Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 21 The Beauty in the Library
Although Zhang Jun was only in his thirties, he had already served as a palace official in the Southern Province and held the position of Langzhong in the Ministry of Rites.

Last night, he was unable to attend a banquet at home because he was in the provincial government. The next day, after the court meeting, several literary friends he knew came to see him in his office and congratulated him, saying that his poetry and literature were passed down from generation to generation and that there was no one to carry on his legacy.

Zhang Jun was puzzled by this. After asking around, he learned that his illegitimate son Zhang Luonu had shown his talent and shone brightly at the banquet at his home last night.

Upon learning this, Zhang Jun felt not much joy but deep surprise. He had heard Wang Han sing "Golden Threaded Clothes" that day, and had praised it highly and liked it quite well. But he had never imagined that it was written by his son, whom he had never cared about. Surprised, he felt a little uneasy, worried that he had made a mistake.

However, since his father, Zhang Shuo, had personally verified it last night, it must be true. Although he had some doubts, he didn't dare go to the Secretariat to ask his father. And when he thought about how his son was so talented, yet he was completely ignorant and had to rely on his colleagues for information, he couldn't help but feel a sense of shame and humiliation at being deceived.

Zhang Jun was not always so indifferent to his son. After all, he was the first flesh and blood in his life. He felt a little pity for him in the beginning. However, after he married his wife and then his concubine Wu died, he was affected by a series of human and personal events. His feelings for his son gradually faded and he gradually stopped caring about him.

Zhang Jun knew that his wife had always disliked this illegitimate son, even tinged with hostility, and he didn't want this little thing to disrupt the harmony of the family. Now that this boy had suddenly become famous and acclaimed, it was inevitable that his wife would be angry and unhappy.

Because he was worried about family matters, Zhang Jun was in no mood to deal with official business anymore, so he simply asked for leave from the office and hurried back home.

Zhang Luo was unaware that this slight change in his situation at home had made Zhang Jun and his wife feel uneasy. Of course, even if they knew about it, he would not take it to heart. Instead, he would feel a little happy.

The Xige Jicui Building mentioned by Zhang Gu is located on the side and rear of the central hall in the mansion. It is a two-story attic-style building. The rooms on the ground floor are used for living, reading and temporary meetings, while the upper floor is used for storing books.

When Zhang Luo heard Zhang Gu describe the building alone housing over 6,000 volumes of books, he was quite excited. If he were to follow the story of a fantasy novel, this was like entering the family's Sutra Library, filled with the family's accumulated martial arts techniques for him to choose from and learn.

The collection of books in the building covers a wide range of topics, including classics, history, and collections of literature. Although they are not fantasy techniques, for those who know how to use them, these books can also help improve their abilities and perfect their self-cognition.

At least for Zhang Luo, reading these books allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of the cultural development and ideological construction of this era, and also allowed him to establish himself and develop in this era with a more appropriate attitude and method. This was particularly important when he was still unable to influence and change this era.

There is a main hall on the first floor of the attic, with several side rooms on the left and right. The two rooms on the east side were allocated to Zhang Luo and Ying Niang, mother and daughter, to live in.

While Yingniang and Aying were tidying up the room, Zhang Luo, led by Zhang Gu, toured the attic. In addition to the books collected in different categories, he also saw several of Zhang's private seals on the desk in the main hall on the first floor.

Zhang Luo's heart suddenly started beating wildly. If he used these private seals to print the epitaph after writing it, the fake would become real. He was afraid that when Zhang Shuo saw it, he would doubt whether he had really written it and just forgot.

After Zhang Luo had finished showing him around the different areas of the attic, Zhang Gu led him to the west wing, saying with a smile, "When Wang Han, the scholar, left this morning, he specially left a generous gift for me to pass on to Liu Lang. He has been temporarily placed in the west wing."

Zhang Luo's anticipation grew after hearing this. He knew Wang Han came from a wealthy family, so he hoped he wouldn't overthink his own elegance and would simply give him some tawdry items like gold, silver, and jewelry. At the very least, a set of luminous wine glasses would be enough to make him forgive Wang Han for his insistence on him being the center of attention the previous night.

When the two of them arrived outside the west wing, four young maids in colorful skirts and beautiful looks came out to greet them.

Zhang Luo felt that these women looked familiar, but he did not take them seriously. Instead, he secretly muttered to himself that his grandfather was in his sixties and still in good health, but he actually learned to keep beautiful women in his mansion, and he had four of them at once.

He was not sure whether he should call these four women "Grandma", so he didn't dare to look at them for too long. After he and Zhang Gu walked into the room, he looked around to see where the gifts were. However, Zhang Gu just smiled at him and didn't take the gifts. He couldn't help but look puzzled.

"These four courtesans are the gifts that Scholar Wang left for Liu Lang. Are you satisfied?"

Seeing Zhang Luo's expression, Zhang Gu quickly pointed at the four women standing in the room and explained to him.

"Are these four people gifts?"

Zhang Luo was stunned when he heard this, and then asked in disbelief. After seeing Zhang Gu nod in confirmation, he quickly waved his hand and said, "This cannot be done, absolutely not... I really, really cannot accept such a gift."

Although he studied ancient history and had accumulated quite a bit of poetry and songs, and could even communicate with the ancients without any obstacles, he still found this kind of thing difficult to accept. "My dear, you don't accept it, because you think my beauty and art are not to your liking?"

Seeing Zhang Luo waving his hand to refuse, several female entertainers immediately revealed expressions of sorrow and fear. They pulled up their skirts and bowed, saying quickly, "We are sold as servants, not from the brothel in the neighborhood. Our master, Scholar Wang, trained us for several years. We can play various musical instruments, recite hundreds of songs, and are also proficient in singing and dancing..."

While several courtesans were still eagerly recommending themselves, Zhang Luo had already stepped out of the wing room. He was not a gentleman who could remain calm in the face of temptation. Moreover, those courtesans were all quite attractive, but now they looked so pitiful and ready to be picked. Any man would probably be confused by this.

However, Zhang Luo has not yet reached the point where he is blinded by lust. On the one hand, he cannot accept people being treated as objects at will. On the other hand, he knows that the improvement in his current situation is only temporary, and he does not want to be involved in too many personal relationships in the Zhang family.

Besides, no matter how beautiful and talented these women were, they still had to eat and wear clothes. It wasn't easy to make a little money by writing epitaphs under a false name, and suddenly having a few more mouths to feed was unbearable.

Looking at their faces covered in makeup, their daily cosmetics expenses alone would probably exceed the living expenses of Yingniang and her daughter. Wouldn't it be nice to use this spare money to buy winter and summer clothes for the family and some extra food?
After all, he wasn't yet at the stage of pursuing pleasure in the arts; it was time to focus on his career. The private seals on his desk were even more attractive to him than these women. Wang Han's gifts were not proper; they were simply causing trouble!
He was still thinking about sending the prostitutes back when Zhang Jun came storming out from outside. He pointed at Zhang Luo from a distance and shouted, "You've lost control and caused a lot of gossip. What happened last night?"

Zhang Luo was annoyed by the sight of this fellow. After hearing this, he replied, "I was summoned last night. I didn't recognize anyone in the room full of guests. I tried my best to maintain my composure. If you want to know what's going on, please ask your father."

Zhang Gu noticed that the father and son were not getting along, so he quickly stepped forward to explain the events of the previous night's banquet. He then added, "Liu Lang wowed everyone last night, and everyone praised him profusely. The lord was delighted and ordered me to bring him here this morning to study. Another distinguished guest, Scholar Wang, admired Liu Lang's talent and gifted him several female entertainers."

After listening to Zhang Gu's story, Zhang Jun's expression changed slightly. But when he saw the pitiful courtesans, his face darkened again and he shouted angrily, "Poetry and comedy are not elegant works. Everyone respects your grandfather because of Wu Lingyan, but they don't really appreciate his talent! You rely on this little reputation to become arrogant and forget yourself, visiting prostitutes in broad daylight..."

"The barking dogs in our sect are louder than those in other houses, all because of our family's great history. I don't need Aye to teach me such a simple truth. I know to be cautious and self-disciplined, and not to behave like vicious dogs and bark wildly to scare others."

Zhang Luo found it difficult to communicate calmly with this fellow. As he spoke, his anger rose again: "No one knows me except my grandfather and father. All gifts are merely gifts from me. These female entertainers should be used for the private entertainment and cultivation of the father-in-law. This is what Master Wang intended.

Since I understand this, how dare I dare to take advantage of him? May I ask who, after my father's return, has falsely accused me of soliciting prostitutes? The head of the government office hereby certifies that if I have violated my father's will, I will be killed! If not, I will remove this traitor's tongue to prove the unbreakable bond between father and son!

As he spoke, he pulled out the meat-cutting knife from his waist and held it, staring at him with a look of unwillingness to give up.

"W-What are you going to do?"

Zhang Jun didn't expect that the boy would actually pull out a knife while talking. He was so scared that he leaned back slightly and shouted.

Zhang Gu, who was standing by, saw this and hurried forward to stand between the father and son, separating them. He held down Zhang Luo's knife-gripping hand with one hand and bowed to Zhang Jun, saying, "Master, please calm down. Liu Lang was indeed not engaging in prostitution, and just now he was refusing to accept Scholar Wang's gift. I was impulsive and rude, and I was only anxious to prove my innocence. I'm afraid that the Master will misunderstand and even alienate and despise him. The person who falsely accused Liu Lang of engaging in prostitution should be punished!"

Zhang Jun's expression turned even more awkward after hearing this. He had only casually scolded the prostitutes upon seeing them, but he hadn't expected to provoke such an extreme reaction from the boy. Being called a traitor to his son's face and threatened to pull out his tongue filled him with shame and anger, yet he couldn't express his pain.

Zhang Gu's explanation gave him a way out, so he took the opportunity to speak in a deep voice, "Being cautious and self-disciplined is your duty, and there's no need to boast. You were impetuous in your youth and shouldn't have been so promiscuous as to approach women. Since you haven't harbored any adulterous thoughts, you can still be taught. Put away that sharp blade. Even if a servant makes a mistake, you shouldn't impose corporal punishment on him. Since your father has high hopes for you, you should focus on your training and live up to his expectations!"

Although Zhang Luo was annoyed with this guy, he couldn't really stab him. After hearing this, he put away his knife and pointed at the several female entertainers and said, "Since these entertainers are gifts from Master Wang, you can accept them or release them as you wish. Just don't keep them here any longer and disturb my studies."

He wouldn't keep these prostitutes no matter what. He'd already vented his frustration by using this as an excuse to scold the bald monk in front of him, so Wang Han's gift wasn't in vain. Pushing it to Zhang Jun would only make things worse for Zheng. If you mess with me again, I'll have someone squeeze your husband dry and make sure you never have a normal married life again!
"With such aspirations, it will not be difficult to achieve academic success! You can settle down here, study hard, and avoid being disturbed by other things."

After hearing this, Zhang Jun showed a rare friendly expression to his son. He still spoke a few words in a didactic tone, but when his eyes turned to the courtesans, his expression flickered. After a moment's silence, he said, "Wang Ziyu is open-minded and generous, not fussy about trivial matters. If he pleases someone, he will definitely be close to them. Now that he has given me a gift, if I return it, it will offend him, and he will inevitably blame me for keeping my distance. Alas, this person's feelings are sincere, but it puts me in a difficult position."

You, Tian Wenjing, really like to wear Pinru's clothes!

Zhang Luo was immediately delighted when he heard this, and couldn't help but sigh that his father was indeed a talented person who could really lose face. No wonder he could serve as prime minister to An Lushan.

(End of this chapter)