“Thwack!”
In the small courtyard, Xu Qi An stood under the eaves, casually throwing a diamond-shaped dart. He didn’t even bother to aim carefully.
Yet it precisely hit the bullseye on a wooden stake twenty paces away.
This wasn’t because Xu Qi An’s dart-throwing technique was particularly skillful, but rather… he was lucky.
“There’s something wrong with this body…” Xu Qi An muttered to himself.
His luck was too good. Over the past month, he had picked up a total of one tael and two qian of silver, equivalent to half a month’s salary.
This amount was enough for an ordinary family of three to live frugally for three months.
The strangest thing was that he always picked up one qian of silver each time. This couldn’t be explained by luck alone.
He didn’t need to ask Yuan Fang to know that something was amiss.
“System daddy? Come out, don’t play hide and seek with me,” Xu Qi An probed.
The system ignored him.
Over the past month, he had made countless attempts to awaken the system.
Reality told him that there was no system at all.
How could he explain the strange luck then?
“To think that I, who’ve never won even five yuan in the lottery from childhood to adulthood, would one day evolve into a luck god. But luck gods have extremely short lifespans…” Xu Qi An smiled bitterly, mocking himself.
One thing was certain: the original owner of this body didn’t have such incredible luck. If he had, his aunt wouldn’t have looked down on him; she would have treated him like an ancestor.
The whole family wouldn’t have needed to work hard; they could have lived off his money-picking ability.
“This kind of gift from an unknown source makes me feel inexplicably uneasy…” Xu Qi An’s eyes sank deep in thought as he sighed, “I can only take it one step at a time.”
Today was his day off. Xu Qi An leaped over the ten-foot-high wall to have breakfast at Second Uncle’s house.
The small courtyard he lived in actually used to belong to an old steward of the Xu family, separated from the main residence by just a wall.
Later, after the old steward passed away, the small courtyard was left vacant until Xu Qi An had a falling out with his aunt and angrily moved here.
The original Xu Qi An was stubborn, usually cooking his own three meals a day. Second Uncle would occasionally climb over the wall with wine and dishes to have a drink with his nephew.
The current Xu Qi An saw no need to honor the original’s stubborn ways. If he were to make breakfast himself, he wouldn’t be able to get out of bed. And eating out would be too wasteful.
Wouldn’t it be nicer to listen to music at the brothel? Mainly to see the little sisters in thin gauze skirts shaking their hips.
…
In the inner hall.
Aunt, wearing a dark red wide-sleeved dress, glanced at Xu Qi An as he entered, pursed her lips, and lowered her head to drink her porridge.
Aunt wasn’t a young lady from a wealthy family; her father was a xiucai, barely qualifying as a scholarly family. Having been influenced by this environment, Aunt was somewhat reasonable. Having just benefited from her unlucky nephew’s kindness, she couldn’t bring herself to drive him away. Regarding this nephew who had proven the saying “don’t underestimate the young,” she now turned a blind eye.
The little bean stood in front of a round stool, her breakfast placed on it: three meat buns, two youtiao, a stack of small dishes, and a large bowl of white porridge.
“Big Brother…” she called out unclearly.
“Where’s Ci Jiu?” Xu Qi An asked.
Ci Jiu was Xu Xinnian’s courtesy name, a supplement to his given name.
“Locked in his room writing poetry,” Xu Pingzhi said.
Xu Qi An sat down. Lü’e brought him a bowl of white porridge, six meat buns, a plate of pickled radish, and a bowl of tofu pudding.
A martial artist at the Refining Essence realm had a much larger appetite than ordinary people.
However, when reaching his uncle’s level of Cultivating the Qi realm, his appetite wasn’t much different from that of ordinary people.
Only half full… Xu Qi An glanced at the little bean and said with a gentle smile, “Ling Yin, how about sharing a meat bun with Big Brother?”
Everyone looked at him. The youngest daughter of the family cared about nothing except food. Whoever tried to snatch food from her bowl would face her wrath.
“No!” Little Bean indeed spread her arms, protecting her food like a mother hen guarding her chicks.
“Don’t be hasty, Big Brother won’t let you lose out,” Xu Qi An took a meat bun and put it on her plate, then pointed at the four meat buns and said:
“These four meat buns, don’t we all have a share?”
Xu Ling Yin pecked at her head.
“Shouldn’t we divide them equally?”
Xu Ling Yin tilted her head, thought for a moment, and then nodded.
“You get two buns, Big Brother gets two buns, and then Big Brother will give you half a youtiao. Aren’t you making a profit?”
“Mm.” Xu Ling Yin was led by the rhythm, feeling she had made a great deal, beaming with joy.
Xu Yue Yue: “…”
Xu Pingzhi glanced at his nephew: (・_・)
Aunt angrily said, “How could I have given birth to such a foolish daughter? It’s killing me!”
The little bean felt very wronged, she had gained half a youtiao, why was her mother scolding her?
At this moment, Xu Xinnian came in, muttering to himself, his eyes unfocused. He sat down and ate while thinking.
Aunt let out a sigh, ignoring her foolish younger daughter and showing concern for her promising son:
“Nian’er, why are you suddenly writing poetry? Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, don’t mind what others say.”
Xu Xinnian excelled at policy discussion, but poetry was his weakness.
“Ci Jiu, when will you be able to break through to the eighth rank, the Cultivating Body realm?” Xu Qi An suddenly asked.
Xu Xinnian was following the Confucian path of cultivation. The Cloud Deer Academy was founded by a great disciple of the Confucian sage, with a history of twelve hundred years.
It was the dream destination for scholars across the land.
The Cloud Deer Academy’s transcendent status was not only because its founding ancestor was a disciple of the sage, but more importantly, it was the only remaining academy where one could cultivate the Confucian path.
The ninth rank of the Confucian path: Opening Apertures.
Opening Apertures could only enhance memory, allow one to read ten lines at a glance, and strengthen learning ability, but one would still be weak in combat.
“I haven’t found any clues yet. The master said I need to comprehend it myself,” Xu Xinnian shook his head regretfully.
“You could refer to the Opening Apertures realm,” Xu Qi An said. “How is the Opening Apertures realm achieved?”
Xu Xinnian recalled, “When one can recite the classics of the sages backward and forward, and internalize them, that is the Opening Apertures realm.”
Recite backward and forward… internalize… The former requires spending a lot of time memorizing, while the latter relies on a certain level of insight. Xu Qi An nodded thoughtfully.
This was similar to the Refining Essence realm in the martial arts system, both requiring years of tempering qi and blood and honing the body.
“Then for Cultivating Body, do you also need to temper the body?” Xu Qi An asked.
Xu Xinnian pondered for a moment, then said, “Confucian scholars at the Cultivating Body realm are fearless, and their every word and action can convince people and inspire morale. I’m trying to deduce the cultivation method by considering the abilities manifested in the Cultivating Body realm.”
“Have you been successful?”
Xu Xinnian pretended not to hear and turned to his mother, saying, “An elder from the academy has taken an official position and is going to Qing Province. It’s a long journey, and tomorrow the academy students will see him off and present poems.”
At this point, Xu Xinnian said worriedly, “I haven’t written a farewell poem yet.”
Xu Yue Yue said in a soft voice, “Second Brother doesn’t have poetic talent.”
Aunt glared at her, displeased, “Your Second Brother is talented in many ways. He just hasn’t focused on poetry before.”
Xu Pingzhi scratched his head, “Just write something casual. I think that line of poetry you blurted out the other day was quite impressive.”
“Ku ku ku…” Xu Qi An laughed out loud.
Xu Xinnian’s mouth twitched, and he stiffly changed the subject, “That elder is a world-renowned Confucian scholar, extremely skilled in poetry. Those seeing him off are all students with considerable poetic talent. Apart from respect for the elder, they also have the intention of networking.”
“If one could gain the appreciation of that elder, it would be greatly beneficial.”
Not bad, he’s finally thinking about networking.
Xu Xinnian was proud and aloof, always talking about “a gentleman’s friendship is as plain as water” and “a gentleman makes friends but doesn’t form cliques.”
After experiencing this crisis, he finally realized the benefits of building connections.
As the elder brother, Xu Qi An felt quite gratified.
For Second Young Master, who wasn’t good at poetry, to go to such lengths to network, this must be an important figure… Aunt became anxious, “What should we do?”
Xu Xinnian said helplessly, “Mother, great writing comes naturally, with occasional strokes of genius. The same applies to poetry.”
Then he sighed, “If I had been able to connect with this literary elder earlier, perhaps I could have saved you all from prison, instead of having nowhere to turn for help.”
Aunt immediately looked worried. She cared about her son’s future more than anyone else.
True great Confucian scholars have integrity; sending silver or gifts won’t work. You must cater to their interests, make them feel you’re worth knowing, that they can look up to you.
Xu Pingzhi frowned deeply, “Your maternal grandfather was like you, only able to write essays, with no talent for poetry.”
Aunt became indignant, her pretty eyebrows raised, “What do you mean by that? Is it my father’s fault?”
“Xinnian’s success in the provincial examination is entirely due to my Li family’s merit because he takes after me. Look at Ling Yin, she takes after you, and hasn’t even begun her education yet.”
Xu Xinnian and Xu Yue Yue’s appearances took after their mother, with enviably good looks. The little bean Xu Ling Yin’s features took after her father, so while cute, she appeared a bit silly.
Second Uncle Xu was left speechless.
Xu Qi An disagreed, “Aunt, that’s not right. By your logic, are you saying the Xu family genes are stupid?”
Aunt didn’t understand what genes were, but she sneered, “If you had been suited for studying, you wouldn’t have gone to learn martial arts.”
Given Second Young Master’s stubborn personality, if he’s thinking about actively networking, that elder from the academy must be of no small status. Second Young Master’s connections are my connections, and my connections are still my connections. I should help him out. Xu Qi An’s thoughts flashed, considering classic farewell poems from his previous life that could be used.
Although I don’t plan to make my way in the Confucian world, why not take advantage of resources to gain benefits when the opportunity arises?
Soon, he had an idea in mind, settling on one poem.
Xu Qi An took a big bite of his meat bun, “Writing poetry, is it? Today, let Aunt know that everyone in the Xu family is talented.”
Now he had to consider whether this poem would be too excellent. After all, poems that could make it into textbooks were all timeless classics.