CH 24

Xie Ke glanced at Lu Linhai and replied in a low voice: “The emperor wants me to participate in this year’s martial arts examination.”

“That’s not right, is it?” Lu Linhai said in surprise, “The imperial guards already have an official rank, how can it be possible to participate in the selection of martial arts champions?”

Xie Ke shook his head and corrected: “It’s not selection, it’s supervision.”

The plot was very different from the previous life. In the previous life, the literary examination was the responsibility of Grand Master Xu and Fu Zhiyu, and the martial arts examination was the responsibility of Lu Linhai’s father, General Lu. This time, the literary examination was supervised by the Third Prince and Prime Minister Xue. In order to maintain balance and hold down these two ambitious people, General Lu was replaced with Xie Lin, accompanied by Xie Ke.

This could be regarded as a very good errand. The examination happened once every three years, and the emperor and the civil and military officials watched it closely. It was easy to show off, and the emperor’s intention to cultivate Xie Ke was also obvious.

But Xie Ke, the beneficiary, didn’t look happy at all. His face was still gloomy. Lu Linhai and Du Yin looked at each other and stopped talking sensibly.

Xie Ke stood alone, slipping into a state of distraction uncontrollably again.

He didn’t sleep at all last night, and today he was not in good spirits. His mind kept spinning, unable to stop.

Yesterday, Yuan Mingdao’s glance made him think of many things in an instant, and he missed the time to stop Zhiyu. After he reacted, Zhiyu’s carriage had already left.

Xie Ke sat alone in the private room for a long time. He stretched out his hand carefully to touch the wine glass that Fu Zhiyu had touched, but the wine he had carefully prepared wasn’t liked; Fu Zhiyu didn’t even drink a sip.

Finally, Xie Ke drank the glass of wine slowly by himself, kissing the edge of the glass where Fu Zhiyu’s fingertips had touched it. Then he drank all the jars of wine he had brought. This kind of wine was very easy to drink but it was also easy to get into one’s head. Xie Ke’s eyes were red after drinking it.

He stayed in the private room for a long time, so long that the owner of the inn couldn’t help but come over and urge him several times, her voice shaking with fear as she looked at Xie Ke’s appearance. At last Xie Ke reacted, left the place and led his horse to the Xie residence.

It was very late, and there was no one on the street. Xie Ke staggered along the street alone, with only the sound of horseshoes knocking on the road accompanying him.

Just around the corner from the Xie residence, he heard footsteps coming from behind.

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It was obvious that the person had never practised martial arts. It was extremely cold this winter, and Xie Ke could hear the man panting, as if he couldn’t bear the cold.

“Young Master Xie, please, please stop.”

He heard the man’s voice coming from behind, and even through the haze of alcohol he could tell who that person was.

After all, it was the man who had followed him almost all his life in his previous life. In particular, how could he not recognise Shen Yang, the Prime Minister who had never practised martial arts but in the end attacked him frantically and stabbed him with a knife, almost causing his mission to end early.

Xie Ke slowly turned his head and looked at the familiar face.

“My name is Shen Yang, I’m Grand Master Xu’s student and I have important things to discuss with Young Master Xie.” Shen Yang seems to have been waiting here for a long time; his teeth were chattering from the cold, but he still stood firm. “It is an extremely important thing.”

“Heh,” Xie Ke stared at him with bloodshot eyes and said, “What important thing can you have?”

Shen Yang stood there, startled by the beast-like look in Xie Ke’s eyes, but still raised his head and said, “I would like to make a deal with Young Master Xie. But this is not the place to talk.”

Xie Ke stared at him for a long time but in the end didn’t drive him away. He just turned around and said, “Come with me.”

If it were someone else, an ordinary scholar who ran over and stopped him at night and said he wanted to make a deal, he wouldn’t agree to continue communicating with him so easily, but Shen Yang was different.

The winter wind had already awakened him, and when he got to the place, Xie Ke was already as sober as he could be. He knew exactly what he was doing.

He bought this small house a long time ago, some distance away from the Xie residence. After all, the Xie residence was not Xie Ke’s home and some things were not suitable to be done there, so he got this place.

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It was already late at night. The servant smelled the overwhelming smell of alcohol on Xie Ke’s body and saw that he had brought someone in to talk. He had the good sense to make a pot of strong tea. After sending it in, he quickly walked away, leaving only these two people to continue talking.

Shen Yang held the teacup, took a sip of tea to warm his body and frowned slightly. He saw Xie Ke staring at him across the room without the slightest hint of friendliness in his eyes.

It was a kind of scrutinising look, as if measuring how many catties he weighed.

“I won’t beat around the bush with Young Master Xie,” Shen Yang said, meeting his gaze, “I’m going to win this year’s examination.”

If others heard this, they might have laughed at him. Although Shen Yang’s talent was well-known, there were many talents among the candidates, and his claim was a bit outrageous.

However, Xie Ke didn’t argue and only narrowed his eyes slightly.

Seeing that he didn’t speak, Shen Yang said loudly: “I know that Young Master Xie has big plans for the future. When I reach a high position, I will serve you with all my heart and soul. I only ask you to grant me one request, to keep one person safe.”

“…who?”

“Wang Zhao, Fu Zhiyu,” Shen Yang said, “From now on, Young Master Xie is free to do whatever he wants. Now that it is common knowledge that Wang Zhao has burned his brains out, he is not a threat. I just want him to have a peaceful and carefree life.”

Xie Ke smiled and said, “Shen Yang, do you know that if I tell the emperor about your words, you will be arrested as a rebel. Do you still want to win the imperial examination?”

“You won’t tell,” Shen Yang didn’t panic at all, as if he had studied Xie Ke’s character and plans for a long time, “I also ask Young Master Xie to rest assured that I’m definitely more capable than that.”

“Capable?” Xie Ke raised his eyebrows and looked at Shen Yang without a smile, “Is it because you think that once you’ve been reborn and know what’s going to happen, you have everything in place and are not afraid of anything, right?”

Shen Yang was so shocked that the teacup in his hand fell to the ground and spilled water all over the floor. He stood up suddenly, like a rabbit with its tail caught.

“You! How is it possible…?”

“How could I know, right?” Xie Ke sneered, both at Shen Yang and at himself, “You are not the only one who has been reborn.”

Just as Shen Yang felt that he knew Xie Ke, Xie Ke also knew him extremely well.

After Shen Yang followed him, it was not an exaggeration to say that he had completely changed. He was the Prime Minister, in power for a long time, and he had a hobby of drinking tea. At that time, the kind of tea he drank could be only called one-in-a-million kind.

The tea in Xie Ke’s house was certainly not bad; at least by a poor scholar, it should have been regarded as excellent tea. But Shen Yang obviously winced like that, drinking just a small sip of this tea and refusing to drink it anymore.

In addition to what he said and what he did, Shen Yang, who was a poor scholar at this age in his previous life, couldn’t even defend himself when he was accused of cheating. Now he dared to boast about these things in front of him; how could Xie Ke, who was stimulated by Yuan Mingdao and had a lot of thoughts, not guess this possibility? He was not stupid.