YBTGX 02

Chapter 02

The World of Scholars

The moon was bright and the stars were sparse.

In the side room on the left side of the main courtyard, the nearly empty oil lamp flickered, casting one long and two short shadows against the wall.

Father Lu Hou had one leg propped up on a stool—a position that made his broken leg slightly more comfortable—while his hands remained busy with some simple woodworking. Li Shi, her tear stains still fresh, moved her needle and thread under the dim lamplight, stitch by stitch, dense and meticulous.

“Lin-er, when you get to the Liu family, be sharp,” she said, her voice low. She didn’t stop her sewing as she patiently gave him instructions. “Greet people when you see them, keep your hands and feet busy, and do whatever the masters tell you to do.”

“Don’t argue back, especially with the young master of the house. If he hits you or scolds you, you must endure it, do you understand?”

These were the survival methods that farming families had scraped together through the hardships of this world—simple, yet practical.

Lu Lin watched his mother quietly. He saw her finger pricked by the needle, a tiny bead of blood seeping out. She didn’t seem to notice; she simply sucked on it with her mouth and continued to bow her head and sew.

A warmth surged from the bottom of Lu Lin’s heart. This was a warmth he had never experienced as an orphan in his previous life. It was a poor home, but it was one that warmed the soul.

He reached out his small hand and gently tugged on the hem of Li Shi’s clothes.

“Mom, don’t cry anymore.”

“When I go to the Liu family, I’ll run back to see you every holiday. I’ll bring you and Dad osmanthus cakes from the county town. We’ll hide them away secretly—I saw Grandma sneak a box of them to Third Aunt last time.”

His childish voice was filled with such earnestness that Li Shi’s hand froze. She looked up at her son’s small face, which he was forcing to look relaxed. Those ink-black eyes reflected the lamplight, so bright they made one’s heart ache.

“Pfft.”

Li Shi was amused, but the moment the smile touched her lips, tears poured out again, flowing even more fiercely than before. She pulled Lu Lin into her arms, resting her chin on his small head, and was too choked up to speak.

This is the flesh and blood I brought into the world! He was so young yet so sensible, even knowing how to comfort her, yet they were about to be separated.

Lu Hou, who had been silent while working, let his carving knife come to a halt. He watched his wife and son embracing, his eyes slightly reddened. He put down the wood and rubbed his rough, calloused hands hard against his patched trousers.

“Lin-er, when you get to the county town, I will go to see you too.”

Lu Lin lifted his head from his mother’s embrace and gently pushed her away. He stood as straight as a board, the expression on his face no longer that of a child playing around, but one of unprecedented solemnity.

“Dad, Mom, don’t be so sad.”

“Maybe when I go to the Liu family and start studying, I’ll become a Xiucai (cultivated scholar) and come back.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the sorrowful atmosphere in the room froze. Li Shi stared at her son blankly, then smiled and shook her head.

“My silly boy, do you think becoming a Xiucai is like picking cabbage in the field, where you just decide to do it and succeed?”

“Your eldest uncle has been studying for nearly twenty years, his hair has turned white, and he is still just a Tongsheng.”

In Li Shi’s simple understanding, a Xiucai was already a star in the heavens, a great figure that commoners like them couldn’t even dare to imagine.

Lu Lin did not argue. It was true; for others, the imperial examination was as hard as ascending to the heavens.

But his mind was filled with a brilliant civilization that had been passed down for thousands of years—from the Classic of Poetry and Chu Ci to Tang poetry and Song lyrics, from the Hundred Schools of Thought to Ming and Qing novels, all containing the condensed wisdom of countless sages. He knew the interpretations of the eight-legged essays, political treatises, and the examination papers of generations of top scholars by heart. Any small piece of this would be enough to shock this era.

Seeing her son say nothing, Li Shi assumed he was just talking nonsense, but she couldn’t help but follow his train of thought, a glimmer of longing appearing on her face.

“However, if you could really become a Xiucai, I would truly be blessed.”

“I heard the village elders say that a Xiucai master doesn’t have to kneel when seeing the county magistrate, and all the taxes and labor levies on the family’s land can be exempted.”

When she reached this point, her tone was filled with awe.

“And true Xiucai masters have real talent; it’s not just about knowing how to read. Their writing can bring flowers to life; their righteous energy can make evil spirits retreat. I’ve heard that the truly powerful ones can write articles that trigger natural phenomena! They are the real ‘Wenchuxing’ (star of literature) descended from the heavens!”

“Natural phenomena?”

Lu Lin was stunned by these words. He had always thought this was just a normal feudal society, but Li Shi’s words had opened a door to a new world.

Studying could actually grant extraordinary power? Not a metaphor, not an exaggeration, but a real, existing power!

An indescribable excitement and tremor surged from his tailbone to the top of his head. If poetry, prose, and classics could truly manifest into earth-shattering power in this world… then what kind of magnificent, heaven-defying path could he walk?

The Analects, the Tao Te Ching, the classics of the philosophers… the military genius of The Art of War… the timeless Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River… the legendary masterpieces of Li Bai and Du Fu, the unrivaled Spring River in the Flower Moon Night, and the greatest masterpiece of all time, the Preface to Prince Teng’s Pavilion.

If he unleashed even a fraction of this, what kind of immense power would it explode with?

Lu Lin kept his head down, but an inexplicable force was stirring in his heart.

Is this the world of scholars?

The next morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Lu Lin, who had not slept all night, had two large dark circles under his eyes, yet his gaze was brighter than ever.

Since learning of the existence of the supernatural, Lu Lin had spent the entire night thinking. He had many thoughts, both on his future path and on various conjectures and verifications. He needed to verify if the knowledge in his mind could truly be transformed into extraordinary power, and whether he had the ability to wield it.

Furthermore, he had gained some direction on how to proceed.

As a six-year-old child, if he suddenly displayed talent far beyond that of a normal person, it would inevitably attract attention or even greed. Keeping a low profile remained his primary survival rule. A man who carries a jade ring commits a crime by his very wealth—this principle held true in any era.

In this light, going to the Liu family to be a pageboy was actually a good starting point. It was an excellent opportunity to come into contact with the world’s system of scholars. Using the pageboy position as a stepping stone, he could climb upward one step at a time, with the utmost caution.

As he was thinking, Li Shi walked in carrying a basin of hot water. Seeing her son looking dazed and empty-eyed, her heart twisted. She thought her son had been sleepless because of the impending separation, and she was filled with regret and self-reproach.

“It’s all Mom’s fault. I shouldn’t have said those things to you last night.”

Li Shi put down the basin, wiped Lu Lin’s small face with a warm cloth, and her voice was filled with self-blame and heartbreak.

His cheeks stung from her scrubbing, but Lu Lin carefully savored the process. After Li Shi let go, he flashed a smile at her.

“Mom, I’m fine.”

“Silly boy, you only know how to giggle…”