Chapter 23: Guan Laoya

“By the way, Loyal, how did you arrange for Guan Yu?”

As the conversation was about to end, Xiang Huchen finally remembered his adopted daughter.

Yet whenever he said “Guan Yu,” he still felt uneasy, his expression stiff.

“After returning yesterday afternoon, I selected two girls from the herbal shop clerk’s family—one named Xia Zhi, the other Yongxue—to serve Miss Yu. Now...”

He didn’t fully understand today’s situation, but last night...

Guan Zhong’s wrinkled face twitched. “This morning, I accompanied Master to the Commandery Governor’s mansion and haven’t seen Miss Yu yet.”

“But last night, Miss Yu ate a lot.”

“Ate a lot of what?” Guan Huchen asked, puzzled.

“She consumed plenty of medicinal cuisine, and also ate a good deal of rice.”

Feeling “a lot” wasn’t vivid enough for Master to grasp, Guan Zhong added: “The foundation-establishing medicinal stew—our Guan family’s famed ‘Bone-Strengthening Soup’—Miss Yu drank three vats!”

“Three... vats? What vats? Why give her Bone-Strengthening Soup?” Huchen exclaimed in shock.

Guan Zhong sighed. “At first, I didn’t prepare Bone-Strengthening Soup for her. She smelled the herbal aroma—Vice-Manager Zhang had prepared it for his son—and asked why. Then she insisted she wanted some too.”

Vice-Manager Zhang explained that Bone-Strengthening Soup was meant for foundation-establishing martial apprentices; ordinary people shouldn’t drink it casually.

She claimed she was a martial apprentice too, and asked for a bowl to try.

After tasting it, she couldn’t stop. She said, ‘It’s amazing—I feel truly alive for the first time today.’ From the beginning of the Shen hour to the end of the You hour, nearly an hour and a half, the kitchen alchemist boiled the soup while she drank it nonstop.”

“She drank three full vats—the kind that can hold two sheng of thick broth!”

“An ordinary person wouldn’t even manage half a vat—his body would burn hot, skin flush red like a boiled shrimp, and if he was weak, he’d bleed from the nose.

She merely blushed, with white steam rising from her crown like smoke from a chimney.”

“Besides the three vats of Bone-Strengthening Soup, she also ate two roasted chickens, one steamed shi fish, one braised pork hock, a large bowl of garlic stir-fried pork strips, and didn’t miss a single steamed white bun or millet porridge.”

Huchen marveled: “How could someone so small, with such a tiny belly, fit all that?”

“She couldn’t fit it all at once, so she chewed slowly and took an hour and a half to finish,” Guan Zhong replied.

Huchen wanted to ask: Did she go to the latrine in between?

But he thought it vulgar, and Guan Zhong likely didn’t care about such details, so he stayed silent.

“Being able to eat is a good thing,” Huchen nodded.

To drink three vats of Bone-Strengthening Soup without nosebleeds meant her body was as sturdy as a young ox.

As for the silver spent...

Huchen didn’t care at all.

Bone-Strengthening Soup wasn’t some roadside bun or pancake; the Guan family’s herbal shop sold it at a fixed price of six taels of silver per packet.

One packet could only brew one vat—two sheng of thick broth—enough for six or seven martial apprentices for a day.

Thinking of his plans and expectations for Xiao Yu, even if he spent ten or dozens of taels, or even ten thousand taels of gold, or drained the entire Guan family’s wealth, if it succeeded, it would still be a hundredfold return, a massive profit.

“Not only must she eat and drink well, but we must also hire one or two female tutors to teach her reading and writing. Hmm, we’re returning to Guannei soon—no rush yet. Once back, go to Yingxiang Prefecture and invite the best masters.”

“If there are none in Yingxiang, go to Luodu. Only the very best—don’t spare the silver,” Huchen ordered.

Guan Zhong frowned, hesitated, then asked doubtfully: “Master, why adopt a lowly, ambiguous Sand Barbarian as your adopted daughter, and plan to invest so heavily in her?”

You already have Lady Tianfeng, and there are plenty of noble and distant female relatives in the household.”

Besides, we already have female tutors.”

The young ladies in the mansion may not be scholars, but they can read, write, and attend poetry gatherings just fine.”

Guan Huchen shook his head. “Not enough—not nearly enough! What’s the point of attending poetry gatherings in Yingxiang? I want Guan Yu to shine in Zhonghua, in the imperial capital Xianyang—”

He paused, then corrected himself: “Shine might be too much. At least she must blend into Xianyang’s highest literary circles, and not be mocked as a wood-headed barbarian.”

Guan Zhong gasped. “Master, what are you planning? She’s just a Sand Barbarian—even you, as a general, struggle to enter literary circles.”

Not even Xianyang’s elite literary circles—he couldn’t even squeeze into Yingxiang’s.

He neither wished to nor had the ability.

Huchen smiled. “It’s not that I’m delusional—you simply don’t understand her.”

Though born a barbarian, she possesses innate wisdom—a talent rarer than divine powers.”

Before the Heavenly Sovereign attained Dao, she might have become a ‘Sage of Humanity.’

Even in today’s flourishing human era, a ten-year-old girl like her has nurtured a dragon vein powerful enough to dominate the West.”

Not only do my plans for her make sense—even simply adopting her as my daughter makes her fully worthy.”

As for my arrangement for her, it’s to present her to the Emperor of Humanity—ha ha ha...”

At the thought, he burst into triumphant laughter. “I am truly favored by fortune, blessed by Heaven!

When I journeyed to Great Qin, I met her—ha ha ha! My grand ambition is within reach!”

“Present her to the Emperor of Great Qin?!” Guan Zhong was stunned, then his face twisted. “Master, are you dreaming too big? Don’t take offense, but Miss Yu’s appearance and bearing are worse than our own maidservants.”

“Guan Zhong, are you blind? In appearance and posture, she has the beauty of a peerless beauty; in bearing... perhaps she doesn’t match the vulgar standard of ‘gentle and virtuous,’ but in a fate beyond her control, she faced me and Qingsong Daoist boy calmly, answered us fluently, even showed subtle cunning.”

Throughout, her eyes held not a trace of true humility or self-loathing.”

You say she’s worse than a maid?”

Not even our Guan family’s maidservants—let alone Lady Tianfeng—no, not even the Lord of Qinghe, nor the famed ‘Thirteenth Princess’ of Luodu—have her bearing and breadth!”

Guan Zhong’s face showed clear disbelief, but he said nothing in rebuttal.

Seeing this, Huchen sneered: “The demeanor shown before equals is never true bearing.”

The beauties you consider refined are merely ‘flesh screens.’

Even a flesh screen struggles to enter the Shu King’s harem.”

How much less so the Emperor of Great Qin, who rules the world and seeks immortality?”

True heroes and great men remain calm and conversational in the face of great crisis and terror.”

Even I am no true hero—I only dare whisper behind others’ backs to vent my frustrations.”

Before Qingsong the Daoist and Yu Yu the boy, I was as timid as a startled quail, afraid to utter a single ill-timed word and offend nobles, ruining my future.”

The Sand Barbarian... that girl Guan Yu—she’s barely eleven in age.”

You should’ve seen her fawning over Qingsong the young Daoist, calling him ‘Old Grandmaster,’ and the warm, tranquil atmosphere of that meeting.”

Master had just exposed his own weaknesses, openly admitting he wasn’t a true hero. Guan Zhong slowly began to understand.

“Master, I also feel Miss Yu isn’t ordinary—not like a barbarian... though she does eat a lot.”

“But as for bearing, my eyes aren’t as sharp as yours—I won’t comment.”

“If you say she has the beauty of a peerless beauty, isn’t that going too far?”

He quickly added: “Master, you’ve always followed the gentleman’s way, rarely close to women—perhaps you’re a bit...”

“You think I’ve seen too few women and can’t tell beauty from ugliness?” Guan Huchen glanced sideways at him. “Have you forgotten my Immortal’s Gaze?”

Within a thousand li, every young maiden is as clear as patterns on my palm.”

I’ve seen more beauties than you’ve met in your entire life.”

“Master, you actually used your Immortal’s Gaze to look at women?!” Guan Zhong was shocked, and began to worry.

He had one wife and three concubines.

He also kept mistresses in Tianmen Town, Yingxiang Prefecture, Luodu, and elsewhere.

He considered his taste normal—his wife, concubines, and mistresses were all top-tier beauties.

He had daughters, a mother... had Master seen them all?

“Everyone has youth—youth is full of vigor...”

Huchen admitted it calmly.

But he also spoke truthfully.

First glance: excitement. Second glance: calm. Then, they vanished from sight. Then... he began noticing handsome boys, strong men.

After all, the Immortal’s Gaze didn’t distinguish between single men or women.

Marriages, affairs, incest, male lovers—he saw them all, down to the finest detail, as clear as patterns on his palm.

Huchen was a nobleman’s son, rich and powerful.

He wasn’t some pathetic man hiding behind a screen—he could act on any desire.

In the end, he reached the state of “form is emptiness,” completely desensitized to sex.

Now, only “great destiny” could stir him deeply.

Thus, in recent years, he’d earned the reputation of a “gentleman.”

“Still, I feel Miss Yu is far from a peerless beauty... sigh, my eyes are duller than Master’s,” Guan Zhong muttered one last stubborn objection, then yielded.

“Even if Miss Yu has the beauty of a peerless beauty, and her bearing and talent can be cultivated by masters—how will you get a lowly Sand Barbarian to Xianyang, the imperial capital?”

If you had such divine means, why not send Lady Tianfeng instead?

Huchen grew impatient. “I’ve spoken at length, you nod, but inside you still don’t believe me, don’t you?”

Guan Zhong hurriedly said: “I am truly convinced! But innate wisdom, peerless bearing, and beauty alone aren’t enough!”

Great Qin is the supreme nation of Zhonghua—what extraordinary women haven’t they seen?”

Some Zhonghua rulers have even won the favor of celestial goddesses and fairy consorts.”

Without connections, even a true celestial maiden cannot meet the Emperor’s face.”

Huchen smiled triumphantly. “She’s still just a Sand Barbarian—her status is too low.”

No matter how wise or noble she appears, it wouldn’t make me consider sending her to Xianyang Palace.”

I’m not mad—I know my limits.”

Yet I still adopted her as my daughter—for two reasons.”

He raised his right hand and extended his index finger. "First, according to the customs of the Chinese Empire, whenever we launch a campaign against barbarians and return victorious, we must present the captured enemies at the Taimiao to glorify our mighty martial achievements.

We behead the enemy chieftain and offer him to our ancestors.

We take beautiful women from foreign lands into the palace to serve the Emperor.

This has countless precedents.

At the time, Xiao Yu reminded me.

Given her status and beauty, if handled properly, she might have a chance to enter the Xianyanggong.

Only a chance.

The chance is extremely, extremely slim.

Merely crossing the eight-hundred-li Liushahe is already extremely difficult.

Even when the Marquis of Lieyang arrived, he brought few followers; when he left, he certainly would not take away large numbers of Western beauties.

But my Xiao Yu not only possesses the face of a nation-ruining beauty.

Most crucially, she bears an uncanny resemblance to another woman."

"Who does she resemble?" Guan Zhong asked in astonishment.

"The mother of the Marquis of Lieyang, Yu Yu—the beloved Li Fei, once the Emperor’s most favored concubine!" Xiang Huchen laughed triumphantly.