Minglan is reborn, this time with no regrets!

Gu Yankai knew clearly that it was impossible for the Gu family to rely on Gu Tingyu. As long as his health could maintain the current state, it would be a great achievement, and he could not be expected to expand the Gu family. Gu Tingwei was not smart and had no foundation, so he had no chance of being a scholar or a warrior. The only hope now was Gu Tingye. If he could return to the examination room, with the evaluation from the examiner today, he would be on the list of successful candidates in the near future. By then, the Gu family could get rid of the name of Bingluzi and truly hold their heads up among the nobles in Bianjing.

Thinking of this, Gu Yankai regained his spirit. After returning to the study, he did not even bother to lie down. He took a pen and began to write a memorial. He wrote and revised it again, and wrote and wasted dozens of sheets of paper. Finally, he wrote a moving letter of repentance. After sealing it, he sent someone to send it to the Imperial Court, and it was presented to the emperor early the next morning.

After the morning court session, a young eunuch invited Gu Yankai into the Zizheng Hall and asked him to sit and drink tea. He drank from chenshi to shenshi, and only when the sun went down did the emperor slowly walk into the hall.

Gu Yankai had been left out all day and was already anxious. When he saw the emperor, he took off his hat and knelt down: "Your Majesty... I have failed to educate my children. I am ashamed of your kindness!"

The emperor ignored him and walked to the desk, sat back on the chair, looked down at him for a long time, and then chuckled, "My dear minister, you said that you didn't teach your children well, but I don't think so. Your eldest son, Gu Tingyu, is wise and grateful; your second son, Gu Tingye, is upright and outspoken. You have two heroes in your family, which makes others envious. How can you belittle yourself?"

How could Gu Yankai not recognize the good and bad words? He immediately kowtowed: "I am terrified!"

"Oh? Why are you so frightened?"

"I am ashamed! My eldest son is so weak that he cannot serve the country. My second son is strong but naughty. He didn't know some etiquette until he went to school in recent years. When he was eight years old, he talked nonsense at home and spoke up for Yang Wuduan. After I knew about this, I scolded and beat him. It was more than ten years ago, but I didn't expect that it would reach the ears of the emperor at this time, making him unhappy. I apologize to the emperor on behalf of my disappointing son. I hope the emperor can forgive his unintentional mistake!"

"You mean, I'm angry with an eight-year-old child?"

Gu Yankai immediately broke out in a cold sweat: "No, no, that's not what I meant. Your Majesty must not have known that these were the nonsense he spoke when he was eight years old, otherwise, with your kindness, you would never be so angry."

"Haha, you are flattering me and making me lose face!"

Gu Yankai banged his head on the ground: "I dare not! I will never dare to do that even if I die!"

Even though there was a carpet on the ground, his forehead was still stained purple and red.

"I just find it strange. How can you be sure that these are the words he said when he was young? What if he was talking nonsense in a brothel and someone heard it?"

Gu Yankai said, "This unfilial son of mine started to learn late. He only started to study seriously at the age of thirteen. Since then, he has known the difficulty of governing the country and the good intentions of the government in selecting scholars through imperial examinations. He told me long before the imperial examination that he regretted saying those words for Yang Wuduan when he was young... Your Majesty, he got up at yin and went to bed at hai every day for this imperial examination, and I don't know how many pens he wore out. In order to study with peace of mind, he moved out of the marquis's mansion and lived in a dilapidated courtyard, and encouraged himself every day with "Humble House Praise". How could he still say those words he said back then when he had done so much? I guarantee with my life that the words he said to defend Yang Wuduan were indeed said at home when he was eight years old, and he never said a word to others! Gu Tingye really knows he was wrong! Please forgive his childish words when he was young!"

The emperor saw that his lips were purple, sighed, and waved his hand to let the eunuch chief steward beside him to help him up: "Alright, at our age, we are both worried about our children. Since you have come to me to repent, I might as well talk to you clearly."

Gu Yankai stopped kowtowing as the eunuch stopped him, but he did not dare to stand up. He just knelt and listened to the lecture.

"The reason why I know your Erlang's arrogant words is because of your Dalang. Before the Spring Examination, he came to the palace to thank me. During the conversation, he inadvertently mentioned Erlang's arrogant words. Seeing that I was angry, he woke up as if from a dream and kept pleading for his brother. Since you know that your Erlang said these when he was eight years old, doesn't your Dalang know? If he knew, why didn't he explain it to me on the spot? I believed his words and took Erlang off the list, and you came to me to repent. What are you three doing?"

Gu Yankai heard the answer he feared the most. Thousands of words were stuck in his throat and he didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Emperor: "I have slowly come to my senses these past two days. Although your eldest son is weak, he is really brave! He fought with his brother, and you, the old man, couldn't settle it, so he set his sights on me! Fortunately, I thought that he was a distant relative of the queen and was weak, so I gave him so many medicines with good intentions. But he is not only ungrateful, but also plotted against my husband and me. He said he came to the palace to thank me and pretended to be so fearful. It was obvious that he ran to the palace to fan the flames and talk about his brother's eight-year-old life in front of me, touching my reverse scale, provoking me to anger, and turning me into a knife to help him eliminate his annoying brother! Gu Yankai, Gu Yankai, you are not a bad parent, you have raised an extraordinary son!"

Gu Yankai was so frightened that he kept shouting, "I am guilty! I am guilty!"

"It's just that I don't understand what your Dalang is up to. If you're competing for a title, he's your eldest son, and the title is his. There's no need for him to fight to the death. If you're competing for favor, you can just do it a few times in your own family, why do you have to go to such lengths?"

Gu Yankai trembled like a sieve: "I...I have a bad moral character. God took the biological mother of the two children away early. As a father, I failed to resolve the dispute between the two sons, which led to the brothers fighting against each other and making trouble in front of the emperor...I am guilty! I am guilty!!!"

The emperor listened to his vague words and evasiveness, and sneered, "You have two sons. One is scheming and ruthless, and the other is reckless and outspoken. My dear, how can you raise two kinds of sons in the Gu family?"

Gu Yankai originally said these words about the Sheng family, but now the emperor used them on himself. Gu Yankai was struck by lightning, knowing that the emperor had already investigated everything. He dared not hide it anymore and said with great sorrow: "It is my fault! In order to... avoid disaster, I divorced my first wife and married Yangzhou Bai as my wife, which caused my first wife to be heartbroken and die... The eldest son of the first wife poured all his hatred for the loss of his mother on Bai and her second son. I was blind and failed to discover the clues in time, which caused the two sons to misunderstand each other more and more. When I finally discovered it, I was afraid of my illness and refused to face it... In the end... In the end..."

"In the end, your eldest son became so bold that he dared to use my hand to destroy his own brother!" The emperor finished his words for him.