Chapter 4: No Discussion of Poetry

  It is said that a normal person's brain can remember a considerable amount of data, but if it is not frequently retrieved or reviewed, much of the content will be considered useless data and deleted, or sink into the subconscious where it is difficult to retrieve.

  In his previous life, he had a personal preference for reviewing certain ancient poems and songs, such as "Tao Yuanming's Poetry Selection" and "Three Cao's Poetry Selection". These books had been on his bookshelf at eye level for years, easily visible with a glance and within reach. However, after coming to this world, he no longer had the opportunity to review those poems... Of course, Tao Qian had not yet been born, and perhaps only two of the Three Caos had been born, and most of their works had not yet been created, let alone compiled into a book.

  At that time, when he was still a slave in the Lewu family, he occasionally recited some of the poems in his heart during the quiet and leisurely hours at night. It wasn't until he decided to impersonate someone else that he began to review and even revise them with purpose. Unfortunately, much information had already been lost due to lack of timely extraction, scattered as fragments in the void of consciousness. The poems he could still recite were less than a third of what he knew before crossing over, and often had omissions and damage.

  So his poetry recitals are all pre-planned, and it's absolutely impossible for him to respond to certain situations on the spot. Many authors of time-traveling novels themselves lack common knowledge of ancient poetry, occasionally composing a poem that doesn't even follow the rules of tone and rhyme, yet they insist on letting their protagonists churn out tons of poems, seemingly able to come up with one that fits every situation at will, as if they have a built-in poetry search engine in their brains... Is it because he himself acknowledges that he doesn't possess such an unscrupulous special ability?

  So today, when he heard that Shi Kuan wanted to discuss poetry with him, he got a headache and immediately put Shi Kuan on the list of people he refused to associate with. However, since he is in this situation and environment, he cannot really avoid Shi Kuan. For now, he has no foundation or property, and if one day he can be independent - for example, if he relies on Cao Cao, Liu Bei, or some other warlord and gets a government position, do you think he will still bother with Shi Kuan?

  So in the middle of the night, he heard a knock on the door. He felt cold sweat all over his back and palms, his legs were trembling slightly, and his face was burning, but there was no way out. Since he hadn't fallen asleep yet, he still had to go open the door with a smile. Besides, in this era, respect for elders is paramount, even if he had really fallen asleep, could he not rush to welcome his older brother who came knocking on his door?

  Luckily, I've been rushing all day today, so it's a good excuse. Later, I'll just say that I'm extremely tired and my brain is mushy, so I'll just push everything off by saying unclear, don't understand, don't know, not familiar, so I won't respond for now.

  The two brothers faced each other and exchanged greetings, then sat down on either side after yielding to each other. The servant girl brought in two cups of warm water; Xun declined but Kuan accepted and took a sip, exchanging a few pleasantries before finally getting down to business.

  "I arrived at the various counties and only then heard from my younger sister and family servants that Hong Fu had returned from Le You, but I was unable to get close to him, which I deeply regret. Just now, I inquired about Hong Fu's situation with my older brother and fourth younger brother, and they all praised him without end...". At this point, Kuan smiled slightly, "My older brother and fourth younger brother have vastly different interests, among their peers, generally whatever my older brother values, my fourth younger brother will consider to be pedantic, and whatever my fourth younger brother praises, my older brother will consider to be vulgar. Probably the only ones who can gain recognition from both of them are just you and I."

  "A few elder brothers praised him." Xi Zong lowered his head, eyes looking at his nose, nose looking at his heart, on the one hand responding to the other's enthusiasm, on the other hand being vigilant about the other's words, fearing that there was some hidden trap.

  He took a sip of water and put down the cup, saying: "We will have to work hard tomorrow. Early next morning, you and I will go to Tancheng together..."

  "What's the point of going to Tancheng County?"

  "Cao Shu-yuan is already an official in the provincial government, and naturally he has influence in Tan County. From now on, our family's settlement in Xuzhou will have to rely on his assistance and support. Now that Cao Shu-yuan is favored by Governor Tao of Xuzhou, as long as he is willing to help us, it won't be difficult for us to buy several dozen or even hundreds of hectares of land here and build one or two estates."

  He fully understood what the other meant, but he was not willing to follow Si Kuan in the same direction. If they were to discuss poetry on the way... No, it would be almost certain that they would discuss poetry on the way, and then it would be extremely difficult to extricate himself. So he hastily asked: "This matter is best handled by Fourth Brother..."

  He let out a soft sigh: "Big brother is not to be hoped for... Wen Tong has to go to Linyi tomorrow to visit the Wang family, we discussed it and thought it's best if he can finalize the marriage with Miss Wang as soon as possible, then our family will have a foothold in Langya." As he spoke, he stood up and gently patted Xi Xun's shoulder: "Although we haven't seen each other for a long time, you and I are after all brothers of the same ancestor, don't treat yourself like an outsider. Get some rest early, tomorrow we'll set off at dawn."

  So it was settled, without giving Isaku a chance to refuse - to be honest, Isaku couldn't find any reason to refuse anyway. Isaku had his schedule for the next period of time all set. Even after he left, Isaku sat on the couch for a long time, his mind full of knots, thinking and thinking, but unable to come up with a good solution. In the end, he could only grit his teeth, stamp his foot, and give up. When you reach the mountain, there will be a road, and when there is a road, there will be a Toyota... After all, they were nominal brothers of the same clan. If the old man exposed himself, so be it. He would just say that an old man appeared in his dream and taught him a few poems... No, he would rather say that he met a hermit in the mountains... Family scandals should not be made public, could Isaku really go around shouting to the world that he was a swindler?!

  Anyway, the poem's name is just an added embellishment; I never intended to rely solely on plagiarism to get by in my official career...

  Although he had made up his mind to break with the past, he still tossed and turned that night, feeling so annoyed that he couldn't fall asleep. As a result, when he got up the next day, his eyes were dark like those of a panda. When Jian saw him, he reached out to feel his pulse and asked: "Hongfu, why do you look so pale? Have you caught a cold?"

  Xizhen could only pretend to wipe her eyes: "Thinking of my uncle and eighth brother still in Beihai, I don't know what the future holds, so I couldn't sleep tonight..."

  "And set your mind at ease," he comforted him, "as long as you and I can establish a foothold in Xuzhou, we'll bring Father and Young Master over... I've heard that Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zan are increasingly at odds, and I'm afraid there will be conflict within a year or two. When the time comes, Qingzhou will inevitably suffer from war again. I discussed it with Wen Tong last night, and we don't want Father to stay in his hometown for long either."

  You indeed foresaw that Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan would inevitably clash, but how could you not see that Tao Qian is a party to Gongsun Zan's faction? Xu Province will eventually be dragged into the conflict. Do you still want to establish a solid foundation in Xu Province? The more solid the foundation, the harder it will be to leave when the time comes.

  Of course, it's not convenient for him to say that. The so-called "a scholar knows the affairs of the world without leaving his door" is ultimately just a family saying. He himself was a young man who had just run from a remote area to the Central Plains, and before that, he had been staying in Beihai and had hardly left. It's not like he had traveled extensively and learned from all sides. If he could clearly explain the overall situation of the world, it would be too incredible. Forget it, let's take one step at a time. He'll just follow him to Taixing County for now, and see what kind of person Cao Bao, the general who will be pierced by Zhang Sanbo's spear in the future, is.

  From various counties to Guan County, the mountains and rivers stretch for hundreds of miles, at least five or six hundred li. Xun estimated that even if they traveled quickly, it would take them six or seven days to reach their destination. Just thinking about this made his head ache terribly. However, there was a slight deviation in his understanding - originally, Yu was supposed to go to Lin Yi and temporarily travel with them. The two brothers sat together in the same carriage, having been separated for so long, they had too many things to talk about. Xun rode a horse alongside them, but even he didn't have much opportunity to discuss poetry with him.

  They continued on to the vicinity of Yangdu, where they finally parted ways. One group turned west onto the imperial highway and headed towards Linzi, while another group led by Huangfu Song and Xun Xu continued southwest, their next destination being Kaiyang, the capital of Langya Commandery.

  He invited Shi Xun to get on the carriage and sit together, but Shi Xun politely declined, citing that he was not used to riding in a carriage. Shi Kuan asked him, "Don't even scholars ride carriages in Le Lang?" Shi Xun didn't answer at first, but instead asked, "Third brother, have you ever been to Youzhou?" Shi Kuan shook his head lightly: "When I left home that day, I went to Luoyang first and then to Jingzhou, and never went north." Shi Xun thought to himself, "It's good that he hasn't been there", before answering him: "In remote areas, there are few roads, and it is inconvenient for carriages to travel, so people are used to riding horses instead of carriages."

  "Ah, I see," said Guan, surprisingly convinced. "No wonder the knights of You, Bing and Liang provinces are renowned throughout the land - it must be because they're all accustomed to riding horses."

  Since it's just the two of us now (of course, there are many attendants, but they don't count), and the journey is long, it's impossible not to chat. Rather than waiting for you to bring up poetry, I might as well find another topic first. I started by asking: "I wonder if Third Brother encountered any bandits on his way to Luoyang?"

  He Kuan nodded slightly: "On the day Dong Zhuo entered the capital, his troops from Guanzhong were not just one hundred thousand. Every day, several thousand of them would enter the city...". He Xun said that this was one of Dong Zhuo's cunning tricks, where he would secretly send out a few thousand soldiers at night and then have them re-enter during the day. This trick even fooled Yuan Shao, let alone others. He Kuan continued: "Therefore, people in the capital were terrified, and thousands of officials and commoners fled every day. As for me, I left with several friends on the third day after Dong Zhuo entered the capital..."

  Before he could finish speaking, Xun hurriedly asked: "Please tell me more about it."

  He grasped every detail in the conversation, asking about the causes and consequences. As the "King of Gossip", his questioning skills were unparalleled, making it seem like a heated discussion between two people, but in reality, everything he said was substantial, while the other person's words were all empty talk. He thought that this younger brother had little experience and shallow knowledge, so he kept asking about his experiences, and as for himself, he also had deep feelings about that period of time, so once he started talking, he couldn't stop, seemingly having completely forgotten about the poetry.

  For several days, all he did was listen to Kuang's reminiscences, and under Kuang's questioning, the progress was extremely slow. It wasn't until they reached the foot of Mount Tuo that he finally entered Hanshou and met Wang Rui, the governor of Jingzhou. The group entered the city of Tuo in a flurry of activity, with Kuang wiping the sweat from his brow and thinking to himself how exhausting it all was, and how he had barely made it through another day.

  The two brothers went to Cao Fu to pay their respects. Before long, they were led into the hall by a servant. All of a sudden, there was a cough, and a man walked out from behind the screen. Xun raised his head to take a look - Ah, so this is Cao Jiao?