Xuanxia

Chapter 442 Bai Xiaochuan, Zhao Yuan
Bai Xiaochuan and Fu Qingzhou stared at each other, their eyes wide open, and for a long time, neither of them said a word.

In the end, it was Fu Qingzhou who spoke first.

"Um...Brother Bai."

He laughed awkwardly: "Your last name isn't Bai, right?"

"Did you hear everything?" Bai Xiaochuan said helplessly, "Damn it, those guys... said they were the most elite people in Mingjian Pavilion, how come they couldn't find you?"

"Ugh."

Fu Qingzhou sighed, "I said I didn't want to eavesdrop, and everything was just an accident. Do you believe me?"

"Of course I trust Brother Fu." Bai Xiaochuan dragged a chair over from the side and sat down. He didn't say anything for a long time, then scratched his head frantically: "But now, what should I do?"

"Cough cough..."

Fu Qingzhou coughed lightly and said, "If Brother Bai is worried about his identity being exposed, then it should be okay. After all, if you want us to go into the palace and debate in front of His Majesty... uh, that is, in front of you, you will be exposed, right?"

"Who said that?" Bai Xiaochuan spread his hands and said, "I've already thought about it. I have a sister, why don't I let her pretend to be me? Then I can debate with you guys on the same team. I can also inform the civil and military officials in advance so that they don't reveal the truth. This way, no one will know that I'm the emperor."

Fu Qingzhou: “…”

He covered his face and said, "Brother Bai, pretending to be the emperor is a serious crime of deceiving the emperor."

"I don't care, why do you care so much?" Bai Xiaochuan curled his lips: "Well... let's get to know each other again, Brother Fu, I... uh... I..."

He clearly wanted to say his own name. Seeing this, Fu Qingzhou waved his hand quickly: "No, no, no, isn't it taboo to call the emperor by his name? You told me, how should I call you? Just call me Brother Bai."

"That won't work!"

Bai Xiaochuan raised his eyebrows: "I've already said that I don't care, why do you care so much? I'm going to say it! Remember, my name is Zhao Yuan!"

"Zhao Yuan..." Fu Qingzhou was stunned: "Bai, Xiao? Where did the word chuan come from?"

He immediately realized that the first two characters in Bai Xiaochuan's name were derived from the character "Yuan".

"Chuan is my mother's name." Bai Xiaochuan sneered and said, "What else? Should I be called Bai Xiaochang? Even if it's a pseudonym, it's too ugly."

Fu Qingzhou burst into laughter.

Bai Xiaochuan...or Zhao Yuan, looked at him for a few seconds and then started laughing too.

With this smile, the embarrassment was largely alleviated.

"Honestly." Zhao Yuan shook his head, his tone was quite emotional: "People of the Jianghu are people of the Jianghu. You know that I am the emperor, but you can still talk to me so naturally. I was really afraid that you would suddenly kneel down and shout "Long live the emperor."

Fu Qingzhou smiled and said, "This really has nothing to do with Jianghu people. It's just that I am a special person."

"What?"

Zhao Yuan asked curiously, "Because you are from Wuwei Temple?"

"Because I... am free and unrestrained by nature." Fu Qingzhou said with a smile.

You can't say that because I was born under the red flag and grew up in the spring breeze, I have no natural fear of a feudal emperor like you, right?

"Very good." Zhao Yuan was relieved when he heard him say that. "I don't like to put on a stern face and act majestic every day, so I fought hard for the opportunity to be a student at the Sword Academy. Now, as long as there is no particularly troublesome matter in the court, I will come to the academy. It's much more relaxed here than in the palace."

Fu Qingzhou blinked: "But you don't like the aristocratic families in power, right? You always go to the academy, so those officials will have more opportunities to handle state affairs for you?" "Hey, you don't understand." Zhao Yuan waved his hand: "I have someone I can trust... Let's not talk about this, Brother Fu, seriously, why did you come to me?"

"hey-hey."

Fu Qingzhou smiled and said, "I was originally thinking of telling you that I don't plan to argue in front of the emperor."

"How can that be possible?" Zhao Yuan glared, "You are so representative, I am pointing at you to slap the faces of those old men from aristocratic families!"

"Don't..." Fu Qingzhou said helplessly: "I really don't know how to debate. You can see it today. I just asked a few questions, but they didn't have any effect."

"Then I don't care."

Zhao Yuan looked confused and said, "You have to go anyway. If you don't go, I will issue you an imperial decree."

Fu Qingzhou covered his face.

"Alright, alright."

He spread his hands and said, "You are the emperor and you have the final say, but I have a request."

Zhao Yuan chuckled and said, "You say."

"Let's do it later, okay?" Fu Qingzhou said, "I've been really busy lately, and it looks like you're planning to do something big... Don't treat me as a fool, you're clearly trying to take advantage of this opportunity to mess with the aristocratic families in the court. If I go, I'll inevitably get into trouble."

"After a few days..." Zhao Yuan rolled his eyes and said, "It's not impossible. So tell me, what do you want to do recently? I can help you?"

"Don't worry about it."

Fu Qingzhou smiled and said, "If you were Bai Xiaochuan, I could still talk to you and ask for your help and advice; but you are Zhao Yuan now, the dignified Emperor of Dayan. Many things will become distorted if you interfere. I am just a man of the world and don't want to get involved in too complicated power struggles."

"Hey!" Zhao Yuan was dissatisfied: "You don't treat your brother as a brother, right! Don't forget that I helped you save Yue Heng. If you have anything to say, just tell me! When I help you, can I also be Bai Xiaochuan?"

"so?"

Fu Qingzhou raised his eyebrows: "Then you should first put away the emperor's smell on you. I can't see Bai Xiaochuan on you at the moment."

Zhao Yuan was startled. Perhaps no one had ever spoken to "Emperor Zhao Yuan" like this before. His face changed, and then he actually relaxed. He smiled and said, "Brother Fu, although we haven't known each other for a long time, we have similar personalities. If you have anything fun, please take me with you."

"That's pretty much it."

Fu Qingzhou smiled slightly: "Most of them are actually about the underworld, but there is indeed a matter related to officials in the court... Speaking of which, when the Hongjiang dredging project corruption case broke out nearly ten years ago, you were already the emperor, right?"

"That case?" Zhao Yuan exclaimed, "I know. Although I was still young at that time, I was still very angry when I learned about the case. I smashed a lot of things."

"Ah."

Fu Qingzhou blinked: "There may be something fishy about this case... Perhaps someone used this case to attack political opponents on a large scale."

"Oh?!" Zhao Yuan sat up straight, his eyes wide open: "Is there such a thing?!"

Fu Qingzhou smiled and said, "It's hard to be sure yet. I'm still investigating. You should know that I have a junior sister named Tang Jiao, right? Her father..."

He briefly talked about Tang Zhun, and naturally also mentioned that Ning Baimei allowed him to secretly re-investigate the case.

After listening to this, Zhao Yuan was silent for a while, then he patted his chest and said, "Okay, Brother Fu, if Li Jingzhe doesn't give you the file, I will! You should investigate this case thoroughly, and after that, I will arrange a debate in the Imperial Study!"

(End of this chapter)