Chapter 48: Chapter Eighteen 【A Piece of Painstaking Effort】 (Part 1)

Hu Xiaotian figured this matter would be hard to keep from his father's ears, and sure enough, that evening Hu Buwei returned home and summoned Hu Xiaotian to his study.

Seeing his father's grim expression, Hu Xiaotian guessed his father had most likely already heard about his conflict with Shi Xuedong.

Hu Buwei saw Hu Xiaotian come in, he slammed his palm heavily on the desk and shouted, "Kneel down!"

In Hu Xiaotian's impression, his father had never been this angry before; it seemed he had really provoked his father today, and Hu Xiaotian knelt down with a thud, muttering, "Kneel then kneel! Father orders the son to kneel, the son has no choice but to kneel."

Hu Buwei said, "Wrong! Father orders the son to die, the son has no choice but to die!"

"No way, Dad, I'm your own son; you don't look like someone who would sacrifice righteousness for family!"

Hu Buwei, hearing this, couldn't help wanting to laugh, but he knew it wasn't the time to laugh; he straightened his face, glared at Hu Xiaotian, and said, "You scoundrel, do you think I wouldn't dare to sacrifice righteousness for family?"

Hu Xiaotian said, "Father, I retract what I just said; sacrificing righteousness for family is not the first time for you."

Hu Buwei said, "Impudent!"

Hu Xiaotian said, "You found me a paralyzed wife, which is like ruining both my lifelong happiness and my lower-body happiness—isn't that sacrificing righteousness for family?"

"Er..."

"I have no grand ambitions, nor do I seek to achieve fame; I just want to stay in the capital and attend to you and my mother with filial devotion, but you can't even grant this small request, insisting on sending me to Xichuan—isn't that sacrificing righteousness for family?"

"Well..."

"Things come in threes; you've already 'killed' me twice, and today you want to sacrifice righteousness for family again—I'm sure you can be ruthless and do it. Father, if you truly dislike me, just get rid of me; after all, this life is yours to give, and even if you kill me I'll bear no grudge."

"Ah... this... truly truly truly... makes me angry too!" Hu Buwei clutched his head, staggered back two steps, and plopped down into the grand tutor's chair. Although Hu Buwei is silver-tongued in the court, he really has no way with this son. For the past sixteen years, because his son was foolish and ignorant, he didn't know how many brain cells he'd worn out; finally he hoped heaven had opened its eyes, letting his son become smart overnight, but he never expected that his son would indeed become smart, yet constantly stir up trouble for himself, and the trouble kept growing—last time he offended a sixth-rank official, now he's directly provoked the Minister of Personnel, Shi Buchui. Even though Hu Buwei and Shi Buchui are still on the same political side, he recently specially asked Shi Buchui for help to get this boy a petty official post; this child is truly hopeless.

Hu Xiaotian said, "Father, please don't get angry; at your age you must keep a calm mind. You can scold me a few times, hit me a few times, that's fine, but don't punish yourself for my mistakes, right? If you really make yourself sick from anger, wouldn't I still have to take care of you? What great grudge do we have between us? Must we end up hurting both sides?"

Hu Buwei hearing this son's twisted logic felt both angry and amused, and finally couldn't help cursing, "You little brat, you really want to anger me to death..." He couldn't help laughing as he said this. He had intended to keep a straight face, glare coldly, and give his son a stern lesson, but instead his son's joking left him helpless.

Hu Xiaotian saw his father laugh, knew the matter probably wasn't serious, and leaned in to ask, "Father, what exactly are you angry with me about?"

Hu Buwei gave him a sideways glance and said, "I told you to get up?"

Hu Xiaotian said, "My knees are swollen from kneeling; I'm not afraid of hurting myself, I'm afraid you'll blame yourself... if I really got sick because of this, you'd feel sorry, and even if you didn't, my mother would certainly feel sorry when she returns and hears about this—she'd surely come to settle accounts with you. As they say, even an honest judge can't settle family matters; once the back courtyard catches fire, the consequences are unimaginable."

Hu Buwei looked at his son and sneered, "You're threatening me?"

"I wouldn't dare!"

Hu Buwei suddenly burst out laughing, and Hu Xiaotian joined in with a hehehe smirk.

Unexpectedly, Hu Buwei stopped laughing, but Hu Xiaotian, out of habit, was still hehehe-laughing; he tried to stop but it was too late, and he awkwardly said, "Father, you didn't even give a warning, not even a heads-up to avoid startling people."

Hu Buwei said, "Three days from now, you'll set off for Xichuan!"

"What?" Hu Xiaotian had been mentally prepared, but when the matter was finally confirmed and stood before him, he couldn't help being startled. Immediately a hard-to-describe joy welled up inside; he had thought his father had forgotten this, but it turned out it had been ongoing all along. He put on an act and said, "Father, I don't want to leave you!"

Hu Buwei said, "You have no choice! Staying in the capital besides stirring up trouble, what else can you do? If you don't go out to gain experience, you won't understand the hardships of the world, nor will you cherish this hard-won beautiful time." He stood up, patted his son's shoulder, and said, "Xiaotian, it's not that I'm cruel as a father; as the saying goes, 'Jade uncarved is not a vessel, a person unlearned does not know righteousness.' Traveling ten thousand miles is more effective than reading ten thousand volumes."

Hu Xiaotian said, "Father, you really want me to go to Xichuan to become a son-in-law of the Li family?" He had always suspected his father's motive for sending him to Xichuan, feeling it wasn't as simple as just letting him leave the capital to avoid political turmoil.

Hu Buwei smiled lightly and said, "Since I'm letting you go out, I want you to temper yourself properly. I don't plan to tell the local officials your identity; as long as you don't boast, the Li family certainly won't know. Xichuan is vast, the Li family is in Xizhou, and the place you're headed to is called Qingyun; there you will serve as the Qingyun County Vice Magistrate. The Li family holds such high status, governing all of Xichuan—how would they notice a tiny Qingyun County?"

Hu Xiaotian blinked his eyes; he had thought his father sending him out to serve as an official wouldn't land him in a poor, remote place. The name Qingyun County sounds auspicious—"rising straight to the clouds"—starting from Qingyun, wouldn't that mean his official rank would rise steadily? But from his father's tone, Qingyun seemed small. He knew that a county vice magistrate isn't the top post in a county; it's roughly equivalent to a deputy magistrate, with the county magistrate above him.

Hu Xiaotian said, "What rank is this county vice magistrate?"

Hu Buwei was stumped by the question; the county vice magistrate is such a minor post that he hadn't paid attention to its grade. After thinking a while, he said, "It should be... ninth rank, lower!"

When Hu Xiaotian first heard he'd be given the freedom to go out and serve as an official, he was excited, but hearing his father's words, he felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on his head—"Damn! Ninth rank, lower! Who are you kidding? Is that even an official?" He said, "Father, it seems you pulled strings through friends and ended up giving me this sesame-seed official—uh, I misspoke, it's basically half a sesame-seed official."

"How come? Not happy?"

Hu Xiaotian said, "I don't mind, but you're a third-rank official, a senior minister of the court; I get a ninth rank with a lower suffix—would you look good saying that? I'll say upfront I don't care, as long as you don't feel embarrassed, I don't care either."

Hu Buwei couldn't fail to see this fellow's ulterior motives; despite all his talk, he still disliked the post being too small. He smiled and said, "You don't need to worry; I don't plan to tell anyone you're my son. You're afraid of embarrassing me, so once you take office, be sure never to say you're my son."

Hu Xiaotian was completely dumbfounded: "Father, I feel like you're sacrificing righteousness for family again!"

Hu Buwei said, "I'm doing this out of pure concern, son. In fact, you'll only need to temper yourself in Xichuan for at most two years; the scenery there is beautiful, the land yields outstanding people—you could treat it as a leisurely retreat." Actually, Hu Buwei truly hated to let his son go, but with the imperial power in flux and court undercurrents surging, not knowing what changes might arise, just then their family's Vermilion-script Iron Charter was stolen again. Although nothing has been exposed yet, a day without recovering it remains a hidden danger, like a heavy mountain weighing on Hu Buwei's heart. The Hu family has only Hu Xiaotian as its sole heir; sending him to Xichuan is also Hu Buwei leaving a backup for the family—it should be said that this decision came after deep consideration.

Hu Xiaotian said, "Since you've already decided, I have nothing more to say."

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