Wearing only a single layer of clothing in the depths of winter’s ninth cold period, hanging from a beam for three days and nights without food or water, with his back covered in wounds—by all rights, few six-year-old children could have survived.

But Lu Shi survived.

Everyone in the Lu family said that little bastard was probably an evil ghost reborn—his life was tough.

Only he himself knew how hard it had been to survive. He spent a full three months recuperating in bed.

Yuan Shi transformed from a whore back into a mother.

She hired physicians to treat his illness, supervised servants as they prepared medicine, bought him all sorts of delicious things to eat. Most importantly, no men came at night anymore.

Lu Shi thought to himself—could a whore actually reform?

Unfortunately, once those three months passed and he could jump around energetically again, Yuan Shi changed back.

Lu Shi didn’t care anymore. Three months as a mother was still being a mother.

Moreover, he no longer wanted to beat her to death, because the books said: “At nine years old, Xiang warmed his parents’ bed.” The books also said: “Of all virtues, filial piety is foremost.”

What the books said should be correct. As long as that woman didn’t beat him, didn’t curse him, and wasn’t too loud at night, and frequently bought him books to read, he would turn a blind eye—he’d just consider it fulfilling his filial duty in advance.

In the small courtyard, mother and son achieved unprecedented harmony. That woman lived in the east wing room, he lived in the west wing room—they didn’t interfere with each other.

Very few people in the Lu family dared bully him anymore. When they saw him, they all avoided him from afar, as if he were a plague god.

Treating him like a plague god was right—no one should bother with him, and he didn’t want to bother with anyone. This way, he had plenty of time to do his own things.

There was only one thing Lu Shi wanted to do: train his body well.

That punch from the Fourth Young Master had truly hurt him. He thought that people couldn’t just take beatings—they had to hit back.

He came up with a good plan: go to the quarry and carry stones with those bare-chested men, practice his strength.

When that woman found out, she chased after him with a mallet to beat him.

He fled the courtyard. Seeing a persimmon tree in the distance, he climbed up it in no time—better to hide first.

Who knew that before the woman found him, the Fourth Young Master found him first.

Enemies on a narrow road.

The Fourth Young Master called over several servants and threw pebbles at him.

He wasn’t afraid at all. The thought in his mind was still: as long as you don’t kill me with your throwing, one day I’ll stone you to death.

“Bang!”

A pebble struck his right hand. His hand loosened and his body kept sliding down.

Suddenly, intense pain came from below. He shouted “It hurts so much!” and fell straight down.

When he woke again, he was already in bed, with thick layers of wrapping below.

That woman looked at him with a complex gaze, as if looking at a dead man.

Many days later, he learned from the servants’ mouths that he might have become a eunuch—

A sharp tree branch had injured his private parts, and the physician had forcibly stitched it back together.

Six-year-old Lu Shi didn’t think it was such a serious matter. He was only worried whether the Fourth Young Master would sneak away while he was recuperating.

Another three months of bed rest.

Three months later, that woman dropped him off at the quarry and walked away without looking back.

And so, he spent half his days mixing with rough men, half his days reading and writing. His days were extremely fulfilling.

Every night when he lay in bed and closed his eyes, he slept wonderfully and even snored softly.

As for the Fourth Young Master, he heard that on the very day of the incident, his parents had sent him to Jinling Prefecture. He was now studying at the Imperial Academy by the Confucius Temple.

He wasn’t in a hurry.

A gentleman’s revenge is never too late, even after ten years—he’d remember this debt first.

Days passed—six years of them.

When he was twelve years and one month old, Lu Shi suddenly wanted to attend private school.

Not to learn anything—just to compare himself with others, see how his studies measured up, and incidentally get into a few fights to see how many he could take on.

He told this idea to that woman, and without another word, she headed straight for the study of the Lu family’s master.

The reason the woman was so eager was indeed because she’d listened to a fortune teller’s words, but that fortune teller was one Lu Shi himself had paid to bring in from outside.

Those words about great wealth and nobility were naturally all fabricated.

At twelve years old, he had already learned to plan before acting.

When he first entered private school, Lu Shi felt quite fresh—after all, his own studying had been self-taught and couldn’t be presented properly.

A year later, he felt that this studying was… increasingly boring.

What kind of lousy teacher was this? His essays weren’t even as good as Lu Shi’s.

Those scholars were even weaker, one by one. Forget about taking on several—he could fight all of them with strength to spare.

So he started skipping classes every day to play outside.

Liuhe County was such a tiny place—there wasn’t much to do. His courage was great, so he took a ferry alone and headed for Jinling Prefecture.

There was a debt he still hadn’t settled!

“Ten li of Qinhuai breeds spring dreams, six dynasties of misty moonlight gather in Jinling”—what an intoxicating place that was.

He mingled in tea houses, listening to storytellers tell strange tales and unusual events.

He sat on pleasure boats, watching courtesans play the pipa and sing southern ditties.

He sat at the entrance to Jinling Prefecture’s Imperial Academy, watching scholars coming and going, engaged in lofty discussions, full of vigor…

He felt very envious and told himself that sooner or later, he too would live such an intoxicating life!

The Fourth Young Master was studying at the Imperial Academy. Supposedly his studies weren’t going well, but he’d bedded one young man after another.

By this time, Lu Shi was too lazy for violence. He simply wrote a letter and sent it to the academy’s teacher, sternly pointing out that scholars indulging in male relationships was conduct that damaged public morals. If the academy didn’t handle it, they would be violating Confucian teachings.

Two days later, the Fourth Young Master slunk back to the Lu family. As for what happened after, he didn’t want to inquire about a single word.

After wandering around Jinling Prefecture for a full six days, Lu Shi made a shocking decision—he was going to the capital.

In the tea houses, the storytellers spoke of amusing incidents from noble houses in the capital.

On the pleasure boats, the guests were from the capital, speaking standard Mandarin.

At the Imperial Academy entrance, the scholars chatted about the capital’s Imperial Academy.

The capital—at the feet of the Son of Heaven, where officials gathered like clouds and noble houses stood in forests—that was the place all scholars and officials in the realm yearned for.

This decision happened when Lu Shi was fourteen years and three months old.

Then he spent a full two years preparing for his trip to the capital.

Two years later.

With one hundred fifty taels of private silver tucked in his chest, following what the books said about “filial piety being foremost among all virtues,” he told that woman about his plan.

He even kindly asked: Do you want to come with me?

That woman froze for a moment, then rushed into the courtyard, grabbed a mallet, and came back to beat him over the head.

While beating him, she cursed. From that rouge-painted crimson mouth spewed one venomous word after another.

When she was tired of beating and cursing, she sat down on the ground, pounding her chest and wailing, as if she were the most sorrowful person in the world.

What a fucking bastard.

He got up, spat, turned around, and went back to his room. When he woke at night, he discovered that woman sitting by his bed with her eyes wide open, staring like a female ghost.

No—like a drunk, reeking of alcohol.