Cijiu, Your Big Brother Has Treated You Well

He glanced at his younger cousin, whose face was expressionless.

"Your high regard leaves me deeply honored and apprehensive, seniors. But I cultivate the Martial Dao. Though I studied in my youth, I've since neglected my studies." Unsure what was going on, Xu Qi'an dared not agree.

"No matter. Reading and scholarship are pursuits for a lifetime. It's never too late to begin." Li Mubai stroked his goatee with a chuckle.

They think so highly of me? Xu Qi'an was stunned.

He thought for a moment, then had an idea. Glancing at his cousin again, he smiled. "That's true. The sea of learning has no shore. I do have a talent for scholarship, and I'm honored that you two gentlemen think so highly of me. If I go to the academy, I'll surely come from behind and surpass Cijiu."

At that, Xu Cijiu gave a proud "heh." "My teacher and Mr. Mubai are interested in your poetry, such as 'Seeing Yang Gong Off to Qingzhou at Sheep Pavilion.'"

As soon as he finished speaking, Erlang's face stiffened. He lowered his head slightly, not daring to look at his teacher or Li Mubai.

"Seeing Yang Gong Off to Qingzhou at Sheep Pavilion." Yang Gong. So that's how it is. Xu Qi'an had tricked the proud, sharp-tongued Xu Erlang into giving him an answer, and now he knew what was going on.

After another moment's thought, he understood what the two great scholars wanted.

This really was a shortcut to leaving one's name in the history books. Just look at Wang Lun: that fellow had licked Li Bai's boots until he was happy, and had easily won himself a name that would live on for all time.

Clearly, licking boots was a technical skill too.

An ancient simp licked his male friend's boots until his name lived on for all time.

A modern simp licked his goddess's boots until he had nothing left.

Praising the past and belittling the present was no injustice.

Cloud Deer Academy's path through officialdom was fraught with difficulty. Without becoming high officials, its scholars naturally couldn't make it into the history books. That made the value of Xu Qi'an's poetry all the more apparent.

These rotten old men are wicked to the core. Xu Qi'an's mouth twitched. He was a little displeased, because they weren't taking him as a disciple for his fine appearance and sterling character.

They were lusting after his poems.

The two great scholars were thick-skinned enough that their smiles never faltered.

Xu Qi'an pondered for a moment. "Thank you for thinking so highly of me, gentlemen. Ningyan is devoted to learning, so it would be discourteous to refuse. Inspiration struck me recently, and I've been brewing a few good poems. Once I've dealt with the matter at hand, I'll visit you both at Cloud Deer Academy."

Both of us? Xu Cijiu's older cousin is far more tactful than he is. Li Mubai breathed a small sigh of relief, his smile growing.

If he insisted on competing with Zhang Shen for a disciple, Zhang Shen's connection to Xu Cijiu meant his own chances of winning were actually slim.

Xu Qi'an had put it beautifully.

"In that case, the two of us will await you at Cloud Deer Academy." After speaking, Zhang Shen gave Xu Xinnian a long look.

"Cijiu, cultivating the self begins with cultivating one's nature. You reached Aperture Opening a year ago, yet you still haven't managed to break through to the Self-Cultivation Realm. Hmm. Go home and copy the sayings of the sages three hundred times. Give them to me in ten days."

Xu Xinnian felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

"One step carries me thirty zhang." Zhang Shen turned, took a single step, and vanished.

Deliberately showing off, Li Mubai drew a circle around himself with the tip of his foot. He glanced at Xu Qi'an and said in a deep voice, "The space three inches around me does not belong here. It belongs at the city gate."

With that, his figure abruptly disappeared.

Xu Qi'an's eyes widened!

"Cijiu, what realm are those two great scholars in?"

Xu Xinnian had yet to escape his despair over copying the sages' sayings three hundred times, so Second Uncle Xu answered, "Nian'er told me it's the Confucian School's fifth rank: Virtue."

He eagerly told his nephew what he had seen outside the city.

So as long as I brag big enough, there's nothing in the world I can't do? Xu Qi'an was stunned again.

Xu Xinnian let out a stale breath and glanced with some regret at Xu Dalang, who had tricked him. "The Virtue Realm can regulate people's behavior and use words to manipulate others," he said irritably.

"The core ability of this realm is an initial grasp of the true meaning of Law Follows Speech. It can alter the laws governing things to a certain extent, which is why it has another name: Disrupting Law with Literature."

"Of course, the techniques those two great scholars used aren't something an ordinary Virtue Realm cultivator could manage."

The two martial artists listened, their hearts yearning. Second Uncle Xu said regretfully, "Every major system has its wonders. Only martial artists are always eager to fight."

That's why they're uncouth brutes. The proud scholar Xu Xinnian considered that both uncouth brutes were senior to him and had ample reason to use force, so he kept the thought to himself.

Then he noticed his older cousin staring intently at him.

"Erlang."

"Yes?"

"Your big brother has always treated you well."

"Before you say that, Big Brother, please search your conscience."

"Your big brother has a favor to ask."

"...Go on."

"One day, when you reach the Virtue Realm, Erlang, I'll need a promise from you."

"...Go on."

"You have to say to me: 'Where is Big Brother's Diaochan? Oh, Big Brother's Diaochan is at his waist!'"

"You're shameless!" Xu Erlang swept his sleeves and stalked off.

Xu Pingzhi fell into thought after hearing his nephew's words.

Xu Qi'an had to go to the Bureau of Astronomy, while Xu Pingzhi and his son went to the Changle County yamen. Before leaving, Second Uncle Xu told his daughter to wait in a side hall at the yamen.

It was Xu Qi'an's first visit to the Star-Gazing Tower, the tallest building in the capital. He clicked his tongue and studied it with interest.

"Have you been to the Star-Gazing Tower before?" Song Qing asked.

"First time."

"But you don't seem surprised." Song Qing could see the words "utterly ordinary" in Xu Qi'an's eyes.

Anyone seeing the Star-Gazing Tower for the first time would think it a magnificent, majestic wonder.

Its foundation was twice as high as an ordinary house, its pillars several times thicker than the coiled-dragon pillars in the imperial palace, and its bricks taller than a person...

The labor, materials, and money it had consumed amounted to a third of the Great Feng dynasty's annual tax revenue.

What made the people of the Bureau of Astronomy proudest was that the Star-Gazing Tower's height was unmatched in all the world. It would be hard to find anyone capable of building a taller structure.

The Bureau of Astronomy's Alchemists had worked with the Ministry of Works to design and build it, a process that took twelve years. It was one of a kind under heaven.

Because I'm used to seeing skyscrapers. Xu Qi'an smiled. "My second uncle often says I've had a calm disposition since childhood, that a mountain could collapse before me without changing my expression. Perhaps it's a gift."

Song Qing's eyes lit up. "Only someone with that kind of composure is fit to work with me."

Xu Qi'an looked at the dark circles under his eyes and felt he might have said something wrong.

On the seventh floor of the Star-Gazing Tower, he met Chu Caiwei, whom he had seen once before. She wore a pale yellow dress and sat beside a table covered with a dazzling array of food.

Steamed lamb, steamed bear paws, steamed deer tails, roast duck, roast chicks, roast goslings... The old bit floated into Xu Qi'an's mind.

"How did you get into trouble again?" Chu Caiwei glanced at the lowly constable she had met once before. Her cheeks bulged as she greeted him indistinctly.

"You weren't at the Star-Gazing Tower earlier?" Xu Qi'an had already heard what happened from Song Qing.

"I went to the Eldest Princess's place to mooch off her," Chu Caiwei said.

Xu Qi'an happened to be hungry. Making himself right at home, he sat down at the table and reached for a chicken leg.

Smack.

Chu Caiwei slapped his pig's trotter away with her little hand, her large almond-shaped eyes full of wariness. "You haven't eaten?"

"No."

"Senior Brother Song, take him back. Bring him here again after he's eaten."

It's like I'm looking at Xu Lingyin all grown up! A retort caught in Xu Qi'an's throat, and he didn't know whether to let it out.

"How did you get into a fight with that Zhou fellow?" Chu Caiwei suddenly asked as she ate.

"I took my younger sister out shopping, and he took a fancy to her looks."

"Is your sister pretty?"

"She's about as pretty as you."

"Then she must be as beautiful as a celestial maiden, no mere mortal thing."

Xu Qi'an looked up at her. Sunlight streamed through the openings in the wall, giving her lovely oval face a healthy, soft glow.

Her eyes were large and round, clear and bright, like stars shone within them. Xu Qi'an rarely saw eyes with that touch of two-dimensional style.

With looks like these, she and my previous life are a match made in heaven.

"The tax silver case is over. Do you know who swapped your second uncle's tax silver?" Chu Caiwei sucked her fingers.

Xu Qi'an shook his head. "I'm just a lowly constable."

Chu Caiwei raised her eyes to glance at him, then lowered her head and took another bite of roast duck, its skin fried crisp and golden. "The ones who swapped the tax silver were Lu Changzhi, a chiliarch of the Imperial Saber Guard, and Zheng Xin, a revenue section director in the Ministry of Revenue."

"So?" Xu Qi'an raised an eyebrow.

"I heard that Zhou Xianping, the vice minister of revenue, is their backer."

"!!!"

Holy fucking shit. Xu Qi'an could barely keep himself from swearing.

It was as though an electric current flashed through his mind. In an instant, he understood many things.

So that Zhou bastard was determined to kill me after he heard me give my name, because I solved the tax silver case and ruined his father's plans.

He wanted revenge.

No, maybe what happened today was something he'd been planning all along. Vice Minister Zhou's residence is in the inner city, far away from here, yet that Zhou bastard just happened to wander near the Xu residence?

Unless he was deliberately lingering nearby. He investigated me, so how could he not know what Lingyue looks like? Harassing a respectable young woman was an act. His real goal was to pick a fight and use it as an excuse to kill me.

Xu Qi'an felt as if an icy snake were crawling down his back, and a trace of chill rose in his heart.