Big Brother Is So Annoying

At the Star-Gazing Tower, on the Eight Trigrams Platform.

Clad in white, with white hair and a white beard, the Sitianjian supervisor sat before a table, holding a cup of wine as he silently gazed toward the northwest of the capital.

There was another table to his left, laden with delicious dishes. Before it sat Chu Caiwei, whose oval face, large eyes and delicate features held a subtle sweetness.

As she ate, she chattered away. "Master, when will I reach the sixth rank and become an Alchemist?"

The supervisor answered with a smile, "When you stop thinking about food and settle down to cultivate, the time will come."

Chu Caiwei said awkwardly, "Then it probably won't happen in this lifetime."

She swallowed her food and went on chattering. "Oh, right, that fake silver catches fire easily and explodes when it's thrown into water. There's no way to store it at all. It'll be hard to give the emperor an answer like this."

The supervisor said softly, "The old emperor has eaten his fill and has nothing better to do. Just tell him to get lost."

Chu Caiwei stuck out the tip of her tongue. "I wouldn't dare say that, Master. You go tell him yourself."

The supervisor smiled kindly.

"Master, fourth senior brother is practically possessed, and you aren't going to do anything about him? He keeps running outside the city, saying the doors to the mysteries of alchemy have opened to him."

"."

"Master, I think Xu Qi'an, that little quick hand, is pretty good. Can't we recruit him into the Bureau of Astronomy? Oh, you don't know who he is. He's the one who solved the tax silver case."

"."

"Master, what's grafting?"

The supervisor sighed. "Caiwei."

"Yes, Master?"

"Can't even food keep your mouth shut?"

"Oh."

A few seconds later.

"Master, why do you keep looking over there?"

"Caiwei, I have a regret."

"What is it, Master?"

"Why don't I know the Confucian School's Silencing Technique?"

"Hee-hee." A smug look had only just appeared on Chu Caiwei's face when she suddenly saw the food on the table rot in an instant, giving off a foul, sour smell.

Her little mouth drooped, and she looked ready to cry, her heart aching so badly she could hardly breathe. "Master, I was wrong. Hurry and change it back."

Still gazing toward the northwest, the supervisor said with a chuckle, "Let me teach you one more lesson. In the field of alchemy, the vast majority of transformations are irreversible."

Wiping away tears, Chu Caiwei walked away sobbing. "I'm never coming to keep you company again, you nasty old man."

At the elegant pavilion beside the bamboo grove, Dean Zhao Shou said in a deep voice, "No one may approach within thirty zhang of this place."

As he spoke, he waved his sleeve, and Clear Qi swelled outward, enveloping the pavilion and everything within thirty zhang.

Having done this, he turned to look at the three great scholars he had summoned.

Li Mubai held a teacup in his hands, his expression grave. "I've asked around. There were no students near the Sub-Sage Academy at the time, and there's no way to find out who went inside.

"The handwriting on the stone tablet doesn't belong to any student at the academy. I don't believe anyone taught by our academy could write so atrociously."

At this, Li Mubai felt a little uneasy. If it wasn't one of the academy's students, who else had been at the academy today besides that disciple he had picked up so easily?

"Tap, tap."

Just then, Zhang Shen rapped on the table. The great scholar put aside all his usual irreverence and rebutted his close friend without a trace of expression:

"Handwriting can be disguised, especially ugly handwriting."

Chen Tai suddenly asked, "Then what reason would there be to disguise it? That tablet has stood there for more than ten years. All the teachers and students at the academy have tried, and all would be happy to be the hero. There's no reason to disguise their handwriting.

"Besides, the brothers Xu Cijiu and Xu Ningyan happened to be touring the mountains at the time."

After their discussion, the three great scholars fell silent for a long time.

Li Mubai took a sip of tea and sighed. "To establish a heart for heaven and earth, to establish destiny for the living, to carry on the lost teachings of the sages of old, and to bring peace to all generations...

"I'm ashamed. All these years, I've long since given up thoughts of an official career. All I've wanted is to leave a fragrant name for a hundred generations and have my name recorded in the annals of history."

"Brother Chunjing, your character is noble and your integrity admirable." Zhang Shen gave him a thumbs-up and praised him, then continued, "Leave the guidance on that poem encouraging learning to me."

Li Mubai promptly changed his tune. "Serving the nation and its people doesn't contradict leaving one's name in the annals of history."

Dean Zhao Shou froze. He stared at Li Mubai, clear light flickering in his eyes, and said in surprise, "You're close to Establishing Destiny?!"

"!!!" Chen Tai and Zhang Shen were jolted.

Li Mubai stroked his beard with a smile. "A moment of enlightenment, and everything suddenly became clear."

The other two great scholars instantly turned sour with envy.

Once Dean Zhao Shou had pointed it out, the two immediately noticed a subtle change in Li Mubai's presence.

The third-rank Establishing Destiny Realm was a realm in which one sought a goal in life. Some studied for fame and office, some for wealth and privilege, and some to bring blessings to future generations. Everyone had their own path.

Dean Zhao Shou's path was to forge a new branch of the Confucian School, break the shackles on the minds of the countless scholars under heaven, and find a new road.

Thus, until the day he achieved that goal, he could not break through to the second rank.

The others did not ask Li Mubai about his goal in life, because he himself was still in a hazy state at this point.

Zhang Shen and Chen Tai exchanged a glance and secretly decided that, after today, they would enter seclusion at the Sub-Sage Academy to contemplate the Dao and not come out.

"From this day forth, students are forbidden to enter the Sub-Sage Academy." Zhao Shou's eyes, filled with an inward divine radiance, swept over the great scholars present. "This matter must not be spread. I will use Establishing Words on the three of you."

The three great scholars looked at one another and nodded slightly.

Zhao Shou sank his Qi into his Dantian and gathered his strength at the tip of his tongue. "A gentleman must keep his lips thrice sealed."

Two riders galloped along. As they approached the capital, the brothers slowed down, letting their horses trot.

The horses they had rented were poor beasts, only a little better than nags. Their advantage was that they were cheap; their drawback was their lack of stamina.

They could not maintain a high-speed run for long.

If they ran the horses to death, they would have to pay over ten taels of silver in compensation. Both brothers knew exactly what their wallets could bear.

Xu Xinnian let out a murky breath and finally voiced the question in his heart. "Shouldn't you explain yourself, big brother?"

He was referring to that maxim that had shocked the world and defied convention.

"What do you want me to explain?" Xu Qi'an asked in return.

"You only received a basic education, big brother. How could you have said something that shook heaven and earth and made ghosts and gods weep?" Xu Xinnian raised his chin proudly.

"Those are words only a scholar could say."

Just look how pleased you are with yourself. Everything is lowly, only studying is noble, is that it? I had nine years of compulsory education, at least. And I'm a veteran keyboard warrior, steeped in keyboard culture. I know a little about everything. If we really competed in knowledge, you scholars would only be little brothers in front of me!

Xu Qi'an badly wanted to voice that complaint.

He pondered for a moment, then put it another way. "You also think there are some problems with the Confucian School's current thinking, Cijiu. But when I asked you what scholars should do, your answer was still the standard response that fit the times."

Those words sent Xu Xinnian into deep thought.

"That's the limitation of thought. You scholars are steeped in a certain way of thinking, and over time, you take its shape. Even if you realize something is wrong, it's hard to break free of it." Xu Qi'an spoke at length and with assurance.

"We can put it another way: shackles on thought."

"Shackles on thought," Xu Cijiu murmured, repeating the words.

"The dean of Cloud Deer Academy is also shackled in his thinking, influenced by the Cheng school's teachings. He wants to break through and find a new branch, but he himself is caught in the whirlpool. How can he lead the scholars of the world out of it?"

"The only person who can truly do that is someone outside the whirlpool.

"Perhaps it's precisely because I haven't read many books that I can take an unorthodox path, strike out in a new direction, and avoid being shackled by the Cheng school's philosophy."

Of course, I'm shackled in my thinking too-shackled by the thinking of the twenty-first century. It's just that no one has given me a blow to the head to wake me up, Xu Qi'an said to himself.

To put it plainly, shackles on thought were one's three views, and those views were shaped by the times. Living in an era and steeped in its influences, one saw nothing wrong with them. Only with enough distance in time could one look down from a commanding height and see the problems.

Xu Cijiu was silent for a long time. He began to think and investigate things, and after the time it took an incense stick to burn, he looked at Xu Qi'an with bright eyes.

"Your words have made everything suddenly clear to me, big brother."

Big brother is amazing.

His comprehension is impressive, Xu Qi'an judged inwardly. Outwardly, he acted as though it were nothing and instead put on a mocking look.

"What a pity. You didn't inherit the Xu Household's excellent genes. You inherited the Li Household's."

Big brother is so annoying. Xu Cijiu suddenly didn't want to talk to him anymore.

If Mother heard that, she'd be slamming the table and cursing again: "That little bastard's birth chart is destined to clash with mine."

P.S. A moment of mourning for the martyrs and compatriots who unfortunately died in the epidemic. I originally wanted to skip today's update to express my grief, but on second thought, I decided against it. It's enough to remember them in our hearts.