I only wished to take up my fiefdom, but my elder brother forced me to rebel.

The door to Shiyunlou was pushed open, and the night wind rushed into the hall, causing the contracts on the table to rustle and turn.

The music stopped.

Du Chengli, the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, stepped across the threshold. He was dressed in a blue official robe, with a thin face and wrinkles at the corners of his eyes that looked as if they had been carved by a knife.

He held a memorial with the ink still wet in his arms, followed by five imperial censors.

The two spoiled brats who had been kicked out during the day also arrived.

A person had a white cloth wrapped around their forehead, but the blood was still showing through.

The other man, supporting his injured wrist, huddled behind the censor, his eyes filled with resentment as he looked at Lu Yuan.

Du Chengli walked to the platform, first bowed with his hands clasped in greeting, and then raised the memorial above his head.

"I have heard that the Crown Prince is selling official positions in brothels and is also using state affairs as a pretext to amass wealth."

"Does Your Highness still have any regard for the laws and regulations of our ancestors in acting like this?"

The smiles on the faces of the young gentlemen and merchants gradually faded.

Those who were just scrambling to sign up stopped what they were doing.

Seeing that no one spoke, Du Chengli felt even more confident.

"Your subject has received accusations from the people that His Highness the Crown Prince is abusing his power and condoning the guards of the Poetry Pavilion to beat the families of officials."

"We rushed here to inquire and heard Your Highness promise that anyone who pays tuition can enter the Six Ministries as an official."

"Please explain, Your Highness!"

Lu Yuan leaned against the edge of the high platform, tapping his palm absently with the folding fan in his hand, without even taking the memorial.

He looked past Du Chengli and at the two people hiding behind him.

"Forcing women to drink with you is considered a complaint from the public?"

The man with the injury on his forehead immediately pushed his way out.

"Your Highness, please don't distort the truth!"

"We only invited her for drinks; she was the one who started it by hitting us with a bottle. The Crown Prince condoned his guards' assault on us; he's clearly protecting the culprit!"

Upon hearing this, Liang San Niang's eyebrows furrowed, and she walked a few steps to Lu Yuan's side, pointing at the man.

"You need four guards to block the door just to invite me for a drink?"

"You're going to drag me to the backyard. Shouldn't we bring all the guests from Shiyunlou here for a face-to-face confrontation?"

The man retorted, "You, a woman disguised as a man, have entered a brothel without permission; you are not a virtuous woman!"

"If you can come, why can't I?"

"I……"

The man opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time. He could only look to Du Chengli for help.

Du Chengli did not take on the case.

Whether the two spoiled brats bullied the woman or not is not important.

What was truly important was that the Crown Prince established a royal academy to select talent, bypassing the imperial examination system.

If Lu Yuan is allowed to establish the academy today, the rules that the Censorate and the upright civil officials have maintained for many years will be torn open.

"Your Highness, as the Crown Prince, has lost the dignity of the royal family by frequenting brothels."

Du Chengli straightened up, his voice becoming even sterner.

"With the imperial examinations approaching, scholars from all over the land are gathering in the capital. Your Highness has chosen this moment to open another academy and promise students the opportunity to take the examinations in the Six Ministries."

"This move bypasses the imperial examination system and undermines the foundation of the nation. If scholars throughout the land are disheartened as a result, how will Your Highness explain this to His Majesty?"

Lu Yuan tilted his head.

"I've been to a brothel, what's wrong?"

The prepared arguments on etiquette and law by the several censors were all choked up by this one sentence.

Du Chengli stared at him for several breaths before asking in a deep voice, "Does Your Highness not feel ashamed?"

Why should you be ashamed?

Lu Yuan straightened up and pointed to the long tables in the hall.

"I visited the Poetry Pavilion, arrested two纨绔 (spoiled brats) who bullied women, raised 7.36 million taels of silver in supplies for the disaster victims in Henan, and selected a group of talented people who were willing to learn practical skills."

"What did Lord Du do tonight?"

Du Chengli instinctively replied, "I am resting at home."

"I'm currently providing disaster relief; you can stay home and sleep soundly."

"After you woke up, instead of asking if the disaster victims had food or when the river embankment would be repaired, you rushed over that very night to ask me why I went to a brothel?"

Lu Yuan waved his folding fan. "The things the Censorate is concerned with are quite peculiar."

Laughter came from the hall.

Du Chengli's expression turned very unpleasant.

"Disaster relief is a matter for the imperial court; how can it become a reason for Your Highness to sell official positions?"

Mr. Liu, who runs the restaurant, also stood up.

After paying 20,000 taels of tuition, the Royal Academy became his only path to officialdom.

Anyone who dares to stop them will ruin someone else's life.

"Lord Du, Miss Shishi originally intended to raise funds for disaster victims. After His Highness arrived, he did not force anyone to hand over any money."

"Donations are recorded in red booklets, while registration is recorded in white booklets; the two accounts are kept very separate."

Young Master Liu placed the contract on the table.

"His Highness made it very clear that students must go through entrance examinations, graduation examinations, and re-examinations by various departments."

"Those who fail the exam can't even get through the gates of the government office. How can that be considered selling official positions?"

The young owner of a business also came over.

"In addition to officials who came from the imperial examination system, the Six Ministries also included clerks who were proficient in mathematics, engineers who repaired rivers and built dikes, and physicians who treated the sick."

"Do these people also have to take the traditional eight-legged essay exam?"

"Should we send someone who can only write flowery prose to repair the river embankment? And if it breaches, will Lord Du personally go into the water to plug it?"

Immediately, voices of agreement arose in the hall.

"That's right."

Being able to write articles doesn't mean you can do accounting.

"If we need to build dikes in Henan, do we expect the craftsmen to memorize the Four Books and Five Classics first?"

Du Chengli's temple throbbed with anger as he coldly rebuked, "The imperial examination is the proper way for the country to select officials; how dare you merchants make such irresponsible remarks?"

"What's wrong with the merchants?"

A wine merchant held up a pledge, refusing to budge an inch.

"Henan Province is short of grain, so we are paying for the transportation of grain."

"The border troops lacked strong liquor to clean their wounds, so we funded the construction of the distillery."

"Since Lord Du looks down on merchants so much, why did you come to Shiyunlou two years ago to invite the salt merchants from Jiangnan to drink?"

Du Chengli's expression stiffened slightly.

The madam was shrewd enough to immediately summon the accountant.

"Go and fetch the old account book from the private room in the 'Heaven' section from two years ago."

The accountant quickly brought over a thick book.

The madam flipped through a few pages, her fingertips landing precisely on two lines of text.

"On the sixth day of the fourth month of the seventh year of Chengping, Lord Du hosted a banquet for the owner of Yongfeng Salt Shop in the No. 3 private room of the Tianzi Building, and ordered four young ladies."

On May 13 of the same year, he hosted a banquet for two salt merchants.

"The food, wine, and silver rewards were all paid for by Yongfeng Salt Shop."

Everyone in the hall looked at Du Chengli.

Du Chengli snatched the account book, flipped through several pages, and his face turned from red to green.

"I was investigating a case!"

The madam looked puzzled.

Why were four girls selected for the investigation?

"This is naturally to lower the guard of the salt merchants!"

"Lord Du has sacrificed a great deal for the court."

Lu Yuan unfolded his folding fan and bowed to the several censors.

"I only brought one girl upstairs, and you all scolded me for being undignified."

"Lord Du ordered four at once; he must be dedicating himself to the country."

The young masters could no longer contain themselves and burst into laughter, slapping the table.

Liang San Niang turned her head and glared at Lu Yuan.

"Who went upstairs with you?"

"What I meant was that I would take you to a private room for questioning."

"You're deliberately trying to mislead people!"

Lu Yuan took half a step closer to her and lowered his voice.

"If you continue to explain, they will misunderstand even more."

Liang San Niang immediately shut her mouth, but the tips of her ears were slightly red in the lamplight.

She stepped back half a step, loosened her grip on Lu Yuan's sleeve that she had inadvertently grabbed, and left him with only an annoyed profile.

Du Chengli threw the old account books back onto the table and said through gritted teeth, "I will certainly report the matter of the academy to Your Majesty tomorrow!"

"Play it as you please."

Lu Yuan picked up the white registration booklet and handed it to him.

"Remember to make it clear in the memorial that my students must undergo three examinations, and those who fail will be expelled from the government office."

"And don't forget the 7.36 million taels raised tonight."

"If Lord Du has a poor memory, I can have the accountant make a copy for you."

Du Chengli did not take it, and turned away with a flick of his sleeve.

Several imperial censors followed closely behind, their pace much faster than when they arrived.

The two spoiled brats who came to complain were about to follow, but they were blocked by Young Master Liu and his group.

"Please wait a moment, you two."

"You caused Lord Du's investigation to fail; aren't you going to stay and explain?"

Several young men flexed their wrists, smiling very kindly.

The two men turned pale instantly, hurriedly weaving through the tables and chairs, and stumbled after the door.

The atmosphere in the hall became lively again.

The registration contracts were snapped up again, and the abacus beads rattled incessantly.

Liang San Niang looked at the tuition contracts for 20,000 taels of silver each, her eyes still filled with doubt.

"You're clearly trying to scam me out of my money."

"I gave them a future, and they paid for the court's expenses. It was a voluntary arrangement between both parties, and there was no deception between the young and the old."

"But they don't seem very smart."

Lu Yuan glanced at the group of young masters who were about to fight over the registration forms.

That's why we need to go to school.

As night deepened, the lights of Shiyun Tower shone even brighter.

Meanwhile, the backyard of the Shen residence was completely silent.

Shen Chongshan sat alone by the pond, his fishing rod resting on his lap.

The buoy remained motionless on the water, and the tea beside it had long since gone cold.

A man in gray passed through the moon gate and quickly came up behind him.

"Master, the Celestial Master has replied."

Shen Chongshan immediately put down his fishing rod.

"What did he say?"

The man in gray glanced around and took out a palm-sized wooden plaque from his pocket.

The wooden plaque is jet black with burn marks on the edges. The front is engraved with the Bagua (Eight Trigrams), while the back only has a bright red "城" (City) character.

"The Celestial Master agrees to see you."

Shen Chongshan took the wooden plaque and slowly stroked the character "城" (city) with his fingertips.

"Is that all?"

"That's not all."

The man in gray lowered his voice.

"The Celestial Master also agreed to let you see the Second Prince."

The buoy in the pond suddenly sank.

Shen Chongshan didn't even pick up the fishing rod; he just stared at the Bagua wooden plaque in his hand, and a light gradually appeared in his old eyes.