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Chapter 270: A Talk with Gongsun Baishi (2)

Translator: Iris

Minglan had described her understanding of Gongsun Baishi to Gu Tingye. Hearing that, he burst into laughter right away and strongly agreed to Minglan’s words. In his view, Gongsun Baishi only had false respect for his idols.

Those scholars in the Wei and Jin Dynasty had been so unrestrained. They were always dead drunk and talked nonsense. However, although Gongsun Baishi seemed undisciplined, he was actually a very cautious person who always guarded against others and never spoke things straightly.

In order to make sure that he would come, Minglan sent the strong girl Xiaotao. After she thought for a while, she decided to be more polite to him since she had something to ask him this time. Then Minglan sent over Ruomei who liked literature and art too.

Then, Minglan ordered someone to put two basins of ice in the flower hall and set the roller shutters. After the maids placed tea, snacks as well as the fruits which had been washed by the well water, Minglan sat there waiting. After about an hour, Gongsun Baishi walked into the hall leisurely. In front of him was Xiaotao with a sullen face and behind him was Ruomei who followed him reverently.

The flower hall had been built beside the pond with partition boards all around. After the host and the guest gave obeisance to each other, they sat on the round chairs by each side of the long table. Minglan dismissed everyone else. As Danju left, she told other maids to move twenty steps away. As a result, others could only see Minglan and Gongsun Baishi sitting far away from each other face to face through the windows on the partition boards and couldn’t hear what they were saying because of the sound of the water and the wind.

It had taken Minglan a long time to think of this creation and she had got a great compliment from Gu Tingye because of that.

After they had finished the small talk, Minglan came straight to the point and asked, “Sir, do you know that I was rewarded by the royal family this morning?”

Gongsun Baishi cooled himself with a folding fan and said, “Your maids have already told me that. Congratulations, Madam.”

Minglan pinched her handkerchief and said anxiously without thinking about her identity, “ I know this is because of Master, but I can not figure out why. So I have invited you here, Sir.”

Gongsun Baishi, with his face wrinkled, said joyfully while fanning himself more quickly, “Madam, you’ve worried too much. It must be because your good reputation has been spread to the Royal palace and you deserve the infinite royal graciousness.” Though he talked like that, the look in his eyes showed clearly that he was joking.

After Minglan had been put off twice, she bit her lips and tried her best to restrain her impulse to scratch the man’s face, though his face was already full of wrinkles.

People with high intelligence quotient, with high IQ for short, had a common problem, which was loving to pretend to be profound. Before they answered your questions, they would always tantalize you first. Minglan didn’t know how Liu Bei had managed to restrain himself from beating up the man who liked to wave the feather fan(T/N: Liu Bei was a King in the Three Kingdoms period).

Minglan cleared her mind and took a deep breath twice. Then she asked with a serious look, “Master’s uncles and cousins have acted indiscreetly and were not convicted yet. Lately Master has pleaded with His Majesty for them. Sir, do you approve that?”

“... Nice question, madam.” Gongsun Baishi finally stopped making fun of Minglan and closed his folding fan, saying, “These days, I have advised Zhonghuai to intercede for his families many times. Only the day before yesterday did he agree with me”(T/N: Zhonghuai is Gu Tingye’s courtesy name).

Minglan, with a stern look on her face, stood up straightly and said, “The thing that Master and you have considered must be very important. I shouldn’t have asked that. However, now I am already involved in this and will have to express my gratitude in the royal palace tomorrow. I’m afraid that I might say something wrong, so I’d like your advice, Sir.” After saying that, Minglan bowed to Gongsun Baishi deeply.

Gongsun Baishi stood up right away to avoid accepting her obeisance. Then he made an obeisance to her reverently and said, “Madam, you are being too modest. You are a gentle and graceful madam who’s good at regulating family. Zhonghuai is lucky to have you as his wife. I’ll answer all your questions.”

These days he had been observing Minglan and found her to be a woman with a lot of self-discipline. Though Gu Tingye adored and trusted her a lot, she had never crossed the line. Never had he heard her asking a thing about the government affairs(Actually it was because she was too lazy).

Gu Tingye was in great power now. However, even though there were lots of people coming to this mansion to curry favor with her, she never made any profits from that or held her head high. She always treated others politely and modestly(Actually, she didn’t have the guts to accept bribes).

They both sat down again. After Minglan had pondered for a while, she found that it was hard to raise a question because she didn’t even know where to start.

“Why did you advise Master to plead for the people of the Gu’s family?” That seemed like a good start.

Gongsun Baishi stroked his sparse beard and said slowly, “Madam, what kind of person do you think His Majesty is?”

That seemed like a totally irrelevant answer. Minglan wrenched her handkerchief again, thinking, ‘Fine, I need to get used to how the people with high IQ think.’

“Everyone says that the officials should never guess what His Majesty is thinking, but that is not completely right.” Gongsun Baishi didn’t expect Minglan would answer his question, so he raised his head slightly to look at the roof and said, “How can an official handle affairs right if he doesn’t know what His Majesty is thinking? Within two officials from the same background, the one who’s good at guessing His Majesty’s thoughts will definitely be promoted.

Minglan looked at Gongsun Baishi. Actually this man was still under fifty, but his face was covered with wrinkles because he had suffered hardships when running about during the first half of his life, which made him look like a sixty-year-old man. However, his eyes were still sparkling.

“Zhonghuai hasn’t turned thirty yet. He didn’t marry a woman from the royal family, nor is he an official who worked for His Majesty before His Majesty ascended the throne or a veteran general. However, he is leading a large number of troops and in a high position right now. Why? Duan Chengqian, Geng Jiechuan, Zhong Dayou, Liu Zhengjie... as well as Shen Congxing, they have followed His Majesty before he ascended the throne. Each of them have protected His Majesty with their lives and remain loyal to him for more than ten years.”

Minglan gave a wry smile and said, “Master shouldn’t be put in a more important position than them, considering his seniority.”

Gongsun Baishi looked ahead and nodded to Minglan with satisfaction. Then he continued, “When His Majesty has just ascended the throne, he treated several old generals nicely by promoting them repeatedly in order to pacify the army. Therefore, the men who used to work for His Majesty didn’t dare to make any moves. At that time, I told Zhonghuai, ‘His Majesty has just ascended the throne, he must resort to arms first. You can keep a low profile and wait for His Majesty to offer you a random post for the sake of your nice relationship in the old days. That’ll give you a peaceful life. Or, you can gamble on your career and fight for the favor of His Majesty.”

“He chose the latter way, of course.” Minglan wasn’t surprised at all.

“Zhonghuai is a resolute and valiant man. He has imposed heavy penalties on the criminals and sentenced lots of people to death. After a few months, he already managed to conduct a military exercise in his troops. Although His Majesty has reproached Zhonghuai a few times, the way he has handled the matters actually pleases His Majesty.”