Chapter 319 Taking Action (Second Update)
Marquis Xuanping suffered internal injuries again.
Are all kids these days so infuriating?
Marquis Xuanping clutched his chest.
He is the Marquis of Xuanping, who can choke people to death without consequence. He is unmatched in choking people throughout the capital. How come he is being choked one after another here?
Marquis Xuanping couldn't remember why he had come, so he asked Chang Jing to put the person down and left with a sorrowful expression.
It was time for the Hanlin Academy to end its shift.
Yang Shidu recently took leave. He had a lot of work to do, but not too little either. There weren't many people he could share the workload with, so the task of teaching the junior scholars was mainly assigned to Xiao Liulang and Prince An.
Originally, Yang Shidu was in charge of two subjects: mathematics and agriculture. Grand Scholar Han asked them to choose one subject each. Prince An chose mathematics because he was not a native of the countryside and did not have as much experience in farming as Xiao Liulang.
Xiao Liulang didn't say anything and gladly took over the agronomy class.
To be honest, he didn't have much experience in farming.
When they lived in the countryside, Gu Jiao had a few acres of land, but unfortunately neither he nor Gu Jiao knew how to farm it, so it was eventually abandoned.
His experience in farming was not as rich as Xiao Jingkong's. At least Xiao Jingkong would water the vegetable garden and catch insects every day, and occasionally he would help Gu Jiao weed.
In order to teach this course well, Xiao Liulang has recently been learning how to farm.
After finishing his shift, he planned to go home and farm. Ning Zhiyuan quietly came over and winked, saying, "Want to go for a drink?"
"No." Xiao Liulang refused without hesitation, then realized something was amiss and looked at him strangely, "Why are you going drinking too?"
In my memory, Ning Zhiyuan was not the kind of person who indulged in debauchery.
Ning Zhiyuan sighed, "Isn't this all to infiltrate their ranks? Do you think I want to go? You've been lecturing the Crown Prince lately, and Yang Shidu is on leave at home. It seems like people aren't so openly targeting you anymore. Why don't you take this opportunity to win over a few people?"
Xiao Liulang paused for a moment: "No, I'm going back to farming."
Ning Zhiyuan: "..."
Xiao Liulang left the Hanlin Academy.
It's not too far from Hanlin Academy to Xuanwu Street; it only takes about 15 minutes by taking a shortcut. Passing through the Imperial College, you'll arrive directly near Bishui Hutong.
When he arrived at the Imperial College, he remembered something and hesitated for a moment before going to Minghui Hall.
Outside Minghui Hall, he unexpectedly ran into an acquaintance—Zheng Siye.
Zheng Siye once served as acting Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, and Xiao Liulang was often given a hard time by Zheng Siye while studying at the Imperial Academy.
Now, the old chief priest has put them all back on him.
Zheng Siye was made to stand at the door as punishment, which was extremely embarrassing.
The Director of Studies was a fourth-rank official, above Xiao Liulang. Xiao Liulang cupped his hands in greeting before going inside.
Seeing that Xiao Liulang could enter Minghui Hall so easily, even though he himself couldn't, Zheng Siye felt so wronged that tears were about to come out.
"What brings you here today?" The old chief priest was reviewing papers when he saw him come over. He put down his pen and said, "Sit down."
Xiao Liulang knelt down on the cushion opposite the old chief priest: "I came today to ask you about someone."
"Oh? Whom do you want to inquire about?" the old chief priest asked.
“People from the palace,” Xiao Liulang said.
The old chief priest's expression turned serious: "Why...why are you suddenly asking about people in the palace?"
After hesitating for a moment, Xiao Liulang finally said, "The person who poisoned me back then might not have been Empress Dowager Zhuang."
The old chief priest's eyes lit up, and he was so excited he almost stood up, pressing down on the table: "I knew it wasn't her!"
Xiao Liulang gave him an extremely strange look.
The old chief priest coughed lightly, sat down, picked up his tea and took a sip: "What I mean is, if she really wanted to kill you, she would have had countless opportunities to do so this year."
Xiao Liulang said, "She doesn't remember me."
Old Master: ...Is this so speechless?
"Ahem, anyway, it doesn't seem like her. If she wanted to kill someone, why would she leave any trace?"
He absolutely denied having any selfish motives, claiming that his relationship with Zhuang Jinse was purely that of ruler and subject!
"Did you remember something?" the old priest asked, getting back to the main point.
"Hmm." Xiao Liulang nodded, not mentioning that he had been triggered by an unspeakable dream that brought back his hidden memories. "I suddenly remembered that person had a mole on their left wrist."
"There's a mole on your left wrist..." The old chief priest stroked his beard thoughtfully. "I can vaguely recall a mole on your face, but a mole on your wrist..."
He was highly regarded by the late emperor and frequently visited Huaqing Palace. Occasionally, he would bump into the concubines and palace maids, but since he was not the emperor, he could not lift up the sleeves of the concubines or palace maids to look at their wrists.
He wanted to suggest asking his great-aunt, but then he remembered that Zhuang Jinse had lost a lot of her memories. Besides, even if she hadn't lost her memories, she, as the Empress Dowager of a country, wouldn't care whether someone had a mole on their wrist.
"Is he a eunuch or a woman?" the old chief priest asked.
“Woman,” Xiao Liulang said.
It was a woman's voice, but I couldn't recall exactly whose voice it was, or even whether it was old or young, clear or soft... I had no recollection of it.
The only thing deeply etched in my mind is the mole on my left wrist.
“A palace servant from over ten years ago…” The old chief priest fell into deep thought, and after a long while, he scratched his collar with a headache. “Well, I do know someone who knows a lot about the people in the palace. She works in the Shanggong Bureau and often takes measurements for people. You might want to go find her.”
Xiao Liulang looked at him with a puzzled expression: "Then what's with that expression of yours...?"
“Well, this…” The old priest hesitated, “Never mind, I’ll go home with you. You can take the token and go find her. I don’t know if she will still recognize me after all these years.”
The old chief priest and Xiao Liulang left Minghui Hall. Coincidentally, the Imperial Academy's elementary school was also about to let out for the day. The two waited for Xiao Jingkong and went home together.
Xiao Jingkong pouted: "Why is my brother-in-law here today? Why wasn't it Jiaojiao?"
Xiao Liulang was both amused and annoyed: "Someone came to pick you up, and you're complaining?"
Xiao Jingkong thought for a moment and said, "If you buy me candied hawthorns, I won't mind."
Xiao Liulang: "...You can keep complaining."
Xiao Jingkong: "..."
The two, one big and one small, bickered all the way home.
Gu Jiao hasn't returned yet.
Xiao Liulang narrowed his eyes and looked at Xiao Jingkong, who was sitting on the threshold eating peach cakes: "Do you want to go to the palace to see your great-aunt?"
As an official from outside the capital, it would be easy for him to arouse suspicion if he directly entered the palace to pay his respects to Empress Dowager Zhuang. However, it would be much easier if he used Xiao Jingkong's identity as a front.
Xiao Jingkong never expected that he would one day be used as a tool.
He raised his little face, which was covered in crumbs from the pastries, and nodded with the same earnest look in his eyes as Gu Jiao: "Yes!"
Xiao Liulang smiled: "So good."
The lady from the Shanggong Bureau whom Xiao Liulang wanted to meet was surnamed Zhang. She was now of working age as a nanny and was in charge of the Sizhi Office of the Shanggong Bureau.
Before leaving, the old chief priest repeatedly instructed: "You... ask the Empress Dowager first. If she doesn't remember you, then go to her."
The implication is that you should not disturb this old friend unless absolutely necessary.
Xiao Liulang gave him a strange look: "Could it be... your master's wife?"
"What master's wife?! How could that be?!" The old chief priest almost jumped up from the question. "Don't talk nonsense!"
But he and Manager Zhang do have a little secret that they can't tell anyone. Sigh, I hope she's forgotten about it by now!
Xiao Liulang took Xiao Jingkong and boarded the carriage to the palace.
Little Jingkong was extremely excited, bobbing his little head back and forth, just like Gu Jiao's happy expression.
People who live together for a long time gradually develop each other's imprints in their expressions and habits, as if... they were originally a family.
The carriage continued on its way, and the streets suddenly became congested when it passed the Jingzhao Prefecture government office.
"What happened?" Liu Quan asked, craning his neck.
A student from the Imperial Academy who was passing by said, "You don't know yet, do you? Someone has solved Master Meng's chess game."
Ordinary people may not understand this, but scholars have almost all heard of Master Meng's chess games, of which there are eight games that were famous throughout the six states and resounded throughout the world.
Of the eight formations, the Qian and Kun formations are the most difficult to break.
The "Dry" formation is likened to a celestial formation, and it is unsolvable.
Prior to today, the Kun divination had remained unsolved.
However, the Crown Princess did it.
She was the first person in the six kingdoms to solve the Kun puzzle, causing a great sensation in academic and chess circles. Everyone gathered here because the imperial edict praising the Crown Princess had been issued.
Despite being a lower-ranking state, Zhao Kingdom managed to solve a chess puzzle that even the three upper-ranking states couldn't. The Crown Princess has truly brought honor to Zhao Kingdom!
"His Majesty has already written a letter to the Yan Kingdom, hasn't he? I wonder if Elder Meng will be shocked to receive this news? Perhaps he will personally instruct our Crown Princess in chess..."
The scholar was talking animatedly, completely unaware that Xiao Liulang had already lowered the curtain.
Among the crowd watching, an old beggar shook his head after seeing the contents of the imperial edict: "No, no."
"Old man, what's wrong?" someone asked.
The old beggar said, "It says on this that it was deciphered at midnight."
The scholar said, "Yes, what's wrong?"
The old beggar waved his hand: "Then she wasn't the first person to break the Kun formation."
The scholar frowned: "Hey, you old man! You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want! Why isn't the Crown Princess the first person to break the Kun Formation? If not the Crown Princess, then who is?"
The old beggar said earnestly, "The one in the evening is the one."
(End of this chapter)
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