Chapter 0236: Everyone Urges Me to Rebel, But All I Want Is a Long Life
Sheng Yiren was quickly persuaded. Before leaving, she reminded Xie Chengze, “Your Highness, we don’t know when you’ll return after this departure. Although I know you have no ambition, you must still preserve means to protect your life.”
Means to protect his life?
Xie Chengze unconsciously brushed the tasseled earring on his earlobe and nodded.
Speaking of which, he seemed to have forgotten to ask Shen Yuan whether the poison inside this earring had an expiration date.
And would expired poison become more potent or less potent?
While pondering this question, the day of the Spring Examination finally arrived.
Thousands of candidates flooded into the examination hall. Xie Chengze brought Zhu Xiaobiao to observe the ceremony. Jing Ze, Bian Yangchun, and others exchanged distant glances with Xie Chengze, bowed to him, and then entered the examination grounds as well.
Once the examination hall was sealed, the imperial examinations would proceed for seven full days. No one except the supervising officials was permitted to enter.
In contrast, the military examinations were quite lively, held in a semi-open venue where even commoners could watch from the periphery. On the stage, martial artists competing in the military examinations wielded swords and practiced other weapons. Xie Chengze soon spotted two familiar figures.
“Uncle?! You’re here for the military examinations too?” Xie Chengze’s eyes widened in astonishment, never expecting Da Dangjia and Er Dangjia to appear here.
“Indeed.” Da Dangjia laughed heartily upon seeing Xie Chengze, ruffling his hair. “We originally wanted to win the top military scholar title to surprise you, nephew. We didn’t expect you to come watch the competition.”
“Are you planning to become palace officials?” Xie Chengze was greatly surprised. Back in Liaozhou, he hadn’t heard either of them mention this plan. “When did you decide this?”
“Ahem, well…” Da Dangjia coughed lightly, but Er Dangjia beside him couldn’t keep secrets, his expression teasing as he said, “It’s all because of Shen Yuan. He said you’re alone in the palace with no one to rely on, so he asked us to come support you.”
Xie Chengze was momentarily stunned.
“Although the Crown Prince treats you well, military power is better kept in your own hands.” Da Dangjia lowered his voice and muttered, “Your uncle has thought it through. Your mother only had you as her child. If you’re alone in the palace with no support and something happens to you someday, I wouldn’t dare face your mother in the afterlife!”
Xie Chengze: “…Thank you, uncle. You’re truly kind.”
“Don’t worry, these next few days your uncle will carefully select some promising candidates for you from these examinees.” Da Dangjia said proudly, “If nothing else, the most refined skill I learned from our master is bone reading and physiognomy. I can clearly tell who has exceptional natural talent suited for martial arts. I’ll definitely train you an invincible elite troop. Whenever you want to rebel mmmph—”
The rest of his words were muffled by Xie Chengze’s small hand.
Xie Chengze felt somewhat embarrassed. He didn’t understand why everyone around him was a rebel?
Was this the unique magnetic field of being a villain? Even though he was extremely upright, would he still attract rebels?
Seven days passed in a flash. The military examinations had already produced results, with Da Dangjia and Er Dangjia taking first and second place respectively. To Xie Chengze’s surprise, the lean and youthful-looking Gu Ying had unexpectedly secured third place in the military examinations.
In other words, if Da Dangjia and Er Dangjia hadn’t participated in the military examinations, Gu Ying might have been this year’s top military scholar.
But in the book, the top military scholar was the fourth-place candidate who narrowly lost to Gu Ying in the competition. This person was later secretly recruited by the Crown Prince, and the name Gu Ying was never mentioned in the text.
Where did the Gu Ying from the original book go?
Xie Chengze had no idea.
Over at the examination hall, the metropolitan examination concluded as usual. Xie Chengze didn’t know what had happened inside, but he believed that with Shen Yuan as the chief examiner, the Spring Examination would proceed without mishaps or unfairness.
Originally, he had wanted to help, but Shen Yuan said that such tasks, which easily attracted resentment, were better left to him.
Xie Chengze didn’t insist. He had grown accustomed to Shen Yuan handling these matters. Though initially, it was Xie Chengze who had schemed and held grudges, making Shen Yuan his shield, at some point, Shen Yuan had begun voluntarily acting as that shield. So much so that when court officials wanted to target Xie Chengze, their first thought was to eliminate Shen Yuan.
It vaguely gave off the vibe of “If you want to kill Xie Chengze, you’ll have to step over my corpse first.”
Thinking this, Xie Chengze quickened his pace, heading to the examination hall to pick up Shen Yuan after his invigilation and grading duties.
The civil officials responsible for grading were the first to leave. Seeing Xie Chengze waiting, they stopped to pay their respects. Xie Chengze nodded briefly and brushed past them, making his way toward the back gate of the examination hall.
As Shen Yuan exited through the rear gate reserved for officials, he spotted Xie Chengze craning his neck and peering around. He couldn’t help but lower his gaze with a faint smile and walked over.
“So? How did it go?” Xie Chengze asked eagerly. “Did you do the same as in your previous life—dramatically catch a cheating examiner and loudly demand a replacement?”
“What kind of phrasing is that?” Shen Yuan found it amusing, wondering if Xie Chengze had slipped through the cracks of royal education. He shook his head and said, “I’m afraid I’ve disappointed you, Your Highness. This time, I was much more low-key. I merely gave a warning by rapping on the table.”
Xie Chengze circled him twice, then nodded with exaggerated seriousness. “Hmm, you’ve truly matured.”
Being too sharp wasn’t necessarily a good thing. In the book, Shen Yuan at this time still acted like a recent graduate, reckless and leaving no face for the bribed civil officials, which earned him many grudges and caused him plenty of trouble later.
But now, Shen Yuan of the Niohuru clan was clearly more steady, having learned how to balance his sense of justice with the gray “etiquette” of officialdom.
“By the way, did you know? That kid Gu Ying actually came in third in the military examinations! And the original top military scholar lost to him by just one move!” Xie Chengze chattered excitedly. “But why didn’t I hear about Gu Ying in my previous life? Do you know?”
Shen Yuan slowed his pace, his gaze drifting over the gradually setting sun before settling on the young man’s face, full of confusion and curiosity. He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
All he knew was that in his previous life, the county where Gu Ying’s family lived was within the outbreak zone of a plague.
Gu Ying was a martial artist with internal energy, strong and robust. If he had left the plague area earlier, he might have survived.
But if there had been no nationwide announcement about the Yi Province flood problem, and if Bian Yangchun and the others hadn’t sought refuge with Gu Ying’s family midway, would Gu Ying have ever left the Gu family?
No one could say for sure.
He only knew that in this lifetime, the epidemic prevention measures proposed by Xie Chengze had been highly effective. The plague never broke out widely, as it was promptly contained each time.
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but reach out and ruffle Xie Chengze’s hair.
During these seven days invigilating at the examination hall, he had finally found some rare leisure time. In these suddenly idle moments, his thoughts often drifted to Xie Chengze.
He remembered the exhausted look on Xie Chengze’s face while working late into the night studying flood control methods, his small face reddened from supervising the ice sculpture construction in the cold wind, and how he would sit beside the dragon throne attentively handling court affairs. Before he knew it, he would lose himself in these thoughts, feeling something rapidly growing within him, gradually eroding his so-called principles like water dripping through stone.
Inevitably, he began comparing Xie Chengze to the increasingly unpredictable Crown Prince from the Eastern Palace. Though he knew in his heart who was more suitable to sit on the imperial throne, he still found himself developing a slight bias.
Being suitable didn’t necessarily mean it had to be.
It was merely being more appropriate, that’s all.
If only Xie Chengze were Emperor Jian’s bloodline.
Such were his thoughts.
“What’s wrong?” Xie Chengze looked up at him.
Shen Yuan gazed at the young man for a long moment before slightly opening his mouth, speaking with a tone of finality, “Are you really… not interested in becoming emperor?”
Xie Chengze: …
Oh no, does he really have some kind of villain magnetic field?
Or is this some kind of magical plot device? Forcing him to become the villain?
“Shen Yuan! Snap out of it!” Xie Chengze grabbed his face and shook it vigorously, as if trying to shake some sense into him. “Being emperor has no future! You could easily die from overwork!”
He didn’t even understand why Shen Yuan, having been reborn, would still drag him—a person from another world—into this. If he had been pulled here by the Soul Incense, could he still return to the modern world?
For Shen Yuan, this was about past and present lives, but for him, this was a world from a book. If the plot reached its conclusion, would Xie Chengze continue living, or would he die?
Xie Chengze didn’t know. So rather than sitting on the dragon throne as emperor and toiling his whole life, he preferred to travel around and see the magnificent landscapes of Jian’an.
Shen Yuan chuckled and ruffled his hair again. “You’re right. You should live a long life.”
“Of course,” Xie Chengze nodded with exaggerated seriousness. “In my previous life I only lived until… ahem, anyway, in this life I’m going to live to a hundred!”
Yet, living to a hundred in this era was hardly that simple.
And some people’s temperaments had long predetermined where their endings would lead.
One month later, the Palace Examination finally arrived.