Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved
Chapter 459 Dad, I Want to Marry Her!

Chapter 459: Chapter 459 Dad, I Want to Marry Her!

Jun Yuyan and Murong Jiu did not go over; they returned to their carriage instead.

They wanted to see what those two students would say.

The two students had been begging their parents to attend the school since its inception, never missing a class, no matter if it was windy or raining.

One was named Li Tiewa and the other Chen Shuisheng, both children of farmers, who had never attended private school—not because their parents would not let them, but because they were too poor to put together the scholar’s honorarium.

But having secretly listened in on classes, they were capable of picking up a writing brush and scrawling a few big characters on the ground.

They had heard that when they came to the school, the money for their writing brush and ink had been scraped together by borrowing from here and there. Most of these students had a strong will and were accustomed to hardships; among them, these two shone brightly, clever in mind, with a memory almost visual in its acuity and a strong capacity for understanding, making them two very promising seeds.

Concerned with the affairs of the school, both Murong Jiu and Jun Yuyan had heard of them, and had even selected their style names, although the students did not know it and thought it was their teacher’s doing.

Unexpectedly, they had been cornered at the door by Young Master Liu and subjected to such humiliation.

"Your words represent class immobility. If you continue to spout such views, your father may well lose his black hat."

The speaker was Chen Shuisheng, who maintained a calm tone and was not provoked by Young Master Liu’s remarks.

But Young Master Liu was a profligate, at an age suited for prefects more than serious pursuits. Completely unaware of what class immobility meant, he laughed coldly and said,

"My father is the head of Hanlin Academy, do you bumpkins understand what that means? He is the chief of Hanlin Academy, the chief examiner for the imperial examination! With just one word from my father, you could all be expelled from the imperial examination!"

Jun Yuyan let out a low chuckle, his gaze stern and indifferent. He called over a personal guard, "Go and ’invite’ the head, Lord Liu, from Hanlin Academy here."

His close guards included the likes of Zhou Li and Yang Chuan, while those with a more cautious temperament like Yang Shan were assigned to the Brocade-clad Guards, specifically to oversee court officials.

The one who took the order was Yang Chuan, Yang Shan’s brother, who was exceptionally skilled in qinggong. Upon the Emperor’s command, he whisked away and "invited" Lord Liu over in less than a tea’s time.

Lord Liu was shaken on horseback, thinking he had encountered some fearful bandits. He had barely caught his breath when he heard the unique nasally voice of his son,

"A bunch of poor scholars dare to defy me, Young Master Liu? I will have my father expel everyone from your school so that not one of you can pass the exams for official titles!"

Lord Liu’s eyes widened in anger. Still mounted on the horse, he scolded fiercely, "You unfilial child! What nonsense are you spouting!"

"Father! These destitute rustic bumpkins dared to block my way in the bookshop. I merely demanded they kneel and apologize, yet they insulted me with their rotten words. Today, I came to settle accounts with them!"

Young Master Liu, likely spoiled by the authority he wielded on common days and doted on by his four older sisters, lacked any sense of crisis, oblivious to the looming danger.

Lord Liu wished he could slap him to death.

"It seems the one who is wrong is you. You should apologize to them immediately!"

As the crowd around them grew larger, even though they were all commoners, Lord Liu was sweating profusely. As a feeble scholar, aged and utterly weak, he could not even dismount from the tall horse. He didn’t know who had kidnapped him, as the person was already out of sight, but he was sure that this was no good.

"Father, how can you make me apologize to such people! They are born to be beasts of burden for our kind! What use is their learning, dreaming of skyrocketing to success—it’s a delusional fantasy! They can’t compare to us, high and noble descendants of great families! To make me apologize is worse than beating me!"

"Shut your mouth!"

Lord Liu truly wished he could beat some sense into his pampered youngest son.

These words should be kept behind closed doors, not proclaimed in public!

"I refuse! Today, unless they kneel, I will not rest!"

Young Master Liu exclaimed loudly.

"A man’s knees hold gold; one only kneels to the heavens, the earth, and one’s parents, but never to insignificant people, especially not the likes of you, shameless man!"

Li Tiewa said loudly, and a round of applause arose immediately from the other students nearby.

"You, all of you! Even if I’m a shameless person, what about you? You are nothing but eternal dogservants who will never be able to stand upright! No matter how well you study, if you fail to achieve scholarly honorarium, you can only work as an accountant or a shop assistant. The stores in Capital City all belong to our noble families. Aren’t you toiling for us like oxen and horses? If you offend me, Young Master Liu, I can ensure that you don’t even qualify to toil like oxen and horses!"

Upon finishing these words, the people around fell silent.

This was because it was the truth, not that the common folk didn’t understand; they simply couldn’t grasp what was called ’class solidification’ or understand these literary terms.

But they were also aware that many noble families were pressing down upon them, commoners, and such oppression wasn’t rare in the past.

How could a poor family produce talents? And even if they did, the talents would be serving these nobles as attendants, tutors, and stewards. And yet, many people took pride in this.

Little did they know that in the eyes of those who considered themselves superior, they were merely dogservants.

Lord Liu was on the verge of passing out from anger. Finally, he managed to overcome his fear and leapt off his horse.

He grabbed his youngest son and was about to leave.

"Lord Liu, your son speaks his mind without reservation, seemingly innocent of deceit. It would appear that these are the kinds of remarks you often make at home, imparting such ’fine learning’ to your son," said a grave and stern voice from the unremarkable carriage.

This familiar voice made Lord Liu’s heart skip a beat, his mouth agape in disbelief.

Then he saw the majestic and handsome New Emperor alight from the carriage, and turn to help Her Majesty the Empress down.

Before Lord Liu had time to kneel, he heard his rebellious son beside him shout loudly, "Heavenly Immortal! Father! I want to marry her!"

Lord Liu’s knees weakened, and he thudded to the ground.

"Your servant greets Your Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress. I deserve death for my sins and beg the Emperor to punish me!"

Jun Yuyan was so angered he had to laugh.

"Who would have guessed Lord Liu’s young son would harbor such grand ambitions, desiring to wed my Empress?"

The fearless Young Master Liu turned pale with each passing moment, kneeling beside his father on the ground.

He never would have imagined that the woman who emerged from a broken-down carriage would be the most exalted woman in the world—Her Majesty the Empress!

Murong Jiu’s gaze settled on Young Master Liu as she said:

"Lift your head and tell me, who taught you those words you spoke?"

Young Master Liu trembled all over and was unable to utter a word.

The others around also knelt down one after another.

Jun Yuyan spoke, "All rise. The Empress and I are on an incognito inspection; there’s no need for such pomp and circumstance."

Everyone was extremely excited, all standing up, waiting for the Emperor and the Empress to hand down severe punishment to Lord Liu and his son.

Only this father and son dared not get up.

"If you won’t answer the Empress, it doesn’t matter. Today, you have insulted my Empress, and it wouldn’t be too much even if I exterminated your entire clan," Jun Yuyan said.

Frightened, Young Master Liu shouted loudly, "It was my father! It was when my father was talking to his students; I, a commoner, overheard it!"

Jun Yuyan’s lips curled into a smirk as his eyes emotionlessly turned towards Lord Liu.