Xu Qianqian truly could not have imagined, even in her wildest dreams, that tonight's groom would be Shen Lang.
How could it possibly be him? Even if the sun rose in the west, it would still be impossible.
Who was Jin MuLan?! A Goddess high above all others.
And who was Shen Lang? A dim-witted fool with something wrong in his head, a useless waste who could not even dress himself properly.
Moreover, only the day before yesterday, she had driven Shen Lang from the household and pinned the crime of theft on him.
How could a household as exalted as Xuanwu Earl's Manor possibly choose such a libertine to become a Live-in Son-in-Law?
No, she simply could not accept this outcome.
Shen Lang, since you were cast out by our family, you should have humbled yourself into the dust. Better yet, you should have become a pile of rotten shit on the ground for everyone to trample.
And now you were marrying a woman more beautiful and more noble than I was? How could that be possible?
Was Heaven playing a joke on her?
Beside her, Zhang Jin was so jealous he was practically coughing up blood.
Why?
Even he, Zhang Jin, had never dared to set his sights on a peerless beauty like Jin MuLan, yet she had married trash like Shen Lang?
"Hahahaha..."
Zhang Jin suddenly burst into loud laughter, and everyone could not help looking toward him.
Zhang Jin said, "Miss Jin MuLan, your wedding is fake. It is nothing but a conspiracy, isn't it?"
Jin MuLan said coldly, "What makes you say that?"
Zhang Jin pointed at Shen Lang. "Do you all know who this man is? His name is Shen Lang. He studied for ten years and did not even learn a thousand characters, so he was expelled from Hanshui Town Academy. After marrying into the Xu Family, he was driven out for stealing property and molesting maids. How could the Earl's Manor possibly think highly of such trash? How could Miss Jin MuLan think highly of him? This wedding is obviously fake."
"Right, right!" The talented young men nearby could not help crying out.
They also thought it was fake. How could Miss Jin MuLan possibly marry such garbage?
After Zhang Jin took the lead, he cast a meaningful glance into the crowd.
After all, he was the Prefect's son. It would be far too crude and beneath him to personally quarrel with Shen Lang.
A Licentiate stepped out from the crowd.
He declared loudly, "I can prove this best, because I once studied with him at Hanshui Town Academy. Shen Lang is a brain-dead idiot."
Shen Lang recognized him. His name was Yan Xiong, and he truly had been Shen Lang's classmate at Hanshui Town Academy.
Sure enough, the ones who came out to stab you in the back at crucial moments were always acquaintances. Yan Xiong came from a poor family and originally was not qualified to attend tonight's wedding. But after passing the Licentiate examination, he had taken a good teacher: Zhang Boyan, the former lord of Xuanwu City, who had retired to live at home. That was how he had come along.
Of course, he had not merely currried favor with Zhang Boyan; he had also attached himself to Zhang Jin, and had barely managed to climb into the orbit of the Prefect Zhang Family.
Back at Hanshui Town Academy, Yan Xiong had been a top student while Shen Lang had been a hopeless bottom-feeder. Yan Xiong would not even have deigned to look at him directly.
Yet he had never expected that Shen Lang would now marry into Xuanwu Earl's Manor and take Xuanwu City's Princess, Miss Jin MuLan, as his wife. How could he possibly endure that? In a moment of agitation, he forgot all refinement. Coupled with Zhang Jin's commanding glance, he stepped forward directly.
Shen Lang stepped out and said mildly, "Yan Xiong, you say I am brain-dead. Do you have any proof?"
"Ha ha." Licentiate Yan Xiong said, "You studied for ten years and still could not recognize a thousand characters. Is that not proof enough? How about this? I will write a few characters. If you recognize them, I will not call you brain-dead. If you cannot, then you are. What do you say?"
Xu Qianqian was about to speak up and stop this, but Shen Lang agreed first. "Fine!"
"Bring brush, ink, paper, and inkstone." Licentiate Yan Xiong said.
At first, he had been somewhat uneasy. This was the Earl's Manor, after all, not a place where a Licentiate like him could act recklessly, and his legs had even been trembling.
But now that he saw everyone supporting him, as though the stars were circling the moon, all of Yan Xiong's unease vanished. He only wanted to make a great show of himself—best of all, to break apart Shen Lang and Jin MuLan's marriage outright.
Naturally, the Earl's Manor did not wish to provide brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. But several sets had been brought earlier when gifts were registered, so someone immediately went to fetch them.
Yan Xiong picked up a writing brush and wrote several characters on a sheet of bright red paper.
The crowd stepped forward to take a look, only to feel chills creep down their backs as they secretly drew in sharp breaths.
The characters looked familiar, yet none of them could recognize them.
They were simply far too obscure. Forget the martial men present—even some educated scholars with official credentials could not recognize them. Who would go out of their way to learn such characters when they were completely useless?
It could even be said that among ten Licentiates, eight would be unable to recognize all three characters Yan Xiong had written.
They were truly too difficult.
"These are only three simple characters. If you can recognize them, then you are not brain-dead. If you cannot, then admit that you are." Yan Xiong said smugly.
Jin MuLan glanced at them with her beautiful eyes and immediately furrowed her brows.
She naturally recognized the characters. Though she practiced martial arts, she had also read many books. But these characters were simply too obscure; unless one happened to encounter them in a particular book, one would never recognize them, because they were practically never used.
Shen Lang stepped forward and looked. The three characters were: wormwood, flawed jade, and a vertical stroke.
They were indeed difficult. Though he had graduated with a master's degree from medical university, he only recognized the first of the three characters and did not know the latter two.
"Hahaha... You do not recognize them, do you? It would already be impressive if you could recognize even one of these three characters." Licentiate Yan Xiong said. "Just honestly say you do not know them and admit that you are a dim-witted fool. You studied for ten years and still cannot recognize these three simple characters."
Many people present felt ashamed. They too had studied for more than a decade, and some had even passed the Licentiate examination or become Recommended Men, yet they still did not recognize some of the characters here.
Shen Lang might not have known them, but the Alien Notebook Computer that had crossed over with him contained every sort of dictionary. Looking them up was effortless.
Moreover, the Alien Notebook Computer in his mind had now become even more advanced. Shen Lang merely needed to sweep his eyes over something to obtain the answer almost instantly—and not merely one answer, but many.
At that moment, everyone stared at Shen Lang, waiting for him to make a fool of himself.
Shen Lang said, "The first character is pronounced the same as 'goose.' It is a kind of plant that can be used as medicine. It comes from the Book of Songs, Lesser Odes: 'Lush and flourishing is the e, there amid the hollow.'"
At those words, Yan Xiong was slightly stunned. Though this was the easiest of the three characters, trash like Shen Lang should not have recognized it.
Still, he was extremely confident that Shen Lang could not possibly know the next two.
Yet without pausing in the slightest, Shen Lang continued, "The second character, flawed jade, is pronounced 'su.' One meaning is jade with flaws; another refers to the royal family."
Before Yan Xiong could even express his shock, Shen Lang continued without stopping, "The third character truly is exceedingly rare, and it has many pronunciations. The first is pronounced 'shu,' meaning vertical."
"The second is pronounced 'gun,' meaning to run through from top to bottom."
"The third is pronounced 'tui,' meaning to retreat."
"The fourth is pronounced 'yi.' It is an ancient surname, originating from the ancient Jiang Clan."
The history of this world had once been destroyed. Many ancient Chinese books had later been excavated and were treated as the enlightenment of civilization.
Thus, many allusions came from those excavated books. They were not part of this world's history, yet they had been recorded and had become history as well.
After finishing, Shen Lang turned to Licentiate Yan Xiong. "Was I correct?"
Yan Xiong stared at Shen Lang in disbelief. For the final character, he only knew two pronunciations: the homophones of "vertical" and "one." He did not even understand the other two.
Was Shen Lang not a dim-witted fool? When he had studied before, he had been unbelievably stupid, unable even to pronounce the most ordinary characters, much less such extraordinarily obscure ones.
Shen Lang turned to Yan Xiong's teacher, the former lord of Xuanwu City. "Lord Zhang, your knowledge is vast and you are accomplished in both letters and arms. Were my readings of these three characters correct?"
The old city lord, whose beard and hair were white, shot his disciple Yan Xiong a fierce glare before smiling. "Every one of them was correct!"
As soon as those words came out, everyone was stunned.
Zhang Jin and Xu Qianqian in particular were dumbfounded. Xu Qianqian knew better than anyone what kind of person Shen Lang was.
She fully understood how obscure these three characters were. She did not even know the final one, yet Shen Lang—a useless, dim-witted fool who had studied for ten years without even passing basic literacy—actually knew it?
How... how could that be possible?
Shen Lang continued, "Yan Xiong, since we are playing at recognizing characters, how about I write a few for you to identify?"
Licentiate Yan Xiong sneered. "You? What characters could there possibly be that I do not know? Ridiculous!"
Shen Lang picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and directly wrote a great many characters.
Dragons soaring, thunder rumbling, I spoke nasally, with uneven teeth, coarse and smoky.
Dense smoke was horses galloping, sacks, bamboo vessels, emaciation, and cooking.
The source, fragrant grain, foolishness, a large hoe, slander, a gate, and tangled silk.
Turtle, blackened teeth, uneven teeth, force, black, antelope, and a frost bird.
After writing them, Shen Lang asked, "Yan Xiong, which of these characters do you recognize? If you know more than four, I will concede to you."
Licentiate Yan Xiong looked at the dozens of characters, and his eyes immediately began to blur. What... what kind of ghost characters were these?
Still, he recognized a few of them clearly enough and could not help blurting out, "I am a fool... asshole!"
Note: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone. Wishing you happiness, peace, and good health.
Before you continue