"Boy, did you really write this poem?" Old Master Tang asked offhandedly, though undisguised anticipation glinted in his eyes.
"Heh, naturally," Tang Yan said with a grin.
"Pah, give you an inch and you take a mile. The truth, now!" Old Master Tang showed no mercy, pinching Tang Yan's ear and pressing him for an answer.
A wave of grievance washed over Tang Yan. What was wrong with this world? You couldn't even tell the truth anymore?
"Easy, easy, I'll talk, I'll talk. A while back I ran into a poor scholar. The ci he'd written wasn't half bad, so I bought it off him.
"He told this grandson of yours that if I could write a fine hand and copy the ci out, charming the daughters of great families would be easy. Your grandson's heart itched, so I committed the ci to memory and practiced my calligraphy besides..." With his ear throbbing under Old Master Tang's grip, Tang Yan hurried to throw out an excuse.
The reason was plausible enough, and Old Master Tang finally let go.
Tang Yan rubbed his reddened ear and put on a pained face. "Grandfather, your grandson resolved this crisis too. Couldn't you reward me with a few tens of thousands of taels to spend?"
The business with the City Lord's Manor coming to demand redress had been settled cleanly today, so Old Master Tang was in a decent mood. But the instant he heard Tang Yan's words, his face went black. "What do you need that much silver for? Off to drink and whore again? I'm warning you, you dare squander the family fortune once more and I'll break your dog legs!"
Tang Yan fretted in silence. You won't give me money, so how am I supposed to buy a Pill Cauldron? Without a Pill Cauldron, how do I refine anything?
"Don't worry, Grandfather, I won't touch wine or women. It's just that your grandson has come to his senses lately. The old me really was a good-for-nothing. Since the martial path is a dead end for me now, I want to set it aside and go into trade. Let me take a little silver to try my hand." Tang Yan kept a perfectly straight face.
Hearing this, Old Master Tang's heart softened a touch. He still didn't believe Tang Yan would truly take up trade as he claimed, but the reason warmed an old man's heart all the same, didn't it?
"Then go to the accounts office and draw two... hundred taels. Once you've shown some results, I might consider giving you more. And if I catch you spending this on wine and women, I'll dock every last copper of your allowance too!" With that warning, Old Master Tang turned and left.
Tang Yan's heart sank to the bottom of an icy well... Grandfather, I'm your own flesh and blood...
Still, Young Master Tang, who wanted to weep but had no tears, was no pessimist.
In less than half a shichen, Tang Yan gathered every valuable in his room, tucked the silver into his robes, snapped open a folding fan, and headed out with Xiaocui.
Since no one would hand him money, he might as well take a stroll, buy some low-grade medicinal herbs, and at least compound an ordinary Origin-nurturing remedy.
Out on the main street, Tang Yan strutted along with a splay-footed swagger, his folding fan flicked open for show as he fanned himself, his eyes flippant and his manner slack and careless. The graceful air he'd worn while composing the poem had vanished without a trace.
Xiaocui tilted her little head and studied her young master. How could he be so different from the man in the great hall? Could it truly be as the ancients said-rivers and mountains may shift, but a person's nature never does?
Young Master Tang took in the street with keen interest. Hawkers' cries, idle gossip, the sounds of labor, all of it blending together. The taverns, tailors, farm-tool stalls, weapon shops, and blacksmith forges lining the road each carried the flavor of an older age.
Markets like this had still been common on Earth in earlier times, but as society advanced they were gradually replaced by larger stores and other newer ways of buying things.
"Well now, if it isn't Young Master Tang. Why aren't you off at Red Flower House? Reduced to loitering in the street? I hear your grandfather cut your allowance. Don't tell me you can't even afford the worn-out girls at Red Flower House anymore?" a snide, mocking voice drawled.
Tang Yan turned to look and found the speaker was Liu Yuan, the Liu Family's Third Young Master.
Liu Yuan was much like Tang Yan, both counted among Yun City's wastrels. But Liu Yuan's lot was far better. The Liu Family had no shortage of sons; among the direct-line young men of his generation alone there were six or seven, and quite a few showed real promise. So even with Liu Yuan playing the wastrel, the Liu Family never had to beat their breasts and mourn the lack of an heir.
"What's this, you want to hand your grandpa some coin to spend?"
Liu Yuan was a wastrel, but no fool. That the Liu Family had long wanted to swallow the Tang Family was hardly a secret among Yun City's great clans. If he could put Tang Yan in his place, he'd surely earn a reward from the family when he returned.
But the family had also given its juniors a firm warning: under no circumstances were they to provoke Tang Yan first. Cross that line and Old Master Tang, once his temper flared, was the sort to bite. To teach Tang Yan a lesson, they'd have to bait him into striking the first blow.
"Give you money? In your dreams! Here I thought Young Master Tang had only had his Dantian crippled. Turns out the brain went with it." The venom in those words made even Xiaocui's eyes flash with fury.
"Screw you, who are you calling brain-damaged? Believe me, I'll thrash you flat!" Tang Yan barked, eyes glaring.
"You want to thrash me?" Liu Yuan's heart leapt with delight, and he couldn't help laughing. "Young Master Tang, it's not that I look down on you, but I could spot you an arm and a leg and still beat you like a stray dog."
Tang Yan's eyes went bloodshot, his breathing ragged. He jabbed a finger at Liu Yuan. "You're only Origin Rank Fourth Grade, the hell are you swaggering about? Think you're so tough? Then let's make a bet. If I knock you flat, you owe me ten thousand taels. If you knock me flat, the two hundred taels on me are yours. You dare?"
Liu Yuan's heart leapt with joy. On the martial path, every grade was a mountain unto itself. Idle as he was day to day, he genuinely held the strength of Origin Rank Fourth Grade. This fellow's Dantian was crippled, and after all these years hollowed out by wine and women, he likely couldn't handle even an ordinary man.
"I don't have ten thousand taels, only two thousand. And if I win I'd only take two hundred. That's hardly fair!" Liu Yuan's eyes rolled, and he chuckled. "Here's a better idea. If you win, all two thousand taels are yours. If you lose, you kowtow to me three times, right here on the ground. How's that?"
You son of a bitch, you Liu Family trash, just wait till I pound you flat! Choking down the itch to beat him senseless on the spot, Tang Yan sprang up. "Tch, so one of my kowtows isn't even worth a thousand taels? Fine-if I lose, I'll do as you say. But if I win, you only kowtow once."
Liu Yuan was overjoyed inside. Brainless, swaggering Young Master Tang, a genuine idiot through and through. Once you're on your knees, what's the difference between one kowtow and a hundred?
If he could truly bring Tang Yan to his knees today, it'd be a great service, and the family would rein in his wastrel ways even less from now on.
Mind made up, Liu Yuan said, "Very well, I'll grant Young Master Tang this much face. Lose, and you kneel and kowtow to me just the once."
"Young Master! Let's go back!" Xiaocui tugged at Tang Yan's sleeve, her voice on the edge of tears.
"Out of the way! Watch this young master beat him until his own parents won't know his face!" Tang Yan flung his sleeve free.
"Young Master, Liu Yuan is goading you on purpose. He wants you to take the bait so he can seize the chance to disgrace our Tang Family. Don't fall for it." Xiaocui's voice grew more urgent still.
Liu Yuan caught every flicker of Xiaocui's reaction. So it was settled fact that Tang Yan's Dantian had been crippled. But if this blockhead let Xiaocui talk him away, wouldn't all his scheming go to waste?
"Are we fighting or not? Give me a straight answer," Liu Yuan pressed.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3GF1eK1zT6
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