novelraw Chapter 129: Master Wang's Insatiable Thirst for Liquor
Chapter 129: Master Wang's Insatiable Thirst for Liquor
Even so, Li Qiuchen still had to queue for a full half-hour before he reached the gate.
The gatekeeper glanced first at what he was carrying, and couldn't help curling the corner of his mouth. Then he got a better look at the boy's age and face, and promptly tucked the contempt away.
"Student Li Qiuchen, here to pay his respects to the master."
Li Qiuchen didn't put on airs. He stepped forward and bowed with proper courtesy.
"You're a student at the county school?"
"I'm a student in the inner hall."
"First time here?"
"It is indeed my first time."
"Next time, come straight to me. No need to queue."
Li Qiuchen thought to himself, just because he says you don't have to queue doesn't mean you actually skip the queue. Since when are you close enough with the master for that?Scholars, of course, never say such things aloud. But the little abacus in their hearts is clicking away at full speed.
Since today was his first visit, he would lower himself and go through all the proper motions.
Whether the master appreciated the gesture or not, doing it right could never be wrong.
Li Qiuchen hadn't chosen any particular auspicious day for his visit, so he was quite surprised to find Master Wang here as well.
The two old men were in the middle of a game of Go.
When Master Wang looked up and saw Li Qiuchen walk in, he swept a hand across the board and gave a cold snort. "I thought this boy was modest and studious. Turns out he's just as good at playing politics as the rest of them, coming to you with gifts first."
Master Qin frowned and said, "What does being modest and studious have to do with who he brings gifts to first? And why are you touching the board? About to lose and now you're throwing a tantrum? Right in front of a student, and you've already lost all sense of shame?"
Master Wang burst out laughing, reached over, and snatched the liquor right out of Li Qiuchen's hands. He looked at the bottles and started to say with a grin, "Old Rong's little rotgut, that's about what you'd expect from..." then stopped short.
He pressed his nose to the sealed opening and sniffed, and his expression shifted. "What in the world is this?"
Li Qiuchen quickly said, "It's a fruit wine I brewed myself, brought especially for the master's appraisal."
"You've come to the wrong person. Little Qin doesn't drink. Bring it to me first next time."
As Master Wang said this he moved to tuck the bottles behind his back, only for Master Qin to grab him by the arm.
"Have you completely thrown away all dignity?"
"Seventy-three, eighty-four, the King of Hell won't take you, so you go yourself. I celebrated my seventy-third birthday just last month. I'm a man with half his body already in the ground. What use do I have for dignity? What's dignity worth these days?"
Watching the veins rise on Master Qin's forehead, his fist beginning to tremble, a bloody scene clearly seconds away, Li Qiuchen hastily said, "I've prepared the same wine for you as well, Master. I'll bring it by tomorrow."
Only then did Master Wang relent. He produced the bottles from behind his back, drew the stopper, and took a long slow breath. "Interesting. I haven't had anything like this in ten years or more. Since I've happened upon it today, I absolutely have to try it. Little Qin, have your granddaughter-in-law stir-fry a couple of dishes, something light. Pairing this wine with rich meat would be a waste of a fine thing."
Master Qin snatched the bottles back and set them heavily on the table. He gave Master Wang an irritated look, then turned to face Li Qiuchen.
"What do you want from me? Say what you've come to say. No beating around the bush."
Li Qiuchen clasped his hands and said, "Forgive me, Master. The reason I've come today is to ask your guidance on a matter concerning my young miss's studies."
"Your young miss? That little Rakshasa ghost? What problem could she possibly have with her studies? She does nothing but sleep all day!"
"That's precisely the problem."
Li Qiuchen said helplessly, "I don't understand how my young miss can keep improving her ranking when she clearly hasn't been studying seriously."
Master Wang laughed and said, "The way a Rakshasa cultivates is different from us Chu people. Do you think that little girl is slow? She's not slow at all. It's just that her kind of intelligence doesn't run along the same track as ours. She can hear something once and retain it, but she doesn't necessarily understand it, and she has no inclination to try."
"Learning, as the word implies, means learning and asking in equal measure. We Chu people think a great deal, so we ask a great deal. She doesn't have that many thoughts rattling around, so she asks less. That's not necessarily a bad thing."
"I've taught students like her before. Don't worry on her account. Once she finds the subject that truly captures her interest, the speed at which her ability grows will surpass anything you'd expect."
"I see."
Li Qiuchen quickly bowed and said, "I am grateful for the instruction."
"Anything else?"
"There is also the matter of Miss Hu..."
Li Qiuchen gave a brief account of Hu Caiyi's situation and his own suspicions.
"It's not as simple as a ghost possession."
Master Qin shook his head and said, "Country folk call it riding the spirit horse. If you read a little more, you'd know the proper term is spirit communion."
"The Hu family's affairs are complicated. Don't go sticking your nose into other people's business just because you have nothing better to do. The girl was born with a spirit communion constitution. Everyone who sees her wants a piece of her. Her father isn't taking her back to the ancestral home because he's probably afraid one of the old ancestors will take a fancy to her."
"Now that she's an inner hall student, the inner hall is naturally obligated to protect her well-being. As for the road ahead, that depends on her own choices."
"If she doesn't strive and improve herself, sooner or later she'll end up on someone else's plate."
Having said all this, Master Qin turned his not-particularly-pleasant gaze on Li Qiuchen. "You came to find me just to talk about two little girls?"
Li Qiuchen gave a dry laugh and said, "As for my own situation... I was a bit embarrassed to bring it up."
"Your marks are second only to Chen Nangsheng's. If even you're embarrassed to ask, what hope is there for anyone else? You're not old, yet you carry yourself like a tired old man. Not a drop of hot blood in you!"
Ah, yes, yes, of course.
Li Qiuchen couldn't be bothered to argue.
When someone wants to find fault, there's never a shortage of charges to lay. Want to pick at someone's flaws? You'll always find something.
He still had a vivid memory of Master Qin, on the very first day of term, single-handedly berating the entire class as a room full of useless wasters.
If I were actually young and hot-headed, I'd walk in here and open with, "Old man, is it safe for me to park my ghost-fire out front?"
Would you enjoy that?
"I do want to seek guidance on cultivation methods. But I also understand that you've been telling us to focus on our studies and build a solid foundation, and I know you're right. That's why I was embarrassed to ask."
"You feel your foundation isn't solid enough yet?"
Do I feel that?
Does what I feel matter?
Li Qiuchen smiled apologetically and said, "I have no reference point to measure against. I'm genuinely not sure whether my foundation counts as solid or not."
Master Qin poured himself a cup of wine, brought it to his lips, and took a small sip. Then he posed an abrupt question. "How are demons classified across the three, six, and nine tier systems?"
Li Qiuchen answered without hesitation. "The threefold classification judges by the purity of one's qi, yielding beast, spirit, and immortal."
"The sixfold classification judges by species, yielding the gastropod, the scaled, the furred, the feathered, the shelled, and the bristled."
"The ninefold classification judges by rank, yielding the common, the ordinary, and the soldier at the lower tier; the general, the lord, and the king at the middle tier; and the saint, the emperor, and the divine at the upper tier."
Master Qin nodded, then shifted to a sharper question. "In what year did the Yanqiao Transformation occur?"
Master Wang immediately objected, "That's a history text question. I haven't taught that material yet."
"If I ask what you've already taught, what's the point of testing him?"
Li Qiuchen took a moment to think, then answered calmly. "The Yanqiao Transformation began in the three hundred and forty-third year of the national calendar and concluded in the four hundred and twenty-fifth year. The people of Yanqiao were wild and uncivilized, refusing to submit to imperial governance, and repeatedly raided the borders of Great Chu. In the three hundred and forty-third year, the Emperor personally led a campaign into Yanqiao, and everywhere he went the people surrendered at the mere sight of his banners. What followed were three campaigns and three suppressions, until the four hundred and twenty-fifth year, when the hearts and minds of the Yanqiao people were finally won, and the territory was brought within the borders of Great Chu."
Master Qin raised an eyebrow. "How do you interpret the word 'transformation' in that name?"
Master Wang said with displeasure, "That's beyond the scope of the curriculum. Aren't you just making things difficult for the boy?"
"Just because it's beyond the curriculum doesn't mean he shouldn't be studying it on his own."
That was rather unreasonable.
A faint sweat appeared on Li Qiuchen's forehead.
Eight thousand years of recorded history. Being able to recite what's actually in the textbooks is already no small feat, and now you're examining extracurricular material... Fortunately, this one I can actually answer.
Master Wang hadn't taught it, but a novel Zeng Mingming had been reading once contained a passage with a relevant account.
Those authors love copying out great slabs of historical text to pad their word counts. Shameless, the lot of them, all for the sake of money.
"I haven't studied this period in depth, but I have a rough sense of what it refers to. After the Emperor's first campaign into Yanqiao, he selected a group of children who had not yet come of age and brought them back to the heartland to be educated. When these children grew up and returned to Yanqiao, they began reforming the local customs in accordance with Chu traditions."
"The three campaigns and three suppressions that followed did not involve the Emperor personally. They were essentially internal conflicts and upheavals within Yanqiao itself. By the four hundred and twenty-fifth year, the transformation of customs and culture was finally complete, and the last local chieftain submitted a petition requesting annexation."
"That is why it is called the Yanqiao Transformation."
"Hm. That you can answer this much means you at least have some drive to learn. If you lacked even that much curiosity, then even if I handed you a cultivation method, you'd only ever recite it by rote and never break free of the mold. You'd end up becoming a useless fool like Zeng Mingming..."
Master Qin had been talking for some time when he noticed Master Wang had stopped arguing back entirely. He looked up to find Master Wang already asleep in his chair.
???
Master Qin stared at the cup of wine in his hand with deep unease.
"Isn't this just the Hundred-Fruit Immortal Brew? What exactly did you put in this, boy?"
Li Qiuchen stepped forward and quietly relayed the intelligence he had gathered from Senior Brother Yang.
"The Medicine Master's Blessing... I see. So that explains why the atmosphere lately has been getting more and more... wait! You old scoundrel, how much did you drink?"
Master Qin shot to his feet, and there were the two bottles beside Master Wang's hand, completely empty.
Those were meant for me!
Master Qin drew a slow breath and settled back into his seat. He raised his own cup and drained it in one go, then said to Li Qiuchen, "You and Chen Nangsheng are both among the finest students of this cohort. But measured against the truly exceptional, the gifted prodigies, there remains a significant gap, and that kind of gap is not something diligence alone can close. So proceeding step by step and consolidating your foundation is still the wisest course of action for you."
Li Qiuchen thought to himself, I understand. You can't close it with hard work. You have to find a way to cheat.
"But if you feel your foundation is already solid and you're ready to take the next step, I won't stand in your way. Once the new term begins, I'll arrange genuine cultivation coursework for you."
"There is one condition, however. You will complete the illusory realm trials together with the other students, and your marks must remain at their current level. If your score falls short, it means your Dao Heart is not yet sufficiently steadfast, and you'll need to keep tempering it."
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