Xie Ke glanced at him and replied in a low voice: "The emperor wants me to participate in this year's martial arts champion examination."
"Isn't that right?" Lu Linhai asked in surprise, "The imperial guards already have official ranks, how could they possibly participate in the selection of the top martial arts champion?"
Xie Ke shook his head and corrected, "It's not a selection, it's an examination."
The plot is very different from the previous life. In the previous life, the civil selection was done by Xu Daxueshi and Fu Zhiyu, and the military selection was done by Lu Linhai's father, General Lu. This time, the civil selection was done by the third prince and Prime Minister Xue. In order to maintain balance, General Lu saw that he could not suppress these two ambitious people, so he replaced them with Xie Lin and Xie Ke.
This was a great job. The imperial examination was held every three years, and the emperor and all the civil and military officials in the court were watching closely. It would be easy for Xie Ke to stand out. It was also obvious that the emperor wanted to train Xie Ke.
But Xie Ke, the person involved, did not look happy at all. His face was still gloomy. Lu Linhai and Du Yin looked at each other and kept silent.
Xie Ke stood alone in his seat, and he couldn't help but become distracted.
He didn't sleep last night, so he wasn't in a very good mood today, but his mind kept working and couldn't stop.
Yesterday, Yuan Mingdao's glance made him think of many things in an instant, and he missed the time to stop Zhiyu. By the time he reacted, Zhiyu's carriage had already left.
Xie Ke sat alone in the private room for a long time. He reached out and carefully touched the wine glass that Fu Zhiyu had touched, but the wine he carefully prepared was not liked by Fu Zhiyu, and he did not drink a single sip.
Finally, he drank the wine slowly by himself, kissing the edge of the glass where Fu Zhiyu's fingertips had touched. Then he drank the whole jar of wine he brought. This kind of wine is easy to drink, but it is easy to get drunk. Xie Ke, who can drink so much, had red eyes after drinking it.
He stayed in the private room for a long time, so long that the shop owner couldn't help but come over to urge him several times. He was so frightened by his appearance that his voice was shaking. Only then did Xie Ke react, leave here, and lead his horse towards Xie Mansion.
It was too late and there was no one on the street. Xie Ke staggered along the street alone, with only the "clack clack" sound of horse hooves hitting the road to accompany him.
Just around the corner from Xie's house, he heard footsteps coming from behind.
It was obvious that the man had never learned martial arts. It was an extremely cold winter day and Xie Ke could even hear the man gasping for breath, as if he couldn't stand the cold any more.
"Thank you, young master. Please, please stay."
He heard the man's voice coming from behind him, and even though he was drunk, he could still tell who that person was.
After all, he was the person who had followed him for almost his entire life in his previous life. Especially since Shen Yang was a prime minister who had never practiced martial arts, and who had even rushed up to him like a madman and stabbed him in the end, almost causing the mission to fail prematurely, how could he not recognize him
Xie Ke slowly turned around and looked at the familiar face.
"I am Shen Yang, a student of Xu Daxueshi. I have something important to discuss with Young Master Xie." Shen Yang seemed to have been waiting here for a long time. His teeth were chattering in the cold, but he still stood here firmly. "It is a very important matter."
"Heh," Xie Ke stared at him with bloodshot eyes, and said, "What important thing can you have?"
Shen Yang stood there, frightened by his beast-like eyes, but still raised his head and said: "I am willing to make a deal with Young Master Xie, but this is not the place to talk."
Xie Ke stared at him for a long time, but in the end he didn't chase him away. He just turned around and said, "Come with me."
If it were someone else, they would not so easily agree to continue communicating with this ordinary scholar who came to them in the middle of the night for no apparent reason and asked to make a deal, but Xie Ke was different.
The winter wind had woken him up. When he arrived at the place, Xie Ke was sober as to be awake. He knew exactly what he was doing.
He had bought this small house a long time ago, and it was quite a distance away from the Xie Mansion. After all, the Xie Mansion was no longer Xie Ke's place, and some things were not suitable to be done there, so this place was built.
It was already late at night. The servant smelled a strong odor of alcohol on Xie Ke, and saw that he had brought someone in to discuss something. He tactfully made a pot of strong tea, brought it in, and left quickly, leaving the two men alone to continue talking.
Shen Yang held the teacup, took a sip of tea to warm himself up, then frowned slightly, but saw Xie Ke staring at him, with no trace of friendliness in his eyes.
It was a scrutinizing look, as if measuring his worth.
"I won't beat around the bush with Young Master Xie," Shen Yang met his gaze and said, "This year's imperial examination is coming up, and I will definitely take first place."
When others heard this, they would definitely laugh at his arrogance. Although Shen Yang was famous for his talent, there were so many talented candidates, and his guarantee was a bit outrageous.
However, Xie Ke did not refute out loud, he just narrowed his eyes slightly.
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Shen Yang continued speaking in one go: "I know that Young Master Xie has big plans for the future. When I pass the imperial examination, I am willing to serve Young Master Xie, even at the cost of my life. I only ask that you agree to one request, and keep one person safe."
"… who?"
"Prince Zhao, Fu Zhiyu," Shen Yang said, "Young Master Xie can do whatever he wants in the future. It is now known to everyone that Prince Zhao's brain is damaged, and he does not pose any threat. I just hope that he has a peaceful and worry-free Christmas Eve."
Xie Ke laughed and said, "Shen Yang, do you know that if I tell the emperor this, you will be arrested as a traitor. Do you still want to win the imperial examination?"
"You won't," Shen Yang was not panicked at all, as if he had already studied Xie Ke's current personality and plans, "I also ask Young Master Xie to rest assured that my abilities are definitely more than that."
"Your ability?" Xie Ke raised his eyebrows and looked at him with a half-smile. "You feel that you have been reborn and know what will happen next, so you feel confident and are not afraid of anything, right?"
Shen Yang was startled and the teacup in his hand fell to the ground, spilling water all over the floor. He stood up suddenly, like a rabbit with its tail caught.
"You! How could you...?"
"How could I possibly know, right?" Xie Ke sneered, as if he was talking to Shen Yang, but also as if he was talking to himself, "You are not the only one who has been reborn."
Just as Shen Yang felt that he understood Xie Ke, Xie Ke also understood him very well.
After Shen Yang followed him, it was no exaggeration to say that he had undergone a complete transformation. He had been a powerful prime minister for a long time, and he also had a hobby of drinking tea. It was no exaggeration to say that the kind of tea he drank at that time was one in a million.
The tea in Xie Ke's mansion was certainly not bad. At least it was excellent tea for a poor scholar. However, he was so cold that he only took a small sip of the bowl of hot tea and refused to drink any more.
Add to that what he said and what he did. In his previous life, Shen Yang, who was a poor scholar at this age, couldn't even defend himself when he was wrongly accused of cheating. Now he dared to boast in front of him. How could Xie Ke, who was stimulated by Yuan Ming Dao and had many thoughts, not guess this possibility? He was not stupid.