This remark had an effect, and Nangong Yiyu made a final conclusion: "Old Wen is just a scoundrel seeking fame and reputation. At the grand court meeting tomorrow, I will unite with all the officials to ask Your Majesty to restore peace to the Wu Dynasty!"
Fu Xiaoguan didn't respond. He stood up and bowed respectfully to Nangong Yiyu. "I have some things to attend to, so I'll take my leave, Your Excellency the Left Prime Minister!"
Nangong Yiyu was stunned. This kid wants to escape?
He extended his hand and beckoned, "What's the rush? There are still eight days until the literary gathering. Come, come, I've heard of your name a long time ago, and I've also read your works A Dream of Red Mansions and Stories of the Young People of the Yu Dynasty. Recently, I heard that you suppressed the poem 'Qingyu's Case, Shangyuan' by Old Man Wen. Very good! Old Man Wen is very arrogant because of his status as a great scholar, but no one in the Wu Dynasty can destroy his prestige. I hope you can perform well this time. I tell you, you must win the first prize. First, it will slap Old Man Wen's face, and second...it's much better for Princess Taiping to marry you than to marry that fool Zhuo Donglai!"
No, Fu Xiaoguan was a little confused when he heard this.
He sat down again, not noticing that Wu Linger's face had turned red.
"My Lord Left Prime Minister, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say anything you want. These two, she's Yu Wenyun, the Ninth Princess of our dynasty, and she's Dong Shulan, the daughter of our Minister of Revenue, are both my fiancées. Princess Taiping is of noble status, and she's a princess of the Wu Dynasty, while I'm from the Yu Dynasty. We can't mess around with this couple!"
Wu Linger pouted immediately, but Susu was happy in her heart.
Nangong Yiyu's face showed confusion, and he asked, "You came to the literary competition without any intention of winning? Then why are you participating?"
"Of course I came here to win the championship!"
Nangong Yiyu clapped his hands and said, "That's right. Since you won the literary championship, you will naturally get the beauty. As for your status and His Highness's status... what does it matter?"
Fu Xiaoguan became increasingly confused and quickly waved his hands, "Wait, wait, wait, we need to sort this out. Winning the top prize and marrying His Highness are two completely different things. How can we confuse them?"
Nangong Yiyu understood. He looked up at Wu Linger. This little girl had not told Fu Xiaoguan about this, but Guan Tong, the Left Vice Minister of the Guanli Hall, should have explained it clearly to Fu Xiaoguan. Was there any misunderstanding here?
He looked at Fu Xiaoguan calmly, "It's like this. As for Emperor Wen, you'll know what kind of emperor he is if you've met him. He's not very reliable. After the invitation to the literary gathering was sent out, he added an imperial edict to the Wu Dynasty, meaning that the champion of this literary gathering will be..." Nangong Yiyu pointed at Wu Ling'er, "His Highness's husband. It's not a marriage invitation, it's a marriage invitation. So, in addition to the participation of your four countries, this literary gathering will also be filled with scholars and students from the Wu Dynasty! Because the unreliable Majesty did not clearly state the age limit in this imperial edict, so..."
Nangong Yiyu raised his eyebrows and spread his hands, "So even if it's that old bastard Wen Xingzhou, if he's thick-skinned enough, he has the same chance."
Fu Xiaoguan finally understood. He looked at Wu Linger in astonishment and thought that it would be better not to have this top scholar!
Nangong Yiyu's old eyes seemed to see through Fu Xiaoguan's thoughts, and he said another sentence:
"Your father, Official Fu, recently purchased Xianqingju in Guanyun City. You can move in now. However, there is a condition in the sales contract: if you fail to win the top prize, Emperor Wen has the right to reclaim Xianqingju without refunding a single ounce of silver."
Fu Xiaoguan was stunned. When did his father come to Guanyun City?
He actually bought Xianqingju!
And such an unequal contract was signed!
What is he thinking about?
Fu Xiaoguan found it hard to understand, but he quickly replied, "Even if my father bought Xianqingju, he bought it from Ning Fatian!"
Nangong Yiyu laughed heartily, "But that land belongs to your Majesty! And the contract is stamped with your Majesty's seal!"
"No, could it be that my father has met Emperor Wen?"
"Of course, the Jinghu Villa that sword-mad Ning Fatian bought was originally a royal property. The contract stipulated that if Ning Fatian wanted to sell it, he had to get the emperor's consent. Since your father wanted to buy it, Ning Fachun had no choice but to take him to see the emperor and reach a new contract before the deal could be completed!"
Fu Xiaoguan felt very uncomfortable. How could his father, who had been so smart all his life, make such a low-level mistake!
When I was in Fanning City, I heard Wu Linger say that Ning Fachun bought it for 600,000 taels of silver, and after he renovated it, now...
"How much silver did my father pay for it?"
Nangong Yiyu held up a finger and said, "Your father is amazing, much better than us officials. He offered one million taels without blinking an eye, without even negotiating the price. I happened to witness it that day. Such a large deal was completed in just two days."
Fu Xiaoguan couldn't sit still any longer. "Where is my father now?"
"Oh, he left. He left yesterday."
Fu Xiaoguan pinched his nose and looked at the sea of clouds.
The problem now is simple and clear. Either take Wenkui and marry Wu Linger, or... just treat the one million taels of silver as lost.
Looking at Fu Xiaoguan's conflicted expression, Wu Linger felt aggrieved, and Nangong Yiyu was unhappy.
I thought to myself, she is the only princess of the Wu Dynasty, the most beloved jewel in Emperor Wen’s palm, and you still despise her?
No one knew why Emperor Wen issued that ridiculous imperial edict. As a loyal left prime minister of the Wu Dynasty, he certainly did not want Princess Taiping to marry far away to the Yu Dynasty, even if the man was the world-famous Fu Xiaoguan. In Nangong Yiyu's opinion, the Wu Dynasty would be at a disadvantage, because the cabbages of the Wu Dynasty were taken away by the pigs of the Yu Dynasty.
So he often said that Emperor Wen was unreliable!
Are there no outstanding men in the Wu Dynasty?
Even if Emperor Wen did not want Princess Taiping to marry Zhuo Donglai and thus make the Right Prime Minister's Mansion more special, he could have directly rejected that old man Zhuo Yixing. It would not have been difficult to choose a good husband for Princess Taiping.
But he chose to do this. In the eyes of everyone in the Wu Dynasty, Emperor Wen wanted Princess Taiping to marry Fu Xiaoguan - because Fu Xiaoguan's reputation was so great!
That's not an empty reputation!
Fu Xiaoguan's poems and articles are now widely sung in the Wu Dynasty, and he has long become a household name in the Wu Dynasty.
Such a reputation was a huge pressure for the young men of the Wu Dynasty, who were not very good at literary affairs. Even the other six of the Seven Sons of Lanxi, although they said they were not afraid, had no confidence at all in their hearts.
But your majesty's decree has spread throughout the world, what can they do?
They felt very aggrieved and thought that His Majesty was...too partial!
At this moment, Fu Xiaoguan also felt that Emperor Wen was unreliable. Isn't this just nonsense?
What should I do now?
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