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T H E S U N
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Little Jing Kong pouted when he saw Xiao Liulang, "Why is brother-in-law the one here today? Why isn't JiaoJiao coming?"
Xiao Liulang was both annoyed and amused at the same time, "Someone came to pick you up, and you're still complaining?"
Little Jing Kong thought for a moment before saying, "If you buy me candied haws, I won't dislike you."
Xiao Liulang replied, "...just keep on disliking me then."
Little Jing Kong:“…”
One big and one small bickered all the way home.
When they arrived home, Gu Jiao had yet to return.
Xiao Liulang narrowed his eyes and looked at Little Jing Kong who was sitting on the doorstep munching on peach pastries. He asked him, "Do you want to go into the palace to see Grandaunt?"
As an official and a male outsider, it would raise suspicion if Xiao Liulang directly entered the palace to meet Empress Dowager Zhuang. But if he used Little Jing Kong's identity, things would be much easier.
Little Jing Kong never expected that he would be used as a tool one day.
He raised his small face covered in pastry crumbs, with the same serious expression as Gu Jiao, and nodded, "I want to!"
Xiao Liulang smiled, "Good."
The lady that Xiao Liulang wanted to see in the imperial palace was surnamed Zhang and was now in her old age, working as a supervisor in the Imperial Household Department.
Before leaving, Old Chief repeatedly reminded him, "You… Ask Empress Dowager first. If Empress Dowager really doesn't remember you, then go look for her."
In other words, don’t disturb this old acquaintance of his unless it was absolutely necessary.
Xiao Liulang looked at him strangely and asked, "Is it… Master’s lover?"
"What lover? Don't be ridiculous!" Old Chief almost jumped in frustration. "Don't make wild guesses!"
But he did have a little secret with Supervisor Zhang that couldn't be shared with others. Alas, he hoped that she had forgotten all about it!
Xiao Liulang and Little Jing Kong got into the carriage and headed towards the imperial palace.
Little Jing Kong was extremely excited, his head bobbing up and down, just like the appearance Gu Jiao made when she was in a good mood.
People who had been living together for a long time gradually left their marks on each other's demeanor and habits, just like a genuine family related by blood.
The carriage continued on its way and suddenly encountered a traffic jam when passing by the Jingzhao Office.
"What's going on?" Liu Quan asked, craning his neck.
An Imperial Academy student who happened to be passing by said, "Don't you know? Someone has cracked Old Master Meng's chess puzzle."
Ordinary people might not understand this, but almost every scholar had heard of Old Master Meng's chess puzzles, which included the eight puzzles that shook the six states and resounded throughout the world.
Among the eight puzzles, the Qian and Kun puzzles were the most difficult to crack.
The Qian puzzle was known as the Heavenly game and was unsolvable.
Until today, the Kun puzzle had also been unsolvable.
However, the Crown Princess had cracked it.
She was the first person in the six countries to solve the Kun puzzle, causing a great sensation in the academic and chess circles. Everyone was here because the imperial announcement honoring the Crown Princess had come out.
Although the State of Zhao was a lower country, it had cracked a chess puzzle that even the top three countries could not, making the Crown Princess extremely impressive.
"Has His Majesty sent a letter to the State of Yan? I wonder if Old Master Meng will be shocked when he hears the news? Maybe he will personally guide our Crown Princess in chess..." The scholar said excitedly, unaware that Xiao Liulang had already lowered the carriage curtain.
Meanwhile, in the crowd ahead, an old beggar shook his head after reading the imperial announcement, saying, "Wrong, wrong."
"What is wrong, old man?" Someone asked.
"That says it was solved at midnight." The beggar said.
"Yeah, what’s wrong with it?" The scholar asked.
"That person wasn't the first to solve the Kun puzzle then." The beggar said.
The scholar frowned and said, "Hey, old man! You can eat your food randomly, but you can't talk random nonsense like that! How can the Crown Princess not be the first person to break through the Kun puzzle? If it wasn't the Crown Princess, who else can it be?"
"It’s the one in the evening." The beggar replied earnestly.
"Come on, why are you arguing with an old beggar? He looks like a crazy person and this isn't the right place for it either.” Another young man pulled the scholar's sleeve and gestured to his own head, indicating that the scholar shouldn't bother with the old beggar.
On the surface, it appeared to be an attempt to stop a fight and avoid conflict, but in reality, it was a blatant mockery of the old beggar.
What did a beggar on the street understand? Did he know how to play chess? Did he know what the six states and the eight chess puzzles were? Did he have a clue about the difficulty of the Kun puzzle?
He knew nothing!
"This is wrong." The old beggar muttered to himself, regardless of what others thought of him.
Fortunately, most of the onlookers were scholars, and aside from a few sarcastic remarks, they did not resort to pushing the old beggar or any other extreme actions.
The old beggar left while still muttering to himself, and the people watching him became all the more convinced that he was a lunatic.
Xiao Liulang was never one to seek out or partake in any excitement. After waiting for a while without seeing any signs of the way getting cleared up, he had Liu Quan change course.
In the summer, the days were long and the nights were short, so when they arrived at the palace, it was still bright outside.
The palace guards stopped the carriage and asked, "Who’s in there?"
"I am Xiao Liulang, Senior Compiler of the Hanlin Academy." Xiao Liulang replied. He was about to ask people to pass a message to Renshou Palace as to be allowed inside, when Little Jing Kong took out a token from his pocket and said, "Here, can we go in now?"
The guard's expression didn't change much when he heard that Xiao Liulang was a Senior Compiler of the Hanlin Academy, but as soon as he saw the token presented by Little Jing Kong, his attitude immediately became respectful. "Of course you may enter!"
The guards let them pass, and the carriage passed through the palace gate.
Xiao Liulang looked at Little Jing Kong in astonishment and asked, "Where did you get that token?"
Little Jing Kong calmly put the token away and replied, "Grandaunt gave it to me. Don't you have one too?"
Xiao Liulang replied, "Of course I don’t!"
Little Jing Kong counted on his fingers and said, "JiaoJiao has one, big brother Xiaoshun and big brother Yan also have one each."
So, he was the only one who didn't have it?!
Xiao Liulang felt a thunderbolt out of the blue!!!
How could Little Jing Kong have known that his bad brother-in-law actually didn't have the token given by Grandaunt?
The carriage couldn't enter the inner palace, so it stopped near the imperial audience hall.
Little Jing Kong jumped off the carriage and ran towards the inner palace.
There were also guards stationed at the boundary between the inner palace and the outer palace, but they recognized Little Jing Kong and knew that he was not only the guest of the Seventh Prince, but also a guest of the Renshou Palace, so they let him pass without worry.
The same couldn’t be said for the miserable Xiao Liulang.
He was once again stopped in his tracks.
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