Chapter 34: Splendid Performance, Both In-Laws were Astonished 2
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
When she entered the room, the Earl lifted the blankets and welcomed his wife. He said, “Is Shen Lang still memorizing? Tell him to rest early in case he hurt his eyes.”
His wife growled, “He slept before nine o’clock.”
Sleeping before nine o’clock was indeed too much.
The Earl snarled, “Useless and lazy man, he definitely won’t be able to finish memorizing before two months. I will go and teach him a lesson tomorrow.”
However, he was thinking, “Wife, you are going to lose.”
The duress between them was non-invertible.
...
After dawn, Shen Lang opened his eyes and saw the Earl standing in front of him with a stern expression.
“Shen Lang, are you displeased with me?” asked the Earl.
Shen Lang got up and bowed to the Earl. “No, I respect you very much.”
The Earl said, “I asked you to memorize ‘The Family Instructions of Master Jin’ because I treat you as a member of the Jin Family. Not only were you unwilling to memorize it, but you slept so early. Isn’t this a clear indication of your attitude?”
Shen Lang said, “You must have misunderstood, father-in-law, I have already finished memorizing.”
Instantly, the Earl began trembling in anger. “Nonsense! You must be kidding. I spent one whole month memorizing it. Mulan is brilliant, but even she spent 23 days memorizing that. How long did you take? You say you have finished memorizing in one night? Are you dreaming, or are you kidding me as though I am a three-year-old?”
Shen Lang said, “Father-in-law, I have really finished memorizing. If you don’t believe me, you can test me.”
The Earl took over the 50,000-word book and looked at the whip on his waist. 2
Shen Lang was his son-in-law. As a father-in-law, he could not beat him, unlike his biological son.
However, if he was spouting nonsense in front of his father-in-law, then he should not blame his father-in-law for punishing him with the whip.
It was alright if he could not finish memorizing or even be lazy. After all, a live-in son-in-law did not have to bear so much responsibility.
However, lying would be a huge problem.
“Shen Lang, you are a live-in son-in-law, and I treat you as half a son. I can beat my son, so I can do the same for you,” said the Earl coldly, “I will do some random checks. If you are unable to memorize them, don’t blame me for punishing you.”
At this moment, the Earl’s wife rushed over and said, “Hubby, if he can’t memorize it, then let him be. Don’t beat him. He is young and unlike Cong’er, who has been used to the punishment since he was young. If you injure him, how are you going to explain it to his parents?”
“It’s alright if he can’t memorize it, but lying in front of his parents deserves a punishment,” said the Earl, “our in-laws are reasonable people. I believe that they will understand.”
The Earl took out his whip from his waistband. As long as Shen Lang was unable to memorize, he would whip him.
The Earl’s wife said, “Lang’er, apologize to your father-in-law now.”
Shen Lang said, “Don’t worry, mother-in-law, I will not disappoint you.”
“Look at this, look at this, he is still lying!” The Earl flipped open a random page and said, “Recite the fifth chapter of ;The Family Instructions of Master Jin.’ If you can’t, you will get hit.”
The whip in the Earl’s hand was moving.
At this point in time, Mulan rushed in and said, “Father, please don’t be angry. Shen Lang is my husband. If he did anything wrong, I would apologize on his behalf.”
Shen Lang recited the passage in the book word by word. “The fifth chapter of ‘The Family Instructions of Master Jin’: In the book ‘Li,’ there’s a saying that goes, ‘You will be surprised when you see someone who looks like your parents or has the same name as your parents.’ This could be saddening...[1.: The excerpt came from the book “The Family Instructions of Master Yan,” the paragraph that obeys historical events was used.]”
Shen Lang recited the entire 2000-word chapter without any error.
Moreover, he spoke fluently.
The Earl, his wife, and Mulan were instantly stunned. They could not believe it.
How was that possible?
The Earl did not believe it. He thought Shen Lang was just lucky, for he had flipped to the chapter that he had already memorized.
Therefore, he flipped open another chapter randomly and said, “Recite the entirety of chapter 16.”
Shen Lang did not pause and recited right away, “The two pieces of literature were initially the same, however, with gradual changes, they became different. The literature of Buddhism states five prohibitions, the teachings of Confucian emphasizes on benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, faith...”
After three minutes, Shen Lang completed reciting.
He was completely accurate!
Then, the Earl refused to believe it and continued to test a few other random chapters. Shen Lang memorized all of them fluently.
After that, the Earl did not ask him to recite a specific chapter. Instead, he read out a paragraph and asked Shen Lang to continue.
That was a killer move.
In the past, the Earl’s father and grandfather used this too, and the Earl fell for it countless times.
However, Shen Lang did not stop at all. When the Earl finished speaking, he continued straightaway without pausing to think.
It felt as though he was not reciting the book out of memory, but as though he had written the entire book by himself.
In the end, he even explained the meaning behind the words excitedly and shared his thoughts.
He was completely accurate, even in terms of tempo. There was no hesitation or pauses in his words.
It was perfect!
The three leaders of the Palace of the Earl were so shocked that they could not close their eyes.
“This... This is too strange!”
However, this did not make sense.
When the Earl was still the son of the previous Earl, although he had to train his martial arts and study every day, he spent at least two to three hours memorizing the book and only completed it in slightly more than a month.
Mulan was brilliant but spent 23 days.
50,000 words... Shen Lang only needed a night.
This... This was too astonishing.
Mulan widened her eyes and looked at Shen Lang’s face carefully.
“Is he really my husband, the rumored moron?”
The Earl’s wife was the one who regained her senses quickly.
After all, this was a piece of terribly great news.
“Lang’er is amazing! What a splendid performance. You did not embarrass me.” The Earl’s wife looked at Shen Lang with love and care.
Then, she looked at the Earl and said thoughtfully, “Hubby, I won 29 items!”
What 29 items?
Shen Lang and Mulan were confused.
Could it be that both of them had some secret deal?
The Earl was slightly embarrassed; he waved his hand and said, “Alright, wife, you can bring Mulan out. I have some things to tell Shen Lang.”
His wife was happy and frustrated at the same time. She walked out immediately.
The Earl said, “Wife, where are you going?”
“To beat up my son, that stupid fool,” said his wife.
A plump guy then felt like someone was talking about him and shuddered.
“I did not make any mistakes today. Could I possibly be hit even if I weren’t doing anything?” 4
...
The Earl had once thought about whether Shen Lang had memorized the The Family Instructions of Master Jin before.
However, he discarded this possibility since only the family members had the right to memorize it. The book was not leaked to others.
Moreover, unlike a secret book of martial arts, apart from the Jin Family, outsiders would not treasure it.
“Lang’er, how did you do it?” asked the Earl.
Shen Lang said, “On one day in summer, when the heatwave has yet to disperse, the sophora was blooming, and the crops of the next season had just been planted...”
The Earl said, “Stop beating around the bush.”
Shen Lang said, “Four days ago, I was critically ill in the Xu Family and was about to die. Rather, I died, but then I woke up, I realized that my brain became smarter. My memory became much better, and I now have a photographic memory.” 1
“Do miracles happen when you’re on the verge of death?” said the Earl.
Shen Lang said, “You can say that.”
The Earl thought about it for a moment before replying, “This is the so-called enlightenment. Although it is sporadic, it is possible. 180 years ago, the exact same thing happened to one of the ancestors of the Jin Family, and he turned from a useless guy to a talented martial artist. He accomplished a great feat for our family. The monarch wanted to give him an official position, but he declined. Instead, he asked for a new plot of land. Because of that, the Jin Family reached the peak and had a total of 5000 kilometers square of land. Today, we are left with less than one-third of that.” 1
Then, the Earl said sternly, “This is your luck. However, you need to be respectful and shouldn’t be arrogant because of this, do you understand?”
“Yes,” said Shen Lang.
The Earl said, “You studied ten years in the past and did not graduate from the school in your town. This shows that you were rather stupid. Now that you have become smart, do not forget about studying. You should instead pick up on your studies.”
“Yes,” said Shen Lang.
Studying?
Shen Lang had been studying for more than ten years in his past life; he was utterly done with it.
However, no matter what his father-in-law said, he had to agree with him. 1
After a long time, the Earl had finished talking.
Shen Lang said, “Father-in-law, you once promised that I can regain my freedom after I complete memorizing ‘The Family Instructions of Master Jin,’ so...”
Was he waiting for that?
The Earl took a deep breath.
He could tell that his son-in-law was extremely clever.
He pretended that he made a promise and was obedient but forgot about it immediately afterward.
He was extremely witty.
He really wanted to reject him, but whatever he said had to count.
Since he promised to unground Shen Lang, he had to fulfill it.
“Alright, you are ungrounded,” said the Earl, although he was extremely indignant.
This was the shortest confinement he had given in his life. It only lasted for one night. Shen Lang only slept in the study room for one night. 1
The Earl said, “Are you still planning to fight with Tian Heng?”
“Yes, I will go now,” Shen Lang nodded and said, “I said yesterday that I will make sure Tian Heng breaks Tian Thirteen’s legs in public and force him to break his own arms to humiliate him. We have to keep our promises, or else, nobody would trust us anymore. In the future, I won’t be able to live with pride.”
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