"I'm afraid His Majesty will receive a whole bunch of memorials in court tomorrow accusing me of ruining public morals by visiting male prostitutes in broad daylight!"
The night was getting a bit chilly now.
Cui Jintang slowly sat up and pulled the brocade quilt over herself.
Yawning, she drawled lazily, "Aren't you never bothered about such things?"
Qi Xutao dragged over a stool and plopped herself down in front of Cui Jintang.
Looking dead serious, she said, "This is different!"
"I didn't care before because those things were truly what I wanted to do. But who does this Xue Wuyou think he is, ruining my reputation time and time again?"
"Out in the frontier, he came to find me for no reason in the middle of the night, saying he wasn't satisfied with the fight during the day and insisting on having another round with me. Only after exhausting himself did he go back to sleep!"
"Tangtang, have you ever met a psycho who can fight from night till dawn? He is one."
Qi Xutao pouted, fuming, "I could barely move the next morning. Every bone in my body was aching!"
The pain woke Qi Xutao up amidst the "cracking" sounds.
This cracked Cui Jintang up.
She hugged the quilt, shaking with laughter, "Then your body is in really bad shape."
Qi Xutao waved her hand nonchalantly, "Can't help it. You get like this when you're old."
Seeing Cui Jintang yawning and about to doze off again, Qi Xutao quickly grabbed her quilt and shook it.
Her eyes sparkled as she asked, "Guess what I saw on my way back just now?"
Cui Jintang closed her eyes, her voice softening a bit, "Mmm, what did you see?"
Qi Xutao leaned in mysteriously towards Cui Jintang, "Luo Xiang!"
"Luo Xiang came out of Pei Zhaolin's tent looking like a mess!"
No sooner had she said that than Cui Jintang snapped wide awake.
She sat up straight and raised an eyebrow at Qi Xutao, "Go on."
"Can you believe it? Luo Xiang was bold enough to drug Pei Zhaolin with an aphrodisiac..."
Seeing Cui Jintang fling off the quilt and jump up, Qi Xutao quickly grabbed her, "Don't be hasty. Pei Zhaolin didn't let you down!"
"I know."
A frown creased Cui Jintang's brow, "I'm going to find Luo Xiang!"
How dare she keep causing trouble? Did she really think Cui Jintang was that easy to mess with?
"It's too late. I heard she's been thrown out along with those filthy drugs."
Qi Xutao said, "That's not the point. The drug Luo Xiang used came from the Western Regions."
Cui Jintang repeated doubtfully, "The Western Regions?"
Suddenly, as if struck by lightning, Cui Jintang seemed to remember something.
She turned back, got back into bed, crossed her legs, and sat facing Qi Xutao.
"A few days ago in Qinghe, I ran into some people. They were all controlled by Gu worms, and their thoughts and actions were not their own. But after the Gu worms were removed, they all forgot what happened during that time."
Cui Jintang said, "The Shu Kingdom is the most powerful in the Western Regions. You're on good terms with the hostage prince. Could you do me a favor and find out if there's anyone there who's good at making this kind of Gu?"
Qi Xutao clicked her tongue, "Sure."
Just thinking about Xue Wuyou's face, she let out a groan and flopped down beside Cui Jintang.
Having a single conversation with Xue Wuyou was enough to shave ten years off her life!
---
The autumn outing ended in a hurry.
When the emperor learned that Qi Xutao hadn't taken a fancy to any of the candidates, he fell silent for half an hour.
Then he glanced at the mountain of memorials accusing Qi Xutao and fell silent for another half an hour.
The emperor was truly at his wit's end.
He waved Qi Xutao away wearily, "I still need to discuss some matters with Imperial Censor Meng from the Hanlin Academy. You may go back first."
Qi Xutao fled the imperial study as if her life depended on it.
Before leaving, she absentmindedly glanced at Imperial Censor Meng.
She noticed that he was carrying a bulging stack of documents in his arms.
Since it was no trouble at all, Qi Xutao helped him carry some.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a man standing behind Imperial Censor Meng with his head down. Jokingly, she said, "These aren't the documents from the scholars accusing me, are they?"
Imperial Censor Meng was taken aback. Once he realized what was going on, he quickly passed some of the documents in his hands to the man behind him.
Then he took the ones from Qi Xutao.
"Your Highness is joking. These are all the answers the scholars submitted for the autumn academic discussions on the topics set by His Majesty."
Only then did Qi Xutao notice that the man following Imperial Censor Meng looked a bit familiar, "Who is this?"
Imperial Censor Meng gave the man a look, and the latter quickly knelt down.
"Your Highness, I'm Chen Mingyuan, a student from Dehua Academy."
Qi Xutao frowned and thought hard. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in her head.
"I have a bit of an impression."
"Are you the one who won the debate against Chu Yingfeng?"
The panicked look on Chen Mingyuan's face froze for a moment. He lowered his head even more to avoid showing his emotions in front of Qi Xutao, "Yes."
Imperial Censor Meng reminded her cautiously, "Your Highness, His Majesty is still waiting for me in the imperial study..."
Qi Xutao didn't think much of it. She replied and walked straight out.
Before leaving, she couldn't help but mutter, "I've never seen His Majesty take the autumn academic discussions so seriously before..."
Imperial Censor Meng carried the documents and turned to urge Chen Mingyuan, who was still standing there, "What are you daydreaming about? Hurry up and follow me."
As if waking up from a dream, Chen Mingyuan strode forward and followed Imperial Censor Meng into the imperial study, step by step.
---
In front of an old courtyard in the southern part of the city, a large crowd of onlookers had gathered.
Their pointing fingers, whispered conversations, and the sweltering heat of late summer mingled together, making people feel even more irritated.
"Isn't this Chu Yingfeng, the one who stole the show in this year's autumn academic discussions?"
"Sure is! I heard he lost the last debate to someone else. And then he refused the invitation to become the son-in-law of the Grand Tutor of the Imperial College..."
"He's offended the Grand Tutor. I'm afraid his official career is over! But he really looks pitiful."
The man being talked about was Chu Yingfeng, who had just been kicked out by his landlord. He merely let out a soft sigh.
His long blue robe had faded from numerous washings but was still neat and tidy.
At this moment, he was standing beside his luggage and bookcase, his back straight as he faced the imposing landlord.
"There's still half a month until the rent is due. Why are you kicking me out now?"
"Don't you know who you've offended, Young Master Chu?" The landlord put her hands on her hips and spat out the words.
"Don't make things difficult for a poor soul like me. If you can't come up with three hundred cash today, you'd better leave right away! Don't make me call the police!"
Chu Yingfeng tightly clutched the few copper coins left in his sleeve. His voice remained calm, "Could you give me three more days? I'll pay you back as soon as my painting is sold..."
"Painting? Come on!" The landlord sneered, "You said two days ago that your painting would fetch a good price. But has any art gallery in the capital dared to buy it?"
Chu Yingfeng's face darkened slightly. Just as he was about to retort, the landlord roughly grabbed his bookcase.
"If you don't get out, I'll smash all your books!"
"Stop!" Chu Yingfeng rushed forward to stop her but was pushed and staggered back a few steps.
The bookcase crashed to the ground with a "thud", and the books inside scattered everywhere.
Along with them fell a pair of silver bracelets with inlaid gold patterns of twin lotus flowers.
That was the only relic his mother left him!
A flicker of pain flashed across Chu Yingfeng's eyes. He quickly picked up the silver bracelets and examined them carefully.
"This thing looks like it's worth a few coppers—"
The landlord's eyes lit up, and she reached out to grab it!