That wretched vixen has disguised herself as my wife!

Jiang Jingming thought about it and became somewhat curious.

"It's because the news was deliberately suppressed."

Wen Fuxiao got up and personally poured wine for the two of them again.

"The city lord has now changed his surname to Song. If the news that he is actually a member of the Shun family gets out, rumors will spread, which will be a bad thing. In a few days, I will announce that the city lord has fallen seriously ill and has abdicated in favor of Xian."

"Who is the new city lord?"

"It's still unknown, but it seems likely that the Song family will choose someone else. With the Shun family, the largest power in the city, falling, only the Song family remains in power."

As Wen Fuxiao was explaining, Xie Yunqi leaned over and said:

"Isn't this your best chance to rise to power! If you become the city lord, we'll have a bigger backer!"

"Young girl, I am old now. The martial world and the imperial court belong to you young people."

Wen Fuxiao stroked his beard and laughed heartily.

"Who said that? Sixty years old is the age for striving!"

Xie Yunqi grabbed the wine glass and gulped down a large mouthful.

Looking at her carefree demeanor, Jiang Jingming felt that he should stay far away from her when she woke up the next day, otherwise he would be affected by her hangover headache and morning grumpiness.

After a moment's thought, Jiang Jingming decided not to reveal anything about the Ghost Doctor. After all, it involved Fang Zhiyi's background, and whether to tell her or not should be left to her to decide.

However, she really didn't have time to think about that right now; she was just focused on drinking.

While the clues so far have not yet cleared the Duyue Cult of suspicion, the murderer's motive has pointed to revenge, and the Gu worms and corpse demons have nothing to do with the Duyue Cult.

“Although Vice Envoy Chen has harbored selfish motives since taking on the case, now that you have helped him uncover some clues, he will likely be caught in a dilemma between justice and personal interests, and will not draw a conclusion so quickly.”

Wen Fuxiao let out a long breath and clinked glasses with Jiang Jingming again.

“You are all young and promising. Seeing the five of you makes me feel much younger, and I feel even more determined to fight against injustice in the world.”

At this point, Jiang Jingming recalled the rumors Lu Zhao had told him about him and couldn't help but ask:

"So, Master Wen, was it really because of that 'Strategy to Stop War' that you angered the emperor and were demoted?"

"Of course not."

Wen Fuxiao smiled and gave a very straightforward answer.

"That is......"

"Let bygones be bygones."

Wen Fuxiao's gaze was somewhat lost in thought, as if she were immersed in a distant memory.

Jiang Jingming nodded, wisely deciding not to press the matter further.

There are some things that no matter how curious others are, the person involved is unwilling to talk about, because every time they mention them, it's like trying to find a lost sword by marking the boat.

But Miss Xie was different; she suddenly raised her head, her gaze intense:

"I know! So you really are as they say, that you're incredibly audacious and flirted with the Emperor's concubine!"

"puff!!!"

Wen Fuxiao suffered a heart attack and almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

"I didn't believe it at first! But after seeing how lecherous you were when you watched women dance that night, I started to believe it!"

Xie Yunqi spoke with conviction and reason.

"Little Xie, tell me first, who are they? Who is spreading rumors about me?!"

Wen Fuxiao patted her chest to calm herself down, feeling that all the fright she had suffered recently was nothing compared to the shock she felt after seeing Xie Yunqi.

"Of course, they're my classmates from the Imperial Academy."

Xie Yunqi curled his lip:

"They love to gossip about these things all the time. Some say you flirted with Consort De, others say you flirted with Consort Xia..."

"A bunch of idiots! This is utter nonsense!"

Wen Fuxiao raised her arms in grief and indignation to speak out for herself:

"Xia Chang was such an arrogant and domineering woman! Anyone who dared to flirt with her would be known throughout the entire capital the next day!!!"

"Fine! So you admit you flirted with Consort De!"

Xie Yunqi slammed his fist on the table, filled with righteous indignation.

"I never expected you to be this kind of old scholar!"

"..."

Wen Fuxiao felt that the mouthful of blood she had just swallowed was about to gush out again.

"OK OK."

Jiang Jingming quickly pinned Xie Yunqi down, who was starting to act up again.

Then he quietly added fuel to the fire:

“Since Mr. Wen is unwilling to say, Miss, please don’t press him. Everyone has a secret they can’t tell—even if that secret is about flirting with the emperor’s wife.”

Chapter 123 The Study of Ups and Downs in Chaotic Times

"..."

Wen Fuxiao pinched her philtrum with difficulty, and it took her a long time to recover.

"You bunch of kids, you believe every lie you hear!"

He sighed, thought for a long time, and finally gave up.

"Looking back, that was many years ago. You like listening to stories, don't you? I haven't told one in many years either."

"Yay! Yay!!!"

Xie Yunqi picked up a wine jar with great interest and winked smugly at Jiang Jingming.

Jiang Jingming squinted at her, unsure whether the young lady was truly drunk or faking it, as she still acted with her usual shrewdness.

"Do you remember the two exquisite instruments we just talked about, the qin and the xiao? Now that we've finished talking about the xiao, let's talk about the qin."

Wen Fuxiao took a sip of wine and looked at the several young men and women who were listening attentively with burning eyes. He suddenly felt as if he had returned to the age when he was the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, and he stroked his beard and laughed.

"What Chief Lu said earlier is correct. Qin Jue was indeed a deceased musician in the palace, but her identity is a secret involving the past events of the previous dynasty."

He lowered his voice mysteriously as he said this.

Xie Yunqi listened intently and quickly pressed for an answer:

"The previous dynasty? Was it before the current emperor ascended the throne?"

"Yes."

Wen Fuxiao nodded:

"This happened when the late emperor was still alive."

"That was a really, really, really long time ago."

Xie Yunqi blinked and couldn't help but sigh.

The young lady felt that the current emperor was already an old man, and if the late emperor were still alive, he would probably be even older than Master Wen.

"When we were kids, we listened to storytellers on the roadside, and most of the stories were about how the late emperor conquered all sides and unified the continent. I only know that the late emperor was unparalleled in both literary and military prowess. But what kind of person was the scholar himself?"

Lu Zhao placed his hands on his knees, his curiosity tinged with eagerness.

"The late emperor..."

Wen Fuxiao held her wine glass, closed her eyes, and after a long while spoke:

"The late emperor was indeed a legendary figure, a true dragon emperor. Everyone who met him believed it without a doubt. His majesty and domineering aura seemed to be innate."

"I see."

Jiang Jingming listened attentively and got up to pour another round of wine for everyone.

"Legend has it that there was once an assassin in the palace who lay in wait for several days. Finally, one day, the late emperor was alone in the Hall of Mental Cultivation reviewing memorials. He quietly crept out of the shadows and saw the emperor dozing off with his head propped up on his hand. He was overjoyed. Just as he was about to stab him with his dagger, the late emperor suddenly opened his eyes. His majesty was as if a real dragon had come back to life. The assassin was immediately terrified and was captured dead."

When Wen Fuxiao told this story, he sounded like a storyteller on the street, with a rhythmic and varied tone.

"I've never heard of this before!"

Lu Zhao was both impressed and somewhat surprised.

He was a great lover of listening to stories. Even after entering officialdom, unlike his colleagues who frequented brothels and listened to music, he still preferred to go to teahouses to listen to storytelling and Suzhou ballad singing.

"After all, the new emperor has ascended the throne, and naturally he will not like to be overshadowed by his father for the rest of his life."

Wen Fuxiao took a sip of wine and said calmly.

Lu Zhao remained silent upon hearing this.

Jiang Jingming propped his chin up, thinking that the relationship between an emperor and his princes was probably more complicated than that between ordinary fathers and sons, a fact proven throughout history.

"The reason I'm saying all this is because I'm going to mention another person next, my mortal enemy."

Wen Fuxiao raised his wine glass and gazed at the bright moon that was gradually rising outside the building.

When Jiang Jingming heard him say that, his eyes lit up.

Master Wen's archenemy must be Master Han.

I never imagined that after being his student for ten years, I would now have to hear about his past from other people.

"You've all traveled the martial world, and most of you have probably heard his stories. Things like his drunken singing, reciting poetry under the moon and drawing crowds to the streets, and so on."

Wen Fuxiao snorted coldly and narrowed her eyes:

"Actually, they're not that amazing. It's just that storytellers always pick these unconventional characters to talk about! As if those who are upright and serve the country and its people are somehow inferior to them!!!"

"Stop, stop, stop! Just tell a story, don't use it as an opportunity to vent your jealousy, okay?"

Xie Yunqi promptly interrupted Wen Fuxiao's lingering dissatisfaction with this mortal enemy, which had remained unchanged for ten years.

Wen Fuxiao coughed to cover her embarrassment and continued to the main topic:

"Back then, I became famous at a young age and considered myself the most talented person in the world. I was quite arrogant and unruly. However, whether it was my friends in the academy or the people of the capital, although they respected me, they always regarded someone else as superior to me, saying that there is always someone better."

"Of course I was not convinced! So I became the top scholar in the civil service examination that year, entered the Hanlin Academy, compiled and organized ancient books on my own, discussed the state of the world with the late emperor, and earned the title of 'learned throughout the past and present'."

"Even so, I still know that in everyone's eyes I am only second. For a young man with lofty ambitions, such a blow is enough to shatter one's moral compass."

"So, I was obsessed with finding that person, and all I could think about was challenging him to a duel."

Wen Fuxiao sighed softly as she finished speaking.

"But when I actually met him, I realized that the cruelest thing was not that everyone in the world thought he was better than me, but that even I myself thought so."

"Is he really that powerful? We only know his name as Shouhanke, what is his real name?"

Xie Yunqi remembered the precious landscape painting his father had collected and couldn't help but ask further.

"This man's name is Han Baisong. But pine and cypress trees are known for their steadfast and aloof nature, which is completely at odds with his own character!"

Wen Fuxiao snorted again as she finished speaking, her tone clearly tinged with personal prejudice.

Although he had been prepared, Jiang Jingming was still taken aback when he heard Master Han's name from him.

The clear wine in the glass reflected the moonlight, rippling gently.

Xie Yunqi glared and retorted:

"Hey! You old man, can't you maintain a neutral stance when you're telling stories?"

"Good good."

Wen Fuxiao stroked his beard, trying to compose himself.

Mentioning this arch-enemy makes him seem like he's transformed back into that arrogant, self-important young man, determined to rise to the top and intolerant of anyone standing in his way.

"Back then, the ways for students in the capital to compete and distinguish themselves were nothing more than composing poems with rhyming restrictions, discussing books and paintings, questioning each other on the meaning of classics, and playing chess."

"Yes, that's true now too."

Lu Zhao had witnessed many battles between scholars, and they all used the same tactics.