Chapter 543: Now I Want to Take Him as a Student

At Fufang Garden, Goldenwings flew in and out without pause.

Inside the pavilion among the bamboo grove, Yucang alternated between rising to pace and sitting silently. He had kept watch through the entire night, waiting for news from every direction.

Dugu Jing flashed in from beyond the bamboo grove carrying a box. He landed directly outside the pavilion and hurried inside. “Master!”

Yucang looked at the box in his hand.

He watched Dugu Jing open it before him, revealing a severed head, then gave his disciple a sidelong glance, not understanding what he meant.

Dugu Jing's expression was grave.

He lifted the head out and turned its face forward.

Yucang's pupils abruptly contracted. He cried out, “Wangyu!”

The head belonged to the assassin Niu Youdao had killed.

Within Xiaoyue Pavilion, the man had been known as Wangyu. Few people knew his true name.

Dugu Jing placed the head back inside, then took a letter from his sleeve and presented it.

“An old man came to the gate just now and said someone had asked him to deliver this.”

Yucang snatched the letter over, pulled out the sheet inside, and opened it.

Only a few words were written there:

“I turned my heart toward the bright moon, only for the bright moon to shine upon the gutter.”

He turned the envelope and paper over several times.

There was no signature.

Dugu Jing said, “It may have come from Niu Youdao.”

Yucang's face tightened as he stared at the line.

Between the words lurked a faint message:

You forced me to this.

Swish!

Yucang crushed the letter in his fist.

“Strengthen Fufang Garden's defenses. Prepare to evacuate!”

“Yes!”

Dugu Jing had only just answered when another man flashed in from outside and stood in the fine rain beyond the pavilion.

He cupped his hands. “Master, Bu Xun and Niu Youdao have arrived.”

Both master and disciple were startled.

Yucang immediately asked, “How many men did Bu Xun bring?”

The disciple outside replied, “Not many. Six or seven attendants at most. One lightly equipped carriage.”

Master and disciple exchanged looks.

Yucang opened his fist and looked again at the crumpled letter.

Frowning, he paced back and forth without stopping, hesitating aloud.

“See them, or not?”

Dugu Jing said, “Master, if we refuse to see them, won't that make us look guilty?”

“Bu Xun has come personally. At a time like this, we cannot avoid them and flee. If we run, we will only confirm our own identity.”

“Niu Youdao has no evidence proving that the men sent to intercept and kill him belonged to us.”

“That makes sense.” Yucang stopped and nodded.

Then he pointed and ordered, “Have people investigate the surrounding area. If Bu Xun truly intends to make a move, he cannot possibly have brought only these few men.”

“Yes!”

Dugu Jing accepted the order, took the crushed letter from Yucang, and carried the box away as well.

Yucang's aura suddenly surged.

Cold light flashed in his eyes.

Then the pressure vanished again.

He strode out of the pavilion to receive the guests.

Along a covered corridor in the courtyard, Bu Xun stood sheltering from the rain.

A magnificent cloak covered the long eunuch's robe beneath it.

Niu Youdao and Guan Fangyi stood with him, while several guards were spread around them.

A little rain had inevitably touched them when they got out of the carriage.

Returning here and looking upon the familiar surroundings, Guan Fangyi felt emotions beyond words.

This had been her home for decades.

At the far end of the corridor, Yucang appeared around a corner and came striding toward them.

From a distance, he cupped his hands with a smile.

“Chief Steward.”

His gaze inevitably flicked toward Niu Youdao.

Bu Xun inclined his body in return. “Mr. Yucang, I've come to disturb you again. My apologies.”

Niu Youdao merely smiled and watched Yucang approach, then cupped his hands in greeting.

“Chief Steward is too polite. If I weren't afraid of disturbing your duties, I'd gladly invite you here every day.” Yucang returned the courtesy with a laugh.

He nodded toward Niu Youdao, then his gaze fell on Guan Fangyi.

Judging from where she stood, she did not seem like an ordinary attendant.

“And this is?”

Bu Xun smiled. “The former owner of this garden. The famous Hongniang of the Qi capital.”

“Oh!” Yucang laughed heartily. “I've long heard your name. To have such an elegant place to stay in the Qi capital, I have Hongniang to thank!”

Guan Fangyi was alert and tense inside, but outwardly she smiled and dipped in greeting.

“Greetings, Mr. Yucang.”

After the usual courtesies, Yucang personally led the guests to a pavilion building and invited them to sit.

Once everyone had settled, Guan Fangyi voluntarily stood behind Niu Youdao and assumed the place of a subordinate rather than taking a seat.

Yucang deliberately did not ask why they had come.

Instead, he chatted idly about this and that.

In the end, it was Niu Youdao who caught the look Bu Xun cast over the rim of his teacup and brought the conversation to its true purpose.

Smiling, he said, “Mr. Yucang, would you invite your nephew out so I may meet him?”

“...” Yucang was instantly speechless.

His heart gave a hard thump as realization struck.

He asked, “Didn't Brother Niu say you were unwilling to take a student?”

Niu Youdao replied, “Now I want to take him after all.”

“Mm—”

Bu Xun, who had been slowly drinking his tea, nearly sprayed the mouthful straight out.

He forced it down only with difficulty and barely avoided embarrassing himself.

Then he looked at Niu Youdao as though seeing some astonishing creature.

This fellow truly did not stand on ceremony when he spoke.

Was that not a little too direct?

Was that how one talked to people?

Yucang's face darkened as he pretended to take offense.

“Brother Niu, what do you take this place for?”

“You want him when you feel like it and don't want him when you don't?”

“Isn't that rather contemptuous?”

Niu Youdao said, “To tell the truth, what I said last time was merely an excuse.”

“Poetry and verse truly are things I understand well.”

“But taking a student is no small matter.”

“At best, if one teaches poorly, one misleads another man's child. At worst, if the student's own character is corrupt, it damages the teacher's reputation and school.”

“I imagine that when Mr. Yucang accepts students, you too would not close your eyes and take someone without even knowing what sort of person he is.”

“I may be young, but the heart with which a teacher transmits learning is the same as yours.”

“My intentions are entirely good and contain no disrespect.”

“Your students and protégés are spread beneath Heaven. Surely you can understand such feelings and will not blame me.”

“After leaving Fufang Garden last time, I began looking into your nephew's conduct.”

“What I learned was that your nephew is intelligent and quick-witted, diligent in study, and of excellent character.”

“That greatly pleased me.”

“If I allowed such a student to slip past me, I would regret it for the rest of my life.”

“That is why I have shamelessly taken the initiative to come recruit him this time.”

“I hope Mr. Yucang will make it possible.”

Yucang's cheek tightened faintly.

Inside, he was cursing wildly.

Intelligent and quick-witted? Diligent in study? Excellent character?

Bullshit!

The boy barely had any contact with outsiders at all.

Where had Niu Youdao supposedly investigated these marvelous qualities?

This was plainly nothing but scheming and shameless fabrication!

Yet every sentence sounded perfectly reasonable.

Yucang found himself unable to refute a single one.

Guan Fangyi's bright eyes blinked several times.

She seemed to have guessed part of Niu Youdao's intention, yet other parts remained unclear.

Bu Xun lowered his eyes and said nothing.

Inside, however, he was muttering to himself.

This bastard truly could talk.

He had simply thought things over, regretted his refusal, and decided he wanted to climb into a relationship with Yucang after all.

Yet listening to him now, the whole thing sounded solemn and perfectly justified.

Had Bu Xun not heard the truth beforehand, he might almost have believed him too.

Yucang turned toward Bu Xun and slowly asked, “What does Chief Steward think?”

Bu Xun set down his teacup and laughed.

“This is a matter of mutual willingness. I have no opinion whatsoever.”

“You two may decide for yourselves.”

Mutual willingness, and you have no opinion?

Then why did you come again?

Yucang's eyes flickered as thoughts turned rapidly through his mind.

Finally, he said slowly, “Very well.”

Niu Youdao said, “Then I'll trouble Mr. Yucang to invite your nephew over so I may meet him.”

“I still need to inform my sister-in-law of the matter. Allow me to speak with her first.”

Yucang rose.

Niu Youdao smiled. “Please.”

After Yucang had gone some distance, Bu Xun said blandly, “With this relationship to Mr. Yucang, your travels outside will become much more convenient in the future. Congratulations.”

Niu Youdao waved a hand politely.

“Mr. Yucang's sister-in-law has not agreed yet.”

“The boy is her son, after all.”

“Whether she agrees depends on the mother's attitude. Congratulations are a little premature.”

Bu Xun snorted and could not be bothered arguing with him.

The matter was obviously Yucang's to decide.

Otherwise, how could he have raised the subject with His Majesty in the first place?

If he had no authority to decide, would he have opened his mouth to the Emperor and even caused the Office of Investigation to search the entire state for Niu Youdao?

Would that not have been treating His Majesty as a joke?

Since Yucang had agreed, there was naturally no problem.

After they waited for some time, Yucang returned with two people.

One was a radiant and beautiful woman in a trailing long dress, jade ornaments chiming around her, an exceptional beauty rarely seen.

The other was a fair-skinned boy of fifteen or sixteen with delicate features, looking somewhat restrained.

At the sight, not only Niu Youdao but even Bu Xun stood.

One could guess the woman was Yucang's sister-in-law.

Courtesy could not be neglected.

“This is Bu Xun, Chief Steward of the Inner Palace of Qi, and this is Niu Youdao, whose poetry and verse are unmatched.”

Yucang did not introduce Guan Fangyi.

In the end, Guan Fangyi's reputation made it somewhat inappropriate for her to associate openly with women from respectable households.

Then he introduced the mother and son.

The woman's name was Zhuang Hong.

The boy was Xia Lingpei.

For certain reasons, Yucang was extremely unwilling to let Zhuang Hong show herself publicly.

But there was no helping it.

Her son was taking a teacher.

How could the mother not come out and offer her thanks?

The two sides exchanged greetings and courtesies.

Bu Xun was invited to serve as witness.

Mother and son of the Xia family presented the formal pupil's gift.

With that, Xia Lingpei formally bowed to Niu Youdao as his teacher.

Afterward, Niu Youdao publicly announced the rules of instruction.

He required Xia Lingpei to attend on him personally for three days and said he would take the boy away.

Naturally, Yucang could not let him carry the boy off so easily.

No one could say much against a teacher setting such a rule for his pupil.

Nor was there anything unreasonable about requiring a new pupil to attend his teacher personally for three days.

A student serving his teacher was only proper.

But there was no need to take the boy elsewhere.

Fufang Garden lacked no courtyards.

They could simply stay here.

Niu Youdao, however, said that for these three days the teacher must stand above all else, and the student's eyes could contain only his teacher.

The boy could not be distracted by familiar people from home.

That was a rule of his school.

As long as it was not some absurd or indecent rule, what counted as his school rules was ultimately for him to decide.

Then Niu Youdao turned and asked Bu Xun whether the State Guest Residence could provide them with a courtyard so Xia Lingpei could cultivate his character in peace through these three days.

Bu Xun naturally would not be stingy enough to refuse such a minor matter.

So long as the family had no objection, it was only a trivial arrangement requiring one word from him.

And so, amid the hidden contest between both sides, Niu Youdao all but forcibly took Xia Lingpei away.

Yucang wanted to assign guards.

Niu Youdao refused that too.

He said his teaching had its own rules and asked them not to interfere, taking the posture that how a teacher instructed his pupil was the teacher's own affair.

Thus Fufang Garden could only watch helplessly as Niu Youdao took the boy away.

After everyone irrelevant had withdrawn, Dugu Jing became anxious.

“Master, that thief clearly harbors ill intentions. How could you agree to let Young Master become his student?”

Yucang's cheek twitched.

“Do you think Bu Xun has so much leisure that he would make two separate trips over the same matter after it had already been settled?”

“That thief must have revealed something.”

“Bu Xun certainly came to watch.”

“Everything the thief said was reasonable.”

“With Bu Xun standing there staring at me, how was I supposed to make some forced and nonsensical argument for refusing?”

Dugu Jing stamped his foot in agitation.

“Even so, you shouldn't have let him take Young Master away!”

Yucang ground his teeth.

“Was I supposed to quarrel with him over those perfectly reasonable pupil's rules he fabricated on the spot?”

“What would Bu Xun think?”

“Bu Xun commands the Office of Investigation. Is he a fool?”

“How could he fail to notice something strange?”

“That bastard is shameless and utterly fearless.”

“He was plainly trying to puncture the matter right in front of Bu Xun.”

“I simply did not dare move recklessly!”

“The moment our identity is confirmed and experts from the three great sects are alerted to surround and destroy us, not one of us will leave this place alive.”

“For all I know, we're already being watched!”

Yucang had known perfectly well something was wrong, yet had not dared quarrel with Niu Youdao.

The pressure had nearly given him internal injuries on the spot.

Dugu Jing said urgently, “If anything happens to Young Master, how will Master explain it to those old ministers?”

Yucang raised his head and sighed toward Heaven.

“This brute truly is difficult to deal with.”

“I regret stopping Su Zhao from acting against him back then!”

What he regretted even more was ever bringing up this business of accepting a teacher in the first place, then making such a grand commotion over it.

Now he could not even take his own words back.

He had truly lifted a stone only to smash his own foot.

[End of Chapter 543]