Zhuolu

As the emperor’s personal guard, the Golden Guards passed imperial edicts everywhere, regardless of whether it was Huan Xinghai or Mogui Mountain, they always broke in directly, and never had the habit of standing outside the door and waiting for notifications.

But they forgot that they were only fourth-rank military officers of the imperial court, and the Duke of Guo was a super-rank prince. Ordinary princes didn’t want to offend them, so they didn’t care about etiquette. But Zhu Yangai was not an ordinary prince, and whether he cared about it depended entirely on his mood.

“Since you have come to Yinian Palace, you must abide by the rules of Yinian Palace.” Zhu Yangai raised her hand, and dozens of red-clothed guards holding Luli bows appeared in front of and behind the palce in an instant, and each bow was bent like a full moon.

Du Huang broke out in a cold sweat, “This official is guilty, I will report again.”

After finishing speaking, Du Huang led the Golden Guards to exit the Yinian Palace quickly. The aura obviously opened the spider web for them to go out.

The commander of the Golden Guard turned blue with anger, he had walked all over the Da Yong, but he had never been humiliated like this before, “Master Du, what you have done is a shame for the Holy One.”

“Commander Zhang can tell the truth when he goes back, let’s see how the Holy Majesty decides.” Du Huang sighed, this Commander Zhang just took office not long ago, he didn’t understand the situation at all, young people were so reckless, sooner or later they would suffer.

Standing outside the gate, he politely asked the gate guards to inform the people inside and waited for nearly a quarter of an hour before be let in again.    

All the things that had been prepared for the hair tying ceremony were put away, and Zhu Yangai received the crowd again in the main hall of Yinian Palace, “Who is coming?”

He read the decree again. Surprisingly, this decree was not here to beg for Lin Xin, “Zhu Xingli of Zhu family in the Southern Region is wise, knowledgeable and versatile, the best in the past and present, he is thus asked to enter the palace as a grand teacher, in order to teach the crown prince and other princes lessons.”

Lin Xin looked at his Master, surprised.

Zhu Xingli, who was secretly feeding Madam Jing dried fish, shook his hand and poked the dried fish on the cat’s head, and was immediately scratched by Madam Jing. Covering his hands and gritting his teeth, he walked forward, took the imperial decree and read it again, it was indeed saying what was just read out.

“Yi Xiao is stubborn, how can he be the prince’s teacher?” Zhu Yangai frowned, he knew that if his younger brother became the prince’s teacher, within a year, the prince would become a prodigal son.

“The duke is too humble. The emperor took an examination of the Sixth Prince’s homework. He looked very happy. He hoped that the other princes could also learn such a wide range of knowledge, so he sent an official here to invite Mr. Yi Xiao into the palace,” Du Huang said with a wry smile, “In addition, the emperor has an oral order. Please find the orphan of the Marquis of Lu and ask him to come to Beijing, so that he can be worshipped as a prince.”

Zhu Xingli was acting foolishly, but when he heard the last sentence, he immediately rolled up the yellow silk of the imperial decree and tucked it into his sleeve, “Thanks to the Holy Majesty for appreciating this minister, then I would be more respectful and obedient, Xin’er, pack your things.”

Lin Xin originally thought that the master would refuse to enter the palace, but he did not expect him to agree so simply.

“It’s the same wherever you go to fight the autumn wind,” Zhu Xingli said indifferently, “Would you like to make a bet to see how long Feng Zhuoyi can bear me, ten taels of Luli.”

Feng Zhuoyi was the name of the current emperor.

Lin Xin watched him wipe the Chunshen sword and felt a little uncomfortable. Master was a dissolute man, and he didn’t like being restrained the most. He agreed to enter the palace, probably for him and Feng Zhong, “Master, why don’t we run?”

“Run?” Zhu Xingli put his sword back into its sheath, and struck Lin Xin’s calf with the sheath, “Stinky boy, after being taught by me for so many years, you just learned how to run?”

When they met on Mogui Mountain, Lin Xin was too young, so it was impossible for him to hand over such a young Lin Xin to the royal family, it would be like a sheep entering the tiger’s mouth. Now that both Lin Xin and Feng Zhong had grown up, “What should be yours, go and get it back, Master is here.” With Master here…

Lin Xinxin’s head felt hot, all the apprehension and fear, resentment, disgust and hate, all vanished with this one sentence.

“Seeing that the situation is not right, at worst, we will run again.” Zhu Xingli added.

Lin Xin: “…”

Soon it would be the hunting day in Xianchi, so Shen Lou followed them to Beijing to participate in this year’s autumn hunting.

Zhu Yangai and the three stacked swords came out to see them off. Zhu Jiangqiu pulled Lin Xin very reluctantly and stuffed him with a bunch of southern region snacks.

“Meow!” Mrs. Jing rushed out, grabbed Lin Xin’s clothes and climbed up.

Shen Lou took the cat down and returned her to Zhu Yangai, “Uncle Shi, this nephew heard something the day before yesterday. There was a restaurant in the Northern Territory that sold flame fish. A certain person was greedy and ate eight fish at a time. He was found dead at home the next day.”

Zhu Yangai shrank his pupils when he heard this, “What do you mean?”

“I saw that there are many flame fishes in the pond in the back garden, and when I thought of it, I decided to tell Uncle Shi.” Shen Lou cupped his hands while saying goodbye, then he pulled Lin Xin into the carriage.

Zhu Yangai stroked the cat in his arms, then turned to the maid and said, “Reduce the madam’s daily flame fish, and change it to once every three days.”

“Yes.” The maid responded with a bow.

“Meow?”

It was still hot in the southern region, but it was already raining in autumn in the capital. Teahouses and restaurants were full of people sheltering from the rain, talking about the grand occasion of autumn Imperial Examinations.

The Da Yong imperial examinations were divided into the autumn and spring competitions, the autumn competitions compared martial arts, and the spring competitions was more academic. The children of the small family and immortals who wanted to be military officers needed to participate in the autumn examinations and win a good ranking.

Ordinary people could also participate in Spring examinations, but it was much more difficult for them than immortals. They needed to be selected through government examinations and township examinations, and also get a recommendation by local immortal cultivators.

The Imperial Palace was in the middle of Yongdu and could be reached by crossing the Royal Street.

Lin Xin jumped off the carriage, looked at the majestic city wall, and couldn’t help taking a deep breath. The low wall was called Yuan, and the high wall is called Yong. The city walls of the capital and the palace walls of the imperial palace were all three feet high, so they were called Yongdu.

The high walls were dense, like a big urn made of stone, locking everyone inside, fighting to the death.

Emperor Yuan Shuo named Feng Zhuoyi stood on the parapet to welcome everyone, “Yi Xiao, you haven’t been to Yongdu for several years.” There was a pair of very conspicuous dimples on his face as he said that.

People in the royal family all had dimples, either big or small. Therefore, when Feng Zhong returned to the palace, no one tried to question his lineage.

A woman who had pear dimples would look delicate, and a man who had pear dimples would look amiable.

“This official has seen the emperor.” A group of people knelt down and saluted.

“Get up, it’s raining outside, everyone come into the palace,” Feng Zhuoyi patted Shen Lou on the shoulder, “I haven’t seen you for a long time, Shen Lou has grown so tall.”

“The emperor is too kind.”

Shen Lou bowed his head in response, without having much to say.

The emperor asked them to sit, then he called Lin Xin to come to him, took a closer look at his appearance, held the Luli pendant he was wearing and sighed deeply, “I have been looking for you all these years. Your father hunted Luli for the royal family and died unexpectedly, leaving you as his only child, how can I have the heart to let you wander outside.”

Making things right and wrong, he never mentioned that Zhu Xingli had concealed him knowingly for so many years.

“Your Majesty, do you really want me to teach the prince?” Zhu Xingli hunkered down on the chair, not looking like a teacher at all.

“You are just putting on airs,” Feng Zhuoyi raised his hand, nodded to Zhu Xingli in the void and shook his head with a smile, his golden dragon robe shook accordingly, but his gestures were all dignified, “I tested the sixth prince’s homework, my sixth son knows astronomy and geography and knows everything about sword formations, while the crown prince is far behind him.”

A prince who grew up outside the palace was stronger than the prince who had been carefully cultivated for many years, seeing this made Emperor Yuan Shuo very disturbed.

No matter what Zhu Xingli said, the official position of the Grand Master was fixed, and a place to live was allocated for him in the East Palace, and Lin Xin and Shen Lou would also be temporarily living in the East Palace.

After exchanging pleasantries, the emperor let them go to settle down, but kept Lin Xin alone to talk.

The heavy door of the palace was shut tightly, blocking Shen Lou’s worried eyes.

“Let’s go.” Zhu Xingli dragged Shen Lou indifferently and went directly to the East Palace. His apprentice was better than himself, and the emperor would not be able to do anything to him, so there was nothing to worry about.

As the door of the palace was closed, the sound of the pattering rain outside the door gradually faded away. Lin Xin thought back to the time when he first met Emperor Yuan Shuo in his previous life, it was still the early summer when the sun was shining brightly, but the sky that fell in his eyes was even darker than it was now.

Golden Guards brought him who had just killed his master and Feng Zhong who was seriously injured and unconscious back to the palace. Master’s death at his own hands was a great blow to fifteen-year-old Lin Xin, and he didn’t say a word for several days. Feng Zhuoyi called the best imperial physicians to treat him, and he came to visit him almost every day.

It took more than half a year to recover. By the time Lin Xin walked out of the palace, the rumors about him killing his teacher had already spread throughout Yongdu.

“It was him who killed his mentor.”

“He is so cruel at such a young age. Could it be that he is a wolf cub spirit?”

“Why did you have to do that?” Even Feng Zhong questioned him while grabbing his collar.

“No reason, I just did what I had to do.” Lin Xin threw off his hand and was punched in the chest and abdomen again. The heavy fist carried enough spiritual power, that it hit him ten feet away, causing a mouthful of blood to spray out from his mouth.

“Lin Xin, from now on, you and I will be absolutely incompatible!” Feng Zhong left with red eyes, shaking his sleeves.

Lin Xin didn’t know what it was like to be betrayed by relatives. He no longer had any relatives. He got up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and turned to look for the emperor.

No care, no worries, a lonely minister who was completely notorious. He wanted to avenge his father, avenge his master, and shake the century-old clan. The only one he could rely on to do that was the emperor.

After the memory came back, Lin Xin looked up at Feng Zhuoyi who was no different from his memory and showed a slightly reserved smile.

“I heard from the Golden Guards that you killed those twenty or so barbarians?” The emperor smiled kindly, as if he was asking if he had destroyed the ant nest outside the door.

“They weren’t killed by this minister, I just activated the grand formation set up by master.” Lin Xin told the truth, his eyes were full of innocent cruelty, as if he didn’t care about the murder of more than 20 people.

Feng Zhuoyi nodded slightly, “Do you know who killed your father?”

“I don’t know.” Lin Xin shook his head.

Emperor Yuan Shuo sighed and told how Lin Zhenghan went to find the Luli vein, and how he was targeted by those families without a Luli vein.

Lin Xin clenched his fists tightly, his eyes turning red.

“You’ve tied your hair up, so you can get your name?” Feng Zhuoyi patted Lin Xin’s head with pity.

“I will live up to it, this Lin will live up to it,” Lin Xin took a deep breath, “my father gave his word, I will keep his promise, and live up to the emperor’s grace.”

“Good boy, after a while I will issue an edict to pass on the title of Marquis of Xunlu to you.”

Leaving the hall, Lin Xin wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes with a single finger, then he sneered, and walked towards the East Palace.

The author has something to say:

Autumn examination in the official history is not a martial arts examination, but a provincial examination. Okay?    

Small Theater:

Zhongzhong: (Day 1) Lin Xiaoxin, I will break my friendship with you    

Xinxin: This is what you said    

Zhingzhong: (Second day) Lin Xiaoxin, one day has passed, let’s get back together    

Xinxin: Okay    

Loulou: …