Chapter 74 Why did you suddenly attack me?
"Whenever they hear the names of Chen Pingping and the Overwatch Council, all officials turn pale and keep silent about it. You actually took the initiative to contact him. Come on, tell me what you think? Do you not want your reputation anymore?"
Mei Chengan smiled awkwardly.
"I... actually haven't thought too much about it. After meeting him, I feel that Dean Chen is not like what the outside world says. He is a good person. He is very kind to me and has helped me a lot, so..."
Emperor Qing was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then laughed out of anger.
"Ha, Chen Pingping is a good person, hahahaha, this is the first time I've heard someone speak of Chen Pingping like this in all these years. I really should let Chen Pingping come and listen carefully to how highly our Qing country's number one talent speaks of him."
Mei Cheng'an was very embarrassed at the moment. Emperor Qing was taunting him close to his face and said that he couldn't do anything to him because he had never seen this before. What should he do now? It would not be appropriate to kneel down and apologize.
Emperor Qing looked at Mei Cheng'an standing there at a loss, wondering if he had used too much force and scared the child. No matter how openly or secretly Chen Pingping was his most trusted official in the court, it seemed inappropriate and a bit too much to belittle Chen Pingping in front of the child.
Emperor Qing coughed and his voice returned to calm.
"I am very curious. How did he, the president of the Supervisory Council, and you, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, get in touch with each other? When did you become familiar with each other? I want to know what he did to help you that made you feel that he was a good person. Tell me everything clearly."
Mei Chengan breathed a sigh of relief. He was not afraid of you asking questions, but he was afraid that you would not ask any questions and just mock him.
However, where should I start talking about this? I don't know what information Emperor Qing has found. I can try this out to avoid saying too much and pitting Lao Wang again. After all, the more you say, the more mistakes you make.
He pretended to recall the past for a moment, then bowed and answered.
"I met Dean Chen after the first morning court session in the first year of the Qingli reign. Dean Chen asked me to push him out of the palace. On the way, he chatted with me for a while and tested my knowledge. He admired me a lot during the conversation, but I didn't expect that he would change his face in front of Your Majesty and suppress me everywhere. It was thanks to Your Majesty that I was told this, so I didn't have a good impression of him at that time."
Mei Cheng'an deliberately laid some groundwork in this passage. The first sentence used the word "formally acquainted" instead of "acquainted". In this way, even if Emperor Qing found earlier information, he could find an excuse to shirk responsibility.
When Emperor Qing heard the first half, his first reaction was that this kid had omitted some information, such as the time when he was called to the procuratorate. However, this kid was cunning enough to leave a hint in his words. Of course, it is also possible that he had forgotten it because it was too long ago, or that meeting was after all a time of interrogation, which was not a pleasant experience, so it is possible that he did not want to say it for fear of losing face.
When he heard the second half, Emperor Qing felt a little embarrassed in his heart, although he didn't show it on his face. The play was a bit crude, but fortunately it was not discovered.
"You go on."
I see. If he didn't point out that he omitted information, then he either didn't know about the previous things, or he thought they were unimportant, so it didn't matter if he didn't mention them.
"Yes, the second time I met Dean Chen was at a friend's child's birthday party in June of that year. Oh, by the way, that friend of mine is also from the Overwatch Council, a small clerk who is a bit greedy. Although it was just an ordinary second birthday party for his daughter, he still sent invitations to everyone in the Overwatch Council, including Dean Chen. According to him, Dean Chen usually doesn't come in person, but he will definitely give gifts, and the amount is not small. I just didn't expect Dean Chen to actually come, and come just for me."
In this passage, Mei Cheng'an blurred some information, infinitely weakened the connection between Dean Chen and Wang Qinian, and deliberately emphasized that Dean Chen came to see him.
After pausing for a few seconds and seeing that Emperor Qing was not curious about his friend as he expected, he felt a little proud and continued.
"At the birthday party, President Chen told me that he admired me very much and asked me if I wanted to join the Overwatch Council. I felt that he said one thing to my face and another behind my back, and that he was not a good person, so I refused on the spot. He asked me the reason, and I thought he had the nerve to ask, so I pointed out to him without hesitation that he had made trouble for me in front of His Majesty. He didn't expect that I knew what he had done, and he was stunned for a moment after hearing it and then he had nothing to say."
He paused and looked at Emperor Qing. "Your Majesty, are you blushing?"
However, Emperor Qing was wiping the arrowhead very seriously at this moment, and nothing could be seen on his face.
Mei Cheng felt relieved and said, "You are really good at pretending," and continued.
"I thought Dean Chen had given up after being exposed, but I didn't expect him to suddenly offer to help me break through the bottleneck of martial arts. Your Majesty also knows that I have practiced martial arts. At that time, I was stuck at the peak of the eighth level..."
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Emperor Qing.
"Wait a minute, what did you say? Where are you stuck?"
Mei Cheng'an paused when he saw Emperor Qing looking at him in surprise.
"It's the peak of the eighth rank. What's wrong, Your Majesty?"
Emperor Qing looked at him strangely, gazing him up and down.
"How old are you? How can you have the strength of the peak of the eighth rank at such a young age? Why do I not believe it? Could it be that you are not only talented in literature, but also a martial arts genius?"
"Um... after fighting with the shadow, I made a small breakthrough and now I have entered the ninth level..."
"..."
The imperial study suddenly became quiet.
Emperor Qing looked at Mei Cheng'an with some disbelief for a moment. It was true that he was a grandmaster, but this was also a secret he had hidden for his entire life, so he always restrained his energy in the palace and never used his perception ability to predict the strength of others.
You have to know that when one's strength reaches a certain level, the ability to perceive danger will be greatly enhanced, and one will feel it when someone is probing his strength. Although he is a grandmaster, he cannot guarantee that he will not be noticed, and he does not allow any risk of exposing his strength.
Who would have known that there was such a talented person in both literature and martial arts hiding right under his nose.
He knew that Mei Chengan practiced martial arts, but he never expected that his martial arts talent was so amazing. Ninth rank was nothing to him, but it was different for Qing Kingdom. There were only a few ninth rank warriors in Qing Kingdom. Apart from Qing Kingdom, there were only a few ninth rank warriors in the world. Except for that idiot in Dongyi City who taught his apprentices to mass produce ninth rank warriors, the rest of the forces had less than 20 ninth rank warriors. It can be seen how difficult it is to enter the ninth rank. This kid entered the ninth rank at the age of 16? No wonder Chen Pingping had such a special liking for this kid.
But don't forget that Mei Chengan is the most talented man in Qing Kingdom.
If this kid was the treasure of Qing Kingdom before, he is even more amazing now. He is the treasure among treasures, so rare. If only he were my own son. How could that old man Mei Zhili have such a good fortune to give birth to such an excellent son? I envy him so much.
Ahem, I'm thinking too far ahead. In that case, I have to raise the level of attention I pay to this kid by three levels. One level is not enough, two levels are barely enough, and three levels are just right.
The premise is that this kid really reaches the ninth rank.
After thinking about it, Emperor Qing turned his head to look at Eunuch Hou who was standing beside him.
"Call Gong Dian in for me."
Eunuch Hou bowed.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Just as I turned to leave, I was stopped again.
"and many more!"
Eunuch Hou looked at Emperor Qing again.
Emperor Qing thought about it and waved to Eunuch Hou.
Eunuch Hou took two quick steps forward and leaned over to whisper.
After Emperor Qing whispered a few words into Eunuch Hou's ear, Eunuch Hou quickly walked out.
Mei Cheng'an watched the two of them plotting in front of him. Although he didn't know what Emperor Qing was up to, he always had a bad premonition. He decided to let go of his perception ability just in case.
"Your Majesty, shall I continue?"
Emperor Qing took the arrow and started polishing it without looking at him, but he always had a smile on his face and seemed to be in a really good mood.
"No rush, just wait."
"Oh."
Mei Cheng'an stopped talking. It was quite interesting to see Emperor Qing rolling up his sleeves and doing handicrafts.
After waiting for a while, Eunuch Hou came in with Gong Dian.
Mei Cheng'an had already sensed the footsteps of the two of them, especially Gong Dian, whose footsteps were light and his breathing was long and gentle. But what was strange was that he did not hear any sound of armor as they walked.
When the two of them walked into the imperial study, Mei Cheng'an looked back and then looked away.
As expected, he took off his armor. What does this mean? There is no need to take off the armor when he challenges me to a duel.
After Gong Dian stood still, he did not kneel down because Mei Cheng'an did not hear any noise.
I only heard him greet Your Majesty in a loud voice.
"Your humble servant Gong Dian, I pay my respects to..."
Halfway through his words, Shi Jian Gong Dian's aura suddenly changed. He tapped his toes lightly, leaped quickly towards Mei Cheng'an, and slapped him on the back.
Mei Cheng'an was speechless. He thought that he took off his armor in order to launch a sneak attack. That was too childish. While complaining, he did not forget to practice his martial arts and channeled his true energy into his right palm. In order to solve the problem once and for all, he had no intention of being polite.
The scene in Emperor Qing's eyes was this: Gong Dian gathered all his energy and quickly approached Mei Cheng'an, but Mei Cheng'an had no reaction. However, when Gong Dian's palm was almost an arm's length away from Mei Cheng'an's back, Mei Cheng'an suddenly turned around and quickly extended his right arm to face Gong Dian's palm.
A loud bang resounded throughout the imperial study. Mei Cheng'an stood there without moving. Gong Dian flew back the same way he had flown over. After landing, he kept retreating until he reached the armor that Emperor Qing used for archery, and his body hit the armor heavily.
After landing, he couldn't even stand up. He just supported himself with one hand, half-knelt on the ground, and spurted out a mouthful of blood.
The guards who were standing guard outside the imperial study heard the noise and rushed in with weapons in hand. They first looked at His Majesty and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that His Majesty was safe and sound. Then they turned around and saw their deputy commander vomiting blood and kneeling on the ground.
The guards did not move. Since His Majesty was fine, no one dared to move before His Majesty spoke.
It was not until Emperor Qing waved his hand that the guards assigned two people to carry Gong Dian up.
Mei Cheng'an looked at Gong Dian and apologized frantically in his heart, "I'm sorry, my friend. I know that you were arranged by Emperor Qing to test my strength. I gathered a little more true energy. Are you okay?"
There was no expression on his face and he spoke in a cold voice.
"What does this mean, Commander Gong? Why did you suddenly attack me?"
(End of this chapter)
