Lu Shi and Fang Xuanling complained openly, but they didn’t show it too much in front of Lu Zhaolin. After all, she was from the Fanyang Lu Family and it wasn’t appropriate to say anything too harsh directly, so she could only subtly remind him repeatedly.
Lu Zhaolin wasn’t stupid, of course he understood Lu Shi’s warnings. While he felt she was doing this for his own good, he was already of age and had basic judgment. In his heart, he thought Li Yuanying was someone worth befriending. Not to mention Li Yuanying’s own talent and learning, just looking at the knowledge and demeanor of Di Renjie and the others, one could tell they were all good friends!
So Lu Zhaolin listened, but didn’t take it to heart. That night, Lu Zhaolin went to bed early, and had a dream. He dreamed he was buried in his studies, trying to earn praise from his parents. The more he read, the more restless he became, then he suddenly heard someone laughing outside the window. He looked up and saw a group of people playing polo outside, having a lot of fun.
He ran to the window to look out, trying to see who was playing outside, but he couldn’t make out anyone clearly. Just as he was getting anxious, a delicate, cute polo ball suddenly fell in front of him. He was startled, bent down to pick it up, and looked up. He saw a girl sitting on a horse, with a bright and charming face, staring at him blankly.
After a while, she said fiercely, “My ball, give it back.”
She’s so cute.
Lu Zhaolin thought this.
Then Lu Zhaolin woke up. He touched his heart, feeling like it was beating strangely. He muttered to himself, “Improper etiquette, improper etiquette, improper etiquette,” but his heart was still inexplicably hot.
Since no one knew, Lu Zhaolin decided to allow himself to indulge in his fantasy one more time.
Just once.
“She’s really cute when she’s fierce.” Lu Zhaolin thought seriously.
…
Li Yuanying had no idea that Lu Zhaolin, with incredible boldness, dreamt of his niece. He still thought Lu Zhaolin was a good friend, and was determined to drag him to his fiefdom to play. That morning, the weather was nice, and he got up early to plan his Chunwei (Spring Examination) review schedule. Gao Yang sneaked over to find him.
Li Yuanying asked curiously, “Why are you here so early in the morning?”
Gao Yang was a bit embarrassed, but still spoke up, “Yu Shu, I want to read some books, what do you think I should read?” She knew she was a bit late to start, but she couldn’t just sit around doing nothing. Yesterday, she went to the library and looked around, and her eyes were blurry, she didn’t know where to start. Why were these scholars so mean, writing books all the time, writing so many books!
Gao Yang thought about it, and decided to ask Li Yuanying. Li Yuanying never laughed at them, he was always willing to teach them anything they wanted to learn or play.
Li Yuanying heard Gao Yang wanted to read, and didn’t ask why she suddenly wanted to read. Gao Yang’s foundation was actually decent, she could at least recognize all the characters. It was just that she couldn’t sit still, wanting to play all day long. They say girls blossom at eighteen, she was already thirteen, she should have some changes.
Li Yuanying asked patiently, “What are you interested in?”
Gao Yang was stumped by Li Yuanying’s question. She would never admit her little secret, but she didn’t know what kind of books scholars liked to read, and she was a bit confused. She didn’t know so she asked, “The other day I heard you guys talking about something called “Cangya Studies,” what’s that?”
Li Yuanying explained it to her. It was a field of study that focused on the study of characters, meticulously examining how they came to be, how they were written, how they were read, and how they were interpreted. It was really hard and really tedious. He admired Lu Zhaolin greatly, “Brother Lu can sit down and study this, it’s truly amazing.”
Gao Yang nodded.
Li Yuanying said, “For the past few years, Brother Lu has been studying in Yangzhou with a man named Cao Xian. This Cao Xian is very talented. I heard that every time His Majesty encounters a difficult character while reading, he sends someone to ask Cao Xian, and he’s never failed to answer. I remember there are annotated versions of the “Erya” and other books in the library, you can go find them if you’re interested. Since you want to read more, it’s always good to learn more characters.”
Gao Yang was delighted to hear this, and left with the palace ladies to search for the “Erya” annotated by Cao Xian, determined to read as much as she could.
Gao Yang came like a gust of wind, and left like a gust of wind. Li Yuanying was a little confused. But he was of course happy that his niece, who loved to cause mischief just like him, was now also becoming more studious. He went to find Wei Jiu with his review plan and told her about it, happy that Gao Yang would also join the ranks of scholars. He now felt that reading was very useful.
Wei Jiu also thought it was good.
Gao Yang had just broken off her engagement, so of course it was best if she had something she wanted to do. Doing what you want to do is always joyful, regardless of the time.
Li Yuanying then pulled Wei Jiu to look at the review plan. The plan didn’t have much time for rote learning, but more time for exploring, observing the people’s livelihood and the social conditions, reading local gazettes, reading other people’s articles, and understanding major and minor events happening in the world. Li Yuanying decided to collect all the documents and archives he could find, borrow them all and analyze and study them with his friends, and then take turns giving each other questions and writing essays, writing until everyone wanted to vomit.
Tang Xuan and Di Renjie were preparing to take the Mingjing (Classic Studies) exam, which mainly tested memorization and interpretation of the classics, and the requirements for essays were not as high, with a higher passing rate. They were different from Li Yuanying who was taking the exam for fun, they both wanted to take the civil service examination seriously and become officials, so they couldn’t immediately proclaim that they wanted to take the Jinshi (Advanced Civil Service) exam.
The Jinshi exam was too difficult. This year, they were only selecting twenty Jinshi candidates. If there weren’t suitable candidates, they wouldn’t even select twenty!
Honestly, Tang Xuan and Di Renjie and the others felt that they didn’t have the confidence to stand out among the young and talented men from all over the country and become one of those twenty Jinshi candidates.
Conversely, the Mingjing exam was much easier, at least they could rely on the classics. They were confident in their memorization skills. Most importantly, the Mingjing exam could admit one hundred people!
Li Yuanying didn’t interfere with their choice, but after making sure they had no problems with the classics, he didn’t let them off the hook either. He dragged them all to participate in a review session of writing essays until they vomited.
Although Lu Zhaolin wasn’t taking the exam, Li Yuanying felt that his teacher Wang Yifang was too busy with his duties during the day to teach him. He was afraid that Lu Zhaolin would be bored alone in Chang’an, so he invited him to join in the brainstorming sessions.
At first, Lu Zhaolin couldn’t keep up with their pace, but after participating more often, he gradually started to catch on. He followed Li Yuanying and the others, analyzing things logically, and occasionally even offering unique insights.
Li Yuanying was always the best at squeezing people dry. When Lu Zhaolin occasionally mentioned that he wasn’t good at something but a certain friend of his was, Li Yuanying was immediately enthusiastic and encouraged him to send the difficult questions to his friend by letter, or to take them back and ask Fang Xuanling, fully utilizing all available resources.
Lu Zhaolin didn’t have any objections to this, instead, he thought that this was how one should learn and pursue knowledge.
Fang Xuanling had no objections either. Now he had figured it out. Emperor Li’s reliance and favoritism towards his brother Li Yuanying was simply unreasonable, and the Crown Prince was also very close to Li Yuanying. It wouldn’t be bad for Lu Zhaolin to befriend him.
Of course, they both tacitly agreed not to tell Lu Shi about this, to avoid causing another family dispute.
Unfortunately, even though Fang Xuanling and Lu Zhaolin didn’t say anything, other people weren’t blind. Many people noticed that Lu Zhaolin was close to Li Yuanying. Fang Jun and his group of wastrels also knew about it. Once, when they ran into each other outside, Lu Zhaolin was busy talking with Li Yuanying and his friends, completely oblivious to his cousin, which made Fang Jun lose face.
Fang Jun and Li Yuanying had quite a few grudges against each other. First, Li Yuanying took Gao Yang to Pingkangfang, causing Fang Jun to get beaten up, and there were even rumors about him trying to steal a singer from Gao Yang!
Later, he helped Li Tai pass messages at the Imperial Academy, and then Emperor Li made Li Tai go to a fiefdom, and then he sent Fang Jun to the Imperial Guard for training. Afterwards, things never went smoothly for him. He suffered a lot in the Imperial Guard, and then was assigned to escort the royal delegation to Tubo (Tibet). Other people enjoyed themselves eating, drinking, and playing, but he couldn’t adapt to the climate there, and almost died in Tubo! How could Fang Jun like Li Yuanying?
Learning that his cousin had become a traitor and had joined the enemy camp, Fang Jun was furious. When he went back, he told Lu Shi about it. He said that Lu Zhaolin was a white-eyed wolf. They provided him with food, drink, and lodging, but he hung out with Li Yuanying all day long, and he didn’t even greet his cousin when they met on the road!
Although Fang Jun wasn’t the eldest son or the youngest, he was the most skilled at winning over Lu Shi and always received her favor.
Lu Shi was also unhappy with Lu Zhaolin after hearing what Fang Jun said. However, Lu Zhaolin wasn’t her son, so she couldn’t really discipline him. She could only write a letter to her sister-in-law explaining the situation, so that she wouldn’t blame her for not taking good care of Lu Zhaolin and letting him associate with someone like Li Yuanying.
After writing the letter, Lu Shi’s attitude towards Lu Zhaolin also became colder, completely lacking the initial enthusiasm.
Lu Zhaolin vaguely sensed Lu Shi’s displeasure. After hesitating, he also wrote a letter home, explaining his situation in Chang’an. He also summarized what he had learned and observed in recent days, expressing to his father that he was not wasting his time and that he was very busy every day.
Young people all like to make friends, and Lu Zhaolin liked Li Yuanying as a friend, so he also hoped that his family would agree with his judgment and choices. Lu Zhaolin felt that he shouldn’t prejudge Li Yuanying just because of his royal lineage, and he shouldn’t believe the rumors and conclude that Li Yuanying was unlearned and dissolute.
Li Yuanying heard that Lu Zhaolin was going to write a letter home, and thought that the ordinary messenger would have to run for a long time to deliver the letter back to Fanyang. He offered to send someone on horseback to deliver it quickly. He also suggested that Lu Zhaolin buy some small gifts to take back. He should definitely buy something for his mother, and if he had any sisters, he shouldn’t leave them out. As a young man out studying, his mother and sisters couldn’t see him, so he had to give them some surprises and things to think about.
He also told Lu Zhaolin not to feel embarrassed. This year, Jin Shengman was going back to Silla, and he planned to have Dai Ting go with her to have a look, just to scout the way ahead. Dai Ting had already been to Tubo twice, Li Yuanying had given him half a year’s break, and he didn’t need to go to Tubo in person anymore.
He could also go to Silla, just in case Jin Shengman encountered any trouble after returning, there would be someone to help her!
Lu Zhaolin heard Li Yuanying say that he was just going along to help deliver the letter, and he didn’t refuse anymore. He listened to Li Yuanying’s explanation and thought it made sense. He actually followed Li Yuanying out to buy some portable trinkets.
As the host, Li Yuanying actively took Lu Zhaolin out to pick out some fresh items, and also bought some for Sizhi and the others. Boys are simple and straightforward when shopping. They saw something they liked, they bought it, and they left. They made quite a few purchases along the way.
Li Yuanying also casually mentioned to Lu Zhaolin that Gao Yang was reading the “Erya” annotated by Cao Xian. “Didn’t you study with that old scholar Cao for a few years? Do you have any reading notes or anything? I’ll take them to her later, she’s surprisingly interested in this.”
Lu Zhaolin blushed, stammering, “Wouldn’t that be inappropriate?” In his education, exchanging writings between a man and a woman was considered private and improper etiquette.
Li Yuanying didn’t notice Lu Zhaolin’s blushing ears. He thought Lu Zhaolin was great in every way, except for being too respectful of etiquette. He gave Lu Zhaolin a bit of an ideological education, “What’s inappropriate about it? It’s not like it’s something shameful. Gao Yang wants to learn, and you happen to know it. Don’t even mention just giving her some notes, even if she asked you to teach her in person, it wouldn’t be a problem. If this were written into history, later generations would only say that one learned well and the other was very studious. It’s a good story no matter how you look at it! You’re so young, worrying about this being improper etiquette and that being improper etiquette all the time. Aren’t you tired of living?”
Lu Zhaolin was convinced by Li Yuanying and agreed to organize his notes on the “Erya” for Li Yuanying.
Li Yuanying took Lu Zhaolin to pack the letters and gifts, handed them to the person responsible for delivering them to Fanyang and scouting the area, and then each went back home.
The next day, Lu Zhaolin handed the organized notes on the “Erya” to Li Yuanying, with a little bit of anxiety waiting for Li Yuanying to give them to Gao Yang.
**Author’s Note:**
Little Prince: ?
Little Prince: I consider you a friend, but you want to steal my niece? (Pointing and scolding)
Update!
I actually started writing very early today!
But something delayed me!
I wanted to write 6,000 words all at once! To protect my daily reward early! I finished writing and took a look! I still have to race against time, making me sigh!
Note: The parts about Lu Zhaolin, Cao Xian, Wang Yifang, and “Cangya Studies” in these two chapters are all made up based on Baidu Encyclopedia (or maybe other encyclopedias)!
**[Please note: The Chinese text you provided included several instances of a promotional message, which I have omitted in the translation. I also omitted the concluding line ” + 加入书签 +” as it is not relevant to the story.]**
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