spoiled brat

Chapter 145, Section 144: The Sun Flame (Part Four)
Xie Xiaoqing hated evil as much as he could, but he couldn't help but admire Li Qingwen.

This person appears innocent and pure, so no one would suspect him of anything bad, let alone know that he harbors a beastly heart beneath his facade.

Li Qingwen smiled and said, "Your teacher has been waiting for you for a long time. Go in quickly."

Xie Xiaoqing didn't like to act, so he walked past him and went inside.

The room was not spacious, with a screen separating it into a meditation room. A low table held a flickering candle, casting a dim light. Minister Jiang was buried in a thick stack of answer sheets, his temples gray as frost, looking inexplicably desolate.

"...This student greets Your Excellency, Minister." Xie Xiaoqing bowed respectfully.

Minister Jiang kept his head down, continuing to write comments with his pen, as if he hadn't heard anything.

Only after Xie Xiaoqing bowed again did he say, without even looking up, "Sit."

There was a group of people sitting on the ground. Xie Xiaoqing didn't dare to face him directly, so he stood there hesitantly, waiting to be punished.

After an unknown amount of time, Minister Jiang spoke in a deep voice: "Do you know your mistake?"

This refers to things that happened in the examination room.

Xie Xiaoqing wanted to shamelessly deny it, but Jiang Shangshu pulled out two pages of the answer sheet and casually tossed them to his feet.

Xie Xiaoqing picked it up and took a look. Oh no! Pang Xuan couldn't even copy properly; he had copied most of his article.

"Student..." Xie Xiaoqing blushed, looking both ashamed and ashamed, "Student knows he was wrong and shouldn't have helped his friend cheat."

Minister Jiang put down his pen: "Your mistake is not here."

"..."

Minister Jiang sighed: "Read his article carefully."

Xie Xiaoqing buried himself in the text and reread it, feeling increasingly chilled with each reading.

Pang Xuan copied his original text verbatim, but the overall meaning was coherent.

In fact, thanks to his hindsight, the overall momentum of his piece was even smoother than his.

Minister Jiang said, "If I hadn't seen you hand the paper to him with my own eyes, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell who had adapted whose viewpoints."

"..."

Xie Xiaoqing felt a mix of emotions; it would be a lie to say he wasn't disgusted.

But he couldn't bring himself to tell Jiang Shangshu how Pang Xuan begged him and how he used his kindness to seek revenge.

Minister Jiang's face darkened: "Article Seventeen of the edict states that those who cheat will have their student status revoked. Now I ask you, which of you copied from whom?"

Xie Xiaoqing looked up in disbelief. It was just a minor exam unrelated to academic success, why was it so harsh?

"Lord Jiang..."

"Is it you, or him?"

Xie Xiaoqing had no choice. He had received help from Pang Xuan when he first arrived in the capital, and his moral conscience wouldn't allow him to abandon his friend.

"……not me."

Xie Xiaoqing lowered his head, avoiding Minister Jiang's sharp gaze, and choked out a sentence: "It's not him... We are good friends and have talked about related things in private. It's understandable that our answers are similar."

After a moment of silence in the meditation room, Minister Jiang said softly, "Have you ever considered how he would answer if he were questioned here?"

Xie Xiaoqing didn't want to think about it. He only had one friend in Beijing, Pang Xuan. If he wanted to maintain a long-term relationship with him, he should never try to guess what people were thinking.

Minister Jiang glanced at Pang Xuan's strategy essay; the words and military tactics revealed his personality.

He deduced, "Your friend will take advantage of the fact that his copied article is better than yours, accuse you of plagiarism, and cry and say how soft-hearted he is, breaking the rules for the sake of friendship."

Xie Xiaoqing was silent for a while, then slowly lowered his head: "It's not his fault, it's mine."

Minister Jiang gazed at the whorl of hair on his head, and after a long while said, "A few years ago, I admired your talent and wrote to invite you to the capital, but you refused. Now that I see you again, I thought you would have come to your senses as you get older, but who knew you would still be so forgetful."

With a mixture of pity and sigh, she said, "You may go." Xie Xiaoqing's heart sank further; letting him go felt like a relief. He bowed and took his leave, saying before he went, "Take care."

After he left, Li Qingwen entered the meditation room to serve tea. As he gathered the answer sheets, he said, "Young Master Xie is quite knowledgeable, but his mind is too pure. The turbulent world of officialdom is not suitable for him."

Minister Jiang sipped his tea, and Li Qingwen continued, "Why not send Young Master Xie to another place and give him a prestigious position?"

With the emperor far away and the mountains high, it was convenient for him to do whatever he wanted.

With a thud, Minister Jiang put down his cup, looked him over and said, "Young people always need to be tempered. Qingwen, didn't you only know how to read books at first?"

Li Qingwen smiled, stopped trying to persuade him, and immediately changed the subject, talking about the birthday celebration at the Jiang residence a few days later.

Minister Jiang served as prime minister for more than ten years, and his students and old friends were all over the country. During festivals, gifts poured in from all directions like a flood, and the entire Jiang residence could not contain them all.

He disliked extravagance and every year he would exchange the congratulatory gifts for silver, then convert them all into grain and rice, and set up sheds outside the city to distribute porridge. The people benefited greatly, and their praise grew louder year by year.

Li Qingwen also wanted to get involved, so he took the matter very seriously. He wrote down everything from the specifications of the banquet in his residence to how to entertain his students and old friends who came to the capital to celebrate his birthday, and then handed it over to Minister Jiang for review.

He was always meticulous and strict in his work. Minister Jiang nodded in satisfaction, but when he handed back the booklet, he said, "Have that young man from earlier come here as well, and send someone to inform him."

Li Qingwen froze for a moment, then forced a smile and said, "Yes."

-

"You mean, he resented you for being a good Samaritan and helping your friend cheat, but then sent someone to deliver the invitation to you?"

"……Correct."

The corridor was empty, with moonlight and tree shadows floating in the breeze.

Zhao Zhao leaned against a pillar, tilted her head to look at Xie Xiaoqing, and chuckled inexplicably.

Xie Xiaoqing sensed something was amiss and asked, bewildered, "What are you laughing at?"

“I laugh at how easy it is to be a man,” Zhao Zhao said. “Being shrewd and hypocritical can earn you appreciation, while being honest and straightforward can win people’s hearts. You’ve stumbled upon the fact that you’ve also caught the eye of Minister Jiang.”

Xie Xiaoqing retorted, "It's not as easy as you make it out to be. I may not be a scholar with vast knowledge, but I certainly have some knowledge."

It's not surprising that Zhao Zhao always looks down on him; if there's a moon around, who can see the stars?

Thinking back to that night, and to that aloof person, Xie Xiaoqing said sullenly:

"You're so close to the princess and the young master, why don't you tell them everything frankly and ask them to get rid of Li Qingwen? He's just a—"

“I will avenge myself,” Zhao Zhao said coldly. “If I have to rely on others for the most important things, what’s the point of living?”

Moonlight fell into her eyes, reflecting the frost in the mirror, quiet and clear.

Xie Xiaoqing was stunned. Zhao Zhao understood his dazed state all too well. She stared at his handsome face for a while, then took out a bag of money from her sleeve and threw it into his arms.

"Don't go empty-handed. Prepare some birthday gifts, buy yourself a nice outfit, and dress up properly so as not to waste your face."

Xie Xiaoqing was puzzled: "Minister Jiang and I are both men. If I want to curry favor with him, it's not as simple as just dressing up neatly."

"You really don't understand?" Zhao Zhao said, "Li Qingwen and Miss Jiang are not married yet, you are younger than him, and you are more beautiful—"

"You shouldn't have asked me to steal your boyfriend," Xie Xiaoqing said, sounding somewhat aggrieved. "Your young master is the one with the best looks."

He always tries to steer the conversation back to Xiu Yi, isn't that just showing his true colors and inviting Zhao Zhao to step on him?

She chuckled softly, "But he doesn't listen to me."

For some reason, Xie Xiaoqing's ears turned red.

Zhao Zhao stopped there, said no more, and took her leave.

Xie Xiaoqing watched her retreating figure, some words stuck in his heart, and he didn't say a word.

　I've been taking classes away from home lately, so I haven't been able to focus on typing on my phone. I'll check back when I get home in a few days and get my computer fixed.

　　(End of this chapter)