At the Marquis of Lai’s manor, in the courtyard closest to the clan school, the main building on the northern side.
Lu Jun, head wrapped in a white cloth, a piece of dogskin plaster stuck to his temple, looking sickly and pale, wearing his underclothes, was trembling as he clutched the ruler he usually used at the clan school in his hand.
His face was twisted in pain, yet he tried hard to lower his voice as he scolded.
“You wild beast, kneel down!”
In front of him stood a handsome young man, just over seven feet tall, with delicate skin, who cocked his head carelessly, standing loosely as if he didn’t hear Lu Jun’s scolding at all.
He even snorted coldly out of his nose with disdain.
“You wild son, kneel down!”
Lu Jun raised the ruler threateningly, about to strike the youth.
The young man rolled his eyes, suddenly thrust his head forward and shouted in a dry voice, “Fine then, hit me! Just beat me to death, it’s whatever. Life’s no fun anyway; I don’t want to live!”
Standing next to Lu Jun, a woman appearing just past thirty, with some grace and charm, rushed forward and snatched the ruler from his weak hands.
“Oh dear, Master, what are you doing? Lin’er is our only son. He studies hard but has a frail body. If you injure him…”
“He’s our own son, not one of those penniless outsiders who come to freeload at the clan school… Those bastards, if they get hurt, so be it. But your own son? Can you really lay hands on him?”
Lu Jun felt weak, only able to watch as his wife took away the ruler.
His precious only son, Lu Lin, about the same age as Lu Qian, snorted coldly and pressed his head against Lu Jun’s, “Mother, don’t try to stop him, just beat me to death already.”
“It’s just a few small silver coins, what’s the big deal?”
“I’ve dined at those brothers’ banquets so many times, what’s wrong with inviting them once in return?”
“These small silver coins…” Lu Jun was furious.
The small silver coins that his son had utterly splurged on partying and debauchery overnight were the money that Bai Lang had left him for medicinal soup during a ‘visit.’ The amount wasn’t much, yet Lu Jun had to bear the shame of being called ‘blind to people, ruining young minds.’
He had planned to use that money to buy a couple of wild ginseng roots to properly nourish his health.
The Lantern Festival was just around the corner; after that, the clan school would be back in session.
As the school’s principal, he could not go around looking so sickly.
But, because of his carelessness, his good-for-nothing scoundrel of a son had squandered all those small silver coins.
If it was just eating and drinking, Lu Jun wouldn’t have been this angry.
But besides inviting a few frivolous prodigals from the clan for a wild feast, Lu Lin and his friends had spent half the night wandering in the flower houses.
When Lu Lin came home early that morning, his face was covered with rouge marks, his whole body smelled of perfume…
Lu Jun was livid!
Over these years, losing his post, barely making ends meet with his modest salary from the clan school, he had never been willing to spend his own money on such debauchery.
Yet this wild beast, his own son, did what even Lu Jun himself wouldn’t dare to do!
“A spoiling mother breeds a bad son. You, you, just keep spoiling him, keep spoiling him…” Lu Jun trembled with anger, gasping for breath, cold sweat dripping down his forehead.
“If I don’t spoil him, what else can I do?” Lu Jun’s wife cried out hoarsely, “Who told you, Lin’er, your fate is hard, landed with a useless, worthless father? Look at Lin’er’s appearance, his character, he should be a noble official’s son, dressed in gold and jade, living a life of luxury!”
“But his no-good father has ruined what could have been a promising official!”
“Look at the other young men of the clan, their clothes, their food, their servants! Each has seven or eight maids and a dozen footmen following them around, attending to their every whim!”
“My poor Lin’er! Such good looks, such good learning, not a bit inferior to the elder branch’s sons, but just because of his useless father… How much suffering has he endured all these years?”
Women’s outbursts, men step back.
Lu Jun’s wife raged while he, seriously ill, felt only ringing in his ears, his legs weak, staggering backward until he collapsed on the bed, weakly groaning and crying out.
Lu Lin glanced at his sickly father, curled his lip, and shouted at his mother, “Enough! I don’t want to stay in this house anymore. Brother Wang from the elder branch is holding a banquet and literary gathering tonight, and they need a receptionist. I’m going to help out. Don’t leave the door open for me tonight.”
With a toss of his sleeve, Lu Lin turned and left.
Lu Jun’s face twisted with anger; he trembled, pointing at Lu Lin but could not utter a single word.
All he could hope for now was that Bai Lang’s promise would soon be fulfilled.
Once he was reinstated in half a year, he would make this little punk pay!
Lu Lin reached the door and was about to pull it open.
Bang! Lu Qian suddenly pushed the door open with a palm, and a gust of cold wind howled into the room.
Lu Lin shivered from the wind and suddenly the room darkened before his eyes.
He raised his head and saw the much taller and sturdier Lu Qian.
Startled, he let out a strange cry and stumbled backward several steps.
“What… Hey? Brother Qian?”
Blinking, Lu Lin made out Lu Qian’s appearance and smiled, “A rare visitor! How come you’re back? Hey? Where did you get those fancy clothes?”
“Strange, strange. I’ve met many civil and military officials visiting the Marquis of Lai’s manor before, and their badges on the chest show either birds or beasts. But what is that big gecko tattooed on your chest? What official robe is that?”
It was the middle of winter, late afternoon, and the room was dim.
Lu Jun had been too stingy to light a lamp while scolding his son.
Lu Qian strode inside.
Lu Jun’s eyes widened, staring at Lu Qian for a long time before he finally recognized what Lu Lin had called the ‘big gecko.’
Had he not seen it for himself, Lu Jun felt like fainting from fear just looking at it again.
Instinctively, Lu Jun recalled that time when he was in office, having embezzled grain funds, when eunuchs from the censor’s office came with an imperial edict to arrest him.
They stripped off his official robe violently, bound him, and threw him to the ground, utterly disgraced and without any dignity.
“You, you, you...” Lu Jun trembled, pointing at Lu Qian, unable to speak a complete sentence.
Lu Lin stared blankly at Lu Qian.
Seeing his father’s terrified expression, Lu Lin immediately sensed something was wrong.
He quietly took tiny steps, trying to sneak out past Lu Qian.
Today’s Lu Qian felt utterly strange.
Previously, at the clan school, although Lu Qian was the biggest and strongest, he had a gentle temperament.
No matter how much he was mocked or scorned by classmates and clansmen, Lu Qian remained calm and never raised his voice.
But today…
A bitter coldness emanated from Lu Qian.
Lu Lin felt as if a steel blade was pressing against his neck.
He forced down his fear, clamped his legs tight, and edged slowly toward the door.
A mocking chuckle came from outside, then two young eunuchs in blue gowns appeared, hands tucked into sleeves, standing to block the door on either side, preventing Lu Lin from slipping away.
“Don’t be afraid, Brother Lin. I just have some small matters to talk to your father. Once I’m done, I’ll leave.”
Lu Lin pressed himself against the wall, not daring to make a sound.
Lu Jun trembled, looking at Lu Qian.
He mustered his courage and whispered hoarsely, “What, what do you want to say? What is there to talk about?”
Lu Qian stepped into the room, looking around.
Near the window was a writing desk with the Four Treasures of the Study.
The room had a heated kang, keeping it warm, and the inkstone held water that hadn’t frozen.
Lu Qian went to the desk, picked up an inkstick, and slowly ground the ink in the inkstone.
As he ground the ink, he spoke slowly and deliberately, “Don’t be afraid, Principal. It’s nothing too serious. Just some old grudges from these past years that need to be cleared up.”
Lu Jun glanced nervously at the two eunuchs blocking the door.
He wheezed, “What grudges could we possibly have?”
Lu Qian finished grinding the ink, grabbed a wolf hair brush, and swiped it across the inkstone.
“How could there be no grudges? For four consecutive years, you set me difficult essay topics.”
“In the fifteenth year of Jiayou, for the school’s year-end exam, you gave me the topic: ‘Hen hens crow at dawn, is that right?’ Hen hens crowing at dawn, ha! Were you hoping I’d die slow?”
“In the sixteenth year of Jiayou, you gave me ‘Heaven and earth’s rules don’t change, but laws can.’ The reforms in the education and legal systems involved many powerful figures. I’m just a young lad—how dared I touch that?”
“In the seventeenth year, even more sinister—the topic ‘There are no two suns in the sky.’ That was truly meant to leave me no way to survive.”
“Only in the eighteenth year, the topic improved somewhat—‘The merits and demerits of ancient versus modern rites.’ Though still a trap, at worst it ruined my reputation, but didn’t kill me. Yet you, Principal, you have always harbored ill intent, set solely on ruining me.”
Lu Jun said nothing.
Shaking all over, he looked as Lu Qian brandished the brush swiftly across the desk.
His eyes grew wider and wider.
Gradually, blood started seeping from the corners of his mouth.
From where he sat, he could clearly see the handwriting Lu Qian was writing on the paper was incredibly familiar—if he hadn’t seen Lu Qian writing with his own eyes, Lu Jun would have thought the words were his own handwriting.
Every stroke, every dot, even the spaces between characters, were exactly the same as Lu Jun’s own calligraphy, without the slightest difference.
The skill was shocking, terrifying to think about.
And what Lu Qian wrote next almost burned Lu Jun’s insides up, nearly scaring him into fainting.
“The Empress Dowager, an old witch, feigning regency in name only, scheming to seize the throne; raising three thousand paramours, defiling the palace!”
“On the ninth day of the first month of the nineteenth year of Jiayou, Jingyang Lu family’s Marquis of Lai’s clan school principal Lu Jun indignantly wrote this!”
Having finished writing these words, Lu Qian casually placed the wolf hair brush back on the brush stand.
He turned his back, without looking at the trembling Lu Jun, and said leisurely, “I didn’t expect this piece to have spread all throughout Haojing. You might as well go to the Anle District’s magistrate’s office and confess.”
“Two years ago, several widows in Anle District had their doors kicked down late at night and were molested—that case was handled by you. Remember this well and confess honestly. Then reform yourself and be a good person!”
(End of Chapter)