Xuanwu City’s youngest offical, Wang Lian, recently turned twenty. He had delegated as the youngest official tasked of overseeing Xuanwu City’s Prison.
But of course, it goes to say, he would not give up the great cause of studying for the imperial examination to further his career as a scholar. Though an official, he found his true calling in the scholarly ways.
This sort of thing, it was generally not possible in the ancient world Shen Lang once knew. An official overseeing the prison while pursuing the scholarly way? Impossible. It would have never been found. But in this world, it seemed anything was possible so long as one had the means to do so.
Wang Lian was not a native of Xuanwu City but was born and raised in Nanyuan County. Though the most important matter was his identity. Aside from becoming the youngest official, he was a distant relative of the Count.
So how does Shen Lang know of Wang Lian?
From an earlier memory, Shen Lang once recalled a time when Wang Lian persisted ever so fervently in laborious efforts with means to teach him how to read for at least half a month.
If the memory served him right, it should have occurred a year or two ago. Not only so, this memory of his involved an unforgettable person, one whose existence cannot be denied.
She was a certain beauty, a sort of unrivaled existence and every man’s dream. She was the daughter of the Count and the Princess of Xuanwu City.
She was Jin Mulan.
At that time, Jin Mulan led a group out on an espionage hunt at the back foothills of the mountain near Shen Lang’s house. There, she encountered a big black bear causing extreme fright to her warhorse that it ran away in flurried panic.
Shen Lang, at the time, was a mentally retarded fool as he carelessly squatted about in the middle of the road with book in hand.
And why was he was sitting on the road?
Because of the ants. There were dozens of them moving from one side to the other. It caught his attention. Worried that it’d be trampled to death, he bid his time, carefully watching the ants as he waited for them to cross to the other side of the road. He had a plan too. If ever someone passed by, he’d stop them and make sure they not step on the ants.
Jin Mulan’s frightened warhorse rushed toward Shen Lang as the warhorse was being chased by the big black bear. It had at least a dozen arrows stuck on its body as it wildly chased after Jin Mulan.
If Shen Lang did not move, he would end up as a flattened meat.
Jin Mulan knotted her brows and quickly dismounted on top of her warhorse. She stood stubbornly on the ground tugging the reins of her comrade to stop from further rampage and to save Shen Lang’s hopeless life, but still, the big black bear rushed up sneakily from behind attempting to swat Jin Mulan’s head with its sharp claws.
Fortunately, Jin Mulan had a keen sense. With one hand wielding a sword, her wrist moved gracefully and within a flash quickly decapitated the black bear’s head. Her martial skill… it was overwhelmingly powerful.
The white lotus but mentally retarded child at the time was struck by the warhorse’s hooves from the back of his head fainted right away. The injury incurred wasn’t too bad but it was the shock which caused his delicate self to lose consciousness.
This past memory was an unforgettable one and wonderfully vague to sa the least. At that time, Jin Mulan was dressed in full body armor, face veiled by the helmet. Foolish him would have never know the Princess of Xuanwu City saved his dear life.
Recalling this memory… Shen Lang instantly recognized her as Jin Mulan due to the symbolic flag her group carried as they hunted.
Jin Mulan saved Shen Lang’s life but her warhorse knocked the life out of him. She felt responsible to the end so she immediately called for a doctor to care for his. She had even gone to visit Shen Lang once in person, but he was unconscious at the time and thus losing the to become acquainted with her.
Jin Mulan, a beauty whose existence toppled over the women and whose existence caused the death of men… Xu Qianqian could never hope to compare. Her status alone as a noble was enough but her beauty and charisma, it further added fuel to the fire. She was truly of noble blood.
Shen Lang was only but a mere commoner, a mediocre ant. Her warhorse deserved to trample him to death. No one would blame her. It was his fault to begin with – lying in the middle of the road, what was he thinking? Surely he’s not seeking death? Yet, not only did she send a doctor to treat him, she visited him once.
As rumored, the Count’s Palace truly regarded the people as their own child.
At the time, Wang Lian had recently been promoted and had yet to serve as an official, but because he was a distant relative of the Count, he had been invited to Xuanwu City as a special guest.
Of course, though he was their distant relative, he barely had any contact with Jin Mulan. He had too few opportunities for the gap between the two was too far. But he admired her very much and upon hearing that she faced an almost imminent danger, he paid a hefty sum to find out the details surrounding the event. Then, Wang Lian immediately visited Shen Lang and offered his condolences. When he learned the white lotus was a student in the town school, he decided he’d teach him personally. It was a good foolproof plan. If Jin Mulan came and saw this, she’d impressed.
But much to his utter dismay, Shen Lang was as stupid as a block of wood. Teach him how to read? Dream on! But he did not gave up and Wang Lian persisted on for half a month more, yet Jin Mulan never came. Military affairs preoccupied her schedule.
Out of bitter sadness, Wang Lian gave up. He never wished to teach a fool like him again. An idiot will remain an idiot and it is of no use putting oneself through mental torture.
So it was true indeed that Shen Lang and Wang Lian could be counted as old friends but that seemed too far-fetched.
Currently, Wang Lian had cut his hair short and was dressed in regal clothing. Shen Lang remembered only a few sets of people in his mind so it’d taken him a while to remember this person, Wang Lian.
It was also this coincidental fate did Shen Lang boldly exclaim to compete with Xu Jiazhu and Xu Qianqian and even daring to show off his purple and rainbow dye creation because he knew fairly well Wang Lian and Zhang Jin were old enemies.
Back then, when he busied himself teaching Shen Lang how to read, Wang Lian often cursed Zhang Jin’s name dozens of times.
Good. So far everything is within reason, within his plan.\n