Zhuolu

The palace walls were hundreds of feet high, and the hearts of the people were as deep as the sea.

Because of the existence of Luli, people were divided into six classes, mortals, ordinary immortals, noble immortals, monks and great noble immortals.

Lin Xin wore the Zhu family’s crimson cloak and walked on the palace road, and the palace people passing by would bow their heads to salute him. Most of the court ladies and eunuchs were mortals, only the guards and the grand court ladies were immortals.

“How to get to the East Palace?” Lin Xin asked a little maid, then he hooked her sleeve and rubbed it lightly, it was rough and hard, not as expensive as Yinian’s servants’ clothes.

Seeing his action, the little maid couldn’t help blushing. She took a peek at Lin Xin’s face. The blush spread from her cheeks to her neck, “Go back, my lord, over there.”

Lin Xin nodded slightly and gave a gold medal seed. This was what he asked for from his uncle before leaving. It was a small gadget specially used by the Zhu family as a reward. Each melon seed was carved extremely delicately, with all the raised edges and corners, and there was a small “Zhu” character on the side.

The royal family was the master of the world, but the clothes of the palace people were not as good as those of the servants of Yinian Palace. Although there were reasons for the Zhu family’s extravagance and waste, it was more because of the emptiness of the state treasury.

Lin Xin looked a little dignified. If things went on like this, someone would mention the Luli order soon.

….

“I know you feel wronged, and I will explain it to you at Zhong’er’s side,” Feng Zhuoyi pushed a memorandum to him, “Look at this first.”

[We have listened to Zhu family’s praises for a long time, and if things go on like this, the king’s prestige will become weak, the country will be in turmoil, and the ancestral temple will not be able to exist. The law of Xunlu should be practiced, or the annual tribute would be cut off by the feudal lords…]

….

He tried hard to recall the handwriting on it, but a lot of time had passed and he couldn’t remember it clearly.

“Xinxin.” Shen Lou’s voice interrupted Lin Xin’s thoughts, and the moment he raised his head, the gloomy hostility that was too late to hide fell into Shen Lou’s eyes.

Shen Lou was standing at the foot of the stone steps outside the gate of the East Palace. There were no palace people following him, so he was obviously waiting for him.

Seeing this scene, Lin Xin suddenly laughed like the look on his face never existed before, and he walked forward quickly, “Are you waiting for me?”

“Well, your master said that he was afraid that you would get lost.” Shen Lou finished speaking. Only then did he realize that his behavior was a bit stupid. Lin Xin had memories from his previous life, so would he not remember the way to the East Palace.

Master? Zhu Xingli wouldn’t worry about this, he would just tell him to climb over the wall if he couldn’t find his way. Pursing his lips and suppressing a smile, recalling the phrase “only for you” said in the heavy rain in Yanqiu, his heart felt hot.

“I lied to the emperor just now.” Lin Xin took two quick steps, walked backwards in front of Shen Lou, “I said my name was intended to live up to the emperor’s grace.”

Shen Lou said seriously, “This is not called cheating, it is called using official language.”

“Hahaha,” Lin Xin couldn’t help laughing because he didn’t expect the upright Shen Shizi to say that, “Then you can also speak official language?”

“You will be Lord Marquis in the future, and I will be the prince who would have to salute you.” Shen Lou grabbed Lin Xin who was about to hit the pillar, suddenly his expression changed, he pulled him down behind him forcefully, and drew out Yu Yuan to accurately catch the sword coming from above.

The sneak attacker screamed strangely and turned around to escape, but Shen Lou hit his calf with the scabbard, and he had no choice but to come back to take the attack.

“Stop hitting, stop hitting, how can your sword be so fast!” Zhong Youyu yelled.

Shen Lou hung the unsheathed Yu Yuan sword back to his waist, “It’s not that I’m fast, it’s that you are too slow.”

“Bah!” Zhong Youyu jumped up angrily, “That’s because I let you go, let’s go to the Martial Arts Field for a fight.” In the Forbidden Palace, it was not allowed to use Luli for sword competition, if you wanted to use Luli, you had to go to the Martial Arts Field.

Shen Lou ignored him, looked up and saw the crown prince in apricot yellow uniform standing on the stone steps——seeing the prince, he bowed and saluted, “This official has seen His Royal Highness the Prince.”

“No need to be too polite,” the prince walked down the steps, followed by the silent Zhong Wumo and said, “I haven’t seen you for a long time, and Xiao Lou’s swordsmanship has improved again.”

The crown prince Feng Zhang was older than Shen Lou, with thin cheeks and narrow and long dimples at the corners of his mouth, looking a bit cold and stern.

Lin Xin hid behind Shen Lou, observing the Zhong brothers. Living under the royal eaves, the two of them certainly did not live as comfortably as the Western Regions, but they did not suffer much, since Zhong Youyu still talked more and more, while Zhong Wumo became more reticent.

He didn’t have any bad feelings towards the Zhong brothers. Zhong Changye was dead, and the revenge for killing his father had been avenged, and he would not go as far as attacking his heirs. What’s more, these two fools didn’t know anything at all.

“This is the son of Marquis Xunlu, right?” The crown prince looked at Lin Xin.

Lin Xin came out from behind Shen Lou, and greeted the crown prince, “This minister, Lin Xin has met the crown prince.”

Feng Zhang stretched out his hand to help Lin Xin up, “I heard from my father that in a few days, he will issue an order to let you accept the title.” The crown prince had been intelligent since he was a child, and although he spoke with a bit of simplicity and arrogance, he was absolutely courteous. These words seemed to show that he had been paying attention to Lin Xin’s affairs, which made people feel good.

After finishing speaking, he turned his head and teased the Zhong family brothers and Shen Lou, “Young Master Xunlu would be made a lieutenant, and if he lives up to it, he will become a marquis. You are still sons of Princes, and you would have to salute when you see him in the future.”

This was really official language, Lin Xin couldn’t help winking with Shen Lou.

With a few words, the distance between several people was shortened, the prince invited everyone to a banquet in the hall and greeted Shen Lou and Lin Xin.

“Thank you, Prince, for your kindness. But I want to go and see the sixth prince.” As soon as Lin Xin said this, everyone’s expressions changed.

Who was the sixth prince? All the royal heirs were weak, and the prince’s other brothers basically all died young. The newly found prince, His Royal Highness Sixth Prince, was a big threat to the crown prince’s status. Ordinarily, nobody would not dare to mention it in front of the prince, but Lin Xin was unlucky, he refuted the prince’s face when they met for the first time, and even proposed to see the sixth prince.

They didn’t know if he was really unreasonable, or if he had done it on purpose.

“Imperial brother is still recovering from his injuries and recuperating in Biezhuang. I’m afraid you won’t be able to see him today.” The prince said without changing his face, with a hint of displeasure in his eyes.

The injury was not healed…

Lin Xin touched his intact forearm, his eyes darkening. At this time in his previous life, he was in a daze and didn’t know how Feng Zhong was doing. But seeing him after half a year, the whole person had obviously changed a lot.

The next day, when Lin Xin found Feng Zhong, he was eating roast chicken in a teahouse in the city.

The splint on his hand had been removed, but the cloth strips were still wrapped around his arm, so he couldn’t hold anything. Standing beside him were two young and beautiful maids, one pouring water and the other holding a chicken leg.

“You are very much at ease.” Lin Xin went up and slapped him on the back of the head.

“Hmm…cough cough…” Feng Zhong choked on the chicken, and the maid who was pouring the water hurriedly handed over the teacup, let him take a big sip, and patted his chest again. After finally slowing down, he found that his senior brother was looking at him with indescribable eyes, so he felt ashamed, waved his hands and said, “Okay, you two wait outside.”

The two maids left in response, and only the senior brother and him were left in the room.

“What’s the matter with your hand?” Lin Xin pulled a hand wrapped in cloth strips to look at it, and flicked the exposed fingertips, “Has it not healed after so long?”

“Imperial physician came to see it yesterday and said it hasn’t healed well.” Feng Zhong said helplessly, it was inconvenient to not have the use of your hands, and he had to be fed by a maid for meals.

“Then you couldn’t ask someone to write a letter for you after coming back?” Lin Xin tore off the strip of cloth and pinched Feng Zhong’s arm to check.

Feng Zhong shook his head, “That way, they will notice you.” After speaking, he sighed, even though he tried his best to hide it, the emperor still found Lin Xin.

“Tsk, after eating Yongdu’s food for a few days, you are also able to say hypocritical things.” Lin Xin slapped Feng Zhong’s forearm vigorously.

“Ah, it’s broken, it’s broken!” Feng Zhong was taken aback, and quickly retracted his hand, only to find that there was nothing wrong with it after touching it, “Huh?”

His muscles and bones were intact, and he could move it freely.

Obviously he had recovered, but the imperial physician said he had not recovered, why?

“Because the day after tomorrow will be the autumn hunt at Xianchi.” Lin Xin threw the cloth strip on his head, because the master was still alive, and he had no resentment in his heart, his junior brother was really growing up like a fool, who just knew how to eat.

Shen Lou had not participated in the hunt these few years, so the crown prince had always been the first name in the autumn hunt. This year was the last time for the prince to participate in the autumn hunt in Xianchi, as next year he would start to participate in the government affairs. It would not be shameful if he lost to Shen Lou, after all, the son of Xuan Guogong[1] went to the battlefield at the age of twelve, so they were not comparable. But it would be ugly to lose to this younger brother who had appeared out of nowhere.

“The prince is really overthinking. With my aptitude, how can I win.” Feng Zhong picked up the unfinished roast chicken and continued to eat, as expected, it was comfortable to eat by himself.

Lin Xin raised his eyebrows, “That’s right, you have such poor aptitude, I’m afraid you will be ashamed. It doesn’t matter if you lose your own face, it’s not good to lose the master’s face, he is going to be a grand master.”

Feng Zhong, who was eating chicken, after hearing this, he frowned, and continued to eat the chicken sadly, “I will try my best.”

After beating his junior, Lin Xin went downstairs confidently. In the lobby, the storyteller was telling anecdotes about the southern region, and most of the people sitting on the tea table were young people who had just finished their martial arts exams.

“What you said, is it possible that the Zhu family is richer than the royal family?” Some people didn’t quite believe the storyteller’s praise of Yinian Palace. Although the entire Da Yong knew that the southern region was rich, but in the eyes of ordinary immortals and mortals, the richest people in the world should be the royal family.

“Our Da Yong only has one such vein of Luli, all in the southern region, and not even a tail left for the Central Plains. How rich do you think the Zhu family is?”

“The Zhu family is just so extravagant. The Luli dug out every year is huge. Some of them is paid the annual tribute, how can it be compared to the royal family?”

“Do you know how much Luli the Zhu family digs out and how much annual tribute they pay?”

Everyone argued, people of Da Yong couldn’t help talking, but they didn’t dare to directly say bad words about the royal family, after all, this was the imperial city, and there were dignitaries everywhere, and they might be heard by some big shot.

“The princes of the four domains hold heavy troops, and if they are too strong, they will surely cause disaster. The border should be closed and the power should belong to the emperor!” Suddenly someone said this, the audience was shocked, and the entire hall fell silent. They then turned to look towards the person who was speaking.

Lin Xin also looked over, and the person who spoke was a man in an indigo shirt, who was stared at by everyone, and soon blushed. The companions at the same table hurriedly smoothed things over, “He drank too much, everyone.”

Shen Lou, who had been waiting outside the teahouse for a long time without seeing anyone, came in, happened to see this scene, walked to Lin Xin who was watching the excitement, and said in a low voice: “That man is an ordinary person, recommended by Wang Tinghou, he will participate in spring exam next year.”

“How do you know?” Lin Xin wondered, such a small person, there should be no chance for Shen Shizi to know him.

“I’ve seen him before.” Shen Lou said without changing his face, and he didn’t say where he had seen him.

Zhu Xingli, the newly appointed grand master, refused to go to the academy to give lectures on the grounds that the autumn hunt was coming soon, and instead hid in the imperial library all day looking through ancient books.

In a blink of an eye, it was the day of hunting in Xianchi, and His Royal Highness still had not seen the Grand Master yet.

Putting on a suit with arrow sleeves, Lin Xin still followed behind Shen Lou. The imperial decree had not yet been promulgated, so he should be called Lin Xinwei’s son, but in fact Lin Xin had not been named his son, so everyone called him Young Master for the time being.

“I say, have we met somewhere?” Zhong Youyu looked at Lin Xin who was sticking to Shen Lou, and always felt that this scene seemed familiar.

The Crown Prince and His Royal Highness the Sixth Prince, who were acting a scene of deeply care for each other, turned their heads when they heard this.

Zhong Wumo tugged at his elder brother, motioning him not to talk nonsense.

But the words had already been spoken, Lin Xin didn’t intend to fool around, and replied very sincerely: “You don’t remember, we met when we were young, I am the bed warmer Shen Shizi took in, A Xin.”

Shen Lou who was checking his bow and arrow: “…”

The author has something to say:

Small theater:

Reporter Zhong Youyu: Excuse me, as a bed warmer, are you still so proud?

Star Xinxin: That’s right, relying on unspoken rules has always been a good tradition in the industry. I am very happy to contribute my strength to traditional culture.

Reporter Zhong Youyu: We are a gossip channel, not a news reporter.

Star Xinxin: Oh, is that so, ahaha, I’m always on the news, and accidentally got used to CCTV.

Reporter Zhong Youyu: What news?

Jinzhuloulou: Social News = =

“Shocked, a massacre in Yongdu, Lin Xin, the Marquis of Xunlu under serious suspicion.”