The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 146 Dare Not Call Myself a Scholar

“This is Qing City? Those fences are really tall!” Wei Xiaozhuang exclaimed as he saw the city walls almost reaching up to the sky. His voice was filled with awe and disbelief.

Li Ye laughed and said, “This is called the city wall.”

“Of course, that’s what I meant. My master told me about it.” Wei Xiaozhuang answered in all seriousness, acting as if he had only made a slip-up. He continued, “But it’s not as tall as he once claimed it to be. He said there’s a city wall as tall as a mountain, but I say he was definitely making that up.”

Li Ye smiled at his reply. As one of the prefectures in Pinglu, Qing Prefecture had very tall city walls. However, it still could not compare to Chang’an, so Li Ye did not feel so amazed.

When the three of them entered the city with the carriage, the sergeant guarding the city gate carried out a thorough search of the carriage. It was not because the security in Qing Prefecture was tight these days, but the sight of the three of them traveling with an empty carriage was too suspicious to be overlooked.

The sergeant did not find anything. He glanced at the three of them with a look of judgement on his face and his gaze rested on Su Emei’s face for particularly long. Eventually, he waved at them and let them in.

Walking through the corridor under the city gate, their vision expanded. Upon seeing the moving crowds on the wide streets and tall houses on both sides of the street, Wei Xiaozhuang could no longer pretend that it wasn’t his first time in a city. He stared at everything in front of him and had stopped moving completely.

“Stop staring, let’s hurry,” Su Emei said to him in a low voice as she walked past him.

Wei Xiaozhuang quickened his pace, yet knocked into a sturdy man dressed in a fancy robe. Under his glare, Xiaozhuang quickly smiled and nodded at him apologetically. When he caught up with Su Emei, he was still looking around in awe. He asked her also in a low voice, “There are so many people here, and all the houses are so huge and similar, how are we going to find the Cui family?”

Su Emei had been unsure and nervous about this as well, so she looked at Li Ye’s backside and tried to act calm. “Don’t worry, we still have Childe Li. He must visit the city very often, so he definitely knows a way to find out.”

“You’re right.” Wei Xiaozhuang nodded thankfully. “Luckily, we met brother Li on our way, otherwise our task would be so much harder to complete.” He quickened his pace and caught up to Li Ye as he said that.

“Let’s go sell that carriage first,” said Li Ye to the two. “We should find a carriage shop in a nearby market, then make our way to the Cui family.”

Wei Xiaozhuang was very confused at the terms he just used, as he had no idea what they were, so he just nodded and said, “Anything you say, brother Li.”

Li Ye looked back at Su Emei and saw her appearing calm and collected as usual, unlike the nervous and excited Wei Xiaozhuang. However, under his meticulous observation, he still discovered that Su Emei’s grip around her sword had tightened a little.

Her behavior wasn’t unreasonable because everyone on the street would turn their head and look at Su Emei for a bit longer whenever they saw her. Some young ladies would even giggle among themselves. It wasn’t just because Su Emei looked stunning, but also because she was wearing Li Ye’s clothes.

No lady would wear a long robe unless it was a Taoist robe. Even though Su Emei was tall and has long legs, the robe still did not fit her well enough.

For someone who was experiencing the Jianghu and entering a city for the first time, it was inevitable that Su Emei would feel pretty nervous under the stares of everyone on the street. Upon seeing that, Li Ye decided to get her some new clothes before visiting the Cui family. Even if the Cui family did not find it strange and inappropriate to see her in men’s clothing, Su Emei herself would not feel at ease in that robe for sure.

When they sold the carriage, the buyer paid Li Ye one huge bag full of coins, which weighed about five kilograms. That was how payments were made back then—when big families wanted to purchase expensive items, they would often let their servants carry a few huge bags of coins. It might have looked impressive, but it was very inconvenient, hence other forms of currency such as banknotes were invented later in history.

“So much?” Su Emei was shocked when she saw the amount because she only gave Li Ye a handful of coins when she paid him back...

“Are these coins the same as the ones we brought?” Wei Xiaozhuang looked into the coin bag for a while, then said to Li Ye with a confused face, “They look exactly the same!”

“Of course they aren’t the same! The coins from your temple are the rare kind.” Li Ye told them a white lie because he did not want to put them in an awkward situation.

Su Emei blushed immediately and glared at Li Ye. Feeling both embarrassed and angry, she said, “Do you think I’m stupid?”

Now she finally realized that she owed Li Ye a lot of money. Recalling how excited that merchant looked when he left with the gold, she guessed that lump of gold was even more valuable.

However, Li Ye did not even mention that to her. His generosity was what had improved Su Emei’s impression of him, yet it had also made her feel very guilty and uneasy.

“Being in the Jianghu, you must know that money isn’t important at all! One’s loyalty toward friends matters much more!” Li Ye suddenly started preaching with a righteous face and a serious voice just like all the experienced seniors in the Jianghu. He then passed the bag to Wei Xiaozhuang and said, “Here’s your money, keep it safe!”

Su Emei was at a loss for a moment. She looked at Li Ye in confusion and blinked her big eyes that were full of questions.

Holding a huge bag of money, Wei Xiaozhuang apparently did not know how to react either.

“Let’s go and get you some new clothes,” Li Ye waved at the two of them and said, “unless you prefer being the focus of everyone’s attention.”

Su Emei felt a little embarrassed as she surely did not want to be in everyone’s eyes, yet it would cost her more money to buy new clothes. She frowned at that thought, not knowing which decision she should make.

Li Ye showed his decisive side promptly and brought the two of them to a fancy tailor shop for Su Emei to pick out some finished clothes for herself. Small tailor shops might only have material but not finished clothes.

When Su Emei was choosing her clothes, she faced a real difficulty. She could not wear all those colorful light dresses as she simply could not appreciate them. In her opinion, those clothes were not designed to be worn.

The more clothes she viewed and the more precious the shopkeeper described them to be, the more embarrassed she felt and the lower she kept her head. When her ear was almost as red as a ripened apple, Li Ye finally decided to take her out of there to get her a Taoist robe instead.

In the end, Li Ye went to the Cui family’s manor with two Taoists.

“Cui Keli?” Upon hearing that name from Su Emei, Li Ye had already developed an image of a strict-looking old man with a long, white beard.

When the receptionist at the concierge heard they wanted to meet Cui Keli, he looked at them in a weird way, as if the three of them were idiots. If Cui Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang were not Taoists, he might have not even gone in and reported for them.

“Have you met this Cui Keli before?” Li Ye asked Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang.

Both of them shook their heads, and Su Emei explained, “Although our master said he provides aid to our temple very frequently, he has actually never visited our temple before.”

Li Ye did not inquire further. He had heard of Cui Keli before. His memory in this life told him that Ms. Cui had always repeated this name when she was still alive, so he was probably her younger brother or something.

They waited for quite some time for the concierge. Just when Wei Xiaozhuang was getting impatient, a middle-aged servant finally walked out and greeted them. “Coming all the way here, you must all be tired, please follow me.” This servant wore a blue linen shirt that already appeared white at its corners, and a pair of cloth shoes.

Li Ye had a few thoughts in mind when he saw this servant. If the servant had been sent by Cui Keli himself, he had to be someone he deeply trusted. As a servant of the inner yard, one should be treated fairly nicely. Seeing that this servant’s clothes looked even shabbier than the receptionist’s, Li Ye guessed that Cui Keli was not treated very well in the Cui family either.

Following this middle-aged servant, the three of them walked on many winding routes and passed by many pavilions, and their whereabouts appeared to be getting more remote. Among everyone they encountered on their way, no one greeted this middle-aged servant, which further confirmed Li Ye’s judgement.

After walking for about half an hour, there were no more houses around them. They climbed over a small hill and traveled past a bamboo forest, and finally saw a stream and some farmland with crops of the current season. There was another piece of land used to plant vegetables, and their growth looked really promising. Each piece of farmland was very well taken care of and watered by that stream, all these details showed that the farmer must be a diligent man.

There were two houses in front of the farmlands with a total of five or six rooms inside, plus one thatched cottage where a bunch of ducks and chicks were being raised. In addition to them, there was a big yellow dog lying in the yard enjoying a sunbath. When it saw Li Ye and the others, it first barked at them, then gave a small whine and lay down to enjoy his sunbath again, just like a grandma enjoying her carefree life.

“Xiaoman might be lazy, but she understands humans very well. Just now, Xiaoman was just greeting me. Since you are with me, she won’t make things difficult for you,” said the middle-aged servant gently.

“Xiaoman?” Wei Xiaozhuang looked at the middle-aged servant while pointing at that big yellow dog, and asked in surprise, “You said this yellow dog is called Xiaoman?”

The servant nodded. “Xiaoman is female.”

Wei Xiaozhuang scratched his head, but in the end, kept his words to himself. He did not mean to confirm the dog’s gender, he just thought that Xiaoman was supposed to be a human’s name.

The servant brought them into the empty house and asked them to be seated. He said, “I am sorry for my humble residence, please have a seat and make yourself at home. I’ll prepare some tea for you and will be back shortly.”

He then left the house again.

Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang sat down properly and started looking around the room.

There was not much furniture in this room. Judging from the fresh scratch marks on the floor, that set of four high-leg chairs and table were just purchased recently. However, there were many bookshelves filled with ancient books and records. The writing desk was covered with used writing paper. As the sunlight came into the room through the window and a gentle breeze caressed the paper on the desk, rustling sounds could be heard and the refreshing smell of books and ink spread across the room.

Li Ye went over to the writing desk and was immediately attracted by the strong handwriting on the writing paper. Although the paper was the most common kind, it still did not stop his urge to pick it up and read.

After reading one page, Li Ye frowned a little and started thinking. The content of those drafts showed a deep and unique understanding, so they had to be written by a renowned scholar, who should be Cui Keli himself. However, the quality of the paper was too poor to be something he might use. Scholars usually had a very high standard for the stationary they used, since only the best stationary was considered elegant enough for them. As long as they could afford higher quality stationary, they would use the better one for sure.

With a tray in his hand, the middle-aged servant came in to serve Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang some tea. Seeing Li Ye standing in front of the writing desk, he appeared surprised and asked, “Taoist master, could it be that you are also into the works of Confucianism?”

Li Ye laughed and said, “I’m no Taoist, I’m just a friend of these two Taoists here. I’ve read some works of Confucianism and became rather interested in them. After reading Mr. Cui’s drafts, I am really impressed by his insights and understanding.”

A hint of excitement flashed across the middle-aged servant’s eyes, as if he just found a like-minded friend after so long.

Wei Xiaozhuang coughed and looked at the servant with a serious face. “Um, we are here to visit Mr. Cui, may we know if he’s currently available?”

The middle-aged servant looked confused for a short while then said, “I am Mr. Cui.”

Li Ye was taken aback by his answer, and Su Emei found his reply unbelievable as well. Wei Xiaozhuang looked shocked and said to him, “I meant Mr. Cui Keli!”

“I am Cui Keli,” said the middle-aged servant in all seriousness, “I live here alone.”

The three of them all looked at each other in confusion. “Isn’t this man just a servant?”

As a renowned figure in the Jianghu and the direct child of the Cui family, how could Cui Keli dress so shabbily? His face looked very ordinary, no one would recognize him once he blended into a huge crowd. It was said that scholars would have a much more outstanding aura around them, but this guy in front of them could not look any more ordinary.

Now everyone finally knew why the receptionist had that expression when he heard they were here to visit Cui Keli.

Li Ye thought about what Cui Keli said and asked, “Sir, did you plant all the crops outside by yourself?”

Cui Keli nodded. Seeing that Li Ye was rather surprised, he went on to explain, “A scholar should do everything by himself should he wish to leave a legacy to his descendants. As a scholar who abides by Confucianism, I must also aim to ensure the welfare of everyone in this world by first keeping a high level of self-discipline, having a harmonious family, then running my nation well, and eventually ensuring peace across the world. Having said that, without experiencing and understanding the suffering of the people for myself, how could I set about ensuring the welfare of my people?”

This was the first time Li Ye had ever heard this argument.

He had met numerous scholars in Chang’an, all of them preferred writing poems, tasting wines, and visiting brothels as so-called elegant activities, and saw ordinary people as being of the lowest social status. Wei Baoheng’s younger brother, Wei Jiangnan, was exactly this type of scholar.

There were plenty of imperial scholars who entered the imperial court yet still could not recognize the difference between a leek and a garlic seedling! Shouldn’t the ultimate goal of any scholar be to serve the imperial court with outstanding knowledge and martial arts skills? Weren’t they the very people who would be giving orders to the whole country, and control the welfare of the people?

Li Ye could not help being impressed by this humble-looking scholar who chose to farm by himself, so he cupped one hand in the other before his chest and said genuinely, “Your words have indeed enlightened me, your actions and thoughts ought to be looked up to by all scholars in the country.”

However, Cui Keli shook his head upon hearing his compliments. He sighed heavily and returned the courtesy. Feeling ashamed, he said, “Please don’t compliment me like that, childe. I am in no position to receive your kind words. Over the decades of my learning journey, I’ve only been with my small houses and farmland, and have never traveled across the country to truly witness and experience the suffering of the people. I have many thoughts and beliefs, yet I can only write to express my ambition to myself. In fact, I’ve never truly done anything that benefits the people. I have failed to live up to the expectations of my ancestors, and dare not call myself a scholar.”

“Dares not call himself a scholar!”

Li Ye became speechless upon hearing that sentence.

He remembered something all of a sudden.

Li Xian once also mentioned that there were barely any scholars who had their minds in the right place for their people. They all forgot about their ambitions once they entered the imperial court, and thought they were more superior to others once they had some cultivation. In their eyes, the people were merely objects under their governance.

However, Cui Keli of Qing Prefecture could be regarded as a decent scholar of Confucianism.

When Li Xian said that, his eyes were filled with admiration and respect. In Li Ye’s memories, there was barely anyone in the entire world who could make Li Xian feel that way.