Chapter 17
The emperor had already received news from Chu Huan in advance that the queen might go to Chunfeng Tower, so how could he be unprepared?
The queen had never been to such a place. He wanted to stop her, but was afraid that the two would quarrel and part ways on bad terms, so he could only let the queen go once.
Of course, in a place as chaotic as Chunfeng Tower, who knows if there will be a young man who will pounce on a beautiful and wealthy woman? He also sent Chen Jiu and the Jinyiwei to follow closely.
Once something is about to happen or actually happens, Chen Jiu and the Jinyiwei will step in to stop it.
"Yes...right?" The emperor's hand trembled slightly as he held the report.
After all, she is the queen. If the queen takes a tougher attitude and tells them to get out, can Chen Jiu and the Jinyiwei withstand it?
Otherwise, should he go over and take a look?
By the way, let's also take a look at the man who is about to become his substitute concubine, and see how much he looks like his younger self that would make the queen interested in him.
Just as the idea came to mind, the eunuch reported: Jinyiwei commander Lin You wants to see you.
Lin You: "Your Majesty, Xiao Lou has confessed."
Xiao was the surname of the Great Sheng state, and Xiao Lou was the Third Prince, recently deposed for bribery and corruption. He had been imprisoned in the Zhenfu Division's cells since his dethronement. Without the privileges and status of a prince, and charged with colluding with the remnants of the previous dynasty, Xiao Lou could not withstand the torture of the Jinyiwei.
The emperor was quite surprised: "The bones are so hard?"
As for Xiao Lou, that useless guy, he managed to hold out for two days. He really had to look at him with new eyes.
I thought I could recruit yesterday.
Lin You: "It took some time to interrogate Yang Huai and verify the confessions of both parties."
Yang Huai is the descendant of a great general of the previous dynasty. In order to restore the previous dynasty, he endured hardships and endured hardships. He is both civil and military, with both the strong physique of a military general and the unyielding integrity of a civil official. He is a tough guy.
It took the Embroidered Uniform Guards a lot of effort to capture him, and it was normal for it to take a whole day to interrogate and verify his confession.
The emperor nodded: "What was the result?"
Lin You presented a detailed report: "Yang Huai knows the hiding place of the previous dynasty's treasure, and he also knows that if he tells it, he will die, so he has been holding on to it and refuses to give it up."
"In order to gain Xiao Lou's trust, Yang Huai revealed a little about the treasure of the previous dynasty, but he kept it a secret and never revealed the location."
In this case, if they want to know the exact location, they can either negotiate terms with Yang Huai and let Yang Huai take them to dig, or indirectly arouse Chu Huan's interest in the treasures of the previous dynasty and let the system take them to dig.
Lin You preferred the latter, and so did the emperor.
The emperor read the report at a glance. It recorded in detail how Yang Huai had approached Xiao Lou, how he had subsequently offered advice to Xiao Lou, and how the two had colluded with each other.
He got a headache after looking at it for a few times, and was even more grateful that the system had revealed on the first day that Xiao Lou was not his biological son.
Otherwise, this brainless but ambitious guy would cause so much trouble, and because he is his son, he would have to clean up the mess for him, and then the censor would spit in his face.
From this perspective, the emperor has to thank Chu Huan and the system.
With state affairs at hand, he had to suppress his concerns about the empress keeping a concubine and ordered: "Summon all officials of the third rank and above to the imperial study to discuss matters."
Before long, the king and his ministers began to debate on "how to make Chu Huan willingly lead them to dig for treasure."
The biggest difficulty in this matter is: if Chu Huan is allowed to lead, it will reveal that they know the truth about her conversation with the system.
"That won't do!" The old tutor objected first. "That girl can eat melons without any scruples because she relies on others not knowing."
Once this prerequisite is lost, there will be two possibilities:
1. The system retracts its power and only allows Chu Huan to hear it, or simply unbinds them from Chu Huan so that they are no longer aware of it.
2. They could still hear, but Chu Huan was worried about offending others, so she restricted her conversations and limited their attention, so they only knew part of the story.
As for whether Chu Hua would still be as enthusiastic about eating melons as she is now after knowing the truth...
They didn't dare to be sure, let alone take the risk of betting on that one in ten thousand possibility - who could be so fearless of power and life and death?
The old Grand Tutor looked around at everyone present and said, "Currently, her target of gossip includes the Emperor, the Second Prince, the Second Prince's Consort, the Minister of Revenue, the Vice Minister of Revenue, the former Junior Secretary of the Honglu Temple, the daughter of the Minister of Justice, and the daughter of the Grand Tutor. Each of them is someone her father can't afford to offend."
Officials: "..." Why does this girl only offend high-ranking officials?
The old master continued, "At seven, she used her private savings to test others' sincerity, returning it several times over. She wasn't obsessed with money. At nine, she predicted the future through natural disasters and quietly guided her brother in martial arts. At thirteen, seeing her brother's rapid promotion, she tried to manipulate him into being demoted. She was cautious and careful, not tempted by power."
"If she were a boy, I would definitely take her in as my student." At this point, the old master sighed deeply, "Why is she a girl?"
Officials: "..." You have to ask Chu Ping and his wife.
The old Grand Tutor was the emperor's teacher and had also taught the eldest and second princes. It was not an exaggeration to call him the Emperor's Tutor.
Everyone present was surprised by the old Grand Tutor's high evaluation of Chu Huan, but after thinking about it, they realized that it was indeed true!
A thirteen-year-old girl who doesn't love money or power, protects her family, knows how to advance and retreat, and can weigh the pros and cons. What's more rare is that she has a natural keen eye for politics and can use the situation to benefit herself.
Without the guidance of a famous teacher, he could have grown up so wildly. If he had a teacher to teach and guide him, he would definitely be a pillar of the court in the future!
What a pity, it’s a girl.
Including the emperor, all officials above the third rank felt regretful.
"Hmm?" the outspoken Minister of Revenue asked doubtfully, "But now she's dressed as a man to attend court, so it's a boy."
Officials: Huh???
Officials: Eh!!!
For the first time, the old master was pleased with the straightforwardness of the Minister of Revenue. "You are right."
He stroked his beard proudly, feeling very happy. "If I can't accept Chu Huan, then I will accept Chu Qin."
It's the same person anyway.
The emperor held his forehead with his hand, a headache aching. "A First-rank Grand Tutor suddenly accepts a Sixth-rank Imperial Academy student. Doesn't that clearly tell everyone there's something fishy going on?"
He asked Chu Qin to quietly leave the capital to do business. Chu Huan, who replaced Chu Qin, was so high-profile in the capital that it would be easy for her to be exposed.
However, now that we have the melon-eating system, perhaps it has been exposed almost completely.
The old Grand Tutor said seriously, "Only if I accept her as my student can I tell her how empty the national treasury is and how important the treasures of the previous dynasty are to Dasheng. I can guide her to dig for treasure without exposing it."
Just in case, use "it" to refer to the system when you can't avoid it.
The officials nodded and said, "You are the Grand Tutor, you are right!"
The Minister of Revenue was absent, so the Vice Minister could only speak on behalf of the Ministry of Revenue: "If that's the case, wouldn't it be better to transfer Chu Qin to the Ministry of Revenue?"
"Hmm?" The emperor and all the officials turned to look at him.
The Minister of Revenue was so disheartened by this that he said, "...Is it not possible to transfer horizontally?"
The old Grand Tutor immediately took a scornful look at the straightforward Minister of Revenue and said pointedly, "You want it to see if there's anything wrong with those complicated accounts of the Ministry of Revenue, and if you can copy a few to fill the treasury!"
His true purpose was revealed, so the Minister of Revenue gave up and stopped pretending.
"Just me? Don't you guys want to?"
He is just outspoken and likes to criticize others. It's not that his brain and eyes are useless and he can't see the value of the system.
How could the Dali Temple Minister dare to answer? If he really said no, it would be difficult to say it later.
"There are many difficult unsolved cases in the Dali Temple." The watermelon-eating system is urgently needed to help solve the case.
The Minister of Justice coughed and said: "The number of cases piled up in the Ministry of Justice is no less than that in the Dali Temple." It is hard to say who needs the melon-eating system more.
The Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of War did not need any help from the system for the time being, so the four ministers simply stood by and watched them fight over it.
The old master’s mind buzzed. Why did everyone want to snatch his students from him?
Could the weight of his students still compare to the weight of the Ministry of Revenue, the Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Justice? It seemed that the emperor was not willing to let his "imperial tutor" take on another student, even if it was a girl.
In desperation, the old master could only come up with this last resort: "Your Majesty, I am sixty-nine years old this year, and I don't know how many years I have left to live. This is just a small wish, I hope Your Majesty will fulfill it!"
Officials: "..." Old Master, you have no moral principles!
The Minister of Revenue was anxious: "Your Majesty, the old Grand Tutor is in good health and can live another twenty years without any problem! The national treasury is at stake!"
The Dali Temple Minister said: "Your Majesty, Chu Ping is in the Ministry of Justice. Father and son cannot be in the same department. The Dali Temple has more important cases!"
The Minister of Justice said: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Justice has been left with a large number of unsolved cases over the years. If this continues, it will be detrimental to the stability of the people and the country!"
The four of them started arguing about this matter. The more they argued, the more excited they became, and the louder they became, their saliva even sprayed into the emperor's teacup.
The emperor put the teacup down again, looking a little dazed.
So, why did he call the ministers to discuss the matter today?
Chu family, Qianhuaju.
Chu Huan never stopped enjoying the show. Relying on the system's live broadcast, she had already heard the whole process of the Queen and the young man getting to know each other and getting along.
In short: The queen kindly provided money and people to help bury his father, and rented a quiet courtyard for the young man so that he could prepare for the imperial examination. The young man was deeply moved, and seeing how beautiful the rich woman was, he decided to live with her.
The young man has studied for many years and knows what kind of language to use to package himself. At least he cannot openly express his intention of being a gigolo, as this will only make people look down on him.
He also knew how to make rich women unable to stop wanting him - seducing them in a subtle way, but not letting her get what she wants too easily.
Chu Huan listened to the two people's extreme tug-of-war, her heart fluttering, and she sighed: "How wonderful it would be if I could watch this live."
The system was confused: [Isn’t it okay for me to broadcast it to you like this? ]
Chu Hua: [How can a text broadcast compare to a live audio and video broadcast? I can only try my best to imagine it through your words, it's not intuitive at all.]
I didn't realize how graceful and elegant the queen was, or how young and powerful the young man was. I couldn't see the allure of their eyes, let alone the subtle allure revealed between their eyes and body language. What a loss!
The Chu family: "..."
Jinyiwei: “…”
You know what, it’s really true.
After all, the system's books are not read much, and its text transmission is like this:
The young man said to the queen: I have accepted your money and I am yours now. I cannot go back on my word.
The Queen advised him: "You have studied hard for ten years, how can you sell yourself for a few taels of silver?"
[The young man insisted: A gentleman values his word, and a promise is worth a thousand gold.]
[The Queen sighed: "A gentleman should also learn to adapt."]
There is no background rendering, no description of facial features, no eye temptation, nothing at all, only relying on one's own imagination.
Is this reasonable?!
Chu Huan sighed: [System, you should read more books.]
The system doesn't quite understand: [I've already read "History of the Land" and "The Romantic Widow and the Pretty Scholar" with you. I've also finished reading the dozens of storybooks in your bookcase, including "Uncle and Sister-in-law Taboo," "Two or Three Affair between the General and the Deputy General," "The Regent's Forced Love," and "The Young Emperor and the Empress Dowager." What else do you want to read?]
The Chu family: "..."
Jinyiwei: “…”
Ah this, ah this this——
Chu Huan coughed lightly twice. "Have you heard of 'Three Years of Imperial Examinations, Five Years of Simulations', 'Must-Practice Questions for the Imperial Examinations', 'Thirty-Eight Sets of Imperial Examination Questions', and 'Have You Truly Mastered the Policy Essays'?"
The system exclaimed in surprise, as if it had never seen anything like it before: [There's actually a book I've never heard of!]
Chu Huan smiled and said, "In my brother's study, on the south bookshelf, on the third row, second shelf from the left. Go and make a few books. They'll help you replenish your energy. Be serious about it."
Upon hearing that it could replenish melon energy, the system was overjoyed: [This is such a good thing? Okay, I'll go!]
The Chu family: "..."
Jinyiwei: “…”
It was clearly a collection of imperial examination manuals that Chu Huan had spent a huge amount of money to search for and tailored for Chu Qin.
Don’t you feel guilty about tricking the system into letting a child do this?
Chu Huan didn't feel any pangs of conscience at all, and drank a bowl of bird's nest slowly and leisurely.
After a cup of tea, the system came back crying: [Sister Huan, this melon is too difficult to replenish! ]
But the system refused to give up the rich energy within it, and did the questions while crying. The entire Chu family was surrounded by its crying from 360 degrees.
Please comment on the similarities and differences between Buddhism and Confucianism and their impact on society. Wow, how can I know so much? I'll go see which host has said this.
[The way to secure the nation and the entire army, what does this have to do with me, a melon-eating system? Woohoo… I'm going to see how the top scholars of all time answered. Hey, someone with such ugly handwriting can still be the top scholar? Shady dealings! There's a butthole deal going on!]
[Asking about the emperor's politics and the emperor's heart, why does a melon-eating system like me have to worry about the emperor's affairs? I'm good at seeing how many women the emperor has and how many green hats he has. This melon is so hard to mend... Hey, this person is really good at flattering the emperor!]
That night, more than twenty Jinyiwei who were responsible for taking notes were replaced. The emperor and officials who received the report fought again until dawn, their eyes red and their expressions dazed.
Do they have to eat this melon about the imperial examination?
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