Chapter 39: Opportunity Arrives

"Those two Wolf Kings looked like the Lion-Haired Monsters from Lion Camel Ridge; their manes stood on end, looking damn sturdier than lions. When one plan failed, they both let out a roar, flanked by over a dozen gray wolves, and charged straight at the three of us from left and right..."

"My heart was pounding with panic when I suddenly heard My Lord shout, 'Now... loose the arrows!' I forced myself to calm down and look, but I only had a single-bladed saber in my hand; where would I find a bow and arrows? Hahaha..."

Wa Qingyun burst into laughter on his own.

But the mine laborers were growing impatient.

"Just say it already! Our hearts are racing with anxiety; what are you laughing at? Hurry up and continue!"

"You bastard-born fool, stop rambling on about yourself! That saber of yours doesn't even have a single notch; it's still virgin steel... Get to the main event!" Gao Conglong directly cursed aloud.

These words were too blunt and somewhat hurt Wa Qingyun's pride, but seeing it was Gao Conglong, he endured it.

Only then did he continue: "Just as My Lord finished speaking, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow, I suddenly found his silhouette blindingly bright. It turned out a golden poplar leaf had fallen from the sky onto My Lord's shoulder, vanishing instantly..."

"With a 'whoosh,' My Lord loosed the arrow... That arrow was like lightning in the night sky; oh my, it was so dazzling one could hardly keep their eyes open... When I looked again, wolf corpses littered the ground; the two Wolf Kings lay on their backs with hooves in the air, whimpering in pain..."

"One arrow shot eight of them?"

Gao Conglong squinted at Wa Qingyun and said, "Did the Wolf King arrange all the wolves in a vertical line just to catch arrows?"

"Hey, why are you talking such nonsense?"

Having eaten wolf meat until he was sweating all over, Wa Qingyun rubbed his face and said, "Use your brain; everyone knows wolves aren't that stupid!"

"Then how did one arrow kill eight?"

"Didn't I just say that My Lord's arrow was like shooting lightning? Lightning, lightning! Have you ever seen lightning? Let alone eight, even eighty would be killed by it!"

Gao Conglong pressed his lips together; he wanted to go over and punch this braggart!

"Master Wa, you mentioned a golden poplar leaf fell on My Lord's body earlier; why couldn't it have been another type of leaf? What was the reason for that?" Xiang Hui spoke up.

"Hey, Little Hui, do you know 'piercing a willow leaf from a hundred paces'? If Yang Youji descended to earth, wouldn't it have to be a poplar leaf? Ignorant and unlearned, keep your mouth shut... Listen to me, don't interrupt. When My Lord Li loosed that arrow, he immediately spat up three sheng of fresh blood, and his body instantly went limp. Seeing this, I thought, 'This is terrible!' Those two Wolf Kings had been whimpering for a long time and were still very fierce, so without a second thought, I grabbed my single-bladed saber and charged forward..."

"Hey, Brother Wa, which faction does Yang Youji belong to in 'Journey to the West: Releasing Misery'?"

Recalling the divine stories from 'Journey to the West: Releasing Misery,' Wa Qingyun frowned in thought and said, "This Yang Youji is an archer, so he must be in the same group as Hou Yi and Chang'e."

"Hey, Brother Qingyun really knows a lot."

"This fellow... is quite a character too!" Li You originally had no intention of listening, but upon hearing it, he was rendered speechless; yet looking at most people's expressions, they clearly believed it.

In this era, from the Emperor down to the common people, everyone believed in such things.

Before the Qin Dynasty, the term 'feudal' referred to humanity's struggle for survival, meaning 'investing kings and marquises to establish walled cities,' with the aim of expanding territory and protecting the people. Only after the Qin began the concept of 'family ruling the world' did the so-called 'feudal mindset' emerge; this feudal mindset, to a certain extent, conformed to the requirements of productive force development, meaning economics and politics determined the nature and direction of cultural development.

For Li You in his previous life, these were naturally dregs, but for the current ruling class, they served as excellent restraining walls; for those scholar-officials who claimed to hold the right to interpret culture,

they were even more a sharp weapon: above, they could deceive the old Emperor, and below, they could dupe the common people, attributing all unreasonable, illegal, and unethical rules to 'Heaven' or to 'the laws of our ancestors.'

Although this seemed absurd, it followed logically, after all, the spiritual sustenance of the people in this era had been indoctrinated for a thousand years!

The next day, just after Li You got up and tied Little Juzi's hair into a high ponytail, a personal soldier under Niu Jinku ran over and said, "My Lord, the Grand Manager requests your presence!"

Li You was truly overjoyed; although Wu Zhuge had told him that day that he could come to Beizhai anytime if anything arose,

those words at the time were meant for Cao Er to hear, so Li You had never left the Nanshan mining area until today; now that Wu Zhuge had personally summoned him, he could finally go take a look; however, his heart still felt somewhat uneasy, after all, he had killed Gu Laosan last night.

After a little over a quarter of an hour, Li You followed Wu Zhuge's personal soldier to a large courtyard in Beizhai leaning against the rocky cliff; this time, he could finally examine it carefully...

The courtyard was semi-circular, basically constructed of stone and wood; although it looked rough, it occupied a considerable area.

On both sides of the courtyard were rows of stone and wooden houses, low and short, looking as if they hadn't been repaired for several years. In the northeast and southwest corners stood two simple watchtowers.

Li You followed the personal soldier through the wooden gate, passing the gate tower, gate passage, waist workshop, and riding stone; suddenly looking up, he realized this courtyard was divided into two sections; his vision crossed the enclosing wall to see the inner courtyard clinging to the rock face, where there were actually wooden pavilions painted vermilion and red, quite small and beautiful.

The outer courtyard faced south with the north side holding the largest main hall; because this northern house was built on a foundation of bricks and stones, it was larger in scale than the other buildings; the rooms on the east and west sides were slightly smaller and were likely side chambers; on both sides of the southern house were several ear-rooms, with the kitchen located among them.

As soon as Li You entered, he smelled the fragrance of rice; merely this scent made him swallow saliva continuously; since transmigrating to the present, let alone eating a single grain of rice, he hadn't even seen one.

"Lord Li, the Manager is waiting in the Hall of Righteousness; the weather is cold and the door is closed, so just push it open!"

"Good, thank you, brother!"

Li You nodded in gratitude to the personal soldier, then stepped up the stone stairs; before he could push the door, he heard laughter from inside, which sounded like Zhang Zhuanggen.

"Creak..."

Li You pushed the door open; the room instantly fell silent, and everyone looked at Li You outside the threshold; Li You, neither humble nor arrogant, smiled and acknowledged each one, bowing to Wu Zhuge in the seat of honor; just as he was about to speak, Wu Zhuge, sitting with one leg crossed over the other, laughed loudly and said, "Scholar Lord, come quickly, spare us those empty formalities of scholars!"

"What the Manager says is true!" Only then did Li You enter the room.

"Why didn't you call me King?" Zhang Zhuanggen teased loudly.

Instantly, the room erupted in laughter.

"Sigh!"

Li You sighed and said: "That day, I was filled with the spirit of a scholar, unaware that hundreds of enterprises awaited initiation within the stronghold; after pondering for several days in Nanshan, I still believe Mr. Fenglin's strategy of 'Build high walls, store grain extensively, and delay proclaiming kingship' is the true path of hegemony!"

"Right, 'Build high kings, delay proclaiming walls'... I've always done exactly that... Hahaha..."

Wu Zhuge laughed heartily and said, "Come, come, sit here!"

"'Build high kings, delay proclaiming walls'... sounds even smoother than the original..."

Li You secretly curled his lip, quickly ascended to the seat of honor; there were no decorations in the room, only eight large octagonal tables and chairs; since it was time to eat, one table was already packed full of people.

Only the table in the north front had few people; the seats of honor were occupied by Wu Zhuge and Da Yun'er, flanked on both sides by Shi Dayong and Zhang Zhuanggen; the lower seat was perhaps Cao Er's position, but since he had not yet returned, it remained empty.

Niu Jinku and Wu Nai both stood behind Wu Zhuge.

Li You hesitated slightly, then sat in the lower seat.

"I heard yesterday My Lord went to West Slope and displayed divine prowess, killing over a dozen big dogs single-handedly?"

Wu Zhuge asked casually, but his eyes were fixed tightly on Li You.

"That is indeed the case, but I just got lucky with a falling date!"

Li You said with a smile, assuming Wang Qiong had reported the matter to Beizhai first thing in the morning.

"Got lucky enough to pick up so much? How exactly did you pick it up?"

Shi Dayong, reeking of alcohol, suddenly seemed interested and asked coldly, "I heard you drew that Iron-Spine Bow?"

Li You was greatly surprised by his sudden speech; from Wa Qingyun, he knew that Shi Dayong was nothing but a drunkard lost in wine and dreams, who asked about nothing all day long except drinking.

"I know some medicine, and had intended to go to West Slope to gather some herbs to prepare for winter. Just as I walked through the mountain pass with Wa Qingyun and the others, I saw two wolf packs fighting over a boar; within moments they began to fight, extremely fiercely,

later the three of us plucked up the courage to kill two or three of them, then drove the wolf packs away, which is why we had last night's harvest... As for that iron bow, it can barely be drawn a little."

Li You could lie with words coming straight from his mouth; he did not know why he lied, but subconsciously wanted to hide the strength of his great power.

"Heh, truly good luck!"

Zhang Zhuanggen smiled with a crooked mouth.

Niu Jinku, Wu Nai, and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief; they knew that when Wang Qiong had passed the message just now, saying Li You had killed them alone, it had truly startled them all.

Wu Zhuge was about to speak, but soon brothers entered carrying buckets and basins; waves of rich rice fragrance and cured meat scent filled the entire main hall.

First, the dishes were served to the northern table: jade-grain rice, steamed cakes, pickled ferns, white-flour flatbreads, steamed pastries, honeyed sweets, bamboo-shoot chicken breasts, roasted shiitake mushrooms, and a large cabbage and egg soup; five spices and ten colors were arranged on a full table.

Li You paid little attention to the dishes, because his mind was entirely captured by a black, thin girl serving the food; seeing that her eyebrows and eyes looked exactly like Liu Quezi, this should be his daughter, Liu Jiandao.

"Come, eat, eat, eat; eat first! Today we are going up to Mao'er Ba!"

Li You's heart warmed slightly; finally there was an opportunity!