Chapter 404: This Humble Official Raises a Cup in Your Honor As the sun tilted westward toward the horizon, its dying light spilled across the sky in layers of blazing crimson and molten gold. The splendid evening clouds set the entire capital ablaze in warm hues, as though the city itself were slowly sinking into […]
Chapter 403: The Prime Minister’s Banquet You may wish it, or you may not—the banquet was set there waiting. Even though Zhu Ping’an had every reason to dread attending, by the time the sun sank low in the western sky, he found himself trotting along after the other Hanlin scholars, following them out of the
Chapter 402: Seeing in Place of Hearing Zhu Ping’an and Zhang Siwei made their way toward the Dali Temple, and midway they ran into Wang Shizhen, who was also heading there. That evening, the Dali Temple was set to host a welcoming banquet, and the three brothers decided to take the chance to gather for
Chapter 401: The Forgotten Treasure Zhang Siwei and his fellow townsman only sat for a short while before taking their leave. Although the Hanlin Academy was known for its leisure—drinking tea, glancing through the court bulletins, and letting the hours slip by—remaining absent from one’s post for too long was still unacceptable. After the two
Chapter 400: Serving as a Librarian in the Great Ming Under the mixture of sympathetic gazes and thinly veiled glee from those around him, Zhu Ping’an completed his reporting duties, and—guided by a pair of yamen runners—made his way toward the place where he would now work: the Imperial Library Pavilion. The Library Pavilion sat
Chapter 399: A Chilly Welcome on the First Day (Part 3) Li Mo’s outburst at Zhu Ping’an inside the Hanlin Academy had been witnessed by far too many pairs of eyes. Those who saw the scene exchanged glances filled with sympathy before quietly making up their minds: they would be keeping a careful distance from
Chapter 398: A Chilly Welcome on the First Day (Part 2) Today was the day for the newly appointed jinshi to take up their positions at the Hanlin Academy. Li Mo, Minister of Personnel and concurrently a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, had arrived early, awaiting the induction of the fresh scholars. In truth, Li
Chapter 397: A Chilly Welcome on the First Day (Part 1) Li Shu smiled sweetly, folding her hands in a deep, formal kowtow, her eyes dark as ink, glimmering with a teasing ambiguity as she looked at Zhu Ping’an. Zhu Ping’an had just returned from the Guozijian, dressed in his official robes, when Li Shu
Chapter 396: The Shicai Ceremony “Confucius, trapped between Chen and Cai, went seven days without food, playing his zither in his chamber, while Yan Hui laid out vegetables outside his door to show his respect and loyalty to his teacher.” — Fengsu Tongyi From that moment onward, the act of offering vegetables became a symbol
Chapter 395: Delivering the Umbrella Early morning mist hung gently in the air. The moment Zhu Ping’an opened the door, he saw the fine rain weaving through the morning light, falling softly at an angle like a delicate veil of mist suspended in the air. Each tiny droplet kissed his face with a cool, refreshing