Chapter 107
Although Cui Zui had abandoned literature for martial arts, he was still a scholar at heart. He originally thought he would be unhappy to see such an article, but upon hearing Xue Jin'an's words, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Master, if you submit an article like this, it will definitely make Grandfather furious, hahaha." Cui Zui laughed so hard that he fell down laughing on Xue Jin'an.
After laughing, I felt a pang of sadness. My master is so outstanding. He can remember everything he has seen without missing a single detail and apply it in a practical way when the time is right. Well, even if he sometimes applies it in the wrong way, it still can't hide his amazing memory.
Such a powerful master, yet he couldn't understand many basic common sense. His master's comprehension and imitation abilities were very strong. Whether it was speaking or doing something, as long as it was demonstrated once in front of him, he could easily understand and reproduce it clearly. He was capable of becoming a perfect prince who met all the requirements, and originally he was.
But because of a premeditated frame-up, he struggled to survive in the palace like a weed. No, he was even worse than a weed. At least a weed that grows casually by the roadside without causing any trouble is something that even the most clumsy person would only tug at randomly, rather than dig up the soil and destroy it completely.
Looking at his master's youthful face, which showed a mixture of understanding and confusion, he began to imagine "The Seventh Prince's Survival in the Palace: One Hundred and Eight Ways to Die," in which every sip of water Xue Jin'an drank was spiked.
In fact, this was not the first time Cui Zui had been troubled by his master's unusual behavior. He had asked his grandfather why he didn't correct him in time, but his grandfather said that the best opportunity had been missed and that forcibly correcting him would only backfire.
My grandfather said, "If a person is a vat of clear water, the process of growing up is like adding different colors of paint to it. Whatever color you add, that's the color the vat of water will become. But if you add too much or too concentrated paint, they will eventually come together and turn black. After that, no matter what paint you add or you add more water, the black color will not disappear. It will only be cleaned up again if you put the vat of water into the mountains, rivers, lakes and seas."
"These mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas are death." What Cui Pengfei meant by these words was to subtly tell Cui Zui that Xue Jin'an's jar of clear water had swallowed too much color, leaving indelible marks that could not be erased, and that no amount of remedy or correction could reverse the result.
As he spoke, Cui Pengfei looked at Cui Zui, whose brows were furrowed and whose eyes showed disapproval, and said, "You should understand this principle better than anyone else."
Cui Zui was slightly taken aback, and then fell silent for a long time. He remembered when he was first brought back to the Cui family, he had also forcibly changed himself in an attempt to integrate into that family, and the final result was naturally unsatisfactory.
"You brat, you were cursing me in your heart just now, weren't you?" Cui Pengfei reached out and slapped him on the head. "Don't worry, what I'm doing now is not giving up or running away, but using my abilities to try to open up more possibilities for him. I won't harm him."
Cui Zuixin turned his head away guiltily, feeling slightly relieved by his grandfather's words.
Now, when Cui Zui recalled their conversation, he expressed his opinion to Xue Jin'an but did not try to stop him. He decided to leave him to his grandfather to handle, as he was quite eager to see the old man change his expression and show that look of someone who had been thoroughly beaten up by the words.
After putting that matter aside, Cui Zui immediately turned to his second curiosity. He excitedly approached Xue Jin'an, winking and asking, "Master, what kind of stories did you refer to? I haven't read any of them."
Xue Jin'an: "..."
According to the timeline of this world, the internet won't appear until a thousand years later, let alone online novels. He couldn't possibly export all the novel data onto paper for him to see, although it wouldn't take him much effort, but it would be too troublesome to explain.
If you simply ignore Cui Zui, he will most likely act foolish and unreasonable, but you can just mute his voice.
Between two evils, Xue Jin'an nodded in agreement and decided to ignore Cui Zui.
“…Hmm?” Cui Zui looked at his master, who was engrossed in writing, and slowly typed a question mark. When he realized that he was being completely ignored, his expression broke down, and he looked like the sky had fallen.
Cui Zui was originally just a little curious about those storybooks, but now he really couldn't resist reading them! He started deliberately teasing Xue Jin'an.
Master Cen arrived at this time.
Master Cen was indeed a great Confucian scholar of the time. Because of his status as a tutor in the Imperial Study, he frequently entered and exited the palace. Many of the Imperial Guards knew him and treated him quite kindly. Seeing him standing outside waiting as usual, they couldn't help but glance at the sky several times, wishing they could immediately pull out a chair for him to sit on while he waited.
Lingzhi was also surprised to see Master Cen. She quickly led him inside, as it wouldn't be right to make him wait outside to be informed, which would be tantamount to offending him.
Master Cen, who retired from officialdom early on and had no desire for power, devoted himself to teaching and becoming a Taoist priest, had many students who were officials in the court. Even if Lingzhi knew nothing about these things, she should know that someone who could teach princes and princesses in the palace was definitely not an ordinary person.
Lingzhi's plan was to greet everyone and then send someone to inform Xue Jin'an, but Cui Zui's antics were too much for both of them to handle, and they heard everything clearly.
"..." When people are embarrassed, they always try to make themselves look busy. Lingzhi kept refilling Master Cui's tea, saying, "Master, please have some tea."
Xue Jin'an had already heard the sounds of guests being welcomed outside. When he came out with Cui Zui, he ran into Shou Quan, who had rushed over to inform him. Upon hearing that it was Master Cen who had come, Xue Jin'an guessed pretty much what he was looking for.
Xue Jin'an had anticipated that the Ministry of Rites would seek outside assistance to conduct the interrogation and take statements. He knew that this was likely just a formality, and now that Prince An had already been implicated, the Ministry of Rites would certainly not want to involve another prince as well.
Cui Zui was still holding the homework that Xue Jin'an had "transferred" in his hand. When he heard the name of Master Cen, he couldn't help but say, "Oh, Master Cen, he's a great Confucian scholar who doesn't get along with the old man."
Xue Jin'an, unusually curious, asked a thought-provoking question, "Does Elder Cui have any close Confucian scholars among his friends?"
"...No." The historical issues caused by his essay "On the Imperial Examination" made even great Confucian scholars like Grand Tutor Li and Master Cen quite dislike Cui Pengfei. Cui Pengfei's friends were mostly people who studied various schools of thought and couldn't be specifically categorized into any particular faction. Now that Confucianism was prevalent, people of other schools of thought were marginalized and powerless, in other words, they weren't doing very well in the imperial court.
Cui Zui suddenly realized that his old man was really unpopular. He wondered if this teacher would jump up and beat him up after finding out his identity. He felt like hiding his face.
“Young Master Cui.” Sure enough, after lingering on Xue Jin’an’s face, Master Cen’s gaze shifted to Cui Zui’s face, and he immediately recognized this person who had recently caused a stir in the capital and happened to be related to the case in his hands.
Cui Zui silently covered his face with the paper in his hand and replied in a muffled voice, "Master Cen, you've mistaken me for someone else."
"Hahaha, why are you hiding? I'm not going to eat you. Don't worry, although I am a Confucian scholar, I have also read 'On the Imperial Examination' and support some of its viewpoints. We just have different temperaments and don't have much interaction. Even if there is any conflict, I won't hold a grudge against a junior like you." Master Cen smiled kindly.
Cui Zui glanced at him discreetly. Seeing that he looked like a vengeful immortal, he breathed a sigh of relief and showed his face, bowing respectfully. "This humble one greets Master Cen."
Master Cen waved his hand dismissively, showing no intention of making things difficult for a junior, and then turned his gaze to the paper in the junior's hand.
At first glance, Master Cen couldn't sit still. The familiar, extremely rigid handwriting came into view. He widened his eyes, suddenly stood up from his seat, rushed over, and snatched the paper from his hand. He had only wanted to confirm whether the article was indeed written by his ancestor, but he did not expect that the beginning of the article would be so clear and smooth.
The word choice and sentence structure are much more colloquial than those found in popular storybooks. Large sections of the descriptions seem to be piling up flowery language, and the transitions between sentences are handled very strangely, creating a sense of disharmony. In short, if we were to judge this solely as a piece of writing, it would not yet meet the passing grade. However, since it appears to be written by an ancient master, it is a different story.
Good heavens! This is the ancestor who could write utter nonsense! He can now write coherent sentences, even if there are still many problems. How can this not be considered progress?
Unconsciously, Master Cen was drawn to this article, which did not meet the standards of his ancestors. He skimmed through it and then experienced the same thing as Cui Zui: from "The sentence structure is good, the imagery is strong, and it's very beautiful" to "Hmm? Have I seen this familiar writing somewhere before?"
However, he realized the problem with the article much faster than Cui Zui. When he saw the battlefield analysis, he immediately matched it with the same content in his mind and confirmed its source.
"..." Master Cen looked up at Cui Zui and his gaze changed, filled with a hint of reproach and heartache, "That old bastard Cui Pengfei has corrupted you!"
Cui Zui: "???"
"No, I, um..." What happened to the promise that he wouldn't hold a grudge against the younger generation and make things difficult for them? Cui Zui felt deceived.
Xue Jin'an realized that Master Cen had misunderstood. He didn't care that his identity had been exposed and said directly, "That's my homework."
Master Cen looked up, his eyes showing a mixture of helplessness and joy.
Yes, Master Cen had already guessed that the true owner of the article was Xue Jin'an. The most direct and simple reason was that when he first received the gray letter from the other party, it was a classroom assignment he had given in the Imperial Study. At that time, Cui Zui might not even have arrived in the capital.
Of course, the indirect reason was that although this was the first time Master Cen had met Cui Zui, he had read Cui Zui's articles a long time ago. It was after Cui Zui failed the imperial examination for the third time that Cui Zhuo couldn't bear it and secretly compiled his articles into a book and sent it to several great scholars in the capital, hoping that one of them would help his brother. Unfortunately, he received no response and gave up in disappointment.
Fortunately, he felt it was better not to say anything before things were successful, which prevented Cui Zui from suffering further harm.
Master Cen had already guessed that the article was written by the Seventh Prince. Seeing that the article was in Cui Zui's hands, and that the other party seemed bewildered but did not intend to stop it, Master Cen assumed that the Seventh Prince did not want to reveal his identity, so he also kept it a secret.
Now, the two people who had long admired each other finally met. Master Cen's eyes were filled with complex emotions. He recalled the rumors about the Seventh Prince and felt that he did not quite match the image of his ancestor in his mind. However, when he looked at the man, he felt that he matched him very well.
"You... so how exactly did you get the letter to my Taoist temple? Can I learn from you?" Master Cen's thousand words were condensed into one sentence, his eyes brimming with eagerness to learn.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
