Water Margin: Gao Yanei is actually a Gal Genius

"Crack!" The bone china teacup shattered on the floor.

"This is utterly ridiculous!" Gao Qiu paced back and forth in the room, hands behind his back. "I thought that after his serious illness last month, Tuizhi would be able to settle down for a while. Now, look what's happened! First, he spent over a month in those brothels and nightclubs, and now he's associating with a bunch of lowlifes!"

A scholar, about the same age as Gao Qiu, sat in the room. His name was Su Guo, and his courtesy name was Shudang.

He sipped his tea and said slowly, "Grand Commandant, think of it on the bright side. At least Tuizhi didn't go around harassing respectable women anymore."

"The pleasures of brothels and singing houses are also refined pursuits. As for those low-class people, why not arrange a marriage for Tuizhi first? Once he has a family, he will naturally become more stable and will naturally cut off all ties with them."

"My son has been mischievous before, and his reputation isn't very good. I'm afraid he won't be able to find a good family for a while..." Gao Qiu hesitated, mainly because he wanted to learn from the ministers in the court and form factions through marriage.

After pacing and considering for a while, Gao Qiu continued, "How about I confine him to his quarters for a month or two, and forbid him from associating with those lowly people?"

Su Guo put down his teacup, glanced at Gao Qiu, and seemed to have guessed his thoughts. "Grand Commandant, I may have been a bit blunt, please don't mind."

"Our dynasty has always valued academic achievements. The ministers in the court would probably rather send their daughters to be concubines of the top scholars than let them marry men without academic achievements."

"Even if Tuizhi is the son of the Grand Commandant, it is still the same."

After hearing Su Guo's words, Gao Qiu's face turned pale and then red, but in the end he didn't react. He sighed and said helplessly, "Very well, I'll listen to my uncle's advice and arrange a marriage for Tuizhi..."

next day

Gao Jin slept soundly last night. After waking up and washing up, he asked the servants in the mansion and learned that his father had already gone on his mission. He didn't care about his hangover and called Fu An to go to the Dongyue Temple.

Without a doubt, the goal is to gain favor with Lu Zhishen.

Fu An led the way on a donkey, while Gao Jin followed behind on a horse.

When the master and servant arrived at the courtyard outside the Suanzao Gate from yesterday, Lu Zhishen was showing off his iron staff, with a group of idlers watching.

When they started playing, they were incredibly fierce and powerful. Gao Jin could tell from the noise that if he got hit by one, he would either die or be seriously injured.

"Master Lu, I'm here again..." He called out to Lu Zhishen twice, then turned and stuffed some silver into Fu'an's hand, asking him to go to the city to buy some wine and meat.

Lu Zhishen stopped what he was doing, saw that it was Gao Jin, and hurriedly greeted him: "You playboy are here? Come in quickly, I'll have someone buy some food. We didn't drink to our hearts' content yesterday, let's have a good drink together today."

Gao Jin, finding it difficult to climb the low wall with his horse today, took a few steps around to the courtyard gate and led his horse in through the main entrance. "Master Lu, please wait. We already had your food and drink yesterday; how can we let the monk spend money again today?"

"I have already sent my attendants to purchase them."

Lu Zhishen didn't mind, as long as there was food and drink, he was fine. When he saw the horse that Gao Jin was leading, his eyes lit up and he changed his address, "What a fine horse, Brother Gao."

"Master Lu, what's so good about this horse?" Gao Jin only felt that the horse was particularly tall and large, but couldn't see what was so special about it.

Lu Zhishen stepped forward, affectionately patted the horse's neck twice, and then began to point and comment on the horse.

"Brother Gao, look here. The whorl pattern on its chest, resembling the Big Dipper, is called the 'Heavenly Horse Star Pattern.' And look here, the bluish-black hooves make a sound when struck on stone; this is called the 'Iron Chime Foot.'"

"And its physique is tall and imposing, clearly a Qin horse. Its breathing is slow and deep, comparable to the breathing of the dantian. Not bad, not bad."

"It's a pity... Qin horses were mostly used as warhorses... Now... Alas," Lu Zhishen seemed to have something difficult to say, and his last sentence was spoken haltingly and with considerable concern.

Gao Jin looked at the horse, pondered for a moment, and then stuffed the reins into Lu Zhishen's hand. "Since you like it, Master, then it's yours."

Lu Zhishen's face turned visibly red, and he quickly threw the reins back to Gao Jin. "I used to be a commander under General Zhong of Yan'an Prefecture in Guanzhong. I heard people talking about horse judging in the army, so I know a little about it."

"I cannot take this horse. Firstly, these warhorses are not easy to keep, and they must be fed a daily supply of fine feed. Secondly, the management of warhorses has always been strict, and it would be inconvenient for me to ride it out..."

The senior monk looked quite reluctant, but his tone of refusal was firm.

Gao Jin was overjoyed to see that Lu Zhishen's favorability rating had increased from 30 to 40.

"Whenever you want it, Master, just come to the Gao residence to ask for it." Gao Jin said, then tied the horse to the corner of the courtyard.

"Let's talk about it some more. Today, let's just drink and have some wine." Lu Zhishen plucked some grass and threw it in front of his horse. He then led Gao Jin to sit down with the idlers.

When the idlers saw Gao Jin coming over, they hurriedly gave up their central positions and did not dare to get too close, for fear of getting Gao Jin's clothes dirty.

"Let me show you what I can do." After settling Gao Jin, Lu Zhishen returned to his original spot, picked up his iron staff, and began to brandish it. Gao Jin and the group of idlers cheered.

Before long, Fu An and a few others brought over wine and meat, and everyone sat down in a circle to eat and drink.

After drinking a whole jar of wine and eating twenty or thirty catties of cooked beef, mutton, and goose, Gao Jin looked at Lu Zhishen and began to worry, noticing that his favorability rating remained unchanged. Meanwhile, the favorability ratings of the group of idle men who were eating and drinking for free were rising quite quickly, almost reaching 50.

After thinking about it, Gao Jin realized that he could only rely on the secrets he had heard about in his previous life.

The three pillars of a man's life are: studying together, living together in the same village, and fighting together.

"There's not much to do in this Tokyo city. Why don't you, Master Lu, learn from the military and train us?" Gao Jin thought to himself. The instructors and new recruits should be considered to have "carried guns together".

Gao Jin raised his wine bowl and said to the idlers around him, "Gentlemen, you can also learn some skills so you won't be bullied."

Upon hearing this, the idlers found it amusing, but dared not offend the young master, so they all started making a fuss.

Lu Zhishen was not shy at all. He simply instructed everyone to stand in formation, and then each of them found a broadsword and practiced a set of moves at the front before turning around and watching everyone practice.

It was noon, the sun high in the sky. Although the heat was intense, the group, having just drunk alcohol, didn't feel uncomfortable and were all covered in sweat after practicing for a while.

Everyone then took off their outer garments and began practicing in only their shirts.

After practicing for an hour or so, the idlers all found excuses to leave one after another. This is not surprising; those with true perseverance and patience wouldn't have become idlers.

In the end, only Gao Jin remained on the field.

Gao Jin was unwilling to stop for a simple reason: Lu Zhishen's favorability rating had risen to 41.

Having already benefited, he naturally didn't want to stop, and exercising his body was clearly good for him. With Lu Zhishen's guidance, it was a win-win situation.

From that day on, Gao Jin would go to Lu Zhishen every morning to learn various military skills, practicing until it got dark before returning home to rest.

During this time, Lin Chong would occasionally come to drink with Lu Zhishen. Seeing Gao Jin practicing martial arts, he also taught him some staff techniques.

Those idlers, who initially came over to freeload, gradually stopped coming over.

Strangely enough, Gao Jin's cheapskate father seems to have forgotten about his eldest son these days, and is probably up to something.

This went on for over a month without any major ups and downs or accidents. They practiced martial arts and drank wine every day, and sometimes they would go into the city together to see the sights.

[Lin Chong's Favorability: 40], [Lu Zhishen's Favorability: 69]. These results made Gao Jin sigh, realizing how easy it is to manipulate a man's favorability rating.

At first, he gritted his teeth and persevered just to increase his favorability. He didn't know if there was something wrong with this world, but in just half a month, he saw results. His thin body became much stronger, and his strength increased significantly.

This obvious positive feedback made Gao Jin unable to stop. He would practice every day without anyone supervising him, until he was completely exhausted before he would rest.

That day, Gao Jin was practicing martial arts with Lu Zhishen. The old monk had been summoned away by a monk from the Great Xiangguo Temple, and no one knew what he was up to. Gao Jin didn't worry about it; if Lu Zhishen needed his help, he certainly wouldn't hesitate.

Just as he was practicing with great enthusiasm, a dark shadow suddenly attacked him like a black python. Fortunately, he had been practicing martial arts diligently for the past month, which allowed him to react in time.

He raised his stick and struck the shadowy figure upwards, while simultaneously dodging the figure's attack.

The moment the stick in his hand made contact with the dark figure, a tremendous force came from him, and Gao Jin felt his palm go numb, and the stick almost slipped from his grasp.

Gao Jin was secretly shocked. What was that? It had such great strength.

Just then, a spoiled female voice came from outside the courtyard: "Are you that playboy Gao Jin?"