Chapter One: The Incident at the East Window

  "Come over here."

  "I'm just going."

  "Are you coming?"

  "Only fools would go!"

  Xu Qian, who was speaking, was only twelve or thirteen years old, a child not much bigger than a fart, and even if he had gone out to kill someone, it would still have fallen under the category of juvenile protection. However, here, at the age of twelve or thirteen, you are no longer considered young, this is the Ming Dynasty, and it's also time to get married.

  Unfortunately, Xu Qian still didn't have a daughter-in-law. It wasn't that no one had suggested a match; the problem was that the potential brides were either too big-footed or too flirtatious. Not only did Xu Qian look down on them, but even his father, Xu Chang, who always wore an angry expression, disapproved of them.

  In Xu Chang's words, the daughter-in-law of Old Xu's family doesn't have to be beautiful or have a good temperament, but at least she must come from a wealthy family. In any case, a generous dowry is a must.

  Xu Chang is just such a person who has fallen into the eyes of money.

  At this time, the father and son sat around a table in the house, staring at each other with their eyes wide open, neither of them willing to give in. Xu Lao's expression was even more vivid, his eyes bulging like copper bells, his mouth twisted in anger. Xu Qian firmly believed that if he had a pen in his hand and a sheet of white paper on the table, this old man would be able to write out a poem of indignation and grief like "Man Jiang Hong".

  However, Old Xu was clearly not a knife-wielding man, but a rough and tumble kind of guy. He held in his hand a ruler, the kind used for official business in government offices, about two feet long and very heavy, with a dark black body.

  If such a ruler were to hit Xu Qian's head, it would have to burst open, and at this time, his father was in a state of extreme anger. To use Xu Qian's words, if he really went over there, that would be stupid.

  "Ah..." Xu Chang panted heavily, unable to hold back his anger and shouted: "You beast!"

  Xu Qian said: "A little beast, and there's an old one too!"

  "...". At this point, Xu Chang was speechless. He was both angry and furious, heavily slapping the desk with his ruler, making a loud "crack" sound, then sat down heavily on the stool.

  Xu Qian was secretly delighted, it seemed that this beating was exempted. He had been with Xu Chang for a year and was very familiar with his temper. The old man was easily angered, and when he got angry, he would be furious. Xu Qian had long been trained in the art of being thick-skinned and cunning under the rod.

  "You..." Xu Chang went to pour water from the teapot on the table and drank it, while saying viciously: "I only asked you, now answer me honestly. Those medicinal prescriptions you usually sell on the street, have any of them been bought by people from the Eastern Depot?"

  Xu Qian rolled his eyes and was still catching his breath from the previous exchange with Old Master Zhou. He didn't dare to relax even a bit, as he feared that Old Master Zhou, being a dog zodiac sign, might be wagging his tail one second and baring his teeth the next. He warily looked at Xu Chang and said: "The prescription... those prescriptions... I only care about selling them, who cares who the buyer is? Should I ask for the buyer's name, age, and whether they have a daughter of marriageable age at home?"

  Xu Chang was furious, almost bursting out again. Xu Qian's legs were bent, ready to fight back at any moment. This father-son pair had become fighting cocks once more. Xu Chang pointed at Xu Qian and scolded loudly: "Fine, fine! You're still stubbornly denying it even now. Do you know that the prescription you wrote was bought by someone from the eunuch's residence and eaten, resulting in death? Wang Gonggong is furious and has already sent a message to the county yamen. The county magistrate has issued a warrant for your arrest as a murderer! I told you so! Let you live a peaceful life. In the past, you were just reading books at home. Reading books wasn't a problem, although our Xu family couldn't take the imperial exams. At least we lived in peace. But recently, you've changed and become more and more unscrupulous. Now look what's happened - you've gotten yourself into this lawsuit! See how you get out of it!"

  "No way." Xu Qian was taken aback, seeing Xu Chang show signs of sudden anger again. Facing such a violent person, Xu Qian naturally didn't dare to be distracted and said: "Although my prescription can't guarantee that it will cure the disease, at least eating it won't kill anyone. There must have been some mistake, or that person was suffering from some terminal illness, which led to the misunderstanding."

  Xu Chang snorted: "What's the use of saying so much? You wretch! When someone comes to your door, will you reason with them like this? Who is Wang Gonggong, don't you know? Even if no one provokes him, he'll still peel off three layers of skin. Now that he has an excuse, do you still have a life?"

  Xu Qian said bitterly: "This dead eunuch!"

  Although the father and son often quarrel and have serious differences, they surprisingly agree on their impression of Wang Gonggong. Xu Chang even nodded in agreement: "A eunuch with no balls."

  Scolding is scolding, but now Xu Qian has a big headache. He sold the prescription just to make money and never thought of causing any trouble. No wonder the old man was like a dog with a bone, tightly gripping him and not letting go.

  In Xu Chang's eyes, his son had undergone a drastic change in personality over the past year. However, Xu Qian knew in his heart that he hadn't actually changed; it was just that the original Xu Qian had been replaced by the current one. In his previous life, he was a museum curator and didn't know which god or Buddha he had offended, but after waking up from a dream, he found himself transmigrated into Xu Qian's body. This was also why Xu Chang thought his own child's personality had changed so much.

  Xu Qian arrived here, initially full of grand ambitions and heroic spirit. He thought to himself that as a man in this era, he naturally had to achieve something great. But after blending in, he suddenly became bewildered.

  He was the son of a minor official, and according to the Ming dynasty's law, the descendants of minor officials were not allowed to take the imperial examination for three generations. However, Xu Qian was an exception, he had a hobby of reading books, which was unusual at that time. In this world, some people are indulged in women, some like gambling, and some love money, but Xu Qian had never seen anyone who loved reading as much as his life. His previous identity was indeed such a fool, not only did he like to read, but also his learning was quite good, the Four Books and Five Classics, as well as historical classics, were all familiar to him.

  Then Xu Qian was in a hurry, he inherited the original Xu Qian's belly full of knowledge, but it was all useless things, his identity could not be used to take office, and it didn't make sense to use it. Since he couldn't be an official, Xu Qian thought that he might as well get rich, the status of merchants in the Ming Dynasty was lowly, but with money, they could have three wives and four concubines, so he decided to sell medicine prescriptions, after all, this line had low costs and considerable returns.

  Xu Qian used to work in a museum where he was tasked with restoring an old Qing dynasty book about folk remedies for difficult and miscellaneous diseases. He remembered the contents clearly, so every day he would desperately try to recall them and then write them down, package them up and sell them off.

  …………

  Bang...

  Xu Qian was caught off guard, but didn't expect the old man to suddenly appear behind him and give him a violent slap on the back of the head. Xu Qian felt pain and anger: "Dad, you ambushed me!"

  "Sneak attack?" Xu Chang sneered, picking up the petite Xu Qian with one hand and saying viciously: "You've done something so big, shouldn't you be beaten? You're really a scourge. I, Xu Chang, have been honest my whole life, never expecting to give birth to someone like you."

  "What should we do now?" Xu Qian hurriedly asked.

  Xu Qian played a small trick, now there's no way to escape, either get beaten up or change the subject, at least can divert some of Lao Ye's attention.

  Xu Chang indeed fell for the trick, let out a long sigh. After all, they were blood relatives, and beating him would be useless. He thought about how to resolve this situation, his eyes narrowing slightly as he said: "The county magistrate is pressing for someone to be caught, and doesn't want to cause trouble either. So no matter what, we have to catch someone first to give the county magistrate an explanation. This needs to be done quickly, you little scoundrel..."

  He said halfway, and was about to hit again. Unexpectedly, Xu Qian had already slipped away one zhang (about 3.3 meters) during his speech. Xu Chang could only shake his head and glare at Xu Qian with a fierce gaze, saying: "You stay home and behave yourself. Father still has to go to the yamen for a trip. This matter, I will think of a way myself. But in the next few days, you cannot cause any more trouble. Do you understand? Whether this crisis can be passed or not is up to fate."

  The old man rarely let out a sigh, apparently finding things very tricky.

  Having said that, Xu Chang picked up his ruler and was about to leave. Xu Qian let out a sigh of relief, thinking that he had escaped this round of beating. He hastily waved goodbye to Xu Chang: "Farewell, Father, have a good trip, I won't see you off."

  Xu Chang let out a cold snort and walked out, but after a while, he unexpectedly turned back, pulled out the lock to lock the door of the main hall. Xu Qian naturally knew what Xu Chang was going to do, and hurriedly shouted: "Dad... why are you locking the door? I said I wouldn't go out, so I won't go out."

  "Can I trust you? Just be honest and stay there!" Xu Chang had already closed the door, locking Xu Qian inside. The sound of pounding on the door came from within, but Xu Chang ignored it and left.

  At this moment, Xu Qian was stunned, and the door was locked, but he didn't know when it would be opened again.

  He was still able to sit tight at first, after all, he knew that he had caused trouble and decided to behave himself and be a good citizen.

  But unexpectedly, the old man didn't return until the sky turned dark. Xu Qian was hungry, and he relied on the old man for survival. Since there were no women in the house to take care of them, they hadn't prepared any food from early morning. Usually, they would buy scallion pancakes or baked buns from the street vendors, but today, due to the commotion caused by selling medicine, they didn't have breakfast. From dawn till now, Xu Qian had not eaten anything, and his stomach was growling with hunger. He thought to himself that this was a critical period for growth, how could he go hungry? The door was locked, and no matter how hard Xu Qian tried, he couldn't open it.

  He was momentarily flustered and his eyes fell on the paper window in the house.

  It's no use, the old master will come back at some unknown time, so it's better to fill our stomachs first.

  Xu Qian didn't think much of it and went to open the window, climbing out of it. As a result, he found himself forgetting to bring his money bag, so he had to go back and fetch it. The Xu family's house consisted of three tiled houses, with a courtyard in front. What made Xu Qian feel tragic was that not only were the doors locked, but also the gate of the courtyard was closed.

  It seems that not only windows need to be translated, but also walls.

  Fortunately, his physique in this life was slender but quite agile. After all, he was still a child, and it wasn't difficult for him to climb walls or jump onto roofs. He jumped over the wall, and by now the sky had darkened, making it hard to see outside. Xu Qian took a deep breath and leaped off the outer wall.

  Dong...

  It seems like I've bumped into something...

  Huh...... This is strange. Am I jumping on a genuine leather sofa? Why is the place within reach so smooth and delicate?

  Right after...

  "Which... is which dared to attack me?"

  Someone is shouting loudly in the darkness.

  Xu Qian only then realized that things weren't quite right, he had jumped onto not a genuine leather sofa, but a person, more accurately, a man. The man was furious, stumbling to his feet, cursing loudly, and what's even more terrifying is that this guy was actually carrying a weapon, Xu Qian clearly heard the sound of someone drawing out a blade in the darkness, that metallic scraping noise, Xu Qian thought to himself, unexpectedly this person wasn't a good egg.

  However, Xu Qian had been in the city for a long time, especially following the old master's rough men every day, and pretending to be mighty was his specialty. At this time, although he was wrong, he absolutely could not show weakness. Sometimes when conflicts with others occurred, it was about who would shout louder first, whose tone was more overbearing.

  Xu Qian rubbed his sore arm and immediately shouted: "Who is it? Who bumped into the young master? Are you blind? Don't you know what status the young master of the Xu family has? I just need to open my mouth, and all the neighbors here are my people. When the time comes, I'll make you come in horizontally and go out vertically! Want to file a lawsuit? Scared, I'm afraid of you? My dad is working in the yamen, have you heard of County Magistrate Xu? The eight characters of the yamen are open, if you have reason but no money, don't enter... young master..."

  He was spitting wildly, with a bit of an arrogant attitude, as if he were about to say that his father was Li... no, Xu Chang!

  The other party was stunned for a moment and fell silent.

  Xu Qian thought the other party was scared, and hurriedly said: "Are you afraid? Alright, I won't bother with you. Who am I, Xu Qian? Everyone on this street knows me. They call me the loyal, righteous, kind-hearted young master. You just accidentally bumped into me, so hurry up and leave. Next time we meet, it won't be so easy to talk your way out."

  A person in the dark suddenly asked: "Are you Xu Qian? Is your father Xu Chang?"

  Xu Qian couldn't help but think, "What... after saying so much, could it be that another acquaintance has arrived?" It was an acquaintance, so he drew closer and said, "What's the matter?"

  The man in the dark was briefly silent, then said: "Your father is the head of the county government office, and you are idle, often selling medicine prescriptions in the county, right?"

  Xu Qian felt like crying. What's wrong with selling medicine prescriptions? It's also a promising career, isn't it? How can you call it idle? This person obviously has a relatively low level of education.

  Xu Qian's attitude turned bad and he said: "What do you want to do?"

  "No need to think about it." The person in the darkness laughed and then said, "It's really a case of 'breaking iron shoes without finding a place', but I didn't expect to run into you here. You'd better follow me quietly, Wang Gong has invited you."

  Xu Qian was suddenly frightened and turned around to escape, only to find a shiny steel knife placed on his neck.

  The steel knife was heavy, the blade sharp as a thorn, under the moonlight, his whole body felt cold, Xu Qian didn't dare to move, he suddenly realized that his luck was really bad!

  "It was Lord Wang's man, forgive me, forgive me! Your Honor, I have always respected Lord Wang, that...that...can't you just let it slide this once..." Xu Qian begged for mercy.

  The master of the steel knife, however, was coldly smiling. This smile sounded even more terrifying in the darkness. He said, "I can spare you, but Wang Gonggong may not be able to spare me. You're unlucky, kid. Wang Gonggong is in a bad mood right now, and it's only fitting that you're having bad luck."