After seeing off the old matriarch, Liu Rushi began recommending someone to Bai Qingyan: “If this humble minister should fall, regarding these negotiations, this humble minister would like to recommend two people to Your Majesty. Although one of them doesn’t have a good reputation, in this matter, he should be able to share Your Majesty’s burdens. However…”

“No ‘however’—tell me!” Bai Qingyan waved her hand, indicating for Liu Rushi to sit. She had always disliked it when her trusted ministers spoke in roundabout ways with her. Direct speech was better for getting things done.

“One of them is Fan Yugan…” Liu Rushi seemed afraid that Bai Qingyan might harbor reservations about Fan Yugan being Fan Yuhuai’s son, and quickly said, “Though Fan Yugan was previously a wastrel, perhaps… precisely because he was a wastrel, his ability to cause unreasonable trouble is quite exceptional. He can make three parts of unreasonableness seem justified without anyone finding fault—this is truly difficult to achieve!”

“Fan Yugan…” A faint smile touched Bai Qingyan’s features. These wastrels, who usually mingled with Lu Yuanpeng, each had their abilities. “You want to promote him?”

Regarding Fan Yugan, Bai Qingyan intended to look after him. Though Fan Yugan’s father Fan Yuhuai was a traitor, he was a traitor of the former Jin Dynasty, not the Great Zhou. Moreover, Fan Yuhuai was now a broken man. If Fan Yugan could achieve merit, Bai Qingyan wouldn’t mind releasing Fan Yuhuai and allowing him peaceful twilight years.

Liu Rushi couldn’t discern Bai Qingyan’s meaning from her words, but knowing their emperor wasn’t someone who refused to listen to others, he didn’t try to guess the imperial will or choose his words carefully. He simply sighed and spoke quietly to himself: “Promotion is too strong a word. Originally, I also felt sorry for Fan Yugan. Later, seeing how his glib tongue could twist anything into three knots was quite annoying, but… dealing with Yan requires someone like Fan Yugan to confound them. The more upright and gentlemanly Yan’s envoys are, the more Fan Yugan can infuriate them to the point of exploding with rage, yet they won’t be able to find fault! Your Majesty might as well let Fan Yugan participate in these negotiations. Even if he serves no great purpose, at least he can make Yan irritated and frustrated, which benefits our Great Zhou.”

“Mm!” Bai Qingyan nodded. “And the other person?”

“The other person is Grand Marshal Lu’s granddaughter, Lu Fenglang!” When Liu Rushi mentioned Lu Fenglang, genuine delight appeared in his eyes. “First, employing Lu Fenglang can demonstrate Your Majesty’s determination to use women as officials. Second, when Lu Fenglang previously debated with several scholars who opposed Your Majesty’s policy allowing women to study and take imperial examinations at Zuitian Tower, this humble minister was also present. Her eloquence was truly exceptional—extensively learned with every word a pearl! For this reason… this humble minister even specifically spoke with Master Lu Jinxian about wanting to recruit Lu Fenglang to Honglu Si, but coincidentally, Master Lu from the Ministry of Justice and the Chief Justice also want to compete for her.”

This Lu Fenglang was extraordinary. Before the spring examinations, she had helped the Chief Justice solve an extremely complex case, which made the Chief Justice take notice of her. Upon hearing that Lu Fenglang had achieved the excellent rank of second place in the palace examination, he immediately visited Lu Jinxian to discuss bringing Lu Fenglang to the Court of Judicial Review.

“Master Liu is certainly smuggling in personal interests!” Bai Qingyan couldn’t help but laugh. “If Lu Fenglang participates in these negotiations, she’ll belong to Honglu Si.”

Liu Rushi wasn’t embarrassed about having his thoughts exposed, maintaining his usual forthright style, speaking candidly even about competing for talent: “Students compete for fame based on their abilities, so when government departments compete for talent… it should also be based on ability!”

Bai Qingyan was amused by Liu Rushi: “Fine, considering Master Liu was injured serving the country yet still doesn’t forget to compete for talent, I agree to this.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!” Hearing Bai Qingyan’s words, Liu Rushi was genuinely delighted and quickly bowed to her.

“Though Imperial Physician Huang said Master Liu’s wounds are superficial, you must still recuperate properly. I won’t disturb you further.” As Bai Qingyan spoke, she rose to leave.

Since Liu Rushi would soon need to pretend to be severely injured, he didn’t escort her to the courtyard gate. In the courtyard, despite repeated insistence, he still said to Bai Qingyan: “Your Majesty, this humble minister feels this assassin didn’t seem intent on taking my life. At the time, the thin blade was less than an inch from my throat—with just a little force, he could have killed me. Yet with such skillful movements, he managed to trip himself. This performance was truly poor. However, this humble minister thinks… once this person is in the Court of Judicial Review and we see what he reveals, we can probably guess whether this time their ‘Xiang Zhuang’s sword dance’ is truly aimed at Duke Pei.”

Bai Qingyan’s steps paused. In the letter Xiao Rongyan had just sent through Yue Shi, he had mentioned that this matter wasn’t simple. Though Zhong Xingxiao wasn’t clever, he wasn’t stupid enough to send someone under Great Yan’s guard name to assassinate Great Zhou court officials at this critical juncture. He knew Bai Qingyan was intelligent and would surely understand the intricacies, but now that the guard was in Great Zhou’s prison, where he couldn’t intervene, he asked Bai Qingyan to be especially careful.

After all, this was the critical moment when the two countries were about to negotiate the “national wager.” Any small matter requires vigilance to avoid complete failure.

Bai Qingyan had already been cautious, and Liu Rushi’s words made things seem even more suspicious.

She laughed and said, “Let the Court of Judicial Review interrogate him first. If they can’t get anything useful, have Lu Jin personally interrogate him…”

Soon after, Lu Jinxian came to visit Liu Rushi on his old father Grand Marshal Lu’s orders. Minister Shen and Minister Dong also came, and shortly after, Lu Jin, who had always been on good terms with Liu Rushi, arrived as well.

Later, perhaps having heard that Bai Qingyan, the emperor, had personally come to the Liu residence, more officials couldn’t sit still and came to the Liu residence. For a time, though it was late at night, the Liu residence was quite lively.

Liu Rushi naturally lay in bed with her eyes tightly closed, pretending to be unconscious. The old matriarch’s area was filled with weeping sounds, and Liu Rushi’s wife’s maternal family couldn’t wait until the next day, immediately coming to visit the six-months-pregnant Lady Liu.

This liveliness continued even after Bai Qingyan left, and the next day, even more people came calling…

However, the old matriarch, unable to bear the burden and too lazy to entertain and act, had the steward turn everyone away.

Although Zhong Xingxiao was Yan Empress Dowager’s blood brother, ultimately, it was his subordinate who had committed the crime. Though the captured assassin suffered several rounds of torture under the Chief Justice, he initially insisted it was personal revenge.

Though Zhong Xingxiao wasn’t imprisoned, he was confined to the guest quarters with Great Zhou soldiers guarding the entrance. Until the case was resolved, he couldn’t easily meet with anyone.

Zhong Xingxiao used silver to bribe for information, learning that the Great Zhou Emperor had flown into a rage during morning court, summoning the Regent and all Yan envoys, demanding the Regent personally explain within three days. Otherwise, not only would the national wager negotiations be cancelled, but don’t blame Great Zhou for turning hostile and marching west.