Before the hour.
A group of people suddenly arrived at the House of the Duke of An.
The Duke of Qi, the Duke of Xin, the Duke of Li, the Duke of Jin and the Duke of Lu, all five of them came, that is to say, three of them did not come.
The Marquis of Xinwu, the Marquis of Guangping, the Marquis of Sheyang, the Marquis of Quzhou and the Marquis of Yangdu, the five marquises also came, so to speak, in a big way.
All of a sudden, the entire Vermilion Bird Avenue and Xuanwu Avenue were abuzz with excitement, and both the courtiers and the kings of the county were asking what was going on.
Otherwise, how could so many powerful people go to the An Guo Gong Mansion for no good reason? There was obviously something wrong.
All of the provinces sent people to inquire.
And at the An Guo Gong Mansion, the five State Dukes walked with dragons and tigers, each one full of smiles as they walked up to Xu Qingnian.
“This is Qingnian’s nephew? Bravo, a talented man, truly a talented man.”
“Tsk, worthy of being a scholar who dares to angrily dislike the Zhu Sheng lineage, he looks sharp, good boy.”
“Nephew Qingnian, I don’t read much and I don’t like to beat around the bush, if you can teach these few no-good grandsons of mine well, in the future, within this imperial city, as long as you don’t commit any major crimes, feel free to come to me.”
“Li Guoguang, what are you saying? As if we can’t take care of Qingnian’s nephew? Take this piece of warm jade and wear it on your body, it will nourish your qi and blood and nourish your body for longevity.”
“Good for you, Duke of Jin, you didn’t expect to be so sinister? Nephew Qingnian, wait, I will now send someone to prepare a thin gift for you.”
Each of the five State Dukes came before Xu Qingnian, their faces full of smiles, especially the State Duke of Jin who was very curious and presented a red-blooded warm jade, which was worth a lot of money and drew several other State Dukes to spit.
“The Duke of Jin is very kind, you are very kind, all the State Dukes have spoken too much, they have spoken too much, the student has no merit and no name, how can he receive such a favour, the warm jade Qingnian does not need it, the fact that several State Dukes have come has already flattered the student.”
Xu Qingnian hastily refused, eating people’s mouths and taking their hands, especially when it was such a precious thing, perhaps it was nothing in the eyes of the State Dukes, but Xu Qingnian could not take it.
At the very least, before he had done anything for himself, he absolutely could not accept any favours, it would be a good thing for him.
“Take it, how can I take back something given by my Duke of Jin, nephew Qingnian, if you don’t take it, you are not giving face to my Duke of Jin, then old me will be furious.”
The Duke of Jin said with some feigned anger.
“I really can’t take it. I will take it later when I have taught these children well.”
Xu Qingnian made a salute.
At that moment, An Guo openly spoke up.
“Alright, alright, you old guys, don’t bully my Qingnian nephew, come, come, sit, sit.”
An Guo openly spoke, he could see what Xu Qingnian had in mind, so he shouted out and asked the gentlemen to sit over.
The State Dukes also nodded, they weren’t angry that Xu Qingnian didn’t accept the gift, instead they thought that Xu Qingnian was a smart person and not that kind of rash.
When the Duke walked over, several marquesses immediately came up and said the same thing as before, which means that in the whole of Wei’s Kyoto, there is not a single gentleman willing to accept our grandson, Xu Qingnian, you are really a good person.
The remaining marquesses who did not come, most of them have no descendants, if they had descendants they would have already come over.
The most important thing is that you can get a good idea of what you want to do.
The descendants of the martial forces, schooling is a problem, handed over to the Zhu Sheng lineage, they dead set against it, invite other teachers to come over, and can not manage these bear children, after all, are some old gentlemen, these urchins are also a naughty.
They were all old teachers, and they were all naughty. Nowadays, the government is so busy that it has no time to take care of them, so they are always in groups, causing trouble here and there.
They have been so naughty since they were young, and this is the way the military officials think, so if they can’t control them, they should just pull up and let them go.
But letting them go doesn’t mean they don’t want to control them, just that they don’t have a suitable person to teach them, so when Xu Qingnian came today, coupled with the letter that Duke An wrote to them.
In a flash, they immediately called out to their own grandchildren and rushed over with them, fearing that they would miss out on worshipping their master.
“Please rest a*sured, all of you, since I am willing to accept, I will teach them with all my heart, but I need to make three covenants.”
“Firstly, since they are my disciples, they must first respect their teacher, from now on, whatever these children want to do, I will say, and you all must not interfere.”
“Secondly, I know that you all love your children and grandchildren, but you must be strict in raising them, so you must not be pampered in any way.”
“Third, one day is a teacher for life, if you worship me as a teacher, you cannot lightly say that you will withdraw from school, unless Xu Mou agrees, you cannot take it as a joke.”
Xu Qingnian said in a rousing manner, also very serious.
And these words have to be said first, in case someone’s child’s mother can’t let go and is heartbroken, what then?
So say it beforehand and don’t regret it.
The first thing you need to do is to take care of your own children, although it is for the sake of human relations, but also to be responsible, otherwise it will not last long, do not look at each and every Mr. Xu Mr. Xu shouting, mouth big talent.
If you teach them well, they will support you unconditionally as a favor.
If you don’t teach well, it’s a verbal shout, and no money.
“This is extremely true, old brother Xu, I believe that the Marquis of Wu is also no nonsense, this child will be handed over to you, in the future, if you really do not obey, you can beat to death, I will never be heartbroken.”
“Elder brother Xu, put your heart in your mouth, you teach my child with all your heart, my marquis will accept your kindness, as for scolding, you are free to do so, my marquis was also beaten since he was a child, no beating will not make him a weapon.”
The people still understood this reasoning, children are messy and playful, but if they don’t listen, they should be beaten, especially on top of their studies, they can’t become a weapon without beating.
“It is good that you all understand, but I, Xu, am not bound to beat them, I will still teach them carefully, just in case they are too playful.”
Xu Qingnian was also polite, it was definitely not good to keep talking about beating and fighting, one had to say a few good words.
“Okay, old brother Xu, quickly take a seat and have a drink together, this marquis doesn’t like to drink with scholars too much in his life, but he sees you differently, you are very right, come come come.”
“Yes, have a drink.”
The military generals were still relatively straightforward in nature, unlike the readers who all held a stance.
Xu Qingnian was also spontaneous and followed the crowd as they settled down.
The Duke sat at the front, the marquises were seated in turn, and Xu Qingnian sat below the marquises, followed by the eldest sons of the Duke, or Shizi.
The rest were at the next table, and as for the urchins, they were standing one by one, muttering something.
“Serve the wine.”
As a voice rang out, the waitresses poured the wine already poured out for the crowd.
Three times after raising their gla*ses.
Xu Qingnian sighed somewhat in admiration, this wine was different, although it was still not as good as Maozi, it was much better than the previous one.
“Nephew Qingnian, we have relied on your blessing today, otherwise, it would not have been possible for Duke An to bring out this kind of wine for us to taste.”
Qi Guo openly laughed, he had a head full of white hair and a Chinese face, even when he smiled, he gave people a sense of majesty.
“Where, where, it is Lord An who looks up to his students.”
Xu Qingnian replied.
“What else do you call a student, you’ve been called your nephew, there’s no need to be formal, just call us an uncle.”
The Duke of Qi continued to speak, drawing closer to each other, they did think quite highly of Xu Qingnian.
It wasn’t just the looks, the content of the letter given to them by Duke An clearly wrote a sentence that Xu Qingnian was a member of the military family, and since he was from a power, there was no need to say anything.
They should treat him as a junior. Besides, Xu Qingnian had also solved a big problem for them, so how could they not like such a gift when it came up?
“Yes, yes, then I’ll be more generous, I’ve met a few uncles, and I’ve also met a few elder brothers.”
At this point in time, there was indeed no need for modesty to come and go, Xu Qingnian rose, lifted a cup of wine and toasted towards the several state princes and marquises.
Once this was said, the crowd could not help but nod their heads, and their faces were full of smiles ah.
Wouldn’t such a great talent, being on one of their own teams, be like a tiger with wings?
Soon, the banquet began, and Xu Qingnian drank gla*s after gla*s down his throat, recognising people as he drank.
Who is the son of the Duke of Qi, who is the son of the Duke of Xin, who is the son of the Duke of Li, who is the son of the Duke of Jin.
Xu Qingnian had to know each and every one of them, including each of the marquises. It was not difficult to remember so many people in one breath, but at least one had to keep an eye on them so that they could greet each other in the future to avoid embarra*sment.
The crowd was happy, except for a group of bear children who stood not far away and looked a bit lonely.
Usually, they are very popular and usually get to be at the table on such occasions, eating and drinking and getting some silver.
But what about now? One by one, they stood there, not knowing what to do, not daring to walk, but standing and uncomfortable, very depressed.
“Elder brother Xu, what is this matter of granting education in the future?”
Finally, someone spoke up and asked.
Xu Qingnian said he would teach them, but the question was how.
It was impossible for Xu Qingnian to go to this house today and that one tomorrow, right?
“Yes, that’s what the student wants, to make a schoolhouse, a little out of the way, to go to school every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, study on the second and fourth, and go home for the rest of the week on the sixth and seventh, considering other things, so Xu will set aside one to two hours on the first, third and fifth to teach them anyway.”
“Reading is not rote memorisation, and the student hopes to teach these children through a different educational approach.”
When Xu Qingnian said this, he could not help but look away from the twenty to thirty people, the younger ones almost ten years old, the older ones fourteen or fifteen, at the very least past the stage of literacy, just the right time to establish the three views.
As the old saying goes, put on your shoes first and then your trousers, learn to be a man before you read.
“I have a mansion on West Street, which is not too far away. I will have it cleaned up and renovated in the style of the school.”
The Marquis of Xinwu spoke up, this kind of thing was nothing at all, he could solve it completely.
The crowd nodded, while Xu Qingnian nodded along.
It was quite good, white whoring to a place to stay, a night in a Kyoto restaurant was two or three taels of silver, not counting food and drink, it was really like the stench of wine and meat in the vermilion gate, the street had frozen bones.
“So when will the ceremony be held? We can also prepare for it.”
Someone asked again, asking Xu Qingnian about the ceremony.
“No, I don’t need to be overly complicated in my studies, I just need them to kneel three times before me.
Xu Qingnian waved his hand, the ceremony of worship in the Great Wei is more complicated, a whole set of processes, not to mention that when the time comes, everyone has to compete for the first gift.
It is true that many people do not want to be too interested, but Xu Qingnian does not want to make too much interest, itself is to meet people, there is no need to make it so that everyone is unhappy, or who sends a little more, they do not curse a sentence, it is considered a gift to send.
Solely none of them, keep it simple, treat everyone equally, it’s good for everyone, education can’t climb.
Indeed, with these words of Xu Qingnian, the crowd could not help but admire Xu Qingnian even more.
Who are they? If it was someone else, they would have accepted all kinds of gifts without a second thought.
Xu Qingnian refused to accept all of them, so we can tell that Xu Qingnian really wants to raise people, and it is one thing to have connections and teach people well.
At that moment, the crowd had nothing to say and raised their gla*ses towards Xu Qingnian as a token of appreciation.
Xu Qingnian drank the wine and then got up and came to the group of bear children.
At the head of the first row was naturally the young man in purple, also known as Li Fan.
At a glance, basically all the roadblockers were here, both male and female. The culture of Great Wei was very open, and women could also study and learn, only that they could not enter the imperial examinations.
The crowd looked at Xu Qingnian, some with slightly confused eyes, others with unkind eyes, and some with hatred, like Li Fan.
Xu Qingnian did not say anything, but stood quietly in front of them with his arms folded, his gaze gentle, but in the eyes of these bearish children, he looked smug.
“What are you all still standing there for? Why don’t you hurry up and kneel?”
“Little brats, why don’t you hurry up and kowtow to the teacher?”
“Still looking, look again and break your legs believe it or not?”
“Little B*****d, hurry up and kneel.”
The bear children did not want to kneel and kowtow to Xu Qingnian, nor did they want to worship any teacher, but their father immediately got up, his voice extremely loud and full of fierce intent.
At these words, the bear children were frightened, and one by one, they looked towards their grandfather or their mother.
But all they got was an even more stern gaze.
Understood, conceding.
The children born in the imperial city, naughty as they were, were still aware of the times and knew the general trend and did not resist, and many of them knelt down and kowtowed towards Xu Qingnian.
Even Li Fan kowtowed reluctantly.
Only this reluctant and even perfunctory attitude of theirs instantly P*ssed off these elders.
“What the hell are you kowtowing for? You call this kowtowing? It’s like running out of breath, kowtow to me more seriously.”
“You little son of a B*tch, are you usually spoiled? You don’t even take your worship seriously, you just don’t deserve it.”
The bear children were scared silly on the spot and cried out directly from the kick.
“Mummy, mummy.”
“Dad hit me.”
They subconsciously ran to their mother and cried out, only to be met with a merciless iron slap in return.
“Is it wrong to beat you? Forget about fooling around on a normal day, it’s such a grand event, hurry up and kowtow to your teacher, if you keep fooling around like this, Mother won’t want you anymore.”
“Well done, even if you’re usually rambunctious, you’re still rambunctious here at this time, mother usually spoils you too much, today I really have to teach you a lesson.”
They scolded angrily, although it was hard in their hearts, but it was not easy to have someone famous to teach their son, how dare they continue to spoil ah.
The son is more important than the son.
The sounds of shouting and scolding rose and fell on each other, and at the back of the room, Mr and Mrs Li Bing also took the field.
He usually takes good care of his son, but everything depends on the occasion, and he will never be soft on this.
To be merciful would be to harm him.
Slap.
Two slaps fell, and Li Fan was dumbfounded, but his stubbornness made him want to shout, but when he saw that his grandfather, Lord An Guo, seemed to be getting up, Li Fan knelt down.
Towards Xu Qingnian, he kowtowed three times in all seriousness and said.
“Student Li Fan, pay my respects to my teacher.”
With Li Fan leading the way, the rest of the group didn’t hold back, and one by one they knelt down and kowtowed, most of them with a crying voice.
En, comfortable.
After hearing this voice, Xu Qingnian was comfortable.
“Well, well, the disciples are excused.”
“Teacher has nothing in his body, so he can’t give you anything, so I will give you eight words.”
“Study hard and get better every day.”
“Go aside and transcribe these eight words a hundred times, whoever finishes first can rest, those who cannot finish will always stay, and of course those whose fonts are not fair will also stay, and my teacher will take his time with you.”
“By the way, whoever finishes copying first and has neat handwriting will be the cla*s leader, which means the head of the cla*s, and will be responsible for supervising everyone.”
Xu Qingnian smiled, then sent the unlucky kids off to practice their handwriting, dropping this sentence at the end.
At this moment, the eyes of these bear children were a little different, they were definitely reluctant to let them copy, and if they weren’t afraid of being beaten, they probably would have already started cursing.
But when they heard that they would be the head of the cla*s, the eyes of the bears were a bit strange. These unlucky children were outwardly righteous, but they were just following the example of the adults, but behind the scenes, everyone wanted to be the boss.
At that moment, the bear children honestly went to practise their calligraphy and listened to Xu Qingnian, no matter what their purpose was.
Looking at these bear children.
Xu Qingnian felt beautiful and completely comfortable.
But I can’t blame myself, who let these unlucky children provoke themselves for no reason, and now they’ve done it?
Alas, they made their own mistakes.
As the drama ended, Xu Qingnian returned to her seat and drank and talked with the crowd. Xu Qingnian continued to speak less and listen more, writing down every word the crowd said so that she could understand it properly.
The banquet was lively and the crowd was very happy. Xu Qingnian’s ability to drink was not a problem at all, which surprised the crowd a little, but also made them appreciate it even more.
At the end of the drink, everyone got a little closer and was not as restrained as before.
Immediately afterwards, a topic that Xu Qingnian least expected to encounter came up.
It was Qi’s open mouth.
“Qingnian’s nephew, uncle asked you something, who did you write that song “Full River Red” for?”
Qi Guoguo opened his mouth as he sipped his wine and asked Xu Qingnian this question.
As soon as this was said, there was a light in the eyes of the crowd, and even their sitting posture was adjusted by one or two, a little more rigorous.
Although there was the Duke of State present, the Liege Marquises had to behave themselves in this matter, after all, what if Xu Qingnian had written it for them?
The question came up.
Xu Qingnian was a bit speechless. Originally, he had said that he would visit them one by one and if they asked this question, he could answer it one by one in a cryptic manner.
But to ask it in front of him, it was not very nice, was it?
Xu Qingnian didn’t know how to answer, but the next moment, An Guo openly spoke up.
“There’s no need to ask this question, it must have been written for the old man, so you guys don’t need to argue.”
Speaking of this, An Guo Gong came into the spirit, he had to blow a wave of himself, he couldn’t do it without it.
“Written for you? Duke An, although you are a few years older than me and I have to call you brother, but how can you say such shameless words?”
The Duke of Qi was a little shady.
“Yes, Duke An, although you are the head of the state and we respect you, but this is not something that can be said nonsensically, where is Full River Red written about you, it is clearly written about me.”
Duke Li followed suit and spoke up.
“You don’t give a Sh*t, how can it be your turn, it must be for me, Lu Guogong.”
Lu Guogong shouted up.
“You guys are really rude, Qingnian’s nephew has already said that it is written for me, and you are still arguing here, you are really adding to the joke.”
An Guo Gong was not happy, Xu Qingnian had said it himself, could it still be false? These martial artists are so vulgar.
“The first thing you can do is to ask him who he wrote it for, and he will definitely say he wrote it for you. ”
Duke of Xin Guo spoke up, he straight away thought it was Xu Qingnian being modest and pressed to deny it.
“That’s right, that’s right, Duke An Guo, people are polite, you take it seriously? No way, no way?”
Duke Li continued.
The four State Dukes were arguing, but only State Duke Jin was very calm, sitting there with a look of disdain in his eyes.
This connotation made Xu Qingnian sigh with admiration, there was finally a calm and steady State Duke.
However, the next moment, the voice of the Duke of Qi rang out.
“Duke of Jin, what is the meaning of that look in your eyes? If you have something to say, why do you follow the example of those bookworms in general?”
Hearing the voice of the Duke of Qi, the Duke of Jin sneered and said
“What does it mean? What else can it mean? I took part in seven of the late emperor’s northern expeditions, but what about you? I participated in seven of the late emperor’s northern expeditions, but not five.
The Duke of Jin said confidently, and as soon as he said this, in an instant the four princes stood up.
“What? Want to fight? Don’t say that I’m bullying you, no divine power allowed, dare you?”
The Duke of Jin was completely unafraid, a Duke who came down from the battlefield, how could he be afraid?
“Go!”
“Let’s fight!”
“A few old pipsqueaks, if I don’t beat you to tears today, my surname will be Li.”
The State Dukes invited the fight to go, extremely brawny, saying that they would fight without regard to any venue.
“Elder brother Xu, just get used to it, we are all rough people, it’s good to fight when there’s nothing to do, to move your muscles.”
The marquis of Xinwu beside Xu Qingnian laughed thus, and then got up to stretch his muscles.
“Old brother, what are you doing?”
Xu Qingnian was a little curious as to what the other party was doing.
“It’s alright, brother Xu, I know that it’s not good to compromise the face of the State Dukes when you come to An Guo’s residence, I can tell that your song Full River Red is definitely not written for these State Dukes.”
“I understand, old brother, I understand.”
Marquis Xin Wu opened his mouth, and as he said this, he got up and left, joining the State Duke battle.
A somewhat confused Xu Qingnian was left behind.
What do you mean? Hey, say it clearly, Marquis Xinwu, Marquis, Martial Brother, say it.
Xu Qingnian really didn’t quite understand what it meant.
But soon, Marquis Guangping came over.
“Brother Xu, don’t mind them, martial artists are all like that, come, have a drink.”
Marquis Guangping came over and drank with Xu Qingnian.
Xu Qingnian nodded his head.
The next moment, Marquis Guangping slowly said.
“Brother Qingnian, let me ask you something …….”
“This Full River Red of yours …… shouldn’t have been written for me, right?”
Marquis Guangping asked calmly, but his eyes were full of expectation.
Xu Qingnian: “……”
You sister, how can you ask someone like this? You don’t just want me to tell you that it was written for you, do you?
At that moment, someone ran over, 13 or 14 years old, took out a stack of rice paper and placed it in front of Xu Qingnian, saying, “Teacher, the student has finished writing.”
The voice rang out and Xu Qingnian sighed in relief, not really knowing how to answer this question.
“En, not bad, the script is neat, what is your name?”
Xu Qingnian asked.
The young man was a little shy or a little cold, his looks were quite clean, and his body was not dirty, so he looked slightly much cleaner, much better than Li Fan.
“Back to teacher, the student’s name is Huo Lin, and my family father is the Marquis of Yangdu.”
Huo Lin opened his mouth and said his name.
“From now on, you will be the cla*s president. When school starts, my teacher will explain some things to you.”
Xu Qingnian nodded in satisfaction, Huo Lin’s writing was not bad, at least it was neat, it was perfectly fine, don’t ask too much of a child.
“Haha, Lin’er, why don’t you hurry up and thank your teacher.”
The Marquis of Yangdu saw that his son was the first to finish writing and that he had been commended, naturally he was inwardly pleased, he said so and Huo Lin bowed towards Xu Qingnian.
“Thank you, teacher.”
After saying this, Huo Lin left to find his mother.
“Marquis Yang Du, this child of yours is good, he has achieved great things.”
Xu Qingnian appreciated this, and Marquis Yangdu was even more delighted.
“No matter what, it’s all because of the teacher’s good teaching. Come, come, old brother Xu, don’t call me Marquis Yang Du, just call me Brother Huo, have a drink.”
The Marquis of Yang Du lifted his gla*s of wine, he was indeed in a happy mood, so he naturally had to drink with Xu Qingnian.
“Then respectfully, old brother, I’ll drink to this cup first.”
Xu Qingnian drank it down in one go.
In this way, time pa*sed little by little, the State Dukes fought for more than an hour, from the initial tirade of abuse to the back where everyone coldly grunted at each other without speaking.
The feast was almost over as well.
The Duke of An insisted on staying with Xu Qingnian for the night, but Xu Qingnian resisted in every way, and eventually the Duke of An gave up.
After bidding farewell to An Guo Gong and the crowd, Xu Qingnian left Zhuque Avenue and returned to his residence.
Returning by the same route, Xu Qingnian took a special look at the shop of the Fan merchant, who was sitting there thinking about life and was in a more comfortable mood.
When he returned to the inn, Xu Qingnian also settled down.
After washing his face, Xu Qingnian allowed himself to become more awake.
It was a good thing to build up human relations with the state princes and lords, but one must also remember that at all times.
Everything revolves around interests. If you can bring them benefits, they will help you.
If you don’t have the value of interest, they won’t help you either.
This is a very simple truth.
So you have to get it right.
Now that one is weak, one can ingratiate oneself or take the initiative to befriend, but it is not okay to ingratiate oneself and befriend.
They get benefit from themselves, then they must also get benefit from them, so that they can complement each other, otherwise if they are not happy, the other party will not be happy either.
What smart people prefer is to have what they need, not just give. There is no such thing as giving without expecting something in return, unless one is a saint.
Thinking of this, Xu Qingnian took out a piece of paper and began to reflect and review herself.
After thinking over the events of today, Xu Qingnian began to write.
Firstly, he should not have acted righteously in the street today. Although he saw injustice, there are many experts in the imperial capital, and he is only a ninth-grade martial artist, so it is good to vent his anger for a while, but it is not good to invite trouble because of this.
Secondly, there is indeed no need to be too modest in the State Council. After all, a military official has the character of a military official, while a scholar has the character of a scholar, so if one is too restrained and modest, it would be an act.
Thirdly, these military officials should not be taken lightly, although they seem to be a bit straightforward and rambunctious, but one is more careful than the other, be good at observation, learn their skills, hidden needles in the sheep, thick in the fine.
Xu Qingnian was writing three lines of words on white paper.
It was clear what he had done today and where he had made mistakes, so that he could avoid them in the future.
After he finished writing, Xu Qingnian lay down on his bed and began to fake sleep.
After drinking several pounds of strong wine, it was indeed a little hard to carry on.
And so it was, late into the night.
Great Wei Imperial Palace.
Inside the Hall of the Nurturing Heart.
Wan’er stood beside Long Luan and said.
“Your Majesty, Xu Qingnian has come to the capital yesterday, according to the spy’s report, Xu Qingnian went to Vermilion Bird Avenue and sought out Duke An, who later had someone invite five marquises, including Duke Xin, Duke Qi, Duke Lu, Duke Jin, Duke Li, and Marquis Xinwu.”
“These Duke of State and also the Marquis all brought their own sons and grandsons to the banquet, and my servant heard that it was Xu Qingnian who took a fancy to Li Fan, the grandson of the Duke of An, saying that Li Fan had the qualifications of a great scholar, and the Duke of An asked Xu Qingnian to be Li Fan’s teacher, and finally Xu Qingnian simply took the grandsons of the rest of the Duke of State, all of them as students.”
“That’s why it drew all the State Dukes to the door.”
Wan’er’s voice was very pleasant as she spat out her words clearly.
“Understood.”
The voice of the Great Wei Empress rang out.
Then, it slowly spoke again.
“Declare him to enter the court tomorrow.”
The empress spoke, making this decision.
“Slave servant obeys the decree.”
“By the way, Your Majesty, when Xu Qingnian was going to Zhuque Avenue, he pa*sed by West Street and saw a Fan merchant blackmailing people for money. Xu Qingnian acted in a righteous manner and struck up a stone, so that the Fan merchant’s container collapsed, causing a lot of silver to be lost.”
Wan Er continued to speak, adding some details.
“Oh?”
The Empress of Great Wei was somewhat surprised, as if she sounded even more surprised than Xu Qingnian opening a school.
“Good, I understand.”
The Great Wei Empress spoke, seeming to think of something and regained her composure.
“Then slave servant will go and pa*s on the order now.”
Wan’er spoke.
“En, yes, in two days, there will be no more court, take a break, and when I feel ready to go to court, then let them go to court again.”
The Empress of Great Wei spoke out, and Wan’er nodded and quickly left the Hall of Nurtured Heart.
She was already used to it, every once in a while, the empress did not go to court, and was often alone in the Hall of the Nurtured Heart, and was also very odd, exactly what was odd about it, she did not know, she just felt something odd.
But it was not her turn to worry about the Emperor’s affairs, so she did as she was told.
And so it was.
The empress’s decree soon went out.
The next day.
It was just after dawn when Xu Qingnian was awakened by a knock at the door.
When he opened the door, it was a eunuch, a handsome eunuch, in his twenties, looking at Xu Qingnian with a smile on his face.
“Mr. Xu, His Majesty has ordered you to go to the court tomorrow to face the saint, Mr. Xu should remember to wait outside the palace at celestial time, someone will take you then.”
The eunuch opened his mouth and said that he had come to pa*s on a message.
Hearing this news, Xu Qingnian was a little excited, but after adjusting his mind a little, Xu Qingnian nodded and said.
“Thank you, Eunuch, and thank you for making the trip.”
Xu Qingnian thanked him and at the same time took out a silver ticket and handed it to the latter, the silver ticket was quite a lot, a full fifty taels, the reason why he was so willing was not because the other party was someone from the palace.
To be honest, such eunuchs did not seem to have much power, but they were actually very powerful, so it was definitely not a loss to give some silver tickets to make friends.
However, when the latter saw Xu Qingnian’s action, he was a bit shocked.
Especially when he saw that the silver ticket that Xu Qingnian handed over was actually in the denomination of fifty, he was even more terrified.
“This, this, this, Mr. Xu, no need, no need.”
The latter was a little terrified, not daring to accept it.
“Your Excellency is tired, a small amount of money, you take it, it is a small token of appreciation from Mr Xu.”
Xu Qingnian insisted on giving it, but in his heart he was a little curious, it was only fifty taels, was this necessary?
“This …… This …… Mr. Xu, I, Li, am somewhat honored, I am grateful to Mr. Xu, if you go to the palace, if there is anything you don’t understand, come ask me, Li, I, Li Xian, will never resist.”
Li Xian accepted the silver ticket and was moved to tears, making Xu Qingnian really a little curious.
It was only fifty taels, right?
In Ping’an County, it must be an astronomical amount, but this was Kyoto, you were an eunuch in the imperial palace.
But no matter how surprised she was inside, outwardly Xu Qingnian was still very polite and said, “Eunuch Li is very polite, take care.”
After saying this, Eunuch Li nodded his head, took a deep breath, hid his tears and left.
He was indeed touched, after all, this was the first time someone had given a gift to a eunuch, or to be more precise, the first time he had received a gift.
After Li Xian left, Xu Qingnian didn’t think too much about it and washed up a little before going out.
Yesterday, he went to the House of the Prince of An, and today he still has to visit the other princes one by one.
Although we have all met before, this is the invitation from the Duke of An, so I still have to go over and pay a visit.
The Duke of Li, the Duke of Jin, the Duke of Qi, including the Marquis that he met yesterday, Xu Qingnian went to visit them one by one.
When the time came, Xu Qingnian left the inn, bought an extra fan, wrote on it and left quickly.
The fact that Xu Qingnian came over this time made them extremely happy, especially a few of the lords, who did not expect Xu Qingnian to visit their homes on purpose.
This is a human touch that makes everyone appreciate Xu Qingnian even more.
The fans were given away, one to each person, and the other party laughed heartily. Each of the state dukes and lord lords shouted at Xu Qingnian to stay for dinner, and had it not been for the mealtime, Xu Qingnian would not have stayed at all, and ended up having a casual meal at each of the Li state dukes’ and Yangdu marquis’ homes.
After all, a state duke or lord has to visit for half an hour, so it is impossible to just sit down and leave.
However, Xu Qingnian also gained a lot from this visit and understood some of the rules of the court, so they agreed to go together tomorrow to avoid being alone.
After all this.
It was already midnight.
Xu Qingnian took a bath and after she was clean, she changed into a set of prepared Confucian robes.
Thinking about going to court tomorrow, it was honestly impossible not to be a little nervous.
So Xu Qingnian spent the rest of the day adjusting her mind.
By the time it was ugly, Xu Qingnian’s mind was much calmer and he straightened his clothes and walked out of the inn.
The place to go to the court was the main gate, through the Vermilion Bird Avenue. Yesterday, the Marquis of Xinwu had already said that Xu Qingnian had walked through it on purpose, so he was familiar with it.
It was four minutes past the ugly hour.
The sky was still dark.
Xu Qingnian arrived at the Noon Gate early.
The left door is for officials to enter the court, the main door is only for the emperor or the scholar, but the scholar can only go once, the right door is for military intelligence to go through.
The right-hand gate was a special pa*sage for military intelligence. For example, if there was an urgent letter from a thousand miles or something like that, it could go straight through this way.
It was 4:00 in the ugly hour, before dawn, and the officials would not go to court so early. Xu Qingnian was afraid of delaying the hour, so he came early for the first time.
It was almost cinnabar time before the officials would appear one after another to wait here.
It was only after waiting for two quarters of an hour.
A figure came.
Seven or eight people, dressed in Confucian official robes, slowly walked in, and the person at the head of them was someone Xu Qingnian knew.
It was the great Confucian scholar Chen Xin.
When he saw Chen Xin, Xu Qingnian did not hesitate or feel embarra*sed, but walked over and bowed towards Chen Xin.
“I, Xu Qingnian, have met Chen Xin, Great Confucian Chen.”
These people were chatting about something when they suddenly saw a figure approaching, and they even announced themselves.
“Xu Qingnian?”
“It’s really you.”
“Qingnian, it’s been a long time.”
Seeing Xu Qingnian, Chen Xin revealed a smile, he was a great Confucian of the Zhu Sheng lineage, but he had an innate good feeling towards Xu Qingnian, and with so many things happening before, Chen Xin had actually wanted to say a few words for Xu Qingnian.
But the situation made it impossible for him to say anything, and he also knew that it was useless to say anything, so he ended up being silent.
Now that he had seen Xu Qingnian, and that Xu Qingnian had taken the initiative to come up and pay his respects, it made Chen Xin feel a little ashamed of himself instead.
The other Confucian officials, on the other hand, showed their surprise as they looked at Xu Qingnian and could not help but secretly whisper.
“Is this Xu Qingnian?”
“He still has the nerve to worship Great Confucian scholar Chen Xin?”
“Hmph, I didn’t expect to see such a person early in the morning, bad luck.”
The rest of the Confucian officials were different, they didn’t have the same goodwill towards Xu Qingnian as Chen Xin did.
“Silence.”
Great Confucian scholar Chen Xin turned back to reprimand a sentence, and at once the crowd was quiet.
“Qingnian, today His Majesty has summoned you in, remember, speak less and listen more, when the court has retired, if you have nothing to do, come to my home and I will have a good talk with you.”
Chen Xin spoke, gentle and elegant, his demeanour all calm.
“En, I came yesterday but did not visit you at your home, it is Qingnian’s fault, after the court has retired, I will naturally visit.”
Xu Qingnian nodded and smiled.
Chen Xin also smiled slightly, but didn’t say anything more.
After all, this was outside the palace, so it was better not to talk about some things nonsense.
They were very enthusiastic when they saw Xu Qingnian, and they even took the initiative to pull Xu Qingnian to the side and asked him about some things.
The intention was to show the others that Xu Qingnian was one of theirs.
“Elder brother Xu, it’s so early.”
“Older brother Xu, you’re here so early?”
“Nephew Qingnian is really a good drinker, he can still go to court sober after drinking so much, not bad, not bad.”
“Nephew Qingnian, are you nervous about going to court for the first time? Hahahahaha!”
“Elder brother Xu, I didn’t expect you to get up so early? I thought you were going to be drunk yesterday.”
“Hahahaha, I told you that Old Brother Xu would definitely come earlier today, and indeed I was right, right?”
One after another, the Duke of Qi, the Duke of Xin, the Duke of Lu, the Marquis of Xinwu, the Marquis of Guangping and the Marquis of Yangdu appeared, and after seeing Xu Qingnian, they even laughed loudly, looking very close to each other.
The other officials who came over one after another were very surprised.
The first is surprised Xu Qingnian, the second is surprised, this Xu Qingnian only came a day, how seems to be with this group of military officials familiar with it?
The Confucian officials also basically arrived, and when they saw Xu Qingnian, they even whispered more than once, and even looked at him in an unkind manner.
A few of the great scholars appeared and glanced at Xu Qingnian, but did not say a word, but it was impossible for Xu Qingnian not to feel the extra hostility.
It was also at this moment that a voice rang out.
“Open the door! All officials enter the court!”
