The tall man's kneeling suddenly made the fat man feel anxious. He pulled the other person from the ground and said repeatedly: "What are you doing! Don't always say depressed words, okay? We have experienced many strong winds and rains in southern Xinjiang. Do you still care about this little setback? Whether it is His Highness Ning's loss of power or the decline of the Chunqiu Academy, it has nothing to do with us, what are we afraid of!"

Hearing this, Ye Jiang couldn't help but smile bitterly from the corner of his lips. He shook his head and sighed: "I hope so."

The fat man immediately comforted him: "Brother, please relax. Your Highness Ning is definitely not an ordinary person. He is good at acting in a simplified manner and knows how to advance and retreat. He is also deeply trusted by His Majesty. I think that in a short period of time, His Majesty will never really do anything to him. Besides, the Chunqiu Academy, even if he has suffered heavy damage in recent days, he is still my first academy in Dajin. His foundation is still there, how could it collapse overnight?"

In fact, Fatty's words were indeed very reasonable, but Ye Jiang's worries were more profound than he had imagined, because it involved a very secretive past.

There is no doubt that to this day, the person who can connect Weining Marquis’ Mansion, His Highness Ning, and Chunqiu Academy is called Xia Sheng.

What worries Ye Jiang the most is that Xia Sheng has a close connection with that indescribable past!

Does Your Majesty already know about this?

If you know, how could Xia Sheng become the crown prince and the Grand Tutor, and the official worship of the Imperial Palace? Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the current emperor really favors Xia Sheng.

But if Your Majesty didn't know, why did he suddenly become so cold to His Highness Ning after the Spring Examination Competition, or after the Jinyuan Secret Realm?

Even at this New Year’s Eve banquet, the yellow croaker that His Highness Ning has loved since childhood?

The fat man said that whether it was the loss of power by the ninth prince or the decline of the Chunqiu Academy, it had nothing to do with the Weining Marquis' Mansion. These words were indeed fine, but what Ye Jiang was really worried about was the source of these changes!

If the source is Xia Sheng, then this matter will be troublesome.

It’s not just because Xia Sheng is the younger sister-in-law of the Weining Marquis’ Mansion, so the emperor’s suspicion of Xia Sheng will turn into suppression of the Ye Mansion. More importantly, Ye Jiang, like Xia Sheng, is deeply involved in the past sixteen years ago!

Otherwise, how did Dad Xia meet the Marquis of Weining as a chef in Wanfu Building? How could Ye Jiang betrothed his beloved daughter to Xia Sheng just because of Dad Xia’s words?

This past has never been recorded in history, and there are very few people who know about it.

People have only vaguely heard that a case of rebellion occurred in Luoyang Capital 16 years ago. However, for some reason, although this case is called "rebellion", it is not known to ordinary people, and it is not as popular as the change in Chengtian Gate. Even the Minister of Justice did not know who participated in it, what the specific process was like, and how those criminals dealt with in the end.

Everything is very secret, like someone deliberately erased the traces from history without leaving any ripples.

But if you really want to pursue it, people may find that there were actually many inconspicuous but vigilant things that happened sixteen years ago.

For example, a concubine, an imperial guard died in the palace, and an imperial chef disappeared.

Duke Xu's son died that year.

Qin's parents' room, Qin Yan's father, Qin Zhan, died that year.

The hatred between Shantang and the Marquis of Weining, and the personal grudges between Qin Xiaohua and Ye Jiang were also formed that year.

The most important thing is...

Xia Sheng is exactly sixteen years old this year.

Since then, Duke Xu has remained the Duke Xu, and his position as the commander of the **** magistrate of the town is unshakable. The Qin family is still the richest family in the Dajin Dynasty. Qin Xiaohua's official position as Minister of Revenue has not been cut off at all. The old master of the Ye family is still the leisurely old prime minister, keeping the safety of the Weining Marquis' Mansion.

It's like nothing has happened.

But Ye Jiang knew better than anyone else that anyone could think that this thing had never happened, but only one person would not do it.

The emperor of the dynasty.

A few months ago, Ye Jiang learned from the fat man that two students from the Chunqiu Academy left the Jinyuan Secret Realm early, but failed to return to Buju Mountain. Instead, they could not see anyone in their lives and corpses in their lives.

This was originally just a trivial matter, but when Ye Jiang heard the names of the two people, it became less simple.

Because they were two lonely ghosts who had disappeared for more than a hundred years.

They are sworn brothers of former crown prince Zhao Rui.

He is also a student of Chunqiu Academy.

Most importantly, they are related to the change in Chengtian Gate.

The change in Chengtian Gate is related to the rebellion case sixteen years ago.

Coincidentally, the Thorn Army under Ye Jiang's imperial guards are also closely related to these two cases!

Therefore, with Ye Jiang's extremely keen political sense, he immediately understood the emperor's plan to settle accounts in the autumn. The neglect of His Highness Ning and the chaos that followed in the Spring and Autumn Academy were only further confirmed Ye Jiang's speculation.

This time he ventured into Beijing and had already made plans to step down as the commander of the Thorn Army!

Of course, Ye Jiang never said these words to others, even if he was his most trusted subordinate and his closest family, after all, many things involved royal secrets, and more about his promises to the Qin family and Xu family.

Loyalty to the emperor and keep righteousness is Ye Jiang’s most important quality in being a human being.

The depressing atmosphere in the imperial study room lasted for more than an hour before Eunuch Zhao helped Emperor Jin and walked in.

Seeing this, the four people in the room immediately knelt down and saluted, while Ye Jiang secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

Because the emperor is willing to summon him on New Year's Eve, this is a good signal in itself.

Perhaps it was because the wine at this year's New Year's Eve banquet was a little stronger than in previous years, or perhaps it was because the emperor was very happy tonight, so he drank a few more glasses. In short, when Emperor Jin walked into the imperial study, his cheeks were dyed with a faint blush and the smell of alcohol on his body was also a bit strong.

Eunuch Zhao helped Emperor Jin sit in the main seat, then brought a hot sober soup, and then brought a wool blanket and gently placed it between Emperor Jin's knees. Then he lowered his eyebrows and lowered his eyes and retreated behind the chair that showed the greatest power in the world.

From beginning to end, Emperor Jin did not ask Ye Jiang and the other four to stand up without rituals.
Chapter completed!