
She suggested, "Why don’t you make a mistake? Even ordinary people feel threatened by someone who is perfect, let alone a Crown Prince."
Yan Huisheng asked, "What type of mistake should I make?"
Su Rong blinked, "One that won’t harm your core, will give you a breather, and makes the Emperor see you as still youthful and frivolous, not posing a threat to the throne and his imperial power."
Yan Huisheng sighed softly, "You think I haven’t thought of this? Grand Tutor Qin suggested it a long time ago, but this is too difficult, once done improperly, it could have the opposite effect."
He paused and continued, "Moreover, how do we know that the Emperor isn’t waiting to seize my wrongdoings. A small mistake might be magnified by the Emperor, and my elder and second brothers as well as my younger ones would add fuel to the flames."
He helplessly said, "Sitting in my position, in reality, I can’t afford to make the slightest mistake, perhaps, one mistake might lead to irredeemable ruin."
Su Rong was taken aback, "Then forget it, you should just continue being the perfect Crown Prince!"
She had not faced imperial power or seen the Emperor in person, so she really shouldn’t have rashly made this suggestion.
She hastily changed the topic, telling Yan Huisheng, "Let’s talk about Lu Fengyan instead!"
Yan Huisheng nodded, smiling reassuringly at her, "I am not so anxious that I live in fear every day. It’s just that I made a bit of a fuss in Jiangzhou cleaning up the Jiang Sheng family recently, which has drawn the Emperor’s displeasure, so I can’t make any other moves. After the examination, I can dodge this attention and need not be so cautious."
Su Rong understood, "I see, now I get it."
She smiled slyly, "As for Lu Fengyan, he is bound to be among the top three. After the examination, I’ll have Fen Ling interact more with him. If he can be won over to the Eastern Palace, we will do so. If not, at least make sure he remains neutral and doesn’t side with someone else."
Yan Huisheng nodded, "That’s fine too. Currently, I don’t need everyone to align with the Eastern Palace camp, I just need more neutral factions in the court, maintaining their neutrality is enough."
Su Rong snapped her fingers, "Alright, leave it to me."
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