Chapter 31 [VIP]
Xue Yi stared at him intently for a moment, then said "Okay".
The servants presented all the memorials to the emperor.
Even though Lu Xuejin had anticipated that Xue Yi would take over the government, he was still extremely busy with official duties. He was slightly surprised to see the mountain of memorials piled up before his eyes.
"Changyou, take a look at these memorials for me. We don't need to look at any more of them that mention marriage," Xue Yi said beside him.
He propped up a small table by the bed, sat on the carpet, and leaned against the edge of the bed. Xue Yi was behind him, leaning over to look at the documents together, propping his head up and looking at them thoughtfully.
Lu Xuejin glanced at the names on the scroll. He knew all the positions and duties of these court officials; he could identify them simply by their names. Those he rejected were unnecessary to read; he knew what they contained just by looking at the names.
A while ago, we discussed Cui Ruhao's article, but the matter was dropped. It's said that Song Zhao arrested a suspicious person, but it wasn't Cui Ruhao himself; Cui Ruhao has practically disappeared lately. Xue Yi used his attendance at the Ninth Prince's wedding banquet as an excuse to silence the doubts.
The response was swift, and the voices of the academy students were immediately silenced.
The remaining matters were either about the drought in Liancheng or trivial matters, big and small. Only one memorial caught his attention; it was presented by a military officer from the camp, and the subject matter had nothing to do with the military. It described a case that had occurred in Shengjing a few days prior.
A few days ago, on the very day he left the palace, during the lantern festival, two children were accidentally struck and killed by a passing carriage. One was only five years old, and the other was three.
The family that died was a lantern vendor. The next morning, someone found the couple hanged together.
Such a tragedy occurred within the city, yet he hadn't heard anyone in the palace discussing it. He stared at this page of the memorial for a long time, then, sensing Xue Yi's presence, he quietly asked, "Brother, have you seen it?"
"I have been busy lately, and I have handed over many memorials to Song Zhao to handle." Xue Yi also saw them; in black and white, they simply stated a shocking injustice.
Xue Yi said gently, "If Changyou is interested in the case, he can ask Song Zhao after the court session."
Lu Xuejin glanced sideways at Xue Yi's face, and Xue Yi met his gaze without changing expression. The two of them had already reached an unspeakable level of understanding, and at this moment, he guessed that there was more to the story.
"I understand. I think my brother won't stand idly by. Since it's been handed over to Song Zhao... there shouldn't be any problems."
Xue Yi did not accept such flattery. Instead, he said to him, "I am different from Changyou. Within my capabilities, I will try my best to be a wise ruler."
"If this case were handed over to Changyou, how would he handle it?"
Lu Xuejin replied naturally, "Find out the truth and handle it according to the laws of the Great Wei Dynasty."
"If I did it, what should Changyou do?" Xue Yi asked.
"..." Lu Xuejin turned her head, her brown eyes clear as frost, "He abused and killed children and forced civilians to their deaths. I must put righteousness above family ties and send my brother to the imperial prison."
Upon hearing this, Xue Yi's pale face shifted, a layer of dampness swirling around him from the mist, his eyebrows and eyes darkening, his pupils reflecting his laughter. The laughter was deep and melodious, drifting like mist into his ears.
"Good Changyou. Changyou... I am willing to be a wise ruler for you."
Lu Xuejin ignored Xue Yi and put the folded document away separately.
That day, after leaving Xiyuan Palace, he went out of the palace at midnight to meet Wei Ning.
With the wedding banquet approaching and Xue Yi's illness flaring up, Song Zhao was busy juggling both affairs, making this the perfect opportunity. They arranged to meet at the Prime Minister's residence. The residence housed several of their secret hideouts, proving that the most dangerous place was often the safest.
The carriage slowly came to a stop as night fell.
A figure stood beneath the vermilion wall. Wei Ning, dressed in black with a bamboo hat obscuring his face, turned around upon hearing the noise, waved to him, and lifted his hat with a smile on his face.
"It's great to see you. You've lost so much weight in the few days I've been away," Wei Ning asked.
Seeing the person, Lu Xuejin felt a little relieved and said to Wei Ning, "Although I've been quite busy lately, I haven't neglected my diet. Every time you see me, you always say that I've lost weight."
"Did I?" Wei Ning recalled, "I didn't mention it last time."
"Where is the Ninth Prince...? Why didn't you bring him this time?" Wei Ning glanced at the carriage behind him.
After the boy kissed him last time, he was in a state of turmoil. He sighed and said, "It's dangerous for the two of us to meet, so I didn't ask him to come out with me."
Wei Ning was oblivious and didn't notice anything amiss.
"That's true... The date is set for three days from now. I've already made all the preparations." Wei Ning said, looking around the Prime Minister's residence in the night, his expression filled with nostalgia.
In the backyard vegetable garden, there was a hidden hole, pitch black in the night, completely obscured by grass and trees. Yet Wei Ning still managed to find the spot accurately.
"This is it... Do you remember when the three of us crawled out of here together?"
“I remember,” Lu Xuejin said, looking into the distance. Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the grass and trees, and there were faint lights in the bushes, which were fireflies.
“We can’t get in now,” Wei Ning said, then added, “Speaking of which… the one you asked me to guard is truly a god.”
Speaking of this, Wei Ning couldn't help but admire Lu Xuejin's foresight. In her eyes, Cui Ruhao was unremarkable and not particularly outstanding among the students. Who would have thought that this person would now be able to stir up such a storm in Shengjing?
Lu Xuejin became interested upon hearing this, "Tell me about it."
"His personality is very eccentric. He only eats one meal a day, which must be plain noodles cooked with buds and leaves. He doesn't allow anyone into his room and appears and disappears like a ghost. He hardly speaks to us, but I've caught him talking to strangers several times, discussing all sorts of fantastical anecdotes. Sometimes he'll be talking perfectly fine, then suddenly fall silent. It's common for him to suddenly leave while eating. It's impossible to describe him according to normal logic... In short, he exudes an air of incongruity." Wei Ning organized his thoughts as he spoke.
Lu Xuejin listened quietly, watching the fireflies flitting about, and inexplicably thought of Murong Yue. The boy did resemble him somewhat, striving to shine brightly.
"Wei Ning... where does this sense of incongruity come from? Why is he different from ordinary people? Why does he make you feel strange?"
Wei Ning: "What I just told you... Changyou. Are you referring to differences beyond temperament?"
Upon hearing this, Wei Ning recalled the details of her interactions with Cui Ruhao and suddenly remembered a few things. She said, "He seems to get angry easily over trivial matters. Speaking of which... he would remain silent if he saw an old man being bumped on the street, he would stop and watch if he saw a child being beaten or scolded by his parents, and he would be furious if he saw pigs or dogs being bullied. These are all trivial matters, commonplace trivial matters. Is this what you mean?"
“Exactly.” Lu Xuejin said, “This person is extremely sensitive and more likely than ordinary people to perceive the malicious side of human nature. What he expresses is subtle yet intense, natural yet simple and pure, and is the ultimate in profound justice.”
Wei Ning couldn't help but laugh, and after a good laugh, he said to him, "Changyou, you are his mentor. Only you would praise such an eccentric person like this. If you have time, perhaps you should meet."
"That's not what I said. That's how the late emperor evaluated it when he was alive," Lu Xuejin explained.
Wei Ning: "The late emperor was your mentor, and you have been misled by his words. I think he is just an oddball. If he cares so much about every little thing, then living is cruel to him."
“Changyou, tell me… what isn’t cruel? How many animals do people eat every day? Those animals are slaughtered, who can say they don’t suffer? Parents have a hard time raising children, and both become burdens to each other, can you say which is worse? And then there are the rhinoceros horns and ivory that people plunder for beautiful gems. We are naturally attracted to beautiful things, yet we abandon our nature to pursue goodness… even if we can set an example, countless people still hunt and slaughter in pursuit of desire. If you compare the suffering of those who cannot obtain gems with the suffering of those who cherish them, the two must weigh the same.”
Lu Xuejin sensed something unusual; he rarely saw Wei Ning evaluate someone like this. Seeing Wei Ning's serious expression, he chimed in, "What you said makes some sense... It seems you have quite a prejudice against him."
“It’s not that I have any prejudice against him,” Wei Ning said, realizing what he meant. “We’re just talking about our views. Our ways of doing things are completely different. If you ask me to take care of him, I will naturally take good care of him.”
"I just wonder which woman in the capital will marry such an incompetent husband in the future."
After a long pause, Wei Ning added, "I can't stand people making trouble for themselves."
Lu Xuejin couldn't help but smile and said to Wei Ning, "Perhaps it's just as you said. Some people are just like that by nature."
"I will definitely meet him when I have the chance in the future."
The divorce banquet is three days away.
After returning to the palace, Lu Xuejin did not immediately go back to Fangze Palace. He paused for a moment as he passed a side hall; the door had been left unlocked, presumably the work of Tengluo. He hadn't seen Tengluo for quite some time. He stepped into the hall, where Tengluo was sleeping in a small room, waking up groggily at the sound of the noise.
“…Young Master?” Tengluo thought she had misread it.
He gestured towards the wisteria, put his fingertip to his lips, and gently shushed it.
"I've come to see His Highness the Ninth Prince."
The wisteria immediately nodded, then slumped down and went back to sleep.
There were no lights in the hall. Lu Xuejin stepped inside and found it spotless, every corner meticulously cleaned. A dim candle burned in the far corner; the young man was still awake so late. He saw the young man's profile; he was writing by the window, his eyes and brows illuminated by the candlelight, the warm glow unable to conceal his dark, gleaming pupils.
"Wisteria, how many times have I told you to knock before coming in?" the boy said.
Then, raising an eyebrow, the two of them locked eyes across the distance. He was positioned at the palace entrance when Murong Yue saw him, pausing for a moment, an invisible tension building in the air.
"...Changyou-ge?"
His demeanor just now was different from how he had acted in front of him before; instead, he seemed somewhat masculine.
Lu Xuejin recalled what he had said earlier. His expression remained unchanged as he said, "I originally wanted to check on Your Highness, but I didn't expect Your Highness to be awake."
"Still reviewing your lessons so late?" he asked casually.
As he drew closer, he saw that they were letters. In the candlelight, a golden brand flashed by, but he only caught a glimpse before the boy naturally covered the envelopes. He recognized Hu Wen's name; the image flickered and for a moment seemed vaguely familiar.
"Just writing whatever comes to mind. The Grand Tutor mentioned earlier that many articles have been circulating in the capital. I read some and was very envious of their writing style. I couldn't sleep tonight, so I got up to practice writing some myself," Murong Yue said.
Lu Xuejin naturally noticed the boy's actions and said, "Your Highness... is there something you're hiding from me?"
"How could that be?" Murong Yue turned his head slightly to look at him, his face innocent, and smiled at him. "I'm telling the truth."
"I thought my brother was still angry."
This was the boy's bed. He sat on the bed, and the boy easily rolled over to his side, his arm resting on his waist, naturally leaning against him and looking at him.
Murong Yue's ink-black hair was loose, his fan-shaped eyes were pitch black, and when he smiled, his cheeks flushed red, and his tiger teeth were faintly visible. The proud and fierce trumpet creeper by the palace wall suddenly bloomed towards people, scorching and bright.
"Brother...where did you go? Why are you only coming back now?"
He stared at the man for a moment. The boy was handsome and lay casually on the bed like a well-fed and content little black cat. The little black cat was now spreading its belly out towards him.
“I went to Wei Ning’s place,” he replied.
"Sister Wei?" Murong Yue said, "I miss her very much too."
"Brother Changyou," Murong Yue put his arm around his waist and asked, "About what happened last time...you're really not angry anymore?"
The boy's voice was a few decibels lower, his ear tips were bright red, and his eyes were full of arrogance. He knew that the boy was susceptible to this, so he always pretended to be a cat to coax him.
He said, contradicting himself, "I wasn't angry."
As he spoke, his gaze remained fixed on Murong Yue. From the boy's round earlobes to his pointed little tiger teeth, then to the blush on his cheeks and his rosy lips, he slowly shifted his gaze.
As a child, he was always drawn to the kitten outside his window. Now that he's grown up, he still instinctively walks towards the kitten in the same situation. Wei Ning is right; some people are just like that by nature, and their favorite things haven't changed over the years.
Upon hearing this, Murong Yue moved closer to him, his breath falling beside him, filling the room with the boy's aura. That aura was both intense and aloof, a faint flame that could ignite the entire palace at any moment. The boy pressed his forehead against his, the melancholy in his eyes transforming into flames, feigning composure while maintaining a certain distance from him.
“It will never happen again. I have something else to ask Brother Changyou. Last time I saw that His Majesty was not feeling well... I have been reading a lot of books lately. I heard that some children who borrow life even if they survive, their bodies will not be able to withstand it afterwards. This is called weakness in the streets.”
Murong Yue: "Is His Majesty suffering from a weakness?"
In a fleeting moment, the boy before him transformed into something more terrifying than a demon from the underworld. The boy scrutinized his expression, his skeletal form and alluring bones luring him towards a deadly abyss. Knowing full well what lay ahead, he still succumbed to the temptation and went forth.
I had already promised not to lie to anyone again.
"Yes... he suffers from a weak constitution. There are many rumors about sickly children, but those rumors are untrue. He's just... been in poor health since childhood."
“In that case, His Majesty is truly pitiful,” Murong Yue said. “Is Changyou marrying him because he is not far from death?”
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