Chapter 54: Lu Lan Decides to Enter Government Service
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“Fifth Brother, it has been half a year since we last met. How have you been?”
Lu Lan’s voice was calm and natural.
“Thank you for your concern, Elder Brother. I have been well cared for by my teachers and fellow students at the academy. Father and Mother, as well as my sister-in-law, often have people send provisions to the academy, so I have wanted for nothing.”
Looking at his respectful and modest younger brother, Lu Lan had noticed nothing amiss the first time around. It was only after discovering Lu Zhongwang’s true nature that he realized how naive he had been.
The boy had merely been concealing his abilities, and he had taken him for genuinely meek and obedient.
That fellow was a venomous snake.
“You look a little pale. Rest properly at home. You are our estate’s hope in the literary arts.”
“You flatter me, Elder Brother. I shall remember your advice. It is getting late, so I shall take my leave.”
Lu Zhongwang had hated Lu Lan from childhood. The man had been born with a golden spoon in his mouth, and every privilege he enjoyed seemed only natural.
Simply because he was the son of the principal wife.
After their eldest, second, and third brothers had died in battle for the country, he had naturally inherited the position of heir to the estate.
Meanwhile, Lu Zhongwang had been forced to crawl through the gutters, relying on diligence and hard work to prove himself step by step.
Even after striving for perfection in everything he did, he and his mother could receive no more than a few scraps from the principal wife’s table.
Such hatred, born deep within the heart, inevitably affected the way he treated Lu Lan.
Just as he was about to leave, Lu Lan suddenly called after him.
“By the way, Fifth Brother, I would like to borrow some books from you.”
Books?
“What does Elder Brother want them for?”
“What else would one do with books? Read them, of course.”
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“Oh!” Lu Zhongwang shook his head lightly. What had happened to his brain? What else could books be used for besides reading?
Still, Lu Lan had never been interested in books. Why had he suddenly taken a fancy to them?
“The books in my study cover a wide range of subjects. What sort of books would Elder Brother like to borrow?”
Lu Zhongwang suddenly remembered something, and his heart stirred.
Several years earlier, he had accidentally wandered into Lu Lan’s study. He had originally intended to look for essays, classics, or calligraphy and paintings, while also taking the opportunity to investigate what his Fourth Brother did in his spare time.
By chance, he had found a book entitled The One Hundred and Eight Techniques of Yin and Yang...
His young mind had suffered an unprecedented shock.
From that day onward, Lu Zhongwang had acquired his first bedchamber maid, a girl named Peony.
Lu Lan must have wanted to borrow similarly uplifting literature.
Unexpectedly, Lu Lan said, “Fifth Brother, I have long admired Master Yan Zhenqing. I wish to read some of his recent works. Would you be able to provide me with a few?”
Yan Zhenqing was a great scholar of the age, tutor to the Crown Prince, and concurrently Minister of Rites.
That bastard was the one who had stripped Lu Lan of his student registration.
Yet he often established a lecture hall at Hidden Treasures Academy, where the students regarded him as a lofty mountain and revered him immensely.
Lu Zhongwang, Mei Xianghan, Yang Chengyong, and even the Crown Prince Mo Ming had all studied under Yan Zhenqing.
In every year of the special imperial examinations, the chief examiner was personally appointed by the emperor, and the examiner differed from one session to the next. The previous session’s chief examiner had been Zhang Linglu, the empire’s chief minister.
In his previous life, Lu Lan had not taken part in the Spring Examination and had been utterly uninterested in the questions. During those days, he had spent three days and three nights indulging himself on a pleasure boat with several wastrel young noblemen, and had enjoyed himself thoroughly.
But he remembered the identity of the chief examiner with perfect clarity.
It had been Yan Zhenqing. Even if the man had been reduced to ashes, Lu Lan would still have recognized him.
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The questions in the Spring Examination would inevitably be influenced by Yan Zhenqing’s personal views. As the saying went, a glimpse of one part could reveal the whole. Reading his recent works would therefore offer insight into the examiner’s state of mind, as well as his preferences and dislikes.
As his mentor’s disciple, Lu Zhongwang naturally had no shortage of the man’s finest works. He simply had not expected Lu Lan to request such refined literature.
“Uh... I do have some, but...”
Lu Zhongwang paused for a moment, still puzzling over what Lu Lan was really after.
Lu Lan took a step back and said, “Of course, I am no longer a student of Hidden Treasures Academy. It would indeed be rather presumptuous of me to borrow my Fifth Brother’s mentor’s writings.”
“What is Elder Brother saying? Though my mentor is the Minister of Rites, he established his lecture hall beyond the palace walls. That alone shows that he believes education should be open to all. Since Elder Brother admires his works, how could I refuse to lend them to you?”
Lu Zhongwang called over his personal attendant, Yanqing. “The books are all at the academy. If Elder Brother is not in a hurry, I will have Yanqing fetch them.”
“Then I shall trouble you, Fifth Brother.”
Lu Zhongwang ordered Yanqing to drive the carriage to Hidden Treasures Academy and retrieve the books.
He vaguely sensed that Lu Lan’s behavior was strange. After turning the matter over in his mind, he could think of only one possibility.
He therefore asked tentatively, “Elder Brother’s interest in my mentor’s works—could it be that...”
Lu Lan glanced left and right, then lowered his voice mysteriously. “I intend to take next year’s Spring Examination!”
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhongwang’s body swayed twice.
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