"What does this mean, Teacher? I don't understand."
Pretending not to know, Lin Zihan lowered his head. His teacher's outstretched palm happened to come into his sight.
Time was truly a heartless thing. Even though Zhang Chengen had lived in comfort for many years, his palm was still engraved with fine lines by time, and there were thick calluses on his fingertips from holding a pen.
Suddenly, Lin Zihan felt a pang in his heart, and a dense sense of guilt welled up in him. It turned out that without his notice, the teacher who was once high - spirited, teaching the art of governing the country and the way of being a minister, had grown old.
"Zihan, give me that token. Your teacher won't harm you."
The heavy voice pounded on his eardrums. It was like a thunderbolt, scaring away all of Lin Zihan's guilt. He subconsciously took a half - step back, warily keeping his distance.
"Student knows that Teacher won't harm me, but what you're doing now is endangering His Majesty. You're trying to subvert this dynasty!"
"Shut up!"
The slap came down along with the voice. Lin Zihan's head was tilted to one side, and his neatly combed black hair scattered beside his temples with that slap.
"You scoundrel. Do you believe that this prime minister can convict you of slandering a court official?"
"I believe it. How dare I not believe it?" The young man took another step back, his eyes wide open, and his red - rimmed eyes on the verge of tears.
"You're the prime minister of this dynasty and an able minister under the Prince Regent. Disposing of a junior official from the Supreme Court is an easy task, isn't it?"
Clenching his trembling palms, Prime Minister Zhang heard the sarcasm in his favorite student's words. He didn't refute but just softened his tone.
"Zihan, do you really think you can deal with the Prince Regent just with a token and a few testimonies of uncertain authenticity?"
"Zihan, a wise man submits to circumstances. The Prince Regent is much more difficult to deal with than you think."
Actually, Lin Zihan understood all that Zhang Chengen said today.
Of course, he didn't think he could bring down Shang Mozheng like this, but he just wanted to give justice to all the scholars in the world and let the world see the true face of the Prince Regent.
"So, Teacher, what you mean is that just because he's difficult to deal with, we should submit to him and not resist?"
Prime Minister Zhang didn't want to continue this pointless argument with him on this issue. Closing his eyes to calm himself, he brought the topic back to the original point.
"Zihan, will you hand over the token or not?"
"Sorry, student is afraid he can't comply."
"Good, very good, extremely good."
With several consecutive "good"s, Lin Zihan could clearly hear that his teacher's voice was becoming more and more tremulous. A feeling of不忍 welled up in his heart again, but the next moment, a basin of cold water was poured over him.
"Come here! Lin Zihan, the junior official of the Supreme Court, has slandered a court official and refuses to repent. Immediately detain him in the prison. Without the order of this prime minister, no one is allowed to visit him."
The yamen runners "rushed" into the room. They subdued Lin Zihan in a few moments and also found the token in his sleeve.
Obviously, Zhang Chengen had calculated that Lin Zihan was unwilling to hand over the thing.
Outside the Supreme Court, a black sedan chair had been parked there for who knew how long. Prime Minister Zhang was standing beside the sedan chair at the moment, looking quite respectful.
"Prime Minister Zhang really dotes on your favorite student."
A voice came from inside the sedan chair. Its owner was Shang Mozheng.
He originally planned to come and ask for the token himself. Although it didn't really matter if he couldn't get it back, that Lin Zihan was probably going to suffer.
He just didn't expect that Zhang Chengen was quite fast and had come one step ahead.
At this time, Prime Minister Zhang had regained his usual calmness. Bowing in salute, he said, "Zihan is young and acts rashly. It's the official's fault that he didn't educate him well. Please forgive him, Your Highness."
"If it were just because he's young and rash, this king wouldn't mind. I'm just afraid he has other motives?"
Shang Mozheng's gaze fell in the direction where Lin Zihan left. There was a relaxed smile on his lips, but there was naked killing intent in his eyes.
If it weren't for the fact that he was Zhang Chengen's student, this kind of person would have lost his life long ago.
"Your Highness, please rest assured. Zihan will never mess up your important matters."
"I hope so."
When Lu Yinxi got home, it was already past the third hour of the day. As soon as she stepped into the courtyard, Mrs. Lu rushed over in a hurry and hugged her tightly in her arms.
"Mother?"
"Xier, don't leave mother anymore, okay?"
Suppressing her doubts, the young girl quickly coaxed her softly, "Mother, Xier won't leave. Xier is here and won't leave you."
It took a while to coax Mrs. Lu to sleep. Only then did Lu Yinxi ask Liusu about the reason. She had only been away for a while. How could her mother become like this?
"A nightmare?" The young girl exclaimed in a hushed voice.
Although Mrs. Lu was already sound asleep, her brows were still tightly furrowed. She must have dreamed of something bad again.
"Since this servant came to serve the madam, the madam has had nightmares almost every night. But it has been much better since the Fourth Miss came back."
"Does Father know?"
Hesitating for a moment, Liusu honestly shook her head. "The madam won't let us tell the master for fear that he'll worry."
Lu Yinxi didn't say anything else, but her face had darkened, and the soft hand resting on the edge of the bed had tightened.
The Prince Regent!
Suddenly getting up from the stool, she took a few steps out of the room and headed straight for the door of the small courtyard.
Hongrui and Hongmei exchanged a tacit look and immediately stepped forward.
"Fourth Miss, where are you going?"
Lu Yinxi didn't answer. There was no expression on her face. The only thing she did was look at the arm blocking her way with her phoenix - like eyes, and then shift her gaze to Hongrui's face. There was a deep and heavy look in her eyes.
The moment she met the Fourth Miss's gaze, Hongrui suddenly felt a twinge of fear in her heart. She had never seen the Fourth Miss like this before.
Gathering her courage, she suppressed her chaotic emotions and tried to make herself more determined. "Fourth Miss, the master has given the order that you can't act against the Prince Regent."
"Get out of the way!"
The young girl let out a sound almost like a growl, trying her best to control her emotions. She couldn't use her word - spirit for such a small matter at this time.
"Fourth Miss!"
While they were in a stand - off, Hongmei also rushed to Lu Yinxi's side. "Fourth Miss, you can't act rashly. You must calm down."
"Calm down? Mother has been tortured like this. How can you expect me to calm down?"
The young girl completely lost control of her emotions and roared.
Although Mrs. Lu wasn't her real mother, although she still didn't know that she wasn't her biological daughter, and although she was just a fake, the feelings of these few months weren't fake.
In her heart, Lu Yinxi had already regarded her as her own mother.
Now that she knew that her biological mother had been tortured by nightmares for more than a decade because of the enemy's evil deeds, how could she possibly calm down?!
All that talk about being patient for the sake of the common people and taking a long - term plan was all bullshit!
Hatred gathered in her eyes, just waiting for an opportunity to burst out.
"Fourth Miss, this servant knows that you're indignant seeing the madam like this now. But even if this servant lets you out, what can you do? Can you see the Prince Regent? Even if you see him, can you single - handedly get rid of him?"
"I can!"
In response to Hongmei's consecutive questions, Lu Yinxi could only give a positive answer to the last one. However, Hongrui and Hongmei didn't know about her supernatural ability and just thought she was being reckless.
"Fourth Miss, this servant has been ordered by the master. No matter what, this servant can't let you leave the prime minister's mansion today."
Making a palm with her five fingers, Hongrui was ready to fight at any time. Lu Yinxi wasn't afraid of her either. Her eyes were fixed on her movements, ready to take on the challenge at any moment.
The battle was about to break out.
Just then, Liusu's voice suddenly came from afar and reached their ears.
"Miss, the madam is having another nightmare. She's been shouting your name. Please go and have a look!"
At the Prince Jing's Mansion
Receiving the news from Hongmei, Shang Luoshu couldn't help but sigh. It seemed that Prime Minister Lu hadn't told her everything about what happened back then.