Arguing with Liu Erlong
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed, and he was so excited that his whole body was trembling slightly.
"With my theoretical reserves, given time—three months, no, one month—I can definitely deduce an alternative solution." He muttered to himself, pacing back and forth in the courtyard. "At that time, I, Yu Xiaogang... no, Grandmaster, will truly live up to my name. I will make all those who once mocked me kneel down and beg me for guidance!"
He straightened his back and strode towards his room.
The act of pushing open the door carried a sense of triumphant power, as if that dilapidated wooden door was the shame that had stood in his way for half a lifetime.
"Little San, Little San." Yu Xiaogang sat down at the table, poured himself a glass of ice-cold tea, tilted his head back and gulped it down, his tone tinged with smugness. "You've been hiding such a divine skill from your master, are you afraid I'll surpass you? Too bad, it's fate, you can't hide it. I'll just study it for you first, and share it with you when you've mastered it."
He put down his teacup, carefully opened the Sunflower Manual, took out paper and pen, and began to analyze the luck path of each incantation word by word.
"Qi flows along the Conception Vessel, condenses at the Dantian..." he recited as he drew a simple diagram of the human body's meridians on a piece of paper.
The more I deduced, the more I felt that this technique was truly wondrous.
But whenever he got to that point in his deduction, he would unconsciously stop, his lips twitching, before he would continue writing and drawing.
As the night passed and the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn, candlelight still shone in Yu Xiaogang's room.
In front of him lay more than a dozen sheets of scrap paper covered with writing, densely packed with his deduction process and revision ideas.
"Auntie, do you know where Sister Xiao Wu and the others are?" Jiang Lan looked up at the woman in front of her and asked.
The woman appeared to be in her thirties, dressed in a simple blue cloth dress. A wisp of blue hair was tied up with a cloth, and her features, though somewhat pale, were delicate and beautiful, with exquisite eyebrows and a pair of large, dark eyes.
Beneath that cloth robe was a stunning, perfect figure that no ordinary girl could achieve.
The woman was Liu Erlong.
Upon hearing Jiang Lan's words, Liu Erlong's veins bulged.
Aunt?
Although she's not young, what woman wouldn't want to be called young?
Liu Erlong took a deep breath, suppressing the anger that was rising in his head.
Liu Erlong was the undisputed leader of the Blue Tyrant Academy, and even Flender would avoid her. But today, she hadn't gone far from the academy gate when a tiny little thing, barely taller than her waist, called her "Auntie" in a clear voice.
"What did you just call me?" Liu Erlong lowered his head, looking at the chubby little thing in front of him wearing a penguin onesie. The child was looking up, with bright black eyes, chubby cheeks, and an innocent-looking face.
"Auntie," Jiang Lan called again, her tone sincere, her voice clear and crisp, with a touch of childishness at the end, doubling its charm.
Liu Erlong's eye twitched. She felt something throbbing in her temples, that familiar, violent temper belonging to the Horn of Slaughter of the Golden Iron Triangle was surging up wildly.
Over the years, she has cultivated her character at the Blue Tyrant Academy and rarely takes action, but this little thing really knows how to pick its time.
"Little friend," Liu Erlong forced a smile, though it looked more like the bared teeth of some large carnivore, "Look at me, look closely. How do I look like an aunt? Is my skin bad? Is my hair not black? Is my waist not slim enough?"
Jiang Lan looked her up and down very carefully, then shook her head very seriously. "You both look like aunties. Auntie looks to be 30 or 40."
Liu Erlong: "..."
She suddenly felt that talking to this child about this matter was inexplicably painful.
Jiang Lan looked at Liu Erlong and said, "Auntie, my name is Jiang Lan, the person next to me is called Doro, what's your name?"
Doro, who was standing to the side, waved to Liu Erlong in greeting.
Liu Erlong took a deep breath and said, "My name is Liu Erlong, and I am the principal of the Blue Tyrant Academy."
Upon learning Liu Erlong's name, Jiang Lan thought of something and said, "So you're Liu Erlong Liu Erlong, the one who likes good-for-nothings."
Listening to Jiang Lan's words, Liu Erlong inexplicably felt as if his lungs had been pierced.
Liu Erlong's face darkened visibly, his dark eyes narrowed slightly, and the air around him seemed to drop several degrees.
Jiang Lan was still oblivious. He tilted his head, his little face upturned, holding Doro's tiny hand in one hand, and asked in a childlike innocence, "Auntie, do you still like that Yu Xiaogang? I've met him. He's very eloquent, but his level isn't high. Everyone calls him Grandmaster, and I call him that too, but I always feel like he can't even beat me."
Liu Erlong felt another throbbing in her temple.
Why does this brat talk like a crossbow, hitting the bullseye every time, always catching her off guard?
"What do you know, you're just a kid?" Liu Erlong turned her head away, her tone curt.
"I know, my Mom Bo Saixi said you need to have good taste when it comes to liking someone." Jiang Lan patted her chest seriously. "Like me, I definitely won't marry a useless woman; I'll marry someone who can fight. So I told you you have no taste, right?"
Liu Erlong was so angry she wanted to laugh.
Having Liu Erlong a life of adventure and triumph, when did it become the turn of a mere child to teach her how to judge men?
But this kid never blinked when he spoke, his face practically screaming "I'm doing this for your own good," leaving her in a dilemma—whether to vent her anger or not.
"Try saying that again." Liu Erlong bent down with a forced smile and reached out to pinch Jiang Lan's chubby cheeks.
"Waaah... I'm telling the truth... Auntie, you really should get a pair of glasses..." Jiang Lan mumbled incoherently, his head being pinched to one side. Doro, sensing the danger, had already shrunk behind his legs.
"Get glasses?" Liu Erlong's smile became even more chilling.
Jiang Lan mumbled, "Then... you need... proof that he's not a good-for-nothing..."
Liu Erlong released his grip, thought for a moment, and said, "He has published many books, and those books are the crystallization of wisdom."
Jiang Lan tilted her head and said, "I've read those books. They're full of nonsense, and most of the knowledge they contain is common knowledge."
A while ago, out of curiosity, he bought a few books, read them for a while, and then fell asleep.
There was no way around it; he was rambling on and on, and he kept yawning until he fell asleep in no time.
Liu Erlong choked, unsure how best to refute Jiang Lan.
Because most of the facts Jiang Lan stated are generally accepted knowledge.
"Auntie, think about it." Jiang Lan took a segment of Ju Zi from Doro and popped it into her mouth, chewing with bulging cheeks, her voice muffled, "If Yu Xiaogang is really that capable, why doesn't he come looking for you? You've waited so many years, if he liked you, he should have come to propose long ago."
"What kind of skill is it for a man to not even dare to marry the woman he likes? Even I knew when I was six years old that if you like someone, you should buy her Ju Zi."