Mad Queen Leaves the Palace

The next morning, Da Bao hitched up the carriage, and after Xiao Lan finished breakfast, she took Ding Ding with her to Minglu Academy. Da Bao helped carry the things Xiao Lan had packed the day before into the east wing of Lan Yue Residence, then stood aside and cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to Xiao Lan, saying, "Miss, is there anything else I can do for you?" Xiao Lan smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Da Bao. I'm all done here, so you can go back now. Tell Yue'er that everything is fine here, and she's taking care of things at home. If there's anything you're unsure about, you can discuss it with Uncle Li. I'll stay here for the next few days, and they'll send a carriage to pick me up in three days."

Zhang Jiabao accepted the order, boarded the carriage, and returned to Dingxiang Hutong. Meanwhile, Xiao Lan, finding the courtyard pleasant and remembering that classes would begin tomorrow, took the newly written letter and, accompanied by Dingding, went to the dean's study. After being announced, Xiao Lan followed the page into the study, bowed to the dean, and said, "Student Xiao Lan greets the dean."

"Xiao Xueyou, please don't stand on ceremony, have a seat." The dean gestured for Xiao Lan to sit down, and then said to the servant boy, "Go and stand guard at the door."

After Xiao Lan sat down, he said, "Xiao Xueyou, you can call me Master Tan in private from now on." He poured Xiao Lan a cup of tea, which Xiao Lan quickly took with both hands and smiled, "Okay, Master Tan." Then he took out a letter he had written yesterday from his sleeve and handed it to Master Tan with both hands, "This is Young Master Lan's letter, please take a look."

Dean Tan took the letter from Xiao Lan, read it, and then said to Xiao Lan, "Xiao Xueyou, what does this Young Master Lan mean by demanding the right to reputation?" Xiao Lan's head buzzed upon hearing this. He had been so excited yesterday that he had forgotten to be careful with his words when writing the letter. However, he managed to smooth things over: "Master Tan, you know that Young Master Lan is a genius of our time. There are some words we may not have heard of, but he does. This claim for the right to reputation is actually because of this incident. Young Master Lan's reputation has been damaged, and the harm done to him is immense. The integrity of a scholar is not like other things. One can lose one's head, shed blood, but the integrity of a scholar cannot be extinguished. This Vice Minister of War, relying on his high rank, dares to bully Young Master Lan today. Tomorrow, he might bully Minglu Academy and all the scholars in the world."

Xiao Lan knew that if she didn't make the dean sound righteously indignant today, the matter might be let off easily tomorrow. Although Xiao Lan said in her letter that if the Luo family didn't give her an answer, Young Master Lan would take the matter to the Emperor's ears—a blatant threat to sow discord.

Upon hearing this, Dean Tan also began to feel dissatisfied with the Luo family, mainly because this time Minglu Academy had been implicated. Luo Yuanyuan dared to deceive the academy with a fake letter. This not only damaged Young Master Lan's reputation but also embarrassed the academy, revealing their poor judgment in accepting the letter. Later, because of Luo Yuanyuan's pleading, they had agreed to let her participate in the inner academy's examination. Although she had a recommendation letter and could have been exempted from the exam, Luo Yuanyuan insisted on showing off. Now she had gained face in front of the princes. If this matter wasn't handled properly, both his and Minglu Academy's reputations would be ruined. Thinking of this, Dean Tan poured Xiao Lan another cup of tea and said, "Young friend Xiao, I saw in Young Master Lan's letter that if the matter isn't resolved properly, he'll take it to the Emperor. Could you help me think of a solution that would satisfy Young Master Lan? The Emperor is extremely busy; if we can resolve this ourselves, we shouldn't trouble him." Xiao Lan thought for a moment and said, "Dean Tan is right. His Majesty has devoted himself to the Great Xia Dynasty; he shouldn't waste his energy on the petty actions of the Luo family." Hearing that Xiao Lan agreed with his point of view, Dean Tan's mood calmed down slightly, and he asked, "Young friend, did Young Master Lan tell you what attitude he wanted from the Luo family?"

Xiao Lan smiled and said, "Master Tan, actually, Young Master Lan didn't specify, but I think it's just eight words." Hearing this, Dean Tan asked curiously, "Which eight words?"

"Set things right, and make amends." Xiao Lan took a sip of tea, thinking to herself that dealing with this old man was not as easy as dealing with a brute like Wu De.

"Oh, what is the interpretation of these eight characters? I would like to hear the details." Dean Tan was happy to hear that there was a solution, but he didn't expect that he would not be happy after hearing Xiao Lan's words next.

"The first step in rectifying this situation is that Luo was able to enter Minglu Academy with a forged letter. Leaving aside the crime of forging someone else's letter to enter Minglu Academy, her falsified qualifications mean she must be expelled from the academy. Furthermore, this act should be publicly announced to all students," Dean Tan was about to suggest that a public announcement suffice, but Xiao Lan's next words silenced him. "This is to demonstrate Minglu Academy's determination not to fear power and not to associate with such morally flawed individuals." Dean Tan understood; this was to remove Minglu Academy from the list of offenders. If it were merely expulsion, Minglu Academy would still be criticized by the world. Therefore, Dean Tan nodded and said, "What you say makes sense, young friend. I'll send someone to handle it shortly."

"No rush, Master Tan. Let's check the results later. If Luo Yuanyuan is truly talented, we can give her another chance, right?" Xiao Lan said, thinking that Luo Yuanyuan was a poor student in her past life, and with her father being a high-ranking official in the capital, she shouldn't have had a chance to enter Minglu Academy. However, thanks to her maternal family's connections, she managed to get in, just like Ye Lanyi. Therefore, Xiao Lan was certain that Luo Yuanyuan had done extremely poorly on the exam, and that Dean Tan wouldn't show any leniency towards the Luo family after seeing the results. Xiao Lan was secretly pleased with herself, but Dean Tan thought this girl was magnanimous and had a good personality, willing to give someone like Luo Yuanyuan, whose character was questionable, another chance. He suddenly remembered that his eldest grandson would be coming to the capital next year to participate in the imperial examination; if there was an opportunity, he should let the two get to know each other.

“Then this matter of restoring order is simple to handle; it's just a matter of cutting off flesh as compensation. Although Luo Yuanyuan is hateful, she doesn't deserve to be subjected to torture. We can't resort to vigilante justice.”

After hearing Dean Tan's words, Xiao Lan couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Master Tan, you're overthinking it. Let me tell you a joke. My maternal grandparents had a woman named Granny Qian. She saved every penny her whole life and accumulated a hundred gold coins. But one day, a thief stole her money. She went home and cursed the thief, saying that stealing her money was no different than cutting off her own flesh. That's the real meaning of 'cutting off flesh and drinking blood'."

Master Tan understood Xiao Lan's meaning and found it interesting, so he asked, "How much would be appropriate? If it's too little, I'm afraid Young Master Lan will be unhappy; if it's too much, I'm afraid the Luo family won't be willing to give it."

"Dean, I heard that someone offered a thousand taels of gold for Young Master Lan's calligraphy. Each character is worth a thousand gold pieces. I wonder how many characters were in that fake letter of recommendation?"

Dean Tan inwardly exclaimed, "That letter must have been at least a hundred words long. If each word was worth a thousand pieces of gold, or even ten thousand taels of gold, even His Majesty might not be able to produce it so easily. The key is that even if he did, it would probably be like Xiao Lan saying, 'cutting off a piece of flesh.'"

Dean Tan then said, "The letter does have a hundred characters, but if we calculate it this way, it would be worth 100,000 taels of gold. Even His Majesty couldn't come up with that amount in one go. Let alone a mere Vice Minister of War."

"Dean Tan, don't worry. Although the Luo family has wronged Young Master Lan, we can't push them to the brink. 100,000 gold coins might be a bit much, but 100,000 silver coins are definitely necessary. After all, if this Vice Minister of War affects the publication of Young Master Lan's poetry collection in the capital next year..."

"Oh, is Young Master Lan going to publish his second poetry collection in the capital? Young friend, is this a sure thing?" Upon hearing this news, Dean Tan forgot that he was talking about Luo Yuanyuan.

“Yes, Dean, let’s talk about the Luo family first. I’ll tell you about publishing the poetry collection later.” Xiao Lan thought to herself, “This teacher, we haven’t even settled on a price yet. Don’t ruin my big money-making plan.”

"Yes, yes, yes," Master Tan finally came to his senses. Thinking that he should do something to please Young Master Lan no matter what, he said to Xiao Lan, "Although 100,000 taels of silver is not a small amount, it is still not enough compared to the damage caused to Young Master Lan. How about this, I will go and talk to Vice Minister Luo to see if we can get something else for the young master. It's not good to let Young Master Lan suffer too much."

Xiao Lan was overjoyed upon hearing this. This Master Tan was really shrewd. Only a fool wouldn't take more if he could. However, the old master was so enthusiastic when he heard that Xiao Lan was coming to publish his poetry collection, so it seemed that he had other intentions. Therefore, Xiao Lan said to Master Tan, "Master Tan is truly a person of great righteousness who is not afraid of powerful people. He is a role model for students. Master Tan, please negotiate with the Luo family. In the letter to Young Master Lan later, I will definitely make it clear that Master Tan is acting with great righteousness."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Master Tan, he left the study, called Dingding who was waiting under the flower corridor, and prepared to go and see the posted list.