"Xiǎojiě." Gu Yu and Jing Zhe were somewhat vigilantly protective in front of Shen Miao and made gaffes with their somewhat loud shouts. Moreover, this richly clad youth was extremely good and noble-looking that one could not help but be suspicious of his identity. In the end, he was a stranger, thus Gu Yu and Jing Zhe were afraid that something unexpected might happen.
"Gu Yu, Jing Zhe, go and stand guard at the entrance of the forest." Shen Miao said.
"But Xiǎojiě…" Both of them were somewhat hesitant.
"Go on." Shen Miao slightly frowned. They did not know why but she was now adept at giving orders, every time when orders were given to the servants, there would also be an unfathomable majestic feeling, making others dare not refute them.
Jing Zhe and Gu Yu could only retreat and stood guard at the entrance of the forest.
"You are indeed interesting." Xie Jing Xing leaned against the tree trunk as he looked at her in amusement. He was clearly a noble and precious Shàoyé, but unexpectedly he had a sharp vision like the bloodshed during a battle and that monotonous tone had a cold chill in it. After all, he was one who has seen blood on the battlefield.
"What does Little Marquis Xie wants to say?" Shen Miao questioned. Xie Jing Xing suddenly appeared and naturally it was not for an idle chat. Although this person was young, his actions were decisive that even the old Marquis was incapable to control him. The way he handled things was more presumptuous, making others unable to clearly understand his course of actions.
"Yù Wángzǐ's residence is lacking a Wángfēi and that cripple seemed to have taken an interest in you so I wanted to say a word of congratulations." His manner of speaking was unclear. However, to use the term 'cripple' on Prince Yu could be considered as bold, but coming from Xie Jing Xing there was a trace of contempt and mockery as if Prince Yu was an extremely dirty thing and nothing more.
This person's aspiration was very high.
Shen Miao was deeply in thoughts but on the surface, she did not show any significant impact as if she had forgotten what this calm look would mean to the other's eyes. Xie Jing Xing suddenly took a step forward. He had such a tall stature that Shen Miao's entire self was covered by his shadow. That purple-clad youth slightly leaned forward and to her ears said, "You indeed already knew about it."
A scent of cold bamboo fragrance spread out as his voice was deliberately suppressed as if it had some kind of ambiguous magnetic force. This action was also equivocal, making Shen Miao raise her eyes as she looked at that handsome face in front of her. The corner of his lips hooked up, adding some evil touch to his smile.
But she was after all not a real budding young lady. Her eyes slightly hung down as she said, "So what if I know and what if I don't?"
When Xie Jing Xing saw that she remained nonchalant, he did not bother to continue to put on an appearance of a rich playboy and did not have even a trace of protective feelings for a female as he pushed her away. There was a piece of paper in his hands as he smiled a bit frivolously, "Knowing but not being anxious about your own matter, but worry for Historian Adviser Jing's Èr Shàoyé?"
Shen Miao abruptly moved her line of sight and stared at him fixedly as she could not help but be a bit brutal with her tone, "Is it not Little Marquis Xie being too meddlesome?"
"You are actually nervous because of a piece of paper." Xie Jing Xing restored that look of cynicism on his face, "What kind of relationship do you have with Historian Adviser Jing's Lǎo Èr, to help him to this extent? Or perhaps… What is Little Shen Girl playing at?"
Shen Miao's face was as deep as water as she quietly stared at the paper in Xie Jing Xing's hands. The paper was very thin but it was as heavy as a rock in her heart.
That was her recalling for a long time before she could write the 'Circulation of Law'. In her past lifetime, Pei Lang relied on this essay to be discovered by Fu Xiu Yi and afterwards became Fu Xiu Yi's aide to advise strategies for the country.
And now when he had yet to reveal his talents, Shen Miao had to cut it off before that possibility happened. Not only that, but the most secure approach would also be that Pei Lang would never get to serve the Imperial family in any capacity.
As for the Historian Adviser Jing's Èr Shàoyé, Gao Yan, he was from a long line of aristocratic family clans that rose to nobility. Since Ming Qi's Imperial family wanted to suppress the old aristocratic family clans, they naturally had to support the new nobilities. Historian Adviser Jing's family was one of the newer significant support. Historian Adviser Jing's Dà Shàoyé was a true talent that Fu Xiu Yi guided personally when he ascended the throne. Historian Adviser Jing's family received such grace and became more rampant and overbearing that Gao Yan… Even dared to covet for her Wan Yu.
If she was not the Mistress of the Six Palaces and Fu Xiu Yi had yet to begin to deal with the Shen family, she was afraid that Wan Yu would have suffered brutal schemes. This Gao Yan's talents were not as high as his elder brother, but was very arrogant and always liked to speak of his elder brother's achievements like they were his own. His personality was very flawed and narrow-minded, generally like a scoundrel who will stir shit up. In the past life, Gao Yan did not enter the official circles, and in this lifetime Historian Adviser Jing's family have yet to reach the peak of their heydays. Gao Jing just entered the officialdom thus she used more energy to send Gao Yan into the magnanimous official circles.
She naturally took Pei Lang's 'Circulation of Law' to give it to Gao Yan because she knew that in every academy examinations, Gao Yan would let his servants go buy the examination papers outside. This year, she instructed Gu Yu to arrange others to replace them with this essay. With Fu Xiu Yi���s personality of 'Cherishing Talents', he would definitely bring him over to his side regardless of everything. As for that vain personality of Gao Yan, he would definitely not confess that this was not his handwriting. With such a person entering Ming Qi's official circles… She would like to see when he meets Fu Xiu Yi, how these two people would be in a dogfight!
Cutting Fu Xiu Yi's powerful arm and exchanging it with an empty brained stick of faeces. Shen Miao was playing with such a good idea like this, but who knew that Xie Jing Xing would interrupt in the middle of it and make her plan fail for no good reason.
Her eyes were flickering as if thousands of words were all converged to a pair of beast's eyes. Xie Jing Xing finally smiled and lazily spoke, "You need not necessarily look at me with such a hateful expression. This paper was copied by my people and the original is in the hands of that Gao family's kid."
Shen Miao was slightly surprised for a moment as she did not imagine that the result was as such. She looked at Xie Jing Xing and became silent for a moment before saying, "Little Marquis has a big heart."
"Not big-hearted, it is just that this marquis has a little self-recognition reputation," Xie Jing Xing looked slightly cold, "Of not liking to meddle in other people's affairs."
Just as Shen Miao wanted to speak, she heard Xie Jing Xing's voice again, "Now can you tell this marquis why you write it for Historian Adviser Jing?"
Shen Miao sighed in her heart. Even though she had the heart to tie the Shen and Xie families to the same boat, but now was still not the time yet. The Shen and Xie had long term discords between them and those cannot be resolved overnight. It had to have conspired in a long-drawn-out plan but who knew that Xie Jing Xing got involved, disrupting the entire plan.
She did not believe in anyone as she has her own road to walk. Be it Xie Jing Xing or the Xie family, they were just pieces of chess in the chess game of the world. There would not exist a chess player explaining things to a chess piece.
"This marquis thought that for you to help Gao Yan this much, you must have some personal considerations with him and thus wanted to help your lover to snatch the limelight." Xie Jing Xing smiled mischievously as he eyed Shen Miao up and down, "After some thinking, even though Lǎo Èr of the Gao family was not worthy of respect, his eye for females was indeed not bad." He looked at Shen Miao, she clearly had very beautiful features but was like the North-western desert that stings people.
"Furthermore, to help Gao Yan meant helping Historian Adviser Jing's reputation but you, however, did not help Gao Jing but instead that wastrel Gao Yan. Making it seem malicious and duplicitous." His smile harboured malicious intentions but his words went straight to the target.
"Little Shen girl, do you have enmity with Historian Adviser Jing?"