Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Chapter 453: A Hall Full of Old Acquaintances

The emperor’s pupils, behind the ceremonial fringe, suddenly contracted.

In the space of a single breath, his expression moved from puzzlement to astonishment, then to an almost incredulous shock.

This man… he recognized him!

Five years ago, on this same hall that symbolizes the empire’s highest authority — though back then it was not the Court of State Ceremonies, but the even more imposing Hall of Golden Chimes — after the Metropolitan Examination results were announced and the Qionglin Banquet had ended, the new jinshi had come to the throne to give thanks.

He remembered it clearly: tenth place in the second class, that young jinshi from Qingshi County, only seventeen years old, the one he personally appointed to the Hanlin Academy as a compiler.

That youth who, in the imperial court, had been accused by Yongchang Marquis Chen Yuan of the monstrous crime of "causing military delays," forced into a desperate plight, and ultimately stripped of office and scholarly honors by one helpless imperial edict — then exiled to the Blackwater Camp on the Northern Frontier!

His name was Su Ming!

For a moment, the emperor’s breathing briefly faltered.

Five years had passed.

He had assumed that talented yet stubborn-as-stone teenager had, like countless other exiles, turned into a mound of earth on the northern ice, a single skeleton.So how could he be here?

How could he possibly… be seated in the position of a Cloud Hidden Sect envoy?!

That blue robe, that aloof, otherworldly calm that seemed at odds with the mundane world, all of it pointed toward a possibility that made the emperor’s scalp tingle.

Beneath the throne, among the officials,

several veteran ministers who had attended that same court session five years ago almost simultaneously recognized Su Ming.

“Hiss… isn’t that…”

“The Hanlin compiler… Compiler Su?”

he exiled?

flies, spread in a small radius through the silent ranks of officials. Some gasped in shock, others wore puzzled expressions, and a few seasoned ministers with deeper calculations glanced meaningfully at Xu Qing, who

the Hall of Golden Chimes

overwhelming power at court, while the

had happened in these five

To the probing, astonished gazes turned his way, he seemed entirely oblivious.

with dignity, returned to the capital that once wronged and humiliated him, albeit in

the emperor’s eyes rose quickly — and subsided just as

was steadier than most. He soon withdrew his gaze and restored his solemn, detached bearing, neither acknowledging nor

his wide

the thin figure kneeling on the cold tiles of the Hall of Golden Chimes five years

and framing with a straight

person

Sect envoy — a status that

to

things fell

game had been placed five years ago, and it was one he had

fell

moment, the Northern Barbarian delegation’s chancellor — who had remained silent until now — slowly

his clouded eyes, and his hoarse voice, like

“Your Majesty.”

chancellor rose and bowed deeply to the

Great Khan wishes for eternal peace with Great Xing. However, Northwind City, Cloud Center City, and Dingxiang City were taken by our forces over four years ago. The people there have long adapted to our governance. If returned forcibly, I fear they

arrogant; each

Your Majesty’s compassion. Allow your mighty forces to withdraw with dignity, and acknowledge my state’s administrative control over the three cities. Only then can there be a long-term

finished, the temperature in the hall seemed to

began with a brazen

a boulder thrown into