No Sucker

"Inviting Li Shaojun to serve as an official in the court will exempt him from a year's salary and reward him with three thousand gold pieces?"

If we're talking about people who have a certain level of fame but are hard to find, Li Shaojun certainly qualifies.

Relying on his abilities to feign death and age, Li Shaojun is truly elusive.

It's quite normal for Zhang Xuezhou to use Li Shaojun as a shield, especially since he had actually met Li Shaojun before, and he spoke to the Grand Historian Sima Tan without even blinking.

Zhang Xuezhou did not expect that after Sima Tan tipped him off, the new emperor would become interested in Li Shaojun.

The caravan departed from Suiyang and traveled day and night back to Chang'an City, changing mounts and wheels along the way.

By the fifth day, Zhang Xuezhou and his group were already in Luoyang, 800 li away from Chang'an City.

If they set off at dawn after adjustments, their caravan could enter Chang'an City by evening. The caravan would then have a final adjustment period, and the magistrate of Luoyang would arrange areas for everyone to wash up and eat.

Zhang Xuezhou tidied himself up before being summoned by the new emperor.

He accepted the new emperor's punishment, something he had been mentally prepared for after hearing Sima Tan mention it. He was somewhat bothered, but Zhang Xuezhou could barely accept working for free for a year, since his job was very easy. However, Zhang Xuezhou didn't expect Li Shaojun to fetch such a good price.

If Li Shaojun is willing to go to Chang'an City to serve as an official, he will not only receive a year's salary, but will also be rewarded with three strings of cash as a referral bonus.

For a normal person, this would be a good way to make money, but considering Li Shaojun's unreliability, Zhang Xuezhou readily agreed, but had no intention of actually doing it.

"I've heard that you need a 'Life-Creating Pill' for your treatment," the new emperor said with a smile. "If that young master Li can refine this pill, I can send him to the Imperial Medical Academy to select various medicinal herbs to refine it. That way, you can also be cured!"

"Alchemy..."

Zhang Xuezhou opened his mouth.

Sima Tan informed the new emperor of many things, but due to his limited knowledge of elixirs, the new emperor may not yet know what level of great medicine the Life Creation Pill is.

"Your Majesty, Li Shaojun said that the ingredients for the Life-Creating Pill are rare, and it is a top-grade medicine," Zhang Xuezhou said.

"With the combined power of the entire realm, how could I possibly fail to refine a few pills?" the new emperor readily agreed. "No matter what rare medicinal ingredients are needed, as long as he can refine them, this pill will be made for you!"

"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty!"

Whether Li Shaojun can refine the Life-Creating Pill is one thing, but even if Li Shaojun doesn't have the Pill Formula, Zhang Xuezhou feels that he and Li Shaojun will definitely come up with Pill Formula.

This is practically like the new emperor promising to give away a large amount of medicine for free.

Zhang Xuezhou had no intention of recommending Li Shaojun, and Li Shaojun probably had little interest in becoming an official in the court either. However, with the new emperor's words as a guarantee, their attitudes would change drastically.

If Luoyang City weren't so far from Fengxize, and if Li Shaojun's whereabouts weren't so uncertain, Zhang Xuezhou would have almost wanted to bring Li Shaojun over immediately.

"Now that you've met Li Shaojun, take the opportunity to persuade him to come to the court and utilize his strengths," the new emperor said with a smile. "Don't let others beat you to it and recommend him first!"

"Your Majesty, this man is extremely difficult to find. I only happened to see his appearance and then chased after him in Suiyang City to seek medical help," Zhang Xuezhou said. "Finding him now will be a difficult task, and it will probably take some time!"

"Is his whereabouts so unpredictable?" the new emperor asked with a smile.

"Your Majesty, I have heard that Li Shaojun is in the South City today, in the North City tomorrow, and then went to the West the day after. These places are all hundreds of miles apart, so his whereabouts are indeed very difficult to track!"

Before Zhang Xuezhou could respond, Sima Xiangru, who was sitting below the new emperor, did.

He also nodded in Zhang Xuezhou's direction.

Sima Xiangru and Zhang Xuezhou didn't have a good relationship; they had only met once. However, he genuinely hoped that Zhang Xuezhou could find Li Shaojun soon and see if he could cure his eyes.

The Liang State of Liang, where King Liang resided, also had many talented individuals, and Liang Garden was full of skilled people. Sima Xiangru sought to see many people, but none of them could fully restore his sight.

Sima Xiangru couldn't help but place a sliver of hope in Li Shaojun.

He still held a high degree of goodwill towards Zhang Xuezhou, who was able to find Li Shaojun, and hoped that the other party could successfully complete the matter.

"If Your Majesty wishes for Dongfang Shuo to search for Li Shaojun, Dongfang Shuo will need a good horse, and the timeframe will also need to be flexible," Sima Xiangru.

"I need two horses," Zhang Xuezhou corrected, "I'm seriously ill now, and my cousin has to take care of me!"

"Are you seriously ill?" Sima Xiangru surprise.

"My head was opened by the imperial physician, and I sometimes fall into a coma for several days. At present, only the Life-Creating Pill mentioned by Li Shaojun can cure my illness," Zhang Xuezhou said.

"You really are pathetic!"

Sima Xiangru pang of sympathy.

He had been blind for several years and felt all sorts of inconveniences; little did he know that Zhang Xuezhou's life was also difficult.

He was quite curious about what exactly happened when Zhang Xuezhou entered the Liang Prince's residence, and where he went with the Liang Prince afterward.

However, Zhang Xuezhou's current situation was indeed quite dire, so he had to suppress his own thoughts and instead try to persuade the new emperor to be more lenient with Zhang Xuezhou's conditions.

"That Sima Xiangru is so ignorant!"

The new emperor summoned some of his close advisors, including Sima Xiangru, Sima Tan, and others.

Hearing these people discussing inviting Li Shaojun and wanting him to refine the Life-Creating Pill, Sima Tan felt it was all nonsense.

As the Grand Historian, he was only responsible for recording but did not express his opinions, and he let these people discuss things on their own.

In the end, Zhang Xuezhou not only avoided immediate punishment, but also gained two fine horses, two strings of cash for travel expenses, and an official document from various local governments acknowledging their cooperation and assistance.

"Your Majesty, Dongfang Shuo is a scholar-official at the Golden Horse Gate. Under normal circumstances, he should be serving in the court and doing what he can!"

Only after Zhang Xuezhou received the order and withdrew did Sima Tan speak.

"Isn't he doing what he can right now?" the new emperor said with a smile.

Thinking about the problem of Zhang Xuezhou's privately established rules for the entrance exam, the new emperor felt that this guy would have at least six months to lie low.

Rather than letting Zhang Xuezhou lie around in Chang'an City doing nothing, he might as well send him out to do something, which would be a good way to make good use of his free time.

Not to mention the two-month timeframe mentioned by Sima Xiangru, the new emperor felt that it would be fine to recruit Li Shaojun to the court within six months.

His actions might have made him seem like a sucker, but the new emperor never felt he had been taken advantage of.

Zhang Xuezhou's illness left many imperial physicians helpless, and the new emperor knew without a doubt that the price of such a life-saving elixir would be very high.

The problem wasn't that he was given the elixir to cure Zhang Xuezhou's illness; the real problem was that he didn't have such an elixir.

The efficacy of this elixir, capable of curing Zhang Xuezhou's rare disease, must be beyond ordinary people's imagination.

Even if Zhang Xuezhou were given a single Great Pill, as long as there were any remaining stock or the Pill Formula was obtained, the new emperor would still have profited.

Perhaps at some point, he would lack such an elixir.

Rather than scrambling at the last minute, it's perfectly fine for him to prepare in advance.