Chapter 98

Chapter 98: How dare you?

“Who did it?” Zhu Cici asked curiously.

“It’s…” Just as Xia Wei was about to reveal, a mischievous glint flashed in her eyes. “Not telling you yet, but you’ll know eventually.”

“You little wretch, teasing me and then stopping! That’s tongue-worthy punishment!”

Zhu Cici extended her hand, tickling the young girl under her armpit.

“Hehehe stop it, stop it! I won’t say it, never!”

Xia Wei seized an opportunity to escape Zhu Cici’s “evil claws,” running towards the lecture hall.

“Little girl, don’t let me catch you.”

Zhu Cici laughed and chased after her.

The two girls ran toward the academy while playing around.

As Zhu Cici approached the lecture hall, she promptly reined in her playful demeanor.

Her hands folded neatly in front of her, she exuded elegance and scholarly refinement.

Under the willow tree by the ink pool, Master Wang of White Deer Academy sat beneath the shade.

In front of Master Wang were over a dozen students.

All these students came from royal families across various dynasties.

Master Wang specifically lectured to them.

Although Zhu Cici was the youngest disciple of the White Deer Academy’s principal, she didn’t skip these lectures because of her status.

Zhu Cici actually enjoyed listening to different masters teach.

Each master had unique insights into Confucian classics, which Zhu Cici believed helped her interpret them from multiple angles. Every time she listened to a different master, she gained new insights.

When the princes and heirs from the dynasties saw Zhu Cici, their eyes all lit up.

The saying “a woman changes eighteen times” really wasn’t false.

Every few days they didn’t see her, they felt Zhu Cici became even more beautiful, her figure increasingly graceful.

“Master.”

Zhu Cici and Xia Wei bowed to Master Wang as they reached the willow tree.

“Hmm.” Master Wang nodded. “You two can find some grass to sit on. The weather is good today, so we won’t be having class inside the lecture hall—it’s too stuffy. We’ll lecture here instead.”

“Yes, Master.”

Zhu Cici and Xia Wei found a spot to sit.

Xia Wei cleverly positioned herself between Zhu Cici and a prince, guarding her best sister.

“Today was originally supposed to be a rest day, but this old man obtained an excellent article and couldn’t resist sharing it, so I’ve called all of you for an extra lesson. Please forgive me.”

Master Wang said to everyone.

“Master speaks too humbly.”

Everyone quickly responded.

Master Wang was the grand sacrificer of White Deer Academy, holding an extremely high position.

The reason Master Wang taught these young lords and ladies was entirely due to luck.

Because it just happened that Master Wang was responsible for teaching the mortal world’s noble children, and he just happened to take this class.

So many people wanted to attend Master Wang’s lectures but couldn’t, and now Master Wang was adding lessons for them—how could they possibly complain?

Although quite a few indeed didn’t want to have classes.

“Master Wang, what famous article has caught your attention so much?” asked the crown prince of Qi Kingdom sitting at the front, trying to assert his presence.

Others also looked curiously at Master Wang.

What kind of article could make Master Wang so eager to gather them for a lecture?

“Hahaha.” Master Wang stroked his chin. “To be precise, it’s a memorial submitted by a minister of the Wu Kingdom to their emperor.”

“A memorial?” Everyone became even more curious.

It wasn’t that there weren’t any memorials from ministers to emperors passed down through history; rather, such articles were very rare. So far, not many had been passed down.

“Hmm.” Master Wang nodded. “This person should be familiar to all of you, because one of his poems is extremely famous.”

Master Wang scanned the group, pausing slightly on Zhu Cici. “This person is none other than the current top scholar of the Wu Kingdom—Ming, who wrote a ‘Refusal to Marry Memorandum’ to the emperor of Wu Kingdom.”

“Ming?”

“Ming became the top scholar?”

“How old is Ming?”

“Wait! Wasn’t Ming already the top scholar before?”

“Could it be that Ming also became the top candidate in the assembly examination, achieving consecutive top scholar honors?”

“I heard Ming joined the Blood Floating Pagoda? Where would he have time to study?”

“Could it be that the literati of the Wu Kingdom are so incapable that someone like Ming, who entered the Blood Floating Pagoda, could still become the top scholar?”

Many people started discussing among themselves.

They weren’t looking down on Ming.

They were looking down on the literati of the Wu Kingdom.

If Ming could become the top scholar after neglecting studies for four years, it seemed the literati of the Wu Kingdom truly lacked talent.

But no matter how lacking, the Wu Kingdom occasionally produced geniuses.

Now it was Ming.

Before Ming, it was Mochi.

On the other side, when Zhu Cici heard that Ming had written something widely circulated, her expression slightly changed, thinking she might have misheard.

Xia Wei, sitting next to Zhu Cici, gently poked her waist, covering her mouth with her hand, and whispered softly, “Cici, do you know who it is now? It’s your crush, who has once again created a timeless poem~”

Realizing this, Zhu Cici’s fair and smooth cheeks flushed red, shyly slapping away Xia Wei’s wandering hand. “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Xia Wei smiled even more broadly. “What? He isn’t your crush?”

“You’re still talking…”

Zhu Cici blushed even more.

However, in Zhu Cici’s heart, joy spread like a stream, continuously expanding. This was an article that even Master Wang praised endlessly.

But soon, Zhu Cici noticed the key point—the refusal to marry?

“Refusal to marry?”

Zhu Cici subconsciously clenched her fists hidden within her sleeves, her lips lightly pursed.

Could it be that Ming was granted a marriage?

At the same moment, others also realized this amidst their surprise.

Refusal to marry?

There must have been a royal decree to marry.

For there to be a refusal, there must first be a marriage arrangement.

Ming refused the marriage? Whose marriage did he refuse?

Seeing everyone’s expressions, Master Wang chuckled and explained the background of this article:

“Not long ago, Ming participated in the Wu Kingdom’s assembly examination, becoming the top candidate, and then achieved the highest honor of becoming the top scholar, making him the youngest person in Wu Kingdom’s history to achieve consecutive top scholar honors.

The Emperor of Wu offered his only princess to Ming.

Ming thus wrote this ‘Refusal to Marry Memorandum.’

Take a look.”

With a wave of Master Wang’s hand, sheets of paper filled with text floated into everyone’s laps.

Everyone was quite curious and quickly began reading.

When they read the first sentence, most of them were stunned.

“Your servant Ming humbly received the imperial edict, commanding me to wed Princess Zhao Wen, an honor beyond my expectations, a grace exceeding precedent.”

We thought you were refusing the marriage proposal of some lesser royal princess.

Turns out, you dared to refuse the marriage of the Wu Kingdom’s princess?

If I’m not mistaken, the Wu Kingdom only has one princess, right?

How dare you?