The Imperial Study.
Li Qiji was at his desk, furiously revising memorials, his brow furrowing one moment and relaxing the next, almost like a theatrical performance.
Hua Quan and Ji Wu, watching from the sidelines, were both getting anxious! What was the Emperor up to this time? Why was his expression so unpredictable?
After reading the memorials for a while, Li Qiji raised his hand to pinch his brow and placed the red writing brush in his hand on the brush holder.
"Hua Quan, what should we do?"
"Is Your Majesty worried about the Empress?" Hua Quan replied.
Li Qiji turned his head to look at Hua Quan, giving him a look that said, "Are you crazy?" Hua Quan thought to himself, "Damn it, I didn't guess right!"
He knelt down with a thud and cried out loudly, "Your Majesty, please forgive me! This servant was just making a bold guess!"
"Oh? You actually dare to pry into the emperor's mind?"
"Oh dear, Your Majesty, this servant wouldn't dare! This servant just spoke out of turn, this servant deserves to be punished!" Hua Quan said, slapping himself several times, the force of which was not to be underestimated.
The sound of those blows was so loud that even Guan Zhiyue would feel the pain if she were here watching!
"Alright, get up! If you dare to talk nonsense again, see how I punish you."
"Yes, this servant knows his mistake, this servant knows his mistake."
Just as Hua Quan got up from the ground, a eunuch at the door came to report that a eunuch from the Empress's side had something to ask His Majesty.
"Alright, let him in! I guess the Empress sent him." Li Qiji twisted his shoulders, and Hua Quan quickly stepped forward to massage them.
Xiao Dezi bowed deeply as he entered, loudly proclaiming, "Your humble servant Xiao Dezi greets Your Majesty."
"What business does the Empress have with me?"
"Your Majesty, you are truly a prophet! This servant is here on orders to seek your help."
Upon hearing this, Li Qiji became interested. He immediately stopped reviewing the memorials, stood up from his dragon throne, walked to Xiao Dezi kneeling in the middle of the hall, and said condescendingly, "Speak! What does the Empress want from me again?"
Xiao Dezi respectfully reported, "Your Majesty, the Empress said that today is the first day that she has taken over the affairs of the six palaces. Consort Shen handed over to the Empress the accounts that have been piling up since the opening of the palace. The Empress cannot investigate them all by herself and now needs to borrow someone from Your Majesty."
Li Qiji smiled and said, "How can I be of any help with these accounts?"
"Oh, then I wonder who the Empress wishes to borrow from me?"
Xiao Dezi finally heard those words and said with a smile, "Xin, the assistant instructor of the Imperial Academy."
"Cousin Xin, why did you bring in the assistant instructor of the Imperial Academy to settle the accounts?" Li Qiji asked.
Xiao Dezi said, "This servant does not know the specifics. Her Majesty only instructed this servant to borrow Assistant Instructor Xin from the Imperial Academy from the Emperor."
“Since that’s the case, then it’s approved. I suppose the Empress is up to something again! Assistant Instructor Xin is just a professor at the Imperial Academy. What can he do for the Empress?” Li Qiji said.
Xiao Dezi respectfully kowtowed several times and then said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, thank you very much."
"Okay! Go down!"
Xiao Dezi hurriedly returned to the Cold Palace to report, while Li Qiji fell into deep thought.
"Hua Quan, send someone to the Imperial Academy to convey my imperial edict!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"I wonder what Her Majesty the Empress is up to this time? Can my cousin settle accounts with her?" Li Qiji muttered to himself.
——
Imperial College (Guozijian)
"By imperial decree! Is Assistant Instructor Xin at the academy?" asked one of the three eunuchs, who held an official position.
Upon hearing this, the Dean of the Imperial Academy respectfully came to greet the three eunuchs. Although the Imperial Academy was a public academy of the Southern Ding Kingdom, the Emperor rarely issued oral edicts or imperial decrees to the academy.
Although the professors, deans, and teaching assistants here all have royal jobs, they rarely get to enter the palace to meet the emperor. So when the emperor's edict suddenly arrived, even though it was only delivered to Teaching Assistant Xin, all the professors in the college took it very seriously.
"Here they come, Assistant Teacher Xin is here."
"By imperial decree, Assistant Instructor Xin is my cousin. I have missed him dearly since we last met. I request that he come to the palace today to see me!" After delivering the decree, the eunuch left with two junior eunuchs.
Xin Chenchen was completely bewildered. What was going on? Was the Emperor not sick?
"The Emperor misses me and wants to see me?" This was the first thought that popped into Xin Chenchen's mind, followed by an expression of disbelief.
The other professors were also completely bewildered. This Assistant Professor Xin had willingly come to the Imperial Academy as an assistant professor to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Could it be that Assistant Professor Xin is getting a promotion? I haven't heard anything about it. Isn't this all too sudden?
This feels so strange!!
The other professors were all wondering what had happened.
"Dean, what do you think? Isn't it a little hard to explain?" Xin Chenchen looked at the dean who had treated him well.
The dean gently stroked his beard and said, "Assistant Professor Xin, it's been a long time since you've been to the palace. I imagine the Emperor must miss you. Why don't you go into the palace first and see what's going on?"
Xin Chenchen clasped his hands and bowed, saying, "Yes, student understands, thank you, Dean."
——
Guan Zhiyue was already staggering, it was practically killing her, her eyes were almost bloodshot, this was just too inhuman.
That's absolute torture! It's even more terrifying than the Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty!
"Your Majesty, this is absolutely killing me! This thing is so exhausting! Everyone says that studying isn't hard, but to me, it's torture!"
Guan Zhiyue nodded and said, "I agree, this is simply unbearable, the whole yard is full of account books!"
For Guan Zhiyue, the biggest drawback was that everything was in traditional Chinese characters, and there were also many corrections and erasures. To be honest, it was very difficult for her to read! If she hadn't seen some things on set before, she would have been really scared of this era.
While Guan Zhiyue was still sighing, Xin Chenchen had already relaxed. It turned out that the Empress had summoned him. Although he didn't know exactly what she wanted to do, he was also completely clueless about checking the accounts!
You said it's fine to let him teach, but why are you bringing up auditing the accounts? Isn't this a case of misattributing the responsibility?
"Your Majesty, are you sure the Empress sent me to audit the accounts?"
"Yes, that's absolutely true. The message I received today was also to have my cousin come and check the accounts."
Xin Chenchen heard a sentence, "The message received?" What's going on now?
"Your Majesty, I must confess that I do not know what you mean by 'the message you received'. I have been completely confused from beginning to end."
Li Qiji had no choice but to explain, "The Empress sent her eunuch to ask for your help, cousin, to check the accounts."
Xin Chenchen: "......" Me, a schoolteacher, now I'm the accountant?
However, Guan Zhiyue is currently writing down the multiplication tables from her previous life. This is what she will give to Xin Chenchen tomorrow. Of course, the subsequent accounting and other tasks will be done after they have learned these things.
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