Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

The stingy boss finally showed some generosity—how could they not take full advantage of it?

As for the boss’s dark expression… well, that could be dealt with later.

By the time the old emperor arrived, the floor tiles had already been pried out by this group of beasts.

It had only been two short moments!

The old emperor roared, “You all—!”

The military officer holding a tile casually hid it behind his back, acting as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, the general had forcibly dug out the stone inscription from the chest and was now cradling it in his arms. Only then did he turn and salute, “Greetings, Your Majesty!”

The other officers also held onto their spoils tightly, saying solemnly, “Your Majesty, you said we could take whatever we wanted!”

The old emperor: “Get lost! Get lost, all of you!”

The officers swiftly bolted.

One of them, while running down the steps, accidentally dropped several gemstones. Without hesitation, he dashed back, struggled to pick them up, and stuffed them into his arms again.

The old emperor: “…”

He couldn’t bear to watch any longer.

Turning around to avoid the sight, he immediately noticed the numerous gaps left behind—some empty spaces, and even a missing floor tile in the treasury.

“…”

The face of the mighty Emperor Tiantong twitched violently.

Then came Xu Xiaohundun’s belated but well-timed provocation.

[So jealous!]

His tone was full of envy: [Why am I not a military officer?]

‘With your weak, chicken-arming self, you want to be a military officer?’

The old emperor ruthlessly shut the treasury door, coldly mocking: ‘Even if I handed you the opportunity, with your strength, how much gold could you even carry?’

[Huh?]

Xu Yanmiao’s inner thoughts suddenly took a strange turn: [Who… who is this person? Zhu Bailu? That name sounds oddly familiar… why all of a sudden…]

Then, silence.

The old emperor frowned and swiftly returned to his carriage. “To the imperial kitchen!”

That brat better not have gotten into trouble!

Xu Yanmiao wasn’t in trouble—he was just shocked. “Huh? A debate?”

Standing before him was Zhu Bailu, who had been summoned from Shandong by the court. He was originally meant to take the position of Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.

Originally.

But it seemed the old emperor had other ideas and was still undecided. So, although Zhu Bailu had arrived in the capital and even attended court today to report on Shandong’s affairs, he was not yet an official court officer.

At this moment, the man looked at Xu Yanmiao with a serious expression. “Yes. I had already heard of Lord Xu’s reputation back in Shandong. To be appointed as the chief examiner of the imperial examination at such a young age, your knowledge and talent are renowned far and wide. I have long admired your literary brilliance. Now, having been granted the imperial favor of coming to the capital, though I am but a humble scholar, I wish to take this opportunity to learn from you.”

[Huh? But I’m not good at debating…]

Xu Yanmiao felt a little guilty and quickly responded, “Oh, no, no, you flatter me. I wouldn’t dare say I can teach you anything, nor am I qualified for a debate. My appointment as an examiner is entirely due to the emperor’s great favor, but my literary talent is rather mediocre, and my knowledge is not worth mentioning. If you don’t mind, why don’t you share the original debate topic, and we can discuss it together?”

The other party didn’t seem to notice Xu Yanmiao’s embarrassment. Instead, he bowed properly once again and said, “Lord Xu, you are far too humble. How could someone appointed as the chief examiner lack literary talent? The importance of this position is known across the land. Particularly, the questions set by the chief examiner determine the success and future of countless candidates. These questions must undergo repeated deliberation and careful scrutiny to ensure clarity of meaning, appropriate scope, and balanced difficulty. Without sufficient literary skill, how could one draft proper examination questions?”

[That… doesn’t really have anything to do with literary talent, does it?]

Xu Yanmiao was momentarily bewildered.

[Anyone who prepares the questions in advance could do a good job, right? Besides, I can also consult the Minister of War. My classical Chinese may not be great, but the Minister of War—oh, wait, my bad, he’s now the Left Prime Minister.]

[I may not be good at classical Chinese, but the Left Prime Minister is excellent!]

Over in the adjacent Hall of Political Affairs, Left Prime Minister Li Qian smiled slightly as he enjoyed his meal, clearly pleased by the compliment.

Meanwhile, Liang Rui, who was also dining in the imperial kitchen, had been listening to Zhu Bailu’s words and was pondering how to remind Xu Yanmiao—

Lord Xu, this man is deliberately using your position as the chief examiner to force you into debating with him!

You’ve already spoken sincerely, and Zhu Bailu, having been transferred from the provinces to the capital, doesn’t seem like a fool. He must realize that you genuinely aren’t good at this, rather than just being modest.

Yet, he isn’t tactfully changing the subject and instead keeps pressing the issue—this says a lot about his intentions.

A sneer surfaced on Liang Rui’s face.

For the sake of reputation, these people really don’t care about anything else. Do they honestly think stepping on Xu Yanmiao will elevate them? There are 1,188 court officials—do they think an outsider like them has a chance?

Being showered with praise by Zhu Bailu over and over again was giving Xu Yanmiao a headache.

[How do I refuse him without seeming impolite?]

[Maybe I should just debate with him? He really seems eager for a debate.]

As this thought crossed his mind, Xu Yanmiao immediately shut off his system.

If he was going to debate, then he had to take it seriously. Lacking knowledge was a matter of talent, but if he approached it half-heartedly and even cheated using the system, that would be a matter of character.

“Alright, let us debate and exchange ideas. As for the location…”

Xu Yanmiao was just about to suggest a more private setting, somewhere conducive to scholarly discussion.

But Zhu Bailu’s eyes gleamed with excitement, and a flush of exhilaration appeared on his face. “I am honored to receive your guidance, Lord Xu!”

Xu Yanmiao hesitated. “Huh? No, that’s not what I—”

Before he could finish, the other man—whether intentionally or not—cut him off.

Lowering his voice as if he were considering Xu Yanmiao’s dignity and trying to prevent others from overhearing, he said, “Lord Xu is a rare talent of this era. To witness your profound insights in a debate will surely be an enlightening experience! However, I also understand that you are a man of high character and would not wish for me to be humiliated in public. If that is the case, shall we meet at Grand Scholar Tong’s academy? Master Tong is not lecturing today, and the students are on break. I have already inquired—there will be no one there. Common scholars tend to avoid the so-called ‘Heretical Scholar’s’ domain, making it the perfect place for us to engage in meaningful discussion.”

[Wow… he really knows how to talk, huh? Since I claimed I’m not good at debating, he’s giving me an easy way out by saying I simply don’t want him to be embarrassed?]

Lian Hang furrowed his brows tightly.

Something felt off.

Meanwhile, Xu Yanmiao had already agreed. “Alright. I’ll meet you at the academy in half an hour.”

Zhu Bailu cupped his hands in salute, smiling brightly. “Then I shall await your esteemed presence.”

With the matter settled, Xu Yanmiao pondered for a moment. There wasn’t enough time left to review anything anyway, so he simply opened his system and happily used the remaining time to browse gossip for entertainment.

Then, he saw something shocking—before coming to him, Zhu Bailu had already contacted a number of scholars, arranging for them to gather at Grand Scholar Tong’s academy.

Later, he would claim that word had unintentionally leaked, then act like the good guy by suggesting a change in time and place. But in reality, the people he had prepared would pressure Xu Yanmiao with just a few words, forcing him to debate in front of an audience.

[How despicable!]

For the first time in three years, Xu Yanmiao was faced with such blatant malice, and his pupils trembled.

[How can someone be this awful?! We have no grudges, yet he’s doing this! Pretending it’s a private debate while secretly gathering people to push me onto the stage as his stepping stone?!]

[The officials in court are so much better. Especially the big shots—they have the demeanor of true leaders. They would never stoop to such dirty tricks!]

Not far from the imperial kitchen, in the Political Affairs Hall where first- and second-rank officials dined privately—

“Cough, cough.”

Left Prime Minister Li Qian lowered his head, focusing on his meal.

—Back when he defeated his political opponent, he wasted no time labeling him a corrupt traitor who abused his power for personal gain, ensuring his name would be disgraced for generations.

Right Prime Minister Jin Jingchang wiped his sweat.

—Once, a scholar offended him. Without hesitation, he leveraged his position to subtly influence the emperor, claiming that the scholar’s writings were filled with treasonous ideas. The emperor then banned the scholar’s works.

Minister of Rites, Shusun Dingguo, casually averted his gaze.

—The divide and conquer strategy? That was something he had secretly proposed. Whenever a foreign tribe grew too strong, Daxia would secretly aid weaker tribes to destroy them, maintaining its status as the suzerain state.

Minister of Personnel, Zhou Chun, remained smiling, looking as benevolent as a Buddha.

—Every time he won a political struggle, he made sure to scrap every policy from the opposing faction, regardless of its merit.

Minister of Justice, Shen Guifang, recalled his past actions.

—For example, making prisoners work without pay or sentence reductions, or how he never truly upheld honesty when inspecting local governance. Though he wasn’t blatantly corrupt, he still took his fair share of benefits. Not to mention swearing loyalty to people when he needed alliances and then shedding crocodile tears when discarding them for his own survival.

Former Minister of Revenue, now Minister of Works, Yuan Zheng raised an eyebrow.

—Even he, when distributing funds as Minister of Revenue, would allocate more to those he favored and create difficulties for those he disliked.

Even Lord Quan momentarily paused his usual ranting against the New Text school, feeling a twinge of guilt.

—If necessary, he wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate anyone obstructing his academic doctrine.

Conscience…

The high-ranking officials exchanged glances, their expressions complicated.

Perhaps the only person they’d ever felt guilty towards was Little Bai Ze (Xu Yanmiao).

Noticing Xu Yanmiao furrowing his brows, Zhu Bailu’s body stiffened.

For some reason, he suddenly felt a sense of danger emanating from this young man—as if Xu Yanmiao had never taken anything seriously before, but his actions had finally provoked him.

Then, he heard Xu Yanmiao ask, “I’ll ask you again. Are you sure you want to debate with me?”

A vague sense of foreboding crept over Zhu Bailu, but the potential benefits of stepping on Xu the Prodigy made him suppress the feeling. He smiled and asked, “Does Lord Xu have any concerns?”

Xu Yanmiao glanced at his system. “What do you want to debate?”

Since the other party had ill intentions, it wouldn’t be a problem if he retaliated using his golden finger, right?

“Confucian thought?”

The system instantly pulled up a series of juicy gossip about Confucius.

“Mencius’ philosophy?”

A stream of Mencius-related scandals appeared in the system.

“Or maybe Xunzi, Zhuangzi, Laozi, Mozi…”

At that moment, the officials who deeply admired and revered the ancient sages all felt their eyelids twitch wildly.

Their gazes at Zhu Bailu were filled with daggers.

A few of them had been about to step forward to help Xu Yanmiao, but before they could act, the conversation had escalated too quickly.

Just like that, it had turned into an official debate!

They could hardly imagine—if Xu Yanmiao were to reveal something about their revered sages that they couldn’t accept, how would they face history?!

Zhu Bailu! You bastard!

—According to later records from the Confucius family, on this day, Confucius’ ancestral tablet inexplicably toppled over. Three times in a row.

Zhu Bailu smiled. “Naturally, we shall debate Zhu Xi’s philosophy.”

That was his area of expertise.

—According to the Confucius family’s second record, the ancestral tablet finally stayed upright.

However, for some unknown reason, descendants of Zhu Xi reported strange tremors coming from their ancestral shrine.

Zhu Bailu is not a good man. Does he want our Baize to be stepping stone for him?

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