I come to see Bai Yujing today

Chapter 57 Chen Zhian Watching the River

The head of the Zhou family stood on the Wangshui Tower on the bank of the Qingshui River in Sunan Prefecture, watching a young man fishing in the river from afar.

The young man was wearing clean blue clothes, had fair skin and a tall stature. He was indeed a good young man.

But when the head of the Zhou family saw the young man fishing, his brows were almost twisted into one. He tried his best to hide his eyes, but still couldn't conceal the coldness in them.

"Look, he is wearing the Xuanmen treasured robe that I gave to Xiu Jing."

The Zhou family master spoke slowly.

The men in black behind him didn't dare to look up, for fear that their master's anger would affect them.

"Chu Muye went to Xuantianjing, but Chen Zhian still dared to be so leisurely and fish by the river." The master of the Zhou family grinned, his eyes became increasingly gloomy, and no one knew what he was planning.

Until after a sound of footsteps, a familiar voice suddenly came to the ears of Master Zhou.

"Mr. Zhou, I advise you not to have any ideas about this young man."

Master Zhou turned his head and saw Zhao Chuanji, the co-magistrate of Sunan Prefecture, with his hands folded in his sleeves. Behind him were the officials from the second and third offices of the government office, as well as several officials whose families had been in business for generations. They had probably just finished their meal together.

Facing the second-ranked official in Suwuzhou, the master of the Zhou family did not dare to neglect him. He just concealed the hatred in his eyes and saluted towards Zhao Chuanji.

"Sir, my child died on the Fengbo Stage and in a fatal fight, so I naturally cannot blame others." The master of the Zhou family said with his head down.

Zhao Chuanji walked forward a few steps and came to the railing of the Wangshui Tower. He watched from afar the young man who was fishing contentedly by the Qingshui River.

"I know you have hatred in your heart. You must be resentful of the death of your own flesh and blood. But... that's how things are in the world. Once you reach out to others, you must be prepared to bleed.

If it were someone else, I wouldn't want to say much about your Zhou family. As long as you don't break the law under the nose of the government office, no one will come to question you, Mr. Zhou.

But Chen Zhian is different."

Zhao Chuanji spoke slowly and in a calm tone.

But he had held the official position for a long time, and was even a powerful bureaucrat like the governor of a prefecture, so naturally he developed his majesty.

There seemed to be an astonishing majesty beneath the calm tone.

The master of the Zhou family was originally listening with his head down, but when he heard what Zhao Chuanji said, he raised his head again.

He looked at Zhao Chuanji and said, "Mr. Tongzhi... I know that Chen Zhian somehow got an eighth-rank honor and became an honorary official... How dare a businessman kill an official?"

Zhao Chuanji laughed and said, "The Zhou family is not an ordinary businessman. Their medicinal materials business covers several states. I don't know how many dignitaries have benefited from it. Their connections are amazing.

The deceased's uncle was a man of great power in the Inspectorate, a real fourth-rank official, and he also worked in the Inspectorate, a government office that was feared by everyone.
"An eighth-ranked honorary with no position or power, and even no offerings to receive, is now nothing in your eyes, Mr. Zhou."

Zhao Chuanji suddenly changed the subject when he said this: "However, I want to remind you that the memorial and the jade tablet for Chen Zhian's promotion to Cheyilang were sent by the Xiezhi envoy of the Inspectorate. Do you know who signed the memorial?"

Mr. Zhou listened carefully.

Zhao Chuanji narrowed his eyes and said, "You are a wealthy businessman in Suwuzhou, with a thriving business. I don't know how many people in Suwuzhou rely on your Zhou family for food, and a lot of business taxes come from you. I don't want to see you make mistakes."

"Mr. Zhou, the one who signed the memorial was the Prime Minister Song!"

The Zhou family master's pupils shrank.

Why would an eighth-rank official like Song be so troubled to personally sign the memorials and the imperial seal?
“I don’t know why Prime Minister Song personally signed Chen Zhi’an’s honorary rank memorial, but as the co-magistrate of Suwu Prefecture, I naturally have to think more about such a strange thing.

When you encounter such a strange young man, even with the name of Prime Minister Song, you must take good care of him and not let him die, lest there be trouble in the future. If I get caught up in this kind of thing, it will inevitably be unworthy. It will be a pity for your Zhou family's business to decline because of this."

To the ears of Mr. Zhou, Zhao Chuanji's words were like thunder.

His Zhou family was a wealthy family in Suwu Prefecture, and their connections were amazing, but if the person looking down at them was a figure like Prime Minister Song, the Zhou family would be nothing more than a larger ant nest.

"That memorial...was it really signed by Prime Minister Song?"

After a long time, the Zhou family's master took a deep breath and asked with some hopelessness.

At this time, an old man came to the Qingshui River and sat next to Chen Zhian. The two talked and laughed while fishing together.

"Iron-armed General..."

Zhao Chuanji glanced at the master of the Zhou family.

The master of the Zhou family naturally recognized the old man who sat next to Chen Zhian. His breathing became heavier and he felt quite weak.

There are actually not many things that can make him feel powerless, but many of them happened to this common boy, Chen Zhian.

"That letter..."

The master of the Zhou family suddenly remembered the letter that Li Fushu, the son of General Xuan Zi, wrote to his own child.

He had already heard the contents of the letter from Zhou Xiujing's personal attendant.

The Li family of Xuantianjing is another behemoth, just like the Tiger Hill outside Sunan Prefecture. If the mountain presses down, I am afraid that the entire Sunan Prefecture will be reduced to dust.

All of a sudden, Master Zhou's breathing calmed down.

"My wife has already written to my brother-in-law about this matter. He has always loved my child. My Zhou family will no longer care about this matter and cannot care about it. Let's see if Chen Zhian can always live in peace like this."

He seemed somewhat relieved.

Suddenly, there was a sound of hurried footsteps on the stairs overlooking the water.

A clerk from the government office came hurriedly with two guards in armor, and bowed respectfully to the co-magistrate Zhao Chuanji, as if he had something to report.

"What's the confidential matter?" Zhao Chuanji asked.

The clerk shook his head: "It's not confidential, but it's very urgent. It's an order from the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs?" Zhao Chuanji raised his eyebrows: "Since there is no secret, let's talk about it here."

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs sent a letter ordering Chen Zhian from Sunan Prefecture to leave for Xuan Tianjing immediately. Many nobles in the palace are waiting for Chen Zhian, and they ordered us not to delay."

"You didn't tell me why?"

"Reporting to the co-magistrate, no."

"..."

"understood."

Zhao Chuanji turned his head away from the old man of the Zhou family whose expression had changed again. He just stared at Chen Zhian by the Qingshui River, wondering what he was thinking. General Tiebi caught a Qinghe fish.

Qinghe fish is a specialty of the Qingshui River in southern Jiangsu Province. It is abundant in number and has delicious meat.

Southern Jiangsu is known as the land of fish and rice, and the word "fish" here refers to the Qinghe fish.

"I fished all afternoon yesterday but didn't catch a single fish. How come I was able to catch fish as soon as the general arrived?"

Chen Zhian was puzzled.

General Tiebi glanced at him and said, "You are not sincere. You are still practicing your skills and training your true energy while fishing, so naturally you can't catch any fish."

"What does this have to do with it?" Chen Zhian became more and more puzzled. He had already mastered the second level of the White Jade Cicada Shell. Although training his true energy was not as easy as breathing, it did not hinder things like fishing at all. So why couldn't he catch any fish?
General Iron Arm did not intend to teach him the fishing skills. Instead, he looked him up and down and sighed.

When an old man sees a talented young man like Chen Zhian, he always remembers his own youthful days.

He was born into a frontier family, and by his generation, many members of the clan had died in battle, leaving the family in decline, but they only left him with one first-grade profound skill and one first-grade magic method.

General Shen sold his family property and went north to Tianmen to join the army. He relied on his first-grade profound skills and first-grade magic to fight for the position of a fourth-grade general.

Even though his foundation has been damaged, his cultivation has stagnated and his true energy is even being depleted.

But he was still a meritorious official of Dayu. He had seen beautiful mountains and rivers, countless beauties and beautiful scenes, and he thought his life was perfect.

But in the past few months, when he saw Chen Zhian, who was so talented, he suddenly envied his youth.

"Chen Zhian will surely become famous at a young age... Perhaps one day, the Xuantianjing Li family will acknowledge him as their grandson."

"According to the temperament of the Minister of Revenue, he might ask Chen Zhian to change his surname to Li."

"With a lack of cultivation resources and no one to teach him, he is still so extraordinary. If he had the resources of the Li family, I'm afraid Chen Zhian would soar to the sky."

General Shen was thinking this while Chen Zhian beside him was still fishing.

But then, General Shen discovered that Chen Zhian was holding the fishing rod with one hand and making sword-shaped gestures with the other hand.

Tiny strands of true energy flow on it, layer upon layer, which is quite exquisite.

"A sword technique of the third-grade profound skill level."

General Shen sensed the waves of Chen Zhian's true energy one after another.

But then General Shen was suddenly stunned. He looked at the Qingshui River from afar, but saw that the waves on the river were also one layer after another.

"General Tiebi, do the waves in the river look like a surging army?" Chen Zhian suddenly asked.

General Tiebi was silent for a few moments, then nodded: "Yes."

"But it's not similar enough. You should go and see the Huanglong River that runs through the city of Xuan Tianjing. The strongest point of the Huanglong River is at the foot of Xiuba Mountain. When the water of the Huanglong River pours down, the waves are really like the roar of a hundred thousand troops, or like thousands of knights drawing their swords, or even more like thousands of war horses marching in unison, galloping towards us in a mighty manner."

"Huanglong River..." Chen Zhian wrote it down carefully.

The iron-armed general at the side steadied the fishing rod in his hand and caught another fish.

Chen Zhian looked at his fish with envy.

He looked at Chen Zhian with envy.

"This Chen Zhian is observing the river water, and he is about to comprehend the sword's power, which will make his third-grade profound skill complete."

-

In Yufu Palace.

Princess Linglong specially invited several scholars from the Imperial Academy a few days ago and asked them to find out the background of a poet.

However, these scholars from the Imperial Academy found nothing after searching the classics for several days.

Neither in the fragments of Daxi nor in the records of Dayu, there is any poet named "Li Bai".

Princess Linglong was still not giving up and even consulted several university scholars, but got the same result.

At this very moment, Princess Linglong had that special painting in front of her eyes, and her eyes, like thousands of pearls, fell on the painting.

Wandering over the picture of the figure and the poem in the upper left corner.

She just thought that this person's painting was very beautiful.

She also felt that the poem was so good that tears always welled up in her eyes whenever she read it.

"The clouds think of clothes, the flowers think of face, the spring breeze blows on the threshold and the dew is thick.

If we hadn’t met on the top of the Jade Mountain, we would have met under the moon on the Jade Terrace.”

With only four lines, Princess Linglong felt that this poem was better than any other poem she had ever seen in her life.

"There is no poet named Li Bai in this world. Otherwise, he would have been famous all over the world if he had written such a poem. How could he remain unknown?"

Princess Linglong was thinking this when she saw the signature in the lower right corner of the painting.

"Sunan Mansion...Chen Zhian."

"Perhaps Chen Zhian was a very old man, and his age made him accidentally acquire this poem."

"Or maybe this Li Bai is just a pseudonym."

There are countless writers and creators under pseudonyms in the world, but Princess Linglong thought about it and couldn't figure out who in the world could write such a poem under a pseudonym.

"The clouds resemble clothes and the flowers resemble faces. They appear for the first time in this painting."

"If that's the case, then this poem was written by Chen Zhian? Is Li Taibai his pseudonym?"

Princess Linglong imagined a lot and developed a strong interest in this painter who was far away in Sunan Prefecture.

"I wonder if they have set off yet..."

She thought so in her heart.

(End of this chapter)