Madam Wang shot Wang Gang a reproachful look. "Such nonsense! Martial arts aren't meant to be used like that!"
"You dote on me most, Sister, so of course I think of you first whenever I get anything!" Wang Gang said ingratiatingly. "If you blame me for that, you'll have to blame yourself first!"
"I don't blame you, I don't!" Madam Wang covered her mouth and laughed.
Watching this made Murong Bo's teeth itch. A sycophant, that's what he is! If my grand undertaking succeeds someday, this boy must never be employed!
"With your third-rate skills, you think you can send hot wind out with a palm strike... ha!"
Murong Bo sneered, but Madam Wang exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Gang has already reached the third-rate level?"
"Judging by the moves alone, that sword art he practices is truly first-rate, but his internal cultivation method doesn't even make the grade. Who knows how he trained, but he does indeed have third-rate skills!"
"I told you our Brother Gang was a prodigy! It's only been a few days!"
Seeing Madam Wang so pleased, Wang Gang was puzzled. What's this about third-rate? Isn't that an insult?
"What do you mean, Sister? Are martial arts divided into ranks?"
"Hmph, when you scholars pass the imperial examinations, you're divided into first, second, and third classes. Why shouldn't we martial artists distinguish between higher and lower levels?"
"Speak properly!" Madam Wang chided Murong Bo, then smiled at Wang Gang. "Martial artists are divided into first-, second-, and third-rate. Ordinary people can spend over a decade and still only reach third-rate. They don't have your talent! Even Fu'er is only third-rate."
"Fu'er has solid foundations and a broad range of skills. In actual combat, even a second-rate expert would find it hard to get the better of him!"
"And what rate are you?" Wang Gang shot him a disdainful glance. If he's so good, why don't you say that to his face instead of putting on that stern-father act all day?
"Heh..." Murong Bo lifted his chin toward the sky.
Madam Wang rolled her eyes. "Your brother-in-law falls outside those ranks. He's a grandmaster, but with talent like yours, you'll surpass him sooner or later."
"Tch!" Seeing Murong Bo putting on the airs of an expert, Wang Gang inwardly scoffed. I've got cheats. Why would I be afraid of you?
Seeing Wang Gang about to tuck the gold foil into his robe, Murong Bo called out, "Wait. Give me that cultivation method. I'll make a copy before giving it back!"
"That's right. Let your brother-in-law copy it first."
The Murong Family's Huanshi Water Pavilion collected martial arts from across the world. However much Madam Wang doted on her younger brother, she could not harm the Murong Family's interests, especially when the two things did not conflict.
"Oh, that won't do!" Without pausing in the slightest, Wang Gang tucked the gold foil safely away before saying, "Brother-in-law went to such trouble to trade for it. How could I trouble him to copy it too? I'll make a copy and send it over later."
What a joke. This gold foil is made of gold! I'm planning to keep it as a family heirloom!
"Yes, you're always so considerate!" Madam Wang nodded and glanced at Murong Bo, as if to say, Look how much my brother cares about you!
Murong Bo gave a few dry laughs, inwardly cursing the treacherous little villain.
Wang Gang sat down, thoroughly satisfied. He had originally come to Swallow Dock intending to find any old cultivation method to activate his panel. Getting something on the level of the Flame Blade was an unexpected delight, but there was another matter he needed to attend to.
"Brother-in-law, there's something I'd like to ask your advice on."
"My advice? You actually have something to ask me?" Murong Bo looked down at him with a haughty gaze.
"The bandit suppression on Lake Tai! Do you think I can take part?"
"No, absolutely not! It's far too dangerous! Don't do anything foolish!" Before Murong Bo could speak, Madam Wang objected.
Wang Gang smiled. "I wasn't planning to go, but the county magistrate has repeatedly asked me to join. I don't understand why, so I thought I'd come ask you."
"Why would the county magistrate want you to join a bandit suppression campaign? You must have been showing off those paltry skills of yours everywhere!"
Knowing they had misunderstood, Wang Gang explained everything from the beginning.
"You're saying the county magistrate asked you to join the bandit suppression without knowing you practiced martial arts?"
Wang Gang nodded, but Murong Bo did not look as though he knew anything about it. He was considering asking Liu Cheng about it later when Madam Wang spoke. "You said the county magistrate is about to be promoted. Who is this Master Zhang?"
Wang Gang froze at her words. He really had not considered that. In the Great Song of this era, "Master" was not a title used casually; it referred specifically to those few men in the circle of chief ministers. And who among them had the surname Zhang?
"It should be Zhang Dun!" Wang Gang thought for a moment. "After Wang Anshi was dismissed as chancellor last time, Lü Huiqing and Zhang Dun took charge of the New Policies. Later, both were driven out of court in succession. This Master Zhang serving as prefect of Huzhou should be him!"
Murong Bo knew little of such things and had no interest in officialdom.
Madam Wang, however, looked grave. "What relationship does Master Zhang have with Master Jiefu?"
Wang Gang knew Jiefu was Wang Anshi's courtesy name. After a moment's thought, he answered, "Zhang Dun was promoted by Wang Anshi himself!"
Seeing Madam Wang fall silent, Wang Gang asked, "Sister, do you know something?"
Madam Wang nodded. "I'm afraid this county magistrate wants to use you to establish a connection with Master Zhang."
"Huh? Haha!" Wang Gang did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Don't tease me. If I had that kind of ability, I'd have made that connection for myself first."
Good grief, my sister really dares to say anything. Zhang Dun might have been demoted to prefect now, but he would return to the central government within a few years. Later, during the Shaosheng era, he would become a big shot below one man and above ten thousand.
It was like an ordinary person in a later era suddenly being told that someone wanted to meet a national leader through them.
Isn't that just daydreaming? Though I do have that sort of dream myself quite often...
"Naturally, you have no connection with this Master Zhang." Madam Wang showed no sign of feeling she was daydreaming. She said seriously, "But we do have a connection with Master Jiefu!"
"Pfft!"
Wang Gang spat out the mouthful of tea he had just taken.
"This is getting more far-fetched by the moment! We couldn't reach Wang Anshi with eight bamboo poles tied together. What connection could we possibly have? That we're all surnamed Wang?"
Wang Gang said it as a joke, but to his surprise, Madam Wang actually nodded. "Yes!"
Wang Gang froze. He looked at Murong Bo, then back at Madam Wang, and asked with trembling lips, "What? We're his illegitimate children?"
"You wretch! What nonsense are you spouting!" Madam Wang swayed at his words, nearly overcome with anger. "Lord Jiefu is our clan uncle! When Grandfather was still alive and Lord Jiefu was serving in Jiangning, he even brought his son to visit our family."
"Ah! My uncle, Wang Anshi!" Wang Gang's head swam. Had this sky-filling wealth and glory just landed on his head?
Madam Wang saw through him at a glance and said coldly, "Don't get carried away! By our generation, we're already at the fifth degree of kinship. Besides, we haven't visited each other in so many years that we're hardly relatives anymore!"
"Ah! So that's how it is!" Wang Gang slapped the table in bitter regret. "Why didn't we tie another knot of kinship through marriage back then?"
"You wretch, still talking nonsense!" Madam Wang snapped.
Only then did Wang Gang realize he had said the wrong thing! He glanced at his embarrassed, angry sister, then at Murong Bo, who was giving him a hostile sidelong look, and said with an awkward laugh, "I meant myself."
"How old were you then? Their eldest daughter is several years older than even me! You wanted to marry her?" Madam Wang sneered.
"Is she as pretty as you, Sister?" Wang Gang immediately climbed the pole as soon as the snake was offered one, smiling ingratiatingly. "If she is, I'd have no objection!"
"Pah!" Madam Wang spat. "His family had few offspring, and their eldest son was terribly frail back then. They called it a visit, but they had also come to Suzhou to seek doctors and medicine."
Madam Wang changed the subject. "Father put considerable effort into finding a physician for them, so some goodwill remained! I'm afraid this county magistrate wants to use our connection to establish ties with Master Zhang and Lord Jiefu."
Wang Gang picked up the thread. "Li Yun leaves office this year. Without someone backing him, even if he's lucky, he'll have to serve at least two full terms as an assistant prefect. He won't have a chance of promotion to a court post for another six years at the earliest. If he's unlucky, he'll spend his whole life in local office! That's why he's set his sights on me!"
"But how did he find out about our family's connection with Lord Jiefu?" Wang Gang asked curiously.
"That I don't know!" Madam Wang thought for a moment, then shook her head. "As far as I know, apart from a few people in our family and Lord Jiefu's, only that elusive Divine Physician Xue knows about it!"
"Divine Physician Xue? How old is he?" Something seemed to occur to Wang Gang.
"That I really don't know," Madam Wang said. "I only vaguely remember Father mentioning that the divine physician was remarkably young."
Wang Gang mulled it over. This Divine Physician Xue might be Xue Muhua. After Wuyazi's misfortune, Su Xinghe had dispersed his disciples for fear of implicating them. Perhaps Xue Muhua had come to Gusu to hide at that time.
Could Li Yun have learned about this from Xue Muhua?
After thinking for a moment, Wang Gang turned to Murong Bo. "Brother-in-law, could you arrange for someone to protect me? I want to join the bandit suppression!"
"Ha!" Murong Bo sneered. You treacherous little villain, thinking of selling your sister for glory, and you still want me to find someone to protect you? Pah! A coward who clings to life and fears death!
"Sister, I hear Master Jiefu's eldest son is peerlessly talented, with writings that stand as tall as he does when stacked, only he and his wife don't get along..."
"I'll find someone! I'll find someone for you!" Murong Bo ground out through clenched teeth.