Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Scholar
「The fifteenth of July.」
Jiang Ran straightened up early in the morning and headed out.
As expected, Li Tianxin was waiting for him at the door.
"Done crying?"
For some reason, Jiang Ran wanted to laugh when he saw him.
Li Tianxin’s face, usually as serene and unmoving as a stone carving, instantly flushed crimson. His eyes locked onto Jiang Ran as he bit out each word:
"I! Didn’t! Cry!"
"Right, right, right."
Jiang Ran nodded repeatedly.
"I really... did not cry!!!"
"You’re absolutely right!"
Jiang Ran figured he shouldn’t keep teasing him about it. ’After all, if I were in his shoes, it would be a pretty miserable situation.’
’To be under someone’s thumb for no good reason, and not even know if you’ve actually been poisoned...’
’He was just standing there, minding his own business, and then got dragged off for a beating that lasted all afternoon.’
’Yeah, that’s gotta sting...’
For a moment, Jiang Ran was overcome with compassion, completely oblivious to the fact that he was the one responsible for all of it.
Li Tianxin shot the heartless man a vicious glare.
"Where are we going today?"
"The Wan family estate, of course."
Li Tianxin nodded. Without another word, he fell in silently behind Jiang Ran.
Today was indeed a bit different.
The streets were devoid of common folk, replaced by groups of three to five skilled Jianghu People.
Jiang Ran’s eyes swept over them, but he couldn’t tell which were the great heroes here for the assembly and which were men from the Feiyun Stronghold.
Along the way, the most common topic of conversation was, unsurprisingly, the annihilation of the Sunset Gang.
The Prefecture’s authorities had handled the matter cleanly.
Much cleaner than Jiang Ran had imagined.
So much so that everyone now suspected the Sanfen Hall was responsible for wiping out both the Qinghe Gang and the Sunset Gang.
After all, of the three major gangs in Cangzhou Prefecture, only the Sanfen Hall was left standing.
With the Qinghe Gang and the Sunset Gang destroyed, they were the ones who stood to gain the most.
It was only natural for them to fall under suspicion...
Listening to the idle chatter, Jiang Ran and Li Tianxin soon arrived at the Wan family estate.
The entrance to the estate was even more packed, a jostling, chaotic sea of people. With some effort, Jiang Ran led Li Tianxin through the throng to the main gate.
He saw a middle-aged man of about forty, looking utterly frazzled.
When he saw Jiang Ran, he asked:
"Young Master, do you have an invitation?"
"I do."
Jiang Ran produced the invitation Cheng Jimo had given him and glanced over at Li Tianxin.
Li Tianxin stared straight ahead, a perfect picture of someone seeing and hearing nothing.
After the middle-aged man had checked the invitation and confirmed it was correct, he led Jiang Ran into the estate. Li Tianxin then followed closely behind him.
The middle-aged man paused, holding out a hand to stop him.
"This Young Master’s invitation...?"
Li Tianxin silently looked at Jiang Ran.
Jiang Ran looked back at him. Their eyes met, and with a flash of understanding, Jiang Ran said quietly:
"He’s with me. Er, a servant..."
"Ah, I see."
Comprehension dawned on the middle-aged man’s face, and he lowered his hand.
Li Tianxin came to Jiang Ran’s side, grinding his teeth.
"A servant?"
"Want me to go tell him I don’t know you?"
Jiang Ran asked.
"...Being a servant is fine, actually."
Li Tianxin took a deep breath.
Once through the gate, the space opened up considerably, and the oppressive crowd thinned out. The two of them followed the stream of people forward.
Soon they arrived in a huge courtyard.
The courtyard looked like a recent addition.
Faintly, one could see traces of the foundations of previous buildings on the ground.
Jiang Ran guessed that Shopkeeper Wan, anticipating the grand scale of today’s event, had decided he needed a larger courtyard to accommodate all the guests.
So he’d had the surrounding structures torn down, a pond added, and the rockeries moved to clear out this massive area.
The space was now filled with round tables, arranged so neatly and numerously that one could hardly see the end of them.
In the center of the venue, a high platform had also been erected.
In front of the high platform was a huge sign, but it was covered with red cloth at the moment, so it was not clear what was written on it.
There were no assigned seats, so everyone just found a spot and sat down.
Jiang Ran and Li Tianxin found a random table and sat down, only to hear a yawn.
Turning, they saw a young scholar in a light-colored robe and a traditional four-cornered cap pushing himself up from the table where he’d been sleeping.
His face was pale, and the two dark circles under his eyes were particularly prominent.
His cloudy eyes flickered over Jiang Ran and Li Tianxin. He cupped his fist in greeting, but before he could speak, another yawn escaped him.
"...Friend, are you... all right?"
Jiang Ran looked him over. ’He looks like he could drop dead from exhaustion at any moment.’
The man shook his head.
"I’m fine, I’m fine. This humble scholar is alright... Thank you for your concern, friend."
Jiang Ran nodded. "How many days has it been since you slept?"
"Hmm..."
The scholar thought for a moment, even counting on his fingers, and finally said:
"By my count, this humble scholar has been reading by lamplight for three days now.
"Alas, I simply couldn’t put the book down!
"Pardon my appearance."
Jiang Ran and Li Tianxin looked at each other, both a little impressed.
This was a true scholar, through and through.
The scholar seemed to have shaken off his drowsiness, a bit of color returning to his pale cheeks.
He cupped his fist.
"This humble scholar is Dao Wuming. May I ask for your esteemed names?"
"Of course. I’m Jiang Ran."
"Li Tianxin."
"Good names, very good names!"
Dao Wuming chuckled.
"You two both have good names. Unlike me. My master randomly flipped through a copy of the Tao Te Ching, read two and a half lines, and gave me this name.
"’Nameless, nameless’... in the end, it’s all just vanity..."
After saying this, he couldn’t help but let out another big yawn.
Then he stretched, as if trying to wake himself up a bit more.
But as he spread his arms, his robe shifted, and a book tucked inside was revealed.
Jiang Ran’s eyes followed the movement, and he saw the four words written neatly on the book’s cover: Golden Cicada’s Love Story.
He froze, instinctively glancing over at Li Tianxin, but the man was busy observing the other Jianghu People and had missed the spectacle.
He turned back to meet Dao Wuming’s eyes. Dao Wuming’s movements stiffened slightly.
He slowly lowered his arms, tucking the book further inside his robe, and said with a smile:
"Brother Jiang, don’t get the wrong idea. The title might seem a little... well... but it’s actually a fascinating collection of local anecdotes from the Golden Cicada Dynasty. I’ve learned a great deal from it!"
"I can tell, I can tell."
Jiang Ran nodded repeatedly, feigning understanding.
"Brother Jiang... you must not misunderstand! I was raised on the classics... I really am a man of letters."
Dao Wuming’s expression was utterly serious, but the stern look only made his dark circles more pronounced and his face even paler than before.
’Real men of letters don’t take the fall for this,’ Jiang Ran thought. Outwardly, however, his expression was unwavering as he declared with conviction:
"Of course. Brother Dao is, without a doubt, a man of letters."
