Chapter 14 Vomiting Blood
The floor is paved with large water-polished bluestone, the walls are snow-white, there are large nanmu pillars, and the caisson is carved.
The dimly lit hall was large enough to accommodate thousands of people. Several young eunuchs in blue sat behind a long desk. Their faces were as pale as paper, their lips were as red as blood, and they smiled as femininely as ghosts.
A handsome young eunuch asked Lu Yi in a soft voice.
"Name."
"Lu Yu, the Yu who is on the top of the mountain and at the bottom of the mountain."
"age."
"sixteen."
"gender."
"male."
"Oh, are you interested in entering the palace? You are so tall and mighty, and you look handsome. You have the potential to be a eunuch. There is a clean room next door, and it only takes a simple cut. We have a master with sixty years of experience to serve you. I guarantee that you will not feel any pain at all, and you will be able to walk in one day. It would be so impressive to be a eunuch beside the noble... Tsk tsk."
"Well, thank you for your appreciation, young eunuch. I am Lu Yu, and my gender is male."
The young eunuch sighed softly: "Ah, what a pity, what a pity."
Looking at Lu Yi's handsome face again and again, the young eunuch pointed at the three brothers of the Three-tailed Black Scorpion who were also registering their identity information at the next desk, and shook his head and said, "What a waste of talent like you."
"Look at those three. Our family will never give them this opportunity."
"Look at that ugly thing. Even if it is cut off and brought into the palace, it will scare the nobles. Who can afford to offend it? Not everyone is qualified to serve the nobles in the palace. Lu Yu, don't you think about it?"
The three brothers of the Three-tailed Black Scorpion turned red in the face and turned their heads to look over in extreme anger.
They didn't dare to be cruel to the young eunuch. Their six bloodshot eyes just stared at Lu Yi viciously. The eldest of the three brothers even raised his right hand and gently stroked his neck.
Lu Yi shrugged his shoulders innocently at them, put his hands in his sleeves, smiled and bowed to the young eunuch: "Thank you for your kindness, Lu Yi, I have no intention of entering the palace for the time being."
The young eunuch looked at Lu Yi with regret : "Oh, what a pity. Such a good material!"
Shaking his head, the young eunuch said in a long and slow voice, "Okay, with your name and age, that's enough. We won't ask about your origins or what you did before. Palace Guard, Palace Guard, once you enter our sect, don't complain about good or bad things. Anyway, once you enter the Palace Guard, you are one of us."
"All the past events have been wiped out. What the future holds depends on your fate!"
"A wolf travels a thousand miles to eat meat, while a dog travels ten thousand miles to eat shit. Those who are capable of climbing up the ladder will be able to enjoy great prestige, fine clothes and delicious food. Those who are incapable will die in the gutter like wild dogs one day, and that is your own choice."
"Once you enter the Guardian Prison, as long as you remember the word 'loyalty', there will be no taboos!"
"Of course, the family rules are strict. If you make a mistake, you will know the consequences in the future. Since you are able to come to the Shougong Warden, you must know the reputation of the Shougong Warden and should not make such a mistake, right?"
The efficiency of the palace guard is extremely high.
Register, compile, and file.
The body shape, height, weight, and general appearance were measured and all recorded in the file. Then two sets of gecko supervisor-style robes made of fine white brocade were distributed on the spot.
White robe, black hat, black boots, black belt, identity token made of black iron, and a three-foot-six-inch standard goose-feather knife.
Lu Yi waited in the main hall for less than a quarter of an hour before he received a complete set of household items. After changing his clothes in the side hall next door, he had already become a low-level guard in the palace guard station.
The crisp sound of cloud cards was heard, and a sharp voice came from afar: "All those who are new here today, come with us."
"You all listen to me."
"The palace guard has its own rules."
"No matter how great a figure you were in the past, no matter how powerful you were in the past. Once you enter the Guardian Prison, you are just a newcomer with no money, and you must obey your orders."
"If you listen, you will be successful."
"If you don't obey, you will die!"
"Remember, if you don't obey, you will die!"
It was noon.
God was very kind to me. The dark clouds in the sky dissipated and a red sun was shining brightly.
In the city of Haojing, the snow on the roofs was melted by the heat of the sun, and the snow and ice dripped down the eaves, falling to the ground with a "da da da" sound. The whole Haojing became wet.
In the southeast corner of the imperial city of Haojing, next to the south wall of the Imperial College, there is a hundred-meter-high hill surrounded by dense green cypresses, and on the top of the hill there is an exquisite three-story building.
The green cypresses all around are as lush as clouds and smoke, while the hills are planted with gnarled old plum trees.
Despite the freezing weather, these old plum trees are in high spirits and are blooming wildly.
Fist-sized plum blossoms of various colors exude fragrance, and in the sunlight, their petals reflect dazzling light.
'Ding, ding, ding.'
On the spacious terrace on the third floor of the small building, a white-haired old man with long hair, bare chest and muscular body was holding a bamboo castanets in each hand and beating them loudly, while singing at the top of his voice in a free and unrestrained manner.
Several carriages passed through the green cypresses and arrived at the foot of the mountain.
Bai Changkong, wrapped in a silver fox cloak, slowly stepped out of the carriage and casually pushed aside a plum branch that was blocking his way.
After listening attentively to the old man's singing on the mountaintop for a while, Bai Changkong clapped his hands and exclaimed: "Brother Gongyang, you are in a good mood. But is there any good news?"
The sound of castanets and singing on the top of the mountain suddenly stopped.
The shirtless old man walked to the terrace, looked down at the carriages at the foot of the mountain and laughed: "Finally we see the sun, is this a happy event?"
"What a shame, what a shame, you old ghost Bai, your granddaughter has been watched by several of us old friends for several years. You refused to marry the good man your family carefully selected, and instead chose to marry the son of a warrior."
"A pearl is thrown into the dark, a flower is stuck in cow dung."
"You said you, you said you, it's good for a gentleman to keep his word, but it's a pity that the little girl Wei Shuang has been wronged."
Bai Changkong smiled but cursed in his heart.
That mess that happened to my granddaughter.
Oh, your grandchildren want to marry her, but how dare they marry Bai Changkong?
Marrying her with a baby in her arms is not a marriage, it's an enmity!
If it weren't for the mess that Bai Weishuang got pregnant before marriage.
This shirtless old man is an excellent candidate for a relative - Gongyang, among the various schools of culture and education in Dayin, specializes in the "law", and is the host of the "reform" which is the most popular, powerful and influential in recent years.
The Gongyang clan is not as good as the Zhu clan that came after Zhu Yu.
The Zhu family is the descendant of the "saint".
However, the ancestor of Gongyang clan was also revered as the "Second Sage" three generations before the founding of Dayin.
More importantly, the current Grand Sikou of the Dayinwu Dynasty is a direct descendant of the Gongyang clan. The Grand Sikou has a high status and the Sikou Office has great power. If Bai Weishuang herself had not been undisciplined, marrying a direct descendant of the Gongyang clan would have been the best choice.
After a light cough, Bai Changkong said in a clear voice: "Brother Gongyang, you should be more kind-hearted. The boy from the Lu family is also quite good. Apart from other things, his calligraphy is more impressive than that of the children in my family."
The shirtless Gong Yangyao suddenly lowered his tone. He laughed dryly and said, "That's true. But, what school of calligraphy does he have? I've never seen it in the ancient inscriptions. It's strange, strange. It can't be that he created his own font. Then you, Old Man Bai, got a great bargain!"
Bai Changkong twirled his beard and smiled, but said nothing.
From several other carriages, there were also elderly men with extraordinary bearing walking slowly out.
They all spoke up, discussing with Gong Yangyao on the small building across the plum forest on the hillside about the origin of Lu Yi's unprecedentedly beautiful calligraphy.
Bai Changkong's complexion was getting better and better, and his complexion was getting better and better.
This mountain is called 'Cuiwei'.
There is a small building on the mountain, named "Cai Wei".
This is the holy place of culture and education where the eighteen great sages of culture and education in Gaojing gather and hold the Caiwei Review once a quarter to comment on the young talents of Gaojing.
Bai Changkong has made preparations and has discussed with a few old friends. Today, he wants to be here and promote Lu Yi's name again.
My granddaughter must not marry a bad man.
It is necessary to hype up Lu Yi's reputation within a short period of time, so that everyone in the world knows that Lu Yi is a shining new star in culture and education, a great talent, and a wise man.
To help Lu Yi become famous is to help Bai Lu become famous.
After the two got married...if something happened to Lu Xu, according to the folk customs of Dayin and the popular belief, it would highlight the great blessings of Bai Lu. It was Lu Xu who could not bear the "blessing" of Bai Lu, so his "marriage collapsed."
When Bai Lu gave birth to a child, wow, this child was no ordinary one.
With Lu Yi's "talent" and Bai Lu's "blessing", their child is naturally a pearl of fairy dew that is the essence of heaven and earth, a unicorn on earth, and "has the potential to be a great sage"!
So, three years later, Bai Lu remarried Zhu Yu with this "unicorn child"!
Let me ask you, is this 'dowry' any great?
Let me ask you, do you, Zhu, dare to be disrespectful to Bai Lu?
Let me ask you, how can the child born to Zhu Yu's wife compete with this "unicorn son"?
Bai Changkong's eyes were cold, like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath. With his hands behind his back, he walked up the white marble steps, step by step, towards the small building on the top of the mountain.
At this moment, he was thinking about how to squeeze Lu Yi to the extreme.
He used Lu Yi's blood, Lu Yi's life, Lu Yi's soul, and Lu Yi's name to fill in the gaps for his precious granddaughter, pave a bright future for his precious granddaughter, and pave a path to success for his Bai family.
As for Lu Yi’s life or death!
"You ungrateful little dog, if you had agreed to cancel the engagement that day, nothing would have happened today." Bai Changkong exclaimed in his heart: "Well, well, fortunately you didn't cancel the engagement, fortunately you still have some real reading skills!"
Thinking of this, Bai Changkong began to blame his granddaughter.
How come she secretly made peace with Zhu Yu?
Having a secret reconciliation is not a big deal, but she was pregnant and couldn't hide it anymore, so she told Bai Changkong. This is not right!
The sound of a horse neighing was heard.
A young man wearing a tight suit with arrow sleeves and a black cloak rode a chestnut warhorse and galloped through the woods, rushing towards them with a look of horror on his face.
Still more than ten feet away from Bai Changkong and other great sages, the young man suddenly jumped up from the horse's back, rolled in the air, landed steadily on the ground, and then rushed to Bai Changkong in two steps.
"Master Bai!"
The young man leaned close to Bai Changkong's ear and whispered a few words.
Bai Changkong's face turned red and white for a while, and finally turned purple, and a trickle of blood oozed out from the corner of his mouth.
"Yu Changle... you eunuch, you're going too far!" Bai Changkong roared angrily and slapped an old plum tree next to him.
There was a loud bang, like thunder exploding.
The old plum tree, as thick as a water tank, was smashed to pieces by Bai Changkong's palm. The trunk, branches, petals, and stamens were all blown into powder finer than flour.
Several great sages and Gong Yangyao on the top of the mountain all changed color.
