Chapter 82 Bad News
Yu Zaiting bowed his head in resignation.
He sent visiting cards to the Wang family for two consecutive days, but the cards disappeared without a trace.
Yu Zaiting knew that the teacher was really angry this time.
Unfortunately, with the palace banquet approaching, he had originally intended to persuade his teacher first, hoping that they could find more supporters at the banquet.
This kind of ideological work is naturally not easy, but Yu Zaiting thought that he should give it a try.
But to his surprise, Wang Xiang didn't give him that chance at all.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Wang Xiang had made arrangements for the palace banquet and invited the young emperor to attend.
Xiao Qing had been busy with Mingxiu and Danying all morning, and finally got everything ready according to the rules. Then she was about to take Ma Hong and Liu Yi to the palace banquet.
After Mei Shu's accident, Ming Xiu and Dan Ying handled almost all of Mei Shu's affairs, and some of them were also given to Ying Ying.
Yingying can no longer leisurely raise cats; her time has suddenly become very tight.
Xiao Qing felt sorry for the kittens, especially Xiao Xiao who had accidentally ingested poison, so she moved their nests to her own bedroom and would spend some time with them before going to sleep each night.
As she was about to leave, she habitually reached out and patted the heads of her three kittens, who had grown considerably, and comforted them, saying, "I have some things to do today and can't stay with you. Be good, your owner will be here soon."
Xiao Xiao gently scratched Xiao Qing's palm with its front paws and meowed softly a few times, seemingly very dissatisfied with being alone and not allowed to go out to play.
Xiao Qing shrugged, "There's nothing I can do, just bear with it. When the Grand Tutor returns, I'll definitely spend some quality time with you."
At that time, the Grand Tutor would be overwhelmed by endless official documents, while she could finally relax and let go of all the tension she had been feeling for so long.
There's nothing better than this.
Thinking about it this way, Xiao Qing's lips unconsciously curled up.
It felt like we were about to see the dawn.
However, she soon realized that while the dawn could be expected, the preceding darkness was also inevitable.
When Xiao Qing arrived at the palace banquet with Wang Xiang and the others, she felt that something was off about the atmosphere, whether it was her imagination or not.
Her eyes looked from left to right, from front to back, and after going around in circles, she discovered the problem.
It's not that the atmosphere is wrong, it's that the people are just not right.
There wasn't a single military officer among those present!
Where have the military generals gone?
Xiao Qing turned to Wang Xiang and asked, "Is it that not everyone has arrived?" But after looking around, Wang Xiang replied, "Your Majesty, almost everyone has arrived."
Xiao Qing frowned, but couldn't help asking, "Prime Minister, why haven't we seen General Li and the others?"
Wang Xiang smiled and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, they were not among those invited."
Xiao Qing was quite surprised.
Just as she was about to ask more questions, the leading figure among the imperial relatives, the one who had been granted the title of Duke of Anguo by the late emperor, came forward with two other people to kowtow and express his gratitude for the emperor's favor.
Xiao Qing had no choice but to put aside his many questions and deal with his relatives for the time being.
After talking for a while, Wang Xiang reminded everyone that the palace banquet could begin.
As a result, singing and dancing filled the air, and the music never ceased.
Xiao Qing couldn't understand what was going on, nor could she make heads or tails of it. She wasn't interested in these things to begin with, and now she was preoccupied with figuring out how to get these old fogies to agree to the ritual of offering sacrifices to their martial spirits, so her mind wasn't on the singing and dancing since the banquet started.
However, the situation at the scene was somewhat unpleasant, as those present were mostly civil officials, with no military officers present.
She searched and searched but only found Yu Zaiting, but Yu Zaiting seemed to be in a bad mood today and was drinking in silence.
Wang Xiang chatted with his relatives and ministers, appearing relaxed and seemingly not planning to discuss matters concerning military generals.
However, Xiao Qing has no intention of giving up.
The emperor was young, so the ministers didn't dare to urge him to drink too much, especially since the prime minister was watching. So they just went along with the occasion, saying auspicious words. When Xiao Qing took a small sip, they were all grateful and said a lot of praise before continuing to watch the song and dance and chat with each other.
After drinking a few times, Xiao Qing gave Wang Xiang a look.
Wang Xiang could easily understand, but as he leaned closer, he whispered first, "Is Your Majesty thinking about the matter of pacifying the Martial Soul?"
Isn't that obvious?
Xiao Qing asked sincerely, "I am truly worried. Is there anything the Prime Minister can do to share my burdens?"
Wang Xiang said, "If we don't use the national treasury's money, I can barely give it a try. However, everyone here relies on the national treasury's money to support their families. Even if Your Majesty brings this up now, there probably won't be any good solutions."
Xiao Qing knew that this matter would be difficult to resolve once he saw that the military officer was not present.
"Prime Minister, you have long resided in Dingzhou, overseeing the affairs of the three southern prefectures, and have always enjoyed an excellent reputation. Although we may not be able to find a solution here, are there any solutions elsewhere? If the Prime Minister were willing..."
Before he could finish speaking, a palace servant strode in, his face hesitant, his hands twisting together as if he were very nervous.
Wang Xiang asked, "What is it?"
The palace attendant looked at Xiao Qing and knelt down with a thud. "Your Majesty, Prime Minister, someone has sent a message to the palace, saying... saying..."
Xiao Qing sensed something was wrong.
"Speak quickly," Wang Xiang said coldly.
"They say the Grand Tutor has met with misfortune in Yingzhou!"
"What!" Xiao Qing was startled and stood up abruptly. "What did you say?"
"The Grand Tutor has met with misfortune in Yingzhou."
"What happened? Who brought the news? Where are they?"
"He is an advance officer accompanying the Grand Tutor. He just arrived in Dingzhou and is currently outside the palace gates."
Xiao Qing felt as if her body was floating, and the sounds she heard didn't seem real.
impossible.
How could the Grand Tutor have perished?
She didn't notice the complete silence below; everyone was staring at her, and no one made a move.
Wang Xiang said, "Your Majesty, why not let the advance officer in and ask him carefully?"
"Should be announced." Xiao Qing felt flustered.
This can't be real, right?
The advance officer entered quickly. He walked in crying, looking utterly disheveled.
Xiao Qing was annoyed by his crying. How could a grown man cry like this in front of others?
"Tell me what happened."
When the advance officer saw the people in the hall, including several envoys who had gone to the north with him, he cried out even more uncontrollably.
Wang Xiang scolded him, and only then did the man come to his senses and recount the events in fits and starts.
The Grand Tutor was going to take a detour back to Dingzhou alone, and was currently within the territory of Yingzhou.
The advance officer did not travel with the Grand Tutor, but waited at the border between Yingzhou and Dingzhou to meet him.
But to his surprise, instead of receiving news of the Grand Tutor's death, he received news of his own demise.
The prefect of Yingzhou reported that the Grand Tutor encountered a pack of wolves in a mountain in Yingzhou. Fragments of the Grand Tutor's clothes, fragments of his jade pendant, and human bones that the wolves had not yet gnawed on were found at the scene, but no human was seen.
The prefect of Yingzhou searched the mountains for a whole day, but didn't even see a trace of the Grand Tutor.
The bad news reached the border, where the advance officers were anxiously waiting.
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