Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 104 Some are happy, some are sad (Seeking guaranteed monthly votes)
Upon hearing this, a look of surprise flashed in Wang Xi's eyes, as if he was quite taken aback. Huangfu Sengnian, who was beside him, also cast a questioning glance at him. Wang Xi frowned and simply shook his head slightly, indicating that he didn't know what was going on either.

They could only stand there, helpless.

As for Li Qiao, don't count on him; he's currently filled with the joy of surviving a calamity.

He was already very satisfied with this result.

At the same time, Yuwen Rong and many ministers breathed a sigh of relief. Yuwen Rong also secretly glanced at Zhang Shuo and saw that Zhang Shuo's face was full of disappointment. A cold smile appeared on his lips. He thought to himself, "This old man Zhang is really insidious. If I have the chance in the future, I will definitely pay him back tenfold!"
Overall, however, the ministers were not keen for Li Longji to rely more heavily on his maternal relatives and members of the imperial clan.

Of course, the most disappointed person was Wang Xi. This last step was stopped. He thought to himself, "It seems that Li Longji's fear of his maternal relatives is much greater than I imagined!"
"All right."

Li Longji suddenly said to Tao Mo, "Sir, this storytelling is unique and very exciting. Of course, the story itself is even more wonderful. I will reward you handsomely. And you young men, you will all receive a reward. Haha."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Having said that, he told them to leave.

After they left, Li Longji said to his ministers, "Now that we've finished discussing the important matters, let's take this opportunity to discuss the novel. We left a question unanswered earlier: what are your thoughts on Xue Baochai and Lin Daiyu?"

Now that things have come to this, there's no need for him to hide his love for Dream of the Red Chamber anymore.

Zhang Jiazhen spoke first: "Xue Baochai is dignified and virtuous, knows the big picture, is shrewd and capable, and has the demeanor of a great lady. She is admired by women of our dynasty."

Yuan Qianyao nodded and said, "My wife also likes Xue Baochai very much."

Jiang Jiao laughed and said, "Women like Xue Baochai, but most men prefer Lin Daiyu."

Zhang Jiazhen said, "Doctor Jiang is mistaken. I also prefer Xue Baochai."

Jiang Jiao chuckled and said, "Although that's what Master Zhang said, if it really came down to it, he would most likely still choose Lin Daiyu. Xue Baochai has a womanly charm, while Lin Daiyu has a girlish heart."

Li Longji laughed heartily and said, "What a wonderful womanly charm, what a daughterly sentiment! Wonderful, wonderful! That's exactly what I thought too."

Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai – this is an eternal topic.

In fact, these civil officials also had restless hearts. Now that they were speaking frankly, they all changed their tune and supported Dream of the Red Chamber. They no longer needed to hold back and started chatting enthusiastically.

It was as if nothing had happened.

Everyone was having a great time.

This topic was brought up by Li Longji himself, which shows that despite the rivalry, he didn't want to damage the harmony, because the empire was currently preparing to overcome its most difficult hurdle, namely land annexation, and unity in the court was very necessary.

Li Longji can still distinguish between what is more important and what is less important.

……

The emperor and his ministers enjoyed a harmonious relationship, but among Wang Xi and his entourage, a sense of dejection permeated the atmosphere.

"Did we just work for nothing?" Standing in front of the imperial city gate, Li Jieman held several rolls of silk, his tone full of frustration.

Just when success seemed imminent, the emperor intervened and stopped it at the last minute.

All I can say is that life's ups and downs are incredibly exciting.

Wang Xi said, "It's not a complete failure. At least it proves that His Majesty really likes Dream of the Red Chamber. So next time we won't talk about it, let's keep him waiting."

Huangfu Sengnian couldn't help but laugh and said, "Do you dare?"

“Why wouldn’t I dare?” Wang Xi sneered. “If you piss me off, next time I’ll make Cao Cao tease the Two Qiaos.”

Li Jie nodded vigorously and said, "This is good, I like it."

Wang Shuang asked curiously, "Who are the Two Qiaos?"

"His wife."

After saying that, Wang Xi paused for a moment, then shook his head and said, "That won't do. Perhaps His Majesty would prefer to see it."

"???"

All three of them looked at Wang Xi with strange expressions.

Huangfu Sengnian suddenly said, "Actually, it's too early to talk about failure. At least His Majesty didn't refuse, but said he would consider it."

"The question now is, what exactly is His Majesty considering? This is very important."

Wang Xi narrowed his eyes. He was trying to gain a lot with a small investment, and even if he suffered a setback, it wouldn't be enough to make him lose his fighting spirit. After all, he hadn't lost anything. But judging from the situation at the time, Li Longji was clearly going to take Li Qiao's advice. Was it Wang Shouyi who made Li Longji suspicious, or the Wang family? This point was especially important.

Suddenly a carriage pulled up in front of them, and Linghu Baodi poked her head out. "Brother Que, I'm going back now."

Wang Xi was taken aback. "You went back already?"

Wang Shuang quickly said, "Aren't we going to celebrate?"

Linghu Baodi said, "I have something to attend to, so I'll head back first. We'll celebrate tomorrow."

Not long after he left, Cui Gu'er and Xue Jun's carriages also slipped away.

Wang Xi asked in bewilderment, "What are they rushing off to?"

“I think they’re in a hurry to go home and claim credit,” Huangfu Sengnian said.

Wang Xi suddenly realized that although it wasn't a success for them, it was a great success for Linghu Baodi and Xue Jun. They had to go to their parents to claim credit as soon as possible. He sighed and said, "Alright, the heroes have all left, so let's call it a day. You guys go back first, and I'll take Lao Tao and Qin'er back to the academy on my way."

"Row."

The group then boarded their respective carriages.

After walking for a while, Wang Shuang suddenly said, "By the way, is Brother Que going the same way?"

Li Jieman was suddenly startled. "Oh no! That fellow wants to have a private meeting with Hongxiu. Shuang-ge'er, hurry back, we can't let him succeed."

Huangfu Sengnian said, "What do you mean by 'alone meeting'? Old Tao and Qin'er were both there. Old Tao was sitting in Que Ge'er's carriage at the time. Even if it wasn't on his way, he would have to give him a ride!"

……

At this moment, Hongxiu was anxiously waiting at the academy.

Upon seeing them return, they immediately came out to greet them, "Sir, how did it go? Why are only a few of you back?"

Wang Xi smiled and said, "Teacher, please rest assured, everything went smoothly. His Majesty even gave us a generous reward. They just went home first." Hongxiu immediately breathed a sigh of relief, "Good, good, that puts my mind at ease."

"Teacher, don't you know who taught us? It's nothing." Wang Xi chuckled.

Hongxiu gave him a reproachful look.

Tao Mo coughed, "But there are a few things that weren't done very well. I've already spoken to Xiao Que. You can discuss it. I'm tired and need to go back to my room to rest."

"Sir, walk slowly."

Wang Xi bowed respectfully, but out of the corner of his eye, he secretly gave Tao Mo an approving look.

After Tao Mo left, Wang Xi said, "Teacher, I suppose you haven't had lunch either. Why don't we eat and chat at the same time?"

Hongxiu smiled and said, "Don't be in such a hurry. You must be exhausted. Let's eat first and then talk."

"Okay!"

A quarter of an hour later.

Tao Mo stared blankly at Wang Xi as she pushed the door open and entered.

Wang Xi said dejectedly, "The teacher asked me to bring the food over and have a meal with the teacher. She has Qin'er to keep her company."

Tao Mo said awkwardly, "Then young master..."

Wang Xi said, "Eat, what else can we do? Damn it, I should have gone home. Sigh, I'm not doing well in officialdom, and I'm not doing well in love either. It's really frustrating!"

……

Xue Mansion.

"This...this was a gift from His Majesty?"

Holding the rolls of silk, Xue's mother spoke with tears in her eyes.

Xue Jun said, "How could this be false, Mother? You didn't see how engrossed His Majesty was just now, and he praised me highly."

"My son is truly sensible." Then, Xue's mother said to Xue Maozong, "Husband, it was truly worth it for you to go to such lengths to send Jun'er to Wuming Academy. You really made the right choice this time."

Xue Maozong said smugly, "Of course! I thought to myself, even Wang Xiaoque can paint a portrait for His Majesty, how could my son be any worse than him?"

As he spoke, he patted Xue Jun on the shoulder again, "Good lad, you haven't disappointed your father."

Xue Jun chuckled.

Mother Xue excitedly grabbed Xue Jun's hand again, "My son, quickly... quickly tell your mother what happened back then."

……

Wang family.

"Shuang'er, why are you so hungry?"

“Mother, you don’t know, I was standing on the side watching His Majesty eat with those uncles and elders, and I got sick.”

"That Sanlang is really something, is the palace so short of these two pieces of meat?" Wang Maozhong snorted.

The Queen Mother glanced at her husband and said, "Don't talk nonsense."

She then said to Wang Shuang, "Shuang'er, why don't you give a performance? You're the senior brother!"

Wang Shuang said, "None of us four senior brothers are performing. We are the ones in charge of overall coordination. Arranging the performances and helping them train are all things that we four senior brothers are busy with."

Wang Maozhong nodded and said, "That's how it should be. That's how a senior brother should be."

The Wang family and the Xue family have completely different attitudes.

The Xue family, being nobles, didn't care about their son performing on stage. They thought, "If my son stands on stage, does that mean he's no longer a noble family?" On the contrary, Wang Maozhong's family, being servants, cared more about this.

……

Wu family.

"They are really delusional. His Majesty has been restraining the imperial family and their relatives all these years. To think they can get this job just by playing a play is just wishful thinking."

Wu Xin snorted.

Little did anyone know that before Yuwen Rong arrived, he was in a state of panic. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that His Majesty had not agreed to let Wang Shouyi manage the matter of the return of hidden households to their place of residence.

Yuwen Rong said, "Master Wu, don't be too happy yet!"

Wu Xin asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Yuwen Rong said, "His Majesty only said he would consider it, and did not explicitly refuse. The only certainty is that His Majesty is extremely interested in Dream of the Red Chamber."

Based on this alone, the Nameless Academy will be unshakeable.

Wu Xin frowned and asked, "Brother Yuwen, do you have a solution?"

Yuwen Rong said, "Master Wu, you should be more knowledgeable than me about matters of the academy."

He came to find Wu Xin because he wanted to use Wu Xin to deal with Wuming Academy. He was very ambitious and didn't just want to be Wu Xin's pawn. He also wanted to use the Wu family.

……

After the banquet ended, Li Qiao rushed to the Prince's Mansion as soon as possible.

Wang Shouyi remained silent after hearing this.

But Li Qiao understood Wang Shouyi's feelings. "I risked my life for you back then, and now you won't even give me such a small position."

Li Qiao comforted him, saying, "Brother, this matter may seem small, but if there is even the slightest mistake, it will affect the overall situation. It is only right that His Majesty considers it carefully."

Wang Shouyi said, "I understand, I understand. I don't really want to do this job either. Come on, have a couple of drinks with me."

(End of this chapter)