Rise From the Humble

In the hazy night, Huang Jin returned from Zhishan Palace and walked into the palace where Emperor Jiajing practiced immortality and alchemy. When Emperor Jiajing was fasting, he spent most of his time in this alchemy palace, taking newly refined elixirs to fasten his grains.

As soon as you enter the palace, it's like entering a furnace.

Although the temperature outside the palace has gradually cooled down as the sun sets and the evening breeze picks up, the temperature inside the palace remains high.

The burning incense, the lit candles, and the seven-colored flames in the alchemy furnace are all releasing heat.

Huang Jin has long been accustomed to this temperature.

In the middle of the hall, in front of the Erlong Xizhu alchemy furnace, which is as tall as one person, stands a purple trembling wooden desk. Behind the desk stands a handsome middle-aged man wearing a blue robe. The robe is very low-key, with black lines instead of Hemmed with gold thread, he opened his mind uninhibitedly, and his hair was only tied up with a dragon-head hairpin, leaving most of it hanging loose.

The whole person looks very unruly and handsome.

This person is none other than Emperor Jiajing, the master of the Ming Dynasty.

When Huang Jin came in, Emperor Jiajing was standing in front of the writing desk, splashing ink with brush and ink, and his words were as unruly as the person himself.

"Your Majesty."

Huang Jin bowed down respectfully and softly greeted Emperor Jiajing.

Emperor Jiajing kept his body still and waved his left hand slightly to signal Huang Jin not to disturb him. He continued to splash ink with his right hand until he finished writing the last stroke. After admiring the written words, he raised his head and looked at Huang Jin.

"Your Majesty."

Huang Jin bowed down respectfully to say hello again.

"Well, I'm back. How about coming here and taking a look at my handwriting?" Emperor Jiajing nodded and waved.

Huang Jin came forward with his waist bent and looked at the book case.

On the desk, I saw a picture written by Emperor Jiajing with eight words in total: "Thunder, rain, and dew are all your kindness."

"According to the old slave, the saint's words are becoming more and more fairy-like. One stroke down, it looks like a god flying in the clouds and riding on the mist. He comes and goes without a trace, without any restraint. He seems to be imageless and formless, but he also embraces the universe. It comes from nothingness and returns to the emptiness. Every bit, every stroke, every stroke, all contains the spiritual energy of the universe."

Huang Jin bowed and said seriously while looking at the words written by Emperor Jiajing.

Great wisdom seems like foolishness, great skill seems like clumsiness, great sound is like sound, and elephant is invisible. This is Laozi's description of the highest state of "Tao".

Huang Jin's comment on Emperor Jiajing's calligraphy starts from the point of "the elephant is invisible". The words reflect Tao, which seems to be talking about words, but in fact it means that Emperor Jiajing's Taoist practice is becoming more and more unpredictable and closer. Became an immortal.

Huang Jin has been with Emperor Jiajing for decades. Huang Jin naturally knows what kind of words Emperor Jiajing likes to hear.

"Huang Ban, you have been led astray by Wei Zhong. The older you get, the more dishonest you become." Emperor Jiajing shook his head and cursed with a smile.

The "Weizhong" in Emperor Jiajing's mouth refers to Yan Song, and Yan Song's character is "Weizhong".

"The slave is stupid and can only tell the truth." Huang Jin was scolded, but it seemed as if he was being praised.

Emperor Jiajing smiled slightly and shook his head. Without saying anything else, he put the brush in his hand and shook it gently in the water. After washing the ink, he lifted the brush out of the water. After absorbing the remaining water with absorbent paper, he hung the brush in the water. On the pen holder.

After doing this, Emperor Jiajing looked at Huang Jin and asked, "How is the situation ahead?"

"Go back to your Majesty. The old slave followed the instructions and asked the people in the imperial kitchen to hold down their chopsticks and not put them on the table when serving food to the three adults." When Huang Jin replied, he thought of the scene when serving food earlier. Couldn't help but smile.

Emperor Jiajing ordered Huang Jin not to set chopsticks for Zhu Pingan and others when setting the meal.

If you are an ordinary person, you invite someone to dinner, and the food is very rich, including big fish and meat. But if you don't give them chopsticks, isn't it unkind, as if you are looking for trouble? This is a small boat of friendship. It’s not like I just turned it over.

It’s not the third brother from India. If you don’t give me chopsticks, how can I eat?

but

Emperor Jiajing was obviously not an ordinary person. He was the most powerful person in the Ming Dynasty and had many things to do. Naturally, he would not be idle looking for trouble.

It seems that a pair of chopsticks were forgotten at the banquet, but in fact this was a test conducted by Emperor Jiajing on Yang Guoliang, Zhang Juzheng and Zhu Pingan.

A test that concerns their future.

In the past few days, Emperor Jiajing had successively asked Yang Guoliang, Zhu Ping'an, and Zhang Juzheng to give lectures to King Yu and King Jing. He did have some intention of observing and comparing, and planned to hire another lecturer for the two princes to strengthen their study and education.

However, the candidate has not yet been determined, which does not mean that it must be among Yang Guoliang, Zhu Pingan, and Zhang Juzheng. Choosing a teacher for the prince is a very serious and important matter. According to Emperor Jiajing's plan, during these days, some officials and great scholars would also be ordered to give lectures to the two princes.

Observe and test for a period of time, and then choose the best teacher.

However, in the past two days, Concubine Lu Jing and Concubine Du Kang have been running to Emperor Jiajing. The waves of wind blowing by their pillows have affected Emperor Jiajing's spiritual practice. Moreover, if a husband and wife are kind to each other for a hundred days, Emperor Jiajing will also be grateful. Not a hard-hearted person.

In addition, Yang Guoliang's classics is still very good. Zhang Juzheng has been observing it for several years, and Zhu Pingan has also been observing it for a while.

Therefore, Emperor Jiajing planned to select a prince lecturer from among the three of them today.

What determines the fate of the three of them is today's royal meal.

The test question is this pair of forgotten chopsticks.

"Well, what next." Emperor Jiajing flicked his sleeves, sat on the dragon chair, and asked with squinted eyes.

"After the imperial meal was served in the imperial dining room, Master Yang Guoliang found that there were no chopsticks. He hesitated for a moment, but did not say anything. Then he sat upright without touching a plate of food. He just poured himself a cup of tea, and after drinking it, he I poured myself a cup of tea. When the old slave came, Mr. Yang had already drank almost a pot of tea. Haha." Huang Jin couldn't help but laugh when describing Yang Guoliang's reaction.

"Haha, if you are too conservative and not enterprising enough, you are not qualified to be the prince's teacher." Emperor Jiajing smiled slightly and shook his head.

"Zhang Juzheng, Master Zhang, found that there were no chopsticks, so he called the waiter and asked for a pair of chopsticks." Huang Jin continued.

After hearing that Zhang Juzheng took the initiative to ask the waiter for a pair of chopsticks, the smile on Emperor Jiajing's face gradually disappeared, and his eyes fell on the words he had just written on the table.

Thunder, rain and dew are all your grace.

It seems that Zhang Juzheng still doesn't understand this sentence. It seems that it will take a few more years to work hard before it can be reused.

What I give you is yours. If I don’t give it to you, you can’t ask for it.

I give you royal food

you still want.

What if the young Geer and Zhener give me meals?

"Ge'er, Zhen'er is young, and Zhang Qing is not a good teacher." Emperor Jiajing said lightly, and then asked, "What about Xiao Zhu?"

"Haha, Mr. Xiao Zhu couldn't wait to reach out and grab a piece of mutton rib meat as soon as the food was served. Not to mention how delicious it was. In the blink of an eye, Mr. Xiao Zhu gnawed two pieces of mutton rib meat. Old slave Looking at it from behind the screen, my mouth is watering." Huang Jin replied with a smile.

"Haha, good."

When Emperor Jiajing heard this, he was very happy and said a kind word with a smile.