Work overtime

Chapter 693

Li Beichen didn’t have so many thoughts, he just missed her after not seeing her for a long time.

After arriving, he ate, chatted, and played Go as usual. He shared information about the previous dynasty with Jiang Yuebai, asked Jiang Yuebai for his opinion, and discussed deeply hidden things and future plans together.

Like superiors and subordinates, like friends, and also like an old couple who have been together for many years.

What was different from usual was that this time Li Beichen kept his distance from her the whole time, with almost no physical contact, and even somewhat avoided contact.

Jiang Yuebai felt a little longing and lost, but when she thought about how Li Beichen had been flirting with Concubine An these days and even summoned Concubine An to sleep with him, she felt disgusted again.

The topic inevitably fell on Meng Xiang. The two of them agreed that the matter was very strange, but they could not see through Meng Xiang's real intention. After all, it made sense on the surface: worried that the emperor would be suspicious and settle accounts later, it would be better to hand over power in advance to save his reputation, family life and his son's career.

But both of them thought it could be that simple.

"Could it be related to Chanjuan's return home?"

Li Beichen also had suspicions in this regard and investigated the people in the Meng Mansion.

"It's possible. I heard that after Chanjuan returned home, she had an emotional entanglement with Meng Xiang. Meng Xiang wanted to take Chanjuan in, but was rejected."

Jiang Yuebai was even more confused after hearing this, "Is it like this? I heard that Chanjuan tried to seduce Meng Xiang but failed, which made Meng Xiang furious."

"Even if there is an emotional entanglement, it won't turn your hair white overnight," Li Beichen was puzzled. "From a common sense point of view, turning your hair white overnight will only happen when you are extremely worried and afraid."

"Maybe he's really afraid that you'll find a reason to execute his entire family. Isn't that what happened with the Lan Yu case back then?"

Li Beichen smiled helplessly. That's right, there are indeed many such things in history. The emperor would kill the donkey after it has done its job, and when the situation stabilized, he would get rid of all the capable ministers to ensure the centralization and unification of the imperial power and prevent it from being overthrown.

He did have such thoughts in his heart. He relied on the Meng family and the Xie family, but he also feared them.

Jiang Yuebai then asked, "Your Majesty, have you shown any suspicion towards Prime Minister Meng recently?"

Li Beichen was unsure for a moment. He thought there might be a reason. "Maybe. But Prime Minister Meng himself is suspicious, so he thinks everything I do is suspicious. I was irritable a few days ago and beat Meng Qing with a stick. I wonder if this has anything to do with it."

Jiang Yuebai thought for a moment, "Have you told Minister Meng about Annan's matter? What is Minister Meng's attitude?"

Li Beichen pondered for a moment and replied, "Prime Minister Meng has always been tough and has always been in favor of war. Before I even mentioned my thoughts on the Annan issue, he advocated sending people to escort the Prince of Chen back to the country and raising an army to conquer Annan in the name of eliminating opposition forces. This was Prime Minister Meng's foreign policy when the previous emperor was alive, and it has not changed much from before."

At this point, Li Beichen reacted immediately and said slowly, "When the late emperor was alive, there was unrest in the southwest, and small chieftains in various places rebelled. Prime Minister Meng strongly advocated sending troops to suppress it by force, and the late emperor happened to be a war advocate. So they hit it off. The person sent happened to be Meng Xiang's confidant Tian Jin, the general who conquered the south. The Baili priestess was offered by Tian Jin."

With this thought, the whole story becomes clear.

Having said this, Li Beichen couldn't continue.

Because the people behind are truly beastly in behavior.

In order to protect her people, the priestess agreed to enter the palace. However, Tian Jin took advantage of the other party's laxity and massacred the village. That night, no one, young or old, was left alive in the village. The priestess was only twelve years old that year.

Li Beichen lowered his eyes in silence, feeling a little uncomfortable. In his heart, his father was a great hero who stood tall and fought bravely.

Jiang Yuebai did not notice his change, immersed in the reasoning behind the hidden story, she was almost certain that the Baili tribe had attacked Meng Xiang. She tried to analyze:
"That makes sense. Meng Xiang was also a participant in the Baili tragedy. He must have been targeted by the Baili descendants. And that person found Meng Xiang's weakness. He is probably trying to instigate him to rebel. Or, he told Meng Xiang that Concubine Zhen was poisoned by the cold."

Li Beichen agreed with Jiang Yuebai's analysis, but he was puzzled. "If you want to rebel, why do you have to resign? If you have already resigned, why would you rebel?"

Jiang Yuebai's mind was a little confused at this moment, and he couldn't figure it out for a while, "Maybe he was also poisoned?"

Li Beichen shook his head. "Jiang Yu went to see him. Prime Minister Meng's temperature was normal, and he had no symptoms of cold poison. Neither did anyone else in the Meng Mansion."

Jiang Yuebai's mind was full of ideas. "Maybe he knew the secret that you were poisoned, and was afraid that you would kill him to silence him, so he took the initiative to resign?"

Li Beichen placed a black piece on the chessboard, "That's possible."

Jiang Yuebai's thoughts were in a mess, and he was holding the white piece, not knowing where to put it.

Seeing Jiang Yuebai's frown, Li Beichen couldn't help laughing, "Hahaha, I finally stumped you today. Why don't you admit defeat quickly?"

Jiang Yuebai smiled and put down the chess piece casually, "I will never admit defeat."

He raised his eyes and looked at Li Beichen, with a provocative smile in his face.

Li Beichen had been trying his best to suppress his "hunger" for Jiang Yuebai's kisses and hugs. Jiang Yuebai's unruly appearance instantly aroused his desire and his throat became dry.

He looked away and tried to look at the top of her head, but his eyes involuntarily fell on her lips.

"now you."

Jiang Yuebai didn't notice Li Beichen's sudden change and urged him excitedly.

Li Beichen suddenly had the urge to push her down, press her to the ground and kiss her.

This desire is so strong that even I find it incredible.

The woman in front of him was completely oblivious to his eagerness and was only thinking about winning him over.

Li Beichen glared at Jiang Yuebai angrily and placed a move in a bad mood.

"Haha..." Jiang Yuebai sneered coldly, "If I bet here, I will win."

Li Beichen studied the chessboard and it was true. As long as he made this move, Jiang Yuebai would win. He helplessly held the black piece in his hand and looked at Jiang Yuebai unconvinced.

"Did you learn Go at home before and deliberately conceal your strength? Or did the system give you a cheat? Otherwise, how could you become so good in just two or three months? This is too outrageous."

Jiang Yuebai didn't say anything.

It always feels weird to talk about the system openly, like discussing personal privacy or sharing learning secrets, which is so embarrassing.

Li Beichen thought Jiang Yuebai was right, and said with a smile, "It seems like you are cheating."

When talking about that crappy system, Jiang Yuebai couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Compared to other systems, this system is a complete rip-off.

According to the current situation, she couldn't even leave the Novice Village, and she still had to complete the task of driving a 108-style car. Now that it was like this, how could she fight the Emperor with a 108-style car?

I am really worried to death.

Li Beichen asked excitedly, "Did I get it right? Can the system give you superpowers?"

Jiang Yuebai curled his lips, "If involution is considered a superpower."

"What do you mean?" Li Beichen actually always wanted to ask Jiang Yuebai what her system could do.

Most importantly, can you research the antidote for the poison?

Jiang Yuebai felt that there was no need to hide this aspect. "The system provides various courses, including AI Go courses. How well you can learn depends on your efforts."

"Then what level are you at now?"

"I don't know. I just finished the advanced course. Then I played against the AI ​​every day. I don't know what level it is."

Jiang Yuebai didn't tell the truth because she was too lazy to explain more about the system.

According to the system classification, she is now at the doctoral level, and there are also postdoctoral fellows, lecturers, associate professors, full professors, academicians, and grandmasters.

He is still far from being a top Go player in the universe, but he should be able to enter the top 20 in the Ming Dynasty.

"I see."

Li Beichen was very disappointed when he heard it, because it turned out to be an upgraded version of the MOOC system.

Holding on to a glimmer of hope, he asked, "Does the system offer medical courses? Can you research how to cure the cold poison?"

Jiang Yuebai shook his head, lying without changing his expression, "No. This is a palace fighting system. The system only provides some talent courses, such as Go, dance, swordsmanship, etc."

She thought to herself, what the emperor said is a good idea. Since he can buy Go courses at a high price, he can definitely buy medical courses at a high price. But is Gu poison considered medicine or witchcraft?

Li Beichen was puzzled. "Doesn't palace fighting often involve the use of poison? Why aren't there any courses on the use of poison and detoxification?"

Jiang Yuebai thought for a moment and made up a story, "This is an advanced course. You have to become a queen to unlock it. I'm not at the right level now."

Of course, she had some ulterior motives when she said this. It would be foolish not to seize such a good opportunity for promotion.

Li Beichen laughed out loud after hearing this, "It seems that learning how to poison is a compulsory course for the queen."

But when he thought of the deceased queen, he couldn't laugh because Xie Kewei had really poisoned him, and not just once.

The atmosphere was a little tense for a while.

Li Beichen tried his best not to think about the past. He grabbed Jiang Yuebai's hand and interlocked their fingers:

"Don't worry. I promised you that I would marry you as my queen. We have to do this step by step. I was just talking about the poison. The doctors are all trying to find a solution. You are an amateur and it is too late for you to learn and apply it on the spot. Don't worry about it. It is more important to take care of your health."

Jiang Yuebai was overwhelmed with emotions, with a dull pain in her heart and tears welling up in her eyes. She wanted to say something, but in the end she didn't.

People are all made of flesh and blood. It would be a lie to say that I am not moved.

At this moment, Jiang Yuebai had a flash of inspiration and vaguely guessed Meng Xiang's plan. Could it be that Meng Xiang knew that the antidote required the heart of a loved one, and was planning to make his own heart into medicine to save his daughter and grandson?
She was stunned for a moment and didn't know how to tell Li Beichen about this.

Li Beichen's eyes were gentle and affectionate. He loosened his interlocked hands and touched Jiang Yuebai's bulging belly, "Are the babies moving?"

Seeing Jiang Yuebai's dazed look, he thought she was still thinking about studying medical courses. He couldn't help but blame himself for saying things without thinking and talking nonsense.

Medicine is the most difficult subject to learn. Modern schools require eight years of study to graduate. In ancient times, Chinese medicine was inherited from aristocratic families. It took many years of practice to achieve success, starting from elementary school.

Doctor Jiang said that he only had six or seven months of lucidity left. Even if Jiang Yuebai was a genius, it was impossible for him to learn to make medicine in such a short time.

"What's wrong? Stop imagining it."

Jiang Yuebai put her hand on the back of Li Beichen's hand. The biting coldness came from her fingertips and reached her heart in an instant.

She said in a very firm voice, "The books in the library are so vast that even Imperial Doctor Jiang, no matter how knowledgeable he is, may not have read all of them. Maybe there is a solution to the cold poison in them. I want to give it a try."

Li Beichen stood up and hugged Jiang Yuebai, shedding tears where she couldn't see.