Li Yu stepped out of the Prefect’s mansion, his eyes shadowed with gloom.
He was about seventeen or eighteen years old, with fair skin and red lips, his eyes as bright as morning stars. Dressed in brocade robes, wearing a golden crown, and with a long sword hanging at his waist, he appeared every bit the refined and elegant young aristocrat.
“Is the young master heading to the Drunken River Pavilion? Allow me to prepare a horse for you!”
Several gatekeepers eagerly attended to him, bringing forth a spirited white steed and placing a saddle upon it. The saddle too was extraordinary, gleaming as if made of silver foil under the sunlight.
“Yes… I have several friends waiting for a poetry gathering…”
Normally, as the Prefect’s son, Li Yu was always full of vigor and confidence. Today, however, he responded absentmindedly, clearly preoccupied.
“Yah!”
After mounting the horse, he continued thinking about the conversation he had overheard while passing his father’s study earlier:
“There are two major problems in Chufeng Prefecture. One is that the noble families own vast estates and secretly maintain private armies. The second is that deities are interfering in human affairs… Among the noble families, the Wang clan of the local region is the most problematic!”
“I have decided to act against them. The Wang family is sure to retaliate around the second day of the second lunar month…”
…
It was only natural for him to be deeply troubled, knowing that his father was about to clash with the local aristocracy, a conflict that could lead to the Wang family’s complete downfall.
“Perhaps… in the eyes of others, I’m just a dissolute young noble who indulges in wine and poetry, amusing myself without a care?”
Li Yu mused, a faint bitter smile tugging at his lips.
Though his heart burned with anxiety, he could not show even a trace of it. Moreover, without a proper excuse, he could not even cancel today’s poetry gathering without raising suspicion.
“Master Li, please come in! Please come in! Master Zhang and Master Xie are already waiting in the elegant private room upstairs…”
Upon arriving at the Drunken River Pavilion, the waiters and the innkeeper, who recognized him as a noble and rare guest, hurriedly ushered him upstairs with utmost hospitality, fearing any negligence in their service.
The Drunken River Pavilion was built beside the river, and from the second floor the view was wide open, revealing the river’s surging waves, instantly refreshing one’s spirit.
“Haha… Brother Li, you’re late! You must drink three cups as punishment!”
Several youths in green robes spotted Li Yu and brightened, laughing.
“Today, I’m afraid I cannot hold my liquor. Allow me instead to compose a poem in apology!”
Under normal circumstances, he might have happily drunk until tipsy, but today, burdened with worries, he dared not be careless. He immediately waved his hands in refusal.
“Excellent! We all admire Brother Li’s poetic talent. We look forward to your masterpiece today!”
As the group chatted merrily, Li Yu inwardly sighed. How could he possibly compose poetry now?
“Beautiful flowers bloom in the forest’s shade; swimming fish play in the clear stream. Delighted to cast a line by the river, success lies not in catching fish!”
Just as he was deep in thought, a Taoist priest sitting near the balcony recited a verse with ease and grace, gazing at the endless river.
His voice was clear and melodic, his poem of high quality, filled with the serenity of a cultivator, causing Li Yu to stop in his tracks, entranced.
Apologizing to the group, he stepped forward. Approaching the Taoist, he saw a youth of about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a face as smooth as jade and crystal-clear skin. Wearing a bamboo crown, the youth exuded a natural aura of tranquility just by sitting there. Li Yu recognized him as someone with profound inner cultivation and dared not be disrespectful. Bowing, he said, “This humble one is Li Yu. May I ask for the Master’s Taoist name? Your poem just now was truly profound, and I would greatly appreciate your guidance…”
“Not at all. I am simply called Wuji. That was but a spontaneous expression of my feelings, just for my own amusement. I fear I have embarrassed myself before you.”
The Taoist priest Wuji, actually disguised as Wu Ming, smiled and said, “If the young master is interested, please sit and share a few cups of wine with this humble priest…”
“In that case, I shall not refuse your kind invitation…”
Li Yu had originally intended to leave, but for some inexplicable reason, a force compelled him to sit down. He picked up his wine cup and drank deeply.
The wine was exceptionally pure, and the dishes on the table were all vegetarian.
In this world, neither Taoist priests nor Buddhist monks followed strict dietary taboos.
Li Yu took a few bites, then gazed at the river, thinking of its endless flow and the fleeting nature of time. Yet his family’s fate hung in the balance, a sense of sorrow filling him, prompting a long sigh.
“Master Li sighs deeply. It seems you carry some troubling thoughts!”
Wu Ming smiled faintly, “Moreover, I observe a dark aura on your forehead, tinged with red. It seems you may soon face a calamity involving bloodshed!”
He lowered his voice as he spoke.
“What did you say?”
Li Yu was greatly startled by these words, nearly jumping to his feet: “Nonsense!”
Though he rebuked Wu Ming, his voice was also hushed, clearly not wanting others to overhear.
“Hehe… This humble priest has long been skilled in physiognomy. I also know that the calamity involving blood and blades does not threaten you personally, but rather your family!”
Wu Ming chuckled again.
These words struck Li Yu like thunder. After a long pause, he said, “You, this Taoist priest, indeed have some skill…”
If this had been an ordinary fortune teller spouting terrifying predictions, it would not have been worth much concern. But for someone to pinpoint a disaster involving war and violence connected to his family was truly alarming.
He couldn’t help but ask, “Master Taoist, since you can see this, surely you know a way to avert it?”
“Avert it? This is a matter of karmic retribution in the human realm. Difficult! Difficult!! Difficult!!!”
Wu Ming sighed deeply, repeating the word “difficult” three times.
Li Yu, however, felt as if he had grasped a glimmer of hope and quickly said, “I am the son of the Prefect. I will reward you handsomely if you help me…”
“In that case, this humble priest shall do my best…”
Wu Ming reached into his sleeve and pulled out a coiled dragon jade pendant, placing it on the table.
“What is this…”
Li Yu picked it up. With his family’s scholarly background, his first glance found the jade to be plain and ordinary. But as he looked longer, he noticed a unique charm in the coiled dragon design, and found himself strangely fond of it.
“Master Li… you must understand, heavenly fate cannot be altered, and great trends cannot be resisted…”
At the same time, Wu Ming’s voice continued to echo in his ears: “…As the sky moves with strength, a noble person must strive unceasingly. This treasure of mine can only offer temporary protection if you wear it. To change your great destiny, you must rely on your own efforts…”
“Moreover, heavenly fate is reciprocal. If you wish to take this jade, you must leave something in return… Hehe…”
“Do you want money? How much?”
At this, Li Yu hesitated slightly, suspecting he had encountered a fraud or a charlatan.
“Well… it depends on how much Master Li is willing to offer. Let me make this clear first: no matter how much you give, once the transaction is complete, we shall have no further obligations to each other…”
Wu Ming shook his head, took another sip of wine, and spoke leisurely.
Upon hearing this, Li Yu’s sense of unease grew stronger, but he glanced again at the jade in his hand. Ever since he had picked it up, he had been reluctant to let it go, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction, as if a long-starving person had finally found nourishment.
“Fine… I’ll just consider it a trinket I bought for fun!”
At that moment, a faint green glow flickered across the jade, finally dispelling Li Yu’s hesitation. He reached into his robe and pulled out ten gold leaves, placing them on the table: “Here is ten taels of gold. Will that suffice?”
Each gold leaf was worth one tael, so ten leaves amounted to ten taels.
Although the official exchange rate was one gold tael to ten silver taels, gold was actually much more valuable. Ten taels of gold could be exchanged for over a hundred taels of silver, a significant sum indeed.
“Perfect! Perfect!”
Wu Ming looked at him deeply, laughed heartily three times, gathered the gold leaves into his robe, and left with ease and grace.
“Master Li… what did that Taoist priest say to you just now?”
Returning to his seat, Li Yu still seemed somewhat dazed: “Nothing much… Just sold me a trinket…”
“It’s done! Stimulated by the dragon’s aura, his own fortune has already begun to flourish!”
After leaving, Wu Ming’s eyes gleamed with a mysterious light.
Essentially, the dragon’s aura was merely a catalyst; it required a person with sufficient fortune to activate it.
Li Yu fit the criteria perfectly, with both his status and position supported by fortune. Now that he had risen from a subordinate role to a leading one—in simpler terms, his ambition had been ignited!
Ambition itself was extremely important!
Under normal circumstances, constrained by imperial authority, a prefect could command no more than a few thousand local soldiers. But with ambition, if he were to rebel or declare independence, he could instantly raise an army of tens of thousands!
“What needed to be done has been done. The rest depends on how events unfold…”
In a corner of the alley, Wu Ming removed his Taoist robes and changed back into his original attire: “Now, I just need to wait for the meeting at the Dragon Gate…”
…
“Master, you’ve returned quite early today!”
The guards at the Prefect’s mansion were surprised to see Li Yu come back so soon.
“Uh! Take good care of the horse!”
Li Yu muttered, clearly distracted. Due to Wu Ming’s interruption, the poetry gathering at the Drunken River Pavilion ended hastily.
As he made his way back, gazing at the scenery of the prefectural city, his heart was in turmoil.
Such a beautiful city, such a splendid view—surely it should not be handed over to the Wang family!
And to surrender his life and family to their mercy? Absolutely not!
Upon returning to the mansion, he immediately began to calculate:
“My father actually commands only the fast squad of the government office, numbering a few hundred men… The Wang family’s privately maintained servants outnumber even that. If a confrontation between the two families truly occurs, the key will be the Prefectural Commander. He commands two thousand soldiers; whichever side he supports will determine the outcome!”
Thinking of the Prefectural Commander’s unpredictable stance, Li Yu felt a headache coming on. At this moment, two maids passed by. Seeing Li Yu, they were delighted and said, “Master, you’re finally back! The second young lady has been looking for you and has been waiting half the day!”
“It’s my younger sister…”
Li Yu’s younger sister was the youngest daughter of the family, doted on by both father and brothers. At the thought of her, a faint smile involuntarily appeared on his face.
Suddenly, a thought struck him like lightning: “That Prefectural Commander seems to have a daughter, whom he dotes on greatly… We met briefly at last year’s Mid-Autumn garden party…”
In fact, the girl had shown some admiration for his literary talent and elegant demeanor, giving him an idea.
Though the plan might seem somewhat despicable, when faced with life-or-death stakes, could he still afford to worry about such things?
Of course, the most crucial aspect was using this girl to establish a connection with the Prefectural Commander!
“Hmm?”
At this moment, another sound of surprise came from behind.
“It’s Master Xu, right? Do you need something?”
Li Yu glanced with slight displeasure at a retainer who was bowing by the roadside, surprised at his presence.
This man seemed to have some skills, so his father had hired him with silver, though he had not been given any significant role.
“No! No! Nothing…”
Mr. Xu hurriedly replied. After Li Yu left, he gazed at his retreating figure, his eyes filled with uncertainty and surprise.
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