"Wait..."
Her three taels of silver?
Shen Tang's mind raced. With her habit of letting her imagination run wild, countless guesses surfaced in her mind.
Could she be the fabled Chosen One?
After all, this was a world where the coffin lid of science had been nailed shut. The unscientific was the scientific here. But then she thought of her miserable start, with none of the guaranteed perks of a transmigrator and even her home stolen out from under her. She couldn't help shaking her head and laughing at herself for getting carried away.
The Chosen One, huh...
She was just an Unlucky Ghost who kept running into bad luck.
"Is there some story behind this?" Shen Tang tried to make her tone sound less self-absorbed, but the corners of her mouth still tugged upward. "Did the person who gave me the three taels have to be me, or could it have been anyone—as long as it was three taels?"
Chu Yao's answer took her by surprise.
"I don't know," he said.
Chu Yao had a knack for going against expectations. A huge question mark popped up over Shen Tang's head, and her voice rose along with it. "You don't know???"
"It's a long story... and I'm not entirely sure myself."
Shen Tang said, "...I have time to hear you tell it."
He was just like Qi Shan. Say, "It's a long story," and then try to shut down the conversation, leaving her curiosity clawing at her.
"Wu Lang, are you really curious?"
Shen Tang honestly admitted, "I'm very curious!"
"Then this story begins the year I first started learning to read..."
Chu Yao struck a storyteller's pose, ready to spin his tale, but Shen Tang wasn't the sort to sit quietly and listen. He had barely started when she asked, "The year you first started learning? What happened?"
Chu Yao wasn't like Qi Shan, who enjoyed keeping people in suspense, but the story's timeline went back far too early. No wonder he'd called it a long story.
"Nothing happened that year."
Shen Tang: "..."
The silence behind him made Chu Yao laugh despite himself. Even without turning around, he could picture the speechless look on the young man's face as he rode on the mule.
Chu Yao said lightly, "I simply sensed Heaven and Earth Qi the year I began learning to read, and condensed my Literary Heart that same year."
Shen Tang asked again, "What rank was your Literary Heart?"
"Second Rank Upper-Middle."
Shen Tang clicked her tongue. "That high???"
Qi Shan acted like he was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and all he had was a Sixth Rank Lower-Middle.
A Second Rank Upper-Middle Literary Heart was second only to a First Rank Upper-Upper! A First Rank Upper-Upper Literary Heart was also called Saint Rank. It was a fictitious rank, one that only Vassal Lords who possessed the National Seal could attain. So a Second Rank Upper-Middle Literary Heart was already the highest rank an ordinary person could possess.
Having a Second Rank Upper-Middle Literary Heart was like holding a royal flush. How had Chu Yao ended up in his current state?
It was truly incomprehensible.
Hearing the undisguised surprise in Shen Tang's voice, Chu Yao's tone turned despondent. "High? It was pretty high... but if I could choose, I'd have preferred a lower rank. Fourth, fifth, or even Ninth Rank Lower-Lower would have been fine. Having this Literary Heart was a curse, not a blessing."
Shen Tang didn't understand. "But isn't that a sign of talent?"
Who would want to be less talented?
Chu Yao gave a bitter laugh. "Wu Lang, didn't the teacher who taught you tell you that a scholar's Literary Heart rank doesn't represent everything?"
"Yuan Liang did say that, but I thought that was just his personal opinion, not something that represented what everyone thought..."
She hadn't expected Chu Yao to think the same way as Qi Shan.
Could this be something all experts agreed on?
"What does 'everyone' mean? Is it some obscure Word Spirit?"
Chu Yao's point of confusion was just as odd as Shen Tang's. From the context, he could tell that "everyone" meant something like "the common people" or "ordinary folk," but he'd never heard that particular expression before.
Shen Tang froze, at a loss for words. "I don't know either... It just slipped out, but that's not the point."
It really wasn't the point.
Chu Yao didn't dwell on that detail either. He was more interested in the "Yuan Liang" she'd mentioned. "Was this 'Yuan Liang' the young scholar I met briefly on the main street earlier?"
"That's right. It was him."
Chu Yao gave a small nod of admiration. "He really is a good teacher, then. Did he tell you about Literary Heart talent?"
Literary Heart talent?
What was that supposed to be?
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
Why were there so many bizarre things like this?!
Shen Tang was still baffled, but she answered, "Literary Heart... talent? I really don't know about that. Yuan Liang never mentioned it. He only talked to me about things like the Way of the Feudal Lord... I'm not afraid to admit it, sir, but even though I have a Literary Heart, I don't know much about them. When I ask Yuan Liang questions now and then, he always brushes me off. He either says he'll explain later or tells me, 'You don't need to know.'"
She seriously suspected he was just too lazy to answer.
"Brother Yuan Liang may have your best interests at heart," Chu Yao said. "Some things are more harmful to your growth the more you know about them..."
Shen Tang was curious. "That's a thing?"
"Yes."
Shen Tang was itching to know more. "...!!!"
So should she keep listening to the story or not?
Chu Yao made the decision for her. "There are two kinds of Literary Heart talent: the Way of the Feudal Lord and the Way of the Scholar. Just from the names, you can tell what sort of people these talents belong to. I imagine your teacher has already told you about the Way of the Feudal Lord, so I won't say more about it. What I want to tell you about is the Way of the Scholar. It's an ability unique to a small number of strategists with Literary Hearts, and it can be activated without any Word Spirit."
Shen Tang made a mental note. "Does the teacher have one too?"
Chu Yao was silent for a moment. "He once did. But before it had a chance to grow, my Literary Heart was already 'replaced by stealing the beam and replacing the pillar.'"
Shen Tang was shocked. "Stolen and replaced?"
Going by the literal meaning, didn't that mean...
Chu Yao gave a bitter smile and shook his head, then dropped a bombshell. "That's right. Didn't your teacher tell you that a Literary Heart could be stolen?"
Shen Tang: "...!!!"
Qi Shan really hadn't mentioned that.
"My Second Rank Upper-Middle Literary Heart was switched out that way. At the height of my ambition, I fell into the mud overnight, with no chance of ever rising again." Chu Yao spoke lightly, as if the story had nothing to do with him. Then he continued, "Your teacher may have had his reasons for not mentioning the 'Way of the Scholar.' It's not only a special ability; it's also a scholar's soul-searching question. It has to do with what kind of person a scholar is, their personality, and the path they seek. Even a sage wouldn't want to lay such private matters bare beneath everyone's gaze, would they?"
Not every strategist with a Literary Heart had a Way of the Scholar, but ninety-nine percent of those who did chose to keep it secret.
To reveal it felt like having every last scrap of clothing that could cover you stripped away, then being thrown naked into a crowd.
For an instant, Shen Tang's expression turned distant.
She hadn't known Literary Hearts could be used that way.
If someone's Literary Heart rank wasn't high, but they happened to have the talent to steal another person's Literary Heart, they could go around stealing other people's...
No wonder Old Sir Chu had said that his Second Rank Upper-Middle Literary Heart had been a curse, not a blessing. Wasn't that just like "a child carrying a thousand gold pieces through a crowded market"?
1. "The general public" isn't an idiom; it's a transliteration. |ω`)
2. Literary Heart talent = the Way of the Feudal Lord + the Way of the Scholar. Put simply, these are special talents possessed by people of two different statuses, and they can be used without a specific Word Spirit. Since they're related to one's personality and the like, scholars generally don't bring them up voluntarily or tell others about them. They're basically a trump card.
P.S. For example, if you run into someone who can "steal the beam and replace the pillar" by stealing Literary Hearts, anyone would want to stay far away.
Chu Yao came from a humble background and had an exceptional Literary Heart, so it was only natural that people would covet it.
Before you continue