Chapter 83 - 82: Cui Jinghan: I Miss You, Your Majesty
Chapter 83: Chapter 82: Cui Jinghan: I Miss You, Your Majesty
That last sentence struck a chord in Cui Jinghan’s long-dead heart. He finally stopped turning the pages of his book and asked, "Shi?"
"Yeah. The Xu family is a prominent clan in Jianghuai, after all. I can’t believe they’re allowing their descendant to use a different surname." The young man couldn’t help but gossip a bit. "Could this young lady’s maternal family be even stronger than the Xu family? But nowadays, the Shi surname doesn’t even have a minor family associated with it."
Cui Jinghan remained silent.
When he didn’t receive a response for a while, the young man’s heart skipped a beat. "If you don’t agree to let Junior Yan go, I’ll tell him right away and have him stay in the institute to do research."
His senior, Cui Jiu, was a calligraphy genius. His mastery of the Cui Style had reached the pinnacle of perfection, almost as if he were the reincarnation of Nanling Jun, Cui Jinghan, from four hundred years ago. There were even rumors in the institute that he might be a secret descendant of the Nanling Cui family living among the common people. But those were just guesses. The Nanling Cui family had been slaughtered to the last person four hundred years ago.
Cui Jinghan snapped back to reality and gave a faint smile. "Let him go. There hasn’t been much urgent work at the institute lately anyway."
Relieved, the young man finally relaxed and smiled back. "You should smile more often. Everyone who meets you says you’re too cold." He muttered to himself that his senior, Cui Jiu, was perfect in every way—knowledgeable and handsome—except for the fact that he kept a cold face all day long, which intimidated people.
Those words left Cui Jinghan in a slight daze. His old friends were all gone, and he didn’t want to recall his past life. Yet, every blade of grass, every tree, and every word spoken four hundred years later constantly reminded him of what had happened. He had been introverted since childhood and was naturally unsmiling. Even in his past life, people had told him to smile more. He had tried to change, but it had only made him deeply uncomfortable.
But what had the Empress said?
She had told him, "What’s there to smile about? If you don’t want to smile, then don’t. Just be yourself. Must you wrong yourself and change for the sake of others?"
That was the first time he had heard such words. He had studied the Four Books and Five Classics since childhood, prided himself on his high cultural literacy, and had his own arrogance, but he wasn’t as clear-headed as she was.
Pulling his thoughts back, Cui Jinghan said mildly, "Sorry, I don’t really like to smile."
His response made the young man momentarily awkward, and he immediately fell silent. After packing his things, the young man passed by Cui Jinghan’s desk again. Seeing the text on his computer screen, he exclaimed in surprise, "So you’ve also read the Imperial Decree."
Cui Jinghan hummed in acknowledgment.
Finding a topic of conversation, the young man continued, "Empress Taichu was indeed too cruel and merciless. Although she was incredible at waging war, killing her father and brother truly defied the laws of heaven. This Imperial Decree by Nanling Jun exposed her cold-blooded—"
"She wasn’t!" Cui Jinghan suddenly interrupted, his voice sharp.
"S-Senior?" The young man jumped in fright, not understanding why he was suddenly so furious.
"Sorry." Cui Jinghan’s voice lowered, sounding a bit hoarse. "You can leave first. I still have some things to handle."
Not daring to stay any longer, the young man quickly left.
Outside the window lay the bustling night view of Mingjing. This ancient capital, having stood for thousands of years, remained the center of Jiuzhou to this day.
Cui Jinghan stared blankly at the eternal Ming Yue in the sky, a twisting pain spreading through his heart. He didn’t understand. He had clearly written so many articles singing her praises and commending her—why hadn’t they been passed down? Four hundred years later, only this Imperial Decree remained.
He had written it when he didn’t know what kind of person she was, relying solely on the rumors that had reached Nanling. During the Xiping Mutiny, Mingjing had been in chaos. Cynical and resentful, he had joined many other scholars in denouncing Empress Taichu. The language of that decree was fierce; it could be said that he had cursed her to hell and back.
Before writing it, Cui Jinghan had been fully prepared to be imprisoned or even beheaded. It wouldn’t have been his first time—two years prior, he had angered a high-ranking official with his writing and was locked in prison for three months. But he had no regrets. He was a scholar; pen and paper were his weapons.
Sure enough, less than a month after the Imperial Decree was published, he was summoned to Mingjing.
That was the first time he had seen the young Empress. Her majestic aura was so overwhelming that it was difficult to meet her eyes. In that moment, Cui Jinghan suddenly realized that many of the rumors about her were likely false.
What happened next exceeded his expectations even more. Not only did she not punish him, but she also introduced him to the current Grand Secretary, Ye Yu. After reading his Imperial Decree, Ye Yu had said, "Your Majesty, this person has profound literary skills. He is a rare talent who can be entrusted with heavy responsibilities."
She waved her hand lazily. "I will leave this matter to you, Teacher."
Ye Yu said, "Understood," while Cui Jinghan stood below, entirely unable to process what was happening.
As if remembering something, she suddenly added, "I heard your running script is quite good. I need you to teach me calligraphy. Teacher, don’t assign him too much work for now. It won’t be too late to keep him busy after I’ve perfected my handwriting."
Ye Yu smiled. "Very well."
He simply continued to stare at her blankly.
"Also, the language in this article you wrote is too complicated. I didn’t understand it at all," she said, looking down at him from above. "If you want to curse me, you might as well just point at my nose and tell me to get lost."
An Imperial Decree had surprisingly earned him a smooth political career—something he wouldn’t have dared to dream of. Yet now, he regretted writing that article. Because four hundred years later, this piece of writing had become powerful historical evidence used to slander her.
Cui Jinghan gripped the book in his hand tightly. After a long while, a whimper escaped his throat. "I’m sorry..."
It was unclear whether he was saying it to himself or to his former master from four hundred years ago. He just missed that short Eighth Year of Taichu, and he missed her a little, too.
Cui Jinghan let out a breath and continued gazing at the sky.
Ming Yue hung high, and the long night stretched on.
The night view in Jianghuai was also extremely beautiful. Qingyuan accompanied Shi Changying as they strolled down the street. To prevent being recognized, Shi Changying simply threw on a long robe, completely concealing her figure.
"By the way, Sister Ying, I have another piece of surveillance footage here," Qingyuan said. "It’s related to Miss Shuangqiao. Take a look."
After watching the video, Shi Changying’s eyes narrowed slightly. "I understand. We can’t just let this matter go."
"Sister Ying, I’ve already had the production crew remove her name," Qingyuan nodded. "The rest is up to Miss Shuangqiao’s plans. It’s not my place to interfere."
Shi Changying said mildly, "Mhm. I’ll tell Qiaoqiao."
Just as Qingyuan was about to say something else, her phone rang. The call was coming through on her private number.
Shi Changying took a bite of her steamed bun. "Who is it? Your company looking for you?"
"It shouldn’t be. They don’t know this phone number." Qingyuan was also a bit confused about who would be calling her so late.
She took out her phone and glanced at it. The caller ID displayed a name: Hua Shao.