Chapter 224: Killing Three Birds With One Stone

Disclaimer: 

1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests. 

2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author. 

3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.

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The two xiucai swiftly offered Liu Sen their bows, “We don’t have any requests, we just admire your scholarly knowledge! Being able to become a juren at your tender age, you’ve left us in your dust. We just want to become friends with you, and study with you. Perhaps that way, we can learn some exam… tricks.”

Liu Sen quickly waved his hands, “You think too highly on me. Although I am very honored, I really have no tricks, nor am I that knowledgeable. If you really want to learn, you can go over to my old teacher. He does indeed run a school! I only have this to share – if you really want to continue on taking the exams, there really isn’t any trick to it. All of that won’t work. Instead of trying that, you should use the time to study. If you keep wasting your time strolling the streets, making friends, drinking tea and chatting or participating in society activities… I don’t think you will pass.”

The two xiucai looked at each other. Both of them were rather embarrassed and their faces looked ugly. 

Liu Sen spread his hands out, “As for anything else, there’s really no point. As the two of you can see, right now it is the palace exams, but I am still here. It should be obvious that I’m not going to continue on with the next level of exams… I have no intention of becoming an official. So the two of you really don’t need to consider that.”

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Tl vbswtbv qsa y xsxldv clqsal pyukdt, “Mbyv’p aktbv, kq usw vbswtbv vbyv vbl alypsd R eked’v vau vs vyjl vbl dlmv zlhlz sq lmyxp kp clnywpl R yx vss uswdt, yde xktbv vau ytykd kd vball ulyap vkxl, usw’al oasdt. R byhl yzalyeu cswtbv zyde kd vbl hkzzytl yde rzyd vs nsdvkdwl qyaxkdt. R yx xydytkdt y pxyzz pvsal, yde rzyd vs nsdvkdwl okvb vbkp.”

Mbl vos mkwnyk zssjle yv lynb svbla. Xdl sq vblx pvyxxlale, “Mbkp kp y ckv vss…”

“R vbkdj vbyv R byhl yzalyeu xyel xuplzq hlau nzlya. R alyzzu nyddsv blzr usw! Rq usw alyzzu oydv vs blzr xl, vbld pvsr zssjkdt qsa xl. Ohlau vkxl usw nsxl, xu qyvbla oswze clyv xl! Zsw jllr tlvvkdt xl kd vaswczl, eke usw jdso?!”

Ebs jdsop obu, rlabyrp vbl vos sq vblx olal vss rleydvkn, cwv vblu pvkzz eked’v wdelapvyde. Xdl sq vblx lhld pbswvle kd y aytl, “Ebyv?! Zswa qyvbla eyalp vs bkv usw?! Zsw yal y fwald! Fsxlsdl okvb pnbszyazu bsdsa! Ohld vbl tshladxldv sqqknkyzp oswzed’v eyal vs valyv usw vbyv oyu! Zswa qyvbla kp vss csze, kdpwzvkdt y pnbszya. R okzz ts vs vbl tshladxldv sqqknl….”

Nkw Fld qkdyzzu zspv kv! Gdtakzu, bl tzyale yv vblx yde pbswvle, “Fnayx! Rq usw nsxl ytykd, R okzz ts vs vbl tshladxldv sqqknl yde nsxrzykd vbyv usw yal ekpvwackdt swa rlynl! Gde alxshl uswa mkwnyk iwyzkqknyvksdp! Rq usw esd’v clzklhl xl, usw nyd fwpv vau!”

Mbl vos sq vblx olal pvwddle.&dcpr;

Nkw Fld bye yzalyeu pzyxxle vbl essa kd vblka qynlp! Tl vwadle vs alvwad vs vbl bswpl yde pyo Nkw Fbw pvydekdt dsv qya qasx bkx. Rv oyp nzlya vbyv bl oyp y ckv dlahswp ycswv zlyhkdt bkx vs bydezl vbl pkvwyvksd yde bye qszzsole bkx swv. Nkw Fld alpldvqwzzu rskdvle yv vbl essa, “Mbspl rlsrzl… nzlyazu esd’v wdelapvyde bwxyd zydtwytl!”

Nkw Fbw pxkzle yde dseele bkp blye, “Tlye cynj qkapv.”

Liu Sen went back into the room. When he entered, he saw Liu Changgeng and Liu Lin give him meaningful looks. Liu Changgeng then said, “Now do you understand why I am so worried about you? What kind of xiucai are they? They are like glue! After sticking to you, you can’t get rid of them! I really don’t know what they hoped to get from you!”

Liu Lin smiled and pulled Liu Sen to sit down, “Senzi is a juren, while they are xiucai. They just want to ingratiate themselves to him, so that they would have someone who could support them…. But from this matter, I can see. Everyone always says that businessmen have no virtue, but from what I can see, the most shameless ones about climbing the ladder are talentless scholars!”

At the other table, Song Yao giggled. It was clear she agreed with that statement. Instead, it was He shi who quickly reprimanded, “Hey, don’t talk nonsense!”

In the courtyard, Liu Shu thought for a moment before going over to open the door. He saw that the two of them still hadn’t left. They were standing there, looking dejected. It was clear that they had heard what Liu Sen said after he closed the door. 

Liu Shu then said, “We are not joking. You should go back and warn the others. If anyone else tries to look for my didi after this, we will go to the government office to complain about you disturbing our peace. For a xiucai to harass a juren, you should expect your xiucai qualifications to be stripped from you!”

What do scholars prize? Their own scholarly achievements! Liu Sen and Liu Shu’s threat was very serious; the two of them quickly shook their heads, “We won’t dare to do it again… Since Liu Sen doesn’t want to associate with us, we won’t bother him again….”

Then the two of them turned and ran off. 

Liu Shu looked at their backs and shook his head, “Becoming a juren…. Who would have expected so much trouble to come from that!”

And that was far from the only trouble they had to deal with. 

Hanzhong city, the Shi residence.

Shi Cheng and Liu Xu’er had arrived at the front courtyard, but he didn’t let her enter the room. Instead, he told her to wait in the side room. 

This was only proper. Since Shi Cheng’s mother had called for her, Liu Xu’er had to respond. But because Shi Cheng had accompanied her, he would definitely want to speak with his mother privately. Shi Cheng definitely wouldn’t allow her to stand by the door, like a punished school girl, so he got her to wait in the side room while he went in first. 

Liu Xu’er nodded her head and went to wait. 

Actually, Shi Cheng was a bit overprotective of her. Her mother-in-law was clearly just angry – it was no big deal for her to say a sentence or two to her. After all, it was indeed her family that involved Shi Cheng in this mess. 

But Shi Cheng was unwilling for her to suffer even a little bit, so insisted on defending her. It was also understandable, especially since the one who wanted to reprimand her was his mother. How could he sit back and allow it. 

Liu Xu’er had full faith in Shi Cheng’s silver tongue. He could invert black and white, and make even illogical statements sound reasonable. And in this case, she was completely innocent, so she knew that he would be able to persuade his mother. 

It was the information that her sanshu and his group of people had engaged in smuggling that she needed time to digest. 

What Shi Cheng had said was rather strange. Was it really just because of those two points? The first to try and pull Shi Cheng and Senzi, these two newly minted juren into their camp. And on learning that both of them had no interest in pursuing officialdom, they decided to instead try and extort money?

Was it really that simple?

Liu Xu’er stood up and paced the room. What did an official want? Money, power, and….reputation! Liu Xu’er suddenly understood!

This matter should have already been thoroughly investigated by the officials! That’s why they knew that Shi Cheng wasn’t involved at all. They invited Shi Cheng over not to investigate anything, but to hint to Shi Cheng, so that he would become aware of this matter! Because the officials probably knew full well that their family was completely in the dark about this matter!

The officials knew that Shi Cheng wasn’t involved, which was to say that they knew that she, as Shi Cheng’s wife, and her family weren’t involved. They had probably already charged everyone; perhaps they had already reached a verdict, it was just a matter of following procedure by now. In any case, the guilty parties had already been arrested. That was why they could share all the details of the case with Shi Cheng without any worry.

That must be what happened! They had already concluded the investigation, and charged everyone, which was why they didn’t need to hide the details of the case any longer!

And they called Shi Cheng over to try and build their reputation! Basically, they were trying to build up their prestige! Shi Cheng had already said that this case was major. But the case had nothing to do with the Hanzhong city officials, after all, it was Dongchangfu that had conducted the investigation. 

The only reason it involved Hanzhong city was firstly because a few of the people involved were here, that is to say, Liu Changgui, Liu Yun’er and their ilk. And secondly, they needed the officials here to investigate if anyone else was involved. 

And when the people at Hanzhong city received the request for help, they definitely understood that it was a chance to build some reputation for themselves!

They called Shi Cheng over and shared the situation. It seemed as though they didn’t want to implicate Shi Cheng, but on a deeper level, they had every intention of implicating him!

And of course Senzi!

The more attention they built around the case, the more reputation the Hanzhong city officials would have. And to draw more attention, the most direct way was for their superiors to note that in Hanzhong city, the case had involved two juren!

It was clearly trying to kill three birds with one stone!

They called Shi Cheng over first to try and rope the two of them to their camp. If they failed, they would try to extort some money, and at the same time announce that this case involved two juren. After all, these two weren’t willing to support them in court, so what did it matter if their reputation was smeared? And then they could continue to grow their prestige – the people in court would see that they had done their best to investigate a major case like this! They had also discovered that some important people had been involved, and they would be able to share in Dongchangfu’s glory!

Liu Xu’er went over her thoughts one more time. She was pretty certain that she was spot on. The department of Public Safety officials in Hanzhong city were planning this good trick of killing three birds with one stone. 

Shi Cheng hadn’t thought of it yet because he hadn’t much time on the way back, and his father was obviously upset and angry that he had been implicated. Shi Cheng had probably spent a lot of time speaking up for her, and hadn’t had much time to think the situation over. 

And ever since Shi Cheng got back, he had been spending a lot of time explaining the situation to herself and trying to protect her, so hadn’t had the time to think too much about what the officials were trying to do! 

When she thought that, Liu Xu’er got impatient. She walked to the door and wanted to enter the main room. She wanted to just admit her fault to her mother-in-law and quickly share her thoughts on the situation to Shi Cheng. 

When she got to the door, she stood still again. Thankfully she had cooled down quickly. Shi Cheng had been so busy all day, he hadn’t even had the time to even contemplate the situation because he wanted to comfort his parents. Wasn’t that for her? He didn’t want his parents to be upset with her, and wanted to quickly resolve all their anger towards her….

If she were to go in now, it would waste all of Shi Cheng’s effort. Of course, she knew that Shi Cheng wouldn’t be angry, but since she knew his good intentions, she could maintain her calm. She didn’t want Shi Cheng’s efforts to go down the drain. 

So she could only maintain her calm and wait. Then she thought about it and decided to wait in the corridor instead. She wasn’t trying to get her mother-in-law to feel bad for her, she just felt frustrated waiting in the room. She preferred to wait around outside and cool her head off. 

After standing for a while, Shi Cheng quickly came out. Seeing her standing there, he stretched his hand out to rub her cold face. Then he softly said, “Why did you come out… Let’s go in.”