When Rong Tang and his companions arrived at Lan Yue Pavilion, they happened to catch the start of a play in the hall. The musicians played the pipa and sang songs. Rong Tang looked around and went straight to the private room on the third floor.
The fourth floor is reserved for female family members, and men generally do not go there.
There are few private rooms. They are called private rooms, but in fact they are just surrounded by screens with a table and a few chairs, which can be used as a temporary place to isolate oneself from the sight of others.
During these days of the flower-folding meeting, I wonder how many officials have talked about the affairs of the imperial court in these narrow cubicles, and I wonder how many children of merchants have used this place to attract business for their families.
Several people sat down and there was tea on the table. Su Huaijing sniffed the tea without changing his expression. He couldn't say he was satisfied, but he didn't dislike it either. He first cleaned Rong Tang's cup with tea, then poured him a cup and placed it in front of him.
They haven't been to the island in the middle of the lake much in the past few days. There are many fun places to visit in Songyuan.
The zoo in the northwest corner, the Begonia Courtyard in the south, the plum forest in the east, and many ponds for fishing and viewing...
The third prince built this garden magnificently and even set aside a courtyard to display epic poems from various countries as well as those exquisite and rare antique artworks from Dayu from ancient times to the present.
Rong Tang followed Su Huaijing and visited each room one by one. He became more and more shocked the more he looked.
In an era of scarcity of both material and spiritual life, the royal family was able to produce such a prince, opening the park for free every year for ordinary people to enjoy and have fun, and to see how many sages and masterpieces were born on the land where they live. It is really...
So touching.
After Emperor Renshou and Sheng Chengxing moved in, some exhibits in the courtyard were obviously empty, but the overall layout had not changed. There were still many displays in the museum. It was unclear whether they did not take them away or Sheng Chengxing put them out again for the flower-folding party.
Compared with the wealth left by the third prince in this manor, the Moon-Lanyue Pavilion, the island in the middle of the lake, the lights that lit the sky day and night, and the singing and dancing of actors every night, all seemed particularly shallow and were blown away by the wind from the Lotus Lake.
The more Rong Tang looked, the more he regretted that he had not been able to meet Su Huaijing's third brother.
Anyone who sees such a carefree and unrestrained young man who cares about the people will be attracted to him, and Rong Tang inevitably wants to talk to him.
"It's another day when I want to scold the author and the mastermind." Rong Tang swayed the tea in his cup and complained to the system.
[Heh.]The system said.
Rong Tang was stunned for a moment, and asked cautiously: "What's wrong with you?"
System: [Hmph!]
Rong Tang: “?”
He frowned: "Infected with a virus?"
[tui！]
"..." Rong Tang was silent for a long time, and came to a conclusion: "It seems that I have really been infected with the virus. What should I do? Can I still contact the main brain? Will it be scrapped? What should I do with the scrapped stupid system? Throw it into the garbage recycling station? Or fill it into the space-time turbulence?"
He was almost imagining an interstellar war in his mind. The system could no longer tolerate this and angrily said: [Host! ]
Rong Tang smiled: "Hey, I'm here!"
[Don’t try to get away with this! ] The system said.
Rong Tang felt very wronged: "What's wrong with me? You have been ignoring me in a weird way since the past few days. I feel very wronged, okay?"
The system has no eyes, otherwise it would be dumbfounded, but it was so angry that it jumped several times in front of the space man: [Are you still feeling wronged!? ]
"Yeah, I feel very aggrieved." Rong Tang remained calm.
The data flow was almost in chaos, and for a moment Rong Tang even felt a ball of white light appear in front of his eyes, which then dissipated at lightning speed.
Rong Tang blinked and waited for his system to answer.
The system jumped and swelled for a long time. If it could materialize, its face would definitely turn red. After holding it in for a long time, it finally threw out a sentence dryly: [You are a big fool! ]
God knows how great the impact was when it ended its hibernation and saw its host and the villain sleeping in the same bed. There were clearly two quilts, but they were huddled together. Su Huaijing was still holding Rong Tang!
The stupid host was still unaware. It called for a long time but failed to wake him up. Instead, Su Huaijing opened his eyes when birds chirped outside the yard.
After the rainstorm, the air was very fresh. The villain looked at Rong Tang for a long time with the calmness and laziness of someone who had just woken up from a beautiful dream. When he realized that he was about to wake up, he pretended to take one arm away from Rong Tang and got back into his own bed. When the host opened his eyes dazedly, he smiled and said good morning, then moved the arm that he had stuffed under Rong Tang's waist with grievance, and whispered: "Tang Tang, you are pressing on me..."
The system was so angry that it almost exploded!!!
It now thinks Rong Tang is a useless fool and Su Huaijing is a green tea boy!
—He learned this word from Rong Tang.
The system became angrier and angrier, and cursed again: [You will be sold out sooner or later! ] Then it decisively went offline and hibernated.
It was afraid that it would see something that would anger it to death.
Rong Tang: “?”
Rong Tang blinked and became more and more confused. He still had no idea what his stupid little system was angry about.
Holding the teacup in his hand for a long time without taking a sip, Su Huaijing asked, "Is it not tasty?"
Rong Tang came back to his senses, feeling somewhat confused. He looked at Su Huaijing, lowered his head and mechanically took a sip of tea, then shook his head: "Not bad."
Su Huaijing's expression changed, a hint of coldness flashed across his eyes, and he asked in a falsely gentle tone, "Is there anything bothering you?"
Rong Tang was slightly stunned and once again surprised by Su Huaijing's sharpness.
He couldn't tell when it started, but Su Huaijing could quickly detect any slight change in his emotions.
It was as if... he was really paying attention to himself all the time.
Rong Tang slowed down and really wanted to tell him something: How to comfort an angry child
But firstly, he didn't know why the system was angry, and secondly, the system had no entity, so even if he wanted to coax it, he couldn't treat it the same way he would treat a human child. If he asked too much, there would be the risk of exposing the existence of the system, so Rong Tang could only digest this matter by himself.
He changed the subject and said, "I just suddenly remembered that Master Ke's family seems to be very powerful."
He just came out of the system, and although he was just casually complaining about the author and the main brain, he actually had something to analyze with the system.
Rong Tang sometimes felt that Su Huaijing clearly had nothing to hide in front of him and was extremely frank and innocent. Except for his life experience, he did not ask and Su Huaijing naturally would not take the initiative to tell him.
But sometimes, some of the villain's actions seem ordinary, but they always seem to have other meanings.
Those letters before marriage seemed to be expressing his longing for her, but he also took the initiative to mention Lu's Bookstore and Li Changfu in the letters.
Rong Tang always had a feeling that Su Huaijing clearly wanted to bring him into his plan, but he inexplicably resisted it and took the initiative to exclude him from the conspiracy.
It’s hard to tell whether it’s because they doubt his position or for some other reason.
Su Huaijing is on good terms with Ke Hongxue and takes the initiative to tell them about Sheng Chengli's conspiracy. The direct result is indeed that Mu Jingxu will distance himself from Sheng Chengli, and it will also allow Rong Tang to interact with them without any grudges. However, Rong Tang always feels that Su Huaijing's purpose is not limited to this.
This intuition became more obvious after he heard Su Huaijing tell Ke Hongxue his birthday.
Rong Tang didn't know whether Ke Hongxue had had any contact with the seventh prince, but Ke Hongxue took the initiative to test his birthday, and Su Huaijing also took the initiative to tell Ke Hongxue the answer he wanted. Even after the other party said that he had a younger brother of the same age, he did not retreat but continued to ask.
The answer given by Master Ke was too obvious: they died young, were the same age, and had the same birthday. People who didn't know the truth might think it was just a coincidence, but from Rong Tang and Su Huaijing's perspective, every word and sentence clearly pointed to the seventh son of the previous emperor, that is, Su Huaijing himself.
After reaching this conclusion, it becomes particularly interesting to think back on every conversation we had from our first meeting until now.
Ke Hongxue might even have approached them with a tentative mentality from the beginning, and Su Huaijing...
Rong Tang lowered his eyes. He thought that Su Huaijing wanted to recruit Ke Mu and the other two.
One is the Junior Tutor of the Imperial Academy, and the other is the Junior Minister of the Dali Temple. If these two people can become Su Huaijing's helpers, his road to revenge will be much easier. If he can recruit these two people, based on his understanding of Su Huaijing, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, he will fight for it no matter how much it costs.
As for the previous two lives, it was probably because Su Huaijing was still in the Wukang Earl's Mansion at that time, and he had to expend his energy dealing with the disgusting secrets in Qin Pengxuan's harem, as well as the stupidity of the Second Prince from time to time. This was why he had no chance and no time to interact with Ke Hongxue and Mu Jingxu, so that when they actually met, their camps had already been clearly drawn and could no longer be shaken in the slightest.
But in this life, if there is a chance, Rong Tang hopes that Ke Hongxue and Mu Jingxu can help Su Huaijing.
-
"My Lord, do you remember that the Dayu Palace ten years ago was just like this night sky, with twinkling stars and bright moonlight?"
He remembered Ke Hongxue saying something similar.
So if Master Ke knew that Su Huaijing was the seventh son of the previous emperor, would he have surrendered voluntarily
Rong Tang didn't dare to gamble, and he had no right to decide for Su Huaijing whether to confess his background. He just promoted Ke Hongxue to him just like the day Su Huaijing promoted his own Xiangxiang.
Su Huaijing cooperated and uttered a questioning syllable: "Hmm? How do you say it?"
Rong Tang: "Grand Tutor Ke was the imperial tutor of two dynasties and had great prestige in the court; Ke Xuebao, that is, Ke Hongxue's father, had his business in Jiangnan and was involved in countless industries. He was also the backbone of countless merchants in the Jiangnan area. And I heard that the Ke family actually made some donations to Linyuan Academy, and part of the annual income of the academy would be sent to his family."
Rong Tang looked at Lu Jiaxi as he spoke. The latter didn't understand why the two of them suddenly talked about this, but he nodded obediently and said, "It's like this. In the early years of war, the school was also damaged. Students returned home or joined the army, and many teachers died in the war. After the war, the school almost couldn't be maintained for a time. It was the Ke family who donated a lot of gold and silver to help the school rebuild the school and the dormitory. Mr. Ke's father also helped the school collect many teaching materials and books along the way. Almost half of the books in the library of Linyuan School were donated by the Ke family."
When talking about where he studied, the shyness on Lu Jiaxi's face disappeared a lot, and he became more and more excited as he spoke: "After graduation, my senior brother would come back to the academy from time to time to give us lectures. Even Mr. Ke would occasionally go back to give lectures. Even for this flower-picking party, there were a total of 30 people from the academy, including me, and a small half of the places were obtained by my senior brother from the Third Prince, just to broaden our horizons."
Rong Tang had originally just said it casually, with the purpose of telling Su Huaijing that Ke Hongxue had a profound family background and that their family was worthy of friendship. But who knew that Lu Jiaxi turned into bragging about his fellow student as he spoke.
Rong Tang listened for a long time and curled his lips with a hint of amusement.
Su Huaijing saw his expression, pulled his hand under the table, and wrote silently: What are you thinking about
The feeling of his fingertips sliding across his palm was a little itchy, but not unbearable. Rong Tang overcame the itch, carefully examined it, and then raised his eyebrows. When he was hesitating whether to interrupt Lu Jiaxi directly or secretly talk to Su Huaijing, Su Huaijing simply turned his palm behind his back, placed it on his leg, and hooked his fingertips upwards, the meaning was very clear: you write too.
Rong Tang was stunned for a moment. The play downstairs had already begun. The babbling music was very interesting and it seemed to be a play between wealthy families.
Rong Tang was not interested in listening. He lowered his eyes and wrote on Su Huaijing's palm: He and Ke Hongxue were taught by the same teacher.
Su Huaijing raised his hand and held Rong Tang's hand: What do you mean
Rong Tang: It’s all my senior’s fault.
Su Huaijing paused for two seconds, lowered his head and laughed muffledly.
Lu Jiaxi was stuck for a moment, looking at Rong Tang and then Su Huaijing at a loss, and then asked in a low voice: "Did I blow it a little too hard?"
Rong Tang nodded silently in his heart, thinking that this kid was really good at self-reflection, which was quite cute.
Su Huaijing said, "It's true a little bit." Ke Hongxue is a person who could be accused of misleading students even when he is teaching.
Lu Jiaxi blushed, not knowing what to say for a moment. Su Huaijing casually brought up a topic and asked, "What about Lord Mu? He also graduated from Linyuan Academy, why haven't you mentioned him?"
Lu Jiaxi was blank for a moment, then thought carefully and said, "Xuexiong Mu... is the son of the history teacher at the academy. The teacher has been at the academy for many years, and usually doesn't interact with students much. He leaves the academy after teaching. It is said that only Xuexiong Ke has been close to the teacher over the years, so we are not very familiar with Xuexiong Mu."
"And—" He paused, scratching his head a little embarrassedly, "Senior seems cold. Even when he comes to the school on official business or visits the teacher, we occasionally see him, but we always dare not approach him to talk to him."
Unlike Ke Hongxue, every time he went to the academy, he would make everyone know about it. On the surface, he would send several boxes of pens, inkstones, and ancient book fragments, but secretly he would let the servants bring bags of beggar chicken, salted duck, sweet cakes, osmanthus wine...
If he wasn't giving lectures, he would have no business coming to the academy, just to accompany Mu Jingxu. When Mu Shaoqing was on official business, he would secretly lead the buds of Dayu astray.
But the flower buds all like him very much.
Rong Tang heard him say this, and first smiled, then asked: "Master Mu, do you have any other good classmates?"
Lu Jiaxi frowned and thought for a while, then shook his head: "No, I heard from other students in the academy that Master Mu actually only stayed in the academy for two years. He was said to have been in the countryside before that. It was not until the fifth year of Qingzheng that he was brought into the academy by the teacher. At that time, Brother Ke was already in the academy."
"It is said that Master Mu has been alone and ignored everyone for the first few months after he came, and..." He paused, as if he was a little embarrassed to gossip about others behind their backs: "Senior Brother Mu is really cold. No one dares to approach him. Even if someone approaches him and wants to make friends with him, he neither goes out to drink nor listen to music. Even when everyone occasionally goes to the city to eat in the restaurant on the monthly holiday, he will not follow. What's more, he is the son of the teacher. Everyone is always worried that he will complain to the teacher, so over time, they all become estranged."
Su Huaijing asked: "Did Ke Hongxue get there on his own?"
"I don't know about that." Lu Jiaxi scratched his head. "These are things that happened many years before I entered school. What I heard were all spread by people who had been studying in the academy but didn't pass the imperial examination. I don't know whether it is true or not."
Rong Tang frowned when he heard this, and intuitively realized that something was wrong. He thought for two seconds, his eyes widened, and he was about to ask: "Then-"
"How old is Lord Ke this year?" Su Huaijing asked at the same time as him. After he finished speaking, he turned his head and asked Rong Tang: "What do you want to say, Tang Tang?"
Rong Tang shook his head and relaxed: "It's okay, I wanted to ask this too." Su Huaijing then glanced at him.
Lu Jiaxi said: "Senior brother, you are twenty-six years old this year."
Su Huaijing: "Master Ke is 26 years old this year, and he would be 24 in the seventh year of Qingzheng. With Ke Hongxue's talent, how could he not take the imperial examination until he was 24?"
Lu Jiaxi was a little confused. After thinking for a long time, he said uncertainly, "I just heard that you enrolled to comfort Master Ke. He didn't want to be an official in the court at first, so he never took the imperial examination. It was not until two years ago that he signed up with you, Mu."
Rong Tang frowned, realizing that something was not right, but he couldn't figure out what was going on for a while.
Su Huaijing chuckled upon hearing this and raised his teacup: "Really?"
He lowered his eyes and took a sip of tea, then looked at Rong Tang and called, "Tang Tang."
Rong Tang looked at him with a frown on his face.
Su Huaijing put down the teacup with a smile, stretched out his hand to smooth his brows, and threatened: "If you frown too much, you will turn into an old man."
Rong Tang: “?”
Su Huaijing: "I'm here, don't worry."
The opera was going on downstairs, and the sound of footsteps and greetings gradually rose outside the screen. Su Huaijing identified the sounds and asked with a smile, "The owner of the Flower Folding Club is here. Shall we go and say hello?"
(End of this chapter)