Chapter 667
Marquis of Wuxiang
Li Xuan and Qi Zhenzhuo exchanged a glance in the main hall of the post station. They thought the prefect was being hospitable because the Imperial Guards had helped suppress the bandits, but they didn't expect that the prefect was actually there for the Gelaohui (a secret society).
The prefect stepped forward, took the brother's arm, and earnestly said, "Mr. Chen's poem 'Man Jiang Hong' stirred my heart and made me wish I could abandon my pen and join the army. But my favorite is still 'Shui Diao Ge Tou,' which can be called the number one Mid-Autumn Festival poem of all time... I humbly request Mr. Chen to leave a poem or calligraphy for my Xuanhua Prefecture."
But the man shook his head: "I'm sorry, I can't write it. Your Excellency, I'm not just making excuses, I really can't write it."
The prefect was not offended and smiled as he pressed him behind the table: "It's alright, it's alright. A piece of writing is a matter of nature and a stroke of genius. I've prepared some good wine. When you're in a good mood, you might be able to write it down."
He beckoned to the courier: "Set the table properly, the food and wine from Fengxianlou will be delivered immediately."
The group took their seats, but the Imperial Guards showed no interest in drinking. They whispered among themselves about the wanted poster in front of the post station and about Chen Ji.
Li Xuan inquired of the prefect, "Does Your Excellency know what crime Chen Ji committed that prompted the imperial court to issue a warrant for his arrest?"
The prefect recalled: "I only heard from the guards who came from 400 li away that the gate built by Chen Ji was endangering the country and the nation of Da Ning. As for the specifics of how it was endangered, I do not know."
Li Xuan and Qi Zhenzhuo exchanged glances again.
Qi Zhenzhuo whispered, "How could it be a matter of official channels? Brother-in-law, do you know what kind of official channels my master cultivated?"
Li Xuan recalled carefully, but suddenly realized that despite having known Chen Ji for a year, they knew nothing about Chen Ji's official connections.
He glanced at the Gelaohui (a secret society), a confidant of Chen Ji. This Gelaohui knew more about the Morning Post and the Salt Certificates than they did.
Li Xuan asked in a low voice, "Brother, what kind of cultivation method does Chen Ji practice?"
Amidst the noise, the members of the Gelaohui sat blankly at the table, completely unaware of Li Xuan's question.
He dipped his finger in the wine, intending to write a poem on the table, but his finger wouldn't move.
It wasn't that he had run out of poems to write, nor that he was being pretentious by saying he was going to write his final poem; rather, it seemed as if there was some unseen force in the world preventing him from continuing to write.
On the day of Bianyifang Chen Ji's wedding, Changxiu sent him and Erdao a "Guide to Officialdom," claiming it was a gift from the Grand Chancellor. His "Guide to Officialdom" had a rather elegant-sounding name: Wenxin Diaolong (The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons).
But after he left the capital, he wanted to write poems to cultivate himself, but he found that he couldn't put pen to paper.
strangeness.
According to the jade slip, the Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons cultivates through poetry and prose. In the Innate Realm, one can forge literary courage and strengthen the body; in the Seeking the Dao Realm, one's words can become law. The more moving and widely circulated the articles one writes, the faster one's cultivation speed will be.
But after he started practicing cultivation, why couldn't he write a single poem?
The man turned to look at Erdao, only to see Erdao holding Li Xuan's Feibai sword in his arms and a carving knife in his hand, intently engraving seal characters on the sword.
The man scratched his head with his little finger: "Isn't your path to becoming an official quite difficult? It's said that you need to be in perfect harmony with your mind and hand, without making a single mistake. You've only been practicing for a short time, yet you dare to use the Li family's ancestral Flying White Sword for engraving?"
Erdao ignored him, continuing to concentrate on his carving as if shutting out all other sounds. However, carving just one character required all his strength.
After an incense stick had burned, Erdao's body trembled slightly, sweat soaked his back, and beads of sweat slid down his cheeks to his chin, then dripped onto his knees. Even so, Erdao's hands remained steady, without making a single mistake.
Only after he finished carving the seal character '临' did he wipe his forehead and look at the gang leader: "Brother, did you just talk to me?"
The man from the robe asked irritably, "You've succeeded in your cultivation?"
Erdao thought for a while and then asked, "You didn't finish the repair?"
The man in the robe subconsciously said, "How is that possible? The Wenxin Diaolong official path seems to have been tailor-made for me, and cultivation is effortless."
Erdao gave an "oh" and then prepared to lower his head to carve the second seal character "兵" on the Feibai sword.
The man from the old man's paternal brother gritted his teeth and advised, "Stop carving. I've never seen you work this hard before. You're covered in sweat just now. Take a break."
Erdao lowered his head: "There might be a war when we get to Guyuan. If I become a Grand Master as soon as possible, I won't hold you back. Right now, I can only carve the characters 'Lin' and 'Bing,' but as long as I work hard enough, I'll be able to carve all nine characters sooner or later."
The man continued through gritted teeth, "You don't need to work so hard. I can't bear to see you so tired."
Erdao chuckled憨厚ly: "It's not tiring. Each character has its own purpose. Once I've carved them all, it'll give you more ways to save your lives on the battlefield. Brother, I used to think dealing with people was the most tiring thing, so I wanted to make things simpler. I wanted things to be straightforward, without needing to listen to hidden meanings or guessing what was going on... I don't know what kind of ability that inner minister has to judge people, but as soon as I pick up the carving knife, my mind calms down, and I don't have to think about anything."
The brother fell silent, realizing that this path to officialdom was indeed the most suitable for Erdao.
Just then, the sound of horses' hooves came from outside the door, and a man shouted, "A four-hundred-li urgent message! Where is the Prefect of Xuanhua Prefecture?"
The prefect looked up in surprise, lifted his robe and walked out, muttering, "Didn't we just receive a 400-li urgent message three days ago? Why is it here again today?"
Li Xuan and Qi Zhenzhuo, among others, were moved and followed them outside.
Upon arriving at the post station, they saw a guard carrying a black lacquered bamboo tube dismount, remove the old arrest warrant, and replace it with a new one from Yao An. The prefect asked in confusion, "Who is this?"
Jie Fanwei announced loudly to the crowd: "This man is causing trouble in the capital. The Secret Service has issued a warrant for his arrest. Anyone who reports him will be rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver!"
The prefect gasped: "Ten thousand taels? What's wrong with this world? My Xuanhua Prefecture only pays eighty thousand taels in taxes a year... How could they have uncovered Chen Ji's wanted poster?"
Jie Fanwei took off the black lacquered bamboo tube, pulled out a document from it, and handed it to the prefect: "From this day forward, the pursuit of Chen Ji will cease."
The prefect paused for a moment, then took the document and unfolded it.
Li Xuan leaned forward to peek, and it was clearly an official document from the imperial court, drafted by the Grand Secretariat, approved by the Directorate of Ceremonial, and then jointly signed by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice before being sent to various prefectures.
"Upon investigation, it was found that Chen Ji, the former Viscount of Wuxiang, sacrificed himself to protect the emperor on the fifteenth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-second year of the Jianing era, when the traitor Yao An caused chaos in the mourning hall of the Qi residence, and died in service to the king. After investigation by the authorities, it was found that his death was tragic and his loyalty and bravery were commendable."
"Chen Ji was posthumously granted the title of Marquis of Wuxiang, bestowed with secret artifacts from the Eastern Garden, and sent by the Prince of Fu to offer sacrifices. In addition, 800 mu of sacrificial land was granted to support the ancestral temple."
The area in front of the post station fell silent, with only the whistling sound of the wind blowing through the ropes on the flagpole.
Li Xuan was speechless for a long time. He snatched the document from the prefect and looked at it again and again. Qi Zhenzhuo also snatched the document from him and looked at it again and again.
The Imperial Guards were stunned for a long time, and no one wanted to believe it was true.
How could the man who killed over a hundred Tian Ce soldiers in the Guyuan battle and who endured ninety strokes of the cane at the Meridian Gate without even flinching die?
They all thought that Chen Ji's birth chart was so strong that it could be used to cut down trees if written on paper, so how could such a person die?
Li Xuan looked at Jie Fanwei: "Is this true?"
Jie Fanwei glanced at him: "Four hundred li urgent dispatch, who would dare to falsify the nine generations of their family?"
After saying this, Jie Fanwei changed horses at the post station and continued galloping towards Datong Prefecture.
Li Xuan and the others silently returned to the post station. No one cried or spoke; they simply sat quietly in their chairs, lost in thought.
The sky was getting dark.
Qi Zhenzhuo drank one cup after another, and after a long while suddenly said, "What's the use of posthumous conferment at this point? Can the person really come back to life?"
The gangster sat behind the table, slowly filling his pipe with tobacco. He would finish one pipe and then fill it with another, filling the post station with smoke.
When he finished his third pipe and was about to add more tobacco, Erdao stopped him, saying, "Brother, stop smoking, I can't open my eyes anymore."
The gangster chuckled, dipped his finger in the wine, and idly wrote a single line on the table.
As he was writing, he suddenly felt that there were countless thoughts in the sky that resonated with his own.
That day, it seemed as if countless students were sitting in a bright classroom, reciting poems line by line with their teacher, their voices echoing in his ears. And the sounds of countless people reciting poems aloud after drinking also reverberated in his ears.
In that instant, he suddenly understood the poem that his teacher had once made him memorize but which he didn't quite understand.
The next moment, the previously dim sky outside the post station brightened again, and a passerby looked up and exclaimed, "How come it's bright again?"
Suddenly, a loud bell rang out from inside the post station, as if a thousand bells were ringing in unison. A ray of golden light descended from the sky, piercing through the roof of the post station and shooting into the brow of the member of the guild, leaving a faint vertical line between his brows.
The literary advisor has been appointed.
Qi Zhenzhuo looked at the Gelaoge and tentatively asked, "Brother Gelaoge, have you found a way to learn 'The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons'?"
The gangster chuckled again: "So this is how it was done? I'm not happy at all."
Qi Zhenzhuo asked in confusion, "Brother, you just wrote a poem? What did you write?"
Upon hearing this, the prefect leaned over to examine the writing on the table, but the gangsters wiped it away with their hands before the crowd could gather around.
He said listlessly, "It was written for Chen Ji, so you don't need to read it."
After saying that, he got up, picked up a bowl of wine and drank it all in one gulp, then poured another bowl of wine on the ground: "Let's go, to Guyuan."
The prefect watched as the Imperial Guards rose together, drank from one bowl, poured out another, then left the post station, mounted their horses, and slowly walked into the night.
The prefect shouted loudly behind them, "The bounty for those bandits..."
No one paid him any attention. (End of Chapter)