Passing through the crowded masses, in the depths of the silk tree forest by Liuxiang Lake, Tie Ci saw the person waiting alone with a smile.

Rong Pu, the equally renowned dean of Yueli Academy, carried a pot of wine and waited beneath the silk tree.

The moment their eyes met, a gentle breeze stirred and silk tree flowers fell.

A scene that could be called classic enough for any romance novel.

Rong Pu: …If only that eyesore Murong Yi weren’t here.

Murong Yi: …If only I could gouge out that white lotus’s sneaky eyes.

Undercurrents surged, but probably only Tie Ci smiled openly.

Several exquisite small dishes had already been prepared on the stone table nearby, all foods that Tie Ci enjoyed.

As soon as the three sat down, Murong Yi picked up a wine cup and smiled: “This cup I toast to Brother Rong. When A’Ci and I traveled far to Yannan, and A’Ci had to attend to court affairs as well, everything here at the academy was entrusted to Brother Rong. Brother Rong has worked hard.”

Tie Ci immediately lowered her head to eat.

The demon consort was feeling aggrieved, and as soon as he sat down, the battlefield began. She could neither interfere nor speak, so she could only play dead.

Across from them, Rong Pu also smiled and raised his cup: “Brother Murong is too polite. Your Highness already said this to me in a letter. As Your Highness’s close minister, Rong Pu serves wholeheartedly and willingly – it’s my duty. Besides, Your Highness has already given me a thank-you gift.” He winked at Tie Ci. “Thank you for the Yannan local specialties Your Highness sent with the letter. This minister is very pleased with them.”

He stood up to pour wine for Tie Ci. Though he could have reached easily, he deliberately stood and walked around most of the table, the oddly-shaped jade pendant carved with Yannan’s five poisons hanging from his waist swaying before both their eyes.

Tie Ci: …Pffft.

She sprayed wine all over the table.

That pendant was something Tie Ci had seen while shopping and found somewhat interesting, so she bought it and sent it back to Rong Pu with a letter.

When buying it, she had used a little scheming – the thing was crudely carved and charmingly ugly, completely unsuited to someone of Rong Pu’s refined upbringing from a noble family. She thought he would just put it away on a shelf after receiving it, so she wasn’t afraid of a certain someone getting jealous.

Moreover, she hadn’t originally planned to come to the academy and wouldn’t see Rong Pu in the short term. After a few years, he would probably have forgotten about this thing.

Who knew she would suddenly decide to come to the academy and forget about this matter herself.

Tie Ci regretted it deeply.

Green tea versus crazy batch – who would win?

Having sprayed wine all over the table, Murong Yi beside her turned those naturally hooked eyes toward her, both beautiful and deadly.

There was killing intent.

The green tea wasn’t finished yet.

He smoothly pulled out a handkerchief from his chest to wipe the wine stains from the table. The handkerchief’s embroidery used bold colors and strange designs – clearly also a Yannan product.

Tie Ci had no memory of this handkerchief. Even if she sent Rong Pu some gifts to express gratitude, she would be careful not to make them too intimate. She suddenly remembered that when packaging the jade pendant that day, fearing the long journey’s jolting might break it, Dan Shuang seemed to have casually grabbed a locally-bought handkerchief to wrap it…

She immediately grabbed the handkerchief and said in surprise: “This handkerchief was given to me by local people. How did it end up with you? It must be that Dan Shuang accidentally put it in the return letter package.”

With her explanation, Murong Yi’s expression softened somewhat, and he glanced at her with a smile.

Only then did Tie Ci realize that this fellow had been unusually silent today – he was waiting for her.

Her refutation was much more dignified than him getting angry and flustered himself.

The demon consort’s schemes ran deep.

Rong Pu’s expression didn’t change as he smiled: “Is that so? Then I’ll take it that this is indeed the case.”

Tie Ci: …Green tea isn’t easy to deal with either.

Murong Yi smiled and waved his hand: “Your Highness has plenty of such handkerchiefs, giving them to everyone she meets. Brother Rong needn’t pay too much attention to it.”

Rong Pu smiled: “Naturally. Neither Your Highness nor I focus our thoughts on such clever trinkets. Tonight I seek audience with Your Highness for official business.” He handed over a list.

It contained talented individuals participating in this academic competition, compiled by Yueli Academy’s think tank, mainly students from the three great academies but also including some hidden gems from the countryside.

Tie Ci saw several recently familiar names on it – Fang Huai’an, the twins, and Qi You were all listed.

“What are the characters of Mingquan’s twins like?”

“These two are my first recommendation for Imperial Study assistants. Qi You is too unrestrained, while Fang Huai’an is too pedantic. The Chu Xingbai brothers can take Qi You’s carefree strengths without Fang Huai’an’s rigid shortcomings. Moreover, though their studies aren’t particularly outstanding, they’re competent in everything – the best candidates for imperial advisors.” Rong Pu said, “Your Highness should have met them these past two days and formed your own judgment.”

Tie Ci nodded.

Her assessment matched Rong Pu’s.

Suitable personalities, and their conduct had also passed inspection these past days. Hearing Rong Pu mention their studies, they were rare all-around talents – hard-to-find comprehensive individuals.

Selecting Imperial Study advisors for Father Emperor served two purposes: storing future cabinet talent for herself and relieving Father Emperor’s burden, since emperors who handled everything personally would eventually die from exhaustion.

So the selection was very important. These were the Son of Heaven’s close ministers, who should avoid entanglement with various court factions. It was best to choose from scholars who hadn’t yet taken the spring examinations, preferably from ordinary scholarly families or humble backgrounds. Character was extremely important, but temperament was even more crucial.

Without proper temperament, it would be difficult to adapt to such meteoric rise and hard to escape being drawn into court undercurrents.

Tie Ci picked up her brush and dotted those two names: “Academic competition results are secondary. Let’s observe them more these next two days.”

Rong Pu nodded in agreement.

Tie Ci asked about some others. Li Yuncheng was also prominently listed. Tie Ci pointed at the name and smiled: “In future upheavals, if the Li family can see clearly, he’ll have his future.”

For noble family children, personal ability was secondary – they were most easily burdened by their families.

As the saying goes: succeed by family, fail by family.

This topic was somewhat sensitive, and for a moment both fell silent, even Murong Yi straightened up.

All suffered from family burdens.

Tie Ci changed the subject: “There’s a young lady at Celu Academy – short, round face, almond eyes. Is she on the list?”

“You mean Jian Xi? That girl is exceptionally talented with photographic memory and writes excellent poetry. She’s Celu’s famous talented woman, but her temperament can’t handle great responsibility, and she has no grand ambitions. I suspect she won’t even participate in the debates, so I didn’t list her.”

Tie Ci fell silent, feeling slightly disappointed.

She said nothing in the end, trusting Rong Pu’s judgment.

Rong Pu then produced a thick box, and all three became more serious.

“This mainly contains evidence submitted by Yang Yixiu and academy students. The Xiao family has entrenched themselves in Haiyou for years – officials from the provincial governor down are all their lackeys. After your visit, you replaced a batch of officials using the Yuan Tie case, but you didn’t root them out completely. This year the academy used student training as cover, sending students into various government offices. With help from Yang Yixiu and the Laizhou prefect, we obtained considerable evidence. It’s all here.”

“What about the primary accuser? Have you chosen? The censors have always been controlled by the Xiao faction…”

“A censor from the Censorate named Fang Nayan is willing to be the primary accuser.”

Tie Ci paused.

She didn’t remember this name, so he probably wasn’t the Left or Right Chief Censor, nor likely a Vice Censor or Assistant Censor.

Since he was an obscure minor official, how dare he be first to stand up in such a case destined to overturn the court, where one misstep meant certain death?

Moreover, the Censorate had been controlled by the Xiao family for years. Once this person accused them, it would be like betrayal. Forget about his career – wasn’t he afraid of being ambushed?

Murong Yi had already said: “Someone from the Censorate – can he be trusted?”

“He came to us himself. He found Commander Xia Hou with some illegal evidence against the Xiao family, saying he planned to accuse them and only asked that after his death, Commander Xia Hou would care for his elderly mother. Commander Xia Hou passed this to Tian Wu, who told me, and only then did I send people to contact him.”

Murong Yi continued: “Isn’t this too convenient, a pillow appearing just when you’re sleepy? Be careful it’s a trap.”

Rong Pu smiled but ignored him, only saying to Tie Ci: “I was naturally wary and tested him extensively. But I accidentally learned of a connection. Last autumn when Your Highness celebrated your birthday, all officials competed in gift-giving splendor. Fang Nayan was poor and could only offer a Buddhist sutra hand-embroidered by his elderly mother. He was prepared to be humiliated, but unexpectedly Your Highness rarely praised his birthday gift and even rewarded him with several gold ingots. Those pieces of gold not only let him pay overdue rent, saving his whole family from being thrown into the streets, but finally allowed him to buy medicine to cure his mother’s illness.”

When he said “competed in splendor,” his tone emphasized it while deliberately glancing at Murong Yi.

Neither noticed the green tea’s subtle disdain. Murong Yi said: “That’s it?”

Clearly he couldn’t quite understand.

Tie Ci fell silent and felt slightly ashamed, because she truly didn’t remember at all. She only remembered how beautiful Murong Yi looked dancing that day.

Was she really just a foolish ruler?

But having crawled through the bottom levels, she knew how officialdom worked – those who could navigate it flourished while those who couldn’t struggled at every step. Seeing a particularly shabby birthday gift, she understood the giver’s predicament. This consideration and thoughtfulness was definitely necessary for rare clean officials.

She just hadn’t expected that a small gesture would be so memorable that someone would risk their life for it.

“If there are no problems, we must ensure his safety and that of his entire family afterward.”

“Rest assured. Anyone willing to die for Your Highness must not only be kept safe but live in wealth, honor, and unfading glory.”

“Naturally.”

Rong Pu brought over a plate of lotus pastries and pushed one piece on the table: “A censor as primary accuser is proper and justified. Internal betrayal will throw the Censorate into chaos – this is point one.”

He pushed out another lotus pastry, placing it alongside.

“Grand Tutor He and Master Zhu have also contacted a group of civil officials. When the censor accuses and civil officials support him, Yang Yixiu and others will also petition the court for impeachment. This is point two. But the Xiao clan has operated for years – no one is sure of the list of officials they truly control. Some who seem like political enemies might be allies, while some who seem like allies might betray at crucial moments. This upheaval is destined to be endless, from court to harem, from harem to the people… anything could happen. Your Highness, please be fully prepared.”

Tie Ci nodded.

Rong Pu took a mung bean cake and placed it opposite the lotus pastries: “The Empress Dowager has been quite well-behaved this year, but when push comes to shove, she definitely won’t sit waiting for death.”

Tie Ci reached out to take the mung bean cake and popped it in her mouth: “No matter. I’ve already prepared a gift for Ciren Palace.”

If the Empress Dowager’s greatest support discovered he’d been deceived by her for many years, who knew what good things might happen?

Rong Pu pushed out another mung bean cake.

“This is Xiao Xueya.”

Tie Ci stared at the mung bean cake and laughed aloud.

“Xiao Xueya… I can guarantee he won’t follow the Xiao family in rebellion.”

Rong Pu didn’t ask further. If she said so, he believed her.

His expression relaxed: “Excellent. After Xiao Chang’s death, Xiao Xueya is the Xiao family’s only remaining military support. Also the biggest variable. As long as Xiao Xueya remains neutral, we needn’t fear trouble in our rear.”

Tie Ci smiled: “Have you been losing sleep over this?”

“I only lose sleep over Your Highness.” Rong Pu immediately responded. “Besides, when you returned from Yannan and allowed Xiao Xueya to merge the Nanyue and Yannan navies, I knew you had already won him over. The Yannan trip was quite fruitful. I haven’t congratulated Your Highness yet – Your Highness worked hard.”

Tie Ci didn’t dare respond.

Mixing flirtatious personal cargo into serious state discussions was what green tea did best – leaving people unable to respond or not respond.

She could only awkwardly pick up the mung bean cake to eat it, but Murong Yi beside her snatched it away and swallowed it in one bite, moving elegantly but ferociously while staring at Rong Pu. Those who didn’t know might think he was either eating Xiao Xueya’s flesh or Rong Pu’s head.

What could Tie Ci do?

She was just an innocent sandwich cookie caught in the middle.