Su Rong bought seven or eight kinds of pastries in total and took them back to the East Palace.
When entering the back door of the East Palace, she handed a portion to the gatekeeper and said, "Brother, thank you for your hard work. I'll give it to you."
The gatekeeper hurriedly waved his hand, "I don't want it, girl. You can eat it yourself!"
"Take it if it's given to you, you're welcome." Su Rong had been accustomed to bribing the gatekeepers since she was a child. Even after living in the East Palace, she couldn't change her habit of buying an extra portion for the gatekeepers.
The gatekeeper had no choice but to take it, feeling flattered and said, "Thank you, girl."
Su Rong waved her hand, said "No need to thank you," and then entered the palace with Fengling.
Walking to the intersection leading to the prince's study and Yuzhen Pavilion, Su Rong picked out the five-nut flower cake in his hand. After thinking about it, he took another bag of hawthorn cake, and then said to Fengling: "Your Highness, the prince should
It's still in the study, I'll send it to him. You're not allowed to eat it first when you get back, you'll have to wait for me to eat it together."
Fengling swallowed her saliva and said, "Okay, master, please come back soon."
"I know." Su Rong took off the curtain and stuffed it into him, took the pastries and went to the prince's study.
Yan Huisheng was indeed in the study, reading Ning Chi's letter. When he heard footsteps, he raised his head and looked towards the door.
Qin Luan put down the tea cup, took a look, and said softly, "Your Highness, Miss Rong is back."
Yan nodded in response.
Qin Luan immediately opened the door. Su Rong was walking to the door. Just as she was about to ask, the door opened from the inside. Qin Luan saluted her, "Miss Rong."
Su Rong smiled at her and said, "Ms. Qin."
He handed her the hawthorn cake in his hand and said, "Here it is for you to eat. Hawthorn cake will not make you gain weight easily if you eat it at night, and it also helps with digestion."
Qin Luan was startled, "Slave..."
Su Rong raised her hand to stop her, put the hawthorn cake into her hand, and walked into the prince's study. Seeing Yan Huisheng sitting at the table reading a letter, she didn't say anything to disturb her, and directly placed the five-nut flower cake on his table.
In front of him, he said with a smile: "Your Highness, you are right. The cakes from Cheng Jie Zhai are indeed selling well. Fengling spent ten taels of silver to find someone to buy a seat at the front of the queue, and then she grabbed these five kernels.
The last portion of the flower cake.”
Yan Huisheng lowered his head and asked with a smile: "The last one?"
"I will leave one of the last two for Fengling to take back."
Yan Huisheng smiled and nodded, "Thank you very much!"
Su Rong waved her hand, "You're welcome."
Yan Huisheng put down the letter in his hand and asked warmly, "Did you have a good time? Did you encounter any trouble?"
"No, I went to Zhuangyuanlou for dinner. While queuing up, I happened to meet the talented people from Western Sichuan, Lu Fengyan and Zhao Shu. Halfway through the meal, by coincidence, I ran into Xie Lin again. I was wearing a curtain and didn't interact with him.
He asked me to meet him. But he must be suspicious. I don't want the Duke Protector's Office to know that I'm in Beijing, so as not to affect Zhou Gu's scientific examination, and I have to trouble His Highness the Prince to wipe away as much of my traces as possible. There is no need to erase them.
There is not even a trace of it, as long as we can handle it without letting anyone find out or reveal it before the scientific examination starts." Su Rong and Yan Huisheng were discussing.
"This is simple, I'll let someone do it." Yan nodded in response, feeling very happy.
Su Rong was relieved and mentioned Lu Fengyan to him again, "Zhou Gu said that Lu Fengyan's articles were too eccentric? But that's not the case in my opinion. He is very restrained and calm. Isn't this different from the articles he wrote?
Judging from his appearance, he doesn’t seem to be a person who is tactless and likes to be extreme.”
Yan Hui said thoughtfully, "Is this so?"
Su Rong nodded, "We shared the table and had a meal together. He was polite in his words and behaved in a measured manner. I wondered if the article he posted was deliberately done to hide the truth? He was afraid of being noticed.
It makes people misunderstand that although he has great talent, he judges people by their articles. People who like to take the wrong approach are often difficult to control. Even if anyone wants to win over him, they should look at it more and consider it more, and they will not win him over easily.
Our own camp. Is he deliberately protecting himself?"
Yan Huisheng thought for a moment after hearing the words, "I believe in your ability to recognize people. If you say so, it is indeed possible."
Su Rong said: "Have you read the articles he wrote? Are they available now? Why don't I take a look and let's study him."
Yan nodded in response, "Yes."
He reached out and pulled out a pile of articles from under a pile of memorials. "Here are articles written by students who are taking the scientific examination in Jinqiu. One of them is written by Lu Fengyan and was copied by someone."
He flipped through to find the article and handed it to Su Rong, "This is his most recent article a few days ago. Indeed, as Zhou Gu said, he likes to go off the beaten path and find new ways."
Su Rong took it, glanced at ten lines, and quickly read Lu Fengyan's article. She didn't find any problems, but she felt that it shouldn't be, so she read it carefully a second time. After that, she frowned and read it again.
After reading it once, he put down his article, thought for a moment, and affirmed to Yan Huisheng: "If I hadn't read it a third time, I wouldn't have been able to find the contradiction in this article."
She put her hand in one place and pointed it to Yan Hui, "Look here, is he deliberately changing the direction of his writing? It is precisely because of this that from here on, his article began to reach an inflection point, although it was very subtle and not well connected.
It is abrupt, and the whole article is smooth and fluent. It makes people excited and calls it a good article. But after careful consideration, one can see that it is from here that the edge of deviation is revealed.
The deliberateness behind his writing is extremely obscure and traceless. If I hadn't met him today and had a close encounter with him, I would have felt that he is such a person based on the article.
, and I won’t feel any violation at all.”
After Su Rong finished speaking, she sighed, "This article is really well written and deeply rooted in people's hearts."
After she finished speaking, she guessed, "Zhou Gu must have never had close contact with Lu Fengyan, otherwise he wouldn't be commenting on him like this."
Yan Huisheng heard her mention Zhou Gu twice, and he was very calm. He raised his eyes to look at her, suppressed his thoughts, and said warmly: "It is true that he has not been in contact with Lu Fengyan. On that day, talented people from all over the capital gathered together.
He and your eldest brother, Xie Lin, went together to attend the Juxian Building discussion. The conservatives represented by Zhao Li'an, a talented man from northern Hebei, faced off against the radicals represented by Lu Fengyan, a talented man from western Sichuan. It is said that Lu Fengyan was sharp-tongued and very capable of sophistry.
It is no different from his article that he took a different approach and took a different approach. A large crowd gathered at Juxian Tower that day, and later after Lunce, his remarks spread throughout the capital. Therefore, no one doubted that Lu Fengyan did it deliberately.
Just treat others as their names say."
After he finished speaking, he added: "It wouldn't be surprising if he did it deliberately at Juxian Tower that day. It is said that Gu Na's eldest brother and second brother both went to Ju Xian Tower that day. The younger brothers were younger than Gu.
, also went to join in the fun."
"You didn't go?" Su Rong asked.
"Gu didn't go." Yan Hui shook his head, "Father is staring at Gu. Gu can't go there."
When he said this, Su Rong understood that it seemed that the emperor was keeping a close eye on the prince, to the point where he, a prince, did not even dare to set foot in the Juxian Tower. She sighed, "Your Majesty is not afraid of the prince."
Are the second prince, the second prince, and the other princes seeking power and profit? They can go, but you can’t?"
"They are not the crown prince, so my father cannot feel the threat from them." Yan echoed, "Moreover, their reputation is not as good as Gu's."
Su Rong understood, and looked at Yan Huisheng speechlessly, "Your Highness, as the Crown Prince, what do you have to do to be almost 70-80% satisfied? What should you do well?"
Yan Hui was speechless for a moment.
Su Rong sighed again, "Now that the matter has come to this, there is no other way. We can only break the situation first and let His Majesty lower his guard against you."
She came up with an idea, "How about you make a mistake first? A perfect person will be feared in front of ordinary people, let alone you are the prince."
Yan Hui asked, "What kind of mistake could Gu make?"
Su Rong blinked, "It won't hurt the roots, but it will also give you a breather, and it will make His Majesty think that you are still young and frivolous, and not enough to pose a threat to the throne and the imperial power in his hands."
Yan Hui sighed softly, "Do you think Gu has never thought about it? Master Qin mentioned it a long time ago, but this is too difficult. Once done improperly, it will have the opposite effect."
He paused and then said: "Moreover, how do you know that my father is not just waiting for an opportunity to catch Gu's mistakes? A small mistake may be magnified by my father, and Gu's eldest brother, second brother, and younger brothers will add fuel to the fire.
"
He said helplessly: "Sitting in this position, in fact, there is no room for any mistakes. Perhaps, one mistake will lead to catastrophe."
Su Rong was startled, "Forget it then, you should just be the perfect prince!"
She has never faced the imperial power directly, nor has she met the emperor, so she really shouldn't come up with this idea blindly.
She quickly stopped the topic and echoed to Yan: "Let's talk about Lu Fengyan!"
Yan Huisheng nodded and comforted her with a smile, "I am not so alone that I am cautious and frightened every day. It's just that I cleaned up the Jiang Sheng clan a few days ago and made a lot of noise in Jiangzhou, which has attracted the dissatisfaction of my father.
It's better not to make any more moves. After the scientific examination, I will avoid the limelight and no longer need to be so cautious."
Su Rong understood, "That's it, then I understand."
She smiled and said: "This Lu Fengyan must have a place in the top three. After the scientific examination, I asked Fei Ling to have more contact with him. If he can be roped in to the East Palace, he will be roped in. If not, he will be roped in.
He remains neutral, at least not taking refuge in others."
Yan Hui nodded, "That's fine. Currently, we don't need everyone to win over to the East Palace camp. We just need more neutral factions in the court to remain neutral."
Su Rong snapped her fingers, "Okay, leave it to me."
