Dayuan Liu family, Liu Zicheng’s study.
Liu Zicheng's hands had been shaking since he met this eighth-rank official, and they were still shaking when he entered the study.
"Do you know why Cao Wei was usurped by the Sima family?"
"Cao Zhi was a man of extraordinary talent, with the potential to be half a saint. Cao Pi was afraid that Cao Zhi would become a great scholar and threaten his throne, so he ordered Cao Zhi to kill the monsters. As a result, Cao Zhi died at the hands of the monsters. Later, the half-saint killed Cao Pi with a word. From then on, the Cao family was doomed, and decades later, the Sima family took over the throne." Liu Zicheng said honestly.
"Fang Yun's talent is already superior to Cao Zhi, who is his age. You have repeatedly harmed him, and he is trying to find out the truth today. The Holy Court Criminal Court will definitely intervene. Once it is confirmed that you are guilty, the Left Prime Minister will only suffer a loss of reputation, but your brother Liu Zizhi and his family will inevitably be implicated, and there will be no possibility of him passing the imperial examination."
"That was before he became famous! He's taking revenge on me!"
"What will you do if he kills you twice?"
Liu Zicheng remained silent.
The eighth-rank official slowly pulled out a white silk from his sleeve and threw it at Liu Zicheng's feet.
"Write a suicide note, admit all your crimes, and apologize to him. Everyone should take responsibility for their own actions. I hope he will let the rest of the Liu family go."
"I..." Not only Liu Zicheng's arms were shaking, but even his legs were trembling slightly.
"Do you want to die alone, or do you want to drag down dozens of members of the Liu family with you?"
"But... Lord Zuo Xiang, can't he really save me?" Liu Zicheng asked.
"If he could have saved you, I wouldn't have come," the man said calmly.
"What if I don't want to die?" Liu Zicheng asked guiltily.
The man looked out the window and said, "I'll only give you half an hour."
Liu Zicheng suddenly smiled miserably and said, "Of course, if I don't die, you will kill me. I just can't accept that! He is obviously a poor boy who knows nothing, how can he know everything after just a few days of not seeing him! He is most likely a wicked offspring from the demon race lurking in our human race! He will definitely harm the human race."
The man smiled coldly and said, "That day in front of the Wenyuan, Shi Jun personally talked to him. He said he was waiting for him in the Shengyuan. Can't you guess it?"
Liu Zicheng was stunned and said in surprise: "Shi Jun is Nan... that person's disciple, and that person who plays with the world, are you saying that Fang Yun is actually that person's disciple?"
"It's good that you know. You know the treasure he is in charge of. It makes sense why Fang Yun has achieved such success in such a short time. You dared to harm Fang Yun's life and reputation repeatedly. Once you force him to speak, not only your brother, but even the position of the left prime minister will be in jeopardy."
Liu Zicheng was silent for a long time, his eyes dim, and he slowly said: "Since that person has taught me, I will give up this idea. You must tell my brother that if there is a chance, he will personally find Fang Yun to apologize and resolve the feud between the two families! No wonder that person values him. In fact, I have already given in and regretted it. It's just... I just can't accept it."
“I speak, and I write.”
"Yes." Liu Zicheng grasped his trembling right forearm with his trembling left hand, and then held the pen with his right hand.
"You write whatever I say. Start. This is all my fault. It has nothing to do with the rest of the Liu family..."
Soon, Liu Zicheng finished writing the last word, threw the pen on the ground, stumbled to pick up the white silk, and his hands shook even more violently.
The man took the chair, snatched the white silk, then threw the silk over the beam and tied it tightly.
Liu Zicheng's legs trembled even more violently, tears flowed out involuntarily, and he cried and muttered to himself.
"I regret it so much. Why did I have to harm the Semi-Saint disciple and Fang Yun? Why was I so stupid? Why was I so foolish..." Liu Zicheng muttered as he stepped onto the chair, grabbed the white silk with both hands, and slowly put his neck into the white silk sheath.
“Why am I so stupid…” Liu Zicheng had completely changed. He no longer looked like the young man from a famous family, but more like a resentful woman.
The eighth-rank official suddenly kicked away the chair, and Liu Zicheng's body hung in the air. He was in panic, grabbing with his arms and kicking with his legs. But suddenly he stopped struggling and just hung quietly in the white silk sleeve, waiting to die. At the same time, he looked at the man, as if he wanted to say something.
Seeing that Liu Zicheng was about to die, the man smiled coldly and said, "Your brother doesn't know what happened today, and I won't stop your brother from avenging you."
"Hmm..." Endless hatred burst out of Liu Zicheng's eyes, and then he died.
"Humph, your Dayuan Liu family let Zuo Xiang bear the stigma, so you must cleanse it yourself!"
Early the next morning, Fang Yun was reading when the official seal of the sixth-rank county earl in the study suddenly formed a strange wave and spread.
"Is there a letter sent by a wild goose?" Fang Yun walked over, stretched out his hand to hold the official seal, and saw a wild goose with words flying out, and finally disintegrated in front of Fang Yun, spreading out into a piece of black words floating in the air.
Fang Yun's expression remained unchanged as he slowly read the entire text.
This was a letter from Prefect Sun of Dayuan Prefecture, which detailed the circumstances of Liu Zicheng's death and warned Fang Yun to be alert.
Fang Yun waved his hand, the words disappeared, and then he turned his head to look out the window.
"As expected of the Left Prime Minister, this preemptive move is very well used. However, Fang Yun is not afraid of bearing the infamy of forcing Liu Zicheng to death, but Liu Shan forcing the Liu family to death will make his subordinates alert. The Left Prime Minister of a country will never be so careless, and there must be a follow-up move next. Unfortunately, even though I am a role model of scholars, I can't do anything to the head of all officials. But the day I become a Jinshi and enter the court will be the day when your Liu Shan's sun is setting."
"Liu Shan, aren't you going to convert my current merits into literary merits? If you continue, I will continue to make merits. I am just curious, what rank will I be when I wear the official robe for the first time!"
Fang Yun made a brief calculation in his mind. If he could pass the imperial examination, he would at least get an eighth-rank editor or lecturer position in the academy. In addition, his accumulated literary merits could be promoted three levels, from the seventh rank, the seventh rank, to the sixth rank, which was higher than a county magistrate.
"And the champion is promoted to the seventh rank in one step, which is a higher rank! The Jinshi exam is divided into two parts: the tribute exam and the palace exam. However, the palace exams of the ten countries are very different. Instead of the monarchs taking the exams in the Golden Throne Hall, the semi-saints sit in the various saint halls to personally assess and judge, and finally the semi-saints determine the ranking of the Jinshi of each country. The content of the palace exam is even more unusual."
"Thanks to the Book Mountain Illusion, the poems, classics and policy essays for the Juren and Jinshi exams are no longer a problem. The next step is to keep accumulating knowledge, and I will have more and more free time. In order to prepare for the future palace exam, I must start practicing in a few days and serve in the Academy of Literature, the government or the army for a period of time. Otherwise, I will have no basis for what I want to do in the future! Whether it is the book on military strategy, agriculture, industry and commerce, etc., there must be a reasonable excuse to appear."
Fang Yun thought to himself as he wrote furiously to finish the rest of "The Legend of White Snake". Fang Yun liked a happy ending, so in the end he made Cai He, who played the role of Fahai, repent and go to the border army to guard the national border, while Xu Xian and White Snake lived in seclusion, and their son Xu Shilin eventually became a great scholar.
After the book was completed, Fang used his official seal to send a letter to the storekeeper Tang, asking him to publish "The Legend of White Snake" as soon as possible.
As long as they were near the Holy Temple, anyone with an official seal could receive or send messages via wild goose. But when they were far away from the Holy Temple, the official seal lost all its magical effects. If the official seal was a cultural treasure, it would still be useful. But if it was a noble seal like Fang Yun's, which was not a cultural treasure, it would be useless if it was far away from the Holy Temple.
Then Fang Yun called Nunu over. Nunu carefully read the ending of "The Legend of White Snake" and then happily threw herself into Fang Yun's arms and acted coquettishly to express her gratitude.
"Do you like this ending?" Fang Yun asked.
"Oh! Oh!" Nunu waved his little paws and cried happily.
"That's good." Fang Yun carefully reread "The Legend of White Snake" and revised a few places before finalizing it.
Romance between humans and monsters happens from time to time in Shengyuan Continent. As long as the monsters are non-human eaters, humans will have sympathy for them.
But if it is a demon tribe that eats people, it will be hated by humans no matter what. Therefore, even if there is opposition to "The Legend of the White Snake", it will not be too big. After all, this book still promotes the idea of human supremacy. It does not deviate from the original An Chengcai's belief in protecting the human race.
Putting the original manuscript aside, Fang Yun couldn't help but think of the unfinished manuscript of "Peach Blossom Spring", and he always wanted to improve it.
"The Holy Ruins not only have the holy blood, holy jade or treasures left by the seven semi-saints, but also the dirty and true texts of other great Confucian scholars. After all, the elite of the human race and the monsters will enter every ten years. If the Peach Blossom Spring can be completed, the power of the great Confucian scholars' true texts will be even stronger. It is said that there are strange things such as the Pen Master and the Ink Girl in the ancient land where many saints died. They are extremely useful, even the semi-saints are eager to get them. I wonder if the Holy Ruins will have them."
Not long after, Mr. Tang, the manager of Xuanting Bookstore, came with a letter saying that he would arrive in Yuhai City tomorrow.
After Fang Yun finished reading the letter from Manager Tang, another wild goose arrived. Fang Yun opened it and smiled helplessly.
The writer of the letter was Hu Moyuan, a famous painting master from Yuhai Mansion. He had entered the second level of Danqing for many years and had almost no chance of breaking through. However, since Fang Yun talked about the "three sides of yin and yang" theory, his painting skills have continued to improve. Hu Moyuan went to Wudao River half a month ago, and just two quarters of an hour ago, he was enlightened by the Wudao River, and his painting skills improved further, entering the third level of Danqing, which is rare in the Ten Kingdoms.
Hu Moyuan finally said that around August he would use the power of the third realm of Danqing to paint a picture of a battle between demon generals and give it to Fang Yun to express his gratitude.
Fang Yun shook his head and chuckled. Now that Feng Yuanjun and Hu Moyuan have both attained enlightenment, there will be no peace on the banks of the Enlightenment River from now on.
Soon, Ji County Magistrate Cai He sent a letter with thousands of words. The core content was to ask Fang Yun to continue to build momentum for Wudao River. He planned to build a famous scenic spot known to ten countries with Wudao River as the main focus and Fang Yun's literary archway as the supplement. The letter also said that it was mainly for Fang Yun's literary reputation and the development of Ji County.
"This County Magistrate Cai is clearly trying to gain political achievements. However, isn't it too much to sell the well water in my old house and name it 'Shengqian Water'? He also closed off the section of the river where I often stay and changed it to 'Wudao City' to charge admission. This is too good at making money. Although I get a share of the profits, the reputation of selling books is much better than this. The money earned from 'Romance of the West Chamber' has not been spent yet. No, I can't be deceived by him. He can charge a fee, but the dividends given to me should be used to build an academy and enroll poor students for free!"
"Establishing a free academy is not only a meritorious service, but also a 'virtuous' act, which is what all scholars in the world pursue. Many great scholars have their own free academies. Since I am a role model of scholars, it is the best thing for me to use the money I earn from Wudao River to establish a free academy."
Fang Yun thought everything through and continued to study. Near noon, Li Wenying sent him a letter.
. (To be continued..)