Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court-Chapter 329: Did You Crouch Under Zhu Zi’s Bed to Know He Never Took in a Nun?

The scene was utter chaos.

A dozen Imperial Guards swiftly positioned themselves in front of the emperor and crown prince, their hands gripping their swords so tightly that their knuckles turned white.

The crowd surged—some pushing toward the center, others trying to retreat. Amidst the shoving and jostling, a few nearly lost their footing and fell.

Shouts of anger, voices of praise… The cacophony was as disorderly as a banquet where knives, forks, and plates clattered against one another.

Then, someone finally lost control and hurled a slippery fish at Zhu Bailu—where they got it from was anyone’s guess. The fish struck his face with a wet smack, its pungent smell assaulting his nostrils.

A refined scholar like Zhu Bailu had never encountered such a spectacle before. He wanted to retreat, but his body was frozen stiff with fear. All he could do was clutch his reddened nose, staring anxiously at the chaotic scene before him.

“Bang—”

Former Prime Minister Dou fired a shot into the air.

The commotion halted instantly. It was as if someone had pressed a pause button—every head turned to stare at Former Prime Minister Dou in stunned silence.

The elderly man calmly put away his firearm, his face adorned with a gentle smile. “Our Dou family is a very well-mannered household. We don’t normally use firearms. You should all behave properly too, don’t you think?”

Most people stiffly nodded.

Former Prime Minister Dou let out an internal sigh of relief.

If things had spiraled out of control, as the judge of this debate, he would have borne the responsibility.

“Alright,” he said slowly. “If you have something to say or a question to ask, do it one at a time. Take it slow. Understood?”

The tension instantly eased, and people hurriedly responded, “Understood! Understood!”

One person seized the moment and blurted out, “Xu Lang, you said that Cheng Zi stated ‘For officials and above, there is no rite permitting remarriage.’ Is that true?!”

Xu Yanmiao glanced at the system and replied, “It’s true.”

There was even a historical anecdote about this—two renowned scholars once debated this very phrase until one of them finally countered, “Your father married your stepmother, so how do you have the face to argue that this rule is correct?”

So, armed with this trivia, Xu confidently stated, “This phrase comes from The Collected Writings of the Cheng Family of Henan.”

The questioner was shocked. “That work has twenty-five volumes! You had the patience to read all of it?!”

Many present had never read it themselves. At most, they had skimmed over summaries, commentaries, and simplified explanations compiled by other scholars. For books not required for the imperial examinations, who had the leisure to read them thoroughly?

Xu Yanmiao remained calm. “That passage is from Volume 22, Part 2 of The Collected Writings of the Cheng Family of Henan. You can look it up yourself.”

Tong Xin, watching from the sidelines, was quite surprised. “For a young man of twenty to have the patience to read all of The Collected Writings of the Cheng Family of Henan—that’s no small feat.”

Quan Yizhang coughed.

Because in the very next moment, Xu Yanmiao muttered inwardly:

[Reading all of it? Impossible. I just copied what someone else already summarized.]

But the officials from outside the capital were unaware of this detail. They looked at Xu Lang with newfound admiration. Some even blushed, feeling ashamed of how shallow their recent studies had been. They silently reprimanded themselves for neglecting their scholarship and lagging behind even a young scholar barely past his coming-of-age ceremony.

“It’s time to truly settle down and study properly,” someone sighed.

But many others had no time for self-reflection—they were far more concerned with protecting their own interests.

Another scholar stepped forward and challenged, “Xu Lang, since you understand Zhu Zi and Cheng Zi so well, you should also know that even they couldn’t live up to their own teachings, correct? If they themselves failed to abide by their own doctrines, then what right do their teachings have to be considered ethical principles?”

Xu Yanmiao blinked. “For example?”

Another scholar stepped forward and loudly declared, “For example, Zhu Zi preached that women should be chaste and virtuous, yet he seduced a nun and took her as a concubine! Not only that, but he shamelessly paraded her around in public!”

“!!!”

At least half the audience instantly perked up.

Then came an onslaught of curses aimed at the scholar:

“What an insolent, slanderous beast!”

“How dare you speak such blasphemy!”

“When did Zhu Zi ever do such a thing?!”

“You useless sack of flesh, all you think about is filth!”

“Nonsense!”

Though they rebuked him, it was obvious—one by one, people were now paying closer attention to Xu Yanmiao than they had during the entire theological debate. Their faces brimmed with an almost uncontrollable thirst for knowledge.

This. This is what we want to hear!

Especially the capital officials.

Ahem. Bai Ze really could see the truth, huh?

R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.

They had been curious about this for a long time.

Even Quan Yizhang, despite his age, found himself unconsciously leaning forward.

Tong Xin, puzzled, asked, “You actually believe this?”

“I don’t,” Quan Yizhang stated righteously. “This must be slander from Zhu Zi’s political enemies during his time in court. But disbelief alone isn’t enough—I need to hear the details and analyze them properly.”

Tong Xin: …Is that really the reason?

Ahem. Well, he might as well join in… No, he meant, he would also analyze the situation. Although he had personal grievances against Zhu Xi, he wasn’t so low as to spread baseless accusations. If possible, he’d even help clear things up.

Xu Yanmiao glanced at the gossip system. “Are you referring to the time Zhu Zi got caught up in factional strife and was impeached with six major charges by his political enemies?”

The scholar snapped, “Forget all that—just answer this: Did Zhu Zi take a nun as his concubine or not?”

Xu Yanmiao: “He did not.”

“Ah…”

The crown prince sighed in disappointment. “So he didn’t, huh?”

Yeah. Zhu Zi really didn’t do that.

The crowd let out a collective sigh of regret.

They had been hoping for something scandalous.

The scholar pressed on, “Where’s your proof?! What, did you crouch under Zhu Zi’s bed to know he never took in a nun?”

“!!!”

The audience instantly snapped back to full attention.

Yeah! Where’s the proof?!

Xu Yanmiao explained, “In Zhu Zi’s era, people loved writing anecdotal accounts—everything from prime ministers to commoners was recorded in these notes. Some of these records contained real events, while others were mere rumors. However, not a single one mentions anything about Zhu Zi and a nun. If he had truly been parading a nun around in public, yet not a single person recorded it—doesn’t that say it all?”

Which meant either the story was entirely fabricated, without even street gossip to support it, or… no one dared to talk about it.

The scholar retorted, “Anecdotal records? How do you know there’s nothing in them? Did you read all the anecdotal literature from Zhu Zi’s era?”

Xu Yanmiao, without so much as blinking, lied, “Yes, I read all of them.”

The scholar scoffed, “Just because you say you read them all doesn’t mean you did. Then tell me—what rumors exist in those records about Lu Qingcheng, the famous painter of Peony Illustration from Eastern Chu?”

—Zhu Zi was also from Eastern Chu.

Xu Yanmiao glanced at the gossip system and was utterly shocked. “Wait… that’s your ancestor?!”

The scholar, hearing the sharp collective gasps from the capital officials, smiled with immense pride. “That’s right. He’s my family’s esteemed forefather.”

Xu Lang loudly: [Wow!]

The crown prince, in a small voice: “…Wow…”

[Someone is actually digging a pit for their own ancestor?!]

The old emperor laughed mercilessly. “Asking about your own ancestor isn’t the same as asking about yourself—why wouldn’t he dare?”

Even if he uncovered that his ancestor had taken a nun as a concubine, slept with his daughter-in-law, or neglected his mother so much that she had to eat stale rice from the storage—what did that have to do with him? The one being ruined was his ancestor’s reputation, not his own.

“I’ve never gossiped in public before… I mean, I’ve never shared these common folks’ rumors before!”

Xu Yanmiao, full of anticipation, asked, “The anecdotal record you’re referring to—is it the one where your ancestor fell for a honey trap, got tricked with ‘virginity powder,’ thought he had taken a girl’s innocence, tried to take responsibility, and ended up getting scammed out of a thousand taels?”

The scholar froze. “What did you just say?”

Xu Yanmiao pondered for a moment. “Or… are you talking about the time he wrote his memoirs and mistakenly recorded that the Right Prime Minister married off his granddaughter to the Left Prime Minister’s son as a concubine instead of as a proper wife? And because of that mistake, the Right Prime Minister’s reputation hit rock bottom? For hundreds of years, whenever people mentioned it, they’d say: Oh! That’s the Prime Minister who, despite holding the same rank, grovelled before the other Prime Minister, flattered him endlessly, and even gave his own granddaughter away as a concubine like a bootlicking coward! Is that what you were hoping to hear?”

The scholar: “Wait! What the hell are you talking about?!”

His expression was a mix of shock and indescribable despair. “What kind of anecdotal records even document these things?! Are you just making things up on the spot?!”

Xu Lang: “……”

[Ah… crap.]

Xu Lang stiffened, a faint melancholy washing over him.

[Damn, I accidentally told the truth. What do I do now?]

The emperor and his ministers: “Oh ho!”

It’s actually true?!

For a moment, they weren’t sure whether to mock the esteemed painter for believing in virginity powder or to pity the Right Prime Minister, whose reputation had been trampled for centuries.

Oh well, they decided—it was better to first feel bad for the poor little Bai Ze who had let something slip.

Xu Yanmiao, regaining his composure, firmly nodded at the scholar. “There is a record. I’ve seen it. I’m telling the truth.”

The scholar immediately demanded, “Where did you see it? Where’s the book?!”

Xu Yanmiao hesitated. “Uh… it’s in…”

A voice suddenly rang out. “It’s in the Imperial Library.”

Xu Yanmiao and the scholar turned their heads in surprise, only to see Quan Yizhang slowly making his way to the center of the courtyard.

As he walked, he calmly said, “I swear on my honor—Xu Yanmiao truly read about those two incidents.”

Xu Yanmiao looked at Quan Yizhang with deep emotion. “Master Quan…”

[Wuwuwuwu… Master Quan is such a good person! He clearly hasn’t seen the book, yet he’s still helping me lie!]

Quan Yizhang, ever reliable, gave his head a reassuring pat. “Leave it to me.”

Xu Yanmiao was even more touched.

The scholar, however, was not moved in the slightest. “Master Quan! Are you telling the truth?”

Quan Yizhang nodded. “These two incidents are indeed real.”

After a moment’s thought, he added, “They’re truer than the claim that Zhu Zi took a nun as a concubine.”

The scholar teetered on the edge of emotional collapse. “I still don’t believe it! Unless I see that anecdotal record with my own eyes!”

The old emperor subtly signaled the Jinyiwei (Embroidered Guards). The guards quietly retreated, preparing to forge the book.

But before they could leave, Xu Yanmiao spoke up.

[Damn it, I can’t produce the book.]

Trying to prove his point, he said, “I don’t remember where I put the book. How about this—I’ll recite a few other anecdotes from that era, about famous figures who served in the same court as Master Lu. Oh! And their descendants are even my colleagues! If I say anything wrong, they definitely won’t accept it, right?”

Xu Yanmiao’s colleagues: “!!!!!!”

Absolutely NOT! Shut up!

The scholar considered for a moment, then nodded. “You couldn’t possibly make up multiple stories on the spot. Fine, I’ll acce—”

“I DON’T ACCEPT!!!”

Colleague #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5 all protested vehemently.

Again what’s happening? How did it turn from debate to Gossip Conference. Every gossip is worth a jade is it not?

I was reading After the Group Disbanded, I Became Famous while I was sick and it was a true companion. I am sure you will love it too.

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