Xiu Erdai's daily essays

08248 - cause tension

Duan Yanzhou: "Even if you pass the exam, it must be a good thing? Doing things for the nobles, and doing things for the small rich in small places. If the latter means inescapable pain, then the former..."

Mr. Tang: "You are smarter than I was, a lot smarter. But it can't be worse, it's not worse than being stuck in a small place, repeating the same life generation after generation, and thinking it's content. Now The imperial examination is bad, but there is hope for it to get better, as long as..." His voice got lower and lower, "There are more people like Mr. Tang."

After Duan Yanzhou arrived in the capital, he first found a place with a relatively low long-term rental price to settle down, and then he sneaked into the school.From the family schools of the nobles, to the schools run by the royal family, or serving the nobles, he browsed all the places where he could find books he hadn't read.

The school in the capital is obviously much stronger than the small schools in the countryside. On several occasions, Duan Yanzhou was almost caught even with the foundation-level swordsmanship. Sneaking once—even if you start from another school—will encounter stricter defenses, but Duan Yanzhou visited the library of all schools in the capital as planned.

Next, he set his sights on the documents handled by the emperor.

When he was in his hometown, Duan Yanzhou sneaked into the magistrate's document storage room and his private study room. The defense there was much higher than that of the school's library; similarly, the defense level of the emperor's government documents storage was much higher than that of the imperial school—— Even if it is a school that raised its defense level after the discovery of a diver, compared to the emperor's private study... it is of no comparison value at all.

Duan Yanzhou tried twice, and seeing the guards swearing nervously, "I guarantee with my life, I will never let Xiaoxiao succeed", he finally gave up.

The kid was still pondering: Is it true that stealing top-secret technology from a top university and stealing daily documents from the office of a national leader is the more serious crime?

Hard to say.Anyway, in this secret realm, the two things are the death penalty after torture.

After confirming that he could not get any more written materials, Duan Yanzhou calmed down. While summarizing his gains, he made his own questions based on the existing materials, simulating the spring exam, while waiting for the tense atmosphere in the library, study, etc. subside.

The tense atmosphere will of course subside. If no one can be caught, the person in charge of defense will either be under too much pressure and catch a few scapegoats; After a few months of defensive power, the shift personnel are about to be worn down, and the emperor and nobles who require them to defend closely are also tired, and then naturally relax.

08249-princess

After that, Duan Yanzhou didn't take the opportunity to try again when the atmosphere relaxed.On the one hand, he couldn't bear to cause so much trouble to the guards and nurses.When he first came here, he was still a monk with habitual thinking. He mainly only considered whether he would be caught, ignoring that his behavior might lead to others being angered or even killed. After he got used to the atmosphere of this society, Duan Yanzhou acted will inevitably be more cautious.

On the other hand, Duan Yanzhou vaguely noticed that although there is no cultivation or other high-energy and high-tech systems in this secret realm, the nobles should have some kind of people or technology that can penetrate and restrict his actions.It's not those guards and thugs who are only stronger physically-they are only equivalent to the level of Qi training, not enough to restrain Duan Yanzhou-but in the group that can directly talk to the nobles and even the emperor, someone knows A method of restraining spiritual power, and the person somehow made it possible for ordinary strong people to implement that method.

This is something that was not involved in the materials that Duan Yanzhou read before. It should be a secret hidden in the upper echelons of the nobles, and even the noble children who have not yet entered the family core have no right to know.It may not even be on paper at all, but only word of mouth.

Duan Yanzhou wrote the word 'National Teacher' in the sand, and erased it as soon as he finished writing it, but the action of writing these two words was completely seen by the National Teacher through the mirror, and he could still write it down at any time. Play it through the mirror for others to see.

The first princess Li Mangwei I saw when I fell into this secret realm was a pitiful little one.The birth mother's status is low, and she is blind from birth.But it was also because Li Mangwei was born blind that her lowly biological mother was allowed to raise her by herself. Otherwise, if Li Mangwei was a healthy princess or a slightly disabled prince, Li Mangwei's biological mother would have no choice but to raise her. Watching my own child call someone else a mother.

Li Mangwei's biological mother is called Mang Meiren, and the word "Mang" in Li Mangwei's name is also taken from her birth mother's title, which means that Li Mangwei has been extremely neglected since birth and from being named. She seems to be the child of Mangmei alone, and has nothing to do with her emperor father.

In fact, Li Mangwei had almost no chance to get in touch with her father when she was growing up, including banquets during the New Year and when important foreign guests came. In theory, all princes and princesses should be present, but they were allowed to sit close to the emperor. Yes, there are only a few who are favored every day. As for Li Mangwei, they are not as good as the children of the great nobles.The seat she was assigned was so far away that even if she wasn't blind, she couldn't even see the color of the clothes on the emperor's body - of course the emperor would not see Li Mangwei's shabby clothes.

08250-Sacrifice

In the imperial palace, not being favored by the emperor directly affects the quality of life. Mangmeiren and Li Mangwei, a mother and daughter who have been forgotten by the emperor, even have a hard time ensuring that they do not starve or freeze to death.They were able to obtain bottom-line survival supplies thanks to the fact that the queen has a good memory and strong control ability. At least some things will be arranged for them during the holidays, and the servants dare not embezzle the supplies when they are ordered.

If there was no queen, Li Mangwei's mother and daughter might have died silently in the harem; but with the queen, when Li Mangwei finally came of age, she would have to face the catastrophe of extinction.

The national teacher said that a sacrifice is needed, and the closer the blood of the sacrifice is to the emperor, the more effective the sacrifice will be to protect the emperor.

For a while, the emperor could only think of his beloved children, and he was not willing to sacrifice them, so the empress kindly reminded the emperor that he still had children who he might not even look at for a few years, and sent The names, characteristics, and status of the mothers of those children were listed to the emperor.

The emperor praised the queen's virtuousness, and then picked Li Mangwei, whose biological mother had the lowest status and had a disability.

The emperor also said: "The national teacher seems to have mentioned that blindness is more conducive to listening to heaven's instructions."

The queen agreed: "Mangwei was probably born just to help His Majesty today."

The emperor was satisfied: "It's no use raising her to this age."

While carrying the emperor on her back, the queen said to her cronies: "Of course the emperor's bloodline must be well maintained. This nominally most noble bloodline is of great use on certain occasions. Sacrifice, marriage, wooing heroes, and killing people on charges. In order to show justice...it doesn't matter how much status she actually has in the emperor's heart, what matters is the fact that 'she is the emperor's daughter'."

Queen: "It's a good deal for a few bites of food and a few bolts of cloth. It's much easier to feed a human than a cat."

Li Mangwei once thought that the biggest crisis in his life was being arranged to marry a bad husband and then tortured to death.Or worse, the empress forgot that there was another woman she needed to marry, so she could only die of old age in this cold harem with her biological mother.Unexpectedly, there is such an option as 'sacrifice'.

15-year-old Li Mangwei doesn't even know what a "sacrifice" is, and she doesn't even know the existence of a national teacher.

The queen explained to Li Mangwei: "This is an honor, and His Majesty will remember you for it."

Li Mangwei, who was assigned this honorary job, was summoned by the queen and the emperor.For the first time in her life, she stood at a position where she could clearly hear the voices of the two biggest masters in the palace, and her feeling of bewilderment was far greater than that of surprise.

She didn't dare to ask anything, didn't dare to question anything, she could only barely maintain the unfamiliar etiquette she had learned, and listened to the emperor's orders.

08251-mirror

The emperor was willing to say a few more words to Li Mangwei because the national teacher said: "The more the sacrifice blesses and thankes someone, the more beneficial the effect of the sacrifice will be to that one."

The emperor didn't have any feelings for this daughter before, but now that it's coming to an end, he has to hurry up and get some out of it.But the emperor wasn't too worried, because he felt that he had given the child life, and let her have the dignity of a princess, and now he gave her the opportunity to be close to the national teacher and communicate with the world. She should be grateful to himself, the emperor's father.

The empress was not as optimistic as the emperor, she knew too well how strong the hatred in the hearts of women living in the harem could be.But the queen was very sure that even if Li Mang hated him a little, what she hated most could not be herself who had given her a chance to live anyway.As long as there is someone blocking the knife in front of her, the queen, as the most honorable woman in the world, doesn't care about other women's petty emotions.

After the emperor finished speaking carelessly, he finally asked Li Mangwei: "You voluntarily prayed for your father, the emperor?"

Li Mangwei said the only sentence in the whole process of meeting the empress: "It is... the emperor." When she first arrived in front of the empress before, according to the rules, she should have said hello first, but she was too flustered at that time , couldn't think of anything, couldn't open her mouth at all, and the empress didn't care about her imminent use, so she just brought up the topic on her own.

At this moment, after getting the answer he wanted, the emperor nodded in satisfaction, thinking that this daughter is not too dull, and should be enough as a sacrifice, so he left first and let the queen handle the follow-up.

The queen comforted Li Mangwei, and promised to take care of Mang beauty for her, and then asked people to take Li Mangwei down to dress up, and finally Li Mangwei wore the most beautiful clothes she could touch in her life. He was sent to the place designated by the national division.

I fell into this secret realm on the way Li Mangwei went to the designated place, and then I met the national teacher with her, then Li Mangwei was left in an empty room to wait, and I followed the national teacher into a In a room with many mirrors.This is the place I noticed when I first saw this secret realm before I came in, and it is also the place where Duan Yanzhou was in danger.

At this time, half of the mirrors in the house showed Duan Yanzhou's life in the secret realm. From the first time he found words in this secret realm to this year when he was meditating in the humble room, part of the mirrors also showed Duan Yanzhou's life. And the inner thoughts of people who have direct and indirect contact with Duan Yanzhou, let me have a more comprehensive understanding of Duan Yanzhou's life in this secret realm than Duan Yanzhou himself.

There was an obsessed smile on the old face of the national teacher: "Friar, I hope you will be satisfied with the sacrifice I gave you."

In the mirror, Duan Yanzhou walked out of the room, looked up at the dark sky, frowning slightly.