Chapter 180 — Secretly Tripping Him Up
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" Emperor Yanfeng looked at Shen Mu beside him: "What does my dear Shen have to say?
" "Your servant is a man from beyond the pale and does not know the customs of the capital, and so I have been rash.
" Shen Mu said: "I did not know that Jade Dragon Lake belonged to the imperial house, nor that the fish in it must not be eaten.
I feel the weight of my guilt deeply. I ask Your Majesty to pass sentence.
" "This is a capital crime.
" Emperor Yanfeng glanced at him: "Though I think highly of you, the law is the law. How would you have me sentence you?
" Pei Wujiu said with an ingratiating smile: "Your Majesty, by law it should be the execution of his whole family.
.
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" The Empress Dowager laughed: "Emperor, this widow also thinks the little divine physician ought to be beheaded. " Emperor Yanfeng was slightly taken aback, then laughed: "Mother, why do you say so? " The Empress Dowager walked forward unhurriedly and said leisurely: "Of course he ought to be beheaded. If the little divine physician is not beheaded, how will the world know that the Emperor prizes fish above men? If the Erudite of the Grand Academy is not beheaded, how will the world know that the Emperor prizes water above men? Behead him, and only then will the world know that for a mouthful of water and a single fish, the Emperor killed the divine physician whose fame fills the court and the countryside, who cured this widow -- only then will the world know that the Emperor is a benighted ruler.
" Emperor Yanfeng laughed heartily and waved his hand: "Lord Gu, for such a trifling matter you still come to bother me. Withdraw.
" Pei Wujiu was dumbfounded: "This.
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. " "Go on, go on. " Emperor Yanfeng waved his hand: "You failed to keep proper watch over Jade Dragon Lake, but I will not punish you -- after all, you have only just arrived at the Grand Academy. What you did today has already given me enough of a headache; you even went and fought a bout with Libationer Bashan and made me lose face badly. If you had won, that would have been one thing, but you did not even come close -- a Grand Libationer who cannot beat a Libationer. You have shamed me to the bone.
Go home and reflect on it properly.
" "Your will be done. " Pei Wujiu, deeply aggrieved, was about to leave when Shen Mu said: "Lord Gu, as for my fox and that dragon qilin, please do not make things hard for them.
" Pei Wujiu's heart skipped a beat. The Empress Dowager laughed: "I doubt he would dare.
By the way, Emperor, the little divine physician cured this widow, and you have not yet rewarded him. " "Mother, he is already Erudite of the Grand Academy, an official of the sixth rank; he cannot be promoted further. He is still young, after all -- let us wait a few years, lest the court officials say I favor him.
" "Little divine physician, tell me more amusing stories of your childhood.
. . " Pei Wujiu walked off.
Leaving the palace and returning to the Grand Academy, he had a bellyful of pent-up anger and nowhere to vent it. The Daoist who guarded Jade Dragon Lake hurried up: "Grand Libationer, has the criminal been beheaded?
" "It is all your meddling.
You were supposed to watch your lake, and you had to stir up this mess and leave me covered in stink! " Pei Wujiu glared at him and shouted: "Release that fox and the dragon qilin! " The lake-keeping Daoist felt deeply wronged, not knowing how he had offended him, and had no choice but to release the snow fox and the dragon qilin. He said: "Grand Libationer, we have already sent men to arrest Wei Yong, but Wei Yong follows Libationer Bashan, and Libationer Bashan will not let us take him.
What do you make of this.
.
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" "What is Wei Yong's background?
" "He is of the Duke of Wei's household. . .
" "Do not go looking for trouble where there is none!
" In the Imperial Garden, the Empress Dowager talked with Shen Mu for a while.