After Shui Yun left, Yu Shu didn't have to work from nine to five anymore. Seeing that there was nothing to do in the afternoon, she told Xie Lan and left early with Wen Shao 'an.
If she wanted to plead, she couldn't go empty-handed. Considering that Wen Shao 'an didn't have much money, Yu Shu went back to the mansion first. She picked a few things from the small warehouse she had saved up and put them in lacquer boxes. Then she went to the market and bought two baskets of fresh peaches and plums. Then she went to Taishi Shuyuan to look for Wen Shao' an.
Yu Shu was now a celebrity in Taishi Shuyuan. When she became the Celestial Commissioner overnight, some people were not convinced and made irresponsible remarks. But after the Water and Land Conference, there were no more such voices. The students who had taken classes with her all felt honored when they mentioned her. It should be known that Yu Shu wasn't someone anyone could see. For those who hadn't seen her, she was equivalent to a legendary figure.
Yu Shu and Wen Shao 'an didn't forget to take their waist tags. After entering the door, they were recognized soon. Several young students rushed to greet them. There were two men and one woman. They were all older than Yu Shu, but they were all respectful when they saw her.
Yu Shu and said a few words to them. Seeing that they were all cautious, she didn't talk much. She just asked them where Fang Zijing and Sima Kui were at this moment.
Coincidentally, both academicians were there. One was in Xushui Tang, and the other was at the observatory.
Yu Shu looked at the sunset and took Wen Shao 'an to Xushui Tang first. When they arrived, the class hadn't ended yet. Looking in from outside the door, they saw a room full of young teachers who were all immersed in writing. No one noticed that there were two people at the door. Fang Zijing, who was sitting in the hall and drinking tea, raised his head inadvertently and saw Yu Shu.
Yu Shu smiled at him, bowed her head, and cupped her hands in greeting. Although the Emperor had granted her a title and she didn't have to salute officials below the third rank, Fang Zijing could be considered as half her benevolent teacher, so how could she be rude?
Fang Zijing raised his grizzled eyebrows and blew at his moustache. He did not seem very pleased to see her, but he rose shakily to his feet and carried his purple linen sleeve pot towards the door.
As soon as he moved, some of the students below sensed it. They turned their heads to look, and their eyes widened. Good, look who it is!
Someone sat close to Situ Qinglan and knew that she was close to Yu Shu, so he poked her shoulder and asked, "Is that Official Yu?"
No one dared to call him by his name. Those who had once sat cross-legged with him had to call him Milord.
Situ Qinglan turned around. It was really her. Then, people discovered Yu Shu's arrival one after another. Without waiting for Fang Zijing to cross the threshold, Xu Shuitang was in an uproar.
Fang Zijing suddenly turned his head and snorted. The people behind him immediately became quiet. Only Situ Qinglan was brave enough to stand up and follow him out.
Yu Shu smiled and invited Fang Zijing to the corridor to talk. She nodded at Situ Qinglan who came out from behind. She didn't mention Wen Shao 'an first. She just wanted to ask if the teacher was in good health and if he was still so energetic after not seeing him for a long time.
Fang Zijing didn't fall for her trick. He had already seen Wen Shao 'an behind her with a gift basket in his hand. He raised his hand to take a sip of strong tea and asked directly,
"Who is this boy?"
Yu Shu took the opportunity to push Wen Shao 'an in front of him. She first told him his identity and how much he admired Fang Zijing. Then she praised Wen Shao' an, saying that he was a young talent, steady, kind, righteous, and filial. In short, Wen Shao 'an himself blushed when he heard it. Finally, he poked him with his elbow.
Wen Shao 'an didn't hesitate at the critical moment. He came up and knelt down in front of Fang Zijing. He put the things in his hands on the ground and raised his hands high above his head. He bowed deeply to Fang Zijing and said,
"Sir, please allow me to be your disciple."
Then, he kowtowed loudly. Fang Zijing was startled by his action. His goatee twitched, and he subconsciously raised his hand to help him up.
"Get up."
Yu Shu hurriedly said, "Get up. Academician Fang has agreed to accept you."
As soon as Fang Zijing's hand touched Wen Shao 'an's sleeve, the latter straightened up with a happy face. Fang Zijing couldn't say no to him.
At this time, he realized what had happened. He stared at Yu Shu and said, "You really know how to take advantage of the situation."
Although he said that, he didn't embarrass Wen Shao 'an. He first called Wen Shao' an up and asked him a few simple questions. When he learned that Wen Shao 'an's studies were delayed because he was a subordinate official for Yu Shu, Wen Shao' an looked a little better.
Fang Zijing was hesitating. Situ Qinglan, who had been listening for a while, suddenly said, "Grandpa, I think Mr. Wen is very sincere. Please accept him."
The three juniors in front of him begged, so Fang Zijing finally agreed. He asked Situ Qinglan to tell Wen Shao 'an about his rules, and then turned back to the room.
As soon as he left, Situ Qinglan chatted with Yu Shu for a while and told Wen Shao 'an about the day of the class. Then she took Wen Shao' an's gift and said goodbye to Yu Shu.
.....
After making a good start with Fang Zijing, Yu Shu took Wen Shao 'an to Sima Kui and did the same thing. Sima Kui's temper was much better than Fang Zijing's, so he immediately agreed to let Wen Shao' an come back to class.
Coming out of the observatory, Wen Shao 'an mentioned the two academicians he had paid respects to the first time. One was Jing Chen, who had already left his post to become the Celestial Commissioner. The other was Academician Qi of the Department of Feng Shui, and the other was Han Wenguang of the Department of Arithmetic.
He originally wanted to pay respects to the other two. Even if he couldn't be their apprentice, he couldn't be rude. However, when Yu Shu heard the names of the two people, she frowned.
Wen Shao 'an had learned to read people's faces these days. Seeing this, he hurriedly asked her what was wrong.
Yu Shu didn't hide it from him. She walked under the screen wall and said bluntly, "When I first arrived at the Taishi Library, I went to pay respects to Academician Qi, but he refused to see me. The other Academician Han was my enemy. I don't know if you have heard that I passed the Dayan Exam and ranked first. My family held a banquet in the Wangji Building to celebrate my success. However, Han Wenguang sent several disciples to provoke me and was humiliated by me. As for Academician Qi, he was on good terms with Han Wenguang, so he didn't care about me."
If Wen Shao 'an was an ordinary friend of hers, she had no reason to care about his dealings. However, he was her subordinate, a little brother who swore to work for her, so she couldn't do that.
She couldn't tolerate sand in her eyes.
Wen Shao 'an followed her lead. After hearing what she said, he no longer mentioned paying respects to Academician Qi and Han Wenguang.
***
Yu Shu waited for two days, but Xue Rui didn't come back from Fenghua Mansion. However, Jing Chen came to her and told her the worst news.
Emperor Zhao Qing wanted to put up the wanted posters on the Imperial List. He couldn't wait to catch all the traitors who threatened his Daan Kingdom, so he chose such a direct and effective method to find them.
The Imperial List was very different from the usual wanted posters issued by the government. This was an order from the emperor himself, so it was easy to search the whole country.
Such an extreme method could only be used by the imperial court. Unless it was a villain who had committed a great crime, the imperial court wouldn't mobilize so many people.
Therefore, Governor Xu of the Xue family had become a wanted criminal of the imperial court without knowing it.
"The emperor gave the order yesterday. He didn't trust others to do it, so he appointed Guo Huai 'an, the Officer of the Supreme Court, to give my portrait to him in the name of the murder cases in Taishi Library. He found a dozen painters to paint it overnight and secretly sent it to the surrounding counties. At the latest two days, the Imperial List will be everywhere in Anling City."
Jing Chen kept frowning when he said this.
Yu Shu's heart skipped a beat. She thought of many things in an instant.
The supervisor of the Xue family was not an ordinary servant. There must be many people who had seen him. The person who took over this matter was Guo Huai 'an, the Officer of the Supreme Court. He was Xue Rui's immediate superior. Who knew if he had seen Governor Xu?
Maybe before the Imperial List was posted, someone would arrest the Xue family.
Should she rejoice that the emperor was worried about Jing Chen's identity as a great calamity and didn't order the person in the portrait to be wanted as a traitor?
What should she do? Things seemed to have reached a point of no return.
Should she go to the Xue family now to find Prime Minister Xue and tell him that the supervisor of the Xue family was going to be wanted by the emperor as a traitor and that they should pack up and run away!
She didn't even need to think to know that this was utterly impossible. Putting aside whether Xue Rui's grandfather would believe her words, what if Jing Chen was murdered in Jianye City, and the deaths of those people in Taishi Library were really done by people sent by the Xue Clan?
If she went to inform Xue Lingnan, she would be looking for death.
Yu Shu stood there in a daze, her eyes staring blankly. Jing Chen waited for a while, but she didn't reply. Seeing her bewildered look, he couldn't tell what he was feeling. He could only try to comfort her.
"Maybe it's not as serious as you think. Even if we catch Governor Xu, we can't conclude that the Xue family is rebelling. This matter needs to be investigated by the Supreme Court before we can make a decision."
Yu Shu shook her head with a bitter smile. There were some words that she couldn't say to Jing Chen. She used the time of misfortune law to predict Xue Rui's misfortune every night for three days in a row. She calculated until dozens of days later, but she encountered a rare "blind spot". This was the drawback of the time of misfortune law. Obviously, the Xue family was going to be in trouble, but she couldn't predict what disaster would happen to Xue Rui.
This meant that what Xue Rui was going to encounter was a disaster that she didn't record in her "Book of Life and Death".
According to the situation, it was nothing more than rebellion and implicating.
Since ancient times, when it was involved in the crime of rebellion, even the sons and grandsons of princes couldn't escape death. This was a disaster that involved nine generations.
She looked at Jing Chen anxiously. Thinking of the death that Xue Rui might face, an idea that she shouldn't have appeared in her mind. She said it without hesitation,
"Can you, can you go to the palace now and tell His Majesty that you remembered something again? You remembered it wrong before, and it wasn't the person in the portrait who harmed you. You only saw that person once when you were being chased."
There was a moment of disbelief on Jing Chen's face. His clear, black pupils shrank slightly. This caused him to look both shocked and confused.
After Yu Shu said it, she felt that she had gone too far. She just didn't want Xue Rui to be in trouble, but she didn't put herself in Jing Chen's shoes. Standing in his shoes, when he was stabbed with silver needles, seriously injured to the point of almost dying, and suffering from amnesia and speechlessness, if it were her, she would never let the murderer go.
Now, she asked Jing Chen to go to the palace to retract the confession. It was really forcing him.
"I'm sorry."
This apology came from Jing Chen's mouth. He slowly recovered from his surprise and shook his head at Yu Shu. He said in a low voice, "I can't do this. Did you forget that the person who harmed me might be the person who wanted to kill you? You absolutely can't let them go."
Yu Shu felt her heart tighten. Even if she had already looked down on the past relationship with Jing Chen, she could still clearly feel the weight of her in Jing Chen's heart.
"I'm not saying to let them go, what I mean is — —"
Jing Chen didn't listen to her. He stood up and put on a posture of refusal. His expression was cold, and his tone was uncharacteristically tough, "Don't try to persuade me.
"Don't try to persuade me. I won't listen to you on this matter. I can promise to help you enter the palace to gather information, but I can't help you lie. Have you ever thought about the two female students who died in Taishi Library? They were so innocent. You only thought about the safety of your sworn brother. Have you ever thought about yourself? Have you ever thought about the people who became your scapegoat?"
This was the first time that Jing Chen had said such harsh words to Yu Shu since they had parted ways. He had seen the fickleness of the world. He was no longer that greenhorn. He had his own principles of right and wrong.
Yu Shu's expression was extremely ugly, but she felt that she was in the wrong and didn't argue with Jing Chen. Seeing that it was a dead end, she could only give up.
"I'll go back first. I'll tell you when I have news."
Jing Chen was probably afraid that Yu Shu would try to persuade him again, so he didn't dare to stay any longer. He didn't wait for Yu Shu to ask him to leave and left in a hurry.
After he left, Yu Shu sat for half an hour. When the moon was in the middle of the sky, she wiped her face and went back to her room to ask the servants to boil water for a bath. She washed herself from head to toe and drank half a pot of strong tea to force her mind to calm down.
In the dead of night, she closed the door and took out the Little Green Hut. She burned a stick of Tihu Incense and took out the Six Lines Copper Coin that she was used to using. She focused on divining for Xue Rui.
The Six Lines Magic asked for the near but not the far. It asked for details but not the brief. To ask about human affairs, one must know the "Eye of Four Lines", otherwise there was no way to start.
Therefore, when she found that she couldn't calculate the fortune or misfortune of Xue Rui, she couldn't immediately burn the incense to ask. Instead, she waited for Jing Chen to bring the exact news before using the Tihu Incense.
In this way, she divined until the dawn outside the window. The moon set and the sun rose.
"Master, it's time to get up." Someone knocks on the door, but Yu Shu doesn't pay attention to it. There are a few Yao coins scattered beside her hand, and she holds a dry brush pen in one hand. She stares at the messy Yao numbers on the toilet paper in a trance, changing them into good or bad luck.
As a result, she gradually became clear. She closed her sore eyes and her head was buzzing.
It was bad, very bad.
According to her calculations, the Xue Clan wouldn't be able to escape a calamity after the Imperial Bulletin was posted. Xue Rui had the calamity of imprisonment on him, and he was on the verge of a calamity. Moreover, there were five ghosts by his side and villains causing mischief, so it was difficult to see a chance of survival.
Yu Shu could imagine that when the whole Xue family was in prison, many people were waiting to hit them when they were down. They were involved in the case of treason. It was almost a death sentence. Who dared to get involved in the disaster of the whole family? Not to mention helping them, she was afraid that they couldn't wait to get rid of the trouble.
The last wisp of Tihu Incense burned out. The fresh fragrance seemed to be pervasive. Yu Shu closed her eyes and greedily inhaled the refreshing smell. When she opened her eyes again, there was a circle of bright brilliance in her black and white eyes, which swept away the previous decadence.
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