Before Zhao Rong came down the mountain to Dali, he was invited by Yang Wuwei, one of the top scholars in Linlu Academy, to visit the seventh floor of the library.

I don’t know whether it’s because Senior Brother Yang shares similar interests or has a unique vision that he feels a sense of appreciation for talent.

Because of Zhao Rong's casual comments on a book of unofficial history of the small country of Nankang, he invited him to go up to the tower to compile history together.

He joined the History Museum of Youlan Prefecture and compiled the history books of the secular dynasties at the foot of the mountain in Wangquezhou over the past three thousand years for the new mayor of Duyou City.

At that time, Zhao Rong followed Mr. Yan's advice and did not get involved in the matter rashly.

He just accepted the invitation to go up to the building and make friends with Senior Brother Yang, who was a top figure in the academy, but declined the opportunity to compile history.

However, Senior Brother Yang was also a wonderful person. He casually threw out a few tempting sugar-coated bullets, as if he was afraid that Zhao Rong would not be tempted. But what kind of character is Zhao Rong? How could he be "taught" by others?

So he immediately slammed the table, picked up the "sugar-coated bullet" and turned away.

What? You mean work?

No way.

Old whore...

Well, actually Yang Wuwei threw out two sugar-coated bullets at that time.

One is a token that allows entry to the sixth floor of the library.

The sixth floor contains all the poems collected by Linlu Academy.

For cultivators below the Jindan mirror level who can enter, as long as they are literate, their spiritual energy will increase rapidly, and breaking the mirror in a breath is not a dream.

There is one more.

It is the 'History Book of Dali' which Zhao Rong has now returned to its original owner.

It was cryptically recorded that the royal family of Dali currently had a princess of the royal family, who was 28 years old, second only to the current empress, the Slender Waist Beauty of Dali, and had a lot of other names...

Then, this unmarried princess was loved by Emperor Li and was allowed to choose her own husband.

She was also obsessed with poetry and books, and admired the talented people in the academy.

Especially the Confucian scholars from Linlu Academy, not those from Siqi Academy...

Well, another small detail.

The book also wrote that this beautiful lady from Dali threatened that she would lower her status and marry the talented Lin Lu as a concubine, otherwise she would never marry again.

The Emperor of Dali was open-minded and agreed to this matter, and gave her a generous dowry.

Nowadays, Princess Dali, who pursues free love, lives alone in a quiet and luxurious manor somewhere outside Hanjing.

With a valuable dowry, she hopes to meet a talented person from Linlu who happens to pass by...

What Zhao Rong found outrageous at the time was that the book also recorded in detail the location of this golden house where the concubine was hidden...

My goodness, you have such a good history book, why did you write this thing?

What about geographical travel notes?

I agreed to have you send an envoy to deliver the official history to the academy, but you ended up sending this...

There are bad people among the people.

After Zhao Rong sighed on the spot, he bent down and picked up the history book of Dali that was thrown on the ground by Yang Wuwei with a righteous look on his face. He brushed the dust off the cover and casually stuffed it into his sleeve.

Well, Brother Yang, if you don’t want to throw it on the ground, then I will return it for you.

As for the first sugar-coated bullet, it was too expensive and too difficult to get for free, so Zhao Rong didn't shamelessly hint to Brother Yang with his eyes, "If you don't want to throw things, just throw them on the ground and he will pick them up"... He waved his hand and directly refused.

Zhao Rong brought the history book of Dali down the mountain with him, intending to return it to the royal family of Dali as a gesture of goodwill.

However, after Lai Dali learned about the situation, he changed his strategy and decided not to take a clear stand.

So this book of Dali history was left aside in the Sumeru objects and he forgot to deal with it.

Now that Zhao Rong took it out, of course he was not going to sign in to receive the 'Princess Dali' gift package.

He didn't care whether the princess of the Dali clan recorded in the book was really infatuated with the talented scholar, or whether Dugu and the others had carefully created the story and chosen a beautiful woman to play the role.

Zhao Rong certainly has his considerations...

"Who gave it to you?"

At this time in the pavilion, Dugu Chanyi asked.

Zhao Rong smiled and looked at her expression for a while, then spoke leisurely.

"Has the queen finally calmed down?"

Dugu Chanyi pursed her lips and clenched the history book in her jade hands.

She stared at Zhao Rong for a while, then nodded her head and said softly, "Mr. Zhao, you are joking. I am not angry with you at all. I was just... angry with myself. I am just unlucky."

Zhao Rong smiled and stopped making things difficult for him. "Well, I was just overthinking it."

Dugu Chanyi didn't waste any words and asked, "Mr. Zhao is in Linlu Academy. Does he know the gentlemen in the East Pavilion on the seventh floor of the Book Mountain Book Building?"

Zhao Rong smiled and said nothing.

Dugu Chanyi's eyes flickered, "Or, Mr. Zhao, you are one of the scholars who study history in the library..."

Her tone softened unconsciously.

Zhao Rong listened to it, but didn't comment. He rolled up his sleeves and pointed his slender index finger at the history book in Dugu Chanyi's hand, "Your Majesty, keep it. This book seems to be a travelogue of customs and geography. Some place names are recorded very clearly... Don't mix it up and send it to the wrong person again."

As he spoke, he walked past the Empress Dowager Dali, who was dressed in a snow-white fur coat.

Zhao Rong walked out of the pavilion, pressed his left hand on the bleeding wound on his right arm, and stood on the steps looking around.

The next second, he walked towards the hot spring not far from the pavilion.

"Your Highness, I will take care of your wounds. I will leave Guanghan Palace first. If anyone asks me, I will say that I got lost in the palace and did not meet your Highness..."

"Your Majesty, please wait for me to leave for a while before calling the servants."

In the pavilion behind the young scholar, the beautiful widow remained silent, tilting her head slightly, watching the busy figure of the young scholar, with an inexplicable look in her eyes...

Zhao Rong smiled and didn't look back.

He deliberately chose a hot spring upstream very close to the spring, squatted on the shore, scooped up water to wash his face, and then cleaned the wound.

This natural hot spring located deep in the palace seemed to have some miraculous effects, or perhaps some medicinal herbs and spiritual objects were added to it, which had the miraculous effect of stopping bleeding and healing wounds.

Zhao Rong nodded, carefully treated the wound, and said in a casual voice:

"Oh, my lady, I have something else to say. Your Majesty is filial and respects his teacher. He is really a good emperor, but he is young and at the age of playing...

"I think blindly suppressing him is not a good idea. Rewards and punishments should be appropriate. After all, he is now the nominal emperor of the people of Dali. It is inappropriate for Your Majesty to punish him by making him kneel at every turn. Well, let's not talk about face. After all, Your Majesty is a mother, so it is natural for Her Majesty to kneel. But you also have to take into account the emperor's dignity..."

Inside the pavilion, Dugu Chanyi put away the history book and looked up at the back of the young Confucian scholar squatting on the shore not far away.

His tone was brisk, and he lowered his head to treat the wound. His movements were neat and tidy, and at this time he spoke with a smile, as if he was chatting with her about daily life...

The beautiful widow frowned slightly.

The goose bumps that appeared on the parts of her body where he touched her, and the nausea that she had been trying hard to suppress, seemed... seemed... not as severe as before...

Dugu Chanyi covered herself with her snow-covered coat and stayed quiet for a while.

"Okay, then don't let Que'er kneel. But, Mr. Zhao, don't you want to be Que'er's teacher? Why are you still begging for him?"

She lowered her eyes.

Zhao Rong did not pause, still cleaning himself, and now shook his head:

"Two different things. Just like right now, here and now, the Empress and I are frank with each other, there is no curtain to block us, and we speak frankly without any scruples."

"But once we leave this garden and meet me in public, Your Majesty will be behind the pearl curtains and gauze again. There will be strict separation between men and women, and the distinction between the monarch and his subjects. I will also have to behave in a polite manner..."

"Some things need to be distinguished and treated separately. But Your Majesty can also understand that I am being pretentious and like to meddle in other people's affairs, haha...hiss..."

Zhao Rong smiled, but for a moment he didn't pay attention and pulled his wound. He immediately changed his expression and inhaled.

"snort."

The widow, who had a noble status in front of others, snorted softly. Seeing the funny behavior of the scholar on the shore, the corners of her mouth curved slightly, but they were suppressed again in an instant.

Dugu Chanyi urged expressionlessly, "Mr. Zhao, please hurry up. It's getting late. If you don't go out, you will arouse suspicion and ruin my reputation."

Zhao Rong nodded, quickened his movements, and then couldn't help but turn his head, glanced in the direction of Dugu Chanyi, narrowed his eyes and asked:

"Your Majesty must have loved the late emperor very much, and she takes reputation and etiquette very seriously."

Dugu Chanyi's face turned cold, and he didn't answer. Instead, he asked softly:

"Heaven and earth, the emperor, parents, and teachers; the emperor is the emperor, the minister is the minister; the husband is the husband, the wife is the wife; the father is the father, and the son is the son... The high and the low, the old and the young, are all the principles of human ethics and are the cornerstone of imperial power..."

"Aren't these the rituals that you Confucian scholars advocate? You ask the imperial family to take the lead and set an example. Isn't what your majesty and I have done in line with the wishes of you Confucian disciples?"

Her voice was as clear as a yellow oriole, but her tone became colder as she spoke.

Retaliate.

"Mr. Zhao, you are so good, asking me why I give you such a generous gift. Oh, it's really..."

The beautiful widow paused and seemed to have something else to say.

Zhao Rong turned his head, squinted his eyes and tried to see her expression from a distance.

"Your Highness, do you want to say that I am a joke, or that I am a hypocrite as a Confucian scholar?"

"Oh, I dare not say such rude words, nor do I dare to question the saint. Mr. Zhao, please don't talk nonsense."

Dugu Chanyi raised her chin, turned her profile to someone, looked up and squinted at the cloudless sky outside the pavilion.

"Oh? Your Majesty, don't you have any real feelings when you practice these 'rituals'? It shouldn't just be a show for others to see."

Dugu Chanyi snorted and curled her lips, "Of course not, I am of course...sincerely in love."

The young scholar squatted on the shore and nodded.

"That's good... No matter whether it's a big or small ceremony, there's nothing wrong with it. We Confucian scholars promoted etiquette with good intentions at the beginning, but etiquette is only a formality after all. What the ancient and modern Confucian sages wanted to achieve with etiquette is the true moral principles behind it, which are loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, and trustworthiness..."

He reached out his hand, scooped up a handful of water, clenched his fist, and all the water leaked out.

"If there is no real meaning behind it, then what is the meaning of this formal ceremony? It is just for show. It is not just a show to encourage the emperor to take the lead. Can't the emperor have some warmth... If everyone regards ceremony as a formality, then 'etiquette' may be stolen by selfish rulers and become a tool to control the people."

"And once someone succeeds once, steals the saints' gift, and takes on enormous power, then a second person will appear, and a third person..."

"It's the rise of thieves!"

The young scholar spoke in a heavy tone, his eyes cast downcast.

Dugu Chanyi turned around, narrowed her eyes and said, "Oh? So Mr. Zhao still has such worries, thief... So you Confucian scholars also know that some of your things are not what you want, so why make so much trouble?"

She chuckled a few times.

Zhao Rong leaned back and squatted on the ground, his shoulders slumped slightly.

"I discussed this with a fellow Taoist friend before, but it was a little more in-depth... The Saint and the Thief... Not only can the ceremony be stolen... Even the word 'saint' itself can be stolen."

He lowered his eyes and sighed:

"But my views are not entirely the same as his, and we have some arguments... He is more pessimistic and his words are more intense."

"What about Mr. Zhao?"

"Me? I don't agree with his point of view. I always feel that we should do something... We can't just do nothing and let things take their own course, because the world has become wise and can't go back to the 'chaos' wilderness. But..."

"But I was actually quite pessimistic, and I only rejected his method without having my own method. So, at that time, no one could completely convince anyone else."

The young scholar rubbed his face hard with his hands and murmured:

"That fellow Taoist also asked me a question, and I don't know how to answer it..."

"Oh? What's the problem?"

The young scholar fell silent and cleaned the wound silently.

That day in the bamboo forest of Taiqing Xiaoyao Mansion, in Tao Yuanran's classroom, before leaving, the old man asked him.

How should he act when facing a thief? How should a saint act?

Dugu Chanyi in the pavilion did not urge him, but quietly looked at the back of the Confucian scholar squatting on the ground.

There was silence between the two.

No one knew what they were thinking.

Zhao Rong raised his head and chuckled:

"Nothing. But there is one thing I can say. Although the thieves are rampant, the instigators will have no descendants..."

In the distance, the Queen Mother Dali frowned, "What do you mean?"

Zhao Rong looked at her and said sincerely: "My lady, this is very simple to understand. Let's make an assumption. Suppose you are a thief and you played with this 'ritual'."

"What do you mean by playing around? What kind of dirty word are you using?"

"Well, that's stealing. Suppose you are a bad guy, you stole the 'gift', took the powerful power, and did some bad things. But have you ever thought that this 'gift' will be stolen by others one day, used by other thieves, and hurt you in return?"

He sighed, his interest waned, and he said:

"A good 'gift' has been scrambled for by a bunch of thieves, and it has become distorted and meaningless. So the one who started it will have no descendants... After becoming a thief, he must pay it back."

The beautiful widow in the pavilion nodded her head slightly.

She said "Oh" and stopped talking.

Zhao Rong also lowered his head and continued to wash the wound.

The two were speechless.

The air on the field was quiet for a moment.

The woman suddenly chuckled, "So that's what you mean. Mr. Zhao's metaphor is quite interesting."

Zhao Rong shook his head.

"I'm just bored and think about it occasionally. Some things... let the saints worry about them. I, a little scholar, just need to do my own thing."

He didn't mention it again.

Then, silence fell between the two again.

After a while, Zhao Rong let go and let out a breath.

Finally finished cleaning the wound.

He turned his head and looked around, then his eyes paused and fell on a large bamboo basket next to him.

There were many clean white towels neatly stacked inside.

It is embroidered with gold thread and is very luxurious.

Zhao Rong reached out curiously and touched the basket. Some towels were slightly wet, while others were quite dry and stacked together...

"Hey, are these clean towels yours? There are quite a lot. Can you lend me another one, please?"

"No." A certain queen mother said immediately.

She widened her eyes slightly and subconsciously took a step forward, but the two of them were far apart and she was too late to stop the scholar's actions.

At this time, he had already pulled out a towel that had been used to wipe her delicate body.

Zhao Rong sighed, "My Lady, I only used one of your towels. Don't be so stingy. There are still many towels here. You don't need any."

Dugu Chanyi: “…”

These ninety-nine luxurious towels each have their own function, corresponding to different parts of the body. Some parts that are easily wet will be wiped with several towels, so the dryness and wetness vary.

The woman said shyly: "No! Put it down, you..."

Before he could finish his words, he was stuck because the young scholar not far away had already picked it up, sniffed it gently, and muttered, "Hmm, it smells quite good. The things that the queen uses are really particular..."

Dugu Chanyi: “!!!”

"…But why does the fragrance smell a bit strange…"

"???"

Zhao Rong didn't know that he randomly picked a towel corresponding to the strange part, tore it into several strips, and bandaged the wound.

The beautiful widow in the pavilion secretly kicked her feet in shame, but she dared not reveal the truth...

Soon, Zhao Rong changed into a clean Confucian robe.

Cover the bandaged wound with your wide sleeves.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he turned around and looked at Dugu Chanyi for a moment.

For some reason, the latter's cheeks were a little flushed, especially against the backdrop of her snow-white fur coat.

She didn't look at Zhao Rong, but stared at the ground beside her with her almond-shaped eyes, as if she was angry with the floor.

The two were silent for a while.

Zhao Rong nodded, turned and left the bathing garden.

No farewell was spoken.

Dugu Chanyi stood quietly beside the beauty's bed in the pavilion. At a certain moment, her eyes shifted and she watched his back as he left.

The look in his eyes was somewhat indescribable.

About one stick of incense later.

Zhao Rong rolled up his sleeves and left Guanghan Palace leisurely.

In his hand, he was holding a ribbon that he had quietly brought out...