Zhangsun Nanqiao

Outside the Apricot Garden, Zhangsun Nanqiao's remark left Li Ziye truly at a loss for how to answer.

Were all women these days such hooligans?

"I'm still young. Could you wait a few years?"

A bashful look appeared on Li Ziye's face as he replied.

"You're not that young."

Zhangsun Nanqiao looked the youth up and down and smiled. "At seventeen, you're already old enough to marry in our Great Shang Dynasty. What is it, Young Master Li? Do you disdain me for being too old, or for being a widow?"

Li Ziye's head swelled to twice its size at her words. He had brought this disaster on himself! Why had he gone and flirted with this woman?

Seeing his embarrassment, Zhangsun Nanqiao smiled sweetly. "All right, I'll stop teasing you. Let's discuss cooperation. The Zhangsun Family is interested in all of the Li Family's businesses. Name your terms, Young Master Li."

"Didn't I already state them at the banquet?" Li Ziye said.

"Young Master Li, let honest people speak plainly. None of the three parties can accept the Li Family taking seventy percent of the profits."

"Sixty percent. That is the Zhangsun Family's bottom line," Zhangsun Nanqiao said seriously. "The Li Family takes sixty percent, but our people must participate in your production processes."

"Impossible."

Li Ziye rejected it outright. "The Li Family will never let outsiders participate in our production processes."

"Don't be so quick to refuse, Young Master Li."

"The Li Family has run these businesses alone for ten years," Zhangsun Nanqiao said calmly. "Many of your processes are no longer secrets. However well you protect them, in a few more years, the skilled craftsmen of the various families will gradually work out these techniques in full. When that happens, your advantages will no longer be advantages."

"As you said, Sister Zhangsun, that's a few years from now."

Li Ziye gave a radiant smile. "A few years is enough for the Li Family to expand its businesses several times over. By then, even if the other families have worked out our processes, we'll already have monopolized all the business channels in the Great Shang Dynasty. However faithfully they imitate us, people throughout the land will recognize only the Li Family's name."

"Do you really think the court will allow the Li Family to keep expanding so brazenly, Young Master Li? Surely you understand that the tallest tree catches the wind?" Zhangsun Nanqiao said coolly.

"Of course I do. That's why, once the Third Prince gave us a choice, the Li Family came at once."

"But I do know that the Zhangsun Family, the Merchant Alliance, and the Yin Family Bank don't belong to the same camp," Li Ziye said with a smile. "We can choose the Zhangsun Family, or we can choose the Merchant Alliance and the Yin Family Bank."

Zhangsun Nanqiao narrowed her eyes slightly. "You see things very clearly, Young Master Li. I'm impressed."

"Likewise."

"You must have heard that the Third Prince and I are on fairly good personal terms, Sister Zhangsun," Li Ziye said calmly. "He's already recommended the Merchant Alliance and the Yin Family Bank to me several times."

"Whatever the Third Prince can give you, the Zhangsun Family can give you too."

An unusual gleam shifted through Zhangsun Nanqiao's eyes as she said earnestly, "Even more!"

"Actually, I do lean toward the Zhangsun Family."

Li Ziye grinned. "After all, who wouldn't want more chances to spend time with a beauty like you, Sister Zhangsun? But your terms really are unacceptable to the Li Family."

"You're already calling me your sister. How could I not give a little more ground?"

Zhangsun Nanqiao rolled her eyes at him. "As for the profits, the Li Family will still take sixty percent, and the Zhangsun Family forty. As for your production processes, we won't meddle in them. Surely that will do?"

"Hmm... let me think about it."

Li Ziye laughed. "Perhaps the Yin Family Bank and the Merchant Alliance really will accept my original terms!"

"You!"

Zhangsun Nanqiao broke off, her chest heaving with anger, her sultry appearance so enticing.

"I'm off, Sister Zhangsun. Until we meet again."

Having won a round back, Li Ziye was in excellent spirits. He waved and strode away.

Li Youwei and Bai Wangyu followed, leaving with him.

Outside the Apricot Garden, Zhangsun Nanqiao watched the youth's retreating figure for a long while before bursting into a laugh. In that instant, she was like a hundred flowers blooming, beautiful beyond description.

This little fellow is interesting.

It had been a long time since she had met anyone who interested her so much.

By the time the three returned to Li Garden, the sun was nearly setting.

Li Ziye went to take another medicinal bath and endure his daily round of abuse.

Over half a double-hour later, Li Ziye emerged with his legs trembling, barely able to stand.

In the western wing, Li Ziye and Bai Wangyu sat on the stone steps outside the room, gazing blankly at the moon together.

"Old Bai," Li Ziye began.

"Hmm?" Bai Wangyu answered.

"Your cultivation is so impressive, your status is so extraordinary, and your looks..."

As he spoke, Li Ziye turned toward Little Red Riding Hood beside him and immediately felt a little jealous.

This fellow was actually good-looking too.

Beneath the moonlight, Bai Wangyu wore white Confucian robes, with starry brows, sword-sharp eyes, and a vast air of righteousness-a textbook chosen son of heaven, a darling of the Heavenly Dao.

His heart aching, Li Ziye looked away. "Don't you have any troubles?"

"Troubles?"

Bai Wangyu gave the question serious thought. "I do."

"What troubles?"

Li Ziye immediately perked up and asked.

"The Venerable and the Head of the Confucians said that, with my comprehension, reaching the Fifth Realm won't be a problem, but going beyond the five realms won't be easy," Bai Wangyu answered.

"..."

Li Ziye no longer wanted to talk.

Beyond the five realms? The fellow was already thinking about that, while he was still struggling in the early stage of the First Realm, with no idea in which lifetime he would advance another step.

"Old Bai."

"Hmm?"

"I want to die."

"..."

The two chatted on and off. In Bai Wangyu's presence, Li Ziye finally understood what "someone else's child" meant.

"Old Bai, do you really not know where my master is?" Li Ziye asked again.

"I don't."

Bai Wangyu shook his head. "With the Plum Blossom Sword Immortal's cultivation, if she deliberately conceals her whereabouts, even the four Venerables would struggle to find her. You can only ask the Head of the Confucians about this."

"The Head of the Confucians."

Li Ziye felt helpless. The Head of the Confucians again. The real question was how he could meet the master of the Imperial Academy.

"Brother Bai, have you met the Head of the Confucians?"

"What sort of person is he?" Li Ziye asked curiously.

"Only once."

"Only the four Venerables can enter his courtyard," Bai Wangyu said softly. "I was fortunate enough to meet him once while accompanying Venerable Law Confucian. As for what sort of person he is, if you have the chance to meet him someday, Brother Li, you'll understand. He is no ordinary man, but a living sage."

Li Ziye's head hurt a little. To ask about Old Qin's whereabouts, he had to meet the Head of the Confucians, yet he couldn't meet him now. It really was a headache.

How about kidnapping this eldest senior brother of the Confucian School and exchanging him as a hostage for my fairy master?

Li Ziye looked at Bai Wangyu beside him, then quickly dismissed the insane idea.

He couldn't beat this fellow.

Tired of sitting, Li Ziye reclined on the stone steps. Looking at the moon, he asked casually, "Old Bai, does the Confucian School have any martial arts you can learn quickly? Teach me a couple of moves."

"Martial arts you can learn quickly?"

Bai Wangyu looked thoughtful. After a long while, he said, "Yes, but their power is nothing special. Do you want to learn, Brother Li?"

Li Ziye immediately sat up again. "Let me see."

Bai Wangyu nodded and rose, taking two steps forward. He brought his fingers together in a sword gesture, and the Taiyi Sword instantly left its sheath on his back. Its blade vibrated rapidly, forming over a dozen afterimages, the real indistinguishable from the false.

The next moment, over a dozen streaks of sword light shot through the air like meteors, cutting across the night sky.

Boom!

A tremendous crash rang out. The instant the sword light flashed past, a huge rock ahead shattered, sending fragments flying to scatter across the ground.

Behind him, Li Ziye gaped in astonishment like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world. His voice trembled. "You call that nothing special?"

"Yes."

Bai Wangyu withdrew his sword and nodded. "Flashy but impractical. It isn't much use in a fight between experts."

Li Ziye felt as though thousands of troops and horses had trampled through his heart. He had taken another ten-thousand-point critical hit. Why hadn't some angelic big sister come and taken this fellow away?

"If you think it's useless, Brother Li, there's no need to learn it. After all, the Flying Immortal Art you practice is the world's foremost art. No ordinary martial art can compare," Bai Wangyu said solemnly.

"No, no! I'll learn it. Of course I'll learn it!"

Li Ziye hurriedly stood up. "It's always good to learn more. What's this move called?"

Who knew in which lifetime he would master that damned Flying Immortal Art? He had to learn something to protect himself first.

"Wind Passes, Leaving Traces."

After answering, Bai Wangyu set the Taiyi Sword in motion and explained every detail.

Beside him, Li Ziye studied just as earnestly, afraid of missing a single detail.

About half a double-hour later, after Bai Wangyu had patiently taught him over and over, Li Ziye finally gained an initial grasp of the move's essence.

"Haha, I did it!"

Li Ziye watched the vibrating Pure Jun Sword before him and laughed like a fool.

Beside him, Bai Wangyu wiped the sweat from his forehead and quietly caught his breath.

Was this move difficult? I remember learning it after seeing it once. Why was it so hard for Brother Li?

Perhaps Brother Li isn't suited to learning our Confucian School's swordsmanship.

Bai Wangyu naturally found an excuse for Li Ziye. After all, how could someone the Plum Blossom Sword Immortal had chosen have poor talent for martial arts?

"Come on, Old Bai. I'm in a good mood today. I'll treat you to some fun."

Delighted after learning a move, Li Ziye slung an arm around Bai Wangyu's neck and headed out of Li Garden.

He had been in the capital for several days. It was time to visit his second brother and, while he was at it, learn something about the Yin Clan. He also wanted to get his hands on that copy of Essential Arts of Heavenly Craft soon.

"W-where are we going?"

Still unused to Li Ziye's affectionate gestures, Bai Wangyu asked with an awkward expression.

"The Flower Cultivation Garden."

"In other words, a brothel," Li Ziye said.

"A brothel?"

Bai Wangyu's expression changed slightly. "Brother Li, we mustn't. I'm a disciple of the Confucian School. How could I go to such a place of flowers and pleasure?"

"Do the Confucian School's rules forbid it?" Li Ziye asked.

Bai Wangyu thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No, they don't."

"There you go."

Li Ziye grinned. "Since there's no rule against it, and you already promised to listen to me, stop wasting words."

With that, Li Ziye dragged him along toward the Flower Cultivation Garden.