Chapter 1130: Xiahou Yu, Gu De, good [Requesting monthly votes]
"For me, making money is as easy as breathing." Shen Tang used the deposit she received to buy a few patches of medicine for her injuries. "There are no doctors here, so you'll have to make do with these medicines for now. You need to recover as soon as possible so you can get back to work."
The young man reminded Shen Tang, "Zi Kuan hasn't agreed yet."
Shen Tang spread her hands at him: "Oh, give me back the medicine."
The young man gritted his teeth in anger: "You—"
Unfortunately, he was no match for Shen Tang, and Zi Kuan also needed her care, so he could only swallow his words. Shen Tang scoffed, "If I can't handle Yuan Liang, I can certainly handle you!"
youth:"……"
Shen Tang tossed him the utensils for decocting medicine: "Go!"
The young man carried his belongings to an abandoned well outside the house to fetch water.
But a question still lingered in my mind: "What wealthy family would be seeking these things, even willing to pay such a large deposit?"
Shen Tang said, "How would I know? Some people are born into Rome, while others are born into poverty. What might be delicacies for us is just scraps for pigs for them. I guess they're too rich and powerful to care about these things."
The young man stared at the flames inside the stove.
He reminded Shen Tang, "The situation here is different from that in the north."
As Shen Tang tore off a piece of flatbread and stuffed it into her mouth, she looked at him with questioning eyes, trying to discern the difference. The young man's expression was serious: "If the secret recipe you offer doesn't satisfy them, you might not come back alive."
That's it?
She thought it was something serious.
She wasn't a wooden stake; if someone threatened her, couldn't she just run away? A sneer flashed in Shen Tang's eyes: "If they really had the guts to disregard human life, wouldn't I be rich?"
Murder and robbery can now be justified.
Seeing that Shen Tang didn't take it to heart, the young man didn't say anything more.
He lit the stove, changed Zikuan's clothes with clean strips of cloth, and then took the used strips to wash. Oh, these strips of cloth were torn from his own clothes. Busy running around without taking a break, Chen Tang quietly watched his hardworking figure with her chin in her hand.
Zikuan struck up a conversation with her.
"Whom is Your Majesty looking at through You Rong?"
Shen Tang said frankly, "It depends on Yuan Liang."
As she spoke, a loving and doting auntie smile appeared on her lips.
"Seeing you two reminds me of Yuanliang and Wuhui, but those two are like cats and dogs, irreconcilable enemies, rarely able to coexist peacefully. If one of them is unlucky, it's considered friendly if the other doesn't kick them while they're down." Their public stances are very aligned, and their political ideologies are also quite similar, making them seem like kindred spirits, but their private relationship is just not good. "...I don't know if I'll ever see Yuanliang going to such lengths to take care of Wuhui like this in my life, that scene is too beautiful..."
Zi Kuan: "..."
What kind person would name their cat or dog something like "Yuan Liang Wu Hui"?
Shen Tang had no idea that he had such a misunderstanding.
"Your courtesy name is Zikuan, what's your surname, and what's your given name?" Self-introduction is the beginning of building rapport. These two are both about to start working, and she can't not even know the names of her future employees.
Zi Kuan said, "His surname is Xiahou, and his given name is Yu."
"Xiahou Zikuan? Respect prevents insult, leniency wins the support of the masses, trustworthiness earns people's trust, diligence brings success, and kindness is enough to win people's hearts. A gentleman who can practice these five virtues is benevolent throughout the world... It seems that Zikuan comes from a high-ranking family." If he didn't have a certain background, or even be related to the royal family, how could he be qualified to have a name like "ruling subordinates with leniency"? Wouldn't he be afraid of being beaten up when he goes out?
The royal surname of the State of Sun was not Xiahou.
Xiahou Yu's pale smile was tinged with self-mockery as he said, "What use are the so-called noble families of this tiny place? In front of truly illustrious families, they probably have no more face than commoners..."
Upon hearing this, Shen Tang knew that he was also a man with a story.
Changing the subject: "What about him?"
Xiahou Yu knew who she was referring to: "You Rong, surnamed Gu."
"Gu?" A meme popped into her head, and Shen Tang jokingly asked, "Speaking of the word 'forgiveness,' I suddenly thought of the saying, 'One must be forbearing to achieve success; with tolerance, virtue is great.' Is your close friend named Gu Ren, Gu Ji, or Gu De?"
If Gu Yourong's name comes from this sentence, then there's a high probability that his full name is "Gu De." Shen Tang knows that playing puns will get him fined, but it's really interesting. What's even more amazing is that his surname is "Gu"! In a way, he's his chosen worker! Shen Tang was just joking, but he actually guessed right.
"Tolerance is indeed a virtue."
Shen Tang: "..."
How could she possibly look at the name Gu De the same way?
Xiahou Yu noticed the subtle change in her expression and asked, "Your Majesty, is there anything inappropriate about the name You Rong?"
In the blink of an eye, Shen Tang had finished crafting the lie.
“The name Gu De means ‘good’ in a dialect somewhere north of the North. Good, good, very good.” Shen Tang covered the corner of her mouth with her hand, coughed twice to clear her throat, “It just suddenly came to mind, I don’t mean to offend you.”
Xiahou Yu wasn't angry.
He could tell that the mysterious, seemingly superhuman female ruler before him was probably not very old, perhaps only eight or nine? Even setting aside the fact that she was his savior and had helped You Rong, even without that connection, wouldn't it be reasonable for an eight or nine-year-old child to be a little mischievous? What could she possibly know at that age?
"If it can bring a smile to someone's face and make them laugh, it is a good deed." Xiahou Yu only spoke for a short while before his energy waned, and he soon became sleepy. Gu De was worried that he would develop a fever in the middle of the night, so he stayed by his side all night, not daring to close his eyes.
Fortunately, although his temperature fluctuated, it eventually came down.
Throughout the entire night, Gu De and Shen Tang barely exchanged a few words.
The latter didn't want awkward small talk, while the former waited for the latter to ask first. As dawn approached, he couldn't hold back any longer. When Shen Tang returned with breakfast for three, he spoke up: "Aren't you curious why Zi Kuan and I have become like this?"
"I'm not an interview host, why ask so many questions?" Shen Tang didn't have the habit of reopening old wounds. "If you want to talk about it, you will naturally do so. If you don't want to talk about it, there's no point in me asking."
Gu De seemed surprised by her frankness.
"...Zikuan and I studied at the same academy. After ten years of hard study, we finally achieved some success. We wanted to show our talents, but the world was dark and our teacher was old, so we agreed to stay at the academy as teachers." Just as Shen Tang guessed, Xiahou Yu was indeed of high birth. His father's family had been officials for generations, his mother was the daughter of a royal princess, and he had an aunt who was a queen.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he should be a winner in life.
His life is very relaxed, with a lot of choices.
But unfortunately, I was born in a small country.
For any ambitious young person, nothing is more painful than the fact that their country is weak and their own abilities are limited, and that even risking their life cannot prevent their country from being humiliated and suffering annihilation: "...In order to protect themselves, the royal family humbled themselves before the powerful enemy Qu State and even agreed to attack their allies. This move is tantamount to courting their own destruction. The students of the academy could not sit idly by when they heard the news."
Trying to negotiate with a tiger for its skin is suicidal.
The king of Qu was an extremely stingy person.
Back then, our country, together with neighboring states, put pressure on Zhai Huan, the previous ruler of Qu, causing him a lot of trouble. They even provoked him by beating his envoy. They kept a record of all of this! Now that the tables have turned, can Qu not hold a grudge?
These young and energetic students accomplished a lot.
The king was furious and ordered the arrest of the culprit.
Xiahou Yu refused to back down. He acknowledged the students' concerns and couldn't understand his uncle's foolish actions. "If this continues, the country will cease to exist!" he declared, successfully enraging the king. The Qu Kingdom envoy, brutally beaten by the students, recalled unpleasant past events during Zhai Huan's reign and demanded the royal court hand over the assailants. Fearing the students from ordinary families would be captured and killed, Xiahou Yu stepped in to take their place.
"He was just arrested like that?"
Gu De nodded: "Yes."
Xiahou Yu is the nephew of the king, and his parents are of noble birth. These titles are unattainable in the eyes of commoners, but in the eyes of the Qu Kingdom, he is nothing more than an ant from a small country, and an ant that has offended them. If he is not severely punished, where is the dignity of the country? This time he beat up the visiting envoy, what does he want to do next?
The authorities in Quguo demanded severe punishment.
The implication of "severe punishment" was that they wanted Xiahou Yu's head.
Even the royal family couldn't withstand the pressure.
Let alone the queen's nephew, even the king's own son, as long as he is not the heir to the ancestral temple, can be sacrificed to appease the anger of the Qu Kingdom! After much effort, the entire academy finally managed to secure a "reduction of sentence"—the death penalty of destroying the mansion.
When the envoy from Qu was informed of the outcome, his expression was complex: "To punish a righteous man so severely is worse than killing him; it's better for him to live and suffer humiliation. Let it go; this matter can be dropped."
Gu De almost burst into tears upon hearing this.
I deeply felt the powerlessness brought about by the gap in strength.
"So, you two are both from the Sun Kingdom?"
Gu De shook his head and denied it: "No."
Their homeland fell before the Sun Kingdom.
This is an inevitable fate for small countries in chaotic times.
Before the rise of the Qu Kingdom, the various small states in the southeast maintained relatively harmonious relations. They all knew that continuing to fight would lead to the destruction of any of them, so they simply formed a non-aggression alliance. By pooling the strength of their small states to fight against powerful enemies on the surrounding borders, they lived a relatively peaceful life.
Until this balance was broken by Qu Guo.
From the previous ruler, Zhai Huan, who was skilled in both literature and martial arts, to the current ruler, Zhai Le, who is less literate but full of martial virtue, both generations have a penchant for relentlessly undermining their neighbors. They not only wage war on the front lines but also plant spies, using both overt and covert schemes to continue their machinations… ultimately leaving this alliance, formed out of mutual benefit, barely alive. In recent years, it has been annexed piecemeal by the Qu Kingdom, and even renewed alliances have failed to curb its growth.
Gu De sighed: "The world's affairs, after a long period of unity, will inevitably divide, and after a long period of division, will inevitably unite. This is an unchanging truth since ancient times. It's just a pity that Zikuan was implicated in this matter and ended up like this."
Shen Tang said, "I heard, I only heard—if Zi Kuan has good talent, he still has a chance to recover his literary talent."
Gu De sneered, "To be someone's gatekeeper?"
How could he not know the method Shen Tang mentioned?
But, performing arts is one thing, selling one's body is another.
“Given Zikuan’s temperament, he would rather die than accept such humiliation. Wenxin is gone, but he can’t let his life be taken away from him…” Gu De directly rejected Shen Tang’s probing.
Scholars and writers are often proud and unyielding.
This pride doesn't stem from the Danfu Wenxin (a type of alchemy or literary cultivation) but from within.
Shen Tang paused for the moment: "Now that we've talked about Zi Kuan, let's talk about you?"
Gu De chuckled and shook his head, self-deprecatingly saying, "What is there to say about me? Just an ordinary person with no power or influence. If there's anything extraordinary about me, it's probably that I'm luckier than others. My mentor was traveling when he heard a baby crying and found me in the arms of a couple who had died tragically in each other's arms. He took me back and raised me. My lifelong ambition is nothing more than to be filial to my mentor and help him manage the fruits of his life's work..."
Unfortunately—
Before my beloved teacher passed away, he set fire to the academy, reducing it to ashes.
He wandered around trying to make a living, working as a retainer for others.
With the Sun Kingdom destroyed, the old master naturally met a bad end as well.
Gu De asked the question in as normal a tone as possible.
"I've finished talking to Zikuan about everything. What about you?"
When exposing someone's secrets, you can't just expose others and not yourself.
Shen Tang blinked, looking completely innocent.
This gesture and expression, which would have been pleasing to the eye on his original face, failed to evoke any pity from others under his current persona. Gu De remained unmoved. Shen Tang's eyes nearly twitched from blinking: "I told you, I ran away from home to start a business..."
"Surname, given name, courtesy name?"
Shen Tang said, "Shen, the fifth in his family, courtesy name Dali!"
Gu De: "..."
There's no need to be so perfunctory when lying, is there? He can tell the correct origin of his and Zi Kuan's names as soon as he hears them. He seems to be well-read. How could he use such an outrageous name as Shen Da Li?
Shen Tang pouted: "Believe it or not, it's up to you."
Gu De: "..."
It was already fully light outside.
"It's almost time to pay the balance, I'll go get the final payment now."
Let's see which silly fool is going around asking for contraceptive recipes.
Once Chen Tang had completely disappeared from sight, Xiahou Yu, who had been pretending to be asleep, slowly opened his eyes, his gaze falling towards the dilapidated wooden door. Seeing him lost in thought, Gu De said, "Zikuan, you don't really want to…"
If it were Xiahou Yu back then, he could remain indifferent even after losing Wenxin.
Literature was never Xiahou Yu's source of confidence or a way out.
But what about him, who went through all of this?
Xiahou Yu said, "This female ruler wants me to help her."
Gu De didn't know why he suddenly brought this up.
Xiahou Yu murmured, "But if I serve others to restore Wenxin, wouldn't it be impossible for me to help her?"
The two statements are somewhat contradictory.
Gu De sensed the unspoken meaning in his words.
"That's impossible. The man surnamed Zhai doesn't live far from here."
If he were truly the owner of the State Seal, he would have been discovered long ago.
Xiahou Yu said, "She is not the real person."
Gu De: "..."
"Or perhaps You Rong believes that a female ruler like her couldn't possibly possess the imperial seal?" Xiahou Yu asked with a smile, bringing up another seemingly unrelated matter. "The brothers Zhai Xiaofang and Zhai Yuewen traveled extensively in their early years, and I heard they even went to the northern regions..."
Zhai Xiaofang's daughter was able to become the Crown Princess only because Zhai Yuewen strongly recommended her before his death. After that, several exceptional cases of women being able to cultivate appeared in the Qu Kingdom. Xiahou Yu didn't know whether the two brothers did this on a whim or were inspired by something.
"You don't even know who she is."
Gu De did not want Xiahou Yu to take any risks.
“If I entrust this to the wrong person, I might as well die. I have no other choice, but you have your own way of dealing with this. You shouldn’t do this.” Xiahou Yu’s gaze gradually hardened. “I need to get better first before I can find a way to lift the seal on you.”
|ω`)
I always thought my typing technique was wrong (my first experience with a computer was in middle school computer class; I practiced typing with the built-in software out of boredom, and I remember there was a frog icon that bounced as I typed). Last year, I had tendonitis and was in pain for several months, so I had to give up my usual candybar keyboard and use Alice. I adapted well to it, and when I mentioned it to my author friend, I realized that my typing technique was actually standard.
(End of this chapter)
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