Chapter 59

Fang stood up excitedly and paced the room.

Shen Ruojin was higher in status than her, with a better husband and mother-in-law. They had been competing for years, but Fang had never won.

But now things were different.

The Shen family and Shen Ruojin had a shocking secret, and she was the first to discover it.

After calming down, Fang sat down to make plans with Mu’er: “This is very important. We can’t talk carelessly. We need to be careful, or they might get suspicious and ruin our plans.”

By catching them off guard, they could achieve the desired results.

Mu’er nodded seriously: “Don’t worry, Madam; I’ll handle it.”

A smile appeared on Fang’s face.

She wanted to reveal this secret publicly at a big event so that all the noble ladies in the capital would know about Shen Ruojin and the Shen family’s hidden truths. This would fulfill her long-planned strategy and help her vent her anger.

_

After Tao Sheng received the summons, she went to the Xuanzheng Hall to play the zither for the emperor.

The emperor noticed that Tao Sheng was in a good mood today, and her music was cheerier than usual. He asked curiously, “Why is Lord Luo so happy today?”

She thought if she shared, it would make him happy too.

Tao Sheng stopped playing and said, “Your Majesty, do you remember the adoptive parents in Qin County I mentioned? Six years ago, their car fell off a cliff, and no one knew if they were safe. But they returned to the capital yesterday!”

The emperor had been feeling bored lately, as nothing interesting was happening in the harem except for the concubines competing for beauty. He was intrigued by this news, so he asked Tao Sheng to stop playing and sit down to discuss it.

Tao Sheng sat down and explained how her parents had an accident, how they were captured, and how Mr. Wei helped bring them back to the capital.

“Mr. Wei is back too?” the emperor asked. “I remember he played the zither well and was one of the best in the Imperial Music Bureau. He often accompanied me in the palace, just like you.”

Tao Sheng: …

You really know how to focus on the important things.

But the emperor of Great Zhou was the most important person, so even if Tao Sheng found his point strange, she had to go along with it.

“Yes, Mr. Wei is back, but he’s retired now and doesn’t have a position, so he can’t come to the palace.”

“Yes.” The emperor replied, “He has been retired for over ten years, right? He used to play beautifully in the Imperial Music Bureau and often played for me. I heard he was your teacher. We share a musical background.”

Tao Sheng smiled and said, “You flatter me.”

Mr. Wei played the zither better than Mr. Gu, who was known as the best in the Imperial Music Bureau. Tao Sheng felt she was still far from Mr. Wei’s skill.

But the emperor clearly didn’t see it that way. With confidence, he said: “Though you all have your own styles, your music sounds better to me. The student surpasses the master.”

Wei Liyou was skilled, but he liked to show off when he played, often choosing difficult songs. Sometimes the emperor was amazed by his playing, but at other times, he found it overwhelming.

He is old now, and it’s not suitable for him to listen to those songs anymore. The sound of Tao Sheng’s zither is just right for him.

To avoid dampening Tao Sheng’s enthusiasm, he must praise her.

Tao Sheng: …

The emperor might not have listened to Mr. Wei playing the zither for a long time and has been particularly critical of himself recently, so he said this, right?

Tao Sheng silently shook her head.

It turns out that habit makes people blind.

The same goes for hobbies.

Tao Sheng opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something. The emperor thought she probably wanted to be more humble or say a few good words for Wei Liyou.

But the topic ended there. The emperor did not continue talking about Mr. Wei but brought up the topic he hadn’t finished earlier.

“It was indeed not easy for your parents to be away these years. Dai is a small country in the northwest of Great Zhou. Its capital isn’t as good as ordinary counties in our Great Zhou. They really suffered a lot there for six years.”

The emperor’s confidence was moving. Tao Sheng had never been to Dai and had no idea how poor the people in its capital were. At this moment, she could only say “yes.”

The emperor nodded and asked, “How did your father make a living in Qin County?”

Tao Sheng said her father was the local teacher in Qin County.

The position of a pedagogical instructor^[1]is a teacher or educator who specializes in teaching methods and instructional strategies. was of the eighth grade in the locality, usually held by a juren who had failed to pass the imperial examination.

The emperor thought, “That means he has made great achievements.”

“Yes, my father was a juren in the 25th year of Youde.”

The emperor hummed, and after a long while, he said, “You said that during the time he was missing, he was doing corvée labor ^[2]refers to unpaid labor imposed by the government. in the defense of Dai Kingdom’s city?”

Tao Sheng still responded with “yes.”

“That’s interesting.” The emperor said, “I’m also curious about the defense layout of Dai Kingdom’s capital. The delegation is about to leave the capital for the northern border, so maybe it can be useful. Ask your father to write something down. The more detailed, the better.”

Tao Sheng had never thought that her father could play this role and contribute to Ji Yanming’s journey to the northern border: “Yes, I will tell my father about His Majesty’s arrangements after I return home.”

Because Tao Sheng was so engrossed in the conversation with the emperor, she returned home a few minutes later than usual.

When she got home, she found her aunt had returned.

Ever since hearing that her sister Su Wan had returned, Su Jia had been in a state of ecstasy, and after the past two days, she finally felt better.

But the happiness on her face couldn’t be hidden.

Tao Sheng also heard from her mother that among all the children in her maternal grandfather’s family, she and her sisters had the best relationship. So, following her mother’s wishes, Tao Sheng went to Beijing to live with her aunt.

Now that her mother was able to return safely, besides Tao Sheng herself, the person who was most happy was her aunt Su Jia.

Today was also the day that Luo Xiu and Su Wan were moving. They didn’t bring much stuff with them to Beijing. Ji Yanming had already sent people to move a few large boxes and cages over early in the morning, and the rest were just simple things that needed to be packed.

Su Wan smiled happily at Tao Sheng: “Originally, your father and I wanted to come back a few days later, but I don’t know why Xiaobai was so anxious that he asked someone to move it here for us so early in the morning.”

Tao Sheng was not sure what Ji Yanming was thinking: “Maybe it’s just hospitality?”

Su Wan recalled the time when her nephew helped her move. She always felt a strange sense of urgency, which seemed to have little to do with hospitality. She asked with some doubt, “Really?”

Tao Sheng said uncertainly: “It should be.”

I have to say that the number one villain cousin in the original text has become more and more decent and good recently.

It’s really gratifying.

Another surprise that Su Wan brought to Tao Sheng was that the brother and sister turned out to be particularly cute twins.

The two were so excited after seeing their sister, and the younger brother even couldn’t help but jump for joy.