Chapter 612: 293 Prime Minister’s Favor (One More)_3 Chapter 612: 293 Prime Minister’s Favor (One More)_3 His oil lamp was almost out.
He went to the east room and fetched the lamp from there.
Having nothing better to do, Xiao Liulang started to organize the books.
Due to the sheer volume of work, they had sorted through less than a third and hadn’t even begun to repair the damaged ancient texts.
Xiao Liulang had been at Hanlin Academy for less than a month, and it was thanks to Feng Lao’s teachings that he had a strong grasp of history. Feng Lao’s collection, which he left to Xiao Liulang, contained many historical books.
“Huizong rode his horse to Yanbei Pass, desiring to cross the Yanshui River…”
Xiao Liulang had the fortune of reading this passage in Feng Lao’s books; it described the second emperor of the former dynasty, Wen Huizong, leading the troops personally into battle.
That day, the weather was atrocious, making river crossing ill-advised.
Wen Huizong ignored the counsel, intent on proceeding, and luckily a fisherwoman risked her life to stop him. Later that night, a heavy downpour and a sudden rise in the Yanshui river with ceaseless whirlpools made Huizong realize that he and his military officers had narrowly escaped disaster.
Upon returning, against his ministers’ opposition, Huizong resolutely granted the fisherwoman the title of his wife.
It was a story that should have been sung about for ages, but the fisherwoman’s fate was not a fortunate one.
In the Imperial Harem of three thousand beauties, people only saw the smile of the new and never heard the weeping of the old.
Starting from her third year in the palace, the fisherwoman never saw the emperor again. She grew old in the depths of the Forbidden City and before dying, she left behind a “Yanbei Rhapsody,” laying out her lifelong loneliness and suffering.
The very “Yanbei Rhapsody” they needed was conveniently missing here.
Xiao Liulang dipped his brush and filled in the missing “Yanbei Rhapsody.”
A servant, responsible for watching over the Courtyard, arrived.
He was watching the property for the original owner, coming around every three to five days. He was visiting now, concerned about more leaks in the roof after last night’s rainfall.
He first went to the East Study Room. But upon entering, the sight of a person sprawled over the desk caused him to fall on his rear end: “A ghost—”
His reaction to mistake the other person for a ghost was no surprise since all the doors were locked—who else could have entered but a ghost?
Xiao Liulang was awakened by his shout, his head, which had been resting on his arm, slowly lifted.
It was a face, which despite the imprint of pressure, remained impeccably perfect.
The servant was stunned.
This… this wasn’t a ghost, surely it was a celestial being!
And moreover… the room was spotless clean. If this wasn’t the work of a celestial, what was it?
Although court officials might come to tidy up, he had just been there yesterday morning; how could those delicate officials have managed to clean everything up so quickly?
Xiao Liulang had organized the books in the west room the previous night, and seeing that it was still not dawn, he had sorted this side of the east room until he fell asleep just as it was about to get light.
“What time is it?” Xiao Liulang sat up straight, straightened his clothes, and asked calmly.
The servant answered in a daze, “It’s the third quarter of the chen hour.”
Xiao Liulang frowned slightly: “It’s that late already.”
Hanlin Academy had a punctual start at chen hour.
Xiao Liulang looked at him, “Is there a carriage nearby?”
“There is, at the Tea Shed. Young Master… er… do you need a carriage?”
Xiao Liulang opened his purse, took out a silver coin, and handed it to him: “Please hire a carriage for me.”
“Alright!” The servant stepped forward, took the silver coin with both hands, and went out to hire a carriage for Xiao Liulang.
Xiao Liulang then stood up and planned to go to the Backyard to fetch some water to wash up.
As the servant turned back, he just so happened to see Xiao Liulang, walking with a crutch, coming out of the east room.
He was stunned: “Ah…”
Xiao Liulang took the carriage back to the Capital City.
He wasn’t the only one on the carriage; there were two other traders heading to the Capital City, who had hired the carriage first, so they would be dropped off first.
Since their destination was not far from Hanlin Academy, Xiao Liulang decided to go straight to the Academy.
As soon as he entered Hanlin, Ning Zhiyuan came up to him hurriedly: “Liulang, where have you been? You’re so late coming to Hanlin Academy! Don’t you know tardiness will be recorded? Yang Xiuzhuan was furious just now! He left for now!”
Xiao Liulang replied, “It wasn’t intentional, they didn’t call me when they returned last night… Wait, you said Yang Xiuzhuan blew up?”
Ning Zhiyuan said, “Yes, he was saying what’s wrong with you? Are you acting high and mighty just because you’re the top scorer in the imperial examination… Oh, what were you saying about ‘didn’t call for you’?”
As Xiao Liulang was about to answer, at that moment, Cen Bianxiu walked out of his office holding several books. Spotting Xiao Liulang, he halted in his steps.
Then, his eyes flickered, and he guiltily lowered them as if he hadn’t seen anything and walked past Xiao Liulang.
Ning Zhiyuan wasn’t familiar with Cen Bianxiu and was oblivious to any previous discord between him and Xiao Liulang. He did not notice his odd behavior, but he did catch Xiao Liulang’s gaze that lingered on Cen Bianxiu.