Lu Lingqi Faces Off Against Lu Fengxian

Lan Tian spoke as he recalled, recounting Legend of the Condor Heroes in the simplest possible terms.

How could Lu and Gao have ever heard such a bizarre and fantastical tale? They were so absorbed that they had completely forgotten it was time to go home.

"Huang Rong's hands and feet were bound, leaving her unable to fight back. Just as she and the two men and eagle were about to plunge into the deep valley and be smashed to pieces, the male eagle swooped down with Guo Jing on its back. Its steel beak struck straight at Qiu Qianzhang's crown. It's getting late, so let's stop here for today."

Lan Tian recalled the story while putting his words together. After speaking for several hours, his throat was parched. By then, the red sun had already sunk beyond the horizon, and cooking smoke was slowly rising throughout the village. It was time for dinner, so after finishing the events at Iron Palm Peak, Lan Tian stopped.

"Is there more? Did Huang Rong survive in the end?" Lu Lingqi stared blankly, having long forgotten the hunger in her belly.

"She survived. We can tell the second half another day. You should hurry back to the city," Lan Tian urged.

Gao Shun had also been engrossed just now. He looked up at the sky and cried out, "Young Lady, we should return at once. If we're late, my lord may lead troops out to look for us."

At that moment, hoofbeats came from the village entrance. Dozens of cavalrymen carrying torches were riding toward them.

Lu Lingqi snapped back to her senses and saw the Zhang character on their banner. She hurriedly said, "General Wenyuan has come looking for us. Lan Ziyu, we'll head back first. We'll come hear Legend of the Condor Heroes another day."

Lu and Gao then swung themselves onto their horses and rode straight toward the cavalry.

Lan Tian watched the cavalry squad stop in place for a moment before galloping toward Xiaopei. Those two have finally left. I still need to light the stove and make dinner.

After moving the bamboo slips from outside back into the house, Lan Tian began washing vegetables and lighting the stove to cook. Now that he had Zuo Zhuan and Weiliaozi, he no longer had to go to bed as soon as night fell.

Although Weiliaozi was a military treatise, half its content concerned governing a state and managing affairs. Ancient writers tended to be obscure, often using stories to express their views. Lan Tian had come from a later age, and some of the political ideas in the book were relatively outdated, but they were more than sufficient for this Three Kingdoms era.

The autumn firewood was dry, and Lan Tian quickly got a fire going. The flames painted his face red as he thought about how damn satisfying it had been to tell Legend of the Condor Heroes to Lu Lingqi and Gao Shun that afternoon.

At that moment, Lu Bu's face in Xiaopei City was also bright red—red with anger over Lu Lingqi's late return.

"Boping, Lingqi is young and willful, but you are one of my great generals. How could you lack such judgment? Tell me, how should you be punished for what happened today?" Lu Bu rebuked him.

"This subordinate is guilty and willingly accepts punishment." Gao Shun lowered his head.

Gao Shun was skilled at commanding troops, but he neither drank nor accepted gifts and was rather lacking in social graces. When Lu Bu rebuked him in public, not a single person stepped forward to plead on his behalf.

Lu Bu was now in an awkward position. To preserve his authority, he said, "Then go receive twenty military strokes."

Twenty military strokes were a severe punishment. Even a hardened soldier with Gao Shun's exceptional physique would need several months to recover afterward. Zhang Liao then advised, "My lord, this is a time when we need capable men. Though Boping has offended your tiger's might, this is his first offense. Why not let him redeem himself through merit?"

"If discipline is unclear, how can an army be governed?" Lu Bu roared.

"I believe that youth from the village used a scheme to lure them in. General Gao was careless for a moment and thus fell into his trap. Why not send men to arrest that youth surnamed Lan and have him take Boping's punishment instead?" Seeing that no one was speaking for Gao Shun, Chen Gong used this trick of shifting blame to redirect Lu Bu's anger toward Lan Tian.

"No!" Gao Shun and Lu Lingqi shouted at the same time.

When Lu Lingqi rushed out from the rear hall of the government office, Lu Bu's wife, Lady Yan, hurried after her. Seeing this, Lu Bu thundered, "Did I not order you to confine her? How did she barge in here?"

"General, Lingqi said she wanted to explain herself to you in person." Lady Yan lowered her head as she argued.

"You spend all day fooling around with some farm boy. What could you possibly have to say to me now?" Lu Bu said coldly.

"Father, I think Lan Ziyu is learned in ancient and modern matters and possesses the talent to shape the world. If you wish to contend for the realm, why not seek out such a worthy man? If you beat him to death for no reason, then I won't live either," Lu Lingqi threatened.

"You..." Lu Bu was threatened by his own daughter and found himself unable to retort for the moment.

Yet before everyone's eyes, he could not possibly back down. He turned to Gao Shun and asked, "Is what Lingqi says true?"

"Lan Tian does indeed have talent, but the Young Lady praises him somewhat too highly," Gao Shun answered honestly.

Lu Lingqi truly wanted to kick him. Why are you so damn honest? What's wrong with flattering Lan Ziyu a little? It's not like it'll cost you a pound of flesh.

After pondering for a moment, Lu Bu finally found a suitable excuse. "Since that Lan Ziyu has talent, I, Lu Bu, cannot bear the reputation of harming the worthy. Let today's matter end here. Starting tomorrow, you are forbidden from leaving the city again."

Lu Lingqi lowered her head dejectedly. So I won't get to hear Legend of the Condor Heroes either.

That night, Lu Bu returned from the camp to his rooms. Lady Yan removed his armor, and seeing that anger still lingered on his face, she advised, "General, don't be angry any longer. Lingqi is gradually growing up. Shouldn't we find her a husband?"

Lu Bu immediately understood. "You mean that brat from the Lan Family is a toad lusting after swan meat?"

"Not necessarily him. At a young maiden's age of awakening, one can never be sure. Still, Lan Ziyu truly is good at telling stories," Lady Yan said with a sigh.

"Telling stories?"

"Yes. Lingqi said the story was called Legend of the Condor Heroes, and the protagonist was named Guo Jing." Lady Yan was nowhere near as skilled as Lan Tian at organizing her words, so the story she told was far less moving. By the end, Lu Bu merely curled his lips.

"What Eastern Heretic and Western Venom? Could they withstand my, Lu Bu's, Painted Halberd? Utter nonsense," Lu Bu said disdainfully.

"General, the story is made up. Why take it seriously?" Lady Yan said with a smile.

"That fellow is so skilled at making up stories. Perhaps Lingqi is right. Tomorrow, I'll have Gongtai visit Gan Family Village. If he truly has sound strategies in his belly, what would be wrong with marrying my daughter to him?" Lu Bu said frankly.

"But Lan Tian's background..."

"So what if he is a commoner? I, Lu Bu, also rose from humble beginnings. Liu Bei came from the borderlands just like me. He used to weave mats and sell shoes, yet isn't he now Governor of Xuzhou?"

Lady Yan had no answer, so she served Lu Bu as he went to bed.

The next day, Lan Tian mistakenly assumed Lu Lingqi would come to hear the next installment. As a storyteller, he had the villagers prepare some fruit and snacks in advance, but even by noon, no one had arrived.

Around noon, the villagers of Gan Family Village got into a dispute with a neighboring village over water for drinking and irrigation after they dug through the other side's field ridge. Both families came to Lan Tian to settle the matter.

Seven or eight farmers gathered around Lan Tian's house. He brought out a stool and sat steadily at the doorway, letting both sides explain their grievances.

Chen Gong had also quietly arrived. Settling cases and judging disputes could reveal a person's thinking and eloquence, so he mingled behind the crowd to watch.

After the farmers involved had each finished speaking, Lan Tian began with the root of the problem and proposed a solution. He then criticized both sides equally, analyzing their shortcomings and laying out how similar issues should be handled in the future.

The whole process flowed smoothly. The villagers from both sides sighed in admiration, while Chen Gong secretly marveled from within the crowd. This youth spoke with reason and evidence, neither humble nor overbearing, and his methods of judging cases were remarkably seasoned. He was more than qualified to serve as a county clerk.

Once the matter was resolved, the villagers scattered in a rush, leaving Chen Gong standing there alone.

Seeing that the man was dressed as a scholar, Lan Tian asked suspiciously, "Sir, are you looking for someone?"

Chen Gong stroked his beard and said, "I am a registrar under General Lu of Xiaopei. Today, I have come to recruit talent from the villages. I saw that you spoke with great fluency and possessed remarkable eloquence. Would you be willing to serve as a clerical officer in the army?"

"No. I have no great ambitions. I only wish to farm here." Lan Tian answered without a second thought. If it were a general, I'd definitely phrase things more tactfully. What are you, a civil official, putting on such airs for?

Chen Gong froze. He had never imagined such an outcome.

At that moment, the autumn breeze brushed his face, tossing Old Chen's hair into slight disarray.