No matter who exposed his intentions and true colors, Chu Kuan would remain calm. However, he never expected that Zhu Ying, who was considered by both the officialdom and the woman in the backyard to be beautiful but brainless, could see through his thoughts. Although he did not try too hard to hide it, Zhu Ying should not be the first person to discover it...
Although he reacted calmly to Zhu Ying's questioning, and appeared calm in front of the emperor after Zhu Ying left in a huff, when he followed the emperor to attend the final of the imperial chef selection competition the next day, when he met Zhu Ying on the third floor, he turned his head away to avoid her merciless snort, which was more cold than fiery.
He knew that since Zhu Ying understood what he meant, she was probably just acting. Her hostility was probably pretended, but her dissatisfied attitude was genuine.
However, his and Zhu Ying's reactions were seen by the other judges who were invited that afternoon, which naturally proved one thing. Zhu Ying and Chu Kuan had a falling out, this was true! Chu Kuan's shadow was behind the dispute in the Imperial College, this was probably also true!
Wu Ge Lao and Zhang Yu, the only two people invited to the cabinet, sat together even though they had no personal relationship. They whispered about what dishes and flavors they liked. As old officials who had been in the officialdom for a long time, they were very skilled in using puns in dish names, so they inevitably used this opportunity to exchange their views.
As for the other judges today, the emperor, the third prince and the fourth prince occupied one table, and Zhu Ying and Zhang Shou occupied another table.
As for Zhang Shou's students... except for Lu Sanlang, the others have not been released by their families. Even Qin Guogong Zhang Chuan, who has always ignored his son, has made an unprecedented move to put Zhang Chen under house arrest. Even Zhu Er, whose "mistakes" were far less serious than Zhu Ying's, was said to have been punished by the lady to reflect on his mistakes at home. On the contrary, Zhu Ying has been released and is free.
In addition, there were no three senior mathematics experts like Ge Yong, no Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan who gave up their official positions to teach, no nobles gathered together, and no princess like Princess Yongping. At first glance, the two elders felt that today's finals seemed even more shabby than the previous preliminary and re-examinations.
However, they soon realized that they were wrong, because after a commotion downstairs, there was a movement on the stairs, and when they saw the barrier being pulled up, they looked at each other and had the same idea in their minds.
Could it be that the emperor brought the concubines out of the palace? Other emperors would never dare to do such a thing, but the emperor was able to take Concubine Yu to the Buddhist temple to burn incense and pray for blessings. Now Concubine Yu has become a noble concubine, and the third prince's biological mother and concubine have also been promoted to a noble concubine. If this is really brought out, it is not impossible!
If it was Confucius who was here, he might stand up and be ready to turn hostile at any time - this is also the choice that any Prime Minister who is committed to being something other than a yes-man of the emperor would make. If you need to persuade, persuade. If you can't persuade, you have to argue!
However, Lord Wu was used to being a yes-man, and he would not say a word even if the concubine really came.