Tie Ci left the room in a bad mood. Seeing that the sky was darkening and the teachers had all returned to rest, she headed toward Junzi Hall.

However, when she reached Junzi Hall, she found it brightly lit. After asking the guard at the entrance, she learned that with the autumn imperial examinations only a few months away, the academy would collect a batch of excellent students’ portfolios and submit them collectively to various high officials and great scholars in the capital. Recently, students from all lecture halls had been submitting their portfolios for teachers to screen. This had to be done during leisure time, so Junzi Hall would be open at night for some time. Since the portfolios were precious and they feared accidents, people were arranged to sleep on duty in Junzi Hall.

Upon hearing this, Tie Ci thought it was terrible—wouldn’t that mean she couldn’t enter Junzi Hall for a long time?

During the day, with people coming and going, there would be even less opportunity.

She lingered outside the entrance and encountered Teacher Ying passing by. Tie Ci bowed in greeting and said with some surprise, “Shouldn’t you be screening portfolios, Teacher?”

She had been quite happy to see Teacher Ying, hoping Old Ying would take her inside, but who knew he would walk right past Junzi Hall.

Teacher Ying stopped and glanced at Junzi Hall, saying, “Portfolio selection relates to students’ futures. For such important matters, the academy administration generally arranges special personnel.”

He spoke obliquely, but Tie Ci understood. He meant that the Xiao family controlled many key affairs. For things like selecting portfolios, the Xiao family would arrange instructors from their faction to choose students close to the Xiao family who were worth cultivating. This way, they could keep talented people in their grasp.

And Teacher Ying was an instructor who should have participated but didn’t, clearly not belonging to the Xiao family faction.

“This student has long admired the academy’s reputation and traveled a thousand li to come here, but now feels somewhat disappointed,” Tie Ci said. “Does Teacher know why this student is disappointed?”

Teacher Ying remained silent.

“Doesn’t Teacher hope for some change, to restore a clear and bright world to the academy?”

Teacher Ying was silent again for a while before shaking his head and saying, “The influence is overwhelming, and accumulated problems are hard to remedy.”

Even the Emperor lived under the shadow of the Xiao family—how much more so an academy full of scholarly weaklings?

Tie Ci smiled slightly, “Then if one day someone wanted to clear away longstanding abuses and restore proper order, what would Teacher do?”

Teacher Ying said faintly, “I would do what I ought to do.”

He walked away slowly, and Tie Ci bowed to see him off.

Suddenly someone approached, carrying a lantern, and said to the gatekeeper, “I come at Teacher Liu’s invitation to help grade papers.”

The gatekeeper stepped aside.

The lantern light swayed over, and that person beckoned to Tie Ci in the darkness, saying, “Eighteen, why don’t you come over?”

The yellow lamplight fell on his face, reminiscent of beauties outlined in ink on ancient scrolls—romantic and delicate, cool yet flamboyant.

It was Rong Pu.

Tie Ci was momentarily stunned, then walked out. By the time she approached him, she had adjusted her expression and smiled, “Hey, I was planning to startle you.”

Rong Pu smiled and explained to the gatekeeper, “Ye Shiba is someone I arranged to meet, to help the instructors together.”

That person glanced at Tie Ci, who had recently gained great fame at the academy, and without asking further questions, made way.

The two entered through the moon gate, crossing the small paths and artificial mountains in the courtyard. Tie Ci followed behind Rong Pu, watching him walk slowly and steadily, his wide robes spreading in the wind and lamplight like a lotus blooming leisurely in the breeze.

“How did you know I was there? How did you know…”

“I saw you lingering at the entrance of Junzi Hall. Naturally, I brought you in.”

“Aren’t you going to ask what I want to go in for? What if I want to burn down Junzi Hall?”

“If you really wanted to burn it down, you must have your reasons,” Rong Pu said calmly. “Do you need me to help you keep watch?”

Tie Ci smiled, “Minister Rong is truly loyal and devoted.”

Rong Pu seemed unwilling to hear such praise from her and changed the subject, “By the way, the Head sent people into the mountains to find Senior Brother Mu, but couldn’t find him. Then today, Dongming County, where Senior Brother Mu had once trained, sent word saying that academy student Mu Yuanda had disappeared after going into the mountains to pacify bandits, and later the patrol office found his corpse in the mountains with his face skinned off. The body has now been sent back to the academy.”

Tie Ci had previously guessed that Senior Brother Mu must be an impostor—otherwise, he couldn’t possibly be Rong Wei’s fourth brother. Now, thinking of how the academy’s painstakingly cultivated talent had been destroyed by them, she couldn’t help sighing.

“Dongming County’s bandit pacification plan has been shelved because of this and will probably change to bandit suppression. But actually, this time the mountain bandits are taking the blame—the killer was that fake Senior Brother Mu. I could see he had the look of a wolf and eagle, really not like an ordinary scholar.”

“By the way, do you know the background of that fake Senior Brother Mu who took his place? Do you recognize him?” Tie Ci took the opportunity to ask.

Rong Pu had said Rong Wei was his distant relative, so Senior Brother Mu should be too, but from Rong Pu’s manner, he didn’t seem to know him.

“Who is he?” Rong Pu turned to look at her. “Why does Your Highness ask this?”

“Seeing how well-informed you are, I thought you might also know his background,” Tie Ci said. “By the way, Rong Wei is your distant relative—what does his family do?”

“They’re merchants who bought official positions with money. They have considerable wealth and could be considered wealthy on one side,” Rong Pu said. “I’ve never been to Liaodong, and it’s inconvenient for them to come here, so we’re not very familiar with each other. I’m only relatively close to him because we happened to meet once years ago.”

Wealthy, so brothers fighting over the family fortune?

Fighting so desperately? How much money must there be?

“Your Highness spent the night away with Rong Wei last night, so close to him—why not ask him about such matters instead of asking me?”

“How do you know I spent the night away with him?” Tie Ci laughed. “Are you spying on my movements?”

She said it in a joking tone, but Rong Pu couldn’t take it as a joke. He sighed and said softly, “Your Highness, why must you be so guarded against me? And why must you always treat me this way?”

Tie Ci thought: If you didn’t always push boundaries, mix personal with official business, and smuggle in private goods, I wouldn’t mind playing the role of harmonious ruler and minister with you.

By this time, they had reached the entrance of Junzi Hall, so this question didn’t need answering.

Rong Pu had considerable status at the academy. As soon as he arrived, an instructor waved and said, “Rong Pu, you’re here? Come, come, come, help me get through this pile. We need to finish this pile tonight, or none of us will get any sleep. Ah, this person you brought to help? Come, come, over here, over here.”

Before Tie Ci could say anything, she was pulled to a table by the impatient instructor, and a large bundle of portfolios was immediately thrust at her. Tie Ci flipped through them and asked, “Instructor, how should the selected portfolios be handled?”

“To ensure the portfolios our academy submits are excellent enough, this is just the preliminary review. After we select a batch, the Supervisor will do a second review, and finally the Head will do the third review. The portfolios you select will be counted under my name. After I mark them with my seal, they’ll be sent to Instructor Huang for compilation.”

The person handed over his private seal.

Instructors had to take responsibility for the portfolios they selected, ensuring there were no errors, omissions, or violations of various taboos.

Tie Ci agreed, glanced at that person’s seal impression, confirmed it wasn’t what she was looking for, and sat down to read portfolios.

A hand reached over and took away most of the portfolios.

Tie Ci looked up at Rong Pu.

But Rong Pu didn’t look at her, only lowered his head to seriously read portfolios.

Tie Ci understood his meaning—he was telling her not to waste time here.

She was lost in thought for a moment. She could only accept Rong Pu’s kindness because they were ruler and minister. She couldn’t choose to keep people at a distance just because the other’s goodwill might be mixed with personal feelings. After all, in the future, someone like Rong Pu would inevitably become an important minister and someone she needed to win over.

Tie Ci wasn’t afraid of people being sentimental, but how to maintain proper boundaries fell within the realm of imperial mind techniques.

She had always been able to multitask, thinking while still reading portfolios efficiently. Master had trained her in speed reading and memorization. She read very quickly, silently memorizing the names of selected portfolios.

When almost finished, a hand reached over again, giving her a marked and selected portfolio.

This was to help her quickly gather more selected portfolios to report to Instructor Huang.

Tie Ci tidied up the portfolios that were about to topple over, but touched Rong Pu’s hand that hadn’t yet withdrawn.

Those cool fingers brushed across the back of her hand like a dragonfly touching water.

Tie Ci instinctively looked up, but before meeting Rong Pu’s gaze, she suddenly heard a cough.

She turned around to see Rong Wei with his arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe, watching them with a half-smile.

She immediately withdrew her hand and looked down at the portfolios.

Suddenly feeling her action was wrong, like she was guilty about something, she looked up openly at Rong Wei and nodded.

Someone in the hall was already greeting Rong Wei: “How did Brother Rong come here?”

“I was hungry and came out looking for food. Seeing Junzi Hall brightly lit, I came in,” Rong Wei said. “What are all you brothers busy with? Do you need my help?”

Someone said, “Brother Rong teaches archery and horsemanship and is even injured—that’s hard enough work. You should go back and rest early.”

Tie Ci raised an eyebrow, hearing the mockery and disdain in the other’s tone.

But Rong Wei seemed not to understand the implications and had already walked in, naturally leaning against Tie Ci’s table while picking up a portfolio from Rong Pu’s desk. After glancing at it, he said, “Using jade candles to harmonize five colors, turning the ash and reed pipes; spinning platforms spreading grace to three yangs, returning the spring of valley millet…”

The person who had just rejected him praised, “These lines are truly elegant and exquisite! Just these two lines alone deserve selection!”

Rong Wei’s lips curved up, “Indeed exquisite.”

That person said, “I didn’t expect Brother Rong to be a kindred spirit too.”

“…Copying from ‘Complete Book of Blessings and Wisdom’—how could it not be wonderful?”

That person choked and started coughing.

Rong Wei said in surprise, “What? Brother Wang doesn’t even know this book? Although this book is somewhat obscure, with Brother Wang’s extensive reading in teaching the classics, this shouldn’t be the case!”

That person laughed awkwardly.

Rong Pu suddenly said, “Moreover…”

Rong Wei cut off his words, “Moreover, it violates a taboo. The line about ‘spinning platforms’—doesn’t that conflict with Great Ancestor’s personal name?”

Emperor Qian’s great ancestor was named Tie Xuan.

That person fell silent, and the room became so quiet you couldn’t hear coughing. No one spoke anymore.

After a long while, someone said embarrassedly, “Brother Rong is greatly talented. Since that’s the case, please…”

But Rong Wei seemed not to hear his invitation, leaning against Tie Ci’s table and turning to smile at her, “This candlelight isn’t very bright. Be careful not to hurt your eyes—let me light another one for you.”

As he spoke, he took the candlestick from Rong Pu’s table and placed it on Tie Ci’s table.

Rong Pu: “…”

Tie Ci: “…”

She helplessly propped her head with her hand, looking at Rong Wei, “Teacher, instead of properly recovering from your injury, what are you running out here for?”

Rong Wei rolled up his sleeves, exposing his injured wrist, and theatrically reached for the ink stone, saying, “I came to add fragrance with red sleeves while you read at night!”

Tie Ci stared at his black “red sleeves” and really wanted to tell him to “get lost.”

Forget it—she couldn’t have a public confrontation here. She could only pretend not to see and let the black sleeves add their own fragrance.

The “red sleeves” didn’t actually grind ink, since helping to read portfolios didn’t require Tie Ci to write comments. He just leaned against the table, watching Tie Ci read portfolios. The shadow above cast a gentle outline on the table surface, and a faint wood-leaf fragrance seemed present yet absent but extremely noticeable. Tie Ci felt her forehead gradually growing warm.

Rong Wei chuckled softly above.

Tie Ci pretended not to hear and picked up another portfolio.

Rong Wei reached over to Rong Pu’s table, took a portfolio he had just finished reading, and placed it among Tie Ci’s approved portfolios, “I think this one is good.”

Rong Pu pressed down on his portfolios, coughed, and said expressionlessly, “I can make my own selections. No need to trouble you, Teacher.”

“Then you select for yourself,” Rong Wei said gently. “No need to worry about Eighteen’s side anymore.”

Tie Ci stood up, the sound of pushing back her chair creaking. She picked up the box full of portfolios, walked around Rong Wei, and went to deliver them to Instructor Huang.

No point watching a cockfight.

At Instructor Huang’s place, the old man with heavy dark circles under his eyes didn’t even look, just stacked the portfolios high. As Tie Ci passed by, she “accidentally” bumped into them, scattering all the portfolios on the floor.

She hurriedly apologized and quickly crouched down to collect them, taking this opportunity to examine all the seals on the portfolios.

Nothing.

There wasn’t that particularly distinctive brushstroke, and the color was different too.

Although ink pad colors could be changed at any time, the ink pad on that torn page was also special. People who used special ink pads and inks generally wouldn’t change them easily.

Tie Ci put the portfolios back on Instructor Huang’s table and suddenly heard Rong Wei cry out “Oh!” She immediately turned around.

Rong Wei was supporting himself against the table with a pained expression, beckoning to her, “Good disciple, Master’s injury seems to have relapsed. Quickly help me back to the quarters!”

Tie Ci said to Instructor Huang, “Teacher, this student will escort Teacher Rong back. Should I help you deliver these portfolios to the Supervisor while I’m at it?”

“Good.” The old man pointed to that pile of portfolios, indicating she should take them herself.

Tie Ci picked up the portfolio box. When she came over, Rong Wei leaned against her boneless like a mollusk.

Tie Ci smiled, reached out to support his waist, earnestly advising the teacher to be careful, and carefully helped him out the door—truly a filial and considerate good disciple.

Once they were outside, Tie Ci’s hand supporting his waist immediately changed from supporting to pinching, giving a hard squeeze and push.

Rong Wei chuckled and stood up straight, saying, “Alright, I’ll walk slowly to keep watch for you while you go to the Supervisor’s.”

Tie Ci said, “How do you also know I need to go to the Supervisor’s?”

“You’re not someone who would willingly help teachers grade papers. Offering help without reason means you’re either treacherous or thieving. Plus, seeing your and Rong Pu’s sneaky actions, it was obvious,” Rong Wei said. “Is this about investigating Lady He’s matter? You suspect the Supervisor? Next time you need help, just find me—don’t look for Rong Pu. That guy has deep thoughts.”

Tie Ci smiled slightly.

Heh, as if your thoughts aren’t deep.

“There is something I need to investigate. I’ll go and come back,” Tie Ci answered vaguely.

Since it involved a deceased person’s reputation, she was unwilling to jump to conclusions too early.

The Supervisor’s room was at the head of this row, the first room. The Supervisor also had several students working overtime.

Tie Ci went in to deliver portfolios and used the same trick again. When passing a student carrying high stacks of portfolios, she “carelessly” knocked over a box on the treasure cabinet behind the bookshelf that specifically held various private seals and small stamps. After another round of inconspicuous collecting and searching, she confirmed there were no similar private seals or brushstrokes here either.

Coming up empty-handed, it seemed she could only find an opportunity to visit the Head’s place.

Tie Ci wasn’t impatient. She smiled slightly as she came out, looking like a student whose mood was pleasant from helping teachers.

Rong Wei stood waiting for her under a flowering tree, his face rich yet clear and beautiful in the bright and dim lamplight.

He came to walk with her, saying, “Didn’t find it?”

Tie Ci looked at him with some surprise. Her expression had clearly been relaxed and cheerful—anyone looking wouldn’t think she’d been frustrated.

Rong Wei smiled, “When you fake smile, the curve of your lips never changes.”

Tie Ci’s heart skipped slightly.

Even people who had been by her side for years might not necessarily notice this detail, yet Rong Wei, whom she’d known for barely a month, already understood her so well.

According to convention, she should be considering killing him by now.

But this thought merely drifted through her mind like wind. In the end, she only said, “Brother Rong, if you want to know something, just ask me directly. Why bother reading expressions this way?”

“Then I’ll ask,” Rong Wei said immediately. “Mm, Eighteen, would you be willing to be with me…”

Author’s Note:

Today I’m going to Shanghai to attend the Qidian Original IP Gala.

In plain terms, I’m going to attend the annual meeting.

According to leadership requirements, I need to do an advertisement today. June 3rd at 7 PM, watch the live stream on Tencent Video and other platforms. Together we’ll crown good stories and witness the birth of the award rankings.

I think if everyone has free time, it would be great to see the various great authors’ grace and witness the glory of the Qidian IP Gala.

But if the camera turns to me, please change channels, muah.

I haven’t prepared, and I’ve gotten uncontrollably fat recently—completely round and plump, and I’ve had to let out all my dresses by two sizes.

But I still want to maintain a beautiful image in front of my readers.

So watch anyone else, but don’t watch me, okay?