Borrowing another's wisdom (part one)

"Don't rush off," Hu Xiaotian said. "Since you're here, sit down and chat for a while."

Murong Feiyan visibly hesitated.

"Are you afraid of me?" Hu Xiaotian asked.

Murong Feiyan shot him a sideways glare. "Afraid of you? Evil has never triumphed over righteousness. I've never feared villains." Sure enough, she sat down across from him.

Hu Xiaotian stared at Murong Feiyan's lovely face. At first, she met his gaze, but after a while, his utterly unrestrained scrutiny finally made her uncomfortable. "What are you staring at?" she snapped. "Don't you know it's rude to stare at people?"

"I'm just puzzled," Hu Xiaotian said. "It's not as though we have some mortal feud that makes us unable to live under the same sky. Why did you set me up that day?"

Murong Feiyan naturally knew what he meant. Though she was in the wrong, she refused to yield an inch. "I don't think I set you up! Still, you showed a real sense of justice that day, standing up for the Fang father and daughter. You finally did something good. Hey, don't tell me you regret it now? Are you scared?"

"Who would I be scared of?" Hu Xiaotian said. "Even with you digging pits for me, I'm not scared. Who do you think could frighten me?"

Murong Feiyan deliberately prodded him. "Shi Xuedong is the precious son of Minister Shi of the Ministry of Personnel. You beat him up. Aren't you afraid he'll take revenge later?"

Hu Xiaotian smiled. "You deliberately hid his identity from me because you wanted us to fight to the death, didn't you? Ideally, we'd both end up badly wounded, and you could sit back like the fisherman who profits from the snipe and clam fighting. Girl, I never realized you had such a nasty heart."

Murong Feiyan actually nodded. "I did think about that. Neither of you is any good anyway. If you really took each other down, Great Kang would have two fewer scourges."

"You really do hate me," Hu Xiaotian said. "Unfortunately, all those calculations on your wishful little abacus came to nothing."

"Now I understand what it means for matching foul odors to draw together," Murong Feiyan said. "You were the same sort all along. It's only natural that you'd admire each other." She spoke bluntly, unafraid of offending this minister's son. She had also heard that the two young villains had become sworn brothers.

Instead of getting angry, Hu Xiaotian chuckled. When his laughter subsided, his face suddenly hardened. "After setting me up like that, aren't you afraid I'll lodge a malicious complaint with your superior and have you thrown out of the Capital Prefecture?"

"You've already got your wish!" Murong Feiyan said coolly. "My superior has suspended me. Now you've had your grand revenge. You must be thoroughly satisfied!"

Hu Xiaotian was visibly stunned. Fuck, so this Murong chick has already been dismissed? What the hell does that have to do with me? I never went to the Capital Prefecture to lodge a complaint against you. No wonder she finds fault with everything about me-she's pinned her dismissal on me. What a fucking injustice. Even if I explain now, she won't believe me. Hu Xiaotian couldn't be bothered to explain anyway. In Murong Feiyan's eyes, he had never been a good person.

"Are you particularly happy now?" Murong Feiyan asked. "Does it feel like you've finally had your revenge?"

Hu Xiaotian actually nodded.

"There's such a thing as retribution in this world," Murong Feiyan said. "Aren't you afraid of it?"

"Let me buy you a drink!" Hu Xiaotian said.

Murong Feiyan thought she had misheard. "What?"

"I'm leaving the Capital City the day after tomorrow," Hu Xiaotian said. "I suddenly realized I don't have a single friend around me. If we're talking about people I know well, I suppose you qualify. If you don't mind, could you have a few drinks with me and talk for a while?"

Murong Feiyan stared at him with her beautiful eyes. This fellow was actually leaving the Capital City? Whether his words were true or false aside, she thought it over carefully and found that she seemed to have no reason to refuse him. "The Natural Residence, then," she said softly.

Liang Dazhuang came over with Old Qin, the bookkeeper. It wasn't that Old Qin was unwilling to give him five taels of gold and had come specifically to verify the request. He had another reason for coming: to ask what else the young master needed prepared. Although someone had been assigned to make the arrangements, they couldn't possibly think of everything.

"Nothing comes to mind right now," Hu Xiaotian said. "How about this? Get me some money, and I'll go out and have a look around myself. Maybe seeing something will jog my memory."

"Young Master, why don't I come along?" Old Qin said. Ever since Hu An's mysterious disappearance, Old Qin had temporarily taken over the steward's duties.

Hu Xiaotian shook his head. "Don't follow me. I'm going for a stroll with Chief Constable Murong. I don't need a great big light bulb like you tagging along and dazzling us!"

Neither Old Qin nor Murong Feiyan understood what he meant. What was a great big light bulb? A lamp was a lamp-why add a bulb to it? Liang Dazhuang, on the other hand, had grown accustomed to the young master's way of speaking. He knew Hu Xiaotian often startled people with bizarre remarks like these. They were probably lingering aftereffects of his former idiocy.

Hu Xiaotian told Liang Dazhuang to hurry and deliver the money to the Fang father and daughter, then asked Old Qin for a stack of banknotes. These notes were issued by the Capital City Bao Feng Exchange and could generally be redeemed throughout the Capital City, but not outside it. Comparing his past and present lives revealed plenty of inconveniences. Hu Xiaotian had even considered suggesting that his father issue something resembling modern currency to replace gold, silver, and copper. But the current anti-counterfeiting technology wasn't good enough. Even if it could reach that standard, changing ordinary people's spending habits and introducing it nationwide would probably be immensely difficult. He could only abandon the idea.

With banknotes tucked in his pocket, heading out naturally felt reassuring and comfortable. Hu Xiaotian had Hu Fo prepare a carriage and invited Murong Feiyan to ride with him. Though he was traveling light, he still needed bodyguards. Besides Hu Fo, who drove the carriage, Li Jinhao and Shao Yijiao followed closely on horseback as escorts. For his journey to take up his post in Western Sichuan, his father had assigned four men to accompany and protect him the whole way: those three and Liang Dazhuang. Their first stop was the Natural Residence Murong Feiyan had suggested, where they would have a meal.

Seated inside Hu Xiaotian's carriage, Murong Feiyan remained silent, gazing outside. Just as the carriage entered Heavenly Street, the rain grew much lighter. Its hazy veil softened everything in view. Perhaps hoping to break the silence, Hu Xiaotian suddenly felt a surge of poetic inspiration and recited, "A light rain on Heavenly Street, moist and smooth as cream!"

In any age, beauties favored talented men, especially in ancient times, when poetry enjoyed such immense popularity. Though Murong Feiyan favored martial pursuits, she had some familiarity with poetry as well. Hearing this line, she felt her heart tremble. What a beautiful verse, what an apt description. Who would have thought this ignorant, uneducated wastrel could recite a line with such exquisite imagery?

Fine poetry was like chicken soup for the soul, quietly soaking into the fields of the heart, brightening one's mood and elevating one's spirit. Murong Feiyan had clearly been dazzled by Hu Xiaotian's verse. In fact, her opinion of him had already been changing without her noticing. Only after spending more time with him had she discovered that he wasn't the utterly worthless wastrel she had first imagined, much less someone who committed every conceivable evil. If his helping her remove the Fang-Barbed Arrow had merely been repayment for saving his life, then his later assistance to the Fang father and daughter had been an act of standing up against injustice. It proved his heart wasn't bad.

Although Murong Feiyan's impression of Hu Xiaotian had changed, she still refused to concede anything aloud. She snorted. "Whose scraps of wisdom did you pick up that line from?"

Hu Xiaotian's verse was indeed borrowed wisdom. But in this time and space, even if he shamelessly claimed it as his own original work, Han Yu wouldn't spring out and chase him down with a blade to reclaim his copyright.

Since he was borrowing someone else's wisdom, he might as well throw shame to the winds. "I don't know why," Hu Xiaotian said, "but poetic inspiration suddenly came flooding over me."

"Can a single line even count as a poem?" Murong Feiyan asked.

"Can't you see I'm cultivating the mood?" Hu Xiaotian said. "The scenery has stirred my feelings. Let me cultivate them a little more."

"If you cultivate them much longer, we'll be past Heavenly Street!" Murong Feiyan said with a laugh.

Hu Xiaotian suddenly shouted, "Stop the carriage! Stop!"

Hu Fo quickly reined in the horses, bringing the carriage slowly to a halt. Hu Xiaotian pushed open the door and stepped down, then beckoned to Murong Feiyan. "Chief Constable Murong, let's take a stroll in the rain and cultivate the mood. Once my poetic inspiration surges, I'll be able to finish the poem."

Murong Feiyan shook her head, a smile inevitably appearing on her lovely face. She actually climbed down, remembering to bring her red folding umbrella. The rain was light, like smoke and mist. Green grass lined the road, and the weeping willows planted on either side swayed gently in the breeze like green silk ribbons. Walking through the fine threads of spring rain, bathed in the refreshing coolness blowing toward her, she immediately felt many of the troubles in her heart ease.

"A light rain on Heavenly Street, moist and smooth as cream..." Hu Xiaotian said.

"Pfft! Still the same line!"

"...Don't interrupt. I'm cultivating the mood." Hu Xiaotian took a step forward and smiled at Murong Feiyan. "If I compose a masterpiece that will ring through the ages, would you be willing to hold an umbrella for me, Chief Constable Murong?"