How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

Xie Chengze simply couldn't bear to think about what would happen if he allowed this rumor to spread.

Just as everyone was repeating the same thing, someone suddenly shook his head and denied the statement, "I don't think so."

"Oh?" After hearing this, the others couldn't help but ask, "What's your opinion, brother?"

"Have you forgotten that in the imperial examination three years ago, the top scholar was beheaded at the Meridian Gate because he offended the regent with a love poem?"

The man took a sip of tea and said slowly, "This incident once caused the Regent to be criticized among the literati. It was even rumored that he discriminated against Long Yang's friendship, which was obviously not conducive to his gaining the support and admiration of the students. Now it is rumored that he is in love with Lord Shen. I am afraid that he wants to reduce the impact of the case of the beheading of the third place scholar and put all the blame on the third place scholar."

When everyone heard this, they nodded in agreement, "Brother, your thinking is very ingenious. We admire you!"

"Thinking about it this way, it is indeed possible that, as you said, this is the Regent's plan to clear his name. Otherwise, why didn't he spread the news earlier or later, but at this critical moment, did he spread the news of their affair?"

"The promise of private affection is false, the real intention is to win over the students."

"Or maybe the two of them really have a deep relationship. In order to support the Regent, Lord Shen even sacrificed his own reputation to restore the Regent's reputation..."

"Hiss." Xie Chengze was unhappy. Why was it that he was trying to clear his name while Shen Yuan was damaging his own reputation?

"These people are too good at making wild guesses." Zhu Xiaobiao couldn't help but say, "As expected, three people can make a tiger. They can even say something that doesn't exist is real. Your Highness, do you want me to stop them from spreading rumors?"

"No need. It's impossible to stop so many mouths." Xie Chengze shook his head. He cleared his throat and turned to ask the people at the table, "Then according to what this brother said, in order to win over the students, the Regent will definitely come to the Peach Blossom Banquet with Minister Shen today?"

His voice was soft to begin with, and if you didn't listen carefully you couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman. When everyone heard an outsider interrupting, they turned around and saw the "woman" in peach-colored clothes turning towards them. Even the veil could not hide her luxurious temperament, and the bright and beautiful eyes faintly revealed under the veil were as alluring as a whirlpool.

"Why is this girl here with the men?" someone whispered, while someone else laughed and said, "Why is a girl asking about these things? The Peach Blossom Banquet hasn't started yet, so the girl should go to the female guests, otherwise it would be bad if she got caught by some sticky flies!"

"If you get a sticky fly, there are fly swatters to get rid of it. But you guys have come up with so many assumptions based on hearsay. I wonder what Lord Shen will do if he hears about it."

Xie Chengze's voice was filled with anger as he accused, "Everyone in the capital knows that Minister Shen is a man of integrity and uprightness. How could he lower himself for a mere regent and become an accomplice to a tiger? Is he worthy of being a regent?"

Shen Yuan, who was serving tea, paused and raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard the words.

Is he...helping him restore his reputation?

Zhu Xiaobiao leaned forward anxiously.

It would be fine if Your Highness did not try to restore your own reputation, but why did you add fuel to the fire?

"Hey! I don't like what you said!" The student who claimed to be from Liaozhou seemed a little angry, and immediately retorted loudly, "What do you mean by a mere regent? Do you know what the regent has done for the people of Liaozhou? You don't know the charm of His Royal Highness the Regent! The regent is a perfect match for Minister Shen!"

His voice attracted the attention of many students who were talking loudly nearby, and they all gathered around to see what was going on.

"Oh? How come I didn't know the Regent was so charming?" Xie Chengze crossed his arms and looked at the student with contempt, "Are you a hired hand bought by the Regent?"

"You!" The Liaozhou student pointed at Xie Chengze, thinking that he was unreasonable. "You ignorant fellow! The Regent not only observed the sky at night and predicted the once-in-a-century snowstorm, allowing us in Liaozhou to take precautions and provide disaster relief in advance, but he also invented a heated kang for heating and found durable coal, allowing the people of Liaozhou to spend the winter in warmth!"

He listed the great deeds done by the regent one by one. "Not only that, he also held the Ice Sculpture Festival to boost Liaozhou's finances and provided a large number of jobs for the people of Liaozhou. Now coal has been transported to both the north and the south. He has exchanged cattle and sheep with the Xiongnu tribe on the prairie, and fine rice and river fish with merchants in the south!"

"Let me ask you, a regent who is so talented and always cares for the people, why shouldn't Minister Shen be devoted to him?" The Liaozhou student snorted, "Not to mention that the regent also helped the Xiongnu retreat! You who come from other places must not know this!"

The students who were watching really had no idea. After all, they came from all over the place and were not well-informed. They attended various tea parties just to learn more about what was happening in the capital, so when the student from Liaozhou told them about the Regent's achievements, they were all shocked.

"It turns out that the fire pit that was introduced to Lanzhou was actually invented by His Royal Highness the Regent?"

"The coal that is being sold in all the inns recently is particularly durable. Did the Regent discover this?"

"The gentry in our city have all changed into fur coats. I heard they were bought in Liaozhou. Could this also be related to the Regent?"

"Brother! Please tell us more in detail!" someone asked, "And what about the Xiongnu retreat?"

Everyone was curious and wanted to know the specific details, and the student from Liaozhou did not refuse at all. He started from the time when the Regent broke into the bandits' lair alone, and when he talked about the exciting parts, there were cheers and applause, and when he talked about the dangerous parts, there were cheers. Especially when they heard that the Regent died suddenly from exhaustion, many sentimental students burst into tears and shouted "The Regent is truly a human Buddha."

No one paid attention to the "scandal" between the Regent and Minister Shen anymore.

Zhu Xiaobiao looked at Xie Chengze with sparkling eyes.

His Highness was really amazing! With just two sentences, he turned the Peach Blossom Banquet into a presentation of the Regent's achievements, turning all these students into "little fans" of His Highness!

He naively thought that His Highness was really concerned about Mr. Shen's reputation! It turned out that he had other intentions!

Xie Chengze sat down with a smile, "Minister Shen, I think you don't mind, right?"

Shen Yuan shook the tea in his cup slightly, an indulgent smile flashed across his eyes, "Are you slightly dissatisfied?"

I want to hear more gossip about them.

"Humph! You're holding back your dissatisfaction!" Xie Chengze half lifted the veil in front of his face and took a sip of tea. "I don't know who is spreading rumors. If they want to discredit my reputation, there are many ways to do it. Why did they choose this least lethal method?"

As he was talking, there was a commotion not far away. Several people walked out of the side door of Hanshan Temple, and someone shouted, "Everyone, the Peach Blossom Banquet is about to begin. Please take a seat!"

"The host of this Peach Blossom Banquet has finally shown up."

As Xie Chengze spoke, he looked up, his fingers lightly brushed the veil and looked at those people, and the next second he was stunned.

"Why are they?"

Shen Yuan looked away indifferently, then withdrew his gaze with understanding.

Seeing Shen Yuan's calm reaction, Xie Chengze couldn't help but narrow his eyes and asked suspiciously, "You guessed it a long time ago?!"

"Your Highness is indeed heartless and cold." Shen Yuan put down the teacup in his hand, a pitiful look on his handsome face, and his tone was full of accusation, "When we were in Yizhou, you clearly called me husband affectionately, but now you have turned your back on me and abandoned me like a piece of trash."

Xie Chengze: ...

Xie Chengze vaguely recalled that he seemed to have, indeed, indeed, called Shen Yuan "husband" in front of the common people of Yizhou...

I'm afraid the news spread so quickly that many people took it seriously, and then it reached the ears of students, who mistakenly believed that the two had secretly tied the knot.

Xie Chengze covered his forehead and said speechlessly, "So the source of this rumor is actually me...!"