Top Scholar

Chapter 193: It’s worth it

"No, why are you dragging me into this?" Su Lu said helplessly.

"Don't you like Huang E?" The Zhu brothers stared at Su Lu in unison. "If you say you don't like her, we'll immediately put an end to your thoughts!"

"Hey, Huang family girl!" Seeing Su Lu still hesitating, Zhu Zijing shouted loudly towards the carriage ahead, "Su Lu says he doesn't like it..."

Su Lu quickly covered his mouth and hurriedly whispered, "No, no, brother, I admit it, okay?"

At this moment, Huang E lifted the carriage curtain, peeked out, looked at the two people entangled together, and asked with a frown, "What does Brother Hongzhi dislike?"

“He doesn’t like people borrowing books and not returning them.” Zhu Zijing then said with a grin, “He was just saying, when am I going to return the ‘Chronicles of Huayang’ to him?”

"Don't listen to his nonsense." Su Lu said embarrassedly, "I didn't say anything, he's just teasing me."

"That was my fault too. I should have returned the book to you a long time ago." Huang E looked at Su Lu's flushed face and smiled happily: "I'll return it to you when we get off the bus later."

As soon as Huang E lowered the carriage curtain, the Zhu brothers started to make a fuss, and even Su Tai kept laughing and joking.

"Alright, alright, I do admire Miss Huang quite a bit." Su Lu had no choice but to surrender. "She's as beautiful as Xi Shi, as talented as Wen Ji, and a particularly kind person. Is there anything wrong with me admiring her?"

"That's right!" Zhu Zigeng laughed loudly. "A true man has clear likes and dislikes. If he likes something, he likes it. What's there to be embarrassed about saying it?"

“There are so many people who like her, enough to circle the entire city of Luzhou.” Su Lu’s wry smile deepened. “Besides, what’s her family background? It’s far inferior…”

"Brother, don't underestimate yourself!" Although Zhu Ziming wasn't quite sure what was going on, he couldn't bear to see Su Lu lack confidence, so he loudly encouraged him, "You're the best! I'm so proud of you!"

"That's right, show the same spirit you displayed when you shot down seven tiger kings in a row during the Lantern Festival!" Zhu Zigen patted Su Lu on the shoulder and said in a tone of someone who had been through it all: "We can all see that Sister Huang E also admires you... We've known her for so long, and this is the first time we've seen her take the initiative to strike up a conversation with a man, and chat for so long."

“That’s right. Don’t be fooled by her politeness to everyone; she keeps her distance from everyone.” Zhu Zigong nodded.

“That just means we get along well,” Su Lu said.

"It's enough that we can get along!" Zhu Zijing rubbed his hands together and said, "You can only move forward if you can get along. It's like a flint and steel. As long as you keep rubbing them together, you'll eventually get sparks. If you use two ordinary stones, you can rub them together until dark and still not get any sparks."

“Third Brother is right!” Zhu Zigong nodded and said, “But even if the fire knife and flint are very useful, they will never spark if you don’t touch them.”

"Not only do we need to make contact, but we need to collide fiercely!" Even the taciturn Zhu Zixian encouraged Su Lu, saying, "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, for time is still too late!"

"That's right. If you don't take the initiative, your relationship will stay at this stage forever," Zhu Zigeng sighed, speaking with the air of someone who'd been there before.

“I know what you’re thinking. You want to wait until you pass the imperial examinations and become more worthy of her before you talk about it. But have you ever thought about it? A girl is supposed to be married by the time she turns fifteen. By the time you achieve success, she will already be taken.”

"Even if you become the top scholar in the imperial examination, your life will still be incomplete!" Zhu Zijing sighed.

"When I think about it on my 80th birthday, I will still regret that I will not be able to eat that bowl of longevity noodles."

“That’s right… Brother, show your usual decisiveness!” Even Zhu Zihe was fired up, and said in a deep voice:

"Everything else can wait until the time is right, but this is something that cannot wait! The one who acts first will be the groom, and the one who acts later will be heartbroken!"

“Go ahead, Qiu-ge’er, I support you,” Su Tai said finally.

~~
As we spoke, we arrived at our destination, Baoshan. Baoshan is the mountain behind Luzhou City, a scenic spot, and its back garden. Within a radius of five li, ancient trees reach for the sky, mountain paths meander, and streams murmur. Moreover, the mountain is not very high, only a hundred zhang or so, making it perfect for a spring outing.

When the group arrived, there were already many carriages and sedan chairs parked at the foot of the mountain. Truly, one need not think that the early bird catches the worm; there are always those who set out earlier.

"Let's go ahead and find a good spot up the mountain." Zhu Zigeng then led his children and disappeared along the mountain path.

Zhu Ziming still wanted to pester Su Lu, but Zhu Zihe and Zhu Zijing pulled him away. "Sixth Brother, let's have a race and see who reaches the top first!"

"Let's compete! Who's afraid of who?" Zhu Ziming was instantly fired up and rushed forward like a rocket.

"Haha, you guys take your time, we'll go ahead!" The Zhu brothers winked at Su Lu and then followed him with a grin.

Miss Zhu knew what was going on as soon as she saw her brothers' behavior, so she took Tian Tian's hand and said, "Let's walk slowly, I'll teach you to identify the flowers in the mountains."

"Mmm." Little Tiantian nodded obediently; she was an expert at judging the atmosphere.

Even She Yunlu gave Su Tai a wink, and the two of them tacitly slipped into the grove to eat their lion's head meatballs...

In the blink of an eye, only Su Lu and Huang E remained on the mountain path.

Even a blind man could see that everyone was creating an opportunity for the two of them to be alone...

Both of them were originally quite poised and confident, but after being deliberately put on such a pedestal, they both blushed and couldn't say a word.

There was no way around it; Huang E was a given. Although Su Lu had lived a second life, the pressure he faced in his previous existence had led him to develop an energy-saving mentality—he wouldn't bother others with things he could handle himself. So, while he wasn't exactly a virgin, he was at least a deputy director.

He's so lacking in experience and has no luck with women! If it weren't for the Zhu brothers stirring things up, he probably would never have taken this step and would have just been waiting to open the blind boxes...

Su Lu looked at the steps beneath his feet, counted to eighty-one, and finally mustered up his courage to say:

"that……"

“That…” Huang E said in unison.

"What's wrong with us?" The two chuckled at each other, which eased the awkward atmosphere.

"You go first," Su Lu said with a smile.

"Don't worry, Brother Hongzhi, the box of books is in the carriage. I was just planning to return it to you today." Huang E then laughed and said, "It's too heavy. I can't fit it in my sleeve."

"Of course," Su Lu laughed. "It's 110,000 words, a whole boxful."

The prize Zhu family won during the Lantern Festival was the "Chronicles of Huayang," which was the only one of the five sets of books that was not a large volume, but it was the most valuable because it was a woodblock print by Li Danling in the fourth year of the Jiatai era of the Southern Song Dynasty. It consisted of four volumes in a box and was worth one hundred taels of silver.

Of course, for the Zhu family, whose heritage spans hundreds of years, this is just a collection of books that they bought for a few dozen coins three hundred years ago...

"Brother Hongzhi, have you read this book before?" Huang E's eyes lit up when he heard him mention the number of words.

“Our academy originally had this set of books. Because it records the history of our Southwest, we glanced at it a few times in our spare time.” Su Lu nodded.

"That's great!" Huang E was overjoyed. She knew that for top students like them, "skimming through" meant they had read it carefully, but they didn't mean they were studying it as academic knowledge.

"I have a lot of questions, and I'd like to ask Brother Hongzhi for advice!"

"I wouldn't presume to ask for your guidance, let's discuss it together." Upon hearing the words "ask for your guidance," Su Lu completely relaxed; this was his comfort zone.

"First, this book records the founding history of Ba and Shu, based mostly on apocryphal texts from the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as the Luoshu, which claims that the Ba and Shu kingdoms already existed during the reign of the Human Emperor." Huang E couldn't wait to raise his first question.

"In your opinion, Brother Hongzhi, is the ancient history of Bashu true?"

"Of course it's true," Su Lu affirmed without hesitation. This is history already proven by the Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites, known to everyone in later generations...

Although it was impossible to use later archaeological discoveries as evidence during the Ming Dynasty, as long as you have a definite answer, it is not difficult to find the context in historical records to form credible proof.

In fact, studying history these days is about finding evidence in old documents. The more evidence that can corroborate each other, the more credible it becomes.

"I'd like to hear the details." Huang E's eyes lit up as he listened attentively, clearly full of anticipation.

“Evidence abounds. For example, the *Bamboo Annals* records that ‘Du Yu abdicated the throne to Bie Ling,’ and the *Annals of the Shu Kings* records that ‘Yu Fu hunted at Jian Mountain.’ Both of these authoritative ancient books mention the Shu Kings; surely they wouldn’t both fabricate stories?” Su Lu then spoke eloquently:
“The geography books also match up. The Tuo River recorded in the Water Classic is the Tuo River in front of us. This shows that there was a political power in Shu long ago, otherwise why would Yu the Great have come to control the floods?”

Su Lu then laughed and said:

"But the most direct evidence comes from the Qin people who destroyed Ba and Shu... Sima Cuo conquered Shu, and it took him ninety days to capture Chengdu. If Shu had no city walls or foundations, how could it have been conquered so quickly? The 'Annals of Qin' records that 'ten thousand ships of grain were obtained from Shu' further proves that the country was wealthy—where would the reserves come from if there were no ancient states? With Qin's glorious military achievements, would it have needed to fabricate two non-existent states to destroy? All of this is verifiable and cannot be concealed by prophecies or metaphysical speculation!"

“That makes sense.” Huang E nodded slightly. Of course, she knew the common knowledge that Qin had conquered Ba and Shu, but she was not sure. “But is this Ba and Shu Kingdom the same as the ancient Ba and Shu Kingdom?”

Official records of the ancient Ba-Shu Kingdom have all been lost, leaving only two names. It is inevitable that later scholars like Huang E would have this question.

But this was not a problem for Su Lu at all. He said decisively, "It's the same thing! The Chronicles of Huayang says that the King of Shu established his capital at 'Pi,' which is today's Chongning County in Chengdu."

“Indeed, Chongning was called Pixian before the Tang Dynasty.” Huang E’s eyes lit up.

"The book also says that the center of the Ba Kingdom was in eastern Sichuan, and its territory was in the area of ​​present-day Chongqing. The 'Ba Commandery' and 'Shu Commandery' established by the Qin Kingdom after conquering Ba and Shu completely inherited the core territories of these two ancient kingdoms. This is clearly not a coincidence," Su Lu added in a deep voice.
"Furthermore, the customs and culture match up. The 'Chronicles of Huayang' says that the Ba people were 'martial and skilled at boating,' while the Shu people were 'skilled at silkworm breeding and water management.' After the Qin state conquered Ba and Shu, the documents also mentioned that the local people preserved the old customs of Ba and Shu. This shows that what Qin destroyed was the 'Ancient Ba and Shu Kingdom' with its unique customs, and not some other regime that claimed the name."

"Moreover, although the ancient Shu Kingdom did not leave behind many written records, its relics are scattered throughout Sichuan. For example, there are many temples dedicated to Cancong in various places, and there is also the Canling Mausoleum in Maozhou. If the Shu Kingdom was fabricated, why are there temples for worshipping ancestors and oral traditions everywhere? Surely it wasn't fabricated by all the people of Sichuan?"

“That makes sense.” Huang E nodded in agreement.

"As for the Ba Kingdom, have you heard of the 'Ba People's Plank Road' near Jianmen Pass? The stone holes in that long plank road are half a foot deep. If there wasn't a real country, how could they have the ability to carve out such a magnificent project?" Su Lu said in a deep voice, "All kinds of evidence prove that these two ancient kingdoms did indeed exist!"

"Yes." Huang E finally accepted Su Lu's statement and said with great admiration, "Brother Hongzhi is indeed very knowledgeable and can be my teacher."

“We can learn from each other,” Su Lu said with a carefree smile. “We can learn from each other’s strengths and make up for each other’s weaknesses, and improve together.”

"Alright!" Huang E happily raised his hand and said, "It's a deal!"

"It's a deal!" Su Lu smiled and gave her a high five.

P.S., I haven't finished checking the next chapter yet...

(End of this chapter)