Chapter 96: The Inspection of Minister Wei

Song Sheng looked worriedly at Li Su. If the dean called Li Xiong out alone, would it be to punish him?

Li Su stood up and walked toward Wei Shian. Wei Shian went ahead, with Li Su following behind. They left the room right under everyone’s watchful eyes.

The Huangzhai students exchanged glances, their hearts growing more certain that Li Su and their dean were acquainted. As for Li Su’s earlier claim of not knowing him, they guessed he simply wanted to keep a low profile.

After Li Su and Wei Shian departed, everyone’s attention shifted to Song Sheng.

Song Sheng felt the intense, scorching gazes and lowered his head, silently repeating to himself, “I can’t see you, I can’t see you…”

But heaven did not grant his wish. A Huangzhai student stepped forward to ask whether he knew anything about Li Su’s affairs.

Song Sheng had little presence in Huangzhai before; he didn’t know how to converse with his classmates, always keeping his head lowered to write his own works, while the classmates had no idea what he wrote, perceiving him as mysteriously secretive.

When facing so many people, Song Sheng spoke a little slowly.

“I only met Li Xiong for the first time today and know nothing of his matters,” Song Sheng said helplessly.

The Huangzhai students didn’t press him further. It made sense—Li Su had arrived only that day, so Song Sheng couldn’t possibly know him well.

“You all say whether Li Su is because his learning was recognized by the dean, or because his family background is profound and even a man like the dean must give him three points of consideration?”

“I think it’s because his learning is excellent.”

“No, no, no. I think it’s because his family background is good. Don’t you think his every move looks as if he comes from a great family?”

“Upon thinking about it, that’s true. Which family could make the dean treat him with such care?”

“Another possibility is that his learning and family background are both excellent…”

The Huangzhai students grew increasingly convinced that Li Su was hiding his true depth and silently added him to the list of people not to offend.

As the students discussed among themselves, they no longer crowded around Song Sheng with questions. Song Sheng silently let out a long breath, his heart filled with fresh worry. Having Li Xiong around, his days ahead would likely not be peaceful.

Song Sheng mentally warned himself to maintain distance from Li Su. He only wanted to live quietly without others focusing too much on him.

Moreover, there was Wang Tao. If Wang Tao returned and found him, he might cause trouble for Li Xiong.

Li Su was led by Wei Shian into a room filled with various handmade objects. Li Su observed the room’s layout with a calm, expressionless face yet full of curiosity.

From this, he felt that the dean Wei was involved in inventions, quite different from most of the scholars here.

Could it be that this Wei dean was actually pursuing the path of investigating things?

Li Su suppressed the thoughts in his heart and could not help but guess that the great reason his master had sent him here was probably this Wei dean.

Wei Shian looked at the full room of his treasures, a faint pride hidden in his heart. His disciple Shi Sheng must have learned the classics, poetry, and odes just like him.

There were also those who enjoyed playing with minds, schemes, and conspiracies.

But he had not yet seen these things. He would let Shi Sheng’s disciple open his eyes later.

Wei Shian snorted coldly in his heart. He did not appear much in the academy, instead spending all day here tinkering with these objects.

He had not brought other students along, for two reasons: first, these students had no talent in this area; second, their purpose in coming here was to study and take the imperial examinations to become officials in the court.

Following his way of studying would be inferior to honestly reading more books.

He himself was not an official in the court now; he had only taken the imperial examinations to prove that his research was not neglecting his duties.

And he had wanted to try promoting the items he had made, but unfortunately met Shi Sheng in the examinations, always coming second, and his idea of becoming famous in one go had failed.

People around him would say that if he had put all his mind into studying, he would not always come second, which had infuriated him greatly.

Later, after serving in office for several months, he became unhappy. His own family did not acknowledge him and he continued to delve into his treasures, while opponents mocked him.

He grew annoyed and resigned from office, leaving the capital. He wanted to create earth-shaking wonders to slap these people’s faces hard.

The original intention of founding the academy was to seek disciples with such talent, but either they had no talent or preferred to spend their time and energy on reading for the examinations rather than researching the way of investigating things, seeing no future in it. Fortunately, his wife had always supported him.

Gradually, he gave up seeking disciples and stayed here by himself researching.

Wei Shian always believed he would succeed. In these past years, he had been researching one item: a glass pane that allowed him to observe others’ movements from a great distance.

He had inadvertently created a glass pane that could magnify objects, so such a pane that could make people into千里眼 should be possible, though the progress had been slow so far…

If this千里眼 were used by the Wei family’s army, it could grant an advantage on the battlefield in advance and reduce many casualties.

Wei Shian tossed a Jiulianhuan to Li Su; this was his improved version, far more difficult than other Jiulianhuans. “Try to see how long it takes to untangle it. Let me see what kind of skill Shi Sheng’s disciple possesses.”

Li Su reached out to catch it. Wei Shian picked up an incense stick from the table and lit it with a fire striker.

Li Su saw him light the incense and began to observe the Jiulianhuan seriously, he could not let his master down.

Wei Shian leisurely sat on the chair, eyes fixed on Li Su.

But Li Su did not move for a long while. Wei Shian could not help thinking that the disciple Shi Sheng had found was not impressive, and he still had not begun, probably wasting several of his incense sticks.

He himself could untangle this Jiulianhuan in half a quarter of an hour; for an ordinary Jiulianhuan, it would take much less time.

This one was refined by him after much research. The academy’s teachers, the fastest took a whole day, the slowest even longer. And at first they all thought it was not difficult, treated it as an ordinary Jiulianhuan, without noticing the hidden mechanism inside.

Wei Shian liked watching their initial expressions of “it’s simple” followed by their inability to untangle it.

Hoping that Shi Sheng’s disciple was not too mediocre.

At this moment, Wei Shian had already planned how he would mock Shi Sheng after meeting him and incidentally teach Li Su a lesson.

Li Su did not rush to act but first observed, conceiving in his mind several methods to untangle it, how long each would take, and which would be the fastest.

After mentally reviewing all the methods, he first tried the relatively slower one.

Wei Shian saw him start and did not pay much attention. “There’s another chair over there. You can sit down and take your time slowly. Don’t blame your master for abusing you and not giving you a chair to sit on.”

Li Su was focused and absorbed, his hands moving faster and faster. Wei Shian’s calm expression changed a few times as he seriously stared at Li Su’s rapidly moving fingers.

Wei Shian’s face changed again. This speed, though not as fast as his own, was faster than that of the others.