Chapter 1: The Treasure of Yi De, Crossing the Deep...

  "Hiss, hiss...hiss, hiss, hiss..." Liang Xin whistled and teased the thrush in his hand, but the thrush seemed to be annoyed, and with a flick of its head, it flew into Bai Lao's hands.

  Bai Lao's real name is Bai Chengfeng. He was the only cellmate of Liang Xin. Compared to the title "Bai Lao", Liang Xin prefers to call him "Niao Shu".

  Niao Shu smiled and said, "I've been practicing this bird-controlling technique since I was five years old. You think you can learn it in just three days? That's a bit too ambitious, don't you think?"

  Liang Xian chuckled twice and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, finally realizing that his super strong memory wasn't effective for everything.

  Liang Xian laughed and said: "Bird uncle, did you really use the East Ocean Green to deceive this rich merchant in Bianjing City?"

  "Can it be fake?" Bird Uncle said with a proud face, then somewhat sadly: "Unfortunately, my last East Ocean Green was executed by order of the Prefect. However, that beast dared to bully my granddaughter, and using one East Ocean Green to exchange for his pair of eyes is also worth it."

  Liang Xin nodded, and suddenly a prison guard brought over a small eunuch. The prison guard opened the cell door, and the small eunuch looked at Liang Xin with an expressionless face, saying: "The Emperor has issued a decree, summoning Liang Xin to enter the palace for an audience."

  "What's going on?" Liang Xin asked, slightly stunned.

  In the imperial study of Yanfu Palace, the calligraphy written by Zhao Huan and mounted on a wall was carefully copied by Emperor Huizong for two hours. After finishing, he looked at his own handwriting and shook his head, saying: "Still not getting its spirit."

  For one of the emperors in history who loved calligraphy and painting the most, Zhao Ji could completely understand that Liang Xin's calligraphy, which resembles Liu's style, actually encompasses all things. Among them, there are many famous family characteristics familiar to Zhao Ji, as well as astonishing "innovations" that Zhao Ji had never seen before. He has been carefully viewing and copying it for three days, but still can't grasp its essence and charm. This is like an opium addict who cannot get the best smoke, his heart is like a hundred scratching fingers, unable to be at peace.

  Laying down his brush, a voice came from outside the imperial study: "Your Majesty, Liang Xin has arrived."

  His Majesty raised his eyes and looked at the outside of the door before saying: "Summon."

  Ouch!

  The door of the imperial study opened, and Liang Xiao walked in and immediately knelt down and shouted: "Your humble servant Liang Xiao pays homage to Your Majesty, wishing you a long life of ten thousand years."

  "This way." Zhao Ji saw Liang Xin kneel in the wrong direction and couldn't help but reveal a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

  Liang Xian raised his head to take a look, only to see that the person standing in front of him was not Emperor Zhao Ji but rather Yang Jie, Zhao Ji's trusted confidant. Liang Xian broke out in cold sweat on his forehead and hastily turned around to kowtow to Zhao Ji again, saying: "Your humble servant deserves to die ten thousand times."

  Zhao Ji looked at Liang Xin and said with a hint of desolation on his face: "You get up and answer me."

  "Thank you, Your Majesty." Liang Xin stood up, his heart racing with fear. Zhao Ji turned around with his hands behind his back and said to Liang Xin, "Do you know what the greatest shame for a man is?"

  Liang Xin was slightly stunned, and she had a guess in her mind but didn't dare to say it out loud.

  Zhao Ji saw Liang Xin didn't respond and suddenly realized: "Oh right, I forgot you're not a man."

  "You're not a man at all, none of your family is a man." Liang Xin couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, thinking to himself that his masculine capital was definitely more impressive than yours.

  "It is his wife who was unfaithful."

  Zhao Ji finished speaking and fell silent for a while, then he let out a faint sigh and said: "My imperial concubine actually became pregnant with someone else's illegitimate child and I was still in the dark about it. If you hadn't told me, perhaps I would have remained in the dark forever. So, logically speaking, I should be thanking you instead."

  Liang Xian was slightly startled, and hastily knelt down on the ground, saying in a panic: "Your Majesty, I know nothing. I was suddenly overcome with grief at the loss of my teacher that day, and for a moment, my mind was confused, so I spoke nonsense and slandered Empress Qiao. I deserve to die ten thousand times, I deserve to die ten thousand times..."

  Yang Jia, standing in the corner of the imperial study, saw Liang Xiao's behavior and couldn't help but nod slightly. The emperor was being cuckolded, which was absolutely a great shame. Although Zhao Ji hasn't made any big moves yet, there will definitely be a period of time in the future when the palace will be filled with wind and rain.

  Now that Liang Xin has personally heard Zhao Ji tell the truth, he still insists that it was a miscarriage of justice for Qiao Gui Fei. This is Liang Xin's subtle way of expressing his attitude. Now it depends on whether Zhao Ji accepts Liang Xin or not. If Liang Xin becomes Zhao Ji's trusted confidant, then this matter won't be a problem even if he knows about it. After all, Yang Jie also knew about this matter, and yet Zhao Ji didn't treat him any differently.

  Zhao Ji nodded slightly and turned around, looking at the calligraphy on the wall: "Did you write this?"

  Liang Xin turned his head and followed Zhao Ji's gaze, he could recognize the words he wrote himself at a glance. Although the signature of the letter was written as Zhao Huan, but now that the emperor had spoken to ask about it, it must have been exposed, so Liang Xin didn't need to hide for Zhao Huan anymore, and nodded: "It's indeed my clumsy work."

  Zhao Ji smiled and nodded, then pointed to the long desk beside him: "Come, write a few more words for me to see."

  Liang Xin nodded and replied: "Yes, Your Majesty." Then he got up and walked over to the desk.

  Taking this opportunity, Liang Xin carefully looked at Zhao Ji again. Without the anger, Zhao Ji's temperament was elegant and refined, his face handsome. He didn't look like an emperor, but rather a cultured and refined young nobleman.

  Liang Xin walked to the long table and picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, smoothed out the bristles, thought for a moment, then wrote eight big characters.

  This time, Liang Xin did not use Liu Gongquan's font again, but instead used Dong Qichang's Dong body. The Dong script was extremely famous in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and Liang Xin himself also preferred the Dong script because he believed that it perfectly combined the strengths of his predecessors and added many innovations of his own. Its characters are square and upright without losing their elegance, lively and yet full of momentum, really a very likable font.

  Zhao Ji looked at the words written by Liang Xin and his eyes suddenly lit up.

  "Good!" Zhao Ji clapped his hands forcefully: "Good good good!"

  Four consecutive good voices prove that Zhao Ji really likes this pair of words by Liang Xin.

  "The handwriting is good, the content...is also good."

  Zhao Ji looked up and glanced at Liang Xin, feeling great about everything he saw. Plus, Liang Xin was originally handsome and tall, so Zhao Ji casually added: "The person is not bad either."

  Yang Jian didn't quite understand why Liang Xin's few words could make him so delighted, and he quietly moved over to take a look. Yang Jian suddenly looked at Liang Xin with new eyes, thinking to himself that this person's future prospects are boundless.

  Zhao Ji looked at the eight big characters written by Liang Xin, his excited face flushed red. On the rice paper was written: A great emperor for all eternity, enjoying a life of luxury and ease.

  These eight words hit Zhao Ji's heart.

  Emperor Huizong of Song had been building the Genyue Temple and the Flower and Rock Convoys, although he had lived in the deep palace for a long time, but the grievances of the people outside were still heard. Therefore, Emperor Huizong was still somewhat apprehensive about his behavior of building the Flower and Rock Convoys in his heart.

  Li Xiang's "thousand-year-old emperor, enjoying the best of heaven and earth" translates to vernacular language as: The most outstanding emperor in a thousand years, enjoying the best things in the world is what he deserves. Can't help but admit that such a realm of flattery is even admired by Yang Jian, a master of the middle rank.

  Zhao Ji's mood was greatly improved, and the depression that had been building up over the past few days due to the matter of Qiao Gui Fei was swept away. Zhao Ji looked at Liang Xin and nodded: "Not bad, not bad, from now on you will follow me as a palace attendant, and your rank will be inner servant Huang Men for the time being."

  Before the emperor's attendants? Inner attendant Huangmen?

  Yang Jian was slightly startled and thought to himself: The Emperor really likes this little guy.

  That eunuch, Huang Men, was a ninth-grade official in the Imperial Palace's Department of Internal Affairs. An ordinary eunuch might not even reach that rank after seven or eight years of service in the palace. And as for the imperial attendants who served before the emperor himself, they were even more exceptional.

  In comparison to the inner attendants of Huangmen, serving in front of the emperor is the future work content of Liang Xin. Mainly responsible for attending to the emperor's side, the emperor's palace warm hall, striking the hour, flipping the signboard, holding the horse, wearing the crown, wearing clothes, and wearing shoes.

  To put it bluntly, being by the emperor's side means ensuring that the palaces where the emperor walks are warm and cozy. When there is nothing to report, they would simply inform the emperor of the time. When the emperor decides which concubine to sleep with at night, they would bring a tray with the names of the concubines written on it for the emperor to draw lots. When the emperor goes out riding horses, they would hold the reins for the emperor, and also help the emperor put on his hat, clothes, and shoes.

  Some of these tasks are trivial, while others contain hidden mysteries. For example, being in charge of flipping the emperor's signboard is a task that requires all 3,000 beauties to curry favor with Liang Xin. Moreover, since Liang Xin is always by the emperor's side, it's equivalent to being the emperor's confidant.

  Compared with this, Liang Xin's ninth-grade official position seems insignificant.

  Liang Xin still didn't quite understand the importance of his job, but he knew that at least he wouldn't have to die. So Liang Xin quickly knelt down and kowtowed, thanking him profusely: "Thank you, master, for your great kindness."