Chapter Thirteen

What the heck? She was the one causing trouble? He was only a lowly study attendant. What gave him the right to act so high and mighty toward a newly admitted Academy Student?

"I'm going to bathe and change first. I'll cook you something tasty tonight." As Zhu Xiaojiu spoke, he took off his outer robe and undid his plain Undergarment. He was about to lift the curtain and enter the bathing room when a sharp glint struck Zhu Bafu's eyes—

A tiny amber Seal hung around Zhu Xiaojiu's slender, fair neck...

"W-wait! Xiaojiu! Stop right there!"

"What is it?" Zhu Xiaojiu turned around, puzzled.

"The Seal around your neck..." A tiny coiled-dragon handle, amber of the finest quality, and most importantly, the deep-red character "Revenue" carved into its face... Wasn't this exactly what Young Master Piao had described? Those shadowy figures behind the court—the Emperor's Think Tank, the Six Ministries of Dongxu Mansion, the Commander Mansion, those future court officials—were supposed to give the Six Ministries Seals to their wives, concubines, and lovers as tokens of love!

They were red-blooded men, weren't they? Shouldn't they like mature women? Then why was the Ministry of Revenue's Seal on Xiaojiu? Why, why, why?! She was tangled in knots, on the brink of collapse, and going out of her mind...

"Xiaojiu! Where did you pick this up?"

Zhu Xiaojiu frowned and tugged the little Seal back from his sister's hand, settling it against his chest again. "What do you mean, 'pick it up'? Someone gave it to me."

W-what?! A Cut Sleeve? A child lover?

Xiaojiu was the Zhu Household's only bloodline, its lifeblood, its heir, its studhorse! How could he become someone else's wife or concubine or lover?!

As his sister, she wouldn't allow it. Absolutely not!

Nooooo!

Author's note:

=.= I got back late today and posted an hour later than promised. That one's on me~~

So many Little Enchantresses seem to think I've vanished, hahaha. Are you that surprised to see me alive and kicking? I've been bouncing around this whole time~

Chapter Thirteen

Firecrackers crackled, and gongs and drums thundered.

The opening ceremony of Dongxu Mansion, the academy directly under the Ministry of Personnel, officially began in Year 6 of Tianjuan.

Two rows of couplets unfurled from above—the first read: "Grind through an iron inkstone; five hundred commoners vie to wash away their shame." The second answered: "Pierce the gall of winter; from three thousand surging waves, seize the dragon's head."

Under the blazing sun, the newly admitted Academy Students held their freshly issued uniforms and listened to the address with lowered eyes and modestly bowed heads.

The Dean was a refined gentleman whose topknot clung by a thread to his pointy head—if it had hair, it wasn't bald—and threatened to topple at the slightest breeze. Holding a cup of tea, he stroked his salt-and-pepper beard. The moment he started wagging his head, spittle flew everywhere. A few snow-white flecks even caught in his beard, much to Zhu Bafu's dismay.

"Our, ahem, Dongxu Mansion... Ah, Dongxu Mansion. Our Dongxu Mansion, you see, falls under the court's Ministry of Personnel..."

Great! One sentence, and ninety-eight percent of it was nonsense.

"Our Dongxu Mansion, you see, it... it... ah, it could only have come this far under the guidance and loving care of the great, supremely noble, long-lived, one and only dazzling star of our dynasty! Therefore! Every Academy Student of Dongxu Mansion—that is to say, you, all of you, the pillars of our future! Yes, I mean you! Do you know who you are? Hmm?"

What was this supposed to be? If I didn't know who I was, would I be standing here listening to your drivel for two whole incense sticks? And I'm supposed to be a pillar of the court with brains like that? You've barely got any hair left, so how dare you keep those precious locks exposed to the dangerous air? Hurry up and finish already!

Oblivious to Zhu Bafu's muttering, the Dean continued with undiminished fervor. "You! You are the future pillars of the court! Sons of Heaven's Disciples! To be a Son of Heaven's Disciple is your honor! Your glory! An incomparable favor bestowed by His Majesty! Thus, the rules of Dongxu Mansion are strict. They are the last instructions of Emperor □□. Next, I—the esteemed Academy Student of Dongxu Mansion—shall introduce the stern rules our institution has upheld for a hundred years!"

What? Was he only now getting to the point?

"Ahem! Now then... Rule one: Be loyal to your sovereign and love your country. The proper order of sovereign and subject: the sovereign is revered above all sages, while the subject assists through benevolence... His Majesty is the one to whom you owe your loyalty. Since ancient times, loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and righteousness have been the customary virtues of a gentleman..."

"His Majesty hasn't come? Where the hell has he run off to this time?" A cool voice cut in from below the side of the dais, interrupting the Dean's torrential lecture on the "rules of □□."

"...The rites between sovereign and subject... a century of rules..." The Dean's voice dwindled...

"Go back and tell His Majesty I've taken note of his absence from the welcome ceremony for the Academy Students! I'll see him tomorrow before the ancestral tablets in the □□ Temple. Tell him to be ready to kneel!"

"Sovereign... subject..." The Dean's voice trembled...

"His Imperial Noble Consort will answer for it too! Both of them will kneel for the length of an incense stick!"

The earnest instruction droned on like a decadent tune as a slender figure swept briskly past the assembled Academy Students.

Clad in satin and brocade, with soft jade hanging at his waist, Li Chenjing's fine brows and intent gaze did not so much as stir. His cold eyes swept toward the Dean on the dais, whose legs were trembling and whose small eyes blinked in confusion.

Should he go on with his lecture about "the rites between sovereign and subject"? That was the question. After all, his "sovereign" would be kneeling tomorrow alongside his Imperial Noble Consort. If he truly was loyal to his sovereign, shouldn't he immediately raise the Imperial Sword housed in the academy and cut down this imposing, distinguished Chief Counselor before him?

How dared a subject bully the Emperor for whom he would gladly lay down his life? How dared he make the brightest star of □□ kneel at the Imperial Ancestral Temple? He wouldn't even spare the sovereign's Imperial Noble Consort! How cruel, despicable, and utterly lacking in public decency! Was there no law left, no order under heaven, no proper relations, no court protocol? Most importantly, he hadn't even finished explaining the rule about loyalty to sovereign and country, and Grand Secretary Li had already made his beloved master kneel on the ground! What the hell was he supposed to do now?!

The Imperial Sword! The Imperial Sword! Cut him down, and let one of us die!