MLIAM Chapter 70

Chapter 70: Rushing to the Imperial Exam, But Oversleeping Until the Sun is High on the Day of Crucial Official Business…

Chapter 70: Rushing to the Imperial Exam, But Oversleeping Until the Sun is High on the Day of Crucial Official Business…

The morning sunlight was dappled, and in the blink of an eye, it was the day of the Imperial Exam.

Even before the sunlight could be considered thoroughly bright, the area inside and outside the Imperial City was already bustling with people.

Scholars, dressed in neat and clean Confucian robes, with expressions of excitement or nervousness, streamed into the examination hall in large numbers.

Although they came from all corners of the country, each carried the honor and disgrace of their family on their shoulders, filled with enthusiasm and ambition.

Before dawn, Wei Yan quietly got up. Seeing Yu Shuli sleeping soundly, he instructed the servants not to disturb him, and then left the General’s Mansion alone, entering the Palace in a carriage.

Because of Wei Yan’s momentary indulgence, it wasn’t until noon that Yu Shuli was completely awake.

After a simple wash, he yawned, put on a brand new official uniform, and swaggered down the street, intending to show off his new uniform before entering the Palace.

Barely past his thirtieth year, and still considered a youth, he walked down the street, his handsome face looking around, blinking his eyes. He responded to the curious glances and greetings with friendliness and good wishes.

“Hello, Lord Protector of the Nation!” A sweet little girl came over to greet Yu Shuli.

“Hello there.” Yu Shuli smiled, his eyes crinkling, and handed her a piece of candy. “You’re a good girl, go ahead and eat it.”

The little girl cheered and called her friends over, and Yu Shuli gave them all small gifts.

Clearly, Yu Shuli was one of the chief examiners of today’s martial arts exam, but he seemed extremely lazy, as if he didn’t care at all about being late to the spring exam.

Cang Xu drove the carriage not far away, holding a white cloth in his hand like a surrender flag, on which the time was quickly updated in ink, urging Yu Shuli.

Not annoying, but very distracting.

Yu Shuli looked behind him and found that, besides the idle Chen Li, no other subordinates were following him. He pursed his lips and could only try to get closer to Chen Li.

“Hey, what do you say, isn’t this spring exam kind of boring? It doesn’t seem lively enough?”

Chen Li “ha”ed and, not wanting to go against his conscience, could only touch his nose: “Isn’t that because Little General, you overslept? You missed the excitement of the scholars lining up to enter the venue.”

Yu Shuli glanced at him. “It sounds like you didn’t miss it either. Zhong Nian and the others were on duty this morning and couldn’t find you anywhere, and finally came to the General’s Mansion to look for you. Tell me, did you spend the night in a tavern or a brothel?”

“What’s so interesting about brothels? I was galloping through the ocean of knowledge all night.” Chen Li lowered his voice: “The equipment and weapons of your Northwest army need to be improved, I studied all night last night, and made several templates. You are very ungrateful, only thinking that I am having a good time.”

“You have such a good heart?” Yu Shuli’s expression didn’t change much: “But as far as I know, you’ve taken a fancy to a girl from a respectable family, and you’ve been writing sappy love poems for her all day long. The girl finds you annoying, and you’ve been drowning your sorrows in alcohol these days.”

Seeing that Yu Shuli knew, Chen Li didn’t feel ashamed, but sighed: “She said she likes capable people. Damn it, after all these years, the most awesome thing I’ve done is assassinate the crown prince, and I really haven’t achieved much in other areas. After that day, I reflected a lot and felt that I had indeed lived too absurdly in the first half of my life.” Chen Li “chī” laughed. “So I wanted to find something to do for myself.”

“It’s not too late for you to turn back now.” Yu Shuli’s expression softened a little: “Besides… you made the greatest contribution in the battle to attack Xizhao.”

Chen Li was satisfied with the recognition. “Don’t worry, my skills are more than just these. It’s just that my grandfather previously instructed me to hide my talents because the world is difficult, so I didn’t dare to show them. In those years, the family had enough money to spend, and life was quite carefree, so I became even more lazy. Now it’s different, whether for public or private reasons, I will work hard.”

A rich second generation who could obviously just coast through life, but insisted on making use of his remaining energy, and a Lord Protector of the Nation who never usually arrived late, but overslept until the sun was high on the day of crucial official business, were strolling slowly down the street like ghosts, both having missed the opening of the spring exam.

Seeing Cang Xu’s gaze staring closely behind him, Chen Li poked Yu Shuli’s back and whispered, “Hey, aren’t you going to pay attention to him?”

Yu Shuli waved his hand: “Wei Yan sent him to follow me, don’t mind him. Once we enter the Palace, he will leave on his own.”

Chen Li said ambiguously, “Oh? He even arranged a personal bodyguard for you? He thinks too little of our Little General… oh no… Lord Protector of the Nation’s kung fu.”

“Not a bodyguard…” Yu Shuli sighed: “It’s supervision.”

“I’m so angry when I think about it. That damned Wei Yan, I never used to get up late, I still got up early for morning exercises in all kinds of weather.”

But this morning, Cang Xu called three times outside, and he still couldn’t wake up.

Yu Shuli felt ashamed, and didn’t even bother to have lunch after changing his clothes. Seeing that there was still time, he pulled Chen Li and strolled towards the Imperial Palace.

He glanced at Cang Xu, who was pulling the carriage behind him, and with great integrity, chose not to ride.

If he didn’t ride in the carriage, no one would know that his butt hurt.

If he didn’t ride in the carriage, he would have the confidence to lose his temper at Wei Yan.

In a very bad mood, Yu Shuli walked down the street with a “don’t mess with me” gait, with more than thirty purses from the girls stuffed into his arms, reaping Cang Xu’s panicked and inseparable gaze and Chen Li’s earth-shattering praise.

“I didn’t expect the Lord Protector of the Nation to be so popular in the Capital…” Chen Li showed an envious expression: “Having a pretty face is really charming.”

Yu Shuli sighed upon hearing this. Back then, he was also a handsome and spirited young man. He once galloped and brandished his whip, passing through a sea of flowers without a petal touching him.

Naturally, there were many girls who liked him, so how did he fall for Wei Yan, this man?

Especially since this man was extremely controlling. Just like now, he was late, and someone had to be arranged to follow him, specifically driving a carriage to serve him, and watching him to make sure he wasn’t late for the martial arts exam.

He suddenly thought of that unlucky brother, Yang Shang.

At that time, he was shocked by Yang Shang’s position in his family, but who knew that he was even worse than Yang Shang now.

Someone to manage him, someone to care about him, is this what it feels like to be in a family?

One day, Yu Shuli could actually settle down and let someone arrange this and that for him.

Even if Yu Shuli himself was unwilling to admit it, he knew very well in his heart.

He had fallen in love with Wei Yan.

Well, but Wei Yan is really a housekeeper. Fortunately, although Wei Yan likes to manage things, he himself is too lazy to manage them, so the two can be considered complementary. Otherwise, if the two of them were together for a long time, they would definitely quarrel.

But he felt that Wei Yan was reluctant to quarrel with him, after all, he loved himself too much.

Yu Shuli curled his lips and thought that having a man love him like this was really a sweet trouble.

“Okay, I’m done strolling. I’m tired, let’s get in the carriage.” Yu Shuli had already calmed himself down in a series of mental processes, and was also fortunate that he had a strong physique to withstand Wei Yan’s repeated tossing and turning.

Chen Li “hāi”ed and looked at Yu Shuli with a horrified expression: “How late did you guys have to mess around last night to make you so tired after walking just a few steps…”

He suddenly realized something was wrong: “Wait… you’re already like this, almost dead, and you’re so tired that you can’t get up, is that guy made of iron? Doesn’t he need to be in the Ministry of Rites to supervise the censorship? Doesn’t he have to get up at the hour of yin (3-5 am)? How can he get up?!”

Yu Shuli gritted his teeth and couldn’t help but complain about Wei Yan: “He didn’t sleep at all!”

Chen Li’s eyes widened: “So… it really was all night…” He made a sincere sound of admiration for Yu Shuli, but the way he made the sound was a bit like a monkey: “Ooh… ooh… ooh, you’re really useless… Don’t lie to your brother, you should definitely be the one on the bottom, right?… But, Prime Minister Wei, this person, he’s not really sick, is he? Otherwise, how could he be so… uh… brave… Is he pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger?”

Yu Shuli frowned upon hearing this and couldn’t help but think carefully about Wei Yan’s “unusual” behavior during this time.

From their making a scene at the Magnolia Cloud Ship and beating up the crown prince, Wei Yan was unscathed, which could be said to be because he dodged fast enough and was lucky, as well as the help he provided at the end. But later, in Rongcheng, he shot Lü Fang with a hundred-step arrow, and then in Quzhou, he was poisoned with Five Stone Powder, but he could still control it almost freely, and there were hardly any relapses.

According to Dong Siwen, she later matched it with a prescription opened by the imperial physician, and it took a lot of effort to drain the medicinal power. If it weren’t for Thirteen’s many times of assistance, it might not have been so easy to endure.

It wasn’t that Yu Shuli hadn’t suspected during this time that Wei Yan had secretly taken some antidote and deliberately used a bitter trick to deceive him. But then he felt that it was ultimately unnecessary.

To actually poison himself voluntarily, and then take the antidote afterwards, so much trouble for nothing? What’s the point?

Who would joke with their own body?

Moreover, his vomiting blood and the signs of poisoning at that time didn’t seem fake.

Yu Shuli couldn’t figure it out and could only find reasons for Wei Yan himself:

Maybe the hundred-step arrow that was completely unshakable was because Wei Yan’s archery skills were originally good, and this had nothing to do with whether he was poisoned and physically weak.

As for the reason why he hadn’t had many relapses during this time, despite the lingering old poison and the newly added Five Stone Powder… Yu Shuli could only attribute it to the fact that Wei Yan had been sick for many years and had developed drug resistance. Plus, he repeatedly spared no effort to… um… use his body to detoxify?

Thirteen’s effects were very significant, and he, Yu Shuli, was not necessarily weaker than Thirteen, right?

After comforting himself, Yu Shuli waved to Cang Xu: “Let’s go, we’ll enter the Palace now. I can still make it in time to have lunch with Wei Yan.”

Chen Li was ruthlessly left behind: “Hey! Take me with you!”

Yu Shuli twitched the corner of his mouth and said to Chen Li, “Since you’re free, just walk to the Imperial Palace.”

“Yu Shuli! You’re deliberately retaliating! I was just complaining a few times…”

Yu Shuli stuck his head out of the carriage, waved his hand, and looked at Chen Li with an innocent face: “Don’t blame me, Wei Yan said that this carriage is only for me. If I let you on, he’ll get angry with me when he finds out. Besides, you’ve been promoted to deputy general, so you need to exercise your body well. Otherwise, you won’t even be able to beat the centurions of my army camp, what kind of system is that? Didn’t you say yourself that you want to work hard?”

He gave Chen Li a thumbs up: “Come on, I believe you can do it. If you run from here to the Imperial City right now, you will definitely be able to arrive at the afternoon martial arts exam, and if you’re fast, you might even be able to catch the opening performance.”

With a flick of the reins, the carriage left without hesitation.

The pitiful Chen Li could only run behind. But unfortunately, before long, the carriage in front began to speed up.

He shouted in exasperation: “Yu Shuli, do you have any shame? Didn’t my sister send you a lot of rare ornaments to take good care of me? Is this how you take care of me?”

“Bear with it, brother.” Yu Shuli laughed loudly: “Your sister said, let you suffer more when you’re young, so that you’ll be used to suffering when you’re old.”

The carriage was about to disappear from sight, and Chen Li lowered his head and stamped his feet.

He vaguely saw a donkey cart on the side of the road, and his eyes lit up. Just as he was about to go up and inquire about the price, there was a loud bang in front of him.

Chen Li frowned and looked over, only to see Yu Shuli flying half a step into the air, stepping down on a half-dismantled wheel, and a piece collapsed under the carriage.

In front of the car, an old man clutched his stomach and fell to the ground, crying out “aiyo, aiyo”.

His face changed, and he immediately gave up negotiating with the owner of the donkey cart, and ran over in a few steps.

“What happened?” Chen Li ran breathlessly.

Yu Shuli stood firm in front of the car with a gloomy face and walked to the old man.

“Get up.” His voice was very cold.

Cang Xu stood aside, pacifying the runaway horse, before standing next to Yu Shuli: “Lord Protector of the Nation… you…” Are you alright?

Cang Xu’s eyes were inevitably flustered, if something happened, the one in the Palace would be furious.

Yu Shuli reached out to signal him not to speak. His eyes were fixed on the old man on the ground. “Get up and answer.” He sneered: “You weren’t hit, what are you pretending for?”

Yu Shuli was kind-hearted, but that didn’t mean he was a fool.

This old man had clearly rushed over deliberately when their carriage came over.

Cang Xu’s technique was not bad, and he pulled the reins in time, the carriage stopping far away from the person.

But the old man, as if acting in a play, rolled around a few times and somehow reached the horse’s hooves.

Yu Shuli had already flipped out of the carriage at the same time Cang Xu pulled the reins, and when he saw this, he kicked over the carriage. The trajectory of the carriage was forcibly moved, and the old man escaped again by luck.

Yu Shuli reacted quickly enough. Although he saved the man, the accounts must be settled clearly, otherwise, it would be bad if he was falsely accused.

His title of Lord Protector of the Nation hasn’t been held for long, how could he let others bully him like this?

The old man trembled his shoulders, and raised his eyes, which were muddy and panicked: “Lord Protector of the Nation is going to kill someone! Lord Protector of the Nation tramples on the people and wants to kill an old man with no strength to even truss a chicken!”

“Hey! Old man, don’t talk nonsense! There are so many people watching here, the wheels of the carriage didn’t even touch you, how did you trample on the people?!” Chen Li hurriedly stood up to speak fairly for Yu Shuli, “In this day and age, there is no evidence, you can still live to your age by just making up lies with your mouth? Tsk tsk tsk…”

The surrounding people gathered around. The crowd echoed a few words, all saying that Yu Shuli didn’t hit anyone.

“So many eyes are watching!” The old man gritted his teeth and lifted the outer garment on his stomach that he had been covering, “You say this old man has no evidence?”

On the half-shriveled stomach, there were several clear hoof prints.

The crowd who had been watching the excitement and helping to speak for Yu Shuli stopped talking.

Some people even muttered: “Could it be? We didn’t see it clearly just now? Did he really get hit?”

“The Lord Protector of the Nation’s carriage is speeding on the street, and he doesn’t know how to avoid pedestrians.”

“It’s different when you become a high official… When he was still a Little General, he was very approachable.”

“That’s right, he even stopped the crown prince’s carriage with his bare hands back then, who would have thought that now that he has risen to power himself, he is also this kind of person…”

“Shh… you can’t say these things randomly. Those high officials can kill you with a flick of their fingers…”

The development of the matter was increasingly being led by public opinion – although they were all unfounded rumors, they suddenly spread as if they were true.

Before long, the rumors that the Lord Protector of the Nation bullied the people after taking office spread throughout the streets and alleys.

Seeing this, Cang Xu knew that the situation was not right and immediately raised his hand and fired a signal flare into the sky.

Soon after, the other end in the Imperial Palace immediately replied.

Yu Shuli knew that Cang Xu had asked Wei Yan for help.

Sure enough, Cang Xu, who had received a reply, came over and lowered his eyes: “Lord Protector of the Nation, the Prime Minister’s meaning is, you don’t need to worry about the matter here, just enter the Palace with peace of mind, and the Censorate will handle the follow-up.”

“Understood.” Yu Shuli replied like this, but in reality, his body did not move.

Cang Xu frowned and wanted to persuade him again, but Yu Shuli waved his hand.

“This kind of thing doesn’t need Wei Yan’s help.”

He smiled at the old man on the ground: “I don’t know who sent you here, but you don’t understand me. I have always been clear about gratitude and grudges. Although I have always been kind to others, I never like anyone to put a sh*t pot on my head. So if I have a grudge, I usually retaliate immediately, and never give people a chance to plot against me.”

He smashed a crossbar from the carriage, and the crossbar with vertical thorns was placed against the old man’s neck just like that.

He dug his ears and hooked out a wanton and unrestrained smile at the corner of his mouth: “I didn’t hear clearly just now, say it again, the hoof prints on your stomach, were they kicked by my horse?”