Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Xu Qianqian never dreamed that the man marrying into the Count of Xuanwu’s family would be Shen Lang. How could it be him?
It was an impossibility, even if the sun were to rise in the west. Who was Jin Mulan?! Was she not a lofty goddess, high above the common folk? And Shen Lang, by contrast? An ignorant, foolish idiot from a lowly, unremarkable family. Besides, wasn't he the son-in-law who had just been kicked out of the Xu Clan? How could a noble family like the Count of Xuanwu’s Estate possibly choose a vagrant like him as a son-in-law? No. She simply could not accept this outcome.
‘Shen Lang! You were abandoned by me and thrown out by my family, so what right do you have to be sitting there? You’re marrying a woman more beautiful and noble than me? How is this possible? It’s absurd!’
"Hahahaha…."
Just then, Zhang Jin burst into loud laughter, drawing everyone’s attention.
"Lady Jin Mulan, is this wedding a sham? A scheme from the very beginning?"
Jin Mulan, displeased by his words, replied coldly.
"Why would you say such a thing?"
Zhang Jin pointed at Shen Lang and said.
"Everyone, do you know who this man is? He is Shen Lang. He studied for ten years yet couldn't even learn the *Thousand Character Classic* and was expelled from the Hanshujin Academy. After marrying into the Xu Clan, he was thrown out for stealing valuables and harassing a maidservant. How could such a worthless man become the son-in-law of the Count’s estate? Therefore, this wedding must be a fake."
The young men in the crowd couldn't help but shout out.
"He's right, he's right!"
They all believed the wedding was a farce. How could Lady Jin Mulan marry such trash? After speaking, Zhang Jin glanced at someone in the crowd. A scholar stepped out and declared in a clear, resonant voice.
"I can attest to that better than anyone. I studied with him at the Hanshujin Academy, and Shen Lang is an utter simpleton, a complete moron!"
Shen Lang recognized the man. His name was An Xiong, a former classmate from the Hanshujin Academy. It was always the acquaintances who came out to backstab you when it mattered most. An Xiong, being from a poor and humble family, wouldn't normally have been qualified to attend the wedding, but it was a different story when he was accompanying his master—the former Prefect of Xuanwu City, Zhang Boyan.
During their time at the Hanshujin Academy, the gap between An Xiong and Shen Lang was so vast they never even spoke. To be precise, An Xiong had unilaterally ignored Shen Lang. Yet now, that very same Shen Lang was marrying into the Count of Xuanwu’s Estate and taking Lady Jin Mulan, the princess of Xuanwu City, as his wife. How could he possibly stomach this reality? At that moment, his eyes met those of Zhang Jin, a man with influence in this setting, and he found himself filled with a sudden surge of courage to step forward.
Shen Lang came forward and spoke calmly.
"An Xiong, you call me a moron. Do you have proof?"
"Haha. If studying for ten years without even mastering the *Thousand Character Classic* isn't proof, what is? Let's do this. I will write a few characters. If you can recognize them, you are not a moron. If you cannot, then you are. What do you say?"
Xu Qianqian started to cry out to stop them, but Shen Lang answered before she could.
"Agreed!"
"Bring me a brush, ink, paper, and an inkstone."
Although An Xiong had stepped forward at Zhang Jin's signal, he was inwardly regretting it. The Count's estate was not a place where a mere scholar like him could act so presumptuously. But as many people voiced their support and others rallied behind him, his anxiety soon subsided. If he could, he wanted to prove his own ability and shatter the marriage between Shen Lang and Jin Mulan.
The Count's estate had no intention of providing writing materials, but there were several brushes and inkstones already on a table, used for recording the list of wedding gifts. Someone quickly brought them to An Xiong.
An Xiong took the brush and wrote several characters on a piece of red paper. As the characters he wrote gradually took shape, those around him cleared their throats and sighed inwardly. The characters he had written were of such a high level that no one could easily understand them.
These were truly obscure characters, not used in daily life. From the martial artists to the scholars who had passed civil service examinations, many in attendance did not recognize them. Why would anyone go out of their way to learn such characters? In fact, eight out of ten scholars present could not identify the three incredibly difficult characters An Xiong had written.
"If you cannot recognize these three simple characters, you are a moron. If you can, I will admit you are not."
An Xiong said, triumphant. Beside him, Jin Mulan glanced at the characters An Xiong had written and frowned slightly. Although she knew all three, they were not characters one would encounter easily. Had she not diligently pursued her studies, even she might not have recognized such obscure and difficult characters.
Shen Lang stepped forward and saw that the three characters were: 莪, 玊, and 丨.
Truly difficult. Although Shen Lang had a master's degree from a medical university, he only knew one of these three characters; the latter two were unfamiliar.
The scholar An Xiong said.
"Haha, you can't recognize them, can you? It's alright. Ignorance is no sin. It would be impressive to recognize even one of these three. So be honest, admit you don't know, and confess your own ignorance. To think you studied for ten years and still can't recognize these three simple characters."
At An Xiong's words, a few people in the wedding hall began to blush slightly. They had studied for more than a decade, passed examinations to become scholars or even provincial graduates, yet not all of them could recognize the characters An Xiong had written. Shen Lang couldn't recognize all three either, but he had a laptop computer that had transcended time and space with him, now residing in his mind.
And that laptop, having merged with his physical body, had become even more powerful. Shen Lang needed only to scan something with his eyes to instantly know the answer he sought.
"The first character is pronounced like 'é.' It is a type of plant that can also be used as medicine. It comes from the *Book of Odes*, in the 'Lesser Odes' section. The line reads, 'Lush grows the southernwood, there on the mound.'"
When Shen Lang said this, An Xiong was taken aback. This character was not something a simpleton like Shen Lang should have been able to recognize. Had it been one of the few characters he had managed to memorize by sheer luck over ten years?
He was certain Shen Lang would never know the next two. But Shen Lang continued without the slightest hesitation.
"The second character, '玊,' is pronounced 'sù.' One interpretation says it is a flawed piece of jade, while another suggests it means a member of the royal family."
Before An Xiong could even register his surprise, Shen Lang continued without pause.
"This third character is exceptionally rare, and it has several pronunciations. First, when read as 'shù,' it means vertical. Second, when read as 'gǔn,' it means to penetrate from top to bottom. Third, when read as 'tuì,' it means to retreat. Finally, when read as 'yī,' it refers to an ancient surname, originating from the ancient Jiang clan."
The history of this world had once been entirely fractured. Afterward, various ancient texts from the Middle Kingdom were unearthed and became the foundation of its civilization. Consequently, these ancient texts became the source of many classical allusions, making things that weren't part of this world's history a part of its history nonetheless.
After finishing, Shen Lang looked at the scholar An Xiong and asked.
"Was I correct?"
An Xiong stared at Shen Lang in disbelief. Even he only knew two pronunciations for the last character, 'shù' and 'yī'; he was unaware of the other two. Yet the man before him had explained all the pronunciations and their meanings. Wasn't he a moron? Back when they were in the same academy, he had been so stupid he couldn't even read common characters.
Shen Lang turned to An Xiong's master, the former Prefect of Xuanwu City.
"Lord Zhang, you are a man of profound knowledge, skilled in both literature and martial arts. Please tell us, did I read these three characters correctly?"
The old prefect, his hair and beard completely white, shot a fierce glare at his disciple, An Xiong, before turning to Shen Lang with a smile.
"You are entirely correct!"
Hearing this, the crowd was stunned. The shock was even greater for Xu Qianqian, who knew Shen Lang well. She knew the three characters were obscure. She herself didn't recognize the last one, so how could a moron like Shen Lang, who had failed to graduate after ten years of elementary education, possibly know it? Was this even possible?
Shen Lang continued.
"An Xiong, since we're playing a game of recognizing characters, how about I write a few for you to identify?"
The scholar An Xiong, slightly flustered by the turn of events, gave a cold laugh.
"You want to test me? You think there's a character I can't recognize? How laughable!"
Shen Lang picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote a string of characters on the paper.
龘靐我齉齾麤爩。
灪是驫饢籱癵爨。
厵麷傻钃讟虋纞。
龞齽齼逼黸麢鸘。
After writing, Shen Lang asked.
"An Xiong, how many of these characters do you recognize? If you can identify more than four, I will concede."
The scholar An Xiong stared at the dozen or so characters, and after a moment, his eyes started to spin.
‘What… what in the world are these devilish characters?’
In his daze, he spotted a few characters he knew and blurted them out.
"I am a moron!"