Chapter 255: Whetstone, dragons and snakes moving under the pen!

Xie Yuan led a group of servants and returned to his courtyard with a roar.

In the main courtyard of the Xie Residence, besides Lady Yuan, there was this Lady Zhuge.

Except for the main room where the Old Matriarch Xie lived in the Xie Residence.

There were two courtyards on the east and west.

The east courtyard was the main courtyard.

Lady Zhuge believed in Buddhism and had painstakingly built a Buddha hall in a corner of the east courtyard. Every morning, monks from Qingliang Temple came stepping on the morning dew, piously lighting sticks of incense, with Sanskrit sounds lingering.

To the left of the Buddha hall was the "Dragon Position," and through the connecting "Moon Gate," one could see a shadow wall carved with a colorful crouching tiger, intended to block "evil spirits" and protect the family's peace.

Lady Zhuge did not repair the main gate, intending to keep the incense burning, the blessings long-lasting, and benefiting Xie Yuan.

Walking further inside, through the "Hanging Flower Gate," was Xie Yuan's separate courtyard—Shou'an Pavilion.

There were still stairs in between, climbing step by step, and the terrain was second only to a few courtyards.

How deep is the courtyard?

For a family like the Xie Residence, the deeper the courtyard, the less one can peek into the hall.

It was three days until the New Year.

Lady Zhuge had been waiting in Xie Yuan's courtyard early, bringing Xie Yuan several sets of new winter clothes for the New Year, which had been rushed in the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau last year and took a year to make.

However, until night fell, Xie Yuan had not returned.

Lady Zhuge was wearing an autumn sable Zhaojun set, with a pearl-encrusted Buddha headband around her neck and a phoenix-head jade hairpin on her head. Although she had two sons and was in her early thirties today, her appearance was still like that of a twenty-year-old.

She wore no makeup on her face, and her temperament was dignified and elegant.

She asked softly: "Has the young master not returned yet?"

The servant serving on the side hurriedly replied: "Young Master Yuan went to Chengyuan in the afternoon, to Young Master Guan's place, and only returned not long ago. He is still in the study room now."

The prayer beads Lady Zhuge was twisting in her hand stopped slightly, and she was slightly stunned, saying:

"Doesn't the young master dislike reading the most and never go to the study room? It's this time now, is he still there?"

A servant with a beaming face on the side answered happily:

"According to Mr. Xi, the young master is concentrating on reading in the study room, and the servants who went to urge him didn't dare to disturb him."

"Is there really such a thing?" Lady Zhuge said in surprise.

"Hurry, let Ping girl come back quickly, don't disturb Yuan'er's reading."

A look of joy appeared on Lady Zhuge's face. You must know that her son had always hated reading, scribbling a few big "vulgar" words on the Confucian books in the school.

Why did he change his temperament today!

"Walk lightly today, don't disturb the young master's reading."

Lady Zhuge ordered, "And burn the stove fire more vigorously."

Her face was full of joy, and she continued: "You all have rewards today."

The group of servants heard this and agreed repeatedly, feeling happy in their hearts.

Lady Zhuge recalled the words of that teacher in the Academy a few years ago.

"If Yuan boy really has the heart to learn one day, I will accept him as a closed-door disciple."

That teacher once drove a carriage for the Master, had a white deer accompanying him when he was young and studying, once got drunk on Deer Terrace, cut down a piece of cloud with a sword, and brought down a vigorous spring rain.

Later, he was disheartened and hid his sword in a humble alley, but with his former name, even if he was not the Master's direct disciple, the Master's four disciples had to respectfully call him Senior Brother.

If Yuan boy could get his protection, his future would naturally be a blue sky.

As a parent, how can one not plan for one's children!

Lady Zhuge's face added more luster, glowing with radiance.

She suddenly recalled the reason why Yuan boy suddenly worked hard to study, as well as what he said just now:

"Yuan boy went to Chengyuan? Isn't that where the servants live?"

"And who is Young Master Guan?"

Lady Zhuge had no impression of Young Master Guan in her memory.

In addition to the "Four Departments and Six Bureaus" set up for banquets in the residence, there were also the Account Department, Kitchen Department, Tea and Wine Department, Tray Department, as well as the Fruit Bureau, Honey Bureau, and other institutions.

As for laundry, purchasing, and other affairs, they were all handled in Chengyuan.

The servant hurriedly replied: "Young Master Guan who lives in Chengyuan is the ninth son of the Old Master, with the Old Master's surname, named Guan."

The servants and maids all avoided this "Xie" word and dared not call it directly.

"Xie Guan!" Lady Zhuge remembered this person; he was a concubine's son of the Xie family. She didn't expect him to live in the servant's place.

Lady Zhuge frowned slightly. She came from a famous family and naturally couldn't have a good impression of those vulgar and base people.

"Don't let him be a person without any ink, leading Yuan boy astray..."

The servant responsible for the young master's daily life reported: "The young master suddenly worked hard to study, perhaps it was influenced by this Young Master Guan."

Speaking of this, the servant detailed the various things that had happened recently.

"Crying until blind, it's really moving. This Xie Guan is actually a rare filial son."

After listening, Lady Zhuge couldn't help but feel a trace of good impression for Xie Guan.

Playing blind chess, betting on reading……

"I didn't expect Yuan boy to work hard because of this Xie Guan."

She knew her son's temperament well; he was impatient and conceited about his intelligence, never easily convinced by others, but his heart was pure and good.

This time, he actually wanted to compete with this "Xie Guan" and compare his reading skills.

"As soon as he returned to the courtyard today, the young master immediately ordered people to burn all the chess pieces and made a heavy oath that he must study until the spring flowers bloom next year and compete with Young Master Guan again."

"What was the result of the chess game?" Lady Zhuge asked.

"The young master won one game and lost two."

Lady Zhuge was silent for a moment.

The servant asked tentatively in a low voice: "Madam, what should we do next?"

Inside the vermilion gate, if the ice and snow have no big trees to protect them, once the spring sun comes out, they will melt without a trace.

Lady Zhuge pondered for a moment, picked up the green jade Buddha beads in her hand again, and said slowly:

"Yuan boy has been kind-hearted since he was a child. If parents interfere too much, it will ruin his red heart."

"I remember that Xie Guan hasn't started his education yet, right?"

"Exactly, Lady Yuan has disgust for him, so naturally no one dares to stand up and speak, and no one dares to teach an illegitimate child to read."

Lady Zhuge nodded slightly, taking a small lacquer tea tray held by a maid, with a small covered bowl in the tray.

"Even for the so-called assessment next year, I'm afraid it only takes a light word from Lady Yuan to easily interrupt his academic path."

"Since Xie Guan helped Yuan boy sprout the heart to learn, I will help him make a name for himself in the Xie Residence. People are like duckweed; with a name, there is a shadow."

"But Madam, if the young master's loss in chess spreads, I'm afraid it won't be very good?" The servant showed a worried look.

A young person's mind is sensitive and fragile, like a newly born green branch, needing careful care.

Lady Zhuge took a sip of tea, put down the teacup slowly, and said:

"Yuan boy has been intelligent since he was a child and has rarely suffered setbacks. For him, it may not be a bad thing. He is still young. Even if he falls, I, as a mother, can still help him up. If he grows older, I'm afraid he will cause a huge mess."

"Let Xie Guan be a whetstone for Yuan boy."

After speaking.

Someone in the main hall took orders to arrange it.

"Don't make noise in the courtyard today, it will affect Yuan boy's reading. Send a few more clever maids. If the study room is late at night, the kitchen must work hard."

"Yes, Madam!"

……

……

【In the blink of an eye, it's New Year's Eve!】

【The Xie Residence is filled with a festive atmosphere. In the small courtyard, Sister Wu Tong also hung a few red lanterns, adding a bit of New Year flavor.】

【From the morning, Sister Wu Tong was busy. You also wanted to step forward to help, but were driven out by her.】

【"Young Master, a gentleman stays away from the kitchen, and your eyes are not fully healed, be careful."】

【You just glanced at the sea bass sent by Hua An in the pot, as well as some stir-fried dishes Sister Wu Tong learned herself.】

【Sister Wu Tong doesn't know how to cook, and she learned it by watching the chef in the kitchen.】

【Cooking is for the nobility; ordinary people just want to fill their stomachs, and it's a good taste to put a little salt after boiling.】

【You returned to the fire pit in the room helplessly. During this time, your eyes have gradually improved, and you don't need to wear white gauze in the room.】

【You picked up a book and flipped through it.】

【These books are mostly Confucian classics, sent from the school by Manager Wu. Although they are old books of the young masters and ladies of the school, they are unexpectedly brand new. "Holy Words," "Zuo Zhuan of the Four Kingdoms," "Doctrine of the Mean," "Classic of Poetry"…… You are already familiar with these chapters and know them by heart.】

【Next year, after Lady Yuan, the mistress of the main courtyard, tests your knowledge, you will be able to enroll smoothly.】

【It is unbelievable in the eyes of ordinary people in Above Bianjing that a Xie family disciple has not started his education by the age of ten.】

【You pulled out "Xu Xian's Travel Notes" from a stack of books. This book not only enjoys a great reputation in the Great Qi but is also a favorite of scholars and literati throughout the world, often placed on the desk for reading.】

【The author of "Xu Xian's Travel Notes," Xu Xian, is also a world-famous figure. He is the Master's eldest disciple and is honored as the First Master.】

【This book records what Xu Xian wrote while traveling the world before becoming the Master's disciple.】

【He was born into a great family and did not seek an official career or fame, but rather entrusted his feelings to the mountains and rivers.】

【Three years after Xu Xian's mother passed away, he set off from home, traveling the world all the way, east to the sea, west to the end of the world, north to the glaciers, and south to the cape.】

【He wrote in his travel notes: "A great man should travel the blue sea in the morning and Cangwu in the evening; he must not linger in the inches of his hometown and grow old under the windows."】

【The travel notes are like a diary, recording what he saw and heard.】

【You opened it carefully.】

【"On the last day of the third month of Guichou, I left the West Gate from Haihou. The clouds scattered and the sun was bright, and the human spirit and mountain light were all joyful. Thirty miles, arrived at Dezehu. Heard that there was a dragon hiding in the water, injuring dozens of people. The moon walked in the middle of the sky, drank three bowls of wine, and beheaded the dragon where it was."】

【Seeing this, a heroic spirit rose in your heart.】

【Among them, he also wrote in his travels, "The sky has an end, and the earth has a limit."】

【His footprints covered the whole world, and there was only the way to the sea.】

【He first returned home when he was over fifty, but he didn't expect the family to fall, the servants seized the property, and his wife followed a villain and gave birth to a pair of children.】

【Xu Xian was already a Primordial Spirit cultivator who had lit the divine fire in the world, and he could suppress a prefecture with a wave of his hand.】

【He left in gloom.】

【That night, his heart was like withered wood, and he wrote sadly in his travel notes: "People say the sunset is the end of the world, looking to the end of the world but not seeing home."】

【In the end, Xu Xian drove a flat boat to sea to cruise, met the Master in the vast sea, and worshipped him as a teacher, becoming a teacher of the Academy.】

【Since then, "Xu Xian's Travel Notes" has spread throughout the world, becoming a yearning in the hearts of countless people, especially those who are frustrated and unsuccessful, who view the mountains and rivers in the book as spiritual comfort.】

【However, this First Master of the Academy left the Great Qi in a huff a hundred years ago due to some reason, later founded the Huangshan Academy in the Great Sui, and was worshipped as the National Teacher by the Great Sui imperial court.】

【You looked at the travel notes in your hand and couldn't help but laugh dumbly. This book was obviously brought to the classroom by a young lady or young master of the residence to pass the time, but it was confiscated by the teacher, and it ended up in your hands.】

【Otherwise, how could such a travel note suddenly appear in this study full of classics?】

【This First Master of the Academy recorded many interesting things in his travel notes, such as when he first saw the cake in the north that was bigger than a face; when he saw women manipulating Gu insects in Miaojiang, he was amazed; and when he saw a whale like a small mountain in the sea, he mistakenly thought it was the legendary Kunpeng.】

【The travel notes are all-encompassing, not only including the customs and traditions of various places, but also detailed descriptions of the rise and fall of great clans and the lives of ordinary people in various places.】

【"Xu Xian's Travel Notes" records the origin of the Xie family. The Xie family's ancestral home was in the Jiangnan Dao of the Great Qi. During the Four Kingdoms period, it was a great clan of the Great Qing and had produced high officials at the level of the Three Dukes, but who exactly it was can no longer be verified.】

【Later, the Xie family gradually declined and became a small household, until the generation of the great-great-grandfather began to revitalize the family's reputation. Because of his "beautiful appearance," he was chosen as a son-in-law by a great household in a prefecture at that time. After that, the Xie family made repeated military achievements in the Great Qi for several generations and gradually rose.】

【After the accumulation of four or five generations, the Xie family has become a top-tier gate valve of the Great Qi.】

【You opened the second half of the travel notes and found that the book written a hundred years ago only went up to the Xie family's grandfather.】

【But it seems that a Xie family disciple added a paragraph about the Xie family's last hundred years at the end of the travel notes.】

【It mentions that the Xie family has three sons in the current generation, that is, your father's generation, all of whom are outstanding people in the world, and your father Xie Ling is the best among them.】

【In his early years, Xie Ling was a world-famous cultivation genius in Above Bianjing, and his martial arts cultivation and Primordial Spirit attainments were invincible among his peers.】

【He was called a peerless talent who was expected to light the "Divine Fire" at the age of fifty and step into the "Xuan Dan" realm of the Martial Path, cultivating both paths.】

【With a long knife "Nine Heavens Ring Pendant" in his hand, he beheaded countless demon heads and brought down countless famous geniuses.】

【He is one of the most famous cultivators in the Great Qi for three sixty-year cycles.】

【A young man with the name of a heavenly pride, now the Marquis of Dingyuan, commanding three armies to awe the world.】

【You don't know how genius your father was when he was young, how high his cultivation is now, or what official position he holds in the court.】

【Power in hand, the strongest in the human martial arts world.】

【You only know that when your mother passed away, this father never appeared, not even once.】

【When your mother was bullied and bedridden, you never saw this person either.】

【You were born, and he never came to see you once.】

【You have a father, but you also have no father.】

【Looking at the two words "Heavenly Pride," the young man showed rare coldness and picked up a pen to write on the paper.】

【"Xie Residence," "Xie Ling"】

【Four big characters, white paper and black ink, actually moved on the paper like dragons and snakes.】

【Sister Wu Tong was outside the house and actually heard the sound of wind and thunder in the house, only thinking it was an auditory hallucination.】

【You continued to write "Heavenly Pride."】

【"Heavenly Pride?"】

【Between the light and shadow on the walls of the room, it was like a dragon swimming.】

【Hint: All destiny talents of this life have been awakened.】

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 256 =====