Chapter 135: Wild Methods

Early in the morning, Zhao Shaozhu woke up early.

The weather was getting hotter, and his heart felt restless and anxious.

Based on the latest information collected and past experience, the garrison commanders of Shuo City speculated that the time for the Plague Ghost swarms was not far off, and sudden situations could occur at any time.

Zhao Shaozhu was overthinking, sleeping poorly at night, yet rising earlier and earlier.

It was another day of sleeping late and rising early, nearly half an hour earlier than yesterday; after a simple tidy-up, he prepared to head to the county office.

Passing by the martial arts practice field, he heard movement and detoured to take a look.

Wen Gu was practicing swordplay in the field.

In this dangerous world today, one must practice more martial arts, and one cannot be lazy in training.

He was not surprised that Wen Gu practiced martial arts every day, it was just—

"Wen Gu is up this early too?" Zhao Shaozhu asked the steward beside him.

"Yes, the cousin usually rises early to practice swordplay, and practices archery in the afternoon," the steward replied.

Zhao Shaozhu smiled: "It seems Wen Gu is the same as me."

The steward bowed his head respectfully, thinking to himself: It's still different! The cousin goes to sleep early and rises early, while you, Young Master, go to sleep late and rise early!

Zhao Shaozhu was usually busy with official duties, and since coming to Shuo City, he had little time to interact with Wen Gu. Since he had encountered him this morning, he was in no rush to leave and stood by to watch for a while.

Wen Gu was using the Cen Tai Sword of Centai Academy, and his sword style seemed to be stained with a touch of elegance.

It was neither sharp nor lax.

Three parts scholarly air, seven parts righteous spirit; the sword wind was like the dawn of morning light, with a steaming aura.

In the field, Wen Gu sensed the movement over here, withdrew his stance in an instant, and walked over slowly to offer a greeting.

"Cousin, good morning."

Starting work half an hour earlier than yesterday was indeed very early.

Zhao Shaozhu wore a smile, looking quite appreciative: "Were those sword moves you just used learned from Old Master Hong?"

Wen Gu said: "I learned some from Old Master Hong, and also learned a bit of the Gentleman Sword Technique from Prime Minister Zhuo."

Zhao Shaozhu seemed very satisfied and nodded slightly: "It is indeed upright and harmonious."

Alas! It was good to look at, but it lacked ferocity and was missing the viciousness of a life-or-death struggle.

Zhao Shaozhu looked toward the guards beside him.

The guards around him were also divided by rank; the closer they were to him, the higher their rank.

His gaze swept past his personal guards, looked at the others, and finally landed on a young guard about the same age as Wen Gu: "Xiaotian, you accompany the cousin for a practice session."

The guard he pointed out was named Tian Tu, born to a farming family; he had killed enemies at the border when he was young and fought his way up step by step. Later, when the world fell into chaos and the Zhao Family took control of Xinzhou, Zhao Shaozhu selected him when picking guards.

Xiaotian was a very ambitious person; Zhao Shaozhu wanted to cultivate his own confidants, so he was naturally willing to give these young sprouts more opportunities and would usually observe their abilities more closely.

Being able to enter Zhao Shaozhu's guard unit, Xiaotian's own ability was beyond doubt.

Having received Zhao Shaozhu's order, Xiaotian wore a serious face: "Yes!"

Walking into the field, he bowed to Wen Gu with cupped hands: "Cousin, please forgive me!"

Seeing that Wen Gu was already prepared, Xiaotian's eyes changed slightly, and his saber was about to leave its sheath.

"Wait!"

It was one of the personal guards beside Zhao Shaozhu.

He suddenly spoke up to call a halt and leaned into Zhao Shaozhu's ear to whisper a few words.

The look in Xiaotian's eyes just now was wrong, not very restrained; if he caused the cousin to lose face in front of everyone, that would be inappropriate.

As a personal guard beside Zhao Shaozhu, he had a responsibility to remind him.

Once Zhao Shaozhu heard this, he thought about it, and it was indeed not very appropriate. His original intention was to let Wen Gu practice more aggressive moves, but Xiaotian was indeed not a suitable sparring partner.

Not showing it on his face, Zhao Shaozhu smiled apologetically at Wen Gu: "Just remembered there is an urgent matter, I'm in a rush, I'll leave first."

To avoid Wen Gu asking to continue with a sparring partner, Zhao Shaozhu hurriedly changed the subject: "Oh, right, when they were tidying up the residence earlier, they sorted out some items; take a look and see if there is anything you are interested in, take them to play with."

Saying this, he called Xiaotian back and led the team away.

Once they were further away from the martial arts field, Xiaotian, at the back of the team, exchanged glances with other colleagues beside him for a brief moment.

He curled his lips and said silently: 【Gentleman Sword Technique.】

Although he didn't make a sound, the expression made it clear that he didn't think much of the "Gentleman Sword Technique."

The guards nearby also stifled their laughter.

It wasn't that they had an opinion of Wen Gu, but rather their impression of literati and scholar-officials—even if they practiced swordplay, the sword moves they knew were mostly for strengthening the body and putting on a show, with the nature of being for display, rather than for killing enemies.

They knew it all too well!

Those stiff and proper routine moves, a whole lot of effort that looks fierce as a tiger, but in actual combat, the attack is like scraping a callus!

The few people at the back of the team exchanged looks, stifling their laughter and mocking silently, but they were soon glared at and warned by the higher-ranking guards in front, and quickly straightened up to avoid being discovered by the Young Master.

On the other side, Wen Gu, who remained in the martial arts field, watched the team depart, lost in thought.

That guard Xiaotian—although it was only for a very short moment just now, his killing intent was intense.

He understood his cousin's concerns.

Fine then.

After finishing his morning workout, Wen Gu went to look at the items left behind by the original owner that his cousin had mentioned.

There were quite a few things, all piled up in the utility room, only simply categorized.

Among these items, some were specifically left behind by the original owner as a disguised gift. Others were things left in various corners when moving house that they hadn't gotten around to.

Being left behind by the owners meant they weren't valued much, and their quality was relatively inferior.

Regardless of the quality of these things, Wen Gu was quite interested.

The design types of these items and the patterns on them could roughly infer their place of origin.

There were items from all over the north and south, as well as imported goods; it was clear the original owner was indeed a wealthy family with great financial means.

Looking through them one by one, he discovered a Jade Literary Knife at the bottom corner of a wooden box.

It was used for cutting paper and opening letters; the blade was not sharp, the body was not large, and the handle was carved with a pattern of auspicious clouds.

The jade was indeed top-quality; according to the aesthetic preferences of people in this era, the material was excellent, making it a valuable object.

It was just broken, with only a section of the Literary Knife remaining.

However, Wen Gu's attention was not on the broken edge, but on the auspicious cloud pattern on the handle.

This Literary Knife itself was not large, and the auspicious cloud pattern on the handle was even less conspicuous; at first glance, it just looked like a decorative pattern to increase friction.

In this era, the auspicious cloud pattern was no longer limited to the imperial family and nobility, but it was still restricted by ritual regulations. Some forms were not accessible to ordinary households.

To put it bluntly, those without high official rank or sufficient status could not even see them.

But the precision and the way the auspicious cloud pattern on this Literary Knife was composed felt somewhat familiar.

Wen Gu took it and returned to his room.

He then dug out a round, spherical metal incense sachet. This was one of the items from the apology gift originally given by Princess Guangning.

It was a hollowed-out incense ball, with the outer shell featuring patterns of good fortune and auspiciousness.

Wen Gu rotated the incense ball, found the familiar piece of the auspicious cloud pattern, and brought the Literary Knife over to compare.

If the patterns on the two objects were flattened and placed at the same size, they were more similar than identical twins!

"A wealthy family in a border region, their connections are this wild?"

The residence they were currently living in had an original owner surnamed Gao, a local snake of Shuo City; it had long been heard that the Gao Family's food, clothing, and expenses were no worse than those of the nobles.

Even if they sometimes exceeded the regulations and overstepped the rules, the place was remote; if the people didn't report it, the officials wouldn't investigate, and even if the people did report it, the officials still wouldn't investigate.

It was also heard that the noble the Gao Family had previously attached themselves to held a very high official rank.

Cousin Zhao had mentioned before that when the Gao Family offered up this residence, disclosed the Storage Cellar, and donated supplies, certain past matters would no longer be pursued.

But seeing this pattern in person, Wen Gu understood on a deeper level just how arrogant the Shuo City Gao Family once was!

Wen Gu drew the patterns from the incense sachet and the Literary Knife onto paper so the comparison would be more intuitive.

At this moment, the steward came to knock on the door.

"Cousin, several Butie have been delivered to the gatehouse," the steward said.

Wen Gu was taken aback.

If they were visiting the Young Master, they would certainly have been sent to the study on his cousin's side.

"For me?"

Wen Gu took them and flipped through them.

When he turned to one of them, he paused.

"Pang Ji? Pang Silang? That person who is quite famous in Shuo City?" Wen Gu asked.

The expression on the steward's face was also somewhat indescribable: "Answering the Cousin, it is that person."

The fourth son of the Shuo City Pang Family, a playboy and a chatterbox.

Wen Gu had attended several banquets in Shuo City a few days ago and had learned about several of the famous households in Shuo City.

The Gao and Pang families were on par a long time ago, but in the last ten years or so, the Gao Family had risen to a higher level and suppressed the Pang Family, leading to many conflicts between the two.

Since the Gao Family had moved away temporarily, the one in Shuo City who knew the most about the Gao Family's past must be their old rival.

Wen Gu replied to the invitation.

The Pang Family mansion.

The courtyard of the Fourth Young Master.

It was almost noon, yet the courtyard was still quiet.

Pang Silang was still in his dreams; there seemed to be some movement outside, but he wiggled twice and continued to sleep soundly.

Although the current situation was urgent, it did not hinder him from lying flat at home, sleeping more soundly than a salted fish.

The Butie written to Wen Gu was entirely just following the trend to go through the motions, so as not to leave room for criticism.

There were many invitations delivered to the Young Master's side, but most were 【Read and Ignored】.

【Read and Politely Declined】 was already giving them plenty of face.

Upon learning that the Young Master really had no time, they shifted their targets.

——

This Cousin of the Zhao Family, Wen Gu, had attended banquets for a few days and did not intend to go out, declining invitations from all sides; the Butie delivered to him certainly wouldn't have any results either.

Knowing was knowing, but the task still had to be done.

Therefore, after his father reminded him, Pang Silang also casually wrote a Butie and sent it over.

Thinking of his own reputation, Pang Silang had already prepared himself for the result of 【Read and Ignored】 when he sent the Butie.

No expectations, and no pressure.

Their Pang Family had also donated grain to Shuo City and paid protection money. His brother had secured a position at the county government office, and his father was responsible for external relations and family affairs.

With those two holding things up above, other family matters, including the trivial affairs of the wives and concubines in the backyard, were handled by his mother and sister-in-law.

As long as one cast aside all worries and had no ambition, one wouldn't die for the time being.

Pang Silang slept soundly every day.

Until————

He was dug out of bed and told that Wen Gu had replied to the invitation, inviting him to the residence for a chat.

Pang Silang had been sleeping in a daze, but he was scared wide awake instantly: "Who? Me? Is he blind?!"

If it weren't for the urgent time, the three words he had just blurted out would have earned him a mixed beating from his parents before being hung up in the ancestral hall.

The faces of Pang Silang's parents turned green with fright.

Misfortune comes from the mouth!

Can you shut that death-trap of a mouth!

Actually, they don't understand either. One knows what kind of goods one's own son is.

Just this piece of trash who can't be propped up, who easily blurs social boundaries if one isn't careful, who spends all day doing nothing but rotting at home and picking his feet—what did that cousin of the Zhao Family see in him?

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