Chapter 25
"you"
The faint scent of magnolia brushed past his lips, even overwhelming the cherry flavor of the candied fruit. Xiao Huan strangely found that he didn't reject it.
Clearly, when he got off the carriage, he still felt that the scent of magnolia was too sweet, but now, this faint fragrance soothed the churning in his stomach.
Seeing that he didn't open his mouth, Xie Ling raised his hands and they became sore.
Ah, should I eat it or not?
With a lot of questions in his mind, he couldn't pull his hand back at this time, so he could only use his eyes to desperately hint to His Majesty.
Xiao Huan didn't get his hint and was distracted for a moment. When he came to his senses, he found that Xie Ling was staring at him intently.
Does he care about me so much?
Are you worried that I will feel nauseous if I don’t eat candied fruit?
He was slightly moved in his heart, and after his anger subsided a little, Xiao Huan frowned and thought: Forget it, that nursing soup was not intentional this time. I was just trying to find a health-preserving prescription for me and made a mistake.
This ability problem cannot be blamed entirely on him, after all, the young medical officer has been unreliable for a long time.
And in reality, he didn't really drink that stuff.
Xiao Huan's anger subsided, but he didn't show it on the surface. After Xie Ling twitched at him several times, he frowned and prepared to eat the candied fruit so that he could go wash up.
I don't know if it was because he held it up for too long and his hand got tired, but when Xiao Huan lowered his head, Xie Ling had another problem. His hand shook and the candied fruit got on his upper lip.
Originally, his fingers were just loosely holding the candied fruit, but now his fingers were not held properly and they actually brushed against His Majesty's lips.
The slightly soft coolness collided with each other, the sweet and sour taste of cherries mixed with the fragrance of magnolia. Xiao Huan's body tensed up for a moment, and after Xie Ling was startled, he stood up and took the candied fruit as if nothing had happened.
The fleeting touch just now seemed to be non-existent. Xie Ling breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that His Majesty did not notice anything wrong.
It was so scary. Emperor Wu was a mysophobe and he almost put his finger into someone's mouth.
It is no exaggeration to say that Xie Ling could imagine his fingers being chopped off just now. Fortunately, he was not feeling well today, and Emperor Wu did not seem to notice anything wrong. He just lowered his head, bit off the candied fruit, and then looked away. He did not notice his hand, so Xie Ling immediately withdrew his hand to hide the evidence.
It was hard for Xiao Huan not to notice his series of actions. He just felt uncomfortable in his stomach, not blind, and...his stomach had calmed down a lot by now.
Seeing Xie Ling's attempt to cover up his mistake, he did not expose her, but said nonchalantly, "Put down the candied fruit and get out."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Xie Ling came back to his senses and immediately responded loudly.
Xiao Huan noticed that the more guilty Xie Ling felt, the louder his voice became. He calmly watched him put down the candied fruit, then turned around and walked away obediently.
Xie Ling muttered as he walked: "The Emperor is so strange today."
His heart really stopped beating just now. Fortunately, Emperor Wu did not make things difficult for him.
The system, who felt that what he wrote in his novel was even bolder than what he had just done, twitched its lips.
Is this okay?
He was about to lose his temper, but Xie Ling actually calmed him down. How could a bag of candied fruit have such a great effect? Did they add some kind of anti-inflammatory medicine?
The system looked at Xie Ling with increasingly strange eyes.
At this moment, he actually had some doubts. Could it be that he was blind and didn't recognize the real talent? When he bound Xie Ling, he checked his background incorrectly. Was he actually a peerless succubus?
Just as Xie Ling walked out of the main hall, before he returned, he heard the system, which had been silent all this time, suddenly become suspicious and asked solemnly:
"Host, tell me the truth. Did your ancestors have any strange bloodline that has been passed down to you now?"
Xie Ling: ???
"System, do you want to see what the hell you are talking about?"
The system was complicated and he closed his eyes. Okay, he understood. Thanks to the host's "personal charm", the world had finally become something that could not be understood by scientific and technological detection.
Xie Ling was completely bewildered. He never expected that after traveling back to ancient times with him, the system that worked properly would actually start dreaming.
Isn't this guy a creation of technology? Why is he so whimsical?
If he had strange bloodline, he would have reached the peak of his life long ago. How could he be walking on thin ice here?
The system that saw him piss off Emperor Wu to death one second and appease Emperor Wu the next fell silent, and there was no sign that he was treading on thin ice.
In the other hall, Xiao Huan heard the footsteps disappear. He stood there, looking at the candied fruit on the table for a long time. After he came to his senses, he touched the corner of his lips unconsciously.
When he realized what he was doing, his body froze and he quickly withdrew his hand, and asked someone to come in and collect the candied fruit.
What happened just now... is ridiculous! Why should I think so much?
Xiao Huan looked away, and when the eunuch who had come to Jinsen to pack up his things was about to leave, he suddenly said, "Tell Xie Ling to finish writing the thoughts on tomorrow's poetry gathering and bring them to me at Wannian Pavilion."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Wang Bao was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that His Majesty valued Master Xie so much and was still concerned about Master Xie's studies even when he was sick. He kept it in mind and asked someone to inform Master Xie.
…
Xie Ling was about to go to bed after taking a shower that night when he suddenly received the bad news.
What?
Do I need to write down my thoughts about the poetry session?
After writing it, do I have to present it to Emperor Wu?
Why didn't you kill him? Xie Ling was stunned. He lay on the couch with a distorted face and felt his eyes go dark.
"How come he still doesn't forget to torture people even when he's asleep?"
System: ...Who said you are not all the same?
The next morning, Xie Ling was forced to get up early. Without Qian Ming coming to wake him up, he drank a sip of hot tea and sat upright in a chair, full of resentment, and began to make up for his lessons.
You won’t know until you read it. Now that you read it, you feel even more desperate. I only wrote half of my thoughts last night, and now I have to continue the other half. I don’t know how long it will take.
Xie Ling wrote in a daze while looking at the sky which had just brightened outside. He did not finish until it was almost time to go to the library in the morning.
"Qian Ming, put your things away."
He said weakly.
"Okay, Mr. Xie." Seeing Mr. Xie's weak appearance, Qian Ming had to put the things away carefully to avoid any accidents that would waste Mr. Xie's efforts.
Xie Ling wiped his face, thinking about the journey to the library and the transfer to Wannian Pavilion at noon, he felt even more exhausted. He hesitated for a moment and tried to discuss with Qian Ming:
"Qian Ming, why don't you send the homework to His Majesty first."
"I'm afraid I'll waste time in class."
The reason was sufficient and the words were reasonable, so he didn't have to take a detour at noon.
However, Qian Ming smiled politely and said, "Mr. Xie, His Majesty said last night that you should deliver it yourself."
So he has to do it himself.
Xie Ling: ...Okay.
Closing his eyes in pain, Xie Ling had no choice but to sigh and go to class, hoping to be more energetic in class.
Zheng Daru, who had gone home to rest last night, saw Xie Ling staggering in, and hesitated to speak. Didn't he go out to relax yesterday? Why does he feel worse today than yesterday?
Zheng Wanyun is already old, and ever since he started taking care of Xie Ling, he has been wondering every day whether Xie Ling will collapse on the way to school.
At this moment, seeing Xie Ling come in, greet him, and sit down, he seemed to be just sleepy and nothing serious, so he swallowed the words in his mouth.
"Today we will continue with Page 34."
"Yes, teacher."
As the pages of the book opened and closed, Xie Ling forced himself to keep his eyes open and finally made it through noon.
Seeing that it was almost time for a break, Qian Ming reminded him, and Xie Ling looked at the teacher and wiped his face: "Sir, His Majesty wants to check my insights from yesterday today, so I'll take the things over first."
Zheng Wanyun: ...
No wonder I was so dazed, it turns out this is the reason.
Seeing how hard the students worked, Zheng Wanyun couldn't bear to make things difficult for them.
"Go ahead and behave yourself in front of His Majesty."
Xie Ling nodded, said goodbye to the teacher, and walked over reluctantly.
Hey, it's so hot in the middle of the day. The rain has stopped these days and the sun is getting brighter. It's really hard to walk through the library to the Wannian Pavilion at noon. As Xie Ling walked, she wanted to ignore the man's face and ask Qian Ming for an umbrella, but she finally forced herself to hold back.
After finally reaching the Wannian Pavilion, Xie Ling's cheeks were already slightly red and his whole body was hot. It was not until he was under a tree in the shade that he felt better.
"Your Majesty asked me to come here yesterday. Please inform the eunuch."
Wang Bao was waiting at the door, and when he saw Master Xie coming, he hurried over.
"Don't worry, Master Xie. His Majesty has already given us a heads-up."
"Please come in with me."
He flicked his whisk and led the group into the Wannian Pavilion.
As soon as Xiao Huan entered the room, he saw someone. He stopped reviewing the memorials and glanced at Xie Ling when he saw him coming.
"Finished?"
Xie Ling nodded: "Your Majesty is wise."
“I just finished writing it this morning.”
Several sheets of rice paper were taken out from his sleeves. These were the works Xie Ling had painstakingly written. He even sacrificed his morning sleep time for them. Just thinking about it made him shed tears of sadness.
Xiao Huan did not look at the homework immediately, but finished reviewing the memorials at hand before taking what Xie Ling wrote.
"I'll take a break, you grind the ink."
Emperor Wu leaned back on the dragon throne and unfolded the rice paper.
Xie Ling didn't expect to have such a job, and was stunned for a moment, but at this time, Eunuch Wang had already brought the grinding stone. Xie Ling had no choice but to take it and recalled that he seemed to have seen Eunuch Wang grinding ink before, so he tried to grind it twice.
Wang Bao was standing aside. After seeing Master Xie's actions, he wanted to remind him, but the emperor was right in front of him, so he had to hold it back for a long time.
And Xiao Huan: ...
Xiao Huan's eyes twitched, and he thought, out of sight, out of mind.
A few pages of rice paper were quickly browsed. Xie Ling really didn't have much artistic talent. He would only loudly praise the good poems at the poetry meeting with a "good!". But what made Xiao Huan pay more attention was that in just one afternoon, he had figured out all the factions of the students at the poetry meeting.
The Imperial College is now divided into three factions: the former Dongshan School, the military nobles, and the poor. On the surface, these three factions don't look very different, but if you look closely, you can see that the military nobles and the Dongshan School are in opposition, while the poor are neutral towards the Imperial College.
No, maybe it's not neutrality, but the poor are all serving His Majesty. Thinking about my teacher and Dr. Sun, they are both from poor families, and it seems that they have nothing to do with military honors and Dongshan School.
Xie Ling did not write it too deeply, but just wrote it briefly, but it also surprised Xiao Huan.
This guy... looks very unreliable. He even mistook livestock secret recipes for human drinks. However, he can be so insightful at certain times that it makes people look at him with admiration. Even Xiao Huan was speechless.
Xie Ling blinked his eyes, waiting for His Majesty's comments. Xiao Huan was too lazy to watch him waste his ink, so he reached out to stop Xie Ling when he was grinding out a few drops of ink.
"Okay."
He paused before saying, "This is a good insight."
"Yesterday's poetry reading was not in vain."
Xie Ling: …
It’s stable, we’ve passed the test.
Oh yeah!
However, the next second, before he could cheer in his heart, Emperor Wu suddenly looked him up and down.
Xiao Huan was in a complicated mood, puzzled. Apart from some talent, Xie Ling seemed ordinary. How could he let him go yesterday? He was so angry that he disappeared inexplicably because of a candied fruit.
He paused, and when Xie Ling was looked at with confusion, he thought of the strangeness of being fed candied fruit yesterday, and couldn't help but wonder: Could it be that I am also a person with a weak will?
Did you become soft-hearted after Xie Ling flattered you a little?
Wanting to test himself deliberately, Xiao Huan's eyes fell on Xie Ling. He originally wanted to prove that he was as calm as before.
But when I saw his slightly red cheeks due to walking in the hot weather, I suddenly felt a little dry in my mouth... and I abruptly looked away.
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