As soon as Yu Shu got home, she locked herself in the study and couldn't wait to take out the sword case that she had placed on the top of the bookshelf to collect dust.
It was getting late. She lit up the two candlesticks and placed them on the tea table. She turned around and sat on the long couch. She took out the sword case and took out the ancient sword. She placed it on her knees and stroked the rusty blade inch by inch. She turned it over and over to confirm that it was the same sword she had gotten when she was in Yiyang.
After Yu Shu's excitement had passed, she sank into her memories — this sword had originally been in the hands of a Daoist Daoist. This person had captured a group of young boys and girls, intending to extract their blood to sharpen the edge of the ancient sword. In the end, he had fallen into the hands of Jing Chen who had seen injustice. After that, she stole the sword and kept it for herself. Until today, she didn't expect that the broken sword she picked up was the famous Chunjun Sword, one of the Six Founding Weapons.
Thinking about it carefully, when she and Qing Zheng met for the first time in the Ji family's Jing Shang Hall, his attitude towards her was worth pondering. At first, he asked her all kinds of questions, as if he was confirming whether she was the person he was looking for. She couldn't remember what she answered wrongly, so he lost interest in her and didn't mention taking her as his apprentice. After a few days, he asked her to be his apprentice. At first, she refused. Then, she and Yu Xiaoxiu were caught by the evil Taoist.
Yu Shu bent her fingers and knocked her head. She remembered another detail. When she secretly took the sword back to the Ji family and hid it, she happened to be seen by the elusive Qing Zheng. At that time, he saw the sword in her hand with his own eyes.
These two things used to be completely unrelated, but now they seemed to be closely related. Qing Zheng's master was Prince Yuan Zheng. A hundred years ago, he stole the Chunjun Sword from the Imperial Mausoleum. Later, he left a fake sword to the Dragon Tiger Mountain Taoist Sect. The real sword was still in his hands.
Twenty years ago, he asked Yun Hua to go to the capital to find the Book of Mystery Fairy. For some reason, she did not hand over the Chun Jun Sword to him. As a result, Yun Hua succeeded in stealing the Book of Mystic Fairy, but his whereabouts were unknown.
Coincidentally, the hundred-year period was up. The Great An Calamity entered the world, and the Fate Breaker appeared. Qing Zheng set his sights on the Fate Breaker. He had probably calculated that the person who would destroy his life was in the Ji family in Yiyang City. That was why he was waiting there.
She could finally confirm that when Qing Zheng decided to accept her as his disciple, he must have confirmed that she was a Fate Breaker. Therefore … She did not obtain this sword by chance at all. It was arranged by Qing Zheng.
The eldest disciple disappeared after stealing the Book of Mystic Fairy's Six Rens. The Seven Star Sons on him were unpredictable to Qing Zheng, so he accepted her as his second disciple, who was bound to have something to do with the Book of Mystic Fairy's Six Rens. Moreover, he secretly handed the Chun Jun Sword to her and accompanied her step by step to get closer to the truth. She had once given this sword to Jing Chen, but after many twists and turns, it still returned to her.
If she had known from the beginning that this sword was the Chun Jun Sword and that she was the Fate Breaker … Then she would not have followed Qing Zheng's script. But now, she was in deep trouble. She could not help it. She held the Chun Jun Sword in her hand. It was impossible for her to hand it over to anyone. She could not even trust Yun Hua. If this continued, in the future, she would either snatch the Book of Mystic Fairy's Six Rens from Yun Hua's hands, or Yun Hua would snatch the Chun Jun Sword from her.
And the purpose of the two of them was completely opposite. One wanted to destroy the Book of Mystic Fairy's Six Rens, and the other wanted to keep the Book of Mystic Fairy's Six Rens.
Yu Shu closed her eyes and muttered to herself, "Master, is all of this within your calculations? Why did you arrange it like this?"
She really wanted to dig three feet into the ground to find Qing Zheng and ask him in person — if you wanted to destroy the book, why didn't you hand over the Chun Jun Sword to my senior brother, but gave it to me later?
***
Yu Shu hid the Chun Jun Sword tightly. Fortunately, only a few people had seen this sword, and no one would associate it with the Six Tools of the Founding Dynasty. Even Da Dian did not know what the real Chun Jun Sword looked like. The only record was in the Xin family's Qiao Qiao Zhen, and it was a secret.
Just after she received such a surprise, a shocking thunder fell from the capital. An urgent report was sent to the palace — Jiang Huaiying proclaimed himself as the Emperor of Ning Dong City, wearing a yellow robe, separated the five counties in the northeast of An Dynasty, and established the country as the Great Yan.
In the three hundred years since the founding of Da An, it was the first time that a foreign minister proclaimed himself as the Emperor. It could be said to be unprecedented.
Emperor Chong Zhen was shocked and angry. He swept away his previous idea of waiting at ease and immediately summoned all the ministers to the palace for a discussion. He appointed the General of Xuan Wu, Feng Xiao, as the Grand Marshal to suppress the rebellion, and the Left Commander of the Yulin Royal Guards, Yin Yuanrong, as the Vanguard General. He mobilized the troops and led 100,000 troops to the northeast to recover the lost land and fight against the rebel Jiang Huaiying.
A skinny camel was still bigger than a horse. Moreover, the former Emperor did not like to be extravagant. The Da An treasury that Emperor Chong Zhen inherited was full, and together with the food stored in various places every year, it could provide for 100,000 troops for a whole year.
There were voices of opposition in the court when the Emperor launched a large-scale campaign to suppress the rebellion. Some people stood up to dissuade him, but they were banished from the court by the furious Emperor Chong Zhen. Yu Shu watched the fire from the other side, and did not rush into the muzzle.
Three days later, Feng Xiao, Yin Yuanrong, and a group of soldiers left the capital. At this critical juncture, Zhu Muzhao resigned. Emperor Chong Zhen was angry, but he symbolically persuaded him to stay and allowed him to resign.
For a moment, the Celestial Commissioner was like a group of dragons without a leader. All the civil and military officials watched from the side, guessing who would have the last laugh, Junior Supervisor Ren or Cao Zuo Ling, but they did not expect an unexpected winner to emerge.
When the imperial edict was delivered to the Celestial Commissioner, close to a hundred officials from the three departments and two bureaus rushed to the bell tower to listen to the edict. It was a mess. Zhu Muzhao came with the Chief Eunuch Bingli, who was in charge of announcing the edict. Although he had changed into casual clothes, he still looked dignified, and the scene quickly quieted down.
Everyone stood in their positions according to their rank, and knelt down to listen to the edict. Ren Qiming and Cao Ke were at the front, Yu Shu was a step behind them, and then Xin Ya, Cui Xiuyi, and the others.
The Chief Eunuch Bingli opened the silk book in his hand, which was embroidered with cloud patterns. He raised his eyebrows and read in a sharp voice, "In the name of the Emperor, the imperial edict states: The Celestial Commissioner has been passed down for more than three hundred years, and has carried on the will of the Empress Ning Zhen, the virtuous, and the virtuous, to protect the country. Today, the former Emperor will appoint Miaoling Maid Envoy Yu Shu as the eleventh generation of the Celestial Commissioner. I hope that you will be a role model for the Yi family. "
As soon as the words were spoken, it was like the sound of a pin drop. Only one person stood up without any change in expression, walked past the crowd, and received the imperial edict with both hands. She raised it high above her head, covering the bewitching cinnabar between her eyebrows, and said in a clear voice, "Your subject Yu Shu accepts the edict, and thanks Your Majesty for his grace!"
As soon as she finished, she faced the direction of the palace, knelt down again, and kowtowed three times in a row. Then she straightened her back and looked back at Zhu Muzhao, who looked relieved, and turned around to face the people of the Celestial Commissioner. She did not care if they were convinced or not, and who was happy and who was sad, she looked at the crowd coldly, held up the imperial edict with one hand, and exhaled.
"From today onwards, all of you shall listen to my orders."
The crowd was silent for a few breaths. Ren Qiming was the first to bow, followed by Xin Ya, Cui Xiuyi, and the people of the Kunling Bureau. Finally, Cao Zuoling had no choice but to follow the crowd and lower his head. Nearly a hundred people bowed to the ground and responded with a buzzing sound.
"Greetings to the Grand Secretary."
Yu Shu narrowed her eyes slightly, feeling indescribably carefree. She looked up at the red sun that was slowly rising in the sky, and her chest was filled with pride. She soared up to the clouds and went straight to the sky.
***
The news of Yu Shu taking over as the Grand Secretary seemed to have grown wings, and within a day, it spread throughout the imperial court.
The nearby Taishi Shuyuan was the first to hear the news. Many people thought it was a joke and shook their heads in disbelief. However, one spread to ten, and ten to a hundred, but no one stood up to dispel the rumor, so they had no choice but to believe it.
That afternoon, the eighteen academicians gathered at Rong Sheng Tang at the same time. They were all here for this news. As soon as they entered the door, they heard them talking all at once.
"I heard that this morning, the palace sent a decree to the Celestial Commissioner to let Yu Lianfang take over as the Grand Secretary. I thought it was a joke, but I sent someone to the Celestial Commissioner to inquire, and it turned out to be true!"
"Silly, silly. She's a young woman, how can she take on such a heavy responsibility? Isn't this a joke! "
"The Celestial Commissioner and his group actually accepted it? Did no one object? What did Junior Supervisor Ren say? "
"At that time, Grand Secretary Zhu was also there. It looked like it was his idea, who dared to object? Sigh!"
Among the crowd, only three people did not interrupt. One was Yu Shu's Master Fang Zijing, the other was Yu Shu's Master Astrology, Sima Kui, and the last one was Madam Lu, who had heard the news long ago.
Seeing that they were getting more and more outrageous, almost openly complaining that the emperor was muddle-headed, Fang Zijing coughed heavily, which attracted the attention of the crowd. He sneered and said, "After listening to you all talk for a long time, no one can say why Yu Shu is not qualified for the position of Grand Secretary. Academician Han, you were the loudest just now. Tell me, where is she lacking?"
Han Wenguang frowned and said with a face full of displeasure, "Elder Fang, I know that Yu Lianfang is your favorite student. You see, of course she is good in every aspect, but …"
"But at that time, someone took advantage of his seniority and bullied the little girl without anyone to rely on. In the end, he was slapped in the face and has been holding a grudge ever since. Don't you think so?" Fang Zijing interrupted him and rudely exposed his little thoughts.
Han Wenguang was speechless. He pointed at him and could not say anything.
"Elder Fang's words are wrong," someone chimed in. It was Academician Qi, who had once rejected Yu Shu's offer. "As teachers, how can we bicker with a little girl? Right now, we are only discussing the matter as it stands. We are only saying that she is not suitable for the position of Grand Secretary. Why do you have to deliberately misinterpret Academician Han?"
Immediately, a group of people echoed.
"Haha," Madam Lu laughed and suddenly interrupted, "With all due respect, the 'little girl' you are talking about is now the Grand Secretary of the Celestial Commissioner. I don't know when the Taishi Library will be able to control the Celestial Commissioner and criticize the Grand Secretary who is below one and above tens of thousands of people?"
Finished speaking, she pursed her lips and smiled again. She stood up and said, "I absolutely do not dare to criticize the Grand Secretary. Old gentlemen, please do your best. This time, I want to have a good mouth, but later, don't slap your own face. Aiyaya, I am a straightforward person. I won't say anymore, I'm leaving. "
Madam Lu rolled up her long sleeves and slowly left her seat. (To be continued)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
