Human joys and sorrows are never shared. Unlike the panicked Tang Zhiyuan below the Sky Canopy, Liu Sanqi on the Sky Canopy looked relaxed as she introduced to the camera: "According to the archaeological team's research, they found that Tang Zhiyuan's father, Tang Zhenlun, had an ordinary background—he was just a third-rank capital official in the Great Jing Dynasty. But Tang Zhiyuan's mother, Jin Donghui, had a more noteworthy identity."
"After analyzing the existing Great Jing Dynasty royal archives, the archaeologists discovered that Jin Donghui was actually Emperor Jingming's cousin. Moreover, when Jin Donghui married, Emperor Jingming, who was then the Crown Prince, even gave her a wedding gift. So, if you calculate through Jin Donghui's maternal lineage, Tang Zhiyuan was actually Emperor Jingwu's first cousin once removed."
Below the Sky Canopy, Tang Zhiyuan's mind went numb; his heart died. His father, named Tang Zhenlun, an ordinary third-rank capital official, sat on his left. His mother, named Jin Donghui, the current emperor's own cousin, sat on his right. Tang Zhiyuan had only one thought: how could later generations be so disrespectful?! He hadn't done anything heinous—why did they have to dig up his grave? And if they had to dig, why couldn't they choose someone else's tomb? Why did he have to be the unlucky one?
Tang Zhenlun and Jin Donghui were also stunned when they heard about their son's tomb being excavated, but seeing Tang Zhiyuan's aggrieved expression, they couldn't help but find it amusing. Jin Donghui patted her son's shoulder and comforted him, "Son, how about you stop keeping a diary from now on? Or, before you die, remember to have someone burn all the diaries and not bury them with you."
Tang Zhiyuan said pitifully, "It's all because Dad insisted that keeping a diary could improve my writing style and forced me to write one every day!"
Tang Zhenlun felt a bit guilty and stroked his short beard, "I, I didn't know you would take the diary into the tomb."
"Because the diary entries restored by the archaeologists were quite interesting, I'll take the liberty of introducing a few entries here as a way to promote this book," Liu Sanqi said.
Below the Sky Canopy, hearing Liu Sanqi's 'good intentions,' Tang Zhiyuan felt even more like crying, but at the same time, he stared intently at the Sky Canopy, wanting to know what Liu Sanqi would say.
"Take the earliest diary entry in Tang Zhiyuan's tomb, for example. We can see that from ancient times to the present, pushing children to excel has been a common social phenomenon. In this diary, 15-year-old Tang Zhiyuan thoroughly complained about his father, Tang Zhenlun, saying his father was unfit to be a Ministry of Personnel official, had no discernment, didn't know his own son's limits, and even dared to hope he would pass the imperial exam—something he himself didn't dare to dream of!
"Moreover, Tang Zhiyuan wrote a doggerel for himself: 'Neither learned nor martial, I enjoy being the best.' He even amusingly wrote three big red characters next to it: 'Riveting! Riveting! Riveting!'
Below the Sky Canopy, Tang Zhenlun's face turned as black as charcoal. He gritted his teeth and asked Tang Zhiyuan, 'I told you to write a diary to improve your writing, and this is how you improve it?' Thinking that Tang Zhiyuan had even mocked him, a Ministry of Personnel official, for lacking discernment, Tang Zhenlun couldn't imagine how he would face his colleagues' teasing gazes at the morning court the next day.
Facing his father's reproach, Tang Zhiyuan said confidently, 'Isn't this what you taught me, Dad? Didn't you always say writing should carry truth and express emotions?' Tang Zhenlun didn't expect Tang Zhiyuan to talk back at a time like this; he glared at him angrily and said, 'You unfilial son! You're trying to infuriate me!' 'Oh, how hard it is to be a son! I followed your words, and I still get called unfilial? If I'd known, I wouldn't have listened to you at all!' Tang Zhiyuan's words left Tang Zhenlun stunned.
After a moment, sorting out Tang Zhiyuan's logic, Tang Zhenlun became even more furious. But before he could explode, Jin Donghui spoke up: 'Enough, both of you—stop your racket; my ears are almost deafened!' With Jin Donghui's intervention, Tang Zhenlun was interrupted and found it hard to lose his temper. Tang Zhiyuan, secretly delighted that his mother had taken his side, even winked at her, only to be glared at fiercely by Jin Donghui, after which he immediately behaved.
"From this hilarious diary entry, you can see that with Tang Zhiyuan's talent, his father's hope for him to become a jinshi indeed showed a lack of discernment. However, for someone from a privileged background like Tang Zhiyuan, failing the imperial exam wasn't a big problem. After all, his mother was Emperor Jingwu's cousin once removed. With the Tang family's connection to the royal family, finding a decent job was as easy as drinking water.
"So, at age 26, the Tang family arranged for him to enter the palace as an imperial guard—a top-notch sinecure. Honestly, Tang Zhiyuan was a suitable candidate for the position, as the job valued loyalty above all. And who could be more loyal than the emperor's cousin? It was impossible for him to betray the royal family.
"However, on his first day as an imperial guard, after work, Tang Zhiyuan viciously cursed his colleagues in his diary, claiming that the imperial guard corps gathered the most idiots in the world." Below the Sky Canopy, in the palace, the imperial guards frowned, obviously taking issue with this assessment.
"This diary entry was long, but to summarize, Tang Zhiyuan, a top-tier nepotism hire, suffered ostracism and cold-shouldering from his colleagues on his first day. The reason was that the other guards, who wanted to climb up through Emperor Jingwu, saw him as a strong rival. Although our country's marriage law has long prohibited marriage within three generations, in the time of Emperor Jingwu, people greatly valued strengthening ties by marriage.
"So, as the emperor's cousin suddenly becoming an imperial guard, Tang Zhiyuan naturally became a major threat to many." "These idiots! No wonder I called them morons!" Tang Zhiyuan cursed under the Sky Canopy. "I was already 26—I'd long been married. How could I possibly have wanted to be with Her Highness?" Jin Donghui said calmly, "Their minds are full of schemes, so they see everyone as suspicious."
"I don't know if Tang Zhiyuan only wrote diaries to vent or purposely buried only those venting entries. In the third diary, a year after he became an imperial guard, he complained again, but this time, besides the guards, he also took a shot at Su Yu!"
Below the Sky Canopy, in the tea shed, Luo Chuan's face lit up with gossip when he heard Su Yu was also criticized. Even Su Yu himself raised an eyebrow, clearly confused why he would be scolded.
"Although the name Tang Zhiyuan sounds positive and striving, I believe he was just an ordinary salted fish who wanted to lie flat. So in this third diary, he strongly criticized Su Yu's conduct after returning to the capital: suddenly conducting a rigorous martial arts assessment of the imperial guards. He believed Su Yu was taking revenge and deliberately tormenting them.
"Moreover, he suspected that although Su Yu led troops outside, he had planted eyes and ears in the palace. He found that when Su Yu sparred with him and other colleagues, he held back, so their bruises faded in two or three days. But those guards who still harbored thoughts of seducing Emperor Jingwu were beaten black and blue by Su Yu, and it took at least ten days to recover."
Below the Sky Canopy, Luo Chuan laughed out loud when he heard that Su Yu 'hit special targets on the face.' Catching Su Yu's gaze, he innocently widened his eyes and spread his hands, indicating he hadn't said a word. Su Yu: '...' Su Yu really wanted to emulate his future self and drag this cheeky guard for some training, but his skin wasn't as thick yet. He could only order Luo Chuan to shut up, as he just did. Unable to deal with Luo Chuan, Su Yu turned away to look at the Sky Canopy. Luo Chuan smugly winked at Zheng Jin. Zheng Jin, usually taciturn, couldn't hide the smile in his eyes; teasing Su Yu was indeed amusing.
Although Su Yu was their commander, both were five or six years older and married, so they privately treated Su Yu like a younger brother. On the Sky Canopy, Liu Sanqi smiled clearly: "In Tang Zhiyuan's view, he was completely implicated by his idiot colleagues and thus got beaten by Su Yu. I personally think his suspicion is quite reasonable. I remember reading related records in other historical materials long ago, stating that every time Su Yu returned to the capital with his troops, he would test the imperial guards. I didn't think much of it at the time, but after seeing Tang Zhiyuan's diary, I connected the two things.
"In fact, while doing this series of data research, I often couldn't help but sigh that historical records never waste a word. Ancient people really liked to hide hints and clues in trivial details, waiting for later generations to decipher them. Had I not seen these diary entries, I would never have associated this record with the implication that Su Yu was very jealous.
"Of course, Su Yu's surprise assessments certainly helped improve the guards' protective skills. But from the perspective of a salted fish wanting to slack off, it was really unlucky."
Below the Sky Canopy, in the palace, Yin Ning couldn't help but laugh when she heard this. She had seen Tang Zhiyuan a few times at palace banquets and knew he was lazy. Imagining him falling into Su Yu's training made her feel sympathy for her cousin. But she had no aversion to Su Yu's training measures; in fact, she approved. After all, those who eat the ruler's grain should serve the ruler's cause. The imperial guards' greatest responsibility was to protect her safety. Although she was skilled in martial arts, the guards shouldn't just freeload.