Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 88 Master and Disciple
After leaving Li's residence, Xue Bai kept thinking about what Li Shizhi said.

As a prime minister, Li Shizhi was straightforward, simply too straightforward.That staring gaze and the undisguised temptation in his words almost made it clear to his face.

——"Yes, I am indeed close to the deposed prince Li Ying. I heard that you are Xue Ru's son? But Zhang Jiuling and He Zhizhang protected you to survive?"

Xue Bai didn't know the answer to this question. When he woke up, it was the end of Tianbao's five years of heavy snowfall, and he didn't remember everything that happened in the ten years after the palace change in Kaiyuan 25.

In short, this is the first contact with Li Ying's family. They are naturally the forces closest to him and the foundation of cronies, but right now they are really too weak.

These people were once the core of the Tang dynasty, and protecting the crown prince may be in the hope that the Tang Dynasty will have a first-of-its-kind and smooth transition to the throne for the first time.In the end, it failed again, and even the crown prince was wiped out together with his brothers, wife and brother.

Up to now, those who are dead, those who are dismissed from office, how much energy do they have?At most, these people are taking action to protect a few implicated innocent people, and it is impossible to do anything.

Li Shizhi himself is almost finished.

Even Xue Bai felt that Du Fu's meeting with Li Shizhi would affect the future of the imperial examination.

As for the officials in this department, Xue Bai even had to rely on Xue Bai's bluff and painstaking efforts to curry favor with Yang Yuyao, which made Li Linfu feel jealous and postpone dealing with them.

It looks more like a drag.

But things can't just look at this side. Temporary dormancy doesn't mean they are useless.

After the case of the three concubines, a large number of people must have transferred their hope of realizing their ambitions to Li Heng, and a large number of people were relegated to the outside world and temporarily left the center of power... They will abandon Li Ying, but their political ideas have not changed, and their power is still there.

Then, what Xue Bai should do is to find out the old disciples of Zhang Jiuling and He Zhizhang, and make friends with them.

One day, even if his identity as Xue Xiu's concubine is revealed to the world, his cronies will naturally get close to him and try their best to protect him.

Thinking of this, a person suddenly appeared in Xue Bai's mind... Zheng Qian.

Previously, he had always thought that Zheng Qian was from the Eastern Palace, and that it was the Eastern Palace who had arranged Zheng Qian to the Imperial Academy to investigate and monitor him.

But only so?

~~
Du Fu had a lot of friends, and he went to visit other friends when he left Yonglefang, but Xue Bai didn't follow him, and went directly back to Wubenfang Guozijian.

Taixue Hall, the "Book of Filial Piety" is being taught in the school.

Zheng Qian is famous all over the world for his talent, but he always just reads the book once in his lectures and asks the students to recite it.If you don't ask, he never explains the meaning of the book, thinking that "you can see the meaning after reading it a hundred times".

Therefore, whenever he gave lectures, many disciples fell asleep.

Du Wulang has already arrived at the school, but Zheng Qian seems to have completely forgotten the madness last night, and resumed his old-fashioned and serious look, with the ruler in his hand merciless.

Xue Bai looked from a distance when he arrived, and found that there was someone sitting in his seat... It turned out to be Xue Xin, who was wearing a long robe, sleeping and unable to sleep, with his head down, scratching his ears and cheeks.

He then thought that it was time to send his younger brothers and sisters to private schools.

"A filial son's care for his relatives is to respect him when he lives, to be happy when he is raised, to worry when he is sick, to mourn when he is in mourning, and to be strict when he is sacrificed..."

After Xue Xin heard this, he finally fell asleep. When he woke up, he turned around and found that Xue Bai was sitting behind and studying hard.

When the lecture was over, he went over and asked, "Sixth brother, why are you studying this?"

"Sixth brother Ni is a filial son." Du Wulang also surrounded him.

Yang Xuan who was passing by snorted coldly: "Can you compare with me?"

Xue Bai smiled, asked Xue Xin why he came here, and told him to wait while he went to ask his husband a few questions.

Du Wulang immediately became energetic when he heard it, waved his hands again and again, and refused: "Go again? I can't drink any more tonight..."

~~
When Xue Bai walked into the public house, Zheng Qian had just polished his ink and was copying a few poems written by Du Fu last night on paper.

He was known as the "Three Wonders", and he was extremely fluent in running script. At that time, people called him "the wind sends the clouds to harvest, and the rosy clouds urge the moon to rise." However, there were Li Beihai, Yan Zhenqing, Zhang Xu and others in the world, covering up his supposed fame.

"Since you are Yan Qingchen's disciple, let's evaluate the old man's calligraphy." Zheng Qian pushed a piece of paper that had been written, and smiled.

Xue Bai calmly replied, "Doctor, is he making fun of the students?"

"The old man was poor when he was young, but he was good at calligraphy and painting. He often suffered from lack of paper. Fortunately, there are several houses of persimmon leaves in Ci'en Temple. I often go there and practice calligraphy and painting with persimmon leaves. I wrote all the persimmon leaves in several houses. You young people, you should work harder."

"Thank you for your teaching, Doctor."

Xue Bai was silent for a moment, making sure that there was no one around, and suddenly asked directly, "Doctor know that Xue Ru, son-in-law, has a concubine named Xue Pingzhao."

The brush that was still writing "Wind Sends Clouds Harvest" trembled, and the last word of the phrase "Heavenly Kirin" was ruined.

Zheng Qian raised his head and looked at Xue Bai in surprise.

He never expected that this young man would be so frank.

"You, admit it?"

"I really don't remember." Xue Bai said: "But there is a letter of deed..."

"The old man knows." Zheng Qian said: "Someone told the old man about this matter, and also said that behind you is the envoy of King Qing, let the old man come and see you."

If this is the case, Xue Bai would never dare to discuss this topic with Zheng Qian.

"But the doctor is not only here to monitor and test me, but also to protect and remind me in private." Xue Bai asked: "Did the doctor deliberately take me to see Du Fu, and also told Du Fu to introduce Li Shizhi?"

"That's right." Zheng Qian said, "I don't know about some things, maybe Li Shizhi understands better."

"Can I ask you what it is?"

Zheng Qian asked back: "Do you know the relationship between the old man and Mr. Zhang Qujiang?"

"Appreciate further details."

"In the early years of Jingyun, the old man and Zhang Qujiang were enrolled together..."

Zheng Qian's old eyes flashed the color of memory.

In Jinshi High School that year, he was only 19 years old, and Zhang Jiuling was 32 years old. They were both appreciated by the important minister Wang Fangqing. He married the granddaughter of the Wang family, and Zhang Jiuling was vigorously cultivated by Wang Fangqing.

"Later, Zhang Qujiang was involved in the battle for the throne after all. He never formed a party with the abolished prince, but Concubine Wu Hui was aggressive."

Speaking of this, Zheng Qian used Zhang Jiuling's tone in those days, and said word by word: "The crown prince is the foundation of the world, so don't shake it lightly! In the past, Duke Xiang of the Jin Dynasty listened to Li Ji's slander and killed Shen Sheng, and the third generation was in chaos; I must want to do this, but I dare not obey the imperial edict!"

"After this strong remonstrance, he was forced to the point of death. In the past two years, dismissal, palace change, and abolition of the reserve came one after another. During the case of the three common people, he had already been demoted to Jingzhou and could do nothing. But the old man knew that he did let the old disciples take action. Although Xue Ru and Concubine Xue died, the youngest sons of the three common people survived and were taken in by the clan; Zhang Qujiang asked someone to redeem them, not you alone."

"The Xue family, the Zhao family, the Huangfu family, and the Liu family. The old man used to spend money to run things up and down, and Xue Pingzhao was just one of the children. Ten years have passed, but now some people say that there is someone behind the scenes, which is related to King Qing. Zhang Qujiang is dead, He Jizhen is also dead, and Li Shizhi has passed away. Could it be that the old man is the mastermind behind this?"

With a wry smile on his face, Zheng Qian looked at Xue Bai, and finally asked: "This old man has treated you with sincerity. Would you like to reciprocate and tell the old man the truth?"

"Tianbao five years in the winter month, the student was almost strangled to death in Princess Xianyi's mansion, and he was lucky enough to fall into suspended animation and escaped, forgetting everything before."

"Okay." Zheng Qian said: "The old man knows that you want to protect yourself, so I just said what I said, and I have never told anyone else. There is only one sentence, you must remember it."

"The students are all ears."

"Ten years have passed and the situation has changed. In the future, you have to keep yourself safe and wait for the day when the crown prince reverses the case for the Xue family..."

~~
At dusk, Du's house in Shengpingfang.

Du Jin was sitting in the room drawing a map of Chang'an with her own hands.

Referring to a few drawings of the square that were originally very concise, she wrote down the various watchtowers and official residences in lower letters stroke by stroke on her drawings.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded on the corridor, Qu Shui said: "Er Niang, Mr. Xue Lang is back."

Du Jin's eyes lit up, she stood up, but first hid the map in the dark compartment, changed her dress, went to the dressing table and sipped her rouge in front of the bronze mirror, and just now she went out the door, she was a little rushed at first, but later changed to a leisurely pace.

In the side hall, the atmosphere was a little cheerful because of Xue Bai's return.

"Of course the Imperial College is boring, but drinking and discussing with the gentlemen is very interesting." Du Wulang said: "Even Zheng Taixue and Su Siye call us Wangnianjiao..."

After dinner, everyone chatted for a while, and when it was late at night, the Du family siblings stayed in Xue Bai's house to talk again.

Du Wulang is now gradually able to participate in the discussion of some secrets.

"Zheng Qian's meaning is very clear. Donggong asked him to test me, but he has his own ideas."

"To put it simply, he will protect you and not expose you to Donggong, but he also hopes that you will support Donggong."

"This is normal. They supported Li Ying back then, and they will definitely support Li Heng now. We are too weak, and it is already a great improvement to find this kind of emotional care."

"Yes, the network should be slowly spread out."

"You came back just in time, and we just wanted to talk to you about the branch."

"..."

Speaking of late at night, the Du family siblings dispersed.

Du Jin walked to the boudoir, stopped, and said in a low voice, "I remembered something about the East Palace that I haven't told him yet."

"Yeah." Du Yan was stunned for a moment, and said, "I'm sleepy, I fell asleep."

Du Jin then blew out the lantern and turned back to Xue Bai's room.

Sure enough, he hadn't fallen asleep yet, and was standing by the window admiring the moon. She locked the door and hugged him.

"Well."

"I have to tell you... we must not support Donggong."

"I know."

"You were buried alive by him, so he will never trust you. Also, if Ji Wen can guess, then others must have suspected our relationship long ago, just don't say it. Remember, whether it is Li Heng or his sons, once they are firmly seated in the dragon chair, they will definitely kill us. I don't want to be locked up in the deep palace like Wei Shi, but if I don't go out for so long, they will kill me. No matter how nice they say, you must not believe it. Just believe me, and I will put everything on you..."

"Don't worry, no matter how many benefits the East Palace gives, I will never waver in the slightest."

"Well, let me trust you, come on."

"..."

It is enough to say here.

Tonight, Du Jin was even more enthusiastic than usual, as if she wanted to make Xue Bai firmly stand on the same stand with her forever.

She wants him to cooperate with her completely, without reservation, and with all his might.

In this way, she has a sense of security.

~~
The curtain was not drawn.

The two people who have risked their lives seem to be fighting for life and death.

A hairpin fell to the ground, and the blue silk fell like a waterfall...

~~
There was a faint creaking sound at night.

Du Wulang woke up from his sleep, thinking that Xue Bai went back to Du's house to sleep and opened the window again.

He simply crossed the yard with the quilt in his arms, spread it out randomly in the room in the west wing, and lay down, so it was much quieter.

When the night wind blew, he woke up a lot. He thought about the things that Xue Bai and his sisters discussed, but there was no big disturbance in his heart.

These things seemed to be a lot of trouble for them to talk about, but in his view, they were very simple. Xue Bai's background was nothing more than Qing Lan's, but Xue Bai was more motivated...

Thinking of making progress, he felt drowsy immediately. Du Wulang turned over and fell asleep again after a while.

In the dream, Du Fu patted him on the shoulder and said, "You are indeed a child of the Du family, you really have the talent for poetry", and was about to sing a poem, but was woken up by chirping magpies.

……

"You two remember that you came back earlier on the day of Hanshi, and invited the children of the Lu family and the Pei family to go out of the city to worship together. Hey, I see that you have grown taller, so you have to cut two new clothes quickly. You have to cut them. Then people will feel comfortable watching..."

Early in the morning, Lu Fengniang was rambling about this matter, explaining it repeatedly.

Du Wulang and Xue Bai went out of the yard, muttering: "Oh, the Pei family is a big family, if I am taken in by his young lady, I will be bullied."

"Well, you have to be more careful."

Du Wulang looked up at the bird's nest under the eaves, and was stunned for a while, but he really felt poetic.

"February is still early in spring, and the magpies have already built their nests."

It's a pity that there are only broken sentences again. Du Wulang pondered for a moment, then he couldn't help sighing and said to himself, "I'm just called a broken sentence poet."

Seeing that there were two magpies, Xue Bai added a casual sentence.

"Double flies under the eaves, and the breeze is only good in spring."

~~
When they arrived at the Guozijian on this day, Xue Bai and Zheng Qian did not mention their backgrounds any more, they only talked about their studies.

But there is already more tacit understanding between master and apprentice.

With this relationship, it may be possible to form cronies with Yuan Jie and Du Fu in the future.

Gather sand to form a tower, gather armpits to form a fur, and the network has always been spread out little by little.

~~
In the evening, Xue Bai finally returned to his home in Changshoufang.

He didn't go home for two consecutive days, Qing Lan inevitably vented a little bit of dissatisfaction.

"Lang-jun said that he was going to the Imperial College to study, but he had a good time, and the mistress was so tired that she was worried..."

"come over."

In the middle of speaking, Qing Lan stepped forward to take a look, only to see Xue Bai took out a bag of green dates.

"I got it at Du's house last night, try it."

The complaints stopped immediately, Qing Lan picked up a jujube, took a bite, it was crispy and fragrant on the teeth and cheeks.

"It's delicious, sir, try it too."

She squeezed another one and fed it to Xue Bai. She felt her fingers touched his lips. She panicked, took the cloth bag quickly, and said in a low voice, "I'm going to wash it."

When she turned around, she glanced at him stealthily, only feeling that her fingers were still a little warm, and she felt ashamed after thinking about it.

When she came back from washing the jujubes, she poked her head in and saw that Xue Bai had already laid down and fell asleep. She couldn't help thinking that the man was probably shy too.

"It's still early, Mr. Lang, is he going to the Imperial College early?"

"I have to get up early to visit the teacher. Has he sent someone to look for me?"

"Well, Lieutenant Yan seems to be in a hurry to find Mr. Lang, and he also sent someone here last night."

"Teacher, don't be in a hurry, otherwise, people will be sent to the Imperial College."

Xue Bai thought to himself, of the two teachers whom he paid homage to recently, although Duke Zheng has a high official position, he is too close to the East Palace. After all, Duke Yan is the purer...

(End of this chapter)