roccoschili Chapter 101 Oh no, all the elegance has vanished.
Chapter 101 Oh no, all the elegance has vanished.
Chapter 101 Oh no, all the elegance has vanished.
Lin Zhou didn't really care whether he went to the palace to defend himself or not. As the saying goes, he had neither extraordinary talent nor the power to save the world. He was just a small-time crook who came here on official business to move cultural relics in exchange for funds.
His current goal is to find a way to empty the entire collection of books in the academy. He probably has long-term goals as well, but he hasn't thought of any yet. Even his superiors haven't set a specific KPI assessment plan for him.
As for helping the world and saving people, all he did was spend more money to hire people to work and distribute medicine to those who couldn't afford it. His other work was simply to make his life more comfortable. He was a classic example of someone who had no great ambitions.
But Chen Shanzhang didn't think that way. He felt a headache just looking at Lin Zhou. He had accepted Lin Zhou as his disciple for the sake of convenience, even though he knew that Lin Zhou was just going through the motions. But as long as someone like Lin Zhou appeared, Chen Shanzhang's lifelong integrity would be completely ruined.
Putting aside the fact that this guy's knowledge is simply a headache, the key point is that the people in his circle are all involved in such despicable and filthy things. If his knowledge is bad, there is still hope, but if he is really found to have engaged in favoritism and malpractice, then he is really doomed.
Headmaster Chen sat there pondering for a long time. He believed that even if Lin Zhou passed the interrogation in front of the palace, he would quickly be exposed. The only way to protect this brat was to prevent him from being interrogated in front of the palace. However, how to avoid this hurdle was a huge problem.
Because the rules were quietly changed this year. Three years ago it was a random check, but this year it is a mandatory check. The emperor will personally set questions in front of the palace, just to prevent people like Lin Zhou who sell official positions from entering officialdom through the imperial examination.
Don't ask who came up with this proposal; Chen Shouchang's head is buzzing right now.
"What? Just because he's the son-in-law of a Jurchen, you don't want him to become an official?"
Li Qingzhao glanced at Chen Shanzhang and said, "You're getting old, but your mind is still so narrow."
"Yi'an—is that how you see me?" Headmaster Chen shook his head silently, then lowered his voice and said, "I changed the question a long time ago—if he had really filled in the old question, with multiple departments reviewing it, who wouldn't know that someone had gone off-topic? If the Wenzheng lineage were to investigate like this, where would I put my old face?"
Li Qingzhao frowned slightly, picked up her teacup, and took a sip: "Are you going to go against Qin Hui?"
"That's not quite true. To be honest, he didn't do much selling official positions—no, it should be said that he wasn't directly involved in much of it. It was mainly the Ministry of Personnel that did it. Thirty thousand strings of cash for a candidate in the provincial examination, one hundred thousand strings for a candidate in the metropolitan examination, but who knew—" Headmaster Chen glanced back at Lin Zhou, who was busy in the kitchen in the backyard: "This year, there will be such a fellow. The Emperor and I decided early on to clean up this malpractice. This matter hasn't been leaked yet, and the Emperor also wants to use this matter to curb the arrogance of these officials."
"Oh, I see. It seems that I, a woman, am quite at ease. All your scheming and intrigue is a real headache."
"Yes, indeed." Headmaster Chen shook his head slightly: "Who knew that the plan set up three months ago would backfire on me three months later? Today I came here to talk to that kid about the imperial dialogue, and by the way, I asked Yi'an for a collection of her poems."
"Oh, so I was just doing it incidentally."
"No, no, no—it's just that I'm tongue-tied," Headmaster Chen quickly denied, then said with a wry smile, "It's a combination of both. It was only when Li Yizhi mentioned this matter today that I remembered I had this treasure to look after. If he makes a mistake, not only will I be criticized, but he will also get into big trouble."
"I don't understand. Anyway, these are all the things men do." Li Qingzhao took out a collection of poems: "Consider it a gift from me."
"Thank you, Yi'an."
Opening the anthology, even the headmaster was captivated. He had missed the young woman's prime, yet it seemed he had found her again in this anthology. He looked at it for a long time, until his old eyes were failing.
"It's no use. I'm getting old. I get dizzy if I'm even a little distance away, and everything blurs when I get close." Chen Shanzhang sighed. "Yi'an, if only I could have met you back then, the one who smelled the green plum blossoms."
Li Qingzhao didn't speak, but merely turned her head and chuckled, not continuing the conversation. Instead, she changed the subject: "If you don't want to be disgraced, then you should properly settle things with your disciple. However, I am somewhat surprised. You have been upright and incorruptible your whole life, why would you go to such lengths for an ordinary disciple?"
"Ordinary? Not at all." After taking a deep breath, Chen Shanzhang looked around. "Judging from his words and actions, the mighty Song Dynasty may have to rely on him."
"Him? He's cunning, lazy, gluttonous, greedy, and lustful."
"Appearances should be judged separately. Flaws such as cunning, laziness, slyness, and greed cannot conceal the virtues of compassion and empathy. A greedy and lustful heart cannot conceal the intention to save the world and its people."
What follows is the plot of "Reborn as a first-rank Grand Tutor, I told the goddess everything about the super seed given to me by my disciple".
After hearing this, Li Qingzhao's expression was one of surprise: "Seeds?"
"The foundation of national economy and people's livelihood."
"You've given them all?"
"Including cultivation techniques," Chen Shanzhang said in a deep voice. "He could have given it to Qin Hui or the Jurchens, but he gave it to me. What can I give him? Gold and silver treasures or wealth and glory? I can't give him anything."
He could have given immense wealth to anyone else, but he chose to give it to me.
"Perhaps she knows you're an old-fashioned person, unmoved by worldly things," the old lady smiled, her smile as radiant as a young woman in her late teens.
"So you still think he's a greedy and lustful man? I talked with Yizhi all night long, do you know what he gave Yizhi?"
"How would I know?"
"The Art of Binding the Azure Dragon"
Upon hearing this, Li Qingzhao shrank back and said, "Alright, alright, don't say these things to a woman, I'm afraid."
After she finished speaking, she peeked behind her and saw Lin Zhou standing with his hands on his hips, scolding the maid who had stolen meatballs. His face was completely indifferent and righteous, and he looked completely dazed and confused.
"He's quite an unpredictable little brat."
A short while later, dishes were served one after another. Lin Zhou's face showed no trace of the pain of his answer being burned, only appreciation for his own cooking skills.
"These are called pearl meatballs. The outer layer is glutinous rice. I originally prepared eighteen, but this little one ate six. She's not very old, and if she eats six glutinous rice meatballs, she'll definitely be rolling around in pain with a stomachache tonight."
His once neatly arranged meatballs now looked like they'd been chewed by a dog, while Brother Ying next to him was grinning foolishly with glutinous rice still stuck to his lips.
"It's alright, what child in the world doesn't have a gluttonous appetite?" The headmaster was quite magnanimous: "Today I'm also fortunate to be able to eat the meal prepared by my disciple, thanks to Yi'an."
"Hey old man, that's not fair of you. I prepared this especially for you. If it were just for the old lady, I would have gone out for drinks with her tonight."
"Don't mind him, that old guy has always been like this, all shy and hesitant."
"You little rascal, no one in the world dares to call the Grand Tutor 'old man'!" Headmaster Chen slammed his hand on the table: "Insolence!"
"How about I offer you one of the dishes I serve?"
The meal was filled with laughter and chatter. Although Chen Shanzhang was the leader of the Qingliu faction, he was not an unreasonable person who cared about etiquette. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so persistent in pursuing a woman in her sixties at the age of seventy.
In the end, the old man couldn't outdrink the old woman, and ended up drunk, his face flushed and him swaying unsteadily.
"Stop pouring, or the old man will drink himself to death!" Lin Zhou quickly stepped forward to support Chen Shanzhang: "I want to take him back. You guys keep drinking. After you take him back, the old lady can stay here so she won't have to run around early tomorrow morning."
"Alright, this old fellow is really useless." Li Qingzhao glanced at Headmaster Chen: "These two cups of wine won't do."
"He's seventy, old lady—"
They hailed a carriage and took the old man back to the academy. Lin Zhou and the academy's servants helped him onto his bed. As Lin Zhou was instructing the servants to take good care of him and not leave him unattended that night, the old man, still dazed, opened his eyes and cried out, "Pingzhi—"
"Hey! I'm here."
"Don't cheat!"
"Okay, okay, you burned all the cheat sheets, I'm totally doomed this time —"
But the old man clearly only uttered a whistle unconsciously before falling into a deep sleep.
Seeing his condition, Lin Zhou said to the servant, "Alright, stop watching him. Go tell the people inside that I'm staying here tonight to take care of the old man. When you come back, tell my maid to bring over the little box by my bedside. There's some emergency medicine inside."
After the servant bowed and left, Lin Zhou set up a makeshift bed on the floor inside the room. He then glanced back at the old man and sighed helplessly, "He's so old, yet he still tries to show off in front of the young lady!"