Chapter 8

"Lord County Magistrate, your presence truly brings glory to my humble shop!" Dong Feng hurriedly welcomed him, smiling and said to County Magistrate Xu Wenliang, "My lord, don't listen to Su Lin's nonsense. He hasn't even opened his wisdom at the age of fifteen; how could he suddenly open it now? And he even claims it was opened by the words of a sage."

"Lord County Magistrate, I can vouch for it. Brother Su Lin truly opened his wisdom with the words of a sage. I saw it myself; when Brother Su Lin opened his wisdom, the energy surged to the heavens, and a beam of golden light burst forth from his wisdom aperture!" Dong Zijin hurriedly spoke up for Su Lin.

Su Lin, however, remained calm and composed, bowing to County Magistrate Xu Wenliang and said, "Student Su Lin greets Lord Xu. Indeed, I opened my wisdom with the words of a sage."

"Indeed! Su Lin, Su Lin! I have heard of you before. You are fifteen and have yet to open your wisdom. A few days ago, you used the 'diligence' character from your father Su Jingtian's entry to the character forest to gain the qualification for the county examination. I never imagined that today you would open your wisdom with the words of a sage. Tell me quickly, which sage's words did you use to open your wisdom?"

County Magistrate Xu Wenliang, although he had deduced from the residual holy power in Su Lin's room that Su Lin had opened his wisdom with the words of a sage, had only guessed it to be the words of a semi-sage. After all, opening wisdom with the words of a semi-sage was already a remarkable talent. With diligent effort, one could at least achieve the rank of a Hanlin scholar. As for opening wisdom with the words of a sub-sage or the true sage Confucius, Xu Wenliang had never even dared to imagine such a genius could appear in Fengle County under his jurisdiction.

"Student opened my wisdom with Confucius' words, 'A gentleman is not a vessel,' and comprehended the way of 'not being a vessel.'"

Su Lin answered honestly, neither humble nor arrogant.

"Ah, 'A gentleman is not a vessel,' the words of Confucius..." County Magistrate Xu Wenliang was stunned for a moment before he almost screamed, grabbing Su Lin's arm to confirm, "Su Lin, what did you say? You opened your wisdom with Confucius' 'A gentleman is not a vessel'? With the true words of a sage?"

Opening wisdom with the words of a semi-sage or a sub-sage could also be called opening wisdom with the words of a sage, but it was vastly different from opening wisdom with the true words of a sage. In the nine kingdoms, opening wisdom with the words of a semi-sage was rare but not unheard of. However, those who opened their wisdom with the words of Confucius had only been Mencius and Zisi.

Therefore, when Xu Wenliang heard that Su Lin had opened his wisdom with 'A gentleman is not a vessel,' he was momentarily at a loss.

"Yes."

Su Lin nodded with a smile, acknowledging it. He understood what his opening wisdom with the true words of a sage meant for Xu Wenliang. Children who opened their wisdom with the words of a Hanlin scholar could already be sensed by the county magistrate's seal, as it was considered a significant achievement for a county magistrate. How much more so for Su Lin, who had opened his wisdom with the true words of a sage? Reporting this would likely earn Xu Wenliang enough merit to be promoted to a prefect or even a provincial governor.

"Heaven blesses our Wu Kingdom! No... Heaven blesses our human race! After thousands of years, a true genius who opens wisdom with the words of a sage has truly appeared again."

County Magistrate Xu Wenliang, who had always been calm and composed despite his jinshi rank, was now in tears, holding Su Lin's hand tightly, unwilling to let go, as if afraid Su Lin would disappear if he did. He pulled Su Lin towards the county office, saying, "Su Lin, accompany me back to the county office. I want to have a heartfelt conversation with a genius like you. Moreover, I must report this to the prefect immediately, no... directly to the king, yes... and the Holy Temple... Opening wisdom with the true words of a sage is a great blessing for our entire human race!"

"What... What is going on? That brat Su Lin, he actually... actually opened his wisdom with the words of a sage?"

Dong Feng, who had not even been given a proper look by Xu Wenliang, saw the usually stern and authoritative county magistrate being so kind to Su Lin. It seemed that if not for the age difference, he would have wanted to call Su Lin a brother.

"Brother, I told you! Brother Su Lin truly opened his wisdom with the words of a sage, but you didn't believe me." Dong Zijin said smugly to her brother Dong Feng. She did not follow Su Lin to the county office but instead watched her brother, who was now dumbfounded.

At the entrance of the Fengle County office, Xu Lingxiao, holding the bandits Jiang Yang and Jiang Hai, enthusiastically said to Head Constable Tian, "Old Tian, where is my uncle? Today, I have fulfilled my boast and captured the bandits Jiang Yang and Jiang Hai. I have earned twenty points of merit."

"Scholar Xu, Lord County Magistrate and Deputy County Magistrate have just left and are not in the office. I can temporarily imprison these two bandits, but your merit will have to wait for Lord County Magistrate to return and personally award you," Head Constable Tian said, about to take the bandits, but Xu Lingxiao stopped him, saying, "No. I will hold these two bandits here and wait for my uncle to return so he can see it with his own eyes."

Scholar Xu Lingxiao and County Magistrate Xu Wenliang were uncle and nephew. After Xu Wenliang passed the jinshi examination, he was assigned to Fengle County as the county magistrate. In the same year, his elder brother Xu Wentao's son, Xu Lingxiao, also passed the scholar examination and came to Fengle County to gain experience and earn merit.

Fengle County was a small border county of the Wu Kingdom, less than a hundred miles from the Great Wall, and not far from the southern barbarians and demons. Therefore, it was a good place for scholars and juren to earn merit by killing enemies.

However, in the two years since Xu Lingxiao had come to Fengle County with his uncle Xu Wenliang, he had not had the opportunity to kill any barbarians and could only earn a little merit by capturing small thieves. A few days ago, at a literary tea party in Fengle County, Xu Lingxiao boasted in front of his uncle Xu Wenliang that he would capture the notorious bandits Jiang Yang and Jiang Hai within ten days.

Now, in just three days, Xu Lingxiao had discovered the two bandits in disguise at the market, recognized them, and used his scholar's holy power to capture them. Naturally, he wanted to boast about his achievement to his uncle.

But when he hurriedly brought the bandits to the county office, he found that County Magistrate Xu Wenliang and Deputy County Magistrate Li Ting were both out. He was frustrated, thinking, "What important matter could it be that my uncle and Deputy County Magistrate Li Ting are both out?"

Just as Xu Lingxiao was puzzled, he saw County Magistrate Xu Wenliang walking happily towards the county office, holding Su Lin's hand and chatting. Deputy County Magistrate Li Ting was following respectfully.

"Uncle! Look, in just three days, I have captured the bandits Jiang Yang and Jiang Hai."

As soon as he saw County Magistrate Xu Wenliang return, Xu Lingxiao hurriedly boasted. However, Xu Wenliang was only focused on talking to Su Lin and merely nodded slightly, saying, "I know. Li Ting will record your twenty points of merit later."

After that, Xu Wenliang ignored Xu Lingxiao and invited Su Lin into the inner chambers of the county office. Xu Lingxiao, expecting to be praised, was now glaring, and only then noticed that the youth his uncle was treating so specially was the same one he had mocked at the market when capturing the bandits.