Shi Zhen'er pushed the chessboard away and said angrily, "It was chess a few days ago. I finally learned a little bit, but today it's Go again. There's not even a word on the chess pieces. How can I play?"
Shi Zhen'er spoke with a firm tone. After she vented her anger, she still dragged the chessboard back obediently and arranged the chess pieces one by one. "This Go doesn't look any better than chess. Why do you say it's a must-learn game for women?"
Ouyang Zhuyu, who was sitting across from Shi Zhen'er, smiled apologetically and said, "It was I who was impatient. Sister Zhen'er's chess skills were still a little rusty, so switching to Go was a bit hasty. But both games have their own merits, and it doesn't mean you have to learn chess first before learning Go."
Shi Zhen'er wasn't one to lose her temper easily, and she felt a little embarrassed when she saw this. "It's me who can't learn, and I'm sorry to trouble you, Ouyang, to teach me. But, I've never seen Brother Lin play chess, so is learning this really useful?"
Ouyang Zhuyu's eyes flickered, and he pretended to be indifferent and said, "Master, have you never played chess? With your talent, it's impossible that you can't even play Go. I guess you can't find an opponent."
Shi Zhen'er sighed, "It's possible. After all, most of my brothers and sisters came from poor backgrounds. Now, they're either serving as governors for Brother Lin or retiring to enjoy their retirement. I've never heard them say they can play chess. As for Ling Yang and He Chun, they couldn't even read a single word back then. They had to rely on Brother Lin and me to teach them how to play chess, let alone learn how to play."
"This... Minister Ling and the others..." Ouyang Zhuyu felt that it was not easy to respond to this, so he could only say: "Prime ministers are promoted from prefectures and counties, and brave generals start from the ranks. This is secretly consistent with the great way. No wonder Qinghe Bo can become such a great man."
“Okay, my father taught me to read, so I can understand what you said, but I just didn’t think so deeply about it. However, I think these words were probably written by the ancients to deceive people.
Look at the four kingdoms of the world. Which prime minister isn't from an aristocratic family? Which powerful general isn't from a powerful family? They often rise from the ranks in the prefectures and counties. I know that most of these high-ranking officials today don't even bother to go down to the lower levels to get promoted. It's true, they could just go straight to the top, but they choose to go down to the lower levels and suffer the hardship. Isn't that just sick?"
Shi Zhener said angrily.
Shi Zhen'er is a lady of the third rank, and is also the fiancée designated by Qinghe Earl Lin Hai. In the territory of Qinghe, she can judge any high-ranking official in the court at will. Well, let alone high-ranking officials, she can even point at the sky and curse the emperor of the Daliang Empire for half an hour without any problem.
But Ouyang Zhuyu, who had been in the palace for a long time and was deeply immersed in the hierarchy and rules, was frightened. She wanted to cover Shi Zhener's mouth directly: "Sister Zhener, you can't say this carelessly. If people find out..."
Shi Zhen'er waved her hand like Lin Hai and said, "How could anyone know? It's just you and me here. Ouyang, you won't go out and tell anyone, right?"
Ouyang's heart leaped to his throat at this point. According to the procedures in the palace, if it came to this, if it was a military commander, then three hundred swordsmen would emerge from behind the curtain. If it was a civil official, then a smiling old eunuch with crescent eyes would bring a cup of warm poisoned wine. If it was a palace maid... well, I think I've seen it before. If it was a palace maid, they would just stuff their mouth with a shoe and sink them into the pool.
Shi Zhen'er had no idea how many times Ouyang Zhuyu's expression changed in one second, nor did she know how many explanations and tragic endings she had thought of for herself in that instant.
Just as Ouyang Zhuyu was about to straighten up her weak knees and kneel down to shout, "They forced me to do this. I really didn't send any information out," she heard Shi Zhen'er continue:
"Even if the news gets out, so what? The emperor won't send troops to attack Qinghe just because of a word. The emperor will only attack Qinghe because it is powerful and rich. Of course, he will also return home because of Qinghe's power and wealth."
Shi Zhen'er looked at Ouyang Zhuyu and said seriously, "Ouyang, you must remember that once you enter Qinghe's territory, the things that happened before can no longer control you. Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's talk about playing chess."
Ouyang Zhuyu took a deep breath. She didn't know how much Shi Zhen'er knew, but it didn't matter. As long as she was still alive and as long as Shi Zhen'er didn't break the window paper, she would just pretend that nothing had happened. After all, it was better to be alive without knowing anything.
"Although Go consists of only two simple black and white pieces, it offers endless possibilities, exemplifying the ancient sage's saying, 'Tao begets One; One begets Two; Two begets Three; and Three begets all things.' It seems incredibly simple, yet it holds profound mysteries. For a hero like Qinghebo, Go is more than just a game. As the saying goes, 'Go in the open, swords and spears in the dark.' Every game of Go signifies the fate of the world..."
No matter what, Ouyang Zhuyu decided to be a good teacher first.
"So, this is the result of all these days of investigation. We strongly suspect there are spies among the two hundred palace maids given by the emperor? We strongly suspect that Ouyang Zhuyu is the leader of the spies? But because there is no channel for information transmission, we conclude that they haven't spread any information at all?"
Lin Hai frowned after listening to Shi Zhener's story. It was not that he really wanted to get angry with Shi Zhener. Lin Hai also knew that getting angry with a woman from the southwest, especially his future wife, would be a risk for him even in the evil old society. But such ambiguous information really made it difficult for him to make a judgment.
"There's nothing we can do about it. They're all genuine palace maids. Wang Zuo checked this out once, and so did our informants in Zhongdu. Even Xue Tao said these girls are very good at reading people's expressions and serving them. But they don't understand the affairs of the common people. They don't even know the price of rice, or that the common people usually use copper coins instead of silver. They made a lot of jokes when they first arrived. So, even if there are spies among them, they were given orders before they left, and they're not part of Zhongdu's Eagle Guard."
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