Chapter 70
: Should I make Si Zheng my bodyguard?
The red oil in the copper pot was still bubbling and boiling, filling the entire courtyard with its aroma.
Xu Xian picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip. It was cold, coarse tea that had been steeping for who knows how long, and it was so bitter that he frowned... He didn't think he had ever bought any good tea before.
He put down the cup and looked at Shen Weiya.
"Humans have desires. That chair is there, and no one can resist it... He was the crown prince for over a hundred years, watching the old emperor sit on it while he could only stand on the side forever."
"He had worked diligently and wanted to be a good crown prince... but that wasn't enough. After his leg ailment flared up, he knew he had no hope left, so he took a desperate gamble."
"From his perspective, his actions were reasonable. Anyone would go crazy if someone waited for over a hundred years without getting what they wanted and then became lame."
Shen Weiya looked up at him, her eyes red-rimmed.
Xu leaned back in his chair, his voice calm.
"But he shouldn't drag innocent people into this to pay the price for his ambition!"
"The children of ordinary people were the same children from the dye house, the youngest of whom was only seven years old... The entire family of Li Shanyu, the governor of Qingzhou, was living happily together, but they were all killed in one night."
"Li Shanyu has a young daughter who is a few years younger than Hua Xi. They are also destined for this, and there is no distinction between high and low status."
He picked up his chopsticks and pointed to the towering palace wall outside the courtyard gate, in the direction of the White Pagoda Temple that Shen Chengqian had gone to.
"More than ten years ago, your elder brother, the Crown Prince, killed over a hundred members of the Nanlong Marquis's family in Kang State for a baseless rumor. Ouyang was about your age..."
"Think about it, if someone treated you like that, killed your whole family, then saved you, and made you work for them for twelve years, how would you feel?"
He put down his chopsticks and pushed the condiment dish aside.
"In my eyes, the Crown Prince is not noble. He is a prince. He has his pain and his difficulties, but what he did cannot be forgiven just because he has pain."
"The lives of those children, the lives of Li Shanyu's entire family, the lives of the Marquis of Nanlong's entire family, the life of Ouyang Twelve—these debts cannot be wiped away with a simple 'the Crown Prince has it tough too.'"
"I am not the emperor. I don't need to consider royal dignity or paternal affection. I am a member of the Inspection Department, and I only follow the law! If I were in charge, I wouldn't just strip him of his title and imprison him; I would make him wish he were dead!"
Shen Weiya looked at him with red eyes, bit her lip, slammed her chopsticks on the table, got up and rushed out.
She pushed the gate open, but it bounced back, hitting the door frame several times before finally stopping.
Xu Xian watched her figure disappear into the alleyway, then lowered his head and continued eating his hotpot.
He picked up the cold mutton from Shen Weiya's bowl, swished it in the pot a few times, and then stuffed it into his mouth.
Hua Xi tilted her head and thought for a moment.
"Brother, is Sister Taiping unhappy?"
"Yes, she's unhappy."
Hua Xi said "oh" and continued eating with her head down.
Xu Xian added, "But she'll come to her senses."
...
In the morning, Xu went to the Inspection Department and first went to the pharmacy to ask Old Man Sun for acupuncture.
Old Man Sun told him to take off his shirt, and saw the bruise on his chest that Wang Yanni had slapped with the back of her knife, which stretched from his collarbone all the way to his ribs, bluish-red.
Old Sun clicked his tongue twice.
"I'm so lucky to be alive..."
His hands didn't stop; he inserted silver needles one by one into acupoints, twisting and lifting them.
Mr. Xu grimaced in pain, but after the needle was removed, his chest felt much more relaxed, and his breathing became much easier.
Old Sun then took two bottles of pills from the medicine cabinet and stuffed them into his hand.
"Take three pills twice a day for the white bottle, and one pill before bed for the black bottle. If you take them for half a month, your internal injuries will be mostly healed."
Xu stuffed the medicine bottle into his pocket and went to find Mo Feichang to get the badge.
The old doorman was dozing against the doorframe. He yawned after being woken up.
"Lord Mo hasn't arrived yet, let's wait..."
Xu Xian thought for a moment and walked towards the training ground, just in time to see how his ten soldiers were doing in their training.
Of the ten men under his command, only Zhang Hu and Zhao Bao were part of the dowry brought from Tiemenguan; the other eight were assigned to him by Mo Feichang from the Black Cavalry Guard.
He'd been in Qingzhou for so long; he wondered if these guys had slacked off or if they'd actually practiced as he'd taught them.
...
In the training ground, Lu Jing was sitting on a stone bench, holding a cup of tea.
In the open space in front of him, ten Black Cavalry Guards were running laps carrying cold iron stakes, each one drenched in sweat and panting heavily.
Zhang Hu ran in front, and Zhao Bao followed at the back. Both of them were shirtless, with red marks rubbed off their backs by the cold iron stakes.
Lu Jing put down his teacup and slowly began to speak.
"The method that Xu Xiaoqi taught is indeed excellent. It's gradual, comprehensive, and maximizes your physical development without damaging your foundation..."
"With the special body-tempering pills Old Sun gave you, it'll be only a matter of one or two years, or three to five years, for you to break through to the Meridian Opening stage. The key is not to slack off!"
He paused, then said seriously.
"What is body tempering for? It's about breaking through the limits of ordinary people. You need to train your skin, flesh, tendons, blood vessels, and membranes, and use medicine to help you strengthen your body and stimulate your blood and qi."
"When the cold iron stakes press down on your backs, your blood and qi will automatically rush to your limbs. This is the simplest yet most effective method."
Zhao Bao ran over from the back of the line, threw the cold iron stake on his back to the ground, and it hit the blue bricks with a dull thud.
He looked up, panting heavily. "Commander Lu, I have a question."
Lu Jing glanced at him sideways and said, "Speak."
"Mr. Sun said the pills need to be taken in conjunction with other methods... So I have to take one before practicing, right? I can't skip practicing, can I? And I have to take it after practicing, right? I can't stop practicing after taking it, can I? I still have to practice..."
"So here's the question: is this pill taken before or after training?"
Lu Jing held his teacup, mouth agape, his mind following Zhao Bao's logic three times, only to find that with each loop he was further away from the answer.
He really couldn't answer that question.
He looked at Zhang Hu, who also shook his head with a blank expression.
Zhao Bao remained standing there, waiting expectantly for Lu Jing to give him an answer.
Xu Xian walked in from the entrance of the training ground and couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"You've mastered the technique. Don't worry about the details. Just keep practicing and get back to practicing."
Zhao Bao gave an "oh," then picked up the cold iron stake again and ran away.
He ran a few steps, then turned back and shouted to Lu Jing, "Commander Lu, remember to tell me when you've figured it out! I couldn't sleep all night thinking about it!"
Lu Jing turned his head and saw Xu Xian. His gaze swept over Xu Xian for a moment, then suddenly stopped.
He stood up and circled Xu Xian twice, his surprise growing stronger.
"Seven floors already? You went out and got into a few fights, and when you came back you were just one step away from the eighth floor. How did you do that?"
Xu Xian smiled slightly and shrugged, "I don't know, I just broke through while fighting. Each time I fought, I increased by a level, and before I knew it, I was at the seventh level."
Lu Jing was still circling around him.
"Intense physical training can indeed greatly improve cultivation, but I've never seen anyone advance so quickly, from the initial stage of cultivation to the seventh level of Body Tempering in just over half a year..."
Xu Xian chuckled lightly, "I guess I have a good constitution."
Lu Jing shook his head, clearly not believing this claim, but he didn't press further.
He sat down, picked up his teacup again, and said, "I heard you're being hunted down by Hao Zailai?"
"This has already happened twice. Fortunately, the reputation of the brand 'Lai Zai Lai' is well-established, and they won't make an exception for me. There will definitely be more assassins coming."
Xu Xian originally thought that Hao Zai Lai would stop once the employer was gone, but Si Zheng told him that Hao Zai Lai would do things as long as he got the money, regardless of whether the employer was alive or dead.
He tugged at the stubble on his chin, and after a long time, he only managed to pull out a single, almost invisible hair.
"Should I ask Si Zheng to find me a bodyguard?"
Lu Jing scoffed.
"You're overthinking it. There's only one and a half Zhenfu in Kyoto. Feng Zangwu is one, and I'm half, but we can't say that our cultivation levels are enough to protect you. We can't expect the Sizheng to protect you personally; he doesn't even have enough time to write poetry every day."
Xu Xian was silent for a moment, just as he was thinking about whether to tie Hua Xi to his waist, when someone suddenly called him from the doorway.
The old doorman peeked his head in from outside the martial arts training ground.
"Lord Mo has arrived and is waiting for you in the side room."
Xu Xian's eyes lit up, and he turned to leave, when suddenly a cough came from behind him.
"Cough... I've been a bit bored lately since you weren't in Kyoto. Old Feng has to drive for you all day, and there's no one to talk to..."
Xu Xian turned around and saw Lu Jingzheng drinking tea, his eyes fixed on the tea leaves in the cup, as if he were talking to himself.
Xu Xian smiled slightly.
"If Commander Lu is free tonight, we can go to Taibai Tower to show our support. It's been a long time since we've seen those young ladies, and we really miss them. Yang Xu is going too; it's been tough for him to come with me this time."
"Um..."
Lu Jing gave a nonchalant reply and continued to sip his tea.
"Since you've put it that way, how can I refuse? I'll treat you tonight, so you won't have to spend any more money... You're a centurion now, your salary has increased, but you still need to buy your sister candied hawthorns, so be careful with your spending."
Xu Xian laughed and turned to leave.
Xu Xian picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip. It was cold, coarse tea that had been steeping for who knows how long, and it was so bitter that he frowned... He didn't think he had ever bought any good tea before.
He put down the cup and looked at Shen Weiya.
"Humans have desires. That chair is there, and no one can resist it... He was the crown prince for over a hundred years, watching the old emperor sit on it while he could only stand on the side forever."
"He had worked diligently and wanted to be a good crown prince... but that wasn't enough. After his leg ailment flared up, he knew he had no hope left, so he took a desperate gamble."
"From his perspective, his actions were reasonable. Anyone would go crazy if someone waited for over a hundred years without getting what they wanted and then became lame."
Shen Weiya looked up at him, her eyes red-rimmed.
Xu leaned back in his chair, his voice calm.
"But he shouldn't drag innocent people into this to pay the price for his ambition!"
"The children of ordinary people were the same children from the dye house, the youngest of whom was only seven years old... The entire family of Li Shanyu, the governor of Qingzhou, was living happily together, but they were all killed in one night."
"Li Shanyu has a young daughter who is a few years younger than Hua Xi. They are also destined for this, and there is no distinction between high and low status."
He picked up his chopsticks and pointed to the towering palace wall outside the courtyard gate, in the direction of the White Pagoda Temple that Shen Chengqian had gone to.
"More than ten years ago, your elder brother, the Crown Prince, killed over a hundred members of the Nanlong Marquis's family in Kang State for a baseless rumor. Ouyang was about your age..."
"Think about it, if someone treated you like that, killed your whole family, then saved you, and made you work for them for twelve years, how would you feel?"
He put down his chopsticks and pushed the condiment dish aside.
"In my eyes, the Crown Prince is not noble. He is a prince. He has his pain and his difficulties, but what he did cannot be forgiven just because he has pain."
"The lives of those children, the lives of Li Shanyu's entire family, the lives of the Marquis of Nanlong's entire family, the life of Ouyang Twelve—these debts cannot be wiped away with a simple 'the Crown Prince has it tough too.'"
"I am not the emperor. I don't need to consider royal dignity or paternal affection. I am a member of the Inspection Department, and I only follow the law! If I were in charge, I wouldn't just strip him of his title and imprison him; I would make him wish he were dead!"
Shen Weiya looked at him with red eyes, bit her lip, slammed her chopsticks on the table, got up and rushed out.
She pushed the gate open, but it bounced back, hitting the door frame several times before finally stopping.
Xu Xian watched her figure disappear into the alleyway, then lowered his head and continued eating his hotpot.
He picked up the cold mutton from Shen Weiya's bowl, swished it in the pot a few times, and then stuffed it into his mouth.
Hua Xi tilted her head and thought for a moment.
"Brother, is Sister Taiping unhappy?"
"Yes, she's unhappy."
Hua Xi said "oh" and continued eating with her head down.
Xu Xian added, "But she'll come to her senses."
...
In the morning, Xu went to the Inspection Department and first went to the pharmacy to ask Old Man Sun for acupuncture.
Old Man Sun told him to take off his shirt, and saw the bruise on his chest that Wang Yanni had slapped with the back of her knife, which stretched from his collarbone all the way to his ribs, bluish-red.
Old Sun clicked his tongue twice.
"I'm so lucky to be alive..."
His hands didn't stop; he inserted silver needles one by one into acupoints, twisting and lifting them.
Mr. Xu grimaced in pain, but after the needle was removed, his chest felt much more relaxed, and his breathing became much easier.
Old Sun then took two bottles of pills from the medicine cabinet and stuffed them into his hand.
"Take three pills twice a day for the white bottle, and one pill before bed for the black bottle. If you take them for half a month, your internal injuries will be mostly healed."
Xu stuffed the medicine bottle into his pocket and went to find Mo Feichang to get the badge.
The old doorman was dozing against the doorframe. He yawned after being woken up.
"Lord Mo hasn't arrived yet, let's wait..."
Xu Xian thought for a moment and walked towards the training ground, just in time to see how his ten soldiers were doing in their training.
Of the ten men under his command, only Zhang Hu and Zhao Bao were part of the dowry brought from Tiemenguan; the other eight were assigned to him by Mo Feichang from the Black Cavalry Guard.
He'd been in Qingzhou for so long; he wondered if these guys had slacked off or if they'd actually practiced as he'd taught them.
...
In the training ground, Lu Jing was sitting on a stone bench, holding a cup of tea.
In the open space in front of him, ten Black Cavalry Guards were running laps carrying cold iron stakes, each one drenched in sweat and panting heavily.
Zhang Hu ran in front, and Zhao Bao followed at the back. Both of them were shirtless, with red marks rubbed off their backs by the cold iron stakes.
Lu Jing put down his teacup and slowly began to speak.
"The method that Xu Xiaoqi taught is indeed excellent. It's gradual, comprehensive, and maximizes your physical development without damaging your foundation..."
"With the special body-tempering pills Old Sun gave you, it'll be only a matter of one or two years, or three to five years, for you to break through to the Meridian Opening stage. The key is not to slack off!"
He paused, then said seriously.
"What is body tempering for? It's about breaking through the limits of ordinary people. You need to train your skin, flesh, tendons, blood vessels, and membranes, and use medicine to help you strengthen your body and stimulate your blood and qi."
"When the cold iron stakes press down on your backs, your blood and qi will automatically rush to your limbs. This is the simplest yet most effective method."
Zhao Bao ran over from the back of the line, threw the cold iron stake on his back to the ground, and it hit the blue bricks with a dull thud.
He looked up, panting heavily. "Commander Lu, I have a question."
Lu Jing glanced at him sideways and said, "Speak."
"Mr. Sun said the pills need to be taken in conjunction with other methods... So I have to take one before practicing, right? I can't skip practicing, can I? And I have to take it after practicing, right? I can't stop practicing after taking it, can I? I still have to practice..."
"So here's the question: is this pill taken before or after training?"
Lu Jing held his teacup, mouth agape, his mind following Zhao Bao's logic three times, only to find that with each loop he was further away from the answer.
He really couldn't answer that question.
He looked at Zhang Hu, who also shook his head with a blank expression.
Zhao Bao remained standing there, waiting expectantly for Lu Jing to give him an answer.
Xu Xian walked in from the entrance of the training ground and couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"You've mastered the technique. Don't worry about the details. Just keep practicing and get back to practicing."
Zhao Bao gave an "oh," then picked up the cold iron stake again and ran away.
He ran a few steps, then turned back and shouted to Lu Jing, "Commander Lu, remember to tell me when you've figured it out! I couldn't sleep all night thinking about it!"
Lu Jing turned his head and saw Xu Xian. His gaze swept over Xu Xian for a moment, then suddenly stopped.
He stood up and circled Xu Xian twice, his surprise growing stronger.
"Seven floors already? You went out and got into a few fights, and when you came back you were just one step away from the eighth floor. How did you do that?"
Xu Xian smiled slightly and shrugged, "I don't know, I just broke through while fighting. Each time I fought, I increased by a level, and before I knew it, I was at the seventh level."
Lu Jing was still circling around him.
"Intense physical training can indeed greatly improve cultivation, but I've never seen anyone advance so quickly, from the initial stage of cultivation to the seventh level of Body Tempering in just over half a year..."
Xu Xian chuckled lightly, "I guess I have a good constitution."
Lu Jing shook his head, clearly not believing this claim, but he didn't press further.
He sat down, picked up his teacup again, and said, "I heard you're being hunted down by Hao Zailai?"
"This has already happened twice. Fortunately, the reputation of the brand 'Lai Zai Lai' is well-established, and they won't make an exception for me. There will definitely be more assassins coming."
Xu Xian originally thought that Hao Zai Lai would stop once the employer was gone, but Si Zheng told him that Hao Zai Lai would do things as long as he got the money, regardless of whether the employer was alive or dead.
He tugged at the stubble on his chin, and after a long time, he only managed to pull out a single, almost invisible hair.
"Should I ask Si Zheng to find me a bodyguard?"
Lu Jing scoffed.
"You're overthinking it. There's only one and a half Zhenfu in Kyoto. Feng Zangwu is one, and I'm half, but we can't say that our cultivation levels are enough to protect you. We can't expect the Sizheng to protect you personally; he doesn't even have enough time to write poetry every day."
Xu Xian was silent for a moment, just as he was thinking about whether to tie Hua Xi to his waist, when someone suddenly called him from the doorway.
The old doorman peeked his head in from outside the martial arts training ground.
"Lord Mo has arrived and is waiting for you in the side room."
Xu Xian's eyes lit up, and he turned to leave, when suddenly a cough came from behind him.
"Cough... I've been a bit bored lately since you weren't in Kyoto. Old Feng has to drive for you all day, and there's no one to talk to..."
Xu Xian turned around and saw Lu Jingzheng drinking tea, his eyes fixed on the tea leaves in the cup, as if he were talking to himself.
Xu Xian smiled slightly.
"If Commander Lu is free tonight, we can go to Taibai Tower to show our support. It's been a long time since we've seen those young ladies, and we really miss them. Yang Xu is going too; it's been tough for him to come with me this time."
"Um..."
Lu Jing gave a nonchalant reply and continued to sip his tea.
"Since you've put it that way, how can I refuse? I'll treat you tonight, so you won't have to spend any more money... You're a centurion now, your salary has increased, but you still need to buy your sister candied hawthorns, so be careful with your spending."
Xu Xian laughed and turned to leave.