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Xun Kuang was stunned, but then he smiled bitterly, turned around and took the wine jug and wine glasses that had not been cleared away from the nearest table.
Then, he sat next to his teacher, helped pour a cup and looked at himself.
Mu Xu held the wine glass in his hand, turned his head to look at the moon hanging in the sky, took a sip, and handed the imperial edict in his hand to Xun Kuang.
After drinking, he said, "Let's see."
Xun Kuang didn't stick to the etiquette and opened it directly.
Empty, without a single word.
Mu Xu thought for a moment and then said, "Do you know what it means?"
Xun Kuang hesitated to speak, but after thinking for a while, he moved back and said, "Teacher, can I not guess?"
Upon hearing this, Mu Xu laughed and scolded, "You coward, when I retire, you will be the one to take on all these responsibilities. Are you still thinking of hiding?"
Xun Kuang was helpless, "You are still here, right? I will hide for one more day."
Mu Xu didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and cursed, "Wine, wine, wine, wine! Give me the wine, why don't you drink it? Look at you now, you are no longer as high-spirited as you were in the past! You even said you were 'more talented than half of the Imperial College', look at yourself now!"
Xun Kuang curled his lips and handed over the wine pot while saying, "It's useless for me to guess. Your Majesty wants people to guess. Even if it's not for us, it will make the Taifu and others have wild thoughts. The killing of Zhao Xiaojia and the others is meant to make the Taifu and others confused, and then their hearts will be in turmoil, right?"
Mu Xu took the wine pot and snorted, "Don't act in front of me. But forget it, I'd rather talk to Su Wenqing later than to talk to you about this. You bastard, you've been to so many red-light districts over the years, you've been stained with a lot of powder, and you've become a sissy."
As he spoke, Mu Xu leaned forward, took a sip of wine, and suddenly his expression changed. He looked at Xun Kuang with a smile and said, "Open it and take a look?"
Xun Kuang was very smart, so he immediately knew what his teacher was talking about, and immediately became alert: "What?"
Mu Xu continued with a smile: "Before leaving, didn't you ask that cat girl for a packet of medicine? I saw that the paper that wrapped the medicine was the writing material of the Queen."
Xun Kuang was not happy: "Teacher, let's talk about business, don't change the subject, or let's talk about which student performed well tonight, or at least I can tell you, can't I? I know that His Majesty is coming tonight, firstly to see Miss Chang'an, then to watch the fun and see Yan Shu, Li Wei and the others, and finally. There is nothing in the imperial edict, isn't this also asking you 'Why do you study'?"
Upon hearing this, Mu Xu kicked Xun Kuang and cursed, "Do you want me to explain it so clearly? And I'm asking you this when we're talking about our queen's writing?"
Xun Kuang looked at Mu Xu, "Teacher, does His Majesty want us to take a clear stand this time?"
Mu Xu laughed in anger and kicked her again: "You guessed it well, but what kind of bullshit question is this? Your Majesty wants me to stand on her side? If so, you would have asked me to stand on her side a long time ago."
Xun Kuang frowned, somewhat confused.
Mu Xu sighed, "The late emperor asked me 'why do you study' back then, but I didn't have an answer. Your Majesty, I think the late emperor mentioned this to her, so she asked me again today. The imperial edict was blank, just telling me, because I didn't answer, so I don't know what to say to her."
After saying that, Mu Xu's face changed immediately. After taking a sip of wine, he teased, "But there is also a reason for Yang Shanchang, the Queen Mother, the Eighth Prince and others to guess. Our Majesty is not like the late emperor who likes to force people to do things, but she just likes to tease you. Look, it's only been a few months, and the court has changed all of a sudden. It's amazing. If the late emperor saw this trick, he would be excited and applaud."
At this point, Mu Xu looked at Xun Kuang and said, "You are the best among my students. But in the future, when you have to attend the court, don't always act as if you are out of the way. Even our queen who is so well protected by His Majesty knows that there are some things that cannot be avoided. Do you still want to hide? Is there anyone protecting you?"
But when he said this, Mu Xu suddenly turned his head and saw Yan Shu looking at them from a distance. Obviously, something happened. Mu Xu smiled and waved.
Yan Shu immediately came over, saluted towards Mu Xu and Xun Kuang, and said respectfully: "Master Jijiu, sir, we have already cleaned up here. Should we distribute the remaining fruits to the students? If we put them back in the warehouse, they will probably go bad."
Mu Xu looked at Yan Shu with a smile on his face. From the first moment he saw him, Mu Xu liked this child very much.
At that moment, he kicked Xun Kuang and said, "Get away from me. Let Yan Shu come over and sit down."
Xun Kuang was suddenly kicked and pouted, feeling a little aggrieved, as he had just said that he was the best student.
But he still moved his butt and looked at Yan Shu.
Yan Shu hesitated for a moment, but finally sat down.
Looking at Yan Shu, Mu Xu smiled and asked, "Just now, I didn't see you go up to answer."
Yan Shu was startled and shook his head: "My Lord, I don't know how to answer, so I didn't go up."
Mu Xu said unhappily, "Don't be so polite when talking to me. Have you forgotten how many times you didn't have food to eat and it was me who gave you steamed buns?"
Yan Shu bowed his head a little embarrassedly, but after thinking for a while, he said, "Zhang Zi of the previous dynasty once said, 'From the moment you start studying, you should practice noble spirit, do peace-making things, and make the people feel at ease.' I thought these were all right at first, but when I heard what Miss Chang'an said at the Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet, I felt that she was also right."
"Everyone has their own purpose in studying. Later, when I was thinking about it, I thought that I started studying to pass the imperial examination and bring my parents to the capital to live a good life. Until now, I have read a lot of books, but this goal has not changed. So I didn't stand up and speak today. Lord Jijiu, I don't have the ambitions of Sanbai, Ziyu and others. I'm sorry."
Mu Xu smiled and said, "You apologize for everything. How can you be so honest? This won't do. You can pretend to be honest in the capital, but you can't be honest. You think you can survive in the capital by being sincere, but you can survive by being worldly-wise. Learn from your teacher slowly. This brat has a good grasp of worldly-wise."
Xun Kuang curled his lips, feeling that his teacher was scolding him, but he had no evidence.
Mu Xu thought for a while and looked at Yan Shu and said, "People have their own goals at every stage. When I was your age, I studied just to have enough food. We were so poor back then that I didn't even dare to look at a steamed bun stand when I passed by. Why? Because I was afraid that the steamed bun stand would drown my saliva. Now I am thinking about 'I hope there will be the sound of reading everywhere in Daxia', right? But I didn't think about it before. This is only possible after I became the chief priest. So, think about the purpose of studying slowly, don't be in a hurry."
Yan Shu heard these words and remembered them all in his heart.
Mu Xu looked at Yan Shu and asked with a smile: "Are you stimulated after listening to the Queen's [Snow Chapter] today? I think many people are stimulated."
Yan Shu shook his head: "I already knew that I was not as good as Miss Chang'an, so it doesn't matter."
Mu Xu praised: "Great!"
As he spoke, Mu Xu looked at Xun Kuang and said, "Why don't you take it out so we can see it?"
Xun Kuang felt as if he was facing a formidable enemy, and dared not either nod or shake his head.
Mu Xu's face was cold: "Take it out!"
Xun Kuang curled his lips and reluctantly took out the piece of paper from his arms.
He had wrapped the medicine inside in different paper and had kept this one separately.
Mu Xu took it from Xun Kuang, spread it out, and found that it was painted with two little people, one of whom seemed to be crying. "Don't mention it, our queen has no talent in painting. This is too ugly."
Xun Kuang and Yan Shu didn't dare to say anything, so only Mu Xu dared to say so.
But right below, there was a line of words.
"Ask the world, what is love? It makes people pledge to be together through life and death."
Mu Xu smiled at the words and folded the paper again: "At this point, it seems that I am not surprised to see the Queen write any poems. What do you think?"
Xun Kuang smiled helplessly.
Yan Shu remained silent, just thinking about the poem, finding it so sad and beautiful.
Mu Xu folded the ink and put it in his arms.
When Xun Kuang saw this, Mu Xu glared at him and he didn't dare to say a word.
That's why he didn't take it out.
Mu Xu looked down at Yan Shu and said, "Yan Shu, do you have a young wife at home? If so, I will help you decide. If you don't have enough money, ask your husband to pay. Otherwise, what if you and the Queen write a promise of life and death? In the storybooks, scholars of humble origins are most likely to have this happen."
Yan Shu shook his head: "No, I don't dare to think about these things."
After taking a sip of wine, Mu Xu smiled kindly and said, "Then you'd better be careful about the son-in-law being caught under the list."
Yan Shu knew what it meant to be a son-in-law under the list, and scratched his head in embarrassment: "I haven't passed the exam yet, so I don't dare to think about it."
Mu Xu laughed out loud.
Xun Kuang felt helpless.
Three people sat there and laughed.
Many people in the lecture hall were watching this scene.
Among them, Master Yao was originally wondering where Yan Shu had gone, but when he turned around, he saw this scene. He was slightly startled, and then he saw Wei Zijian and others who were also watching the scene.
Suddenly
Mr. Yao smiled bitterly.
Because he couldn't help but think of the past, when the previous chief academician, who was also his teacher, seemed to have sat and chatted with Mu Xu, who was the dean at the time, and Xun Kuang, who had just arrived at the school, in the same way.
How did they make it exactly the same? Did that old man Mu Xu do it on purpose?
Old Master Yao shook his head, too lazy to look any further.
And this time.
Yan Shu stood up, bowed to Mu Xu and Xun Kuang, then turned around and returned to the lecture hall.
Mu Xu simply lay down on his side, with the imperial edict as his pillow.
Xun Kuang looked at his teacher's red face and knew that he was drunk. So he said, "Teacher, I will take you home. It's cold at night."
Mu Xu closed his eyes and waved his hands: "Go and call Ji Shuying, and imitate the behavior of our Majesty and the Queen today. Hurry up and marry her. Don't follow that old man Yao Yuanzai. What if Shuying turns out to be a shrew like Kong Wan?"
Xun Kuang's expression became serious when he heard this, and he bowed and saluted: "Please forgive me, teacher."
Mu Xu lifted up one eyelid and cursed, "Get out! Get out now, I'm annoyed just by seeing you. You say you're not infatuated, but you just can't forget that girl, you act like an infatuated man. As for being unfaithful, Shuying has been waiting for you for so many years. You really want to listen to those bullshit things that say infatuation is always accompanied by unfaithfulness, right? Get out now, don't disturb my sleep."
After Xun Kuang hesitated to speak, he sighed and bowed to Mu Xu.
After that, he walked to one side for a while and then stood on the other side looking at Mu Xu.
He glanced at Ji Shuying who was arranging the fruit wine glasses in the lecture hall with the students.
Another long sigh.
But he immediately smiled bitterly.
I ask the world, what is love? It makes people promise to be together through life and death.
Miss Chang'an and His Majesty are so sweetly affectionate. What kind of mood was he in to write such words?
Very well written.
but.
Why among so many medicine packs did I choose the one with this sentence on it?
Mu Xu lay on his side, squinting his eyes at the student who was smiling bitterly and sighing, too lazy to take any more looks.
Idiot, idiot, he was referring to this stupid student of his.
But Mu Xu didn't think too much about this matter.
Just as he was about to close his eyes and rest for a while, he saw the imperial edict.
After suddenly smiling, he recalled the scene of his first meeting with the late emperor.
……
He was twenty-six that year.
A man sat on the grass in the Imperial College and read a book, because reading could make him forget about being hungry.
A young man in his prime looked at him and asked, "You study so hard, why don't you go out and play with others?"
He answered, 'Because I have no money.'
The young man laughed, "You are so honest. Your name is Mu Xu, right? I have heard of you. People say that you are very knowledgeable. I want to ask you, what is the purpose of your studies?"