My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 178 The Transcendent

Li Jiancheng glared angrily at his second brother sitting in front of him.

"I know about your past friendships with chivalrous heroes, but I didn't punish you. I never imagined that you would now not only befriend chivalrous heroes, but even thieves would become your companions!"

“I know that not all thieves are morally corrupt villains; some are heroes forced into it. But you shouldn’t be so blatant, even at the cost of ruining my grandson’s important plans! Who in the world is as foolish as you?”

Li Shimin nodded, "Doing so is indeed foolish, extremely foolish."

"You knew it was foolish, yet you still did it? Didn't you consider the consequences?!"

"I admit my mistake and I will never do it again."

Seeing that Li Shimin's attitude was somewhat sincere, Li Jiancheng finally calmed down a bit. He said very seriously, "I don't object to you making friends with people you think are talented. Just don't get yourself into trouble that you can't handle. There are many people watching our family these days. You may not know, but recently a lot of new faces have appeared in Loufan County. Do you know who these people are?"

Li Shimin suddenly raised his head. "Is that so??"

“Grandpa has offended a lot of people. Under these circumstances, any slight disturbance could be extremely dangerous. I’m not joking with you. You need to be careful about this and not take it lightly.”

Li Shimin's expression also turned serious.

"I see."

"Brother, should I refrain from going to Yingyang Prefecture for the time being? If someone reports General Chai's frequent contact with our family, will that also cause trouble?"

Li Jiancheng was taken aback, and he shook his head slightly, "It's not that bad."

"General Chai told me about you, saying that you have extremely high talent and can tell the strengths and weaknesses of different formations at a glance. You are a born general. We cannot let your talent go to waste."

"I'll find a way to retaliate against those people, so just don't cause me any more trouble."

Li Shimin was deeply moved. He looked at Li Jiancheng and said, "Thank you for saving face for me just now, brother. If it were my father, he certainly wouldn't have done that."

"I know you care about your reputation, but if this happens again, I won't care whether your friends are around or not."

"Brother, I will definitely handle it."

"That's good. By the way, if there are any thieves worth befriending, bring them out and keep them in the city. Don't let them go back to the mountains to steal."

"Here!"

"And another thing, don't just focus on riding, archery, and spear fighting all day long, neglecting your studies! Your younger brother has already started studying governance, do you just want to be a warrior? Lord Liu told me that you also have some talent in classical studies, you can't let that go to waste!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin chuckled to himself.

Li Jiancheng rolled his eyes at him. "What are you laughing at?"

"Since my brother fell from his horse, he hasn't talked to me much about these things. I thought he no longer loved me. But hearing his words today, I'm secretly delighted."

Li Jiancheng's lips trembled slightly, and he awkwardly turned his head away.

"I watched you grow up."

"Yes, when I was born, my grandfather was serving as a prefect in another province, and my elder brother came to keep me company every day. Before I could even call him 'grandfather,' I could already call him 'elder brother.'"

Li Jiancheng remained silent for a long time before standing up.

Study hard.

He only said one sentence before leaving in a hurry.

When Li Jiancheng walked out of Li Shimin's place, the inexplicable emotions in his heart could not be dispelled for a long time. Whether it was Li Shimin, Li Xuanba, Li Yuanji, or Li Xiuning, they were all his most cherished relatives.

If he could, he would never want to see his fellow villagers fighting each other.

When Li Jiancheng returned to Li Yuan, Li Yuan was receiving distinguished guests.

Liu Zhuo had just arrived and was sitting next to Li Yuan. Liu Xuan introduced his outstanding senior brother to Li Yuan with a smile, praising him to the skies.

To be honest, this was the first time Li Yuan had ever heard Liu Xuan praise someone so highly.

Liu Xuan has never had a good opinion of others. No matter how famous a person is, he considers them worthless.

Liu Zhuo is indeed a good-looking person, with white hair and a youthful face, and a gentle expression. Compared to Liu Xuan, he is less aggressive and appears more mild-mannered.

"I have long heard of Lord Liu's great name. It is a pleasure to meet you today. I still remember when you debated with all the Confucian scholars in the world, leaving them speechless. At that time, Emperor Wen once said to me: 'Among all the Confucian scholars in the world, none can compare to this man.'" Liu Zhuo hurriedly said: "Back then, I also had Guangbo's help during the debate. Otherwise, I would never have been able to win on my own. In terms of scholarship, Guangbo is the one who surpasses all the great scholars."

To outsiders, both Liu Xuan and Liu Zhuo seem a bit petty.

Because the two of them looked down on all the other great figures, people at the time said that Liu Xuan was arrogant and conceited, and Liu Zhuo was jealous of talented people.

However, this situation did not exist between the two of them. Liu Xuan looked down on others but valued Liu Zhuo highly, while Liu Zhuo looked down on other great Confucian scholars but valued Liu Xuan highly.

Judging from later generations' evaluations of the great Confucian scholars of the Sui Dynasty, these two may not have been arrogant or conceited. Rather, in this era, no one else could rival them, so they saw everyone else as trash and believed that only they could get along with each other.

Li Yuan was talking to Liu Zhuo with a smile when Li Jiancheng walked in.

Li Yuan was overjoyed and quickly introduced his eldest son, Li Jiancheng, to Liu Zhuo. Li Jiancheng also hurriedly bowed and greeted him.

After Li Jiancheng was seated, Liu Xuan smiled and said, "Duke, Shiyuan is my fellow disciple. By all accounts, I should address him as my senior brother. However, since we grew up together, we only address each other by our courtesy names, without regard to custom. I, as the junior brother, am currently teaching the Third Young Master. Why not let me, the senior brother, teach the young master?"

"At your age, young master, you should learn more from the classics."

Li Yuan was immediately tempted.

Liu Xuan's reputation was so bad that Li Yuan dared not let him be the teacher of his successor, as this would also tarnish Li Jiancheng's reputation. Although Liu Zhuo also caused some controversy due to his differential treatment, his reputation was much better than Liu Xuan's, who had been imprisoned and had been involved in lawsuits.

Moreover, Liu Zhuo has only just begun to do so, and his reputation has not yet been completely ruined. Because of his past achievements, the great scholars of the land still give him face and dare not provoke him.

If Liu Zhuo were to instruct Li Jiancheng, Li Yuan would look at Li Jiancheng with a smile.

"Jiancheng, what are you still standing there for?"

Li Jiancheng gave a helpless bitter smile. He knew that Liu Zhuo in front of him was a famous Confucian scholar, but he had many things to do every day and had no time to study the classics. Besides, he was afraid that studying these classics would be of little use. However, since his father had already spoken, he could not refuse.

Li Jiancheng hurriedly bowed to Liu Zhuo, who helped him up, thus establishing their relationship.

Li Yuan was indeed generous; with a wave of his hand, he presented a substantial gift.

Liu Zhuo laughed even more heartily.

After chatting for a long time, Li Yuan finally asked Li Jiancheng to take his teacher to visit him, as he had something to say to Liu Xuan.

Li Jiancheng brought the new teacher to his residence and invited him into his study.

The two sat facing each other like that.

Liu Zhuo spoke first, "Young master has already begun his studies, so there's no need for me to explain those basic classics anymore. May I ask which classic you prefer?"

Li Jiancheng laughed, “Teacher, you may not know this, but the classics I like are quite unique.”

"Oh?"

"What's so special about it?"

"I don't like reading in my daily life; I just like to observe, to observe the principles of nature."

"The principles of nature".

Liu Zhuo muttered something to himself, then asked, "For example?"

Li Jiancheng decided to show off his skills to this teacher. Making things clear would save him trouble later and allow him to get more things done. He cleared his throat. "For example, the various laws of nature. You see, I can walk, the sun can move, and perhaps the earth itself moves too."

Liu Zhuo nodded. "Oh, you mean exercise? That's right. If you observe things more often, you can discover many natural laws. Have you ever used mathematics to record these laws?"

Li Jiancheng was taken aback.

"what?"

“You can’t just observe; you have to record. Many Confucian scholars today don’t understand this. They admire metaphysics but neglect mathematics, you know? In fact, mathematics is the most important. Mathematics can explain all knowledge, including classical studies. Do you know how to use mathematics to interpret phenomena?”

"what??"

"I'm not just making this up; are you familiar with the equidistant quadratic interpolation method?"

"what???"

(End of this chapter)