bookcurios Chapter 119: Good Temptation
Chapter 119: Good Temptation
The next day, the sun was high in the sky.
Pei Yi and Dan Feng had been waiting in the alley that was the only way back to Lu Mansion since noon, waiting for Lu Xiuzhu to get off duty.
Who knew that no one showed up until the afternoon. Dan Feng was sweating profusely outside the carriage, and Pei Yi was also feeling stuffy inside the carriage for a while.
At 4 p.m., when the sun was at its hottest, Dan Feng could no longer bear it and lifted the carriage curtain to say to Pei Yi, "Master, it's too hot today. Lord Lu might not be planning to go home today to avoid Princess An Le. Why don't you find a cool place to stay while Dan Feng goes to tie the man up and bring him to you?"
Pei Yi glared at Dan Feng and said, "We are here to hire someone to do something for us. If you kidnap someone, who would be willing to work for you?"
Dan Feng had no choice but to give up, and went to an ice shop on a nearby street to buy some ice cubes and put them in Pei Yi's carriage. Pei Yi simply let Dan Feng sit in the carriage as well. The two of them sat around the ice until the sun went down the mountain, but Lu Xiuzhu's carriage still did not pass by.
It was almost dark and Pei Yi was about to give up. He thought about returning home and coming here early the next morning to wait for Lu Xiuzhu to come on duty. He should be able to wait for him, but at this moment he heard the sound of Lu Xiuzhu's carriage slowly approaching.
Dan Feng walked straight to Lu Xiuzhu's carriage, greeted the coachman, then jumped onto the carriage and stopped the horses.
Lu Xiuzhu felt the carriage stop suddenly and thought something had happened. Just as he was on guard, the curtain suddenly opened and he saw Pei Yi's personal guard Dan Feng coming in and saying, "Master Lu, my master wants to see you."
Lu Xiuzhu frowned and said unhappily, "Your Excellency stopped my carriage without saying anything. This doesn't seem like the way to invite someone."
Dan Feng scratched his head and thought for a while. Wasn't he being polite enough? Whenever he brought someone to see the master, he would knock them out and carry them away. Thinking of Pei Yi's words, he explained, "This is a serious matter. The master doesn't want to make it public."
Lu Xiuzhu subconsciously thought that something had happened to Ayuan. The Lu family had no dealings with the Prince of Yan's family. The only possible reason why Pei Yi came to him was Ayuan. He immediately asked nervously, "Did something happen to Ayuan?"
Dan Feng's face suddenly became a little ugly. This fellow was still thinking about stealing the women from the Prince of Yan's Mansion. He just said lightly: "Master Lu, you will know when you follow me."
After hearing Danfeng's answer, Lu Xiuzhu didn't think anything had happened to Ayuan, and he didn't know why Pei Yi wanted to see him, so he had no choice but to follow Danfeng out of the carriage and then get back on Pei Yi's carriage.
Seeing Pei Yi sitting there leisurely, sipping tea and waiting, he was sure that A Yuan was not in trouble, and immediately asked impatiently: "I wonder what the prince wants to see me about?"
Pei Yi glanced at Lu Xiuzhu, put down the teacup in his hand, and handed a few pamphlets beside him to Lu Xiuzhu: "Just a small matter, I would like to ask Mr. Lu to read a few storybooks."
Lu Xiuzhu didn't know what Pei Yi was up to, but given their relationship, he felt that Pei Yi was just bored and was playing a joke on him. He couldn't help but said angrily, "The prince is a free man now, but I, Lu, don't have that blessing." After saying that, he was about to get off the car and leave.
Pei Yi sneered and said, "Master Lu is a top scholar. Please take a look at this man's literary talent. Can he be compared with Master Lu?"
Yang Zhuoyan's talent is actually far inferior to Lu Xiuzhu's. Pei Yi just said this on purpose to provoke Lu Xiuzhu.
As expected, men cannot stand provocation, especially a man with a contradictory personality like Lu Xiuzhu, who was still provoked by his love rival.
As expected, Lu Xiuzhu turned around and sat down in the carriage, took the books and started reading. After a while, after reading them one by one, he was shocked. How could there be such a talented writer in Kyoto? Regardless of the themes of the stories, the words and sentences used in the stories were not what ordinary readers would use.
The people who wrote these stories must have read a vast number of books to be able to quote from a wide range of sources and classics.
He was now somewhat interested in what Pei Yi had come to see him about, so he asked Pei Yi, "Who wrote this?"
Pei Yi replied calmly: "A storyteller from Yonghe Tower."
Lu Xiuzhu knew the storyteller in Yonghe Tower, and he had a hunch that Pei Yi's visit to him today was related to the storyteller in Yonghe Tower.
He asked tentatively, "Are you saying that he is a candidate for this year's examination?"
But if this person was a candidate taking the exam this year, he should not have failed.
So Pei Yi wanted to tell him that the imperial examination was tampered with, and his title of top scholar was not earned legitimately?
Did Pei Yi come here to ridicule him?
Thinking of this, Lu Xiuzhu blushed and angrily said to Pei Yi: "So, the prince is here to tell me that I got the top position by cheating?"
Pei Yi smiled and said, "Lord Lu, you are overthinking. I don't care whether Lord Lu has the talent to be the top scholar. I came to see Lord Lu just to confirm whether this person really should not fail the exam."
When Lu Xiuzhu heard this, he frowned and said, "Why did the prince come to me? Just tell me directly."
Pei Yi said: "I heard that Lord Lu is now working in the Secretariat, and one of his responsibilities is to collect and compile the papers of all the candidates."
When Lu Xiuzhu heard this, he suddenly understood what Pei Yi wanted him to do, and asked in surprise, "Do you want me to steal this person's paper and give it to you?"
Pei Yi shook his head and said, "There is no need to steal the original paper. Just make a copy of this person's paper and bring it out."
Lu Xiuzhu suddenly thought of something and said solemnly, "I'm sorry, I can't do it. This year, the Secretariat has strengthened the guard of the database. All officials entering and leaving the database must be searched and are not allowed to bring any papers out."
Pei Yi understood the key after thinking about it, and was even more certain that there would be something different in this year's imperial examination.
He didn't know if Lu Xiuzhu knew about the relationship, so he said patiently, "Cao Jiqiao is now the Minister of the Secretariat. It would be very easy for him to change the rules for guarding the database. This year's chief examiner is Dou Yushan, the Minister of Rites. Dou Yushan's father, Dou Kangnong, is now the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince."
Lu Xiuzhu had understood the ins and outs of this, but he said, "I don't understand what the prince is talking about. The Lu Mansion is just a small Earl's Mansion, not like the Prince of Yan's Mansion, which is deep-rooted and not afraid of wind and rain. If our Lu Mansion gets involved in these things, everyone in the mansion will be in trouble. My grandmother is old, and her lifelong wish is to carry forward the Earl's Mansion and restore its former glory."
Pei Yi did not comment, but continued calmly: "How many scholars in the world have studied hard for ten years just like Lord Lu? Lord Lu knows the hardships involved. Can you bear to watch the opportunity to change their fate being stolen by others?"
Lu Xiuzhu's expression relaxed for a moment, but he still showed no intention of nodding.
Pei Yi then said, "The Yongtai Princess's Mansion and the Crown Prince's Party are closely connected. If the Crown Prince's wings are clipped or he loses power, the Princess's Mansion will lose a major support - is Lord Lu willing to be suppressed by the Princess's Mansion forever?"
These words really touched Lu Xiuzhu.
If the Lu family could not afford to offend the Princess's Mansion, how could he be forced to lose Ayuan? Thinking about how Ayuan said that she would divorce Pei Yi in the future, but one year after the divorce, what if the Princess's Mansion forced him not to take Ayuan into the mansion?
He finally nodded and said, "I can help you with this, but I can only help you bring someone into the database and look it up in the database. I'll remember as much as I can."
Pei Yi thought for a moment and said, "Okay." He then added, "My people still need to look through the household registration information of this year's high school candidates."
Lu Xiuzhu said: "As long as you don't take any information out, I can guarantee that your people will be able to see the two things you want when they go in."
Pei Yi thought that A Yuan's memory was unparalleled, so it would not be difficult to entrust this matter to her. However, he did not tell Lu Xiuzhu that his candidate was A Yuan for the time being.
The two reached an agreement, and Lu Xiuzhu asked Pei Yi to go back and wait for his news, then returned to his carriage, pretending nothing had happened, and only told the coachman that he had met an old friend and had a chat.
After that, they went back to their homes.
When Pei Yi returned home, Xie Zhichan was looking in the bronze mirror and taking off the hairpins on his head. He turned around and asked Pei Yi, "How did the discussion go? Is there any way to get Young Master Yang's paper?"
Pei Yi looked at Xie Zhichan meaningfully and said, "You know him. He was originally hesitant, but when I said that the Crown Prince's loss of power would save the Princess's Mansion from a loss of help, he agreed. However, you can't bring the test paper out, so you can only bring someone in to take a look."
Xie Zhichan really loves and hates Pei Yi's jealous nature. She loves that he always cares about her, but hates that he is too jealous.
She wanted to tease him, so she walked up to him, hugged his neck and said with a smile: "Brother Nandu, I know you too." She poked her finger at Pei Yi's chest and said with a smile: "You are a general who only cares about the people of Northern Frontier and has no romantic feelings. Naturally, you will not be jealous of little girls, right?"
Pei Yi was hooked by her and hugged her waist tightly. He felt that her waist was unbelievably soft. Lust surged in his eyes. He lowered his head and looked at Xie Zhichan and said, "Who said I don't have it?"
He lowered his head and kissed her.
As their lips and teeth were entangled, Xie Zhichan felt that she couldn't breathe. Did Pei Yi want to kiss her, or did he want to tear her apart and eat her?
After a long while, when she was dizzy, Pei Yi finally let her go. He asked in a hoarse voice, "Do you know now?"
Xie Zhichan's cheeks flushed, thinking, what kind of day is this! It's always so exciting, and every time it ends in such a mess, but no one crosses the line.
Xie Zhichan wanted to breathe some fresh air. The moment he lowered his head, he clearly noticed the changes in Pei Yi's body. Pei Yi also lowered his head and coughed lightly, saying, "You can't blame me. I can't control its enthusiasm for you."
After saying that, he sat on the edge of the bed and crossed his legs, trying to cover himself up a bit.
Xie Zhichan didn't know where to look for a moment, so he just sat on the small couch by the window, away from the ferocious creature, safer and calmer.
They both calmed down for a while before Pei Yi said, "You are the only one who can handle this matter. Manxi's memory is not bad, but it is not as good as yours. I'm afraid he can't remember the entire answer sheet in such a short time."
Xie Zhichan nodded and said, "In that case, just leave it to me."