The eyes and brows of this young woman were a bit tender, but they were not really young, or they were born like Tong Yan. Instead, they were born because of the happiness brought by her lack of experience in life.
Jing Jiu thought her face looked familiar. He remembered that he had met her when he sharpened the sword with the demon bone at the Jing House last year. She poured him a cup of overnight tea that had been brewed a long time ago.
Soon, he remembered more things. This young woman seemed to be the granddaughter of the Prime Minister of the imperial court, and she had an affair with Li.
As such, she should be his future wife.
These matters were rather complicated, but Jing Jiu had soon finished thinking about them. He thought that this young woman was indeed lucky to have met him again, even though she was not very smart.
It was easier for the young woman to recognize Jing Jiu. Seeing his face, she yelled pleasantly, "Uncle! Why are you here? "
The tear stains were still visible on her face as she spoke.
The Net-Perception Temple was the royal Zen temple, so it was normal for the family members of the Prime Minister to come here. Yet, a young woman of her age came here either to pray or to be grounded.
It was evident that she was facing a difficult problem in her life.
It was the same as the Emperor's.
Thinking of the attitude of the Prime Minister and those officials in the imperial court, Jing Jiu suddenly said, "I want to drink tea."
… …
… …
After leaving the Net-Perception Temple, Jing Jiu led Gu Qing to the Jing house.
The eaves of Taichang Temple were covered in dust, which couldn't be blown away by the spring wind. And there hadn't been any spring rain lately, so it didn't have the magical power to attract people's attention.
Jing Jiu didn't take a look in that direction, nor did he press the brick. He asked Gu Qing to knock on the door.
The door was pushed open, revealing a young but steady face.
As he saw Gu Qing, a pleasantly surprised expression showed on his face.
"Teacher!"
Jing Li didn't go to the imperial palace that day.
He was the study partner of the Prince Jing Yao, and he had been taught by Gu Qing for a long time. As such, he was Gu Qing's student as well.
Gu Qing let out a smile without saying anything, letting Jing Jiu come out from behind him.
Jing Li came back to his senses after being taken aback, and bowed to Jing Jiu hastily. His attitude toward Jing Jiu was obviously different from his attitude toward Gu Qing.
That clear sense of distance seemed to not appear between family members.
Jing Jiu was not displeased. Instead, he felt very comfortable. "Ask your father to come here," he said.
According to his usual practice, he would usually not speak at this moment. At most, he would make a sound of acknowledgment. However, after all these years, he had learned that not everyone could be like Liu Shisui, Zhao Layue, and Gu Qing, who could accurately understand him with just a look and a movement. For example, Yuan Qu was still lacking in this aspect. Instead of explaining further, it was better to make it clear from the beginning.
The furnishings in the study were naturally the same as before. Jing Jiu subconsciously wanted to take out the bamboo chair and lie down, but he touched nothing. Then he remembered that the bamboo chair had been left for Xue Gie. He had no choice but to walk to the desk and sit down. His posture was somewhat stiff.
Gu Qing boiled a pot of tea and brought it to Jing Jiu in separate cups.
Though Jing Jiu didn't like tea, he had learned a thing or two about the quality of tea over the years. Looking at the clear and thick tea, he thought the tea was indeed much better than that of Li 'er's.
The footsteps could be heard outside the window. Jing Shang had come back from Taichang Temple in a hurry after receiving the notice. He greeted Jing Jiu cautiously as he walked into the study room.
The situation in the snowland had been alleviated, and the Plum Meeting resumed. The zither tournament had ended a few days ago, and the chess tournament was held that day. All of Zhaoge City was devoted to this event.
Jing Shang had no job in Taichang Temple, so he was not as busy as the officials of the Pure Heaven Bureau; but he still had to stay in the yamen.
Looking at the white hair on his temples, Jing Jiu suddenly said, "I shouldn't have asked you to win money through the chess tournament of the Plum Meeting back then. It would have been much easier to give you a box of golden leaves."
Jing Shang was taken aback, wondering why Jing Jiu suddenly brought up something that had happened a long time ago.
Jing Jiu asked, "What do you think about the marriage of Li 'er?"
Jing Shang was even more startled, wondering why Jing Jiu would care about such a trivial matter. After some thought, he asked, "What … what do you think about it?"
"If you don't object, Li 'er will marry her if she wants to."
Jing Jiu said, "Gu Qing will take care of this matter. You two listen to him."
Jing Shang looked at Gu Qing, his eyes full of helplessness, thinking that Jing Jiu didn't know the hidden trouble behind this matter, but Jing Jiu had to tell him.
Gu Qing smiled and invited Jing Shang out of the study room. They came to a quiet corner in the back garden, and Gu Qing said earnestly while staring into Jing Shang's eyes, "Find a time to go to the Manor of Prime Minister to propose the marriage."
Jing Shang was so shocked that he couldn't utter a word, wondering what Jing Jiu meant. Gu Qing didn't explain, and continued, "I heard that the son of State Duke Shan is going to propose the marriage in eight days, so we have to go there earlier or on the same day. Which day do you think is more suitable?"
"Now that you know that the Manor of Prime Minister is going to establish a marriage alliance with the Manor of State Duke Shan, why do you still want us to propose the marriage?"
Jing Shang said with a bitter smile, "As far as I know, the young lady has been sent to the Net Perception Temple and is under house arrest, waiting to be married. The attitude of the Manor of Prime Minister is already very clear."
Gu Qing said, "Everything has to be fought for."
Jing Shang sighed and said, "State Duke Shan has the background of Zhongzhou School, and these years he has been very close to Prince Jing Xin's Manor. I am just an idle official of Taichang Temple, how can I compete with others?"
Gu Qing smiled and said, "You have Duke Lu, His Majesty, and Aoyama behind you. You are qualified to compete with anyone."
Returning to the study room, Gu Qing told him about Jing Shang's attitude and worries. He found that Jing Jiu was looking at himself in the mirror and didn't care about these things at all, so he couldn't help but stop talking.
His master's relationship with the Imperial Palace was very secretive. Even now, no one knew the truth, but it couldn't be hidden from the eyes of the world. If he forcefully interfered in the marriage between Li Ge and the young lady of the Manor of Prime Minister, the Zhongzhou School would inevitably think that it was the attitude of His Majesty the Emperor and the provocation of Aoyama. He was afraid that there would be a lot of trouble.
Jing Jiu put down the bronze mirror in his hand and said, "If this marriage can't go through, how can Jing Yao be the Crown Prince?"
Gu Qing understood what his master meant. If this marriage could go through, the attitude of the Prime Minister would change, which would affect Yimaozhai's opinion. At least, those scholars would remain neutral, which in turn would affect those officials of the Imperial Academy and the Imperial Censorate in the Imperial court. However, the problem was that … in order to go through with this marriage, the Prime Minister had to change his attitude, which meant that Yimaozhai had to change his opinion of Jing Yao, which was basically impossible.
All of Chaotian was well aware that the hardest thing to change in the world was not the mantra of Aoyama or the surname of the Zhongzhou School, but the ideology of those scholars.
"I don't understand all this. All I know is that one has to pay the corresponding price to get something. For instance, if you want to buy something, you have to pay with gold leaves."
Jing Jiu recalled that when he and Zhao Layue left Aoyama for the first time, they wanted to buy a conical hat but didn't bring any money with them. "You can also pay with silver," he said after a pause.
Gu Qing listened attentively, as if what his master said was very sensible, and it was something he had never heard before.
Jing Jiu continued, "If you want to persuade Yimaozhai, you have to exchange something with them."
Gu Qing couldn't help but ask, thinking that this was indeed a sensible idea, and everybody knew it. The question was, what could they use to change the opinion of the scholars of Yimaozhai? Wealth and honor were nothing to them, and so were the power and reputation. It was useless even if one exchanged the world for it.
In the eyes of those scholars, their persistence was more important than the world.
As the most outstanding disciple of Shenmo Peak and the candidate for the sect master of Aoyama in the future, Gu Qing was fully aware that it was meaningless to discuss these issues with his master, so he had to solve them by himself. "Should I go to the Plum Meeting to have a look?" he asked.
As the leader of the orthodox Cultivation sects, the Aoyama Sect would of course participate in the Plum Meeting.
Gu Qing intended to remind Jing Jiu that the matter of the succession of the emperor was different from the matter of the Shenmo Peak participating in the Plum Meeting alone.
"Okay," said Jing Jiu.
Gu Qing said, "The leader of the team is Zhuo Rusui. Should we ask him to participate in the meeting?"
Though Zhuo Rusui's status was lower, he was the personal disciple of the Immortal Sect Master, so his status was special and important. Jing Jiu had admired Zhuo Rusui in the beginning, and it was even more so after the experience in the Illusionary Realm of the Green Sky Mirror. He supported Gu Qing's suggestion, saying, "Let him stay awake on the day of the marriage proposal. Don't fall asleep."
Gu Qing received the order and left the study room, closing the door behind him.
Jing Jiu picked up the bronze mirror and looked at it again. After he had ascertained the location of the mirror, he dipped his right hand into the tea and started grinding it. It was still the same study room. The tea that day was much better than the stale tea last year, and the Green Sky Mirror was better than the demon bone. As such, Jing Jiu felt much better. As such, he was in the mood to chat with someone.
"Are you going to stay inside and not come out?"
He was talking to Qing 'er. After Jing Jiu locked the Snow Girl in the Sword Jail, Qing' er had returned to the Green Sky Mirror, and hadn't come out since.
Jing Jiu continued, "I've promised Tong Yan that I'll return the Green Sky Mirror to him in a few days. But I feel it's a bit strange, and I'm wondering if I should change my mind. "
Qing 'er flew out from the Green Sky Mirror, flapping her transparent wings. "How could you be so evil?" she exclaimed while glaring at Jing Jiu angrily.
After some thought, Jing Jiu said earnestly, "I think I'm a good person."
Gu Qing walked to the back garden. Thinking of his task, he felt heavy-hearted. Then, he thought of his Master's temperament of not caring about anything, and couldn't help but feel envious, thinking that the Cultivation practitioners should be like his Master, living like a fairy man no matter how high their Cultivation state was, whether they were standing, sitting, or lying down. Unfortunately, he couldn't learn it.
… …
… …
The high platform in the new plum garden, which looked like leaves and flowers, was hidden in the clouds and fog. It looked like a fairy realm, but not many people were there that day.
The participants of the Plum Meeting had all gone to the Chess Board Mountain to watch the chess tournament. Gu Qing didn't go to the chess tournament, because it was Que Niang who had won anyway, and he believed that Zhuo Rusui wouldn't go there either.
He went to the immortal residence of the Aoyama Sect, and found that Zhuo Rusui was there as expected … he wasn't sleeping, but was nurturing his sword.
A faint but pure fog came out from the top of his head, and a flying sword of the Fairy State was rotating slowly inside it.
Standing outside the window and looking at the scene, Gu Qing couldn't help but sigh in his mind.
Zhuo Rusui always looked lazy in front of others, but he cultivated diligently behind others' backs. He had the natural Dao quality, so why did he have to be lazy?
It was said that he was very similar to his Master, but it looked like there was a gap between them. His Master was truly lazy.
Sensing Jing Jiu's arrival, Zhuo Rusui opened his eyes and put away his flying sword, feeling a bit strange.
When he nurtured his sword through meditation, he would set up a formation using the Inherited Heaven Sword style; but why could Gu Qing come to the window so easily?
Recalling the rumor, Zhuo Rusui asked, "Did you really learn the Inherited Heaven Sword?"
"Yes, Big Brother."
Except for this statement, Gu Qing didn't explain further.
Thinking of the relationship between Jing Jiu and his Master, Zhuo Rusui thought of something else. He stood up and asked, "Why did you come to Zhaoge City?"
"My Master is here," said Gu Qing. "He wants to invite you over."
Feeling surprised, Zhuo Rusui said, "Okay."
Gu Qing didn't take him to the Jing House right away. Instead, he thought of something else; he went to the mountain residence of the disciples of Yimaozhai.
It was a coincidence that the person he was looking for didn't like watching chess games.
The scholars of Yimaozhai were good at calligraphy and playing chess; but Xi Yiyun liked reading books or writing books. He was a student of Bu Qiuxiao. He had performed outstandingly in the Dao Competition of the Green Sky Mirror, and was thought highly of by the seniors in the orthodox Cultivation circle. He would probably become the next house master in the future.
Of course, the statuses of Zhuo Rusui and Gu Qing were quite high, and Zhuo Rusui and Gu Qing had died in the Illusionary Realm of the Green Sky Mirror one after the other for attempting to assassinate Bai Qianjun. As such, the two of them had a friendly conversation until Gu Qing said that.
Xi Yiyun arched his eyebrows slightly and said, "You want me to be the teacher of Prince Jing Yao? Do you intend to humiliate me, Cultivationist Gu Qing? "
Gu Qing said calmly, "I remember that there is a saying in Yimaozhai that one should be taught regardless of his background."
Xi Yiyun said while staring into Jing Jiu's eyes in Silence, "But he is not one of us."
(End of this chapter)
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