At Wei Nisheng's words, Jiang Yu stopped short.
This was not the Hall of Literary Depths, after all, and there was no handwritten imperial decree here to keep him in check.
Yet, to his surprise, the thirteen-year-old stood beneath the pagoda tree on West Street, hands behind his back, without the slightest trace of fear.
"What did you say?" Jiang Yu narrowed his eyes.
Wei Nisheng did not repeat himself. He simply looked at him.
Across the street, Qu Niang had finished buying pastries and was walking back with her basket.
When she spotted the two brocade-clad youths standing before Wei Nisheng from a distance, her steps slowed.
Cui Fu also sensed something was wrong. His expression darkened, and he hurried over to Qu Niang, shielding her behind him.
"Young master..." Qu Niang called from across the street. Her voice was quiet, but Wei Nisheng heard her.
He turned, glanced at Qu Niang, and shook his head slightly, signaling for her not to come over.
Then he turned back to Jiang Yu and spoke in an unhurried voice.
"I said, what if I refuse to know my place? Are you deaf?"
Jiang Yu froze. He had not expected such a reply and blurted out instinctively,
"Do you really think I wouldn't dare kill you in the street?"
"You wouldn't dare!" Wei Nisheng's gaze rested openly and steadily on Jiang Yu's face.
"My surname is Jiang. Even if I killed you, I wouldn't-"
"Wouldn't what?!" Wei Nisheng demanded loudly.
"The heir of a vassal prince who abandoned hundreds of li of territory, lost tens of thousands of troops, and fled in terror from Xi’an Prefecture to Hanzhong Prefecture-
how does he have the gall to stand on a street in the Capital and boast about the surname Jiang?"
At those words,