Chapter 789

Da Wang immediately understood Xie Yuan's meaning upon hearing it, and hastily shook his head to deny. He wasn't actually afraid of Xie Yuan; he was just afraid of homework! Thinking of this, Da Wang's attitude became extremely proper.

"I'm so afraid of death—how would I go out of the palace myself?"

Xie Yuan: …… Didn't notice you were afraid of death.

Da Wang brazenly squeezed himself onto someone else's wine table and sat down, calmly pointing to the shop across the street. "Inside, the archers are surely already in position. Next door, there are certainly palace guards accompanying them. Sir, rest assured—I'm perfectly clear in my heart~ In the past, only Jingzhou and Hanshou wanted to assassinate me; now neither of them even ranks, and the number of those daring to act is beyond counting on two hands~"

Xie Yuan was at a loss for words, "……You, still quite proud?"

Da Wang was just about to argue with his teacher, but upon seeing Yan Hao's smiling, squinting eyes, he decided he couldn't let him see this joke. The new ox and horse are still in their protection period—revealing their true form would be bad.

Da Wang patted his pitch-black face, "Sir, don't worry—who would think a lone beggar wandering the streets is me~ You see, I even put on a disguise!" If only I hadn't been lazy, just applying black foundation would still have been too dangerous—running into you after school, Sir, would be truly unlucky.

Xie Yuan thought to himself: What kind of disguise is this? Even Yan Hao, who's only seen you once, recognized you!

After speaking, Da Wang forcibly changed the subject, raising his large squid and enthusiastically sharing it with Xie Yuan and Yan Hao.

Well, the two big shots each held one large squid, their auras shifting. Da Wang only regretted that Xie Tu wasn't present, so he couldn't capture this moment of 'painting for memory.'

Yan Hao neither ate nor held it properly; seeing Xie Yuan place the dish on the plate without changing expression, he finally relaxed and hurried to follow suit.

Upon hearing that Da Wang had it figured out, Xie Yuan no longer wished to dwell on the issue, turning instead to ask about what he had just heard.

"Xie Tu said His Majesty sent a handwritten letter to the Guangling King? May I inquire, sir, whether it is official or private?" This is no small matter—during such a tense period, the Guangling King sending a letter to the Former Dynasty, and Da Wang knowing nothing about it beforehand!

"Ah! Now that it's come to this, what private matters could possibly remain between me and my younger brother?"

Upon hearing this, Yan Hao couldn't help but glance at Da Wang again.

The old man clearly hadn't expected him to be so perceptive. Is this maternal clan not a Marquis? Could it be that a prince from the Langya Wang Clan or the Boling Cui Clan was switched at birth?!

Seeing Xie Yuan unfazed, he said, "If it's official business, why hasn't His Majesty mentioned it?"

Heaven knows he didn't actually want to ask—if he were merely the Chancellor.

But he is still this guy's teacher. The original King's Tutor, Xu Zhi, held three positions; with two full-time duties to attend to, he had already neglected Da Wang's studies, leaving only himself……utterly helpless. After hearing Xie Tu speak of this today, and now encountering Da Wang, he anxiously couldn't wait until tomorrow to confirm.

"I personally wrote and sent a letter, just to give my younger brother a ladder~ Ladder—this thing is a good thing."

Yan Hao: ……

Xie Yuan: ……

"Writing this letter exhausted me—Sir doesn't know, I wrote a full five thousand characters~"

Xie Yuan immediately grew even more worried.

"What kind of person is Da Wang? Leaving an eight-hundred-character essay as homework, he'd be grateful to heaven and earth if he could just write two hundred!"

"The first four thousand five hundred characters were to help my younger brother recall our brotherhood, and the last five hundred gave him a ladder. With Guangling stably secured, how many thousands or hundreds could be spared from death? I truly don't want to face my younger brother in military confrontation, to fight a life-or-death struggle—so I decided to make a wager with him.

If I win, he returns. Past grievances erased, he continues as Guangling King in Youzhou."

Yan Hao slightly raised his brow, having heard something? Brotherhood in the imperial family? He looked at Xie Yuan, waiting for him to ask Da Wang what would happen if the Guangling King won.

Who knew Xie Yuan had no interest in that point at all.

"... Was this draft personally written by His Majesty?" So no outsourced work this time?

Da Wang nodded proudly, "Exactly!"

Xie Yuan: ……Despair.

Upon thinking that all of Guangling King's aides would transmit and view this handwritten letter, he just wanted to resign from the position of King's Tutor.

……

"……Since ancient times, one of the important duties of the Five Classics Doctor is to lecture the Emperor and Crown Prince on the Classics. Although the Court is about to mobilize troops, the matters requiring the Emperor's personal attention are few. His Majesty hasn't yet heard Yan Sir lecture on the Classics—why not arrange this during the time before departure?

This journey southward, three to five years without return; upon thinking of it, I grow anxious and unable to sleep. This delay—His Majesty fears missing the optimal learning time!"

Xie Yuan let out a long sigh; Da Wang felt as if the heavens had collapsed.

Just going for a stroll, that's all!

"Sir, I've recently been truly busy and unable to free up time—why not swap the pre-departure southward journey lecture for Yan Sir?"

Yan Hao and Da Wang locked eyes, each holding their own complex emotions.

The cooled explosive grilled squid hardened, like Da Wang's cold heart.

This guy returned to the palace, unshaven.

Upon his departure, Yan Hao bluntly asked Xie Yuan without hesitation: "You just now—why didn't you ask him about his wager with the Guangling King? What if he loses? No longer caring about that brotherhood—directly attack Guangling?"

Xie Yuan's mood had already cleared; hearing this, he spoke with definite certainty: "Any wager His Majesty agrees to must be one he is certain to win." If there were any chance of loss, such a wager would not exist at all.

Yan Hao: ……

Definitely switched at birth.