After Tao Yun was settled, he immediately prepared generous gifts and visited the Cui family the next day. Shangshu Ling Cui Yuan personally met him in the study.
This Shangshu Ling, who has held power since he was young, is now over fifty years old. Unlike many celebrities nowadays who have long beards, his handsome face still shows the demeanor of his youth, and his every move carries an indescribable grace and dignity.
Tao Yun perked up and respectfully performed the etiquette of a junior. Cui Yuan asked about Tao's father's situation in a friendly manner. At the end of the conversation, Cui Yuan asked in a caring tone: "My dear nephew, it's really hard for you to come all the way from Huzhou. Have you encountered any problems?"
Tao Yun's heart trembled, and he felt that Cui Yuan's eyes seemed to imply some deep meaning. His mind turned quickly, and he said frankly: "Reporting to my uncle, my journey was relatively smooth. I met a friend with a similar temperament on the way. Although the journey was long, it was not too hard because I had a companion."
Cui Yuan showed a bit of surprise when he heard this: "Oh? Who can catch my nephew's eye?"
Tao Yun was now even more certain in his heart that Cui Yuan was obviously coming for Xie Shu, but Tao Yun really couldn't figure out what his friend had done to provoke such a big fuss.
Moreover, when Tao Yun thought that Cui Yuan might know his whereabouts along the way, he felt extremely depressed.
In fact, what Tao Yun didn’t know was that this was a misunderstanding of Cui Yuan.
Although Cui Yuan had heard of Xie Shu before, and knew that Jiang Hong had accepted a closed disciple and that Emperor Qing was very fond of him, so he was impressed. However, Xie Shu had never entered the officialdom after all. He was just a poor boy who was still on the road to the imperial examination. He would never make the Shangshu Ling spend so much effort on him.
The reason why Cui Yuan paid attention to Xie Shu was that a month ago, he discovered that the third prince had sent several of his guards to Jiangnan, so he was particularly careful.
Cui Yuan remembered that half a year ago, a palace guard who followed Eunuch Liu to handle Jiangnan affairs was dismissed for no reason and soon disappeared. Later, Cui Yuan discovered that this person was secretly working for the third prince.
As everyone knows, the third prince is the most beloved son of the current emperor. He has shown extraordinary intelligence since he was a child and is full of scheming and tricks. However, smart people are bound to have the problem of being stubborn and self-righteous, and the third prince is no exception.
However, a monarch who is too opinionated is not a good thing, especially for aristocratic families like theirs.
Cui Yuan knew clearly that the reason why the current emperor was determined to implement the imperial examination system despite all difficulties was to limit the influence of their family on the government. Faced with Emperor Qing's strength and ambition, Cui Yuan had to give in.
But on the other hand, Emperor Qing was also a man who knew his limits, and he also gave them considerable leeway. After all, the aristocratic families were closely related to the entire upper-class rulers. Emperor Qing's daughter married into the Wang family, and Emperor Qing's aunt was the lady dowager of the Xie family.
All along, the two sides have been trying to maintain a delicate balance. In this long tug-of-war, the chips in the hands of the aristocratic families have never decreased much.
However, such a war is too tiring, and Cui Yuan does not want the next emperor to be like this. The third prince is not the "benevolent monarch" they want.
Therefore, although Cui Yuan never publicly expressed his preference for the crown prince, if the emperor had any intention of changing the crown prince, they would never agree.
Therefore, Cui Yuan has been paying close attention to the movements of several princes, especially the third prince.
When Cui Yuan learned of the Third Prince's actions, he immediately sent people to investigate and discovered that the person the Third Prince wanted to deal with was Xie Shu.
Only then did Cui Yuan realize that Xie Shu and the third prince actually had a grudge against each other. What was even more coincidental was that after Xie Shu escaped, he met Tao Yun and they came to the capital together.
It is really interesting that Xie Shu can make Shao Zhen, a prince, suffer repeated setbacks.
How could Cui Yuan not be curious about Xie Shu? However, he naturally would not explain the reason to Tao Yun.
Facing Cui Yuan's unknown intentions, Tao Yun refused to mention his friend. He just briefly described how they met. At the end, he half-truthfully lamented that Xie Shu had rejected his invitation to live together. At the same time, he was also hinting to Cui Yuan that his friend was not what they thought.
Cui Yuan had been thinking about something and had not noticed Tao Yun's thoughts. However, he was not surprised at all when he heard what he said.
Xie Shu was able to offend the Third Prince so deeply despite his superficial efforts, which clearly shows that he is not someone who knows how to please others.
Such a person with both self-righteousness and ability is one of the few people from humble backgrounds that Cui Yuan likes, but unfortunately he happens to be Lu Shuo's junior fellow apprentice.
If Cui Yuan was repulsive to the Third Prince, then he was completely disgusted with Lu Shuo.
This Lu Shuo is simply a mad dog. Relying on the support of Emperor Qing, he is lawless and greedy. He is just a knife, and no one knows how long he can be so arrogant.
Thinking of this, Cui Yuan let out a deep breath, and suddenly remembered that Lu Shuo had been "expelled from the sect" a long time ago. It seemed that his relationship with Xie Shu would not be much better, but this matter still needed to be confirmed in the future.
In short, Cui Yuan cares a lot about Xie Shu. After all, the imperial examination is an irreversible trend. When selecting people in the future, it is better to choose someone who is suitable.
Since arriving in the capital that day, Xie Shu has stayed indoors and never shown up in public, which is very different from how he was in Nanjing.
After all, Xie Shu knew that he had become a thorn in the side of the current Third Prince, and the other party would definitely not give up easily.
The reason Xie Shu was able to escape that day was because Jiang Hong had anticipated that Shao Zhen would take advantage of his visit to the capital to attack Xie Shu, so Jiang Hong asked a swordsman named Mu Wen to protect him.
Mu Wen is a martial arts expert and was once a famous knight. However, due to his great reputation, he was implicated and imprisoned. Jiang Hong helped him to redress his injustice. From then on, Mu Wen promised to follow Jiang Hong and protect his life.
However, seeing that Jiang Hong was unwilling, Mu Wen had to return to his hometown. Later, when he learned that Jiang Hong had left Beijing, he immediately set off and escorted Jiang Hong to Jiangnan before returning.
This time Jiang Hong asked him to escort Xie Shu to the capital. Mu Wen accepted the request without hesitation. After helping Xie Shu get rid of the "water bandits", he secretly followed the master and servant. After arriving in the capital, he lived in this house and did not leave immediately.
But Mu Wen was not Xie Shu's subordinate, nor was he Xie Shu's follower. Xie Shu always treated him with courtesy and never asked about his whereabouts. Naturally, he did not want to trouble him, so it was better for Xie Shu not to go out. In addition, his trip had delayed him for quite some time, and the time for the imperial examination was getting closer. Xie Shu had no intention of spending any other time and only wanted to prepare well for the examination.
On this day, Zhang Enshi and Xu Shengkai came to visit, looking embarrassed, and told this story.
The two of them took the water route and arrived in the capital half a month earlier than Xie Shu.
Before that, when they were in the literary society, they made friends with many scholars, and they decided to rent an inn together. After Xie Shu arrived in the capital and exchanged addresses with them, he never showed up again.
Although Zhang Enshi and Xu Shengkai felt sorry, they did not force it. However, since the others were all from Jiangnan, even if they were not members of the Jinling Literary Society, they were like-minded. Therefore, everyone continued the Jinling style, sometimes calling friends to hold literary gatherings in restaurants and talking about the imperial examination.
This inevitably attracted the attention of others. The candidates from all over the country who could come to Beijing to take the exam were all selected from thousands of people, and some of them were even well-known in the local area. Seeing the Jiangnan candidates being so high-profile, some people were naturally unhappy. A talented scholar from Qi and Lu proposed to challenge them to a literary duel, and the date was set for the day after tomorrow at the Wangchuan Tower in Beijing.
If he is an ordinary talented person, there is nothing to be afraid of. Jiangnan has always been full of talented people, and there are many outstanding ones among them.
But this person has a prominent background. Qi and Lu are the birthplaces of Confucianism. This person's surname is Kong and his name is Kong Xiu. It is said that he is a descendant of Confucius. Due to his family tradition, he was deeply influenced by it.
Moreover, Kong Xiu was not only gifted by nature, but also good at reading and using books. He was once praised by local celebrities as the best writer in the world. After coming to the capital, he wrote several articles, which made him even more famous.
Zhang Enshi and Xu Shengkai thought about it and felt very regretful. They were not afraid of losing face, but they were afraid that people would look down on the Jinling Literary Society from then on. After all, the Wangchuan Tower would probably be overcrowded in the future!
Xie Shu listened quietly throughout the whole process without saying a word until the word "literary battle" appeared, which inevitably gave him a sense of novelty.
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