Chapter 10 - His Majesty’s Thoughts Contradicts His Words (1/2)

Xue Residence.

Xue Yuan lay on the bed. The more he listened, the more he couldn’t suppress the smile, “That’s what he told you?”

Chang Yuyan slightly frowned, “Should address with His Majesty.”

Xue Yuan’s knees were wrapped with medicinal bandages, which faintly tinged with blood, but he looked as though he wasn’t in pain. He pointed to his wounds and said with a forced smile, “These wounds are the punishment from His Majesty.”

“That’s impossible,” Chang Yuyan subconsciously retorted. He frowned and thought, “Did you do something wrong?”

Xue Yuan darted a glance at him and asked, “Why did His Majesty summon you into the palace today?”

Hearing that, Chang Yuyan’s skin unconsciously tightened and his face felt a little feverish. “His Majesty summoned me into the palace to accompany and serve. Naturally, it was to have me accompany him admiring the snow scenery.”

“Admiring the snow?” Xue Yuan’s hands propped up on the bed. His arms gained force and his muscles taut as he directly supported himself to sit up. He tapped his fingertips on his thighs as if absorbed in thought, “Why took fancy of you?”

In Xue Yuan’s eyes, the emperor was not someone who made useless efforts. The emperor even dared to provoke him, the mad dog. Let’s forget about provoking him. At least, as the little emperor said, he had a commandeering talent. But strange, what did Chang Yuyan have?

What was the use of Chang Yuyan as a scholar with a rotten sarcastic sense?

Yet, it was such a useless scholar that the emperor invited to appreciate the snow. On the contrary, Xue Yuan, the future general, was punished until his knees bled by the emperor, who did it without blinking.

Chang Yuyan heard this sentence crystal clear. He had a mirthless grin on his face, “Xue Yuan, what do you mean?”

Xue Yuan said in a leisurely manner, “Do you have a damn usefulness?”

Chang Yuyan was so angry he glared, “I’m not saying I’m famous in the country, but at least I have a little reputation. So many people came to congratulate me on my capping ceremony that even alarmed the local authority. And I’ve always been talented. When the palace examination is over, you can wait for me to grab the [title] Number One Scholar!”

After he finished saying, he “scrapped” the ground to stand, furiously flung his sleeve, and left.

Xue Yuan touched chin. After Chang Yuyan completely disappeared, he sneered, “Number One Scholar?”

What’s the use of a fake scholar being the Number One Scholar to the little emperor?

Xue Yuan’s legs left the bed and stood upright on the ground. With his hands behind him, he slowly walked to the window.

Tiny spots of blood oozed out from the white bandages on the knees. The taste of such pain was a novelty to Xue Yuan.

Xue Yuan, who grew up in the barracks when he was a child, knew that a fist was hard, yet strong military forces were the representatives of everything. Xue Residence’s three generations of loyalist sounded very good. In fact, it was a reputation that caused death. When he threw the bottle of wine, it wasn’t meant to smash the emperor. It was only when the emperor had passed that he let go of the bottle. He just wanted to see the emperor’s attitude towards the Xue Family.

Xue Yuan stroked his chin and thought about it. He remembered the face of the little emperor. Although the emperor’s hair had not grown long1, he grew up more beautiful than the ladies.

It was just the [emperor’s] temper that was too deeply hidden.

Was it because of Xue Family that he was given preferential treatment, or because of the three generations of loyalist?

*

Chu Xun had already taken people to the Yellow River. The Supervision Bureau would provide Chu Xun with information from the front line. To train the people of the Supervision Bureau, Gu Yuan spent a lot of money. The people of the Supervision Bureau had not only learned to read and practice martial arts, but also learned horsemanship and archery as well as geography, arts of war, track-ambush, and various aspects of skills.

Besides education, Gu Yuanbai also paid great attention to their food, which he attached more importance than his army. The meal was meat and vegetable dishes; the rice was of good quality and the meat was essential. The whole Supervision Bureau was brought up to be a strong and powerful body. Their health represented Gu Yuanbai’s health. The role of this good body was essential to be able to travel for half a month of rain from thousands of li to the capital in such a fast period.

Gu Yuanbai put aside the matter of flood prevention for the time being and put his focus on the upcoming conference examination.

During the imperial court session these days, the ministers were laden with worries because of the cold wave in the capital. The cold wave this time was so fierce that many people presented petitions in hope that the candidates were allowed to bring more clothing, provided with more coals for warming, and then for the numbered rooms in the Examination Hall to be well repaired.

In particular, the parents, who had their successors participated in the conference examination, argued with reasons, and refused to retreat in the first half of the court session.

The emperor was kind-hearted. The rooms were already under repair, and the petition for increasing the amount of coal was also approved. However, many officials disapproved of the petition for allowing the candidates to bring more clothing.

It was not that it hadn’t happened before. The winter in the capital was always long and cold. Sometimes, spring was comparable to winter. Many benevolent emperors had once authorized the exam candidates to bring more than one layer of leather clothing.

However, many cheating notes were sewn into the clothes at that time. The more clothes they wore, the more troublesome it was to check. The benevolence of the emperor was also regarded as a means to be exploited and defiled by these scholars with low-grade morality.

“Your Majesty,” a minister advised, “It is not that there was no cold wave in the past. The amount of coal has increased and the rooms are repaired – these are enough.”

However, this year’s cold wave was severe. The Great Heng Dynasty’s conference examination would be carried on for three days. If the temperature dropped, or rain or snow fell during those days, many people would suffer from the wind chill. Even worse, they might die within these three days.

Gu Yuanbai actually felt heartache for these talented people. Ultimately, he decided and ordered to allow the exam candidates to bring more clothes.

As soon as the edict was issued, the exam candidates in the entire capital cheered. They teared up, feeling grateful for His Majesty’s benevolence.

Those who were not in good health and could not adapt to the weather in the capital were more excited. They kept kowtowing and saying, “His Majesty is benevolence; His Majesty graces a great favor!”

A thin piece of clothing represented a warm hope in the cold and narrow of the numbered room. Despite the dissuasion from the ministers, the emperor still decided to loosen the limitation. This clearly meant the emperor cherished them.

The consideration and care from the emperor made the hearts of the scholars – who had carefully studied the heaven-earth-sovereign-parent-teacher2 – seething with enthusiasm.

Of course, Gu Yuanbai’s benevolence to these people did not mean that they would take this opportunity to cheat.

If some people dared to take this opportunity to sweep along a slip of paper, the punishment that awaited them shall be more severe than losing their scholarly honor.

Gu Yuanbai didn’t want his philanthropic act to become a joke in the future.