After dealing with Hu Meiniang for a while, Hu Ze's Avatar left the palace grounds, preparing to return to his military camp.
He had only just arrived and still had plenty to do. He had no time to teach Hu Meiniang, step by step, how to give birth to a noble son soon.
Still, a demoness like her was an old hand at competing for favor in the imperial harem, so he probably had no need to worry.
Just as Hu Ze's Avatar was leaving the city, Li Chen's true body, disguised as the Green Lotus Hermit, entered this Ancient Capital of Great Qian with his maid Xiao Qian, each riding a little donkey.
His first destinations on this journey were the four world-famous academies in the Sacred Capital.
In a secluded, timeworn courtyard at Yongzhen Academy, a Grand Confucian sensed something and suddenly opened his eyes. He told the attendant boy standing beside him, "An honored guest has arrived. Hurry and tell the academy's students to straighten their attire and go out to welcome him."
With that, he too left the courtyard where he had secluded himself to study and headed for the entrance.
"I am Tang Bai of Great Tang in the eastern lands, courtesy name Taibai, sobriquet Green Lotus. I have long heard that Yongzhen Academy stands foremost among all academies under heaven, and have come expressly to make friends through literature and exchange insights into the sage dao."
"Tang Taibai, sobriquet Green Lotus? Could you be the renowned overseas Grand Confucian of the southeast, the Green Lotus Hermit?" Startled, the Grand Confucian of Yongzhen Academy hastily asked.
"Indeed I am." Li Chen smiled. The persona he had painstakingly built over these twelve years was finally beginning to prove useful.
"Make friends through literature and exchange insights