Chapter 28: Daring to Defy Heaven with a Fierce Bandit

  From the day the Tang Crown was brought back, every day at this hour a strong medicinal scent would waft through the air, and now four days have passed.

  The most anxious one at this time is Chen Yunsheng, the deadline given by the Queen Mother is only 100 days, and now half of it has passed, but Tang Guan is still lying in bed.

  "Get well, drink your medicine!" Lin Yuxun brought the medicinal soup to Tang Guan's bedside. Tang Guan reluctantly sat up. This pure herbal remedy was much more effective than those fake Chinese medicines of later generations, but it also tasted much bitter.

  Lin Yuxun saw Tang Guan's furrowed brow and smiled slightly, then picked up the spoon and blew on it until it cooled down before handing it to Tang Guan.

  "Xun'er, I feel like I'm almost better. Why don't you go buy me a piece of niangao or something?" Before he even took a bite, he felt the pungent medicinal smell and Tang Guan immediately became flustered, having had a hard time enduring it every time he took medicine over the past few days.

  "Drink quickly!" Lin Yuxin saw that Tang Guan wanted to escape again, and she spoke out in discontent. Only then did Tang Guan furrow his brow and drink it down.

  "Bring it! Give me a good drink!" Tang Guan waved his hand, demanding to finish the whole bowl. It's better to die early than to suffer slowly, and this little by little would numb the taste buds.

  Have to say that Tang Guan recovered very quickly, although he still can't engage in strenuous activities, most of his wounds have already closed. Tang Guan passed over a bowl, tilted his head back and gulped it down, suddenly feeling numbness all over his mouth.

  Just then two tall figures walked in, who were Tang Weixi and Chen Yusheng.

  Tang Weixi walked forward and took a look at the medicine bowl, asking: "Have you taken your medicine?"

  "I've used it"

  "Xun'er, you go keep your mother company first." Tang Weixi nodded and said.

  Lin Yuxun glanced at Tang Guan, saw him smile slightly, and then stepped out of the room.

  "Recover from your illness, can you get out of bed and move around now?" Chen Yunsheng asked with a hint of expectation.

  Tang Guan looked at this "envoy" with some disdain and said, "Still hurts."

  "Alas," Chen Yunsheng sighed softly, and he really didn't know what to do now. If Tang Guanruo couldn't move for half a month as the doctor said, then it would probably be too late.

  "Your illness is gone. The two poems you wrote have been favored by the Sage, and he wants to summon you to enter the capital for an audience."

  "Chen Bobo, are you referring to Tian Hou?" Tang Guan asked Chen Yunsheng with a hint of excitement.

  "Not just..." Chen Yunsheng's expression was somewhat complex as he gazed at this "prodigy" who had shocked the entire court.

  At this point, Tang Weixi also became excited. His son escaped from the jaws of death and was able to enter the capital to pay homage to the emperor, which is a great honor. Especially the letter written by Pei Yan, he read it again and again, and felt more and more that his son was indeed blessed by heaven.

  "Guān er, wait until you're a bit better, then Uncle Chen will take you to Chang'an. On the way, be sure to listen carefully and behave."

  Tang Guan's previous actions made Tang Wei Xi feel deeply uneasy, and being able to get out of prison was all thanks to this summons. If something went wrong, old and new accounts would be settled together. It wouldn't just be Tang Guan who got cleared up; the entire Tang family, young and old, including Chen Yun Sheng, the one who recommended him, would suffer.

  "Listen to your sister, I'm at least a clever young man." Tang Guan heard this and couldn't help but mock in his heart, but he repeatedly nodded in agreement.

  Chen Yunsheng glanced at Tang Weixi, seeing Tang Weixi nod slightly, and then took out the imperial edict from his bosom. Tang Guan was slightly stunned, but soon reacted and knew that this was to formally announce the edict.

  "The imperial edict has been received!"

  Tang Weixi hastily knelt down on the ground, Tang Guan's movements were inconvenient, so he had to take his son to receive the imperial edict.

  Chen Yunsheng only then opened the imperial edict, and as the person proclaiming it on the road, he couldn't look at it. As soon as he opened it, he wanted to read it out loud, but suddenly froze in place.

  Tang Weixi knelt down on the ground waiting for Chen Yusheng's response, but after a long time, he still didn't see any reaction, so he couldn't help but raise his head to take a look.

  Chen Yunsheng stared blankly for a long time before saying: "In the first year of Chuyuan, the Empress Dowager decreed:..."

  He said: ... Chen Yunsheng didn't know what was going on and suddenly couldn't continue reading. Tang Guan, who was lying on the bed, felt very curious.

  "Come on, Yunsheng, hurry up!" Tang Weixi urged in a low voice.

  "Yes, sir! I have received your orders!"

  "Are you kidding me?" Tang Guan's heart suddenly skipped a beat, Chen Yun had been silent for half a day without saying anything, and directly nodded in agreement.

  "Holy benevolence!" Tang Weixi also had a bewildered expression, not knowing what was happening, but still took the imperial edict and immediately began to read it.

  "What's going on!?" At this glance, he was suddenly shocked and immediately looked at Chen Yunsheng. Chen Yunsheng also furrowed his brow, seemingly at a loss for what to do.

  Tang Guan also Zhang Wang said in the past: "Dad, let me take a look"

  Tang Wei was delighted to hear this and hesitated for a moment before handing the imperial edict to Tang Guan. Tang Guan raised his body, fixed his eyes and took a look.

  "Langbin Wang!" Tang Guan suddenly exclaimed in shock.

  The contents of this imperial edict turned out to be that "Memorial against Wu Zetian" which had caused a great stir throughout the empire!

  Tang Guan's eyes quickly scanned the lines, his heart racing. This was his first encounter with the number one female powerhouse in history, but he hadn't expected this woman to give him a riddle before they even met. No wonder Chen Yunsheng had been hesitant to speak it out loud - once spoken, it would truly become a "treasonous phrase".

  "A handful of earth is not yet dry, what can a six-foot-tall orphan rely on?"

  "What a great poem!" Tang Guan couldn't help but exclaim, having crossed over with the books from his family's collection still fresh in his mind. Although he was not as accomplished as the great scholars of this era, he had his own advantages. Sometimes, his plagiarism would even lead people to think him a genius.

  Tang Weixi and Chen Yusheng's faces suddenly changed, and they hastily shouted: "Shut up!"

  Tang Guan's eyelid twitched, and he continued to read on. The entire article was written in a bold and unrestrained style, directly pointing out the ills that people would not tolerate. No wonder this small article had earned Xu Jingye tens of thousands of troops throughout history.

  If it were placed in later generations, this would be the so-called celebrity effect. Tang Guan looked at it and thought deeply about what that female emperor, whom he had not yet met, wanted to do.

  Just then, Old Wang rushed in hastily while the three of them were lost in their own thoughts.

  "Sir, there is an official outside who wishes to see you."

  "Yamen?" Tang Weixi was still immersed in this strange imperial edict and didn't respond, waving his hand to say "not seen".

  "He is an official from the Censorate, come to deliver medicine to the young master."

  "Oh?" Tang Weixi turned his head and asked in puzzlement.

  Tang Guan heard this and shifted his gaze from the imperial edict to look at Old Wang.

  "Brother Yun Sheng, Brother Yun Sheng..."

  "Ah!" Chen Yunsheng suddenly came back to himself while he was in a daze.

  Tang Weixi glanced at Tang Guan and pulled Chen Yusheng out of the door.

  "Yun Sheng's brother, Liu Xun sent someone to deliver medicine to Guan Er."

  Chen Yunsheng furrowed his brow and said: "If this trip to Chang'an goes smoothly, the case of Guo's illness will be half solved."

  "Half?"

  "Liu Xun is after all an official appointed by the imperial court"

  "So should I see you or not?"

  Chen Yunsheng looked at Tang Guan, who was still staring at the imperial edict in the house, and then looked at his old friend's hesitant expression, saying: "Let's see what he says first."

  "Alright then," Tang Wei Xi said as he walked out of the mansion, only to see a middle-aged man waiting for him outside. It was none other than Wang Hu, who had been searching everywhere for witnesses earlier.

  Wang Hu was completely different from the proud and arrogant man who had captured Tang Guan that night, his face full of smiles as he came forward to say: "Tang Sir, is your son doing well?"

  "Hum, I thought it was someone else, turns out it's Wang Tou"

  Wang Hu's face changed upon hearing this, he was a straightforward person, his emotions evident on his face, but he immediately suppressed them and said: "Tang Gong, your son is a talented scholar who will soon be entering the capital to pay respects to the Emperor, bringing honor to our humble village. My master, the Governor, has instructed me to bring you some medicinal supplements to help with your health."

  "Hum! No need for Liu Lao Er to bother!" Tang Wei Xi also completely tore off his face with Liu Xun at this time, directly addressing the other's family members.

  "King Hu heard this and was furious, but he didn't dare say it out loud."

  "Do you have anything else to say?" Tang Weixi gave Wang Hu a cold glance, but Wang Hu remained silent. Seeing this, Tang Weixi turned around and returned to the mansion directly.

  "Bang!" In an instant, the gate of the mansion closed with a loud bang, and Wang Hu was covered in dust.

  "Old matchmaker! Worthless merchant!" Wang Hu cursed under his breath, glanced at the medicine bottle in his hand, and turned to leave.

  At the same time, Liu Xun's mansion was also attacked.

  Liu Xun, who had just escaped from his wife's nagging, now looked dispirited and downcast. The local officials were not well-informed, and such a big thing happened in the capital, but he didn't even know about it.

  "Bang!" He slammed his hand on the table, he could reach the position of a fourth-rank official, naturally not being someone easy to bully, his son's unjust death still unavenged, made his heart burn with anger.

  "General, calm down for now. That little beast has somehow managed to deceive the Emperor with some sort of trickery, but he won't be smug for long."

  At this time, a middle-aged man with a gloomy face who had been standing beside him all along said in a low voice.

  "Liu Qi, do you know what 'appointing the virtuous and commanding the able' means?" Liu Xu heard this and smiled to himself, thinking that his confidant was just comforting him.

  "Even if you know the severity of promoting the virtuous and demoting the wicked, what would happen if that little beast were to encounter bandits like Ma Zi on the way?"

  "Liu Xun's eyelid twitched as he heard the words, and he suddenly looked at Liu Qi. This Liu Qi was his cousin, from the same clan, who had been repeatedly recommended but not selected, so he could only come under his own command to serve as a prefectural official."

  However, Liu Xun knew that although Liu Qi's ink in his belly was not much, but his heart was very poisonous. Hearing him say this, he suddenly had a move in his heart.

  "There are brave and fierce guards around the imperial historian, ordinary bandits can't even get close to them, so their safety doesn't need us to worry about it." Liu Xun also calmed down and quietly exchanged a silent understanding with Liu Qixin.

  "What if it's a fierce bandit who can lift a thousand catties?"

  "What did you say?"

  Liu Qi nodded slightly and stopped talking, Liu Xun's eyes also solidified and fell into deep thought.

  "After a long while, he spoke in a low voice: 'How sure are you?'"

  "If it's him, I'm 100% sure!" Liu Qi said, his eyes emitting a venomous glow.

  "Isn't this letting the tiger return to the mountain?"

  "It depends on your skills"

  Two people spoke in turn, after a long time, Liu Xun's eyes were fixed, and he got up and went out.

  "Hold your horses!"

  Liu Xun turned over and mounted his horse, and the direction he was heading in was actually the prison cell where Tang Guan had been previously locked up!