This is an era of freedom for the literati, where emotions can be freely expressed and academic speeches that subvert cognition are allowed. This is an era that is very tolerant of scholars, who can criticize current events, go against the tide, and even rebuke the monarch's immoral behavior, and even scold the monarch loudly.

  However, one must also be responsible for one's words and actions. If what was said is indeed reasonable, not only will there be no punishment, but rather courtesy and respect will be received. But the monarch holds a supreme position, can he scold first and then discover that he was wrong, and casually dismiss it with a single misinterpreted sentence?

  Muxu's behavior of taking responsibility for his words with his life, although extreme, is indeed something that often happens. This is a commendable act.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, he took a sip of rice wine, and the mellow flavor spread out on his tongue.

  Mu Xiu is not one to casually take his own life, he has a heart full of passion and patriotism, which is why he would use his own blood to fuel this protest. With the infusion of the scholar's blood, this protest will be even more powerful. This is undoubtedly beneficial to Song Chu Yi's plan.

  Mu Xiu's body was respectfully escorted out of the wine shop, and the crowd saw him off in the snow.

  For a moment, the tavern was left with only Song Chuyi, a scholar dressed in attire, but fortunately she sat in the elegant house and would not be too eye-catching.

  Having eaten some roasted meat and drunk half a bottle of wine, some scholars had already returned, and the quiet tavern became lively again.

  The crowd was filled with sorrow and indignation, and they asked the shopkeeper to bring out bamboo slips and ink, and they wrote down their most heartfelt words of protest. The whole tavern suddenly turned into a literary hall.

  "Sir, won't you write one?" The maid had also brought a bamboo scroll at some point and was holding it up with both hands over her head.

  Song Chu was taken aback for a moment and asked, "Who told you to bring me this bamboo slip?"

  "It is..." The maid hesitated slightly.

  A young man in Chinese attire walked over from the opposite building with a wine jug, "How did you know it wasn't this servant girl who wanted to ask you to leave behind a masterpiece?"

  The young man was about twenty-five years old, with a square face and a short beard on his chin. He looked neat and tidy, like a businessman, but without much of the air of a merchant.

  Song Chu took over the bamboo slips from the maid's hand and spread them out on the table, but didn't intend to pick up his pen, instead he stretched out his hand to invite the visitor to sit down.

  "You're still young and inexperienced, though you have the heart for it but not the strength. Writing it out would make a laughing stock of yourself, and it's hard to avoid damaging the dignity of this protest. On the other hand, sir, your demeanor is extraordinary, surely there must be some exquisite writing within you. Why not lend a hand with the momentum?" Song Chu smiled as he pushed the opened bamboo scroll in front of that person.

  That person hastily waved his hand and said, "I don't dare to be so presumptuous! I am just a humble merchant who has crudely read a few volumes of books. How could I possibly write any decent articles? It's even more preposterous to call me 'Mr.'!"

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, he no longer persuaded him to write, but just smiled and said, "Since neither of us has this talent, let's just wait and see others!"

  The maid brought out the food from the elegant house and put it together with Song Chuyi's.

  "In the humble abode below, I am a merchant from Chu. May I inquire as to your esteemed surname and great name?" Yu Xi asked with cupped hands.

  Song Chu-yi noticed that he had just called him "little brother", but now called him "sir". She hesitated for a moment, then said, "Song Huai-jin."

  "Is it Huai Jin? Could it be that Mr. Huai Jin who saved the country from crisis?" Yu Xi looked at her in surprise.

  Song Chuanyi also had a surprised expression, "Yu Xi brother is probably mistaken, isn't the one who saved the country from crisis Mr. Min Chi?"

  Everyone in Songguo thought that the reconciliation between Weiguo and Songguo was due to Minchi's mediation, and most people didn't even know there was a Song Chuyi. Song Chuyi had some reputation only because of her weak country competing for hegemony theory yesterday, but her reputation was limited to Puyang City, or maybe only the scholars on this street knew about it, which couldn't compare with Minchi's fame at all.

  "Haha, honest people don't speak in riddles. As merchants, we have the most timely information. Song Wei Xiu and Min Chi are just on the surface, but Huai Jin's contributions cannot be ignored." Yu Xi smiled and said.

  At the beginning, Song thought that you didn't tell me about this, so it's not my fault. Yu Xi was surprised to see her, but not because of her age like ordinary people, but because of her identity. This shows that he had seen her before and even investigated her, but still pretended to have only heard of her but never met her, with unknown intentions.

  "Brother Yu She is indeed well-informed! However, Brother Yu She attributed all the credit to me, which is somewhat unfair to Mr. Min Chi." Song Chu took a sip of wine and said, "Brother Yu She should know that recently a new school has emerged, called the Horizontal and Vertical School."

  Yu Xi'er had some doubts, but nodded and said, "I've heard something about it. It's said to be from the Gui Gu Valley sect, but I haven't been lucky enough to read the Long and Short Treatise, so I don't know what they're up to."

  Yu Xiu's brother has a bit of the style and manner of a great strategist. Song said with a smile.

  Yu Xi asked curiously, "Oh? What do you mean by this?"

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, a man smiled and said, "Most skilled at speaking human language to humans and ghost language to ghosts."

  Comparing merchants with scholars is in itself a form of praise and does not count as sarcasm or ridicule, but rather has a playful tone.

  Yu Xi laughed and asked, "Sir, have you read the Horizontal and Vertical Theory? I wonder what kind of business the Horizontal and Vertical School is engaged in?"

  "I've never read it, but I've heard of it." Song Chuyi said very sincerely, but in fact, she not only read it, but also carefully studied it for several years.

  The so-called vertical and horizontal households, the vertical ones combine many weak ones to attack one strong one; The horizontal ones do things for a strong one to attack many weak ones. The way she destroys countries is in line with "horizontal" without planning, although the methods used are different, but both advocate doing things for a strong one to attack many weak ones, so she also highly agrees with the theory of continuous horizontal.

  "Sir, can you tell me which of the Vertical and Horizontal Banners were produced by Guiguzi? And where did they come from?" Yu She asked.

  Song Chuoyi raised an eyebrow and took a sip of rice wine, saying, "Isn't Brother Yu Xi being a bit too hasty?"

  Merchants pursue profits, and listening to these unrelated business matters is just out of curiosity. Generally speaking, merchants are only interested in the pros and cons of a deal, and will not go looking for the whereabouts of a swordsman unless they want to find him personally. What would a merchant want with a swordsman?

  Yu Xi was stunned for a moment before realizing that Song Chuyi had seen through her. She subtly shifted the topic to Zong Heng, not just trying to tease him, but to bring out his true intentions.

  Yu Xi was exposed, but instead of being ashamed, he seemed to be excited, and with a flick of his wide sleeve, he gave Song Chu a salute, "Yu Xi will definitely visit you in person one day!"

  Song Chu smiled faintly and didn't say whether he was welcome or not.

  It seems that Song Chu Er's performance made Yu She very satisfied, and he got up and left with a pleased expression.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, she lowered her eyes and watched his figure pass through the main hall, seemingly lost in thought. After a moment, she said to the maid, "Brush and ink."

  The maid presented a brush with good ink, and Song Chu Yi spread the blank bamboo slips in front of him, put down his wine cup, bowed his head and wrote quickly.