Courtesy Calls for Reciprocity

Lu Lingqi obtained a copy of Weiliaozi from Chen Gong, and the next day, she and Gao Shun rode to Gan Family Village.

When they arrived, Lan Tian was brewing tea with freshly picked chrysanthemums, sitting beneath the warm sun and reading.

Lan Tian was Gan Qian's sworn younger brother. Guan Yu had found the boy bold and eloquent, so after returning to Xiapi, he sent someone to deliver his frequently read copy of Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals to Lan Tian.

History books were dry and difficult to memorize, yet Guan Yu often took them out to reread them. It was called reviewing the old to learn the new.

Lord Guan was lofty in spirit, proud before those above him yet never humiliating those below. Had he been placed in the martial world, he would have been a first-rate hero.

Spring and Autumn Annals, written by Zuo Qiuming, recorded the historical events among the various states of the Spring and Autumn period. Lan Tian did not know much about that chaotic era, and since there was no entertainment of any kind after he had transmigrated here, he read the scroll with great relish, so absorbed that he did not even notice Lu Lingqi's arrival.

"Lan Ziyu, you really are reading?"

Lan Tian looked up and saw that it was still the valiant Lu Lingqi. He set down the bamboo scroll, rose, and greeted them. "Lady Lu, General Gao."

Lu Lingqi casually picked up a bamboo scroll from the stool. After unrolling it and reading a few lines, she looked puzzled. "Historical records are dry and dull. Ziyu, you're reading so seriously—could you really be a scholar? Why haven't you asked someone to recommend you as a Maocai?"

There was no Imperial Examination in this era; the Recommendation System was practiced instead. As the saying went, even fine wine feared a deep alley. For a common-born scholar to rise, aside from promoting himself, the quickest way was to find someone powerful to cling to.

"Heh, how could I qualify as a Maocai? I'm only passing the time. Did Lady Lu come to pick grapes again today?" Lan Tian asked with a smile, as there were still some grapes left on the vine.

"Do you think I'm that greedy? I came to bring you books. General Gao."

As soon as Lu Lingqi finished speaking, Gao Shun removed a large cloth sack from his horse. When it was opened, it contained several dozen bamboo scrolls.

"What books are these?" Lan Tian casually picked up one scroll, only to be utterly bewildered by it.

"Master Gongtai said it was something called Wei Laozi? Anyway, take your time reading it yourself," Lu Lingqi said vaguely.

"Young Lady, it is Weiliaozi, a military treatise from the Warring States period." Though Gao Shun had not read it himself, the work was quite famous in the army.

It was like how most people had never attended Peking University or Tsinghua University, but would know they were institutions of higher learning the moment they heard the names.

"Yes, yes, yes, Weiliaozi. I mixed it up," Lu Lingqi added.

A military treatise? He would just treat it as leisure reading.

"Then I must thank you. Really, this book should have been given to General Gao," Lan Tian said.

Gao Shun replied calmly, "I can charge into battle, but reading gives me a terrible headache. Young Master, there is no need to stand on ceremony. Master Gongtai was quite reluctant to part with it just now."

Chen Gongtai? He was quite a figure as well.

Lan Tian brought out stools from the house and brewed two more cups of chrysanthemum tea for them. Supplies were scarce in this era, and ordinary households could not provide fruits and snacks for guests. Fortunately, there were still some grapes on the vine.

"Please wait a moment. I'll wash the grapes." Lan Tian plucked two bunches.

"Young Lady, the books have been delivered. We should head back—"

"General Gao, I know your camp has nothing to do today. We might as well stay here and have some fun for a while," Lu Lingqi cut in.

Lu Bu had fought his way across many lands. He had followed Ding Yuan, served Dong Zhuo, joined Yuan Shao, and battled Cao Cao. Lu Lingqi had traveled everywhere with him. When they escaped Chang'an, they had even been separated for a time. The girl's childhood had not truly been peaceful. Now that she had finally encountered an interesting young man, the childishness in her heart burst free at once.

"Since you're reading Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals, tell us about it. None of us have anything to do today anyway," Lu Lingqi said after taking a sip of chrysanthemum tea.

"Didn't you say history books were boring?" Lan Tian asked in confusion.

"They're boring when I read them myself, but if someone else tells me the stories, I can listen," Lu Lingqi said.

Tell stories? Then he could not simply read the original text. Historians treasured every word, and the bamboo scrolls recorded events in concise terms. He had to flesh them out for the stories to become vivid.

Lan Tian nodded, then found several stories among the scrolls that he considered familiar. He unrolled one and began slowly, "The next story is called Cao Gui's Debate on War. Cao Gui and Duke Zhuang of Lu rode in a war chariot and fought the Qi army at Changshao."

"'One burst of drums raises morale; the second weakens it; the third exhausts it.' Did that saying originate in Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals? I often hear Father and the others mention it. General Gao, isn't that right?" Lu Lingqi asked in surprise.

"Though I have memorized those words, I did not know they came from Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals," Gao Shun said with a nod.

"Isn't Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals a history book? Why does it contain methods of warfare?" Lu Lingqi was greatly puzzled.

"If you don't believe me, take a look. Classic ancient texts often contain profound truths. They are like fine jade buried deep in the earth; only by searching with care can one uncover them." Lan Tian handed her the bamboo scroll.

Lu Lingqi took it and looked. Sure enough, the line was there. But she handed it back to Lan Tian and said, "There are only a few words in the book. It isn't as interesting as the way you tell it, Ziyu. I'd rather listen to you. Tell us another one."

"Ahem, then the next story is called Duke of Zheng Crushes Duan at Yan—"

The stories in the Zuo Commentary were brief. After Lan Tian translated it into vernacular speech, Lu Lingqi fell into thought. After quite a while, she said, "Duke Zhuang of Zheng was not a perfect man either. General Gao, what do you think of Ziyu's storytelling?"

"Master Ziyu speaks with remarkable eloquence. Gao has never heard such plain yet clear language. If historians all wrote this way, I would be able to read their books as well." By now, Gao Shun addressed Lan Tian as Master, no longer viewing him as a mere farm boy.

"You're quite good at telling stories, but they're a little too short and weak," Lu Lingqi said with a sigh.

Lan Tian thought, Those readers who spoke sweetly and looked good always praised me like this too.

"The stories in Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals are all this brief. If you want something longer, it would have to be fiction." Lan Tian let the word slip halfway through his sentence. How could this era have fiction?

"Fiction? What fiction?" Lu Lingqi pressed.

"Ahem, stories that are made up," Lan Tian answered.

"You look like you have one ready to tell. You must know some made-up stories, right? Tell us one," Lu Lingqi pleaded.

How could he not? In Lan Tian's original world, aside from the household-famous Four Great Classics, there were Jin Yong, Gu Long, Liang Yusheng, Wen Ruian, and Huang Yi in the wuxia genre, as well as countless web novels across every conceivable genre.

Though Lan Tian was a graduate student at an agricultural university, he also liked passing the time with stories and novels. He still remembered the basic plots of the Four Great Classics and Jin Yong's novels.

Should he tell this girl about Romance of the Three Kingdoms?

Lan Tian pondered for a long while before ultimately choosing Legend of the Condor Heroes. That magnificent world of martial arts and its great spirit of national righteousness should leave Lu Lingqi savoring it for a long time, shouldn't it?

"Ahem." Lan Tian cleared his throat, rose, and struck the pose of a storyteller. Then he began in an unhurried voice, "The story I'm about to tell is called Legend of the Condor Heroes. It begins by the Qiantang River, at Niu Family Village outside Lin'an—"