Chapter 294

After Tangtang agreed, Xu Ran went for Lu Qi. Since their domicile place was not registered in Yanzhou, Tangtang had to ask the Yanzhou government to issue an identity certificate if he wanted to take the autumn imperial examination. Fortunately, their connection to King Yan made everything easier, so Xu Ran asked Lu Qi to get this done.

On September 12th, it was neither hot nor cold, which was perfect for the exam.

The winter of Yanzhou seemed to be late this year. It was already September but they still hadn’t put on coats yet.

The exam had lasted for three days as usual, and the exam subjects were still the same as the ones Xu Ran had done years ago. The only difference was the exam questions.

The exam had taken Tangtang three days, while Xu Ran had also waited outside for three days. When the exam was over and Tangtang finally got home, he was greeted with a fancy dinner.

That warm scene made Tangtang’s heart pound. It seemed to have been a long time since they had experienced such a grand occasion.

Back when they had been in Xu Village, Dad had been greeted with such great treatment each time he had gone back from a business trip. When they had grown up, they had been greeted with such occasion when they had been back from the spring imperial examination, but they had never experienced this after they had come to Yanzhou.

Xu Ran asked Baozi to have Tangtang sit by his side. There was a glass in front of everyone, but the contents in the glasses were different. Baozi had juice in it while the others wine.

When Tangtang took a seat, Xu Ran also poured him a glass of wine. Then Xu Ran picked up his own glass and said, “These three days has been tough to Tangtang, and now we are going to celebrate you. Come on everyone, cheers!”

The rest of the people raised their glasses one by one. Even Baozi was mimicking what the others were doing and called out a toast.

There were a few oil lamps in the room, and the dim yellow light lit up and warmed the entire room, giving people a dreamlike feeling.

Xu Ran started to tell jokes cheerfully, and then people laughed while eating. Joy was overflowing.

…

On November 20th, King Yan, who had been away from Yanzhou for more than four months, finally came back. Xu Ran got the news and took his family to King Yan’s Mansion. Although it had been quite a long journey, King Yan looked spirited. A smile had been hanging on his lips no matter whom he met.

Xu Ran walked over and patted him. “Your Highness, did someone cast a spell on you when you were in the capital? Why have you been smiling so brightly since you were back?”

King Yan got very annoyed with Xu Ran’s words. He glared at him and said, “No one has cast no spell on me, but something great did happen to me.”

Xu Ran spread his hands and took a seat. “Tell me, what makes you so happy?”

King Yan also took a seat and said to Xu Ran, “It’s nothing special. It’s just that His Majesty gave me an extra piece of land.”

Xu Ran opened his mouth and thought to himself. How come this was not something special? That was an extra piece of land, not an extra piece of cake. Besides, judging from King Yan’s reaction, this land would definitely not be smaller than Yanzhou.

Instead of asking King Yan which piece of the land it was exactly, Xu Ran asked, “Your Highness, His Majesty was just enthroned and his position isn’t steady yet, but he just bestowed a fief upon you so generously. Isn’t he worried that you will revolt against him?”

King Yan waved his hand and said, “Speaking of this, I also found it weird. Since His Majesty is so generous, isn’t he really afraid that I will plot against him? I was quite confused then. But later I met someone, and then I got the idea.”

“Someone? Who?” Xu Ran wondered.

“The minister of Ministry of Works. He is quite young, just a little older than Tangtang and Guoguo. It was he who suggested His Majesty give me that land. He is quite close to him. It’s said that he was His Majesty’s study parter when His Majesty was still the Crown Prince, so His Majesty trusts him.”

After listening to King Yan’s words, Xu Ran frowned and started to wonder. How capable an ordinary person should be if he was able to be the minister of Ministry of Works while he was still under 20? This was not the most important thing, but he was actually able to convince the Emperor to delegate his power to his subordinates. He was quite an able one.

The most important thing was that this person was very bold. But that was just Xu Ran’s conjecture and he didn’t say it.

King Yan saw Xu Ran’s expression had changed again and again, so he asked him, “Why that face? Are you also scared by this young minster of Ministry of Works?”

Xu Ran shook his head. “No, I just think he’s good, but this has nothing to do with me. Tell me, which piece of land did His Majesty give you exactly?”

King Yan smiled again and answered, “The land I wanted the most back then.”

The land King Yan wanted the most was Xiangzhou, which was next to Yanzhou. It was also the place where honeycomb coal was sold mainly. No wonder King Yan was so happy.

Xu Ran stood up and cupped his hands together to King Yan. “Congratulations, Your Highness. Since you just came back, has Lu Qi told you what happened to Yanzhou?”

King Yan shook his head. “Not yet. Did something happen to Yanzhou?”

Xu Ran’s face darkened. “It’d be better if Lu Qi tells you about it! I will take a walk in the backyard to watch the snow.”

After that, Xu Ran left. King Yan frowned, his instinct telling him that something terrible must have happened.

King Yan told Yan Chuan, who was waiting at the door, “Yan Chuan, ask Lu Qi to see me.”

“Yes,” Yan Chuan accepted the order and left.

Before long, Yan Chuan came back with Lu Qi. Lu Qi was very happy to see King Yan. “Your Highness, finally you are back.”

King Yan waved at him. “Take a seat first. Tell me if there was anything big happening in Yanzhou recently.”

Lu Qi raised his head and asked, “How did you know that something big happened, Your Highness?”

King Yan replied, “Xu Ran mentioned it to me, but he left without giving any details. Now, you tell me.”

Lu Qi rubbed his forehead, looking pained. “Your Highness, not long after you left, the barbarians slipped into Yanzhou. Coincidentally, they bumped into Tangtang and Guoguo since they went out for a ride on that day. Guoguo went missing and is still nowhere to be found until now.”

King Yan changed color. “What do you mean by ‘still nowhere to be found until now’? Was he kidnapped by the barbarians?”

Lu Qi shook his head. “No, those 100 barbarians who intercepted Tangtang and Guoguo are already dead. We found their bodies but not Guoguo’s, so we don’t know where or how Guoguo is now.”

King Yan sighed, not knowing what to say.

Lu Qi continued, “Not long after that, the barbarians mustered a force of 50,000 to attack Yanzhou, but we killed them all.”

Lu Qi omitted the hardship back then and just made a passing mention of it. He added, “We found that Deputy General Luo was a hidden traitor. In order to prevent him from plotting against us, I discussed with Xu Ran and then executed him. The final battle was commanded by Tangtang, and we set fire to their camp. Nothing else happened.”

King Yan was still dwelling on the news that Guoguo had disappeared. He found the truth hard to accept.

After Lu Qi finished reporting, he stared blankly at King Yan. It was after a long while that Lu Qi heard King Yan ask him, “When did those 100 barbarians die? Was it because of their death that the barbarians mounted an attack on Yanzhou?”

Lu Qi answered, “I’m not sure when they died exactly, but I could get a rough estimation of the time, and that was not long after Tangtang and Guoguo had an encounter with the barbarians, because their corpses had already decayed when we found them. But according to my speculation, the reason that the barbarians launched an attack on Yanzhou might have nothing to do with these people, since they had already died before they could make time to go back and deliver the message.”

Lu Qi told everything in one breath. After that, King Yan nodded. “I see. Continue the search for Guoguo. If he’s still alive, I need to see him in person; if he’s already dead, I need to see his body.”

Hearing King Yan’s harsh tone, Lu Qi knew he must be angry, because it had been a long time since Lu Qi had heard King Yan say such words.

Lu Qi nodded at once. “I see. I’ve been sending people to look for him, but there’s no news.”

King Yan’s forehead knotted in a frown. Liu Tong had just had a miscarriage last year, but unexpectedly, another child of his had gone missing this year.

How grieved he must be…

King Yan stood up and said, “Alright, go ahead with your work! I know what has happened. Also, tell the people that I’m back. Besides, we must have suffered casualties during the war, so we need to recruit more soldiers. We also need to promote someone to be the deputy general. I’ll leave all these work to you.”

Lu Qi opened his mouth and wanted to talk back, but he swallowed what he wanted to say silently when seeing King Yan’s gloomy face.

Lu Qi cupped his hands together and said, “Yes.”

Hearing his reply, King Yan had a satisfied look on his face, and then left.

King Yan asked Yan Chuan where Liu Tong was, and Yan Chuan replied, “Your Highness, he is with His Highness.”

“OK, I got it. Go and tell the kitchen to prepare lunch! They are going to eat with us here at noon. I’m going to the backyard.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

When King Yan arrived at the door of the room, he had a long-lost feeling. He could hear Liu Tong and Xiao Qingyun talking from outside the door, and there was also laughter from time to time. The servant, who was about to notify them of the arrival of King Yan, was also stopped by him.

It was because King Yan didn’t know if he should go in now. Liu Tong was laughing happily at this moment. If King Yan comforted him, he would touch Liu Tong’s sore spot instead.

Having thought for a while, King Yan decided not to go in first. It was better for him to see Tangtang. The twins had grown up together since birth. Tangtang had that deep love for him, as well as blood relation with him, so he must be the most sorrowful one!

Tangtang went to the training field as usual. This was something he did every time they came to King Yan’s residence. Since he had done it so many times, it had become a habit of his.

There was still no exception this time. When King Yan arrived, Tangtang was practicing his spear skills in the training field alone. There actually was some ferocity in his moves.

It wasn’t like King Yan had never seen Tangtang practice martial arts before, but he had never seen him like this. King Yan was astonished when catching sight of him.

King Yan stepped forward, pulled out a sword and started to fight with him. Tangtang saw King Yan’s movements and understood what he meant. He whipped the spear towards him.

King Yan also waved his sword to ward off the blow. After a round, King Yan found each of Tangtang’s moves was intimidating. His fighting skills had not progressed, but his manner and movements became more aggressive.

Because of Tangtang’s change, King Yan got more motivated, but Tangtang had no intention of stopping. It wasn’t until the two of them were soaked with sweat and exhausted that they stopped. King Yan said to Tangtang, “I haven’t seen you for months, but it didn’t occur to me that you should have changed so much.”

Tangtang smiled bitterly, “Just for some little time, my brother was gone.”

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