Chapter 30: Birds of a feather

In the Purple Gold Palace

Kong Xueer carefully put Mo Cangyan's clothes away and rubbed them gently with her fingers.

I remembered his strong chest and the sound of his heartbeat when he carried me down from Guanfo Temple.

Looking towards the bathing pool in the side hall, her eyes were full of determination.

Now that the emperor was unwilling to let her in to serve him, she would always find a way to bathe with him openly in the future.

Just when Kong Xueer was daydreaming, she was suddenly slapped in the face.

“Bang!”

The sound was so loud that Paul Lam shook his hands.

"You lowly thing, trying to seduce the Emperor!"

Kong Xueer was stunned. When she came to her senses, she saw a woman dressed very ostentatiously standing in front of her.

She touched her hurt face and asked, "Who are you?"

"You've already entered the palace, but you still don't know who I am. You want to seduce the emperor, but you don't even know who has the final say in the harem!"

Hearing the woman's arrogant words, Kong Xueer instantly realized who this person was.

Thinking of what her father had told her, she gritted her teeth and suppressed the anger in her heart.

"Hello, Queen Li!"

Lin Baoning looked her up and down: "Huh, I heard that you saved the emperor?"

Kong Xueer lowered her head: "Yes!"

Lin Baoning narrowed his eyes and said, "You knew that my cousin was the emperor, so you deliberately found someone to assassinate him in order to get close to him, and then went out to block the knife!"

"No, I really don't know the emperor's identity!"

"I'm telling you, there are so many people who like the emperor. Don't think that you are special because you saved the emperor. You are in the Purple Gold Palace now and I won't do anything to you. But if you let me know what kind of seductive tricks you used to seduce the emperor, I won't forgive you!"

After Lin Baoning finished speaking, he glared at her fiercely and turned away.

Kong Xueer clenched her fists. She had heard about Concubine Li who relied on the relationship between her father and the Queen Mother to show off her power in the harem. She never thought she would run into her one day.

Concubine Li is stingy and mean. Kong Xueer knows that if she wants to climb up, she needs to pull her down.

Just as she was thinking about how to pull Concubine Li away, Mo Cangyan pushed open the door and walked out. She immediately covered her face and took a few steps back.

Mo Cangyan raised his eyes, saw her covering her face, and spoke lightly.

"What's wrong?"

Kong Xueer shook her head: "No, Concubine Li was here just now..."

Mo Cangyan frowned: "Concubine Li is too impatient, you should avoid her next time you see her!"

Kong Xueer thought that the emperor would vent her anger, but she didn't expect that he would just say such a casual sentence, bite his lip and nod.

"yes!"

…

"Miss, King Nan'an won't see me!"

Lin Ling sat up: "How is that possible? Did you tell me that I was the one who found him?"

"I said..." Mei'er spoke carefully.

"Then you said, how could he not come to see me!"

Mei'er lowered her head and dared not speak.

"It must be you, right? You didn't convey what I said!"

"Miss, I really said it, but I just didn't see King Nan'an!"

Lin Ling was so angry that she turned around and walked out of the Lin Mansion. She didn't believe that Mo Lingyun would not see her even if she went there in person.

When Lin Ling arrived at the Nan'an Palace, he was about to walk in with great fanfare.

The guard at the door hurried down.

"Ms. Lin, the prince has ordered that you are not allowed to enter the palace from now on!"

Lin Ling's eyes widened: "Look carefully, I am the second daughter of General Lin's mansion, and the sweetheart of your prince. How dare you talk to me like this? If Mo Lingyun finds out, he will definitely twist your head off!"

“…”

Seeing that the guard remained unmoved, Lin Ling kicked the guard angrily.

"Just wait for me. If Mo Lingyun comes to beg me again, I will ask him to chop you to pieces first!" After saying that, she turned around and wanted to leave.

I saw Zhang Luoyi getting out of the carriage.

Seeing her, Lin Ling sneered.

Zhang Luoyi also saw her, but his face was expressionless and he walked straight towards the palace.

"Stop!" Lin Ling said.

Zhang Luoyi continued walking on his own and ignored her.

"I told you to stop, did you hear me?"

Lin Ling walked over and blocked her way.

"Ms. Lin, what can I do for you?" Zhang Luoyi looked at her indifferently.

"Where's Mo Lingyun? Where did he go? Why didn't he come out to see me?" At this point, she paused and looked at her inquiringly: "Did you... say something to him?"

Zhang Luoyi didn't understand what she meant. He just looked at her coldly and chuckled.

"Ms. Lin, what identity are you using to talk to me? Are you the person Mo Lingyun loves, or the mistress?"

"If she was his beloved, why didn't he marry you into the palace? If she was his concubine, you are a daughter of the Lin family, and you are rushing to be the concubine of a married man. Aren't you afraid of being criticized?"

“…”

After a few words, Lin Ling was speechless.

After a long while, she whispered sarcastically, "Everyone in the capital knows that I am Mo Lingyun's sweetheart. It's ridiculous to say that he won't marry me. I don't even want to marry him, and he doesn't deserve it. You're the only one who treats him like a treasure!"

Zhang Luoyi curled his lips and shouted, "Ms. Lin, what are you talking about? If you dare to come here to provoke me, then raise your voice a little louder!"

Seeing people passing by the door stop and point at her, Lin Ling's face froze.

Zhang Luoyi continued: "You are addicted to flirting with men. Do you think all the men in the world will revolve around you?"

"Zhang Luoyi, if you dare to talk to me like this today, I will never let you go!"

"Okay! I'll wait for you!"

Not only did Lin Ling not meet Mo Lingyun this time, she was also humiliated by Zhang Luoyi and ran away with a sullen face.

Seeing her leave, the smile on Zhang Luoyi's face faded.

“…”

These days, she didn't know what happened between Mo Lingyun and Lin Ling, but she didn't want to be dragged into this relationship with them and just wanted a stable life.

…

Mo Cangyan started to get busy after returning to the palace. Feng Xiyao didn't know what was wrong with him and why he had to pull her along to do something.

In the past two days, he came to her bedroom every day to rest and review memorials, so that she had to go to bed late and get up early like him every day.

Feng Xiyao was sitting on a stool grinding ink when she inadvertently caught a glimpse of the memorial that Mo Cangyan was reviewing.

Written on it were the hundreds of people who participated in this year's Mid-term Exam, which made Feng Xiyao frown.

She knew that ancient imperial examinations were conducted through rounds of screening, starting with tens of thousands of people, and in the end only a few hundred people would stand out.

But she also knew that more than half of the people on this list were children of officials, because those from poor families could never reach this point.

Thinking of the situation when she was competing against thousands of people for the college entrance exam, she could understand the feeling of helplessness.

"Your Majesty, in our Great Xia imperial examinations, who are the people who usually set the questions?"

Feng Xiyao looked at Mo Cangyan carefully. She knew that women in the harem were not allowed to interfere in government affairs. She didn't expect Mo Cangyan to tell her so without even turning his head.

"Kong Lu is a senior scholar of the Imperial College. He is very knowledgeable. Usually he and the Grand Tutor set the questions for the imperial examinations together!"

Feng Xiyao nodded.

[No wonder favoritism and fraud in scientific examinations are so rampant, they are simply birds of a feather! ]