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nHe settled down and said to her calmly, “In my opinion, you know me rather well, too.”

nJiang Pengji smiled at him and stopped questioning him. She needed to take it slow, like boiling a frog in warm water. She didn’t want to spook him away right away.

nShe pretended to look into the sky but she was actually paying attention to the umbrella in his hand. He had moved it away from her because he was mad at her earlier but he quietly moved it back above her head and let the snow land on his own shoulders.

nJiang Pengji took off her cape and asked Wei Ci to put it on. “When I start my school in Langye, I will be bothering you. I will expect you to take good care of me.”

nWei Ci took a glance of the white fur cape and said to her, “We are just a somewhat acquainted and master appreciates your gift. I don’t think you will be in any trouble in the Academy worth bribing me for.”

n“I’m not afraid of the cold or the heat, which means it doesn’t affect me much no matter what I’m wearing. But you are not in a good health after all and you are still waiting for someone in a heavy snow like this. I should be taking care of you.” Jiang Pengji tossed the cape into his arms. It was his own choice if he wanted to be warm or not.

nAfter that, Jiang Pengji went straight back to her own wagon, stepped on the foot stool, and ordered, “Let’s go to the Feng’s Mansion.”

nXu Ke quickly passed the hand stove back to her when she lifted the curtain of the wagon. He had been watching Jiang Pengji and Wei Ci all along.

nThe Wagoner, who was wearing a bamboo hat, pulled the bridle and took off. Their wagon happened to pass by Wei Ci.

n“Taxue will be nagging at you since you gave your cape away to that Wei Langjun.” Xu Ke sat on his knees next to the door of the wagon. He slid both of his hands in a pair of thick mittens made of rabbit fur, which was rather comfortable for him.

nJiang Pengji held the hand stove with both her hands. They added some charcoal into it, increasing the temperature greatly.

n“I’m strong like a bull and I can beat two bulls to death with my bare hands. Is it even possible that I can get sick from not wearing a cape?” She raised her eyebrows. “He is just a feeble guy. He is not properly dressed for the weather, just standing like a piece of wood out there. He should be the one that you worry about catching a cold.”

nXu Ke suddenly didn’t know how he should respond to that. Indeed, his Langjun seemed to be a slim young boy, but the truth was he had superior combat skills. It was rather deceiving from his appearance alone.

n“I heard from Feng Jin that Zi Xiao’s family has moved to Zhongzhao––to the origin of the family. He was left to be in Dongqing Langye alone. Who knows if he actually has any servants looking after him or not… The weather changes every second, and I assume he doesn’t have much for winter in his closet.”

nJiang Pengji had always been a detail oriented person, but she merely showed her concern to the others. It was more like it wasn’t necessary for her to care about them. If a person without any disabilities had a hard time dealing with themselves, they were no different from really disabled people. But it didn’t work the same way in the ancient era.

nXu Ke had a weird feeling after he heard Jiang Pengji’s words. She started to become more sentimental and more like a human being.

nQionglin Banquet was just a cover-up for singing merits, praising virtues, and flattering people in high positions. They used the pretext of a celebration for the winners of the evaluation. Every single courtier was doing everything they could to adulate and ingratiate. Their slave-like looks made people upset.

nThe winners of the evaluation, who were supposed to get the attention, turned out to be the ornaments of the banquet. The banquet was full of the emperor’s laughter.

nHan Yu was normally impulsive and he didn’t even try to hide his dissatisfaction from his good friends. He spilled his complaints to them. “It seems that Zi Xiao hitting that guy and leaving that day makes more sense. These people are spineless and they behave like slaves, which make me sick.”

nCheng Jing gave Han Yu a dirty look and made him feel scared to continue with what he was saying. “Watch what you say. Did you already forget that?” Cheng Jin scolded him in a low voice. “If you get yourself into deep trouble because of what you said…”

nCompared to Han Yu and Cheng Jing’s tension, Lv Zheng was more focused on his belly. He was resisting the impulse to rub his belly to help it digest.

nThere were quite a number of delicacies in the Qionglin Banquet. Lv Zheng was from a poor family and as the son of a hunter, he loved rolling in the mud. If it wasn’t for Master Yuanjing telling him there was a special bond between them and bringing him back to his academy, he wouldn’t have even been at the banquet.

nIt was a rare opportunity for him and it would be his own loss if he didn’t take advantage of it.

nHe was not like Han Yu or Cheng Jing. They were deeply furious and had barely touched the food at all.

n“People eavesdrop. You do need to be more cautious. This is not a good place to bring up complaints.”

nLv Zheng was too full and he started to pace back and forth. It seemed like he was having a good time, except he was just too stuffed to walk.

nHan Yu took a deep breath and strived to suppress his anger. They spotted Wei Ci holding a white fuzzy cape in the distance and they were not sure why he seemed spaced out.

nLv Zheng dumped his shame behind and came forward with a smile. He took the cape from Wei Ci’s arms and said, “You are the best. Thanks for being so thoughtful to bring me a cape, considering how little I wore today.”

nWei Ci had already stepped backwards before Lv Zheng landed his hands on the cape. He said to Lv Zheng, “It’s not for you.”

nLv Zheng wasn’t angry about it. Instead, he started to survey the strap of the cape collar sneakily. There were two refined, fluffy balls on the tips of the straps, which didn’t match Wei Ci’s style. And it wasn’t his size either.

n“Then who is it for?” Lv Zheng questioned.

nWei Ci chose to ignore him. He caught a glimpse of the expressions on Han Yu’s and Cheng Jing’s faces and he slightly sighed. “Look at your dirty looks. Who messed around with you guys at the banquet?”

nHan Yu didn’t pay attention to the cape. With Wei Ci’s words, he remembered what had just happened in the banquet and he could no longer hold in his anger.

n“Those so-called big people in the court are just a bunch of grovelling and subservient, boneless slaves. This court will perish sooner or later.”

nWei Ci quickly skimmed their surroundings and started to relax a bit after he confirmed that no one else was around them.

n“Slavery is their nature. Why are you upset with them?” Wei Ci put on a casual smile. “I’ve heard that the Head of the Secretariat asked for his resignation so he could go back to his hometown before the banquet. The emperor didn’t even bother to persuade him to stay, but instead promoted someone he is fond of. Doesn’t that clear things up? The emperor just wants a tamed cat instead of an untameable and confident wild cat.”

nHan Yu was about to explode. Who is the wild cat?

nWei Ci continued, “You couldn’t even cope with the Qionglin Banquet. How are you going to manage the situations you might encounter in the future?”

n“What does that mean?” Han Ye asked.

n“The eunuchs are in the business of trading official positions for real cash. They label each of the possible positions with certain price tags as long as you can afford it. Do you think that the eunuchs are the greedy ones? The emperor is the real greedy one behind all of them.” The group of people got in a wagon. The stove fire warmed them quickly. Wei Ci pointed to the air. “You are one of the top three in this evaluation, but it’s very likely you will only be assigned a low position, which could be lower than the positions those ruffians paid for. Will you still be relaxed or will you be so depressed that you would rather die?”

nHan Yu nearly lost his breath after he heard this. “You talk too mean, Wei Zixiao.”

nWei Ci acted normal and continued, “I have more mean things waiting for you. Do you want to hear?”

nLv Zheng tried his best not to lose control of his anger as Cheng Jin shook his head helplessly and poked the charcoal in the stove. “Sure, I want to hear!”

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