Chapter 89
Chapter 89
Tonight, there was no one to side with Shen Lang, only a room full of people who wanted to crush him. This was the prelude to a joint assault on the Count of Xuanwu's Estate, and since everyone present was young, they felt no need to hold back. Li Wenzheng asked Shen Lang.
“Young Master Shen Lang, did you not write *Boundless Wind and Moon*? If so, why not compose a poem on the theme of ‘Wind and Moon’?”
“Excellent. Let the theme be ‘Wind and Moon’.”
“Shen Lang, compose a poem.”
“Shen Lang, write a poem!”
Several of the provincial graduates present began to egg him on. Shen Lang gave them a contemptuous smile and said.
“You want me to compose a poem? Why should I? What gives you the right to challenge me to a contest of poetic talent?”
At that, the graduates grew furious.
“We are provincial graduates, while you, Shen Lang, hold no official title. If we’re talking about qualifications, you are the one who is not worthy to compete with us.”
“We are giving you a chance to prove your innocence. Do you not value it?”
“If we pass the metropolitan examinations, we could serve as city lords and become pillars of the state. How can you say we are not qualified?”
“Shen Lang, you are nothing but a lowly live-in son-in-law with no title. What right do you have to compete with us?”
Shen Lang sneered.
“Could even one of you five pass the metropolitan examinations? And even if you did, so what? You’d spend a few years as a civil official before struggling to become a city lord. If you finally managed to become a prefect, it would be such a grand achievement that your ancestors would rise from their graves.
But what of it, becoming a commandery administrator after the age of fifty? Do you think you’ll enjoy wealth and glory, or marry a wife of special status? Will you live in a grand mansion with many servants? Do you think you can even compare to me?
I, Shen Lang, live in a luxurious thousand-acre mansion within a ten-thousand-acre estate, attended by dozens of servants and maids. The maids who serve me are beauties you might find once in a thousand miles. This silk robe I’m wearing is worth several hundred gold coins. My wife is a count’s daughter, the greatest beauty in Nujiang Commandery. She has the most beautiful face and figure in Xuanwu City, and she possesses supreme martial arts!
Do you know how magnificent I look every time I step outside, escorted by dozens of cavalrymen? The pinnacle you might achieve after a lifetime of struggle is merely my starting point. Everything you could ever obtain in your dreams—no, everything you couldn't obtain even in your dreams—I can have just by reaching out my hand.
Tell me, what right do you have to compete with me? What nonsense are you spouting in my face, trying to feel superior? For passing the provincial examinations? What a great accomplishment. So great that you had to become someone’s lapdogs just to attend tonight’s banquet. And this banquet tonight seems to have been held just for me. So to me, you are all less than nothing.”
Hearing Shen Lang’s words, the graduates fell silent, as if struck dumb.
*This shameless bastard, Shen Lang! How can he speak so proudly of living off his wife? In a situation like this, he should be bluffing with polished lies, not hitting the nail on the head with such a vulgar truth. And what did he mean by ‘less than nothing’?*
But faced with such a raw, living truth, they were suddenly overcome with sorrow. Shen Lang’s words were crude, but they had laid their reality bare. The world was just that cruel, and this was its greatest tragedy. The greatest goal one might spend a lifetime striving for was merely another’s starting point. What you could not obtain even by giving your all, even by paying with your life, another could have simply by stretching out a hand while lying in bed.
So, should they denounce Shen Lang as a snob? Should they claim they became scholars to bring happiness to the people and make the State of Yue more prosperous? But in such a high-class gathering of esteemed individuals, there were no foolish commoners to deceive, so there was no need for such pretentious lies.
Eventually, Shen Lang turned to Xu Qianqian with a cold smile.
“You want me to write a better poem to prove my innocence? You might as well ask a monkey to perform tricks! Before, when I, Shen Lang, was just a commoner, the Xu Clan could crush me at any time. That’s why I had to use all my strength to prove my innocence. Things are different now. Why the hell would I write a poem?”
Hearing Shen Lang's words, Wang Lian burst into laughter.
“Shen Lang, are you just being stubborn? Are you admitting you plagiarized my poem? You are a disgrace to all scholars. Not only did you steal my woman, but you also stole my poem. Jin Mulan, you must be blind to have chosen such a shameless man.”
Wang Lian stood in the hall, pointing an accusatory finger at Shen Lang, his voice filled with rage. Xu Qianqian was overjoyed.
*Shen Lang, what can you do if you refuse to write a poem? What can you do by being stubborn? No matter what you do, you can’t escape this accusation. Now that we’ve framed you, you’re trapped. Even if you jumped into the Nujiang River, you couldn’t wash away this stain. The more you act out, the more it proves your meager talent has run dry.*
Indeed, there seemed to be no way out of the current situation. Everyone here was Shen Lang’s enemy, and he had to face them all alone. In a situation like this, any attempt to defend himself would be a foolish waste of effort.
Shen Lang silently took something out. It was the world’s most powerful hallucinogen: LSD. Previously, Shen Lang had extracted a minuscule amount of LSD from ergot fungus on rye, and he had used a tiny fraction of it on Big Dummy’s stepmother, Madam Song, with astonishing results. He still had plenty left from that extraction.
What was so special about this hallucinogen? It was a drug that no one, not even Shen Lang himself, could resist. In 1942, America’s Central Intelligence Agency began researching chemical weapons capable of controlling the human mind. A team of six top neurophysiology experts was formed to invent an interrogation drug that would make criminals unconsciously confess their crimes. They experimented with cannabis extracts and various other drugs, but none produced satisfactory results. Finally, they discovered LSD.
It was hailed as the most effective interrogation drug, and the CIA tested it on high-ranking US military officials. The officer confessed top-secret information without any resistance. Of course, the dosage was critical. A small dose would induce hallucinations, making one feel as if their soul were ascending to the heavens. A larger dose would put the brain under complete control, compelling the subject to answer any question asked. Later, both the CIA and the KGB used it extensively for interrogating criminals. With this, he could easily deal with Wang Lian. Prove his innocence by writing a poem? What a joke!
Wang Lian pointed at Shen Lang and shouted.
“Shen Lang, if you are a man, admit that you stole my poem in front of your wife and everyone here.”
After speaking, Wang Lian poured himself a cup of wine and drank it. Of course, he was only pretending to be drunk; he wasn't drunk at all. Shen Lang secretly passed the powerful hallucinogen, condensed into a pill, to Mulan without a word. Mulan hesitated for a moment, then, at the right time, flicked her jade-like finger. In an instant, the world’s most potent hallucinogen flew into Wang Lian’s wine cup. The dose was much larger than the one given to Madam Song. The entire process was silent and unnoticed.
Tang Yun, Nangong Ping, Zhu Wubian, and the other martial arts masters might have noticed Mulan's subtle movement, but Wang Lian was standing in front of Shen Lang and Mulan, his body blocking their line of sight. Wang Lian, a natural-born scholar, knew no martial arts, so he certainly wouldn't have noticed the hallucinogen. Unaware, he poured another cup and downed it in one go.
Wang Lian loudly berated Shen Lang.
“Shen Lang, do you know? I despise you. I despise you! If you do something, you should take responsibility! The Count of Xuanwu’s Estate must be on its last legs to have taken in a son-in-law like you. I am ashamed to even know a despicable person like you.”
After saying his piece, Wang Lian intended to leave immediately. His mission to frame Shen Lang was complete, so he planned to make a swift exit.
*This feels amazing. So satisfying.*
Shen Lang couldn't refute him at all and could only stand there being pointed at and cursed by Wang Lian.
*Shen Lang, you claimed to be so great? I don't see anything great about you now. How can you possibly fight back when I frame you?*
But then...
*Look at me. I'm so magnificent! More magnificent than an ancient noble, a king, no, an emperor!*
From that moment, Wang Lian entered an abnormal state. Some people, when drunk, will spout nonsense and reveal all their innermost secrets. Right now, Wang Lian’s mind was just like that. Noticing the change in Wang Lian’s eyes, Shen Lang suddenly asked him a question.
“Wang Lian, are you framing me and falsely accusing me right now?”
Wang Lian answered in a trembling voice.
“Yes. Shen Lang, I am framing you.”
Hearing his words, everyone was so shocked that they couldn't react for a moment. Of course, they all knew Wang Lian was framing Shen Lang, but they never expected him to confess it himself.
“Did I copy your poem?”
“No. I never wrote that poem in the first place. I will tell everyone the truth. That poem, though short, is a magnificent piece of writing, far beyond my abilities.”
“Then who told you to frame me and lay this false charge?”
At that moment, Zhang Jin shot to his feet.
“Lord Wang Lian, you are drunk. Men, escort Lord Wang Lian away to rest.”
As soon as Zhang Jin gave the order, two warriors entered and tried to carry Wang Lian out, holding him from both sides. Mulan said nothing, but drew a flexible sword from her belt and placed it on the table. She said calmly.
“There is a limit to how far you can cross the line.”
*If you use any means necessary to frame my husband and tarnish his name, then we have the right to fight back. But if you won’t even allow us to counterattack, then I will not stand by idly.*
Her meaning was clear: if anyone dared to take Wang Lian away, her sword would take their arm. Shen Lang continued to question Wang Lian.
“Wang Lian, who ordered you to frame me?”
“City Lord Liu Chengyan.”
Hearing Wang Lian’s words, Liu Chengyan’s face changed drastically, and he shouted in anger.
“Wang Lian, stop your nonsense. You’re drunk and spouting whatever comes to mind.”
Wang Lian had entered a completely new world. He tore off his own clothes and faced City Lord Liu Chengyan.
“Liu Chengyan, you’re the one who told me to frame Shen Lang, aren’t you? You order me around every day, treating me like a dog. But do you know what? I’ve slept with your concubine. Eight times! Eight times! Hahaha!
That concubine of yours told me. She said you can’t even last three breaths each time. And yet you make her cry out for a quarter of an hour, just to pretend you’re some kind of stud, don’t you?”
At Wang Lian’s words, the faces of everyone present lit up with fascination.
*To think a man as imposing as City Lord Liu Chengyan couldn’t even last three seconds.*
City Lord Liu Chengyan trembled with rage. If he had to pick the most humiliating moment of his life, this would be it.
A man might feel a fleeting anger when someone looked at him with hateful contempt, but he feared being looked at with pity.
*You’re a three-second man? And your concubine cheated on you with another man? Oh, you poor thing!*
Instantly, City Lord Liu Chengyan spoke in a furious voice.
“Wang Lian, you are drunk. Leave now before you make any more mistakes. Men! Take Wang Lian away.”
Liu Chengyan ordered his attendants. Two warriors from the City Lord’s mansion entered the hall to drag Wang Lian away, but a dozen warriors from the Count’s estate, led by Jin Hui, stepped forward to block them.
“Step aside.”
Said the warrior from the City Lord’s mansion.
“I think not. Everyone is enjoying the show.”
Jin Hui and the other warriors from the Count’s estate immediately drew their swords, and the situation became instantly volatile. Shen Lang continued to question Wang Lian.
“Wang Lian, how did you forge the examination paper? Why was my poem written on a commandery examination paper from eight years ago?”