Prime Minister.

Chapter 73, Section 072: The Poor Scholar

The flower hall was warm as springtime, but the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.

Jiang Li had always felt that the power of words was far less than that of actions, but after listening to Xue Huai's analysis, her heart began to waver.

She never considered herself a good person; walking alone in the dark, one must learn to give up some principles.

This is the origin of the saying in the capital that she has a strange and arrogant personality. Others do not understand the reasons for her doing certain things, but only she knows that everything requires choices and sacrifices. The key is whether it can help her plan for the future.

For example, she occasionally took action against the sons of powerful and wealthy families, relying on the emperor's favor and the princes' protection. This did not mean that she hated evil, but simply because she needed to build her own network of connections.

She thought she had cultivated an iron will, but unexpectedly, Xue Huai's earnest statement almost broke through her defenses.

The two remained silent, and a silence began to spread between them.

After a moment, Jiang Li forced herself to calm down and slowly said, "Xue Huai, this matter concerns whether we can cooperate smoothly in the future."

Xue Huai said, "Please give your instructions, Your Highness."

"Actually, the Crown Prince also intended to test me this time. If you refuse me outright, then I won't be able to openly help you in the future. After all, I can't lose face as a princess of the imperial family. Being rejected by you and still trying to curry favor with you would be completely inconsistent with my past personality."

Jiang Li sighed softly, then said sadly, "But what you said makes sense. We can't change other people, but at least we can take care of ourselves."

Xue Huai's intuition told him that the girl's emotions at the moment were half genuine and half feigned.

She was definitely moved, but not to the point of being so sentimental and fragile.

"Your Highness, I never said I refused you."

Upon hearing Xue Huai's words, Jiang Li looked at him in surprise and asked, "But what you just did..."

"Actually, Your Highness is overcomplicating things."

Xue Huai smiled and said, "Although Your Highness cannot refuse the Crown Prince's request, the decision on this matter is in my hands. Everyone knows that I, Xue Huai, am like a rock in a latrine, stubborn and unyielding, and once I've made up my mind, not even eight oxen can pull me back."

Jiang Li's somewhat heavy mood eased considerably because of his self-deprecation, so she glared at him lightly and said, "Then what do you want to do?"

Xue Huai calmly replied, “It’s very simple. Your Highness can tell the Crown Prince that you have done your best in this matter. However, Xue Huai is stubborn and unwilling to budge. After Your Highness’s repeated persuasion, and considering the great favor Your Highness has done for Xue Huai, he finally agreed, but on one condition. During the spring examination, he will do his best to maintain fairness. If the essays of those five candidates meet the standards, he will recommend their answers to the chief examiner. If the essays of these five candidates are completely incomprehensible or have many flaws, he will absolutely not show favoritism.”

The Crown Prince isn't stupid, and he's unlikely to be satisfied with this ambiguous response. However, Xue Huai won't deliberately cater to his feelings—after all, on the surface, it was Jiang Li who asked him for a favor, and the Crown Prince had nothing to do with it; he didn't even know the Crown Prince existed.

In short, as long as Jiang Li can give an explanation to the Crown Prince and it doesn't affect her future cooperation with Xue Huai, this matter can be considered settled.

Jiang Li thought about it carefully for a while, then nodded and said, "Alright, let's do it your way."

A slight ripple stirred in Xue Huai's heart. The princess's attitude towards him seemed to be getting more and more amiable, and the aloofness and arrogance he felt when they first met seemed like a false memory.

He put aside his reverie and said, "There is one more thing I would like to discuss with Your Highness."

Jiang Li picked up her teacup, took a small sip, and a faint smile appeared on her face: "Go ahead."

"His Highness just said that our cooperation will last a long time, and it is necessary to be frank with each other, so I will no longer hold back."

Xue Huai softened his tone and continued, "I know that Your Highness sent people to follow me to protect me and prevent me from falling into the water for no reason again, but... Your Highness, this means that I have almost no privacy in front of you. As a result, no matter where I go now, I always subconsciously look around to see if there are any people Your Highness has arranged. Over time, I will inevitably develop a suspicious nature."

Nobody likes being watched all the time.

At first, Xue Huai did not object to her doing so, but several subsequent events made him feel increasingly awkward. For example, he had just sent Shen Qingluan back to her residence when he ran into the people sent by Jiang Li.

He knew that since he had chosen to accept Jiang Li's protection, being monitored was unavoidable, but he found it hard to accept Jiang Li further interfering with and controlling his life.

If Jiang Li's people were merely observing him from the shadows and periodically relaying his whereabouts back, and if Jiang Li pretended to know nothing, Xue Huai might be able to tolerate it—although this was self-deception, at least he wouldn't have to worry about Jiang Li suddenly bursting out at any moment and rudely interfering in his world.

Jiang Li frowned slightly and said, "You want me to withdraw my people?"

"Your Highness, please hear me out," Xue Huai said earnestly. "I would like to borrow someone from Your Highness. From now on, he will be responsible for protecting me. He will not have to hide and can openly follow me. What does Your Highness think?"

The implication was that he could accept this person regularly reporting his whereabouts to Jiang Li.

Since we're going to be watched anyway, we might as well expose this person to the light of day.

Jiang Li pondered for a moment and said, "This is not impossible. Let me think about it and decide who would be most suitable to accompany you."

Xue Huai seized the opportunity and said, "What about Jiang Sheng? He was the one who jumped into the water to save me without hesitation, which is enough to prove that he is loyal and righteous. Secondly, he should just be an ordinary guard in this villa, not a guard registered in the princess's mansion. Even if he leaves, he will not attract attention."

Jiang Li didn't hesitate for long. She smiled slightly and said, "You've thought of everything very carefully. I'll have Su Erniang make the arrangements so that Jiang Sheng can go to the Xue family to work as soon as possible. By the way, since I've agreed to so many of your requests today, you have to agree to one thing for me too."

Xue Huai adopted an attitude of listening attentively.

Jiang Li said leisurely, "Before you leave the capital, you must give me a poem. It can't be 'Bu Suanzi' about plum blossoms, nor can it be a poem you wrote before. It must be a new one you wrote, and it can't be too much worse than the original poem about plum blossoms." Xue Huai was slightly surprised.

He gazed into Jiang Li's bright eyes; the request sounded a little strange.

In his view, exchanging poems between young men and women in this era is a very ambiguous act, even more formal than love letters in his previous life.

Seeing this, Jiang Li coughed twice and said seriously, "Don't misunderstand. My father and mother loved fine poetry when they were alive. I just wanted to use your talent to comfort their spirits in heaven."

It turned out to be the case.

Xue Huai said with relief, "If Your Highness has given the order, I will do my best."

After he took his leave, Jiang Li walked to the corridor and looked at the few scattered green spots in the corner of the courtyard, her thoughts racing.

I wonder what kind of words that guy will write?

In short, it must not be too much worse than the poem about plum blossoms.

Jiang Li pursed her lips, the name of a certain head of a Qu family flashed through her mind, and then she gave a self-deprecating laugh and muttered to herself.

"Jiang Li, Jiang Li, you're another year older now. How can you waste your energy on such trivial matters?"

……

South of the city, Yangzhou Guild Hall.

Under the strange gaze of the servants, a scholar nearing thirty calmly dug a roasted sweet potato from the charcoal ash in the kitchen stove, then came to the table and slowly ate the sweet potato and a bowl of coarse rice with donkey meat soup and offal.

This is his lunch.

The servant couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Since ancient times, I've only ever heard of poor scholars, never poor candidates for the imperial examinations."

The scholar from Jiangnan in front of us is clearly a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial civil service examination) and will be participating in the spring imperial examination in two months. However, he always dresses poorly and is extremely stingy with his food, clothing, and lodging. He is far less generous to the other Juren who are preparing for the exam than to them, who are very generous to the servants and often give them a hundred or two coins.

Whether it was due to his strong mind or his innate dullness, the scholar seemed completely oblivious to the contempt of the servants.

He was thin and tall, with a yellowish-gray complexion, slightly protruding cheekbones, and bluish under-eyes. This was due to long hours of staying up late copying books to prepare for exams, coupled with insufficient nutrition.

His indigo cotton robe had faded from washing, and the elbows were worn thin and white. Fortunately, he was wearing something thick enough underneath to keep him warm in the winter chill of the capital.

Faced with the simple meal on the table, the scholar ate very carefully, afraid of wasting a single grain of rice, and he ate the sweet potato clean.

A moment later, the scholar got up and washed the bowls and chopsticks.

The servant couldn't help but sneer at the sight, wondering if this poor scholar was impersonating someone else. How could there be such a poor and stingy scholar in the world?
However, he knew that only those who had passed the imperial examinations could stay at the Yangzhou Guild Hall, so although he harbored resentment, he dared not speak out against it.

The scholar took the washed bowls and chopsticks back to his room and put them away. He then took out a document from his bag, carefully put it into his satchel, closed the door, and left the Yangzhou Guild Hall, which was specially designed to take care of fellow scholars from his hometown.

During the first month of the lunar calendar, the capital city was bustling with activity. Brothels and taverns were packed with guests, and the sounds of string and wind instruments could be heard along the streets.

The scholar, however, seemed to be able to shut out the noise and continued westward with steady steps.

Upon entering Dayongfang, the surroundings gradually quieted down.

Before long, the scholar arrived at the gate of a mansion. He stopped and looked up at the plaque on the gate tower.

Xue Mansion.

The doorman, Ajiu, who was in charge of entertaining guests, also noticed this young yet weathered scholar. He subconsciously assumed that he was like the others from years ago, all seeking an audience with his young master to discuss poetry. So he stepped forward and asked, "May I ask what brings you here, sir?"

The scholar spoke slowly, his voice upright and solemn: "Please announce that Xie Jingyun, a candidate for the imperial examination in Yangzhou, has come to submit his examination paper to Reader Xue."

Ajiu was taken aback.

He truly hadn't realized that this somewhat down-on-his-luck scholar was actually a candidate for the imperial examination, and had come here specifically to submit his paper.

Just then, a carriage slowly drove up and stopped not far behind Xie Jingyun.

The carriage curtain was lifted, revealing Xue Huai's calm and composed face.

……

……

(Three chapters today, guaranteed minimum plus 1 bonus chapter. Originally owed 12 chapters, now owed 11.)
(End of this chapter)