Even If He Hit the South Wall, He Would Hit It First

At the very same time Wei Mingde returned to his room, the Side Courtyard.

Wei Nisheng sat before the desk, holding a copy of the Analects in his hands.

Sunlight leaked through the window cracks, shining upon the book pages and casting a warm glow.

Wei An tidied the books at the side and said softly, "Second Young Master, I went back to the clan a few days ago, but I didn't see the Wei Family head."

People in the Wei Family said that the old master had gone to visit a friend and wouldn't return for a few days.

Yet in this matter, the clan has no authority to make decisions, and as for adopting someone into the Eldest Branch, they have no right to speak on it.

After all, back then the master swore an oath in front of the entire clan, stating that only close relatives could inherit the Eldest Branch lineage.

The clan members naturally coveted the Eldest Branch Estate, and at the master's funeral they even dared to bring people to cause a scene.

Fortunately, the master's lingering prestige still held, coupled with the emperor just happening to send someone to bestow a posthumous decree of favor, so your father used that momentum to suppress them all back down.

Now you ask them for help, and since you yourself are of the second branch direct lineage, you completely undermine the interests of that bunch of fellows, making it impossible for them to step forward."

Hearing Wei An's words, Wei Nisheng sighed.

"Uncle Wei, how could I not know this?

Yet I did not expect my father to be capable of enduring to such a degree; even with me in this state, he stubbornly refuses to bring up the matter of adoption."

"Second Young Master, this sort of matter cannot be rushed."

Seeing this, Wei Nisheng nodded, turned another page of the book, and asked again,

"Over at the Main Courtyard, have there been any movements recently?"

Wei An lowered his voice: "The master is resting today. Just now Cui Shi took the Young Master to the Central Hall, and they haven't come out yet.

Word is... she is pleading with the master regarding her maiden family brother's affairs."

Wei Nisheng raised his gaze: "Maiden family brother? Cui Fu?"

"No, Cui Fu is born of a concubine. The one Cui Shi wants to help is her legitimate elder brother.

That elder brother of hers serves as an official in Taiyuan Prefecture. He wishes to be transferred back to the Capital and has entrusted the master for help."

Wei Nisheng fell silent for a moment, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly: "Transferred from Taiyuan Prefecture back to the Capital, does Father possess this capability?"

Wei An shook his head: "How could the master possess such capability. Right now he is also fretting over the affairs of the Feng Family."

"After the Apprenticeship Banquet, the master delivered a calling card to the Feng Family, but half a month has passed and it sank like a stone in the sea."

"The Feng Family?" Wei Nisheng frowned.

Wei Nisheng naturally knew family sayings such as "Feng Half the Court, Wei One Corner," since Wei Mingde had boasted about it plenty of times in the past.

"Regarding the Feng Family, how does Uncle Wei view them?"

Wei An pondered for a moment: "This old servant cannot say for certain.

Lord Feng and the master were fellow provincial graduates in the same year. Lord Feng placed as the top scholar while the master placed third, and the two enjoyed a fine friendship.

Yet now Lord Feng has retired from office, and his students and former subordinates are all over the world; there are plenty of people wishing to see him.

If your grandfather were still around, Lord Feng might have already taken the initiative to visit, but your father, this Director of the Ministry of Works..." Wei An did not finish his sentence, but his meaning was already very clear.

In the eyes of the Feng Family, Wei Mingde, this Director of the Ministry of Works, probably did not count for much indeed.

Wei Nisheng nodded and asked no more.

Instead he continued reading, the sunlight shining upon him in a quiet and peaceful manner.

After a long while, he suddenly spoke up: "Uncle Wei, what do you suppose Father is thinking about right now?"

Wei An was startled, thought about it, and said, "He is probably thinking about why the Feng Family refuses to see him."

Wei Nisheng smiled faintly: "No. He is thinking about what he ought to do if the Feng Family truly refuses to see him."

Having spoken, Wei Nisheng closed the book, stood up, and walked to the window.

Outside the window, the eaves of the Central Hall were faintly visible in the direction of the Main Courtyard.

"What he fears is not the Feng Family refusing to see him," Wei Nisheng said softly, "what he fears is that the fact the Feng Family refuses to see him will let others know."

Wei An looked at his back without speaking.

"The Wei Family of pure nobility, and the Feng Family of generations of friendship. This is the facade he constantly keeps on his lips.

If this facade is gone, how can he hold his head high in the Ministry of Works and before his colleagues?"

As he spoke, Wei Nisheng turned around and looked at Wei An: "Therefore he will continue to wait.

Wait a month, wait two months, until he can wait no longer."

"He refuses to admit that the Feng Family already looks down upon him."

Wei An fell silent for a long time, then said in a low voice, "Second Young Master sees things truly thoroughly."

Wei Nisheng shook his head: "It is not that I see things thoroughly.

It is that he is inside the game, while I am outside the game.

Still, the Feng Family truly..."

Suddenly, Wei Nisheng's words paused as he abruptly realized something.

That's right! The strength of the Feng Family far exceeded that of the Wei clan members!

Since he was already wildly drawing cards right now anyway, why not take the initiative to draw the card of the Feng Family?!

The Feng Family and the Wei Family were families of generations of friendship.

To be precise, Lord Feng and his own grandfather were of generations of friendship.

Wei An was his grandfather's trusted page-boy back in those years.

The old matters he knew exceeded even those known by his father.

If he could have Wei An step forward in the identity of the grandfather's old servant to deliver a calling card...

Even if Lord Feng would not see his father, he might not necessarily refuse to see the old friend of his grandfather.

What was more, he still held a reputation card in his own hands.

At age ten he drew his sword to execute a slave, receiving the emperor's personal praise.

Thinking of this, Wei Nisheng abruptly closed the book, turned his head, and asked,

"Uncle Wei, how do you feel about me presenting a calling card to Lord Feng?"

"Ha?" Hearing these words from Wei Nisheng, Wei An obviously failed to react in time.

"Second Young Master, you delivering a calling card to the Feng Family... This..."

"This is also a method, is it not? In any case, the useless people in the Wei Family can't be used."

Neither can I wait for death to take me in the Side Courtyard, otherwise if Father drags this out for several months or even several years,

when the heat of my 'Fiery Child' status dissipates and my influence vanishes,

by that time the initiative will no longer rest in my hands."

"Moreover, I am already ten years old. The imperial examinations are a matter of merely a year or two; I cannot waste time any longer!"

Hearing Wei Nisheng's words, Wei An frowned, but he offered no objection and thus nodded.

"Very well! Since Second Young Master says to write it, then we shall write it!!"

The corners of Wei Nisheng's mouth hooked upward: "Then we write it now."

Wei An immediately stepped forward, ground the ink, spread the paper, and placed the paperweight.

His movements were crisp, accomplished in one go.

Wei Nisheng lifted the brush, saturated it with ink, suspended his wrist, and contemplated.

This calling card had to be written neither humbly nor arrogantly, and it must possess sufficient weight to make Lord Feng willing to grant an audience.

It could not be written in the identity of "Wei Mingde's son".

His father's side had already sunk like a stone, and that path led nowhere.

It must be written in the identity of "Wei Zheng's grandson".

He must mention the old affection between his grandfather and Lord Feng.

Of those old matters, he himself knew little, but Wei An knew them.

"Uncle Wei, just how deep was the friendship between Grandfather and Lord Feng back then? Are there any events that Lord Feng is certain to remember?"

Wei An thought for a moment, a trace of reminiscence flashing within his turbid old eyes: "There are."

"The old master and Lord Feng were provincial graduates of the same year and entered the Hanlin Academy together.

Later the old master went to the Ministry of Revenue, and Lord Feng went to the Ministry of Personnel. The two maintained a fine friendship throughout their lives and never once flushed in anger against each other."

"Yet speaking of matters Lord Feng is certain to remember..." Wei An paused, his gaze growing distant.

"Back when the old master passed away, Lord Feng came to the residence to offer condolences and knelt before the spirit tablet for a full hour, refusing to rise no matter who tried to persuade him.

In the end, he spoke a single sentence to the old master's spirit tablet..."

"'Brother Wenyue, rest assured. The affairs of your Wei Family are my affairs.'"

Wei Nisheng's heart grew solemn.

In the eyes of the ancients, this promise carried immense weight.

Thus, right then and there, he lifted his brush and let the ink fall.

The candlelight flickered, reflecting upon the Xuan Paper.

The vigorous and unyielding "Slender Gold Script" slowly emerged stroke by stroke.

As the final character of the calling card was written, Wei Nisheng laid down the brush and gently blew upon the ink to dry it.

The vigorous characters upon the paper emitted a faint luster beneath the candlelight.

Every single stroke seemed carved into it, sharp yet retaining its structural backbone.

Wei An leaned in, read it finish from start, and praised:

"If Lord Feng reads this card of yours, Second Young Master, he will certainly grant an audience."

Wei Nisheng shook his head: "Not necessarily. If Lord Feng does not wish to see people from the Wei Family, this card of mine may not necessarily prove useful."

Having said this, he paused, folded the calling card, and handed it to Wei An: "Uncle Wei, this card cannot pass through the channels of the Wei Residence.

It must be delivered personally to the Feng Residence by you, an old person from Grandfather's time.

It is best to have someone hand it directly into Lord Feng's own hands rather than letting it sit at the porter's lodge."

"Understood, Second Young Master!" Wei An received it solemnly, placed it close against his person, turned, and departed.

Once Wei An had left, Wei Nisheng reopened the book.

"Now, whether it succeeds or fails, we can only treat a dead horse as though it were a living physician!"

"After all, waiting is the most passive approach. Even if he hit the south wall, he would hit it first."

[Full text of the calling card written by the protagonist (does not count toward chapter word count, extracted separately by the lazy fish)]

The junior of the Wei clan, Ni Sheng, respectfully offers this letter to Lord Feng:

The junior has heard that pines and cypresses possess the endurance of the cold season and do not alter because of frost and snow; metal and stone possess a ringing tone and are not obliterated by the passage of years.

In former times, my late grandfather, Duke Wenduan, passed the imperial examinations in the same year as your lordship and entered the Hanlin Academy together. Your lifelong pledge of friendship remained unswerving through life and death.

Although the junior did not manage to meet your lordship, yet I frequently heard of how at the time of my late grandfather's final moments, your lordship knelt before his spirit and made a single promise.

This saying was passed from the mouth of my grandfather's page-boy and engraved upon the junior's heart. Down to ten winters now, I have never dared forget it.

The junior was unfortunate; upon touching the ground my mother passed away, and my grandfather likewise departed. For ten years I have dwelt in seclusion within the Side Courtyard, with no one inquiring after me.

Yet my late grandfather's dying teachings-not for a single day have I dared to let them lapse. This spring, an evil slave publicly insulted the junior as a 'disaster star', declaring that the junior 'ought not to live'.

The junior reflected upon this: my grandfather, Duke Wenduan, was a man of pure nobility throughout his life, and my mother, Lu Shi, was commended by the imperial court as a chaste widow.

Though young, how could the junior allow an evil slave to direct insults toward his forebears? Hence I drew my execution sword to slay him, thereby setting straight the family discipline.

For this matter I received the emperor's personal praise and caught the discerning eye of Qin Gong.

Yet the junior knows full well this was merely the bravery of youthful hot-bloodedness, unworthy of mention.

It is only that I keep the old friendship between my late grandfather and your lordship burning in my heart, unwilling to cast myself aside.

Now I presumptuously offer this writing-not daring to ask for anything, but merely desiring to ascend your threshold to pay my respects, and personally listen to your lordship's teachings.

If your lordship deigns not to cast me aside and bestows a single audience, the junior will be most fortunate, and my late grandfather, knowing this beneath the springs, will likewise smile.

The junior of the Wei clan, Ni Sheng, bows his head and pays his respects once more.