CH 7

Ch7 - Sabotage

He vanished silently as if he were treading on soft clouds. His wide sleeves flowed ethereally in the wind.

While Liang Feng was blithely drifting away, Li Lang was sweating buckets. More than half the gazes that had followed Liang Feng’s exit now landed on him. Wang Wen finally noticed Li Lang, slouched in the corner, looking like he’d seen a ghost. He’d overlooked him since the Li family wasn’t prominent by any measure. He almost doubted that the two could be cousins. How was it that his demeanor was so wretched!? And what was the meaning behind Liang Feng’s last remark?

Whatever his misgivings, Wang Wen’s noble upbringing wasn’t for nothing; he thought for a moment, frowned, then asked, “Liang-lang was residing with you recently?”

Li Lang quavered, “Yes….”

“How did he miss the assembly?”

“I, I was afraid the stress would damage his health…..”

Wang Wen waved his stuttering explanation to a halt and questioned, “What was the reason behind that Yan Sheng fellow’s death?”

“He… he stole his master’s cold-food powder, he, he’s the Liang family’s servant!” As if clutching at a lifeline, he suddenly blurted, “He, he was caned by Liang Zixi…..”

“Silence!” Wang Wen rebuked, his voice wasn’t loud but it froze Li Lang on the spot. Wang Wen’s distaste deepened upon witnessing his unseemly behavior. He gestured to a nearby servant, “This cur is tainting my assembly; drag him away.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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After meeting a person of such excellent caliber, the others sullied his eyes doubly so. Wang Wen wearily glanced at the remaining highborn brats, humphed, and perfunctorily continued the evaluation.

※

“Master!” Lüzhu cried out when she saw her master stagger down the stairs and rushed to steady him.

“Don’t fret, I’m alright.” Liang Feng’s robes were soaked with cold sweat. He’d only just started to recover; his body was still feeble. Forcing himself up and down hundreds of steps while maintaining his bearing had exhausted all his strength. The young girl was too small to put much weight on, so they only stumbled a few steps before Liang Feng called for ah-Liang’s help and climbed into the carriage. As soon as the curtain fell, he toppled into the cushions, his last bit of endurance spent.

It looked like posturing had paid off more than he’d expected, Liang Feng thought as he laid panting, too weak to lift his head. He was still faintly smug as he let the maidservant remove his outer robe and wipe his sweat away. He’d made the right move.

The Jin Dynasty was particular about putting on aloof, reclusive airs; whether one frolicked about the bamboo forests or retreated into the mountains, the prerequisite for being a “renowned scholar” in this era was to leave the political arena and all its impure, filthy power struggles far, far away. It didn’t matter if he was secluding himself due to the inability to enter the bureaucracy or out of genuine integrity; as long he expressed the right tendencies, his sophistication score would instantly shoot up. The tactic was infallible. And besides, half the stories in “A New Account of the Tales of the World” shared a central theme: “the talented are stubborn and willful!”

So, when faced with the nobles of the Jin era, especially those from families that took pride in their learnedness, acting like a knob who leaned on their intellect to get away with whatever they pleased would work every single time. He’d made a show of being so uninhibited that he’d gone to take a farewell visit in his nearly bedridden state, despite being apathetic towards the evaluation. The excerpt from the Diamond Sutra was just the icing on the cake, prepared just for Wang Wen.

In truth, Liang Feng didn’t know much about Buddhism, nor was he interested in it. He’d memorized the Diamond Sutra because when he was little, his grandfather had forced him to learn Liu-style brush calligraphy, and the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra was among Liu Gongquan’s finest works. He’d copied it forwards and backwards countless times, of course it was ingrained into his memory. He even knew which parts contained the most essential elements. The phrase “are like a dream, an illusion,” was the most important line in that gatha, elucidating the concepts of “emptiness of body,” “emptiness of mind,” “emptiness of essence,” and “emptiness of Dharma” to the highest extent.

The full Diamond Sutra wasn’t due to appear in China until the Later Qin; that was decades after the fall of Western Jin. One could only imagine how alluring it was to Wang Wen. After taking lead of the situation as soon as he arrived and pressing his advantage with ample back-up preparation, he’d successfully built his desired image. As for the last sentence that he’d addressed to Li Lang, Liang Feng sneered, as long as Wang Wen wasn’t an idiot, Li Lang would be eating his just desserts.

A warm towel dabbed at his neck. Lüzhu looked at her master, who was still smirking, and finally couldn’t resist asking, “Master, is it really okay to miss the assembly? The next one isn’t for another three years…”

“It’s fine,” Liang Feng answered simply.

He didn’t know how far along the Sima clan’s internal conflict was, but he knew that Western Jin’s downfall was certain. It would last for several more years at most until Luoyang fell, and the people of Jin fled south. What would be the use of becoming a “pure official”? Could it buy him a few more days of survival? As such, Liang Feng couldn’t care less about the scholar’s assembly and that flock of showboating peacocks. If he was going to be trapped in this era, he’d rather live freely according to his own desires.

After finally shrugging off his elaborate outer and middle layers, Liang Feng tiredly burrowed into the brocade blankets, “I’ll be taking a rest. Remember to prepare more mung bean porridge. Once we return, there’ll be a physician…..”

※

“What did you just say? Controller Wang cast you out of the evaluation?!” Liang Shu stared at her disheveled son, who’d even lost his zither. She was so lightheaded she nearly sat on the floor.

She didn’t anticipate that Liang Zixi could be so devious. Not only had he snuck into the assembly, he’d even bewitched the controller. This was no longer a question of whether Li Lang was upper or lower-grade; no one would treat him with any respect in the future after he’d been shunned by Wang Wen. Liang Feng had ruined Li Lang’s prospects just by showing his face, and had gone so far as to drag the entire Li family underwater. How venomous he was!

Liang Shu was seeing stars as she gripped the table and screeched, “Liang Feng, I’m your aunt, for better or worse, how could you betray your family and blacken my son’s name! You damn bastard! Ungrateful wretch!”

She continued to curse vehemently as if she’d forgotten that she’d poisoned someone and schemed at their property. After uttering a few more obscenities, she looked at her youngest son who was vacantly paralyzed on the ground. A surge of hatred swelled up in her chest, “No! I’m not going to let him get away with this! He must’ve found out that the cold-food powder was poisoned. If he manages to ingratiate himself with the Taiyuan Wang clan, then my son, the Li family…”

Li Lang flinched as if he’d been slapped and incredulously sputtered, “Mother, are you saying you’re going to… to kill, kill…”

“Kill him and silence him!” Liang Shu completed for him, an evil gleam in her eyes. “It takes three days for an ox-drawn carriage to reach Liang Estate from here. He’s in poor health, so they’ll be even slower. As long as I find a band of mercenaries to ambush him in the mountains before he gets back, he’ll surely meet a tragic end!”

“But, but, you’d be colluding with criminals….” Li Lang trembled as he looked at his malevolent mother.

“What of it? Which wealthy family doesn’t have a private army or a personal militia these days? Some of them even rob merchants and pillage county towns.” Liang Shu wasn’t a sheltered woman who only knew how to sit at home, stitch flowers, and drink tea all day. She had to be strong if she wanted to preserve the Li family despite being married to a useless husband and living in times of unrest.

She laughed coldly, “Besides, bandit attacks are a frequent occurrence in Shangdang Commandery. It wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that a sickly invalid like him got robbed. As long as Liang Feng dies, the Liang family will be in my hands. Then we’ll have the means to plan for the future, whether that’s buying your way into politics, or becoming a landlord, or a merchant. The Liang family has the title of fifth-order marquess, even if their marquessate isn’t what it used to be, they still have ample land and grain. As long as we manage it properly, we’ll not fear decline. Go, send for Feilian!”

Feilian was Liang Shu’s trusted confidante. Li Lang lurched, then gnashed his teeth as he left. A cornered rat could still fight back! Since Liang Zixi had been dishonorable, then he couldn’t blame him for being ruthless in return!