Chapter 14  : Fate

The young official of Xuanwu City was called Wang Lian. He was 21 years old and became the registrar of Xuanwu City after the provincial examination.

Of course, he did not give up on the imperial examination. He was still studying while working as an official and wanted to obtain a Jinshi degree[1.highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China].

This was actually not allowed in ancient China, and one could only continue studying if one decided to be a staff member. However, it was approved in this world. 1

He was not born in Xuanwu City. His hometown was Nanyuan County, but he was famous and well-known in Xuanwu City.

He had another identity-the distant-relative of the Earl of the Xuanwu city. 1

Therefore, did Shen Lang know the registrar?

He really knew him. Three years ago, he taught Shen Lang for two weeks.

Moreover, this involved a person-the most beautiful person in the region, the dream lover of all young men, and the daughter of the Earl of Xuanwu city, Jin Mulan. She was also known as the princess of Xuanwu City.

At that time, Jin Mulan was hunting and came to the rear mountains near Shen Lang’s residence. She bumped into a gigantic black bear, and her horse was astonished and charged out immediately.

Shen Lang was still a moron back then. He was in the middle of the road, reading a book while squatting.

Why did he have to squat in the middle of the road? That was because there was an army of ants that was relocating; instead of counting the ants, he was afraid that other people would step on the command of ants. Therefore, he squatted there until the relocation process was complete. Whenever someone walked passed, he would remind them to avoid the ants.

Jin Mulan’s horse charged toward Shen Lang. A gigantic black bear chased after them crazily, and it had more than ten arrows on its body.

Before the horse could stomp over Shen Lang, the daughter of the Earl of Xuanwu City quickly got down from the horse and stood on the ground. She used one hand to stop the gigantic horse on the spot and saved Shen Lang’s life.

Besides that, the black bear continued to charge toward her, and its gigantic claw smashed Jin Mulan’s head.

Jin Mulan caught the horse with one hand and waved her sword with her other hand, severing the gigantic bear’s head. Her skills were incredible.

Meanwhile, Shen Lang fainted when the hoof of the horse brushed past the back of his head.

He was not severely injured, but he fainted because he was too scared.

Therefore, this part of his memory was extraordinarily well-ingrained in him but was also slightly blurry. Moreover, Jin Mulan was wearing full armor and had her face covered by a helmet. Shen Lang didn’t know that she was the daughter of the Earl.

When Shen Lang was thinking back on this memory, he figured out that she was Jin Mulan because of her silver armor, the flag of the troop, and the emblem on the shield.

Jin Mulan had saved Shen Lang’s life. However, Shen Lang was injured because of her horse. Therefore, she would be fully responsible for it.

Therefore, she sent a doctor and some herbs over to cure Shen Lang.

She even went over to pay a visit personally once. However, Shen Lang was still in a coma and did not see her.

Jin Mulan was considered the princess of Xuanwu City. She had a very superior position and was several times more superior than Xu Qianqian. Back then, Shen Lang was merely a villager, and dying because of the horse incident was something he deserved.

However, the “princess” did not only send a doctor over to check on Shen Lang but also paid a visit personally.

Therefore, it was a true statement that the Earl loved the people of the nation.

Meanwhile, Wang Lian had just ended his provincial examination and had yet to assume the role of a registrar. Since he was the distant relative of the Earl, he came over to the Duke’s place as a guest.

Of course, although he was a distant relative, he had minimal opportunities to get in touch with Jin Mulan. Although he was a new scholar based on the examination, his status differed significantly from that of Jin Mulan.

He was fond of Jin Mulan. After hearing about how Jin Mulan went over to pay a visit to Shen Lang, he specially made a visit to Shen Lang and got to know that Shen Lang was still studying. He decided to become Shen Lang’s teacher just in case Jin Mulan went to visit Shen Lang since he wanted to leave a good impression on Jin Mulan.

Of course, Shen Lang was as stupid as a stone, and Wang Lian was unable to knock any sense into him. Wang Lian was talented and brilliant and was able to complete the provincial examination at the age of 18. He had never seen someone as stupid as Shen Lang.

This tutoring session lasted for two weeks, and Jin Mulan did not appear because she went on a military mission.

Therefore, Wang Lian gave up and never went back to Shen Lang’s house. It was a torture to teach a stupid person like Shen Lang.

However, he still had some connections with Shen Lang.

Now that they had met again, Wang Lian looked utterly different since he had shaved his hair and was wearing formal wear. Moreover, Shen Lang only had a clear memory of a few people. Therefore, he took a while to recall who Wang Lian was. 1

It was because of this fate that Shen Lang dared to request to compete with the Xu family and used his purple and rainbow dye.

That was because he knew that the young official had grudges with Zhang Pu.

When Wang Lian was teaching Shen Lang, he had cursed Zhang Pu for more than ten times. 1

Everything was part of the plan. 1

***

When he heard Shen Lang call him “brother”, the official frowned slightly and did not reply to Shen Lang. Instead, he said, “Why aren’t you studying but fiddling with dye? Aren’t you landing yourself in demise?”

This was not him prejudicing. There were two types of skills, which was the most prestigious in this world. One was studying, and the other was martial arts. They were similarly ranked.

When the Song Dynasty in ancient China had ended, educated people often won over those who were well-trained in the martial arts.

However, in this world, in the Dayan Dynasty, both were equally valued.

Martial arts competitions and imperial examinations were equally prestigious.

However, a dye artist was a lowly career.

The dye artist from the Xu family was relatively outstanding. However, he was only addressed as an “artist” instead of his name.

Of course, the young official was merely making a comment.

Initially, to please Jin Mulan, he taught Shen Lang for two weeks and could never forget Shen Lang’s stupidity. Shen Lang would never pass the competition even if he studied for a hundred years. Studying would be a waste of time and money for him.

“As for Miss Jin…” The young official turned around, looked at Shen Lang, and said, “She is the mistress of the royal family and has an extremely respectable status. Her name should not be mentioned by an ordinary villager.”

After saying that, Wang Lian turned around and left.

Before turning away, he looked at him in disdain.

Earlier on, he went against the Xu family because he had grudges with Zhang Pu. He wanted to take this opportunity to bring the Xu family down. He did not do it because of Shen Lang.

Although he taught Shen Lang for two weeks, he did not see that as a connection between the two of them.

“What a funny villager, he wanted to make connections with me because of this? Dream on, fool!” 1

Wang Lian sneered and rode his horse back to his residence.

Shen Lang could tell that Wang Lian did not view him significantly at all and did not want to make use of their past connections.

Of course, he was not surprised at all.

***

When Wang Lian left, the boss of Silk Pavilion, Lin Mo, said, “Shen Lang, you won, you made the Xu family look bad. However, you would rather have lost; now, you are in an even more precarious position!”

Tian Thirteen said softly, “Shen Lang, you are screwed!”

Lin Mo said, “The official merely viewed the Xu family as an enemy. That was why he did that. He did not do that to protect you. Therefore, he would not be willing to help you with whatever problems you face in the future; you won’t be able to get his help.”

Shen Lang knew all of these!

Wang Lian was youthful and well-known. He would definitely not regard a lowly villager as anyone important. Based on previous memory, Shen Lang knew him well enough.

However, Wang Lian did enough by helping him defeat the Xu family. Shen Lang did not intend to establish any connections with him in the first place.

Moreover, Shen Lang would become Wang Lian’s love rival soon. 1

Therefore, Shen Lang’s family had yet to be freed from danger. Instead, they were in a more precarious situation. The Xu family was even keener to kill him.

He was merely fighting for time. He only needed one day to complete his plan of turning the tables around.

Once he succeeded, the entire situation would be turned around, and he would overpower everyone else.

By then, be it the Xu family, Lin family, or Tian Heng, none of them could hurt him. In fact, they had to be wary of Shen Lang.

Meanwhile, this time, he had depended on the value of the rainbow dye. That was why he made the rainbow dye earlier on.

The rainbow silk had to be impressive enough and extremely valuable. It had to make the Xu family look in envy.

If everything happened just as planned, Xu Qianqian would return to look for him soon. 1

Everything that happened today was precarious but within his plans.

***

Indeed, soon after Shen Lang left the Silk Pavilion, Xu Qianqian’s horse carriage appeared in front of him.

“Shen Lang, I underestimated you previously,” said Xu Qianqian gently, “I didn’t expect you to learn how to make dye because of me. Why didn’t you tell me that in the past?”

It was usual for her to think this way. In the past, Shen Lang was madly in love with Xu Qianqian and could do anything for her.

Meanwhile, the Xu family had a business in the silk industry. To Xu Qianqian, it was normal for Shen Lang to learn how to make dye because of her.

Meanwhile, it was not easy for an intelligent individual to master this skill. One had to be stupid enough to conduct experiments repeatedly to discover the perfect formula.

“If you had said it earlier, I wouldn’t have to chase you out of the house,” said Xu Qianqian with an even gentler voice, “our marriage was fake, and I have to marry Zhang Pu. However, you can return to the Xu family and become a helper, how about that?”

Shen Lang did not comment.

Xu Qianqian looked at Shen Lang with her beautiful eyes and said gently, “Shen Lang, I will give you ten gold coins every month. It is sufficient for your family. As long as you can hand over the formula for the purple and rainbow dye, I can give you the best dye room and allow you to immerse in the art of dye, granting your wish of becoming an outstanding dye artist. Don’t you love me? Aren’t you willing to sacrifice everything for me? You can help me this way.” 5

***