Chapter 1746 – This is a Life-and-Death Problem
To be honest, this was the first time Feng Yi and the others had properly written a memorial for the Lord.
Every word and sentence was carefully considered, striving to express the matter as clearly as possible with the most concise language.
For this, the two top students from Golden Scales Academy stayed up all night, resulting in a thick stack of discarded drafts that just wouldn’t finalize.
It wasn’t that they had perfectionist tendencies, nor was it due to a lack of knowledge; simply put, the more they wrote, the deeper they delved into the issue, and the deeper they went, the more challenging it felt. Yet, they had to press on, which led to uncertainty and many wasted drafts.
From dusk to dawn, after several hours of discussion, they finally completed their draft.
“I was wondering why my head felt heavy… turns out it’s already the next day…”
Sun Lan walked to the window and opened it, the golden morning light poured in through the gap, enveloping her like a thin layer of golden gauze. Feng Yi’s eyes, accustomed to the darkness and candlelight, were suddenly struck by the bright light, and his sore eyes couldn’t help but protest. He instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes, and it felt much better.
“It’s getting late, I’ll go call for someone to prepare warm water for washing up.”
After washing up, he planned to grab a bit more sleep, to avoid dying from staying up late practicing.
Feng Yi slowly got up from the cushion, and even though he moved carefully, his brain was still a bit muddled, and his feet felt as if they were stepping on cotton.
Before he could give instructions, a servant informed him that the Eldest Lady of the Feng family and the Eldest Lady of the Qiguan family had come to visit.
“Why is Jinghui here?”
Changsheng was understandable—since the two families lived close by and often visited, Changsheng had liked coming over to play with Feng Yi since childhood—but Jinghui was less comprehensible. Their families weren’t that close; why would she show up so early in the day?
With this thought, Feng Yi’s somewhat dull brain finally recalled someone.
He turned his gaze towards Sun Lan, who was still dazed and seemed slower to respond, still in a state of confusion.
He thought he understood why Qiguan Jinghui had visited all of a sudden.
“Wash your face; don’t go out looking all greasy and dazed.”
Even though they were all familiar, the young man didn’t want the lady to see him with an oily face and crusty corners of his eyes.
Even if both of them were handsome boys, what young lad wouldn’t look presentable when being admired by a girl?
“Brother Rongli, I’m here to see you!”
A cheerful voice entered the room, dispelling the earlier tense atmosphere as if injecting vitality into the air.
By the time Changsheng and the others arrived, Feng Yi and Sun Lan had already been served warm water to wash their faces by the servants. The warm towel made contact with their faces, startling them back to some clarity. After carefully brushing their teeth twice with powder and rinsing with warm water, they tidied their long hair and adorned themselves with a few trinkets. In no time, they transformed back into two fresh-looking young fellows.
“Why did you arrive so early?” Feng Yi emerged after getting ready. “Have you had breakfast yet?”
Changsheng replied, “Not yet.”
Feng Yi added, “Then let’s have breakfast first, and then we can talk about other things.”
“Brother Rongli, look at those dark circles under your eyes; you and A Lan must have been worried all night!”
Changsheng squinted her eyes with a smile, her observing gaze sweeping over the dark shades under their eyes and their low spirits, instantly guessing that her buddies had been up “cultivating” all night. However, her evident schadenfreude earned Feng Yi a light tap on the forehead.
“Oh great, you two came all this way just to see how messy we are?”
Changsheng laughed, “This was just on the way; I originally wanted to imitate Sister Jinghui and throw a tough problem at you, Brother Rongli…”
Feng Yi’s smile froze. He felt a bit intimidated when he heard the words “tough problem.”
Why couldn’t Qiguan Jinghui set a good example instead of teaching her to be a troublemaker?
Before he could express his thoughts, Changsheng gently touched the dark circles under his eyes with a napkin, concerned, “Seeing you like this just makes my heart ache.”
Though she didn’t say anything overly sentimental, her simple words warmed Feng Yi’s heart.
Look, Changsheng is the real cutie; Qiguan Jinghui is just a devil in cute disguise!
As Sun Lan watched the two of them sprinkle dog food in front of him, he felt a twinge of nausea.
He wasn’t a fool; if he didn’t play the sympathy card now, when would he?
After the four of them finished breakfast, Changsheng asked, “A Lan, how do you plan to solve the problem Sister Jinghui proposed?”
Sun Lan took out several sheets of paper from his sleeve, a bit anxious inside—this was the “answer sheet” he’d written with his buddies after a night of “cultivating.”
Qiguan Jinghui hadn’t truly pressed them; it was merely a test, and it wouldn’t matter if Sun Lan couldn’t handle it, as long as he had made the effort.
Seeing Sun Lan actually take out the “answer sheet,” her curiosity piqued. She wanted to see just how much the two “talented scholars” had poured their hearts into an overnight effort.
Changsheng leaned in as well; the smiles that had initially graced their lips gradually faded into seriousness as they read further down the paper.
By the end, Changsheng said, “No way.”
Jinghui neatly folded the papers and echoed, “I don’t agree either.”
Golden Scales Academy taught everything, and the teachers emphasized aligning textbooks with real events, with higher grades dealing with material closely related to real-world situations. Although Jinghui and Changsheng were in different grades, both had ranked among the best in their respective classes at Golden Scales Academy.
With great scholars guiding them in school and family members giving extra lessons at home, they had to be excellent.
Changsheng hailed from the Feng family, with her grandfather Feng Ren being one of the big shots at Golden Scales Academy, so extra lessons were a cinch.
Qiguan Jinghui’s grandfather was the renowned scholar Wei Yuan from Hejian, who had also moved in to enjoy retirement, conveniently able to tutor his granddaughter.
Even though neither of them had officially graduated yet, their political instincts were no less sharp than Feng Yi’s, perhaps even sharper due to their scholarly backgrounds.
Only by reading the contents of the memorial did they understand what had kept Feng Yi and the others up all night. The more they read, the more shocked they became, and they quickly dismissed it.
“Do you know how serious your situation could be if this memorial leaks?” Changsheng wore an unusually serious expression. “This memorial involves too many people’s interests. Those whose interests are harmed may not touch Lan Ting, but making a move against you would be easy.”
This wasn’t just a simple matter of two heads of households; it also included suggestions to alter taxes.
Once the topic of taxes was broached, it would be impossible to stop.
Just looking at the first few suggestions for alterations made Changsheng realize that if this got out, Sun Lan and the others would bring disaster upon themselves.
Even if they had elders to protect them, just one “stain” would jeopardize their futures.
Jinghui regretted it.
If she had known Sun Lan would come up with that idea, she wouldn’t have used this to trouble him; it would have been better to approach it more gently and have a proper discussion.
She knew Sun Lan’s temperament; Jinghui wasn’t worried about wasting her life away like an ordinary woman in the backyard.
Even if Sun Lan opposed it, Jinghui could still rely on her father; he had always supported her in looking up to and learning from Lan Ting.
