In the biting cold wind, two armored guards, holding spears and with their backs upright, stood guard in front of the manor.

Suddenly, a thin figure rounded quickly from the corner of the street. The guard standing on the left was about to yell, but when he saw the person clearly, he smiled and said, “Tang Gongzi, you just left at noon, why are you here again today?”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

These guards were all veterans who had retired from the battlefield, apparently they were injured on the battlefield. They were originally from Gusu Prefecture. After being disarmed and returning to their hometown, they could not do any other work, so Liang daru took the initiative to recruit them to be his guards. They were originally ruffians in the army, but after entering the Liang Manor, they all absorbed Liang daru‘s literary halo, and after a few years they became much more polite and courteous when speaking to others.

Tang Shen said: “Brother, please report that I am here to see Liang daren.”

“Wait a moment.”

After a short while, Tang Shen was led by the steward to the study of Liang Manor.

Liang Song was painting. What he painted was an orchid, rooted between cliffs and swaying in the cold wind. A young man wearing a green robe was grinding ink for him. This person’s name was Xu Hui, also known as Yu Zhi, and he was Liang daru‘s maternal nephew. (TN: maternal cousin’s son)

Seeing Tang Shen coming, Liang daru glanced at him and then continued painting. He was holding a thin brush, while brandishing it freely, he said: “Why did you come back after only a couple hours? Did you forget something, if so let Yu Zhi go and get it with you.”

Tang Shen took three steps forward and took out something from his sleeve.

“Sir.”

Liang Song looked up and saw what was in Tang Shen’s hand. He was slightly startled.

After a long while, Liang Song said with a smile: “Yu Zhi, you go out first.”

Xu Hui bowed his head and left the study.

Tang Shen raised his arms, held the invitation in both hands, and leaned forward in a salutation.

Liang Song said: “Yu Zhi left, why don’t you come and grind ink for me?”

Tang Shen stepped forward and handed the invitation to Liang Song. Liang Song took the invitation and placed it on the corner of the table, and began to draw again. Tang Shen rolled up his sleeves, picked up an ink stick, and grinded the ink on the inkstone. Under the brush, the orchids on the cliff were noble and elegant, but there was silence in the study.

After finishing painting an orchid, Liang Song said, “Why did you come back?”

Tang Shen grinded the ink and said, “I’m here to apologize to you, sir.”

“Oh, apologize? Did you do something wrong?”

Tang Shen thought for a while: “Maybe I didn’t do anything wrong, but I didn’t do anything right either.”

“Tell me, what did you do right and what did you do wrong.”

“Three days before the Double Ninth Festival, sir gave me an invitation, inviting me to come over for a chat. I did the right thing and guessed that the date was noon on the Double Ninth Festival to admire the chrysanthemums with sir in the pavilion. However, to this day, I have done one thing wrong.”

“What is it?”

“Arrogant and conceited, proud and forgetting myself.”

Liang Song put down his brush and said with a smile: “I didn’t say that, young man, you are quite good at finding troubles for yourself.” 

Tang Shen also put down his ink stink: “Sir, if you didn’t say that, wouldn’t I feel even more ashamed? I am not talented, and once said that I have a retentive memory and can recite the Four Books and Five Classics backwards. However, sir also said it twice, even old xiucai who have read it fifty or sixty times dare not talk so big. To this day I hadn’t understood the word puzzle on the invitation. Now I understand that sir only said to appreciate the chrysanthemums, and has sincerely invited me. Sir also hid the words “Double Ninth” in the poem to tell me that I am still very shallow. There are others better than yourself, thus one must not be arrogant.”

Liang Song looked at Tang Shen for a long time and said, “You said everything I wanted to say. You also said what I hadn’t wanted to say. Little Tang Lang, you really leave me speechless.”

Although he had nothing to say, Liang daru stroked his long beard and looked pleased.

When Tang Shen saw that Liang daru was not angry, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He continued: “Before coming, I heard a story.”

“Oh, what story?”

Tang Shen hesitated for a moment and said: “In the third year of Kaiping, outside Wuyuan City, the Liao army invaded with great momentum.” After Tang Shen said the first sentence, Liang daru‘s expression changed and his lips moved, but he did not speak. Tang Shen continued: “The Liao people suddenly attacked, and Wuyuan City was short of soldiers and horses. It was a drought year, and there was not much food and grass in the city. The imperial reinforcements would not arrive for ten days, and the Liao army surrounded Wuyuan City.”

“Not ten days, they only arrived half a month later.”

Tang Shen was stunned for a moment: “Yes, it took half a month to arrive. Seeing that the soldiers and civilians in the city were trapped and unable to get food, the general guarding Wuyuan City took out one hundred thousand silver taels and gave it to the provincial military commander at the time, asking him to secretly leave the city to raise food and grass.”

That was twenty-one years ago, in the third year of Kaiyuan, some unrest occurred when the new emperor ascended the throne, and the country’s strength was seriously damaged. For ten consecutive years, the Liao people invaded frequently, making the common people miserable.

Wuyuan City was not bordering the Liao territory, so there were only more than 3,000 defenders in the city. Unexpectedly, the Liao people took advantage of the drought in the Song Dynasty and suddenly launched an attack. They captured Youzhou City overnight and arrived at Wuyuan City. The general who defended the city was named Zheng Yuanping. He came from a common background and was a general who rose in the ranks with his own sweat and blood.

The Liao army attacked the city, and Zheng Yuanping defended it for three days. The food in the city had already reached the bottom. Zheng Yuanping found the provincial military commander Liang Song. He knelt down and asked Liang Song to take one hundred thousand silver to Xixia and come back to save the people.

Zheng Yuanping: “Wuyuan and I shall live and die together.”

At night, Liang Song escaped from the defenders and went to Xixia. There was a waterway from Xixia to Wuyuan. If they transport grain by water, they could avoid the Liao army’s spies. But at that time, Xixia had friendly relations with both Liao and Song and had an alliance. Liang Song found a Xixia merchant who coveted the one hundred thousand silver taels, but was worried about getting involved in the war.

Liang Song was in his early thirties at the time and was a well-known talent in the Song Dynasty. Seeing that day by day passed, there was no food and grass in the city, and the Liao army was laying a fierce siege against the city. He immediately knelt down, knocked the ground with his head, and kowtowed until his forehead was bleeding. He begged the Xixia merchant to send out two ships full of food and grass to Wuyuan City.

It was a pity that by the time he arrived, Wuyuan City had already been destroyed, and Zheng Yuanping’s head was chopped off by the Liao army and hung on the top of the city gate.

Tang Shen said: “Seeing that you had failed General Zheng’s instructions, sir drew your sword and planned to apologize with your death. Fortunately, sir was saved by the people accompanying you.”

Liang Song seemed to recall the people and things from more than twenty years ago. He sighed and said, “More than twenty years have passed. In the tenth year of Kaiyuan, the Song Dynasty defeated the Liao army in Shuozhou. Why do you mention this again today?”

Tang Shen walked to stand in front of the desk, bowed respectfully, and said: “I was born in the countryside. Since I was a child, I only knew about frogs and insects, but not the world. Today I heard an old xiucai talk about this, and I finally understood what sir meant by ‘be concerned, worried for the country and forget one’s own family’.”

Liang Song looked at him: “Then tell me what it means.”

Tang Shen raised his head, his eyes were very bright, and he said word by word: “For the rise and fall of the country, every common man has his obligation!”

Liang Song’s body shook, as if he had been enlightened, and he remained motionless for a long time.

After a long time, he murmured to himself, “For the rise and fall of the country, every common man has his obligation.” After a while, he laughed loudly: “Yes, for the rise and fall of the country, every common man has his obligation! You are right. Do you know why I gave you this invitation card, or why I gave you that name card in Zhao Family Village that day?”

Tang Shen paused.

He had never thought about this before. Now that he thought about it carefully, he suddenly felt as if he had a bucket of icy water overturned on him and realized his ignorance.

From the moment he transmigrated into the ancient times, he had always had a feeling of superiority. He felt that as a person from a thousand years later he was smarter and more knowledgeable. Whether it was Zeng fuzi or Liang daru, he never really took these ancients too seriously. He always maintained a high position and saw no one in his eyes. Even if he didn’t show it, he had this thought deep in his heart, but he never noticed it. Now that he had discovered it, he was simply too ashamed.

Tang Shen was ashamed, and he said frankly: “I don’t know, sir.”

Liang Song: “Because you and I are so similar!”

“Ah?”

“I have also seen a child prodigy with a highly retentive memory. Of the ten talents in the world, he occupied eight (TN: expression for extraordinary talent). Speaking of myself, I gained the rank of xiucai at the age of twelve and juren at the age of sixteen. At the age of twenty-one, I passed the palace examination as the zhuangyuan (TN: top scorer). Tang Shen, do you dare to say that you would be a jinshi at the age of twenty-one?” (TN: successful candidate in the highest imperial civil service examination)

If it were in the past, Tang Shen might still have confidence that this was possible. But he was no longer arrogant now. He knew that in ancient times, becoming a jinshi was as difficult as climbing the skies.

The imperial examination was held every three years, and each time 300 jinshi were admitted. On average, there were only 100 jinshi a year.

These one hundred people were to the backdrop of the entire Song Dynasty, not a certain city or a certain province! In later generations, Tsinghua University and Peking University admitted tens of thousands of people a year, but in ancient times, there were only a hundred jinshi each year. All the scholars of the world were taking the exam with you and were your classmates.

Tang Shen said: “I don’t dare.”

Liang Song looked at Tang Shen’s humble and ashamed look, and felt even more satisfied. He sighed: “Alas, you are so similar to me. Tang Shen, twenty-four years ago, I was just like you, feeling that the world was in the palm of my hand. But you have to remember that there are things in this world that you can’t do, and there are people that you can’t save. Have you ever seen bones covering a thousand miles, and blood flowing everywhere outside Youzhou City?”

Tang Shen said sincerely: “Sir, I was too arrogant.”

“Enough, come here, Little Tang Lang, that proud and complacent look of before suits you better. But what you said is quite right, for the rise and fall of the country, every common man has his obligation!”

No matter how thick-skinned Tang Shen was, he was still a little embarrassed at this moment. How was he proud and complacent? Sir really doesn’t know how to speak.

Liang Song: “When are you going to study?”

“Uh, this…”

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to catch up with next year’s county exam. There are only three months left. You haven’t even learned the eight-legged essay format, have you?”

Tang Shen lacked confidence: “No…”

Liang Song: “Next month, go to the prefecture academy to study.”

Tang Shen was surprised and said: “Sir, isn’t it true that only xiucai can attend the prefecture academy?”

“My students can attend too.”

Tang Shen said in surprise: “Sir?”

Liang Song laughed and scolded: “You naughty Little Tang Lang, you have come to visit me several times since the Double Ninth Festival, isn’t it just to formally become my student?”

Tang Shen pretended to be dumb: “I just want to see you sir.”

“Enough, go.”

After sending Tang Shen off, Liang daru looked at his thin back and felt relieved and amused at the same time. He rolled the orchid painting into a scroll and put it away, took out a letter paper, and began to write a letter. At the end of it, he pondered a bit and then added another sentence.

“…You old fellow, you found a good student eighteen years ago and showed off to me again and again for eighteen years. Did you know that I also accepted a student today, and he also has a retentive memory like Zi Feng? Moreover, this student of mine is no more than thirteen years old yet he said this to me.”

“For the rise and fall of the country, every common man has his obligation!”

“Did Zi Feng ever say this when he was thirteen?”

After writing the letter proudly, Liang Song called his maternal nephew: “Send this orchid painting and letter to the old fellow in Shengjing.”

“Yes.”

On the other side, Tang Shen still felt a little light-headed after he walked out of the gate of Liang Manor.

Liang daru was right. From the beginning, Tang Shen did not come to visit him for no reason, but with selfish motives: he wanted to formally become the student of Liang Song.

Liang daru was not a person who did not accept students. It was said that before the tenth year of Kaiyuan, when he was the provincial military commander and when the late emperor was still on the throne, he also accepted a few students. It was a pity that most of these students died on the battlefield, and one died of illness many years ago. Perhaps because he was older now, he stopped accepting students.

Logically speaking, Tang Shen was not qualified to have the other make an exception for him, but Tang Shen had one confidence: Liang Bowen personally gave him his name card.

Even if Tang Shen did not enter officialdom in the future, the title of “Liang Bowen’s student” would allow him not to worry about other things.

Now, Tang Shen sincerely wanted Liang Song to be his teacher.

He didn’t have that kind of integrity, but he respected people like that. The world could lose one Tang Shen, but the world could not lack people like Liang Song.

When he returned home, Tang Shen saw his sister waiting outside the door from a distance. As soon as she saw him, Tang Huang hurried over.

Tang Shen was still a little proud at this time. He smiled and said, “Ah Huang, guess what I just accomplished.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Tang Huang stamped her foot: “Bad Tang Shen, I don’t care what you accomplished, something happened, hurry and come in quickly!”

AN: Why do I feel that today you all are going to start guessing the age of old Wang next door…

Old Wang next door: Huh? I’m very young.

Thirteen-year-old little mantis: What, what are you guys talking about? (TN: Little Tang Lang=homonym for little mantis)

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