Guo Yao stopped massaging the emperor's shoulders behind the recliner, and then slowly walked to the emperor's side.
Cao Rui asked, "How old were you when you entered the palace?"
After kneeling beside the recliner, Guo Yao consciously massaged the emperor's legs and replied, "I was sixteen when I entered the palace, and now I am twenty-three years old."
Cao Rui stretched out a finger to hook Guo Yao's chin and looked at her for a moment.
Guo Yao's appearance was different from that of Jiangdong women like Sun Luban. Her facial features were more distinct, her nose was high and straight, and there was a hint of heroism between her eyebrows. However, her jade-white complexion added a lot of feminine beauty.
Of course, her fair cheeks had begun to turn slightly red.
Guo Yao and Sun Luban are really different.
Guo Yao was implicated and imprisoned in the palace in the first year of Huangchu. She had been very cautious in the palace for seven years, but now she was being scrutinized by the emperor at such a close distance, and she was so confused that she didn't know how to respond.
Sun Luban was already married, and later she was widowed for several years. When she was in Shouchun, facing the emperor's request to make her a maid, Sun Luban, who was under the eaves, had some tactful intention to agree.
Cao Rui withdrew his finger and laughed: "You don't know, do you? The one who caused rebellion in Xiping back then, Qu Yan, had a clan member named Qu Ying, who also caused rebellion in Xiping at the beginning of the year, but it has been quelled now."
"Guo Yao, where are your parents?"
"Your Majesty," Guo Yao said slowly, "After Lord Su suppressed the rebellion in Xiping, I was taken into the palace and my family was also taken in to Gong County to cultivate the land."
"My father passed away a long time ago, but my mother is still alive. I have an uncle and a cousin who are also elders in Gong County."
"In Gong County, right? I know." Cao Rui heard the footsteps of Sun Luban coming in and nodded to Guo Yao: "You can go outside."
Guo Yao didn't know what was going on, so she stood up and took a half step back, bowed to the emperor, and slowly walked out.
Seeing that she was the only one in the bedroom, Sun Luban couldn't help feeling a little nervous and awkward.
Sun Luban slowly walked to Cao Rui and asked softly, "Your Majesty, what should I do now?"
Cao Rui pointed to the side and said, "What are you doing? Move a chair and sit next to me. I have something to tell you."
Sun Luban felt like her heart was about to jump out.
The emperor asked me to sit next to him? This was the first time!
Could it be... Sun Luban didn't dare to think any further. After biting her lips lightly, her body automatically followed the emperor's order, moved a chair over, and sat down quietly.
Cao Rui looked at Sun Luban sitting down and couldn't help laughing in his heart. This woman is quite self-conscious! She said next to him, and she was almost next to him.
"Sun Quan has submitted a petition to me asking for peace." Cao Rui's first words made Sun Luban's eyes almost widen.
"You came to me to ask for peace, and even submitted a petition to ask if I agree to send an envoy. Your father is stalling for time with me."
Seeing that the emperor's words showed some dissatisfaction with his father, Sun Luban knew what to do and did not dare to say anything.
"If he doesn't send anyone, I can send someone to Wuchang." Cao Rui looked at Sun Luban, who was sitting awkwardly beside him with her fingers crossed and legs together. "Your father didn't ask you in the memorial."
Cao Rui raised the corner of his mouth slightly: "Da Hu, do you have anything to say to your father?"
Sun Luban bowed her head gently and said, "Your servant... Your servant's heart is in turmoil, and I don't know what to say to my father."
After a few moments, Sun Luban mustered up the courage to raise her head and looked into Cao Rui's eyes: "My father has been in Jiangdong for decades. If I say something irrelevant, it will be useless to my father."
"But since I am already serving Your Majesty in Luoyang, what should I say?" Sun Luban gritted her teeth and said, "I hope Your Majesty can teach me."
“Hahaha.” Cao Rui laughed out loud: “What should I say? It’s always right to greet your parents.”
Sun Luban was stunned, her eyes blinking on their own.
"However, I still have something to ask you." Cao Rui said slowly: "It has been less than a year since I ascended the throne, and the harem is already empty."
"I have already discussed this with the Queen Mother, and this time we will take twenty people into the palace."
Cao Rui looked straight into Sun Luban's eyes and said, "Although I am rich, I am not willing to force a woman."
"Da Hu, are you willing to enter my harem?"
Sun Luban looked at the extremely handsome emperor opposite her in a daze.
After watching for an unknown amount of time, Sun Luban lowered her head and said softly, "Do I have any choice? I have already entered your majesty's harem. Whether I do this or that is entirely up to your majesty's will."
To Sun Luban's surprise, the emperor opposite said seriously: "You have a choice. If you don't want to, then you are still the daughter of a traitor, and I will give you to the officer of the central army as a wife. After all, you have served me, so you should be a lieutenant with a salary of two thousand stones."
"If you wish, the envoy I send to Wuchang will also bring a betrothal gift."
Sun Luban thought with a little resentment in her heart, "Am I now only betrothed to a man of two thousand stones? Your Majesty, Your Majesty, do you still want me to say it myself?"
After a moment, Sun Luban looked up, looked carefully at the emperor's facial features, and as if she had made a great decision, she slowly said four words.
"Da Hu...I'm willing." As soon as the words fell, the emperor opposite stood up from the recliner, picked her up horizontally, and walked towards the couch.
Sun Luban couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise, but as soon as the sound came out, she started to laugh softly.
Sun Luban's laughter was a laugh at her current soft and hot body, and also at her time in Shouchun.
As early as Shouchun, I roughly guessed that there would be such a day~
……
The next day, the sky was clear.
Chongwen Temple was the first institution established in the outer court since Cao Rui ascended the throne.
If divided according to function, Chongwenguan, with its literary function, should be included in the jurisdiction of Taichanglin together with Taixue.
Gao Tanglong had seriously submitted a petition to the emperor a few days ago regarding this matter.
Cao Rui's reply to Gao Tanglong at that time was that Chongwen Temple should not be under the jurisdiction of Taichang for the time being, and if there were any matters, he could report directly to the palace.
Before this, Gao Tanglong was still thinking about striving to be responsible for the subsequent appointment of students from the Imperial College as Lang, and was still struggling with whether this matter should be placed under the jurisdiction of Taichang or Guanglu Xun.
Now, have I become His Majesty's direct subordinate? I finally feel like a close minister to the emperor, just like the Minister of the Court.
Wu Zhi returned to Luoyang yesterday.
As he did not have the chance to meet the emperor yesterday, he arrived at the palace gate early this morning to wait, and Wu Zhi was able to ride with the emperor to Chongwen Temple.
"Why is Wu Qing so thin?" Cao Rui asked Wu Zhi puzzledly while sitting on his horse.
Wu Zhi, who was riding beside Cao Rui, had a gloomy complexion and was thin. He did not look like a high-ranking official who lived a life of luxury at all.
Wu Zhi bowed and replied, "Your Majesty, since last summer, I have been crying for more than ten days due to excessive grief. Since then, my health has gradually deteriorated."
Wu Zhi smiled bitterly and said, "If Your Majesty does not summon me back to Luoyang this time, I will submit my resignation to Your Majesty in a few days. My sick body can no longer support Your Majesty in Hebei affairs."
Cao Rui clearly remembered that when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, sent people to recruit Sima Yi for the first time, Sima Yi pretended that he was suffering from rheumatism and was unable to get up, so he could not take up office.
Rheumatism can make one unable to move, which can be faked. But Wu Zhi's face and body, which are plagued by diseases, cannot be faked no matter what. Cao Rui is not a fool, how can he not see clearly from half a meter away?
Cao Rui recalled what Sun Zi had said to him yesterday about Wu Zhi's tyranny, and what someone had told him before about the scene in which Wu Zhi and Cao Zhen had argued and cursed at each other over a drink.
It seems that I really must not listen to one side of the story, and I must personally oversee the appointment and dismissal of ministers no matter what.
This authority must never be granted to others.
Cao Rui said slowly: "Is Wu Qing still in good health? I didn't know before that I would let Wu Qing take charge of Chongwen Temple. If his condition gets worse, it will be bad."
Wu Zhi cupped his hands and said, "I was born in a poor family in Jiyin, but the late emperor promoted me to a position of power. How dare I not repay the great kindness of the Cao family?"
"I understand that the late emperor appointed me as the governor of Hebei and guarded Hebei only because I was a close confidant of the late emperor."
"Now that Your Majesty has abolished the post of Governor of Hebei, I am able to return to Luoyang. This is indeed a blessing for me. In the past, I often discussed literature with the late emperor. Now that I can find literary talents for the country and edit and revise classics, I am also fulfilling one of the late emperor's wishes."
Cao Rui sighed when he heard this.
The late emperor Cao Pi had many advantages and disadvantages. But no matter what, the late emperor was really good to his friends. Wu Zhi's statement, from any angle, made Cao Rui unable to find any fault.
Cao Rui said slowly: "What Wu Qing said is right. The late emperor once said that literature is the great cause of governing a country and an immortal event."
Wu Zhi also said from Cao Rui's side: "Life has an end, and happiness and honor are limited to one's own body. These two are inevitable, but literature is infinite."
"It is not as infinite as writing. No matter how many years I have left due to my illness, I can still do the work of organizing literature." Wu Zhi said, "This can be regarded as 'my reputation will be passed down to future generations'."
Cao Rui patted Wu Zhi's arm gently.
There are indeed people in this world who can act better than the real thing. Cao Rui is not sure whether Wu Zhi is one of them. Just wait and see, there is still a lot of time.
Chongwen Temple is located in the south of Luoyang City and east of Imperial University.
Chongwenguan initially took in several buildings from the Imperial College and used them as office space for the first batch of personnel.
When the team arrived at the gate of Chongwen Temple, the chief priest Gao Tanglong and the deputy chief priest Yongqiu King Cao Zhi had been waiting there for a long time.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you." Gao Tanglong and Cao Zhi saluted together.
After Cao Rui got off his horse, he smiled and said, "The establishment of Chongwen Temple was actually my idea."
"I think today is not only a big day for you three, but also a big day for me. Let's go in together." (End of this chapter)
