Chapter 20 Emperor Qing summons
Mei Zhili returned to the study, sat behind the desk, drank a sip of tea happily, and approved two official documents. He was in a good mood.
He would only go to the government office when there was a case that needed him to try. Normally, he would stay at home when there was nothing to do, and he would usually handle official business at home.
After finishing his official business, Mei Zhili planned to invite Su Lishi to play two games of chess. Last night, the two of them pondered Mei Cheng'an's poem together, and they had a lot in common, and their relationship became much closer.
Unexpectedly, before he could ask the servants to call someone, a servant came to report that someone had come from the palace.
Mei Zhili hurried forward to greet him, wondering in his heart that maybe his secret memorial had been noticed and the person wanted to respond to him.
When he arrived at the front hall, Mei Zhili saw Eunuch Hou, the close attendant of Emperor Qing.
"Master Mei."
"Eunuch Hou."
"Your Majesty has ordered that Mei Cheng'an be summoned to the palace for an audience."
"Your Majesty, who do you want to see?"
"Of course it's Master Mei's son, the child prodigy Mei Cheng'an."
"He he he, a child prodigy?"
"Master Mei, don't you know? How can the water be so clear? It is because there is a source of fresh water. Your son's name as a child prodigy has spread throughout the Ministry of Rites, and even His Majesty knows about it. Please ask Master Mei to summon your son quickly. Your Majesty is waiting for you to see him."
"Yes, yes, I'll send someone to call him right away. Please wait a moment, sir."
After dancing with swords, Mei Cheng'an took a comfortable bath and dried his hair with his innate energy. At this time, his maid Hongshu was combing his hair.
The bluebird walked in quickly.
"Master, the master sent someone to ask you to go to the front hall quickly."
Mei Chengan frowned.
"Did you tell me why my father called me?"
"He said someone is coming from the palace, and His Majesty is summoning you to the palace."
Mei Cheng'an was stunned. Damn it, whatever you fear is bound to happen.
Mei Cheng'an followed Eunuch Hou in the palace, feeling uneasy and not in the mood to look at the palace buildings.
On the way here, he had already inquired about almost everything from Eunuch Hou, and cursed Guo Youzhi in his heart. Emperor Qing might have summoned him this time to test him. He vaguely regretted copying the poem.
How should he deal with the epic boss Emperor Qing? Mei Cheng'an kept thinking about how to deal with it and weighing the pros and cons.
His heart was surging with emotions, but it did not show on his face. His powerful Qi cultivation was completely suppressed by his mind, and he looked like an ordinary child with a calm demeanor.
Before he knew it, Eunuch Hou brought him to a huge palace. Dozens of huge red columns that were so big that one person could not hug them supported the front eaves of the palace. The palace was surrounded by guards.
Eunuch Hou took him through the gate, through the corridor guarded by the imperial guards, around the entrance hall, and into the legendary imperial study.
Mei Cheng'anzi lowered his head as soon as he entered the palace. This was one of the things that Eunuch Hou reminded him of when entering the palace after he stuffed fifty taels of silver into his pocket.
He entered the imperial study and stopped when Eunuch Hou stood still.
"Your Majesty, Mei Cheng'an has arrived."
After he finished speaking, Mei Cheng'an knelt down in the direction that Eunuch Hou was facing. In fact, he didn't know where the emperor was, so he lowered his head and didn't dare to look at him at all.
"I, Mei Chengan, greet your majesty."
Emperor Qing didn't say anything the whole time, and the air was eerily quiet. Mei Cheng'an felt so much pressure that he kept saluting and didn't dare to move.
The reason why Emperor Qing didn't say anything was that he was actually looking at the so-called child prodigy in front of him. He lowered his head and his eyebrows could not be seen. His voice was quite steady. Apart from that, there was nothing special about him. Perhaps, he was taller than an ordinary ten-year-old child?
"Get up."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"Raise your head and let me see."
Mei Cheng'an felt awkward when he heard this, as if he were an actor, but he still raised his head.
He finally saw Emperor Qing, who was dressed similarly to the one in the TV series, a white outer robe with a red inner lining. He looked younger than in the TV series, and his two small mustaches made him look quite majestic.
"You are much more beautiful than Mei Zhili."
Mei Chengan replied subconsciously.
"I look more like my mother."
After saying this, he felt a little presumptuous, and he felt the gaze of Eunuch Hou.
Emperor Qing laughed. Few people dared to make such witty remarks in front of him.
“The poem is well written.”
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty."
"Year old?"
"Ten years old."
"How's your reading going?"
"I have learned the Six Classics, but have only read through the Three Books and have not studied them in depth."
Later, Emperor Qing tested Mei Cheng'an's mastery of the Six Classics and asked him a few questions, all of which Mei Cheng'an answered fluently.
Emperor Qing nodded silently. It was indeed rare for this child to have such solid knowledge at such a young age. It was not an exaggeration to call him a genius.
"Have you ever practiced martial arts?"
Mei Cheng'an was stunned. He had clearly suppressed all his energy, but Emperor Qing could still see it? Was this the Grandmaster?
In fact, he was overthinking. He didn't know how magical his Qigong was. As long as he didn't release the Qi, even the grand master might not be able to sense it unless he sensed it carefully. Why did Emperor Qing have nothing better to do than to sense his child carefully? Emperor Qing just saw that his breathing was long and thin, and his footsteps were soft, thinking it was a sign that he had Qi, so he asked casually.
"Your Majesty, I was weak and sickly when I was young. In order to strengthen my body, I asked my father to allow me to learn martial arts."
Fortunately, Emperor Qing did not continue to ask questions.
"Everyone in the Ministry of Rites calls you a child prodigy. What do you think?"
"Your Majesty, I am a humble and uneducated person, and I do not deserve such high praise from the senior officials of the Ministry of Rites."
"You are quite sober. To be honest, I was worried that the name of the child prodigy would spread and you would become complacent and conceited. Now it seems that I was worrying too much."
After talking for a long time, Emperor Qing felt a little thirsty, so he took a sip of tea. When he put down the teacup, something in his mind moved.
"Have you written any other poems?"
"Your Majesty, I have only written one song so far."
“If you were asked to write a poem on the subject of tea, what would you write?”
Mei Cheng'an was stunned for a moment. Did he want him to write a poem on the spot? "Your Majesty... you want me to write a poem on the spot?" He pretended not to hear clearly, but actually took the opportunity to search his mind for poems about tea.
Emperor Qing was also stunned. This was not what he meant. He just wanted to ask the child from what perspective he would think if tea was taken as the topic. The child seemed to have misunderstood. However, being wrong also has its advantages. After all, writing poetry on the spot sounds more interesting.
"good."
"If I can't write it, will I be punished?"
"meeting!"
Fuck, I knew that Emperor Qing was not a good person.
"Your Majesty, could you allow me to think about this?"
"Accurate!" Emperor Qing looked at the child and closed his eyes, with the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
Mei Cheng'an was so depressed. He had memorized few poems to begin with and had to recall them slowly. Emperor Qing's request was really making things difficult for him, Fat Tiger.
Tea, tea, tea, damn, what kind of poem is about tea?
After thinking for a long time, I couldn't remember a complete poem, but there were quite a few fragments. I had been thinking for a long time. What if Emperor Qing got angry after waiting for too long? I could only piece it together urgently, hoping that I could handle it. If not, I would just shut down.
"Your Majesty, I have made up my mind."
"So fast?"
Emperor Qing was a little surprised.
Mei Cheng'an was even more surprised. Damn, he was too careless. If he had known earlier, he should have thought more about it and tried to find more appropriate verses.
Eunuch Hou suddenly interrupted at this time.
"Your Majesty, I am willing to transcribe it for Master Xiaomei."
"allow!"
No need for that. You have to copy down a poem that was put together at random? Are you trying to leave evidence of your crime? Mei Chengan was stunned.
Eunuch Hou called a group of young eunuchs, and soon the table, bench, pen, ink, paper, inkstone and paperweight were ready. The ink was ground. Eunuch Hou sat there, holding the brush and looking at him.
Emperor Qing opened his lips slightly.
"Read!"
Mei Chengan cleared his throat and recited.
"There are magical herbs in the world, and tea is the most precious herb."
"The bamboo room is warm when drying medicine, and the pine yard is deep when pounding tea."
“Strong tea soothes the body from alcohol, while light tea nourishes the spirit.”
"I have no reason to hold a bowl and send it to tea lovers."
Mei Cheng'an finished reading it, feeling uneasy. He had already hit the rhyme, but he didn't care whether the meaning was smooth or not. Eunuch Hou had beautiful handwriting and wrote quite fast. After he finished reading it, he had also copied the poem.
Eunuch Hou put down his pen, moved the paperweight away, took out the rice paper and quickly handed it to Emperor Qing.
Emperor Qing looked at the poem on the paper, recited it, and nodded.
"It's a little bit worse than "Ask the Channel, Where is the Clearness?", but it's still a good poem. You can write a poem in a flash, which shows that you are very quick-witted. You are indeed a child prodigy."
Mei Cheng'an breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that he had been fooled. Emperor Qing didn't understand poetry either.
"Just now I said that you would be punished if you couldn't write a poem. Since you have finished it in such a short time, you should be rewarded. What should I reward you with?"
Emperor Qing was asking himself this question, not him, so Mei Cheng'an would naturally not be stupid enough to ask immediately. At this moment, he just felt very relaxed. It didn't matter what the reward was. The important thing was that after the reward, he could leave the palace, which was very nice.
"I'll give you a job. I'm thinking, how about a proofreader?"
Mei Chengan suspected that he had heard wrongly. He stood there stupidly. How could he be awarded an official position? He was still a child. How could he be an official?
Eunuch Hou saw him standing there in a daze and reminded him.
"Master Xiaomei, why are you still standing there? Why don't you thank me?"
Mei Cheng'an came to his senses and quickly knelt down.
"No, I thank your majesty for your great grace."
Emperor Qing was amused. He often saw people calling themselves "ministers", but this child calling himself "little minister" was the first one, which was quite appropriate.
"Get up and escort the proofreader out of the palace."
Exited the imperial study room.
Eunuch Hou smiled and said, "Young Master Xiaomei, oh no, now I should call you Master Xiaomei, how does it feel to meet the emperor? Are you nervous?"
"To be honest, your majesty's power is unpredictable. Even without saying anything, I was already sweating coldly. I was really nervous. Oh, by the way, I also want to thank Eunuch Hou for his advice in the palace just now."
"Oh, that's a small matter, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning."
Mei Cheng'an took out another fifty taels from his sleeve.
"Eunuch Yu, this is of course a small matter for you, but it is a great help to me. I hope you will accept this little money for the tea, otherwise I will be uneasy."
Eunuch Hou looked at the silver note that Mei Chengan secretly handed over.
"No, no, I have already given it to you when I entered the palace."
"Hey, how can it be the same? Eunuch Hou has given me such careful advice, so I should be more sensible. Please accept it, otherwise it will be bad if others see it."
"Look at you, you're so polite."
Eunuch Hou calmly stuffed the banknotes into his belt.
"By the way, Eunuch Hou, may I ask which department this proofreader belongs to? What rank is his?"
Eunuch Hou’s answer was very detailed.
"The proofreader is affiliated with the Hanlin Academy. He is usually responsible for proofreading and organizing books and classics. He is a seventh-rank official."
It's just a librarian, but he has a seventh rank! This is not low, it's one level higher than Fan Xian's assistant.
"So what should I do?"
"You can go home and wait. The imperial edict will be issued soon. After receiving the imperial edict, the Ministry of Personnel will prepare the corresponding official uniform, hat and seal for you. Then you can report directly to the Hanlin Academy."
"Thank you for clearing up my confusion, sir."
"It should."
(End of this chapter)
