Chapter Thirty-Six: The First Encounter with Nezha

  The timing of the morning meeting was changed to every five days, with two days off, which is similar to the modern concept of a weekend. There were also additional holidays for festivals and special occasions, which were referred to as "labor and rest combined", but in reality, it was just an excuse to be lazy. These three days coincided with the regular rest days, effectively making it a five-day break.

  Zhang Zixing hastened his steps towards the rear palace, secretly congratulating himself on his quick wit. If he hadn't seen through it early and taken a big break, just those memorials would have kept him up till midnight, and by then the rear palace might have sent out twelve "golden plaques" to urge him... As he entered the inner palace gate, he indeed saw Jiang Wencui leading Yang Jiu and Huang Feiyan in a curtsy: "Your Majesty's eastern expedition was a great victory; your concubine has already set up a banquet in the central palace to celebrate. Please accept our invitation to attend."

  "Zi Tong (the Shang Dynasty emperor's term for the empress) is so generous, how can I not comply?" As soon as he mentioned the imperial palace, Zhang Zixing immediately thought of that exaggerated "xing fu" brand large bed and couldn't wait to take this beautiful woman there to relive the wonderful taste of "debauched and infatuated ruler".

  "I've been away at war for months, and I'm sure you've all been worried about the affairs of the palace." He said this polite phrase while stepping forward and lowering his voice: "Your husband has not seen you all in a long time, and he misses you deeply. After dinner, none of you should think about sneaking away, as your husband wants to show off his prowess on that big bed and reunite with his beloved wives."

  The three women heard this and couldn't help but understand the emperor's intention. Instantly, their faces flushed with anger, yet they still had to respond according to etiquette: "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

  A couple of four people meet again after a long separation, all are passionate like fire, only envy the mandarin ducks and not the immortals.

  The next day, Zhang Zixing took a stroll in the Imperial Garden with his three consorts when an attendant came to report that General Weidong Li Jing had arrived with his wife and children seeking an audience.

  Li Jing brought Na Cha? Zhang Zixing's spirit lifted, and he immediately summoned Li Jing and the other two to meet him in the Imperial Garden. After a moment, Zhang Zixing finally saw this apprentice who had been kidnapped.

  To put it simply, Nezha is now only a few months old, but because he was pregnant in the belly of Yin for three years and six months, so when he was born, he looked like a three-year-old child. He could speak with his mouth open, and his appearance was elegant, with red lips and white teeth, like a jade carving, very lovely. As Zhang Zixing said - ten or eight years later, it will be a super little white face that relies on its looks to eat soft rice. Little Nezha is eloquent, has strong memory, and sometimes appears to be a small adult who is not commensurate with his age. When he talks, his logic is clear, and he is indeed the reincarnation of Lingzhu.

  Li Jing's wife, Yin Shi, was a distant relative of the royal family. She was elegant and beautiful in appearance, with a gentle disposition and a unique mature charm. When she arrived at the palace with Nezha for the first time, Empress Jiang had just received an urgent letter from Zhang Ziyuan, so she treated Yin Shi and her son with extra courtesy, making them feel grateful. Nezha and his mother had visited the palace several times before, so they naturally recognized Empress Jiang and Concubines Yang and Huang. This time, however, Nezha didn't even glance at Emperor Zhang, but instead called out "Your Majesty" and went straight up to pay his respects. Li Jing was shocked in his heart, knowing that this was a serious offense against the emperor. He hastily gave Nezha a warning look, but the little devil ignored him, making Li Jing break out in cold sweat. Fortunately, the emperor didn't seem to notice anything unusual, and only smiled without saying a word.

  After paying respects to the three consorts, his gaze finally fell on Zhang Zixing, and a curious expression appeared on his small face as he blurted out: "Are you the Emperor?"

  "I deserve to die! Lenient governance, please forgive me, Your Majesty!" Before Zhang Zixing could speak, Li Jing, who was covered in cold sweat, had already pulled Yin Shi down to kneel.

  "Nezha is so innocent and lovely, what crime has he committed?" Zhang Zixing waved his hand to let Li Jing stand up straight, looking at Nezha with a smile like a big grey wolf deceiving a little white rabbit: "Little Nezha, I am the Emperor, are you willing to acknowledge me as your master?"

  "What is this 'widower' you speak of?" As soon as Nezha finished speaking, Li Jing, who was drenched in sweat, knelt down again with a "thud" and begged for forgiveness.

  Zhang Zixing ordered Li Jing to get up, and patiently explained to him: "Guaren is me, meaning 'a person of few virtues', only the monarch can refer to himself as 'guaren'."

  "Since you are a widower, why should I make you my master?" This remark scared Li Jing out of his wits. He quickly got up and knelt down again, this time not daring to utter another word.

  Li Jing was indeed unlucky. He had intended to bring his son to pay respects in person and please the Emperor, but unexpectedly Nezha acted out of character today for some reason. Not only did he forget Li Jing's repeated instructions before leaving the house, but also spoke so rashly that if it provoked the Emperor's anger, not only would the apprenticeship be hopeless, but the whole family would also be in danger of losing their lives.

  Zhang Zixing this time was too lazy to let Li Jing get up, and smiled at Nezha: "The term 'widower' is just a humble name. If I were really that kind of person with little virtue, how could I be a good emperor?"

  As he spoke, Zhang Zixing took out a small cube, which was cast in bronze. The six faces of the cube had several small squares on them, and each square was engraved with one of the six symbols:戍、已、庚、辛、壬、癸。The four sides could rotate freely, and it was essentially a Rubik's Cube, a toy that would be popular among children in later generations.

  "This is a small toy I made, if you can turn the six sides in order, today you don't have to call me Master. Zhang Zixing explained the rules to Nezha and demonstrated it himself, turning out the six sides of Kan, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui, then shuffled them behind his back and handed them to Nezha."

  Nezha was originally a child at heart. When he saw Zhang Zixing playing with the Rubik's Cube, he couldn't help but feel itchy and immediately took over, sitting down on the ground to play with it, his expression very serious.

  Zhang Zixing didn't disturb them either, and led the three consorts and Li Jing's couple to quietly leave, coming to a side hall to rest for a while, and also asked Li Jing about his experience learning Taoism back then. Li Jing saw that the emperor was not suspicious of Ne Zha at all, and finally put down the big stone in his heart, and respectfully replied.

  Li Jing was born into a declining noble family. In his youth, he liked the Taoist arts and became a disciple of Du E, the True Man of the Eight Treasures Cloud Light Cave on Iron Trident Mountain in Western Kunlun. Du E had great spiritual powers and profound magical abilities, but unfortunately, Li Jing's talent was limited, and he only learned the Five Elements Escape Technique to save his life. Du E once said that Li Jing would have difficulty achieving immortality and that there were other opportunities for him. One day, a fellow Taoist, Shi Ji Niangniang, came to visit and heard about this situation. She advised Du E to send Li Jing down the mountain to enjoy wealth and glory in the mortal world. Du E had already intended to do so, and upon hearing Shi Ji's words, he immediately sent Li Jing down the mountain.

  After Li Jing came down from the mountain, he coincidentally saved Yin's father's life. Yin's father then married his daughter to him and helped him obtain the position of Deputy General of Chentang Pass. Li Jing was upright in appearance but smooth in character, winning over the commander above and comforting the soldiers below, earning the trust of all. In the end, he rose from a deputy general to the position of general.

  Zhang Zixing knew that one of the later Hummer Two, Zheng Lun, was also a fellow student of Li Jing. He couldn't help but feel curious about this true person who had overcome difficulties. Although the book didn't describe him much, he could be the teacher of both Li Jing and Zheng Lun, and was on good terms with Shi Jie, so his strength was at least on the same level as the Twelve Sages of the Xuanmen Sect. Another powerful figure in "Fengshen" (Investiture of the Gods), Lu Ya, also came from the Western Kunlun Mountains; who knows how many more hidden and virtuous scholars were there?

  Several people chatted in the side hall for a while, and Zhang Zixing looked at the time and it was not early, so he left Li Jing and his wife to have dinner in the side hall. Li Jing knew that this was a great honor and thanked him again and again. During dinner, a palace maid came to report that Nezha was still "working hard" in the imperial garden, and the pastries and fruits sent over had not been touched at all. Zhang Zixing did not expect that Nezha, although young, had such a strong character, and secretly praised him. However, Yin Shi's heart ached for her son, and she was a bit unappetized during dinner.

  After finishing lunch, Zhang Zixing asked Li Jing and his wife to wait in the side hall, while he took three concubines to revisit the Imperial Flower Garden. As expected, Nezha was still patiently studying the magic cube, with a very focused expression, completely unaware of their arrival.

  "Little Nezha, have you ever turned into six faces all at once?"

  Zhang Zixing's words suddenly awakened Hei Cha, this little guy was quite clever. After glancing at the Rubik's Cube in his hand, he knelt down with a bitter face: "This object is interconnected, pulling one hair and moving the whole body, it's very complicated. I've been fiddling with it all day, but I can only turn one side well. When turning two sides, there's always a difference of one line. Please instruct me, Master Tianzi!"

  "Little Nezha, have you finally agreed to acknowledge me as your master? The title 'Heavenly Master' is too strange, from now on just call me 'Master'. Zhang Zixing heard that the little rascal had finally taken the initiative to address him as "Master", and laughed as he picked him up: "This object is called the Six Arts Magic Cube, containing numerical changes and variations. You were able to turn one side in such a short time, which is already quite difficult, so why be impatient? Moreover, this magic cube is just one of the thousands of strange objects created by me. In the future, I will definitely teach them to you one by one. You've been sitting here for a long time, you must be hungry and thirsty, come, let's have some snacks first."

  Naza heard that his master had even more wonderful and fun things like the six-armed magic cube, his eyes sparkled with stars, full of admiration, hugged his fists and said "thank you master", then took over the pastry and started devouring it.

  Jiang Hou, Yang Fei and Huang Fei liked this delicate and clever little devil, watching him gobble up his food, couldn't help but cover their mouths and laugh. Zhang Zixing patiently waited for Nezha to finish eating the pastries and fruit, then asked: "Nezha, I want you to enter the palace alone for a few years to study with your master, can you bear to be separated from your parents?"

  Zhang Zixing originally just wanted to swindle the future Western Zhou's pioneer general from Taizhen True Man, but now seeing Nezha's cleverness and cuteness, in a short period of time, he almost turned out the two sides of the magic cube - if he wasn't relying on his super brain's precise calculations for every step, it would be impossible to turn out six sides, let alone two. This shows how clever Nezha is, and Zhang Zixing has now genuinely considered taking him as a disciple. Nezha is cleverer than others, has strong leadership skills, and most importantly, is young, making him the easiest to accept new things. Even if he can't become an assistant in reversing the seal of the gods in the future, at least he can be a small research assistant.

  Nezha thought for a moment and replied: "Nezha is willing to follow the master to learn his skills, but it's just that he can't bear to part with his mother..."

  "Man is born of father's essence and mother's blood, you don't abandon your parents, it's also the common human relationship," Zhang Zixing curiously asked: "But... why haven't I seen you mention your father?"

  As for Li Jing, Nezha's face was filled with righteous indignation: "This father... humph, no need to mention it!"