Ming Dynasty: I, Yan Maoqing, am truly radiating auspicious energy!

Chapter 37 Alive
Good luck!
The sky is falling!
Huang Jin cried out in despair, and cold sweat poured from his pores like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, soaking a large area of ​​his vest in an instant.

Several months ago, when the Emperor announced his retirement, Yang Zui, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, directly remonstrated, saying, "Immortals all live in the mountains to cultivate in seclusion. Even when Your Majesty retires, you live in a luxurious palace, wearing magnificent clothes and eating exquisite food. Is this how you attain immortality?"

This incurred the emperor's wrath, who beat him to death with a stick and even whipped his corpse after he was killed.

Now that Yan Maoqing has filled in these nine characters, the meaning of the palace examination answer has been completely reversed.

It would be one thing if it were just frank advice.

Most importantly, this statement now seems to be more than just advice; it's more like a vicious curse!
If the emperor continues to insist on practicing metaphysics, he will surely die, be humiliated, and his country will perish!
Is it possible to appease the emperor's anger by beating him to death?
This would probably warrant the death by a thousand cuts!

The body must be cremated!

They must exterminate the entire clan!

We'd have to dig up their ancestral graves!

Yan Maoqing, you're emitting a cloud of smoke! Your family has produced such a madman as you, your ancestral graves must be emitting a cloud of smoke, a cloud of smoke that blots out the sky!

How could there be such a foolish and naive person in the world?!
Do not!
He may be straightforward, but he's not stupid at all!

Compared to Yang Zui, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, who offered his honest advice, Yan Maoqing was an extremely clever and eccentric man. What he did was exceptionally ingenious, exceptionally shrewd, and exceptionally intelligent!
Looking back now, Huang Jin has a clear understanding.

It turns out that from the very beginning of the palace examination, Yan Maoqing was playing a grand game with himself as the player, the emperor and all the officials as the pieces, and the people of the world as the chessboard!
This examination paper was his first move, the first piece he placed on the center of the board.

This is the most arrogant and domineering move, challenging the world and taking control of the entire situation.

The moment this piece was placed, the examiner was immediately indignant, causing him to ultimately be ranked last in the third class.

As for the fact that the emperor happened to see this answer sheet when he was eliminating corruption, it was just an accident, an accident that was negligible.

Because Yan Maoqing was confident in his talent, he was certain that he could win first place in the selection of scholars with his literary talent and knowledge. What confidence he had!

Such an unexpected result is bound to provoke dissatisfaction among those high-ranking examiners.

Therefore, even without the emperor's unexpected intervention, and even if the emperor had not ordered the examination paper to be exposed, the officials who read the paper would certainly have done the same thing, doing everything in their power to bring him, this "treacherous villain," a bad reputation.

This has been proven.

Huang Jin had already received a secret report that the answer sheet posted throughout the city two days ago was not only posted by his own people, but also by some mysterious people whose identities had not yet been verified.

It's obvious that those mysterious people must be related to the examiners of the palace examination, since no one else had seen this answer sheet!
In this way, even without that unexpected incident of purging the turbidity, this examination paper would definitely have appeared before the emperor!
at the same time.

Yan Maoqing had also befriended Duke Guo Xun in advance, taking advantage of Guo Xun's penchant for presenting books to the emperor to recommend him to the palace using this extraordinary book as bait.

In this way, Yan Maoqing, a newly appointed scholar who would otherwise never have been summoned by the emperor alone, finally stood before the emperor...

What meticulous planning!

What painstaking effort this must have taken!

What incredible perseverance and determination!

What patriotism and loyalty to the emperor!

All of this was part of his plan!

All of this was to achieve this incredible reversal.

All of this was for the purpose of facing the Emperor directly and offering his advice, even at the cost of his life!

Having finally understood all this, Huang Jin knelt on the ground and suddenly burst into tears, not knowing whether it was because of the excruciating pain in his knees or because of the emotions he felt in his heart.

Yan Maoqing, rising in blue smoke!
I, Huang Jinjing, respect you as a true man; please accept my bow!
I, Huang Jin, swear to Heaven that even if your body is thrown into a mass grave outside the city today, I will secretly retrieve it and give you a proper burial!
But Your Majesty…

Killing one person is easy, but gaining an official position is difficult, Your Majesty!

This single incident demonstrates that Yan Maoqing is a loyal, courageous, and strategically astute advisor—a true sage-teller. If you kill him today, it will be the greatest loss of your life, and the greatest loss of the Ming Dynasty…

Your Majesty, wake up!
……

"Teacher Huang? Don't do that, Teacher Huang!"

Seeing Huang Jin almost kneel down after seeing the revised answer sheet.

Then, for some unknown reason, tears streamed down her face, and finally, disregarding etiquette, she burst into loud sobs in the hall.

Yan Maoqing felt that Huang Jin was exaggerating a bit, but thinking that he was the one who had scared her to tears, he felt a little guilty and tried to comfort her in his heart.

After all, he had a fairly good impression of Huang Jin. At least when Hai Rui submitted his most important memorial in history, Huang Jin did say a couple of crucial and fair words, saving Hai Rui's life from the Jiajing Emperor.

This alone shows that Huang Jin was inherently loyal and kind, which is quite rare for a high-ranking eunuch who had been in the court for decades.

"?!"

Seeing this, Zhu Houcong was also moved, and his face darkened, his brows furrowing into a knot:
"Huang Ban, boldly present this answer sheet, and I will pardon you!"

"This servant would rather die than dare!"

Huang Jin wiped away his tears, kowtowed repeatedly, and blood instantly appeared.

He desperately wanted to stuff the answer sheet into his mouth and swallow it so that Zhu Houcong wouldn't see it.

But he dared not do so, because not only would it kill him, but Yan Maoqing, who was already determined to die, would certainly not appreciate it and could still tell Zhu Houcong those nine words!

"..."

However, this scene presented a completely different picture to Tao Zhongwen, who was overjoyed.

it is good!
very good!

very good!
Yan Maoqing must have written something treasonous. Even if I don't take action this time, he is doomed to die!

Therefore, Tao Zhongwen decisively stepped forward and bowed to request permission:

“Your Majesty, since Eunuch Huang has some concerns, why don’t you let me present it on his behalf?”

"Go! Bring it to me!"

Zhu Houcong angrily waved his sleeve.

"According to the order."

Tao Zhongwen immediately stepped forward, snatched the answer sheet from Huang Jin's hand, glanced at it briefly, and then turned to present it with both hands.

At that glance, Tao Zhongwen froze as if he had been electrocuted, unable to take another step forward for a long time.

"Master Tao?!"

Zhu Houcong was even more astonished upon seeing this. Could it be that Yan Maoqing's few strokes just now had set a spell on this answer sheet, and that anyone who touched it would be immobilized?

"Your humble servant has been disrespectful and deserves to die!"

Tao Zhongwen was instantly jolted awake, and immediately bent his knees and knelt down on the ground.

In life, the most important thing is to seek benefits and avoid harm.

When faced with these nine words, kneeling is definitely the safest option; otherwise, even if you don't incur their wrath, you're very likely to get splattered with blood.

However, unlike Huang Jin who would rather die than submit, he simply lowered his body and, like a maggot, used his knees to pupate Zhu Houcong.

What's with all the airs of otherworldly wisdom and the burdens of being a master... Isn't being alive better than anything else?
(End of this chapter)