Braised Pork Belly (Seeking Follow-ups)

Braised Pork (Please Keep Reading)

Whether it was Xu Xing or Kid Brother, neither of them spoke much. Neither was much of a talker.

After applying the medicine, Kid Brother blew out the oil lamp.

The two slept on the kang fully clothed.

Xu Xing had wanted to ask Kid Brother why he could "control a saber with qi."

Yet after hesitating for a moment, he still did not ask.

Though his body in this life was familiar with Kid Brother, he had never seen Kid Brother practice martial arts, much less accidentally glimpsed that astonishing slash during the day...

Using qi to shatter objects likely involved a supreme internal martial art.

It was far more precious than the stance training Master Ma had taught him.

To ask Kid Brother about his family's inherited secret art—even if Xu Xing had no designs on it, once the words left his mouth, who knew whether Master Ma would start seeing him in a different light.

In all things, think thrice before acting.

He and Master Ma were merely members of the same brotherhood...

Master Ma, the red-stick enforcer of Filial Righteousness Hall, had taught him part of his martial arts only to strengthen the hall's power and raise the odds of success for the mission to assassinate Governor Fang Yun a month from now.

If he had guessed correctly, then even if he mastered the stance training and was taught the Western Pass Limitless Saber, he would never reach Master Ma's level, because Master Ma possessed a family-inherited internal art...

Besides, with only one short month, even if he were a genius blessed by heaven, he could not cultivate any great results from internal energy.

Avoiding the certain death looming ahead was more important.

Returning to the real world.

He was still in Cell Twenty-Four, Section D, of the Celestial Prison in Phoenix Creek Kingdom.

"The sun and stars hang high in the sky..."

"It is a quarter past noon."

Xu Xing glanced outside through the half-foot window of the prison cell and thought to himself.

Having lived in Phoenix Creek Kingdom for nearly twenty years, he had developed a biological clock like many commoners of ancient times. With one glance at the sun, he could roughly tell what time of day it was.

The margin of error was no more than one or two quarter-hours.

Besides that, by observing the shadows cast by sunlight in the cell and combining them with the time the prison guards took roll call each day, he could also roughly determine the twelve two-hour periods of the day.

"As expected, the ratio of time is one to five..."

This morning, when he entered the world within the mirror, it had been roughly half past the hour of the Dragon.

About two hours had passed in the real world, while an entire day had passed in the mirror world. Calculated out, the time ratio was around one to five.

"Then what is the other 'me' doing now?"

Xu Xing was puzzled.

His consciousness sank into the Ancient Bronze Mirror.

A moving image slowly emerged across its surface.

Inside the dim earthen hut, he and Kid Brother were sleeping side by side.

Only, the rise and fall of their breathing was much faster than that of ordinary people, as though this film had been put on fast-forward.

He did not hurriedly look away, but quietly continued watching the mirror.

Time flowed far faster in the world within the mirror than in the real world.

After noon passed in the real world, the scene within the mirror shifted to the cockcrow hours of the next dawn. Following the course of events, "Xu Xing" began continuing his stance training with Master Ma in the backyard.

And he was like a spectator.

"It seems..."

"Even if my consciousness leaves the other me, he will still live normally."

"Scientists in my previous life spoke of parallel dimensions... The Xu Xing in the mirror should be me from another parallel world. It is only that this 'me' is now under my control."

Xu Xing withdrew his gaze from the mirror and mused inwardly.

"However..."

He glanced once more at the mirror, which had turned into a data panel.

text
[Mirror Master: Xu Xing.]

[Dao Fruit: None.]

[World: Late Qing and Republican Era (Myriad Heavens).]

[Descent: Soul.]

[Time Flow Rate: One to Five.]

[Destiny: Death by Misadventure (Gray).]

The panel was simple and clear, everything visible at a glance.

"But... when I unlock the next world, perhaps I will no longer descend into an 'other self' as a soul, but travel directly to another world in the flesh..."

"Descending as a soul now is fine too."

"If I suddenly vanished from prison, it would definitely attract the jailers' attention. It would be hard to explain then."

Xu Xing shook his head.

Footsteps sounded once more in the corridor of the Celestial Prison.

"Time to eat."

"Lord Su, Lord Xu..."

Old Li, the jailer, carried a food bucket. After ladling Academician Su a bowl of rice porridge that was half thin and half thick, he hurried over to Xu Xing. First, he served him a bowl of thick porridge nearly as solid as rice, then handed him a bowl of braised pork and two large white steamed buns.

"When your wife left this morning, she left behind a silver ingot."

Seeing Xu Xing's dark expression and his refusal to take the bowls, Old Li hastily explained.

Under ordinary circumstances, prisoners in the Celestial Prison only received thin porridge and Chinese cabbage each day.

If their meals became lavish, it usually meant it was their last meal before the executioner's blade.

"So that's how it is."

Xu Xing breathed a sigh of relief and accepted the bowl.

All the "kindness" he had shown Zhao Yunniang last night had not gone to waste after all. Han Sui wanted him to leave behind offspring, which meant he wanted him dead soon; he certainly would not let Xu Xing keep eating meat and building up his body.

That silver ingot was likely Zhao Yunniang's private savings.

They said prostitutes had no feelings, and actors had no loyalty.

But there was another saying: one day as husband and wife brought a hundred days of grace.

After their night of intimacy, Zhao Yunniang had ultimately developed a trace of feeling for him.

After thanking the jailer, Xu Xing began to eat as well.

Man was iron, food was steel; miss one meal, and hunger would hit hard.

There were some leftovers from last night in the cell, but he did not dare touch them again. They had been laced with aphrodisiac Musk Dragon Powder. His frail body could not withstand being ravaged a second time.

Yet after Xu Xing had only taken a few bites, he saw Academician Su in the neighboring cell staring at him with an imploring look.

He gave a wry smile, picked up the braised pork, and walked over.

He also gave Academician Su one of the large white steamed buns.

The Confucians said: food was never too refined, meat was never too finely sliced.

How could a scholar from a prestigious family like Academician Su have ever suffered the hardships of the Celestial Prison? His meals were worse than those of an ordinary commoner's household.

Though... someone was watching over him, and silver had been spent.

Even so, Academician Su could only have meat dishes such as braised pork once every ten days or so.

It was not that the Su family lacked money, but a prisoner had to look like a prisoner. Eating well once in a while was only human nature; even if the emperor heard of it, he would turn a blind eye.

But feasting and drinking every day in the Celestial Prison...

That was rubbing the emperor the wrong way!

The spies of the Night Patrol Directorate also kept watch over the Celestial Prison. Every movement of the criminal officials had long been recorded in the Book of Impermanence kept by the Night Patrol Directorate's spies.

"For the kindness of this meal, Su will surely repay you someday."

After accepting the bun, Academician Su said only that before digging in with gusto.

He had just offended Xu Xing that morning, yet Xu Xing bore no grudge and repaid resentment with virtue.

He remembered this kindness.

"Hmph!"

The criminal official in the cell to the right snorted coldly and drank his thin porridge, so watery that even chopsticks could not stand in it.

One did not fear having little, only having less than others.

Xu Xing had currying favor with Academician Su while overlooking him. How could he possibly feel good about it?

"General Chang."

"Yours..."

Xu Xing was not angered by this. He used another bun to sandwich some braised pork and handed it to Chang Ji.

Chang Ji was a fifth-rank General Who Pacified Afar. When the Tartars invaded south in the seventeenth year of Chongming, Chang Ji had avoided battle. As a result, the Chongming Emperor had thrown him into the Celestial Prison to answer for his crimes, where he had been confined for nearly three years.

If Xu Xing had been close to death right now, he would never have bothered with Chang Ji.

Chang Ji was unlike Academician Su, who would one day be restored to his former office.

Nor was Chang Ji a famous general—he was merely an ordinary commander.

Academician Su ranked among the top five in Phoenix Creek Kingdom's literary circles. He and Chief Minister Ouyang were literary friends, and his classmates from the same examination year, fellow townsmen, and close friends were spread throughout the court. It was only a matter of time before he was pulled out...

But that did not mean Chang Ji was useless to Xu Xing at this time.

To have become a fifth-rank General Who Stabilized the Distant Lands, Chang Ji was undoubtedly one of Phoenix Creek Kingdom's elite talents. He was currently making his way through dungeon worlds; who knew when he might need Chang Ji's help?

Relationships had to be built gradually. He could not wait until the moment of need before opening his mouth to ask for favors.

By then, it would be too late.

As for currying favor?

A subordinate currying favor with a superior was perfectly ordinary.

If throwing away a little face, neither too much nor too little, could accomplish what endless painstaking effort could not... then why not curry favor?

If you wanted to be an official, you could not care about face!