Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was bad luck for Han Yu. He had suggested adamantly to Cheng Jing that he should go to Ji Shan Hot Spring with him, but they weren’t sure which hot spring hotel Master Yuanjing and his apprentices had chosen.
They had no choice but to send their servants ahead to search for any trace, which took them quite a bit of time. While there, they happened to meet the royal highness of Zhen Bei Marquis and his group of people.
Han Yu was not related to the royal highness of Zhen Bei Marquis, but there was actually a bond between them. The royal highness of Zhen Bei Marquis was the concubine’s son. Since he needed to be the royal highness, naturally they had to make his title legitimate, so he became the wife’s son and was raised by the wife.
What was a coincidence was that the wife happened to be Han Yu’s father’s sister––his aunt. He was aware that his aunt was not fond of the concubine’s son, but for the sake of continuing Zhen Bei Marquis’ bloodline, she could only put up with it.
For the consideration of his aunt and the tension in Dongqing Dynasty, Han Yu was afraid of causing trouble and he came forward to mediate. The royal highness of Zhen Bei Marquis was arrogant and wilful, but he knew that he could do the job. Therefore, he pretended to be respectful to Han Yu.
However, it was not enough to just to be respectful. He promised not to cause trouble, but his body told him otherwise. He went for the red lantern street after all.
Cheng Jing despised him in the first place. He didn’t even try to get near him.
Han Yu felt uneasy, but he couldn’t stop the royal highness of Zhen Bei Marquis. The only thing he could do was follow him. Hopefully with his watch, the royal highness of Zhen Bei Marquis would behave better.
It happened to be the night the top girl was selling her virginity. She was truly a beauty that attracted the royal highness of Zhen Bei Marquis’ attention. He would love to dump a heavy load of money to buy her first night, but it was bad luck for her to encounter the aristocrats of the Northern Borderline.
The royal highness of Zhen Bei Marquis took advantage of the number of people and beat some of the opponents to death in the chaos. Han Yu tried to stop him, but he was hurt by accident.
Getting hurt by accident didn’t matter that much. What really mattered was that the royal highness of Zhen Bei Marquis was found dead on top of the girl, but somehow the Northern Borderline was going to let it slide. They were sure Han Yu had something to do with it, so they pushed Dongqing to give Han Yu to them for closure.
Jiang Pengji asked abruptly, “Father, did anyone shout Han Yu’s name out loud? Or did they say that he was Master Yuanjing’s apprentice?”
Feng Jin was deep in thought while he listened, but he came to a realization after he heard Jiang Pengji’s question. “What you mean is, the Northern Borderline wouldn’t let go because Han Yu was actually targeting Master Yuanjing.”
Jiang Pengji nodded and said to him, “The royal highness of Zhen Bei Marquis dying in such a way was definitely not pretty, which probably made the Northern Borderline happy enough. But instead of pursuing for the responsible party, they cornered Han Yu. It’s not hard to see that they are planning something now.”
Han Yu was not a person with a sensitive identity like the royal highness of Zhen Bei Marquis. Why would the Northern Borderline go after him anyway?
Her assumption did make sense. Liu She remembered something because of her statement. “Master Yuanjing had a debate with the three barbarous minorities in the Northern Borderline and he fought back against three cities for us. The negotiator for the Northern Borderline was Wu Liese. He is one of the few barbarians who can actually read, but he is rather headstrong and full of hubris. He thought he had mastered the mainland culture after he read some books or collections. He was the one who suggested the Northern Borderline royal family to have negotiations with Dongqing Dynasty. He gave them conditions, such as giving them another three cities, bowing heads for the loyalty of their emperor, and contributing money annually to them. He was blindly arrogant and overestimated his own knowledge. He lost three cities in the debate with Master Yuanjing and he was nearly seeing red.”
Jiang Pengji remembered General Wu Liba whom she had met before when she heard the tongue twister like name.
Liu She saw through her confusion and smiled at her. “Wu Liese is an uncle of Wu Liba. Their tribe is called “wise man” in the Northern Borderline. They normally work for the royal family as advisors or generals. In the Northern Borderline, all the citizens eat raw meat and drink blood. They are not just barbarians, but they think of robbing as a noble manner. They are mostly brainless there. In the beginning, when Dongqing was first founded, we didn’t take them seriously. The recent two generations of the Northern Borderline royal family turned out to be some excellent leaders who reckoned that brains were an essential element of a country’s development. They started to use and promote the wise men. They must still hold a grudge with him because of the death of Wu Liese.”
Liu She had always looked down on the Northern Borderline’s three minorities and he had never had faith that they could take the control of the mainland. Their muscle took a larger percentage of their body and they only knew how they could ruin a civilization instead of persevering, creating, and passing on the civilization. Their fate decided that they were never going to own the world.
Feng Jin listened to them carefully, but his brows had stayed tangled. “So the Northern Borderline meant to give Master Yuanjin a hard time?”
Liu She replied, “They probably wanted to intimidate us. Wu Liese was called the wisest person in the Northern Borderline and rumor had it that he was the reincarnation of the god of Wenqu. He was praised extremely high in the Northern Borderline. If it wasn’t for him being overly confident about himself and being sure he was going to win in the debate, he wouldn’t have made a bet with Master Yuanjing with three cities on the line. But the result was that Wu Liese barely had the strength to fight back and it slapped the Northern Borderline hard.”
Losing face was not the only consequence; Wu Liese puked blood recently because of his fury and he passed away not soon after.
Master Yuanji basically shamed everyone in the Northern Borderline by himself but he could still have an easy and leisurely life in Langye, after all.
Feng Jin said worriedly, “Then does that mean Han Yu and Master Yuanjing are in danger?”
The Northern Borderline was clearly trying to get revenge by taking the chance the incident provided. If Master Yuanjing happened to get away, at least they would take his apprentice’s life. It would be the best if both of them died and had their reputations ruined.
To literati, both reputation and self-esteem were much more important than their lives––not to mention to a master like Master Yuanjing who was widely known throughout the country.
Compared to Feng Jin’s concern, Jiang Pengji didn’t change her expression much. She seemed to be enjoying the show. She said to Feng Jin, “Do you think Master Yuanjing will be bewildered by such a trifle after he has been through so much in recent years?”
She had only met Master Yuanjin a couple times and he seemed to be an average but knowledgeable and amiable middle-aged man. But she never looked at someone incorrectly. Master Yuanjing’s face showed traces of age, but not his eyes. They were still young and full of energy.
Feng Jin didn’t know what she meant.
Jiang Pengji said to him firmly, “I’m sure he will solve the problem flawlessly in less than three days.”
Why did it have to be three days? Because the evaluation started in three days and Han Yu would need to attend as well.
If it wasn’t for Feng Jin having bad luck and injuring his hand to lose his chance, Master Yuanjing wouldn’t let his apprentice miss the best opportunity. It was going to be a life decision.
If he wasn’t even able to do so, he should feel shame about the credit and praise people gave to him. Jiang Pengji would consider it a waste of time to be his student.
As a matter of fact, it didn’t take Master Yuanjing three days. He only used half a day to send a letter to the ambassador of the Northern Borderline. No one knew exactly what the content of the letter was, but Han Yu came back in one piece afterwards and the Northern Borderline stopped their pursuit for the responsible party.
