Chapter 172: Beneath The Surface

“We are talking about being Sun Bingchen’s personal attendant over here. He’s a patrol inspector and an imperial envoy sent by the Imperial Capital. Liqiang, why didn’t you agree straight away? This is a chance to make a giant leap. If it was me, I wouldn’t think twice about it and I would’ve agreed right away. With someone important by your side, you might be an attendant today, but tomorrow, you might ascend as a high ranking officer in a flash. A lot of people would be envious…”

Shi Dafeng was extremely excited as he sat inside the carriage on his way back. He continued to talk incoherently about what had just happened despite having left the manor just a few moments ago. Even so, Shi Dafeng was still immersed in the previous scenario. He felt that everything from before was crazy and dramatic.

“I didn’t turn his offer down. I just need to go back and think about it first. If I become Lord Sun’s personal attendant, I will probably have to follow him and leave Gan Province. I want to discuss this with my father and ask for his opinion in regards to such a big decision…” Yan Liqiang smiled. As for Sun Bingchen’s decision, he felt that it was a bit abrupt. Even so, he understood that this was an opportunity that only came once in a blue moon.

It was rare to come across such an opportunity like this in a lifetime. In a sense, Brother Huan from his previous life and Sun Bingchen, whom he had just met, were both Yan Liqiang’s benefactors. With such lucky stars to provide guidance and help, he could struggle less for a few years and walk toward the shortcut to success and the fast lane to life development. One would require luck and the ability to grasp an opportunity when meeting such benefactors.

“Mm, indeed. You should discuss with your father first. The martial arts academy, on the other hand, is a matter of a short sentence and nothing else. If this lord speaks on your behalf, you definitely will not encounter any problems in joining those major sects. This isn’t a future that can be compared to as a Martial Warrior from the martial arts academy that has just gone through a progression!” Shi Dafeng said as he turned to look at Shen Teng who was silently sitting inside the carriage, “Hey, Shen Teng, why aren’t you saying anything?”

Feeling complicated, Shen Teng forced a smile on his face. He had an unnatural expression as he said, “I am still thinking about Yan Liqiang’s ability to remember everything on that folding screen with just a glance. Lord Sun is certainly a person who recognizes talent. If Liqiang follows Lord Sun, he will definitely be able to realize his ambition. I will congratulate Liqiang here first…”

Yan Liqiang glanced at Shen Teng and didn’t know how to comfort him at this point. Shi Dafeng was being careless and didn’t understand Shen Teng’s current state of mind. Yan Liqiang, however, was able to sense some kind of frustration and loss coming from Shen Teng. Those feelings stemmed from being compared to others. Born from a large clan in Qinghe County, Shen Teng, who had strict education since he was young, once again faded into dullness in front of Sun Bingchen in comparison to Yan Liqiang. The feelings of loss and frustration were naturally inevitable.

Even when the trio were already friends, this matter had no bearings on their friendship whatsoever.

The carriage’s first stop was near the Three Yuan Street. Shi Dafeng was the first one alight the carriage. He bid his farewell to Yan Liqiang and Shen Teng as he was about to return to his residence. Shen Teng lived somewhere else, so the carriage continued to rumble on as it turned toward the other direction. After about ten minutes, the carriage finally came to a halt.

“Liqiang, if you are really going to stay by Lord Sun’s side, will we be able to see you again next time?” Shen Teng had already raised the carriage curtain and was prepared to leave the carriage.

“We will see each other whenever we want to!”

“Mm, if you decide to leave, then the three of us should have a drink together some other time…”

“Alright!”

Shen Teng raised the curtain and hopped off the carriage.

“Brother Shen…” Yan Liqiang abruptly opened the carriage’s curtain and called out to Shen Teng.

As he was heading toward the distance, Shen Teng, who was already sinking to the depths of darkness, suddenly stopped. He turned around and looked at Yan Liqiang.

The lantern that was hanging in front of the carriage was able to brighten up the surrounding area around it.

“Some flowers bloom in spring, some in summer, some in autumn, and when the flowers have wilted, the plum flowers will bloom during winter. Every flower has a different blooming period and their own splendidness. Some will bloom earlier while others will bloom later. Some will bloom as soon as it’s spring, and some will even persist through snow and frost. Due to these reasons, the world is a fascinating place. I like peach blossoms that bloom on the third month of the lunar year. What kind of flower does Brother Shen like?”

Just when Shen Teng was still in a daze, Yan Liqiang gave him a smile and waved his hand before he pulled down the curtain, allowing the driver to continue the journey in a slow manner.

As Shen Teng watched the carriage with the lantern slowly vanish to the distance, he stood dumbfoundedly on the streets and immersed his thoughts with the words that Yan Liqiang had said. Gradually, his eyes glowed with a bit of energy before a smile finally creased on his face. He then muttered to himself, “I like Chrysanthemums…” After that, he let out a deep sigh, straightened his back, and returned to his residence…

…

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Regardless of whether the motivational speech Yan Liqiang had in his previous life was of any use to Shen Teng or not, Shen Teng could have easily let a lot of things go if he had just looked at them from another perspective. In any case, Yan Liqiang had already done his best. Shen Teng and Shi Dafeng were two out of his small set of friends. He didn’t want this rare friendship to change in a bad way.

The carriage continued through the west gate of Pingxi City until it arrived at Wuyang Village at the foot of the mountain. Yan Liqiang then proceeded to get off the carriage and bid farewell to the driver. After he bought half a jin of cooked pork legs from a restaurant at the roadside, he then returned to the small courtyard he was renting while carrying those pork legs.

As soon as he opened the courtyard gate, Goldie, who had been staying inside the area, let out its tongue and rushed toward Yan Liqiang while biting its tail. It then continued to happily circle around Yan Liqiang for several rounds.

Everything was normal inside the courtyard. Looking at how Goldie was behaving, Yan Liqiang knew that no one had come to the little courtyard after he had left. Everything was safe in here.

The rabbit that the two of them had caught in the morning was still holed up under the pile of firewood. It was behaving well despite trembling in fear. The rabbit wasn’t dead yet and it didn’t try to run away. Goldie had been keeping a good watch on it since its captivity.

“Alright, you still haven’t had dinner yet, I bought you pig feet today. Let go of that rabbit. I don’t want to torture it anymore. Just let it go…”

“Woof woof…” Goldie was indeed Goldie. Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s words, it quickly charged toward the pile of firewood and drilled under that spot. Within a few seconds, the rabbit was driven out from the firewood pile by Goldie and it swiftly ran out of the courtyard toward the mountain path outside. There were shrubs and bushes just behind the courtyard. As long as the rabbit was able to run out of the courtyard, it should have returned to the mountains.

After Goldie chased the rabbit away, it ran down the corridor while wagging its tail and proceeded to carry its dish by itself, placing it in front of Yan Liqiang. He smiled and petted its head before pouring all those cooked pork legs into its dish. While Goldie was delightfully chowing down its food, Yan Liqiang had already locked up the gates to the courtyard and he went to the deck chair in the corridor to lie down. He closed his eyes and recounted the things that happened today. The more he thought of it, the more he felt that everything was a bit too sudden. All of that had immediately disrupted the calm rhythm of his quiet life.

The problem was whether he should ride on this person’s coattails or not!

Without knowing why, at this moment, Yan Liqiang suddenly thought of the night that he had ranked first place amongst top three where Yan Dechang had drunkenly said those things in his dreams. He didn’t understand what sort of twist there was behind these events.

…

“Leader, those three young men from the martial arts academy have left the Chu Manor…”

At the same time when Yan Liqiang had just returned to Wuyang Village, inside the study of the Prefectural Governor’s Office in Pingxi City, a cowering man was reporting to the Prefectural Governor Ye Tiancheng about the entire meeting between Yan Liqiang’s group and Sun Bingchen.

Naturally, nothing could ever evade the eyes of the Prefectural Governor Ye Tiancheng — not even the entire event that had happened inside Chu Manor in Pingxi City.

As he listened to how Yan Liqiang was able to remember how many peonies and fish were on the folding screen, Ye Tiancheng, who was practicing his calligraphy in the study, stopped his brush for a while before returning to his normal self. He then calmly said, “I didn’t think that there would be someone amongst the students in the martial arts academy to have such good memory. Indeed, he is a genius and a rare one at that. Seems like that young man called Yan Liqiang had indeed noticed the unusual activities of those Shatu people. This Sun Bingchen went ahead and did what I intended to do. What happened after that?”

“Sun Bingchen wants to recruit that young man Yan Liqiang as his attendant. He didn’t agree right away as he said he wanted to go home and discuss with his father first…”

“Seems like the news from the Imperial Capital is true. This Sun Bingchen really had no one else to use. He even wanted to recruit a young man with a superficial quirk as his attendant!” Ye Tiancheng laughed in disdain. A cold gleam flashed in his eyes as he continued, “He brought less than a hundred people with him to the patrol inspection in Gan Province this time, including those honor guards. Does he think that he can fight the Ye Clan with that small number of people? How presumptuous…”

“Should we…”

“Let him be. The Law Enforcement Office has already filed the incident involving the Wang Clan as an ironclad case with irrefutable evidence. Sun Bingchen will never be able to pull a trick on this case even if he has the great skill to do so. Just keep a close watch on him and his attendants and that will do!”

“Understood!”

Ye Tiancheng picked up his brush and continued to dip his brush in ink. Moments later, four impressive and big letters appeared on the paper at the desk. Those four words were — boundless sea and sky!

Looking at those words, Ye Tiancheng a satisfying smile curved up his face…

…