Chapter 148 [A Domineering Talent Falls in Love with a Shy Empress]
What frightened Xun Kuang most was why His Majesty was still looking at him.
I didn't participate in anything. Although I was appointed to examine the questions and papers in the Enke exam, I was just a follower of the chief priest.
I didn't do anything, and I didn't get involved with the Minister of Works Yang Guofu.
Wait
The teacher got me into trouble outside again and wants me to take the blame? !
Xun Kuang was in a state of anxiety and did not dare to look at the emperor again. He lowered his head and begged the saints, hoping that his teacher would not be in trouble again.
Xia Fengxiang looked at Xun Kuang and wanted to laugh. He ignored the tutor and said to Xun Kuang, "Xun Siye."
Xun Kuang immediately saluted tremblingly.
Xia Fengxiang said: "You should also know the people Yang Guofu greeted, whether they have real talents or not."
Xun Kuang was stunned for a moment, and immediately said something that would not offend people on both sides: "Your Majesty, I think that since Ouyang Wenhua, Yu Yang and others can successfully go to Beijing to participate in the imperial examination, they are talented. Moreover, I have talked with Yu Yang for a few words and he has some talent. If they answer the questions seriously in the imperial examination, considering that Your Majesty is so gracious this year and thinking of the Queen, they should be able to pass the exam because of the grace. I think Lord Xiao Yang should think that these people are so talented that it would be a pity if they failed, so he specially greeted them. After all, he did not accept any money or property."
What Xun Kuang said was not entirely perfect, but it did not offend either side.
But everyone present could hear the hidden meaning in Xun Kuang's words.
He praised Yu Yang and the others, saying they were talented, but he also emphasized that it was because of His Majesty Long Enhao's grace that these people were able to pass the exam. Doesn't that mean that if he hadn't shown grace, these people would be in danger?
But now it is said that Yang Guofu felt it was a pity for these people so he did find someone to arrange for them to not fail the exam. Doesn't this prove that what His Majesty said was right and Yang Guofu did so?
But he also pleaded on Yang Guofu's behalf, saying that he did not take any money, he just said hello.
After saying that, Xun Kuang sighed and then said, "Your Majesty, I think it is because the imperial examination is approaching, and the students' spirit and state of mind are inevitably affected. Decades of hard study, just for the imperial examination, will inevitably make the students think about taking a wrong turn. It is the fault of the teachers like me if the students make mistakes. I will enlighten Yu Yang, Ouyang Wenhua and others when I go back. Therefore, I think it is my fault that the students have gone astray. Please blame your majesty."
At the end of his speech, he bowed deeply to Xia Fengxiang.
Don't offend either side, and take the blame on yourself if there is any mistake.
But whether you are really wrong or not, everyone can see it clearly.
But does it matter whether it is right or wrong? The important thing is to ease the atmosphere in the court and consider His Majesty.
Su Wenqing curled his lips, smiled and shook his head. What a scholar who mingled in the red-light district, he had a perfect grasp of the ways of the world.
Su Zimu smiled, but also sighed. No wonder his younger brother had always been played around by Xun Kuang.
Li Jiulang didn't say anything and just stood there quietly, as if everything had nothing to do with him.
The Taifu still bowed his head, but he knew that he would beat that rebellious son to death when he got home!
Xia Fengxiang looked at Xun Kuang and raised the corner of his mouth, then looked at the Grand Tutor and said, "Grand Tutor, please stand up. It's not good for your waist to be hunched over like this when you are old."
The Grand Tutor did not move: "Unless Your Majesty convicts me, I dare not stand up."
Xia Fengxiang smiled, "Xun Kuang said it was his fault, so it has nothing to do with you. However, if a child is not taught well, it is the fault of the father; if a child is not taught strictly, it is the laziness of the teacher. Xun Kuang and other teachers in the Imperial College have taught students such as Yu Yang and Ouyang Wenhua to the qualifications to participate in the imperial examination. They are not lazy. Yang Guofu's behavior is also your fault. Let's put it this way. I heard that the sales of the Imperial College journals have not been very good recently. Several schools that Mu Xu is going to build are about to start, but the wages have not been raised. You have to collect money everywhere. Your family has been on a lot of salt tax ships in the past. Take out some money to pay the money for those schools, and then pay the money to Yan Shu, Wei Zijian, right?"
Having said that, Xia Fengxiang looked at Xun Kuang.
Xun Kuang bowed immediately and said, "Yes."
Xia Fengxiang continued, "I have seen those people. They are from poor families. Every day, they either work in journals for wages or copy books in the Imperial College for money. You use some money to build those schools, and let Yan Jingqing use some money to give to poor students like Yan Shu."
Xun Kuang looked at Xia Fengxiang and felt a little ecstatic, because since His Majesty had said it, how could the Grand Tutor not do as he was told?
Finally, my teacher doesn’t have to worry anymore!
Finally, I don't have to think about cutting my salary anymore.
The Grand Tutor bowed deeply and said, "I will personally deliver the money to the Master of the Imperial Sacrifice when I return."
Xia Fengxiang said nothing, but returned to the dragon chair and said, "The imperial examination is the foundation of the country, and there must not be any mistakes. This year, I will grant amnesty, and I hope that you will work together to prevent the students from being tainted by dirty things while studying hard."
Everyone in the hall bowed and said, "We, the ministers, will not let down your grace."
Xia Fengxiang said, "Xun Kuang should go back with the Grand Tutor, and we should get it done tonight, so that the Master Jijiu won't get anxious. Su Zimu should also go with him, and by the way, he should confirm with the Master Jijiu about the imperial examination in three days."
Taifu, Su Zimu, and Xun Kuang all bowed and left.
The only officials left in the palace were Su Wenqing, Li Jiulang, and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Zhang Gu.
Xia Fengxiang leaned against the chair, his elbows resting on the armrests of the dragon chair, his hands clenched into half fists to support his face: "Zhang Gu."
Zhang Gu is of similar age to Li Jiulang, and can be considered as Li Jiulang's classmate.
But unlike Li Jiulang, Zhang Gu has always been a follower of the late emperor. After the late emperor passed away, he became loyal to Xia Fengxiang.
At that moment, the short minister stepped forward and bowed.
Xia Fengxiang said, "Regarding the salt tax, you will receive the money from Zhao Yulang in person. If I am right, the Grand Tutor should hand it over in full. However, Yang Guofu, Yan Jingqing, and Zhao Yulang are reluctant to part with such a large sum of money, so keep an eye on them. And according to Yan Jingqing's habit, he will probably make a fuss about building a dam in the south to get money. Give him whatever he wants, just write it down."
Zhang Gu bowed and said, "I obey your command."
Xia Fengxiang looked at Li Jiulang and smiled, "Xingyue's appointment edict will be delivered to the mansion in a few days, so she doesn't need to be too bound by those etiquettes. After Chongyang Festival, although Su Changan is not the queen yet, I will hand over the harem to him. When Xingyue officially takes office, her sister Changan will be in charge of the harem. Su Changan herself doesn't follow those etiquettes, so she doesn't need to care about them."
Li Jiulang was ashamed, thinking that the emperor must have known that his daughter had gone to the Honglu Temple to learn the rules of being an official and that this was an embarrassing thing.
Especially this 'Sister Chang'an', he could tell that His Majesty was deliberately saying it with some jealousy, so he smiled awkwardly: "I thank Your Majesty on behalf of my daughter, but since I have entered the palace as an official, I still have to learn what I should learn. And the Queen does not need to follow the rules because she is already admirable, and she is always polite to others even when she is rude. She is a role model for us to learn from."
Finished
Li Jiulang raised his eyes and looked at Xia Fengxiang: "Your Majesty, I think we still need to do business with Japan. I can go to the Japanese envoy who stayed in Luo'an City tonight. Just spend some money to bribe him."
Xia Fengxiang smiled and said, "Okay."
Li Jiulang bowed, with a grand plan already unfolding in his mind.
Su Wenqing stood up at this time: "Your Majesty, Su Zifeng told me today that the Taichang Temple has already arranged everything. The Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Circular Mound Literary Forum will hold a sacrifice ceremony for the Great Xia Wenyun."
Xia Fengxiang changed his sitting position and looked outside the hall.
Father, Mother, I'm sorry, I still have to kill her.
For the person my daughter likes.
…
The moonlight shines through the curtains and the wind blows into the bamboo.
Su Changan sneezed and looked at the moon in the sky.
Xiangluo beside her saw Su Changan like this and said with a smile: "Miss, His Majesty has sent someone to say that he will not come. If you are sleepy, you should go to bed early."
Su Changan looked at Xiangluo, thought for a moment and asked, "Luo'er, you said that when Shang Gong Sun came just now, she told me that once the Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites have finalized the wedding process, I will be required to participate in revising it. Is it because His Majesty thinks I am too idle, so he wants to find something for me to do?"
Xiangluo quickly shook her head: "Miss, you are talking nonsense again. How can you ask me such a thing? Xiangluo dare not say it."
Su Changan frowned and asked, "Then are you three tired from going to the Honglu Temple to learn etiquette these days?"
Xiangluo nodded: "It is a bit tiring, but it is not bad, because they know that we are the young lady's maids, so they are very polite to us. It is not like before when we had to study and if we did not do well, we would be beaten with a whip."
After that, Xiangluo asked doubtfully, "Miss, are you worried about learning etiquette?"
Su Changan shook his head: "That's not the case."
Xiangluo looked at Su Changan in confusion.
Su Changan sighed: "I was wondering if His Majesty was angry with me, so he suddenly asked the Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites to discuss the wedding with me."
Xiangluo was surprised and hesitated to speak. After thinking for a while, she mustered up her courage and said, "How could your Majesty give birth? The young lady and your Majesty are so affectionate. Every time we see it, we feel strange, but we are also happy from the bottom of our hearts."
Su Changan shook his head: "It has nothing to do with this matter. I think she is angry with me. After all, I didn't take the initiative to kiss her today. Our Majesty is narrow-minded. I hugged her less and kissed her less. It's all recorded in the little notebook."
Xiangluo blushed and lowered her head, not daring to speak, even though she was used to her young lady always talking nonsense like this.
But even if I hear it too much, I still blush.
And when it came to His Majesty, she didn't even dare to interrupt.
Su Changan looked at Xiangluo's blushing face and smiled before saying, "Luo'er, do you want to read other storybooks?"
Xiangluo was stunned for a moment, then asked, "What kind of storybook is that? If it's the kind that makes people cry, then Miss, please don't show it to me."
Su Changan shook his head: "Not this time. I don't think I'll smile foolishly this time. Just like when you guys smiled when you saw me and His Majesty together."
Xiangluo was curious.
Su Changan picked up the pen and wrote on the paper [A domineering talent falls in love with the shy empress].
Xiangluo saw the name and looked at Su Changan in confusion.
…
The waves of the sky are easy to fade, but it is hard to keep a moment.
Life is like a flash of lightning in the universe.
Three days passed in a flash.
All the students in Luoan City were on high alert today after receiving their badges, queuing up and waiting for the Imperial Examination Hall to open.
The imperial examination lasts for three days, with three sessions each day.
During the exam, candidates have to live in the examination room and can only come out and go home after waiting for three days.
As for the examination questions, there were eight-legged essays, policy questions, and classics, history, and miscellaneous works.
Su Changan was quite surprised when he learned that the examinations in the Great Xia Dynasty were not limited to the eight-legged essay. He felt that the dynasties in this world were great as they were not bound by the eight-legged essay.
But I also feel that without math and other things, something is missing and we cannot fall behind in education.
But this was not something he could think about right now, so he was too lazy to think about it.
Today is the Double Ninth Festival. Lu Cai is going to send chrysanthemums and dogwoods. As Lu Cai said two days ago, they are very beautiful in their bright yellow color.
Su Changan sat in the yard, thinking that Xia Fengxiang should be in the Taimiao right now offering sacrifices to the previous emperors.
In fact, Su Changan had originally planned to go and take a look. After all, he had never seen this before and was a little curious.
But last night, Xia Fengxiang told Su Changan that he could not go anywhere today and could only stay in Lingqi Pavilion and wait for her to come back.
Su Changan was a bit rebellious and certainly didn't intend to listen properly, but Xia Fengxiang seemed to know it, so he asked Yan Yunxiao to come over early in the morning and told Su Changan to stay put and not run around. Xia Fengxiang also assigned Su Changan a task.
She said she had thought of writing a poem for her and wanted to bring it up on Double Ninth Festival.
Poetry is definitely not a problem for Su Changan.
But Su Changan thought about it and decided not to go if he was not allowed to go. He would have to participate in such occasions in the future anyway.
So I just finished practicing my calligraphy today out of boredom and waited for landing before coming over to take a look.
Lying on the floor of the hall, looking at the blue sky outside, Su Changan tilted his head and noticed that Linghua still looked not well.
The reason was the day before yesterday.
Linghua went to the imperial kitchen to get some ingredients and came back jogging with a look of fear on her face.
It was said that several bodies were seen outside the Xingqing Palace, all of which had been burned.
It looked miserable and Linghua was frightened.
Originally, there was no need to pass through Xingqing Palace to get from Lingqi Pavilion to the imperial kitchen.
But since before, the Empress Dowager had arranged so many flowers and perfumes in Xingqing Palace, saying that she wanted to watch butterflies in the winter.
When Su Changan heard this, he thought it was a joke. In this weather, if you were to stay in the greenhouse, there might still be butterflies, but it was too cold to attract butterflies in such a cold weather, and putting flower pots outside would attract butterflies.
Don’t blame the palace servants for being ignorant. Blame the Empress Dowager for being uneducated.
So these days many people have been curious and have gone to Xingqing Palace to see if there really are butterflies there.
Ryoka is one of them.
However, this time, he happened to arrive at the time when several corpses were being carried out of Xingqing Palace. And according to what Su Changan had people inquire about later, it was said that there was a fire in the firewood room of Xingqing Palace, which set fire to the rooms where these palace servants were resting. Although the fire was finally put out, the people were burned to charcoal.
Su Changan felt a little sorry for the lives of those people.
But there is nothing we can do, it was an accident after all.
But Su Changan was actually quite puzzled. After all, it had just rained two days ago and the weather was not dry. How could a fire suddenly catch fire for no reason and burn people like that? This meant that the fire must have been burning for a long time. How could it not be put out after such a long time? Moreover, living people live in small houses and can also run away.
There are actually quite a lot of doubts.
However, Su Changan had no obligation to help the empress dowager investigate these things, and there seemed to be no statement from the empress dowager's palace, so Su Changan didn't think too much about it.
And Su Changan was actually quite busy during these three days.
Li Chunfang from the Honglu Temple and Cao Shen, the Minister of Rites, would come over from time to time to ask about some minor details of the process for Su Changan and Xia Fengxiang's wedding.
This also made Su Changan a little overwhelmed, and he really had no time to think about these things.
In three days, Su Changan's martial arts improved a little, but the main reason, in addition to his talent, was that he went to the Taimiao.
His grandmother taught him some sword techniques and told him that he could use his full strength with a knife.
When Su Changan was fighting with Lian Wei, the effect was so obvious that Lian Wei didn't dare to attack anymore.
This made Su Changan feel that he should throw away his knife and learn sword.
But looking at Yan Yunxiao, Su Changan thought it was better to forget it. Aunt Yan was good to him, so at worst he could learn how to use swords and knives.
But there is one thing.
Su Changan still tried it, and then he ran to Yan Yunxiao and said, "Learn sword by yourself, Aunt Yan, are you angry?"
Yan Yunxiao shook his head to indicate that he was not angry. '
This made Su Changan a little puzzled, but Yan Yunxiao said again, "Because I can't beat the Empress Dowager." '
Su Changan suddenly realized and became more determined.
Our Aunt Yan is a person who really speaks with her fists. Those who can beat her are looked down upon, and those who can’t be beaten are at your mercy.
"Eunuch Lu."
"Sister Xuanxia, please stop making fun of me. Just call me Lu Cai, hehe. Is the young lady in there?"
"Here I am."
Su Changan heard the conversation between Xun Xia and Lu Cai at the gate of the courtyard.
Then he sat up and saw Lu Cai walking towards him.
However, Lu Cai was covered in dust, and his shiny green robe seemed to be covered with a lot of dirt.
Unlike usual, Lu Cai stood at the door and saluted Su Changan.
Su Changan saw it and said with a smile: "Why are you standing at the door if you don't come in?"
Lu Caihan smiled and said, "I am dirty and have a strange smell. I am afraid that I will dirty the young lady. I will just bow to you here."
Su Changan was helpless: "Just come in, is this your first day meeting me?"
Hearing this, Lu Cai scratched his head, feeling embarrassed, but after thinking for a while, he still walked into the yard.
But just as Lu Cai walked in and reached the front of the hall.
Maomao, who had been sitting at one side of the hall reading a medical book, suddenly raised his head and looked at Lu Cai.
After sniffing it, he put down the medical book, walked close to Lu Cai, and started sniffing Lu Cai without any hesitation.
Su Changan ignored Maomao's behavior because he also smelled the scent on Lu Cai.
Su Changan found this smell familiar, mixed with the scent of flowers, but it was not the smell of perfume.
Finally, Su Changan suddenly looked at Lu Cai with a startled expression and asked in confusion: "Why do you smell like gunpowder? Do you have to set off fireworks for the sacrifice?"
(End of this chapter)
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