Slag Shou Cultivating Manual

SSCM Chapter 18: Forbearance

Originally thinking that the huge wave caused by the embezzling of disaster relief would die down after the furor following Yue Gao Yang's execution, unexpectedly, after the day that the Emperor passed on the follow-on issues to Zhen Pu Yang, He Lang and Zhen Pu Yang received a report regarding the armed robbery of the disaster relief funds.

Those who were able to act so quickly were definitely court officials, and there must have been a group of well-trained people who did not belong to the inner management of the court. Zhen Pu Yang was a little angry, he originally did not enjoy overseeing such things, and it even created such trouble, he was even more impatient.

Once He Lang checked, and was led to Zhen Pu Qi (1). Regarding this outcome, he was surprised, but it also fell within his expectations.

On the first meeting, Zhen Pu Qi was praised by all to be an elegant gentleman, as gentle as jade, humble and courteous, and did not participate in the struggle for the throne.

But in He Lang's understanding, he was not actually such a relaxed person, like what he presented himself to be – uncaring of the throne, just wanting to explore the wonders of the world.

He also couldn't forget that the day Zhen Pu Qi was humiliated, his eyes had a deep color of forbearance.

He Lang felt that Zhen Pu Qi was an opponent who could require more caution than the Crown Prince Zhen Pu Jia.

Because the number of supporters the Crown Prince had was clear to all, it was obvious that those who supported him were blood relations. This was common knowledge and would naturally allow them to create counter-measures at every step.

It was just that Zhen Pu Qi looked one way in the front and another in the back. If not for this, he would almost believe that he was who he presented himself to be, standing aloof from worldly affairs, only wanting to sightsee, concerning himself with the arts.

He made everybody believe that he was alone in the world, but in actuality, he had the ability to put obstacles in the way of Zhen Pu Yang's development. His means were obscure, and therefore there was no way to deal with them completely.

They were unable to have a definite countermeasure at this point, He Lang's position was not to act hastily and scare the culprits, in the end only symbolically sending someone to investigate the murderer, resulting in the false impression that they were panicked and at a loss as to what to do, letting Zhen Pu Qi relax.

It seemed that Zhen Pu Qi did not intend to actually play his hand this time, so he did not create an unrecoverable loss for them, and they intended to turn a blind eye to it. It was just that they were afraid this was meant to lure them into revealing their plans, waiting for them to be flustered, impatiently putting their all into investigating, then biting them.

He Lang himself had his own plan to solve this, once he arranged the relevant matters, he was in a good mood, Zhen Pu Yang followed suit, "Teacher, letting him go just like this?" He pouted, memories flashing in his mind making him ask unhappily, "In the previous literary test, you and Imperial Brother had a pleasant conversation."(2)

"...Was there such a thing?" He and Zhen Pu Qi had merely exchanged a few compliments, why did it become a pleasant conversation in His Highness's words? He Lang smile, and directly refuted.

Zhen Pu Yang stood and raised his necks, deliberately flaunted, "Anyway, after that time, the one who won every literary exam was me."

He Lang took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, truthfully saying: "The two of you are both equal, the only difference is the Emperor's bias."

"It is Teacher who is biased!" Zhen Pu Yang made a complaint.

He Lang looked out at the sky, and was shocked to realise that the sky was already dark, and hurriedly persuaded Zhen Pu Yang to return to his palace (3), his words and manner were both very warm, fearing that he would want to remain at his home.