Chapter 42

The wind and snow were raging through the night-shrouded city of Chang'an, the snowflakes flying and covering the footprints left by pedestrians during the day. The street-clearing drum had already sounded, urging those still on the road to return home. Otherwise, the military officers would soon come to drive them away. Of course, if you had the special permission of one of the highest-ranking figures in Chang'an and carried a token, it would be a different story!

In the Qin王府, the group of people showed no signs of dispersing. They had been granted passage tokens by Li Er, so they were not concerned about the curfew. At this moment, Li Kuan stood in the center of the hall, surrounded by a large group of civil and military officials from the Tian Ce Fu. With so many people staring at him, Li Kuan felt a bit nervous but also a bit excited. Everyone has a desire to perform, even the most timid person hopes to gain attention and approval from others.

This is human nature, and no one can avoid it, just like how even the most humble boy has secretly admired the pretty class flower at some point. It's an instinct, completely uncontrollable. Li Kuan was in such a state at the moment. Although he knew he was just copying the poetry of later generations, he couldn't help but feel excited and thrilled.

"But if the host can intoxicate the guest..." Li Kuan savored the novel feeling of being the center of attention before finally uttering the third line. This line wasn't particularly impressive on its own. Overall, the first few lines of "Guest in a Foreign Land" weren't very outstanding when viewed separately. It was only when the last line was added that the whole poem came together, depicting the scene of wine intoxicating both the drinker and the onlooker. So, when they heard this, the civil and military officials thought the poem wasn't very good, and even Li Er frowned: Could it be that the person behind Kuan was specifically making Kuan perform for me?

Just as everyone was about to feel disappointed, Li Kuan recited the last line: "Where is my hometown?"

This line was like a huge stone thrown into a deep pool, causing a tremendous wave: "What a great poem! I didn't expect the last line to be the finishing touch! It ties together all the elements described in the first three lines! The first two lines are about wine, and the last two are about people. The wine is fragrant, and the people are intoxicated. The wine doesn't intoxicate, but the people do, because of the fine grape wine and the host's warmth. Excellent!" Kong Yingda, Li Kuan's teacher, although the student hadn't attended class for many days, was the first to comment.

On the main seat, Li Er put his mind at ease at this moment. He believed that Li Kuan wouldn't lie to him. He had already asked before if there were any restrictions on contacting his mysterious teacher. Li Kuan had replied that the method of communication required sitting in meditation to access information through something called telepathy.

But Li Er still kept a watchful eye. He followed up, "But how can your teacher communicate with me through your body?"

Li Kuan's answer left Li Er puzzled but also convinced. Li Kuan had said, "It might be another method called deep hypnosis, where a specific scenario is set as a trigger. When the conditions are met, it will cause the pre-programmed actions and sounds to occur."

Hypnosis was a method Li Kuan came up with to explain, as he would occasionally use the identity of Chen Tuan to exchange and collaborate with Li Er. So, he had to lay the groundwork. Li Kuan had long planned not to use his identity as Li Er's second son, because in this era, anything a son had, except his wife, belonged to his father if the father wanted it, and not giving it was considered filial impiety! Moreover, presenting too many advanced things would always raise suspicion, so let them suspect the nonexistent Chen Tuan!

Of course, there are many skilled hypnotists in modern times who can really control your body, making you perform actions according to their will. It's just not as mystical as Li Kuan described!

Even so, Li Er still didn't fully trust Li Kuan. Although he had accepted it to a large extent, he wasn't completely convinced. So, after returning from Blackstone Mountain, Li Kuan specifically exchanged for a hypnosis technique, even spending some energy points to increase its power. He hypnotized one of Li Er's guards, making him reveal some military secrets.

This shocked Li Er. The guards around him were trained according to the methods described in ancient books, having carried out many covert missions. Even under severe torture by the enemy, they never revealed any secrets. But Li Kuan had overturned one of them with just a few moves, which was truly astonishing.

This made Li Er believe in the psychological technique of hypnosis that Li Kuan described, so he acknowledged that Li Kuan's mysterious teacher could not possibly guide him through telepathy in the noisy environment of the hall. It was Li Kuan's own ability!

No one knew that in this moment, Li Er had gone through so many twists and turns in his mind. The Prince of Qin wore a slight smile, making it hard to read his emotions, but his gaze towards Li Kuan had less suspicion and more warmth.

"Truly a great poem! I didn't expect the second prince to have such literary talent! Both poems are masterpieces, the first one bold and the second one graceful! How can we, the older generation, bear this?" Yao Silian said, shaking his head and nodding.

"The young people these days are becoming more and more impressive! Truly, each generation surpasses the last! The world will soon belong to these young people!" The oldest, Kong Yingda, stroked his beard and sighed.

"Mr. Kong, you are mistaken. These young people still need much tempering. It is our duty as the older generation to guide them! Like the second prince, he is talented but still young and needs guidance!" Changsun Wuji interjected. What he saw tonight was not a prodigy but a threat. This Li Kuan, so young and talented, was far superior to his two nephews. It might not be a good thing in the future, so he needed to make plans early!

Changsun Wuji was calculating in his mind, but his face showed no signs of it. He wore a warm smile, making people feel very close. But if you really thought he was such a person, congratulations, you've been duped. He was known as a smiling fox, and many enemies had fallen for his smile.

Not only Changsun Wuji felt threatened, but even the young Li Chenggan looked at Li Kuan differently! He was at the age where he was starting to understand things, and at this stage, he was very sensitive to his surroundings. After the incident in the afternoon, he felt that his sickly second brother was starting to change. He couldn't describe the feeling, but he sensed that this person was no longer the harmless sickly brother he used to know.

Leaving aside Li Chenggan's feelings, the chubby Li Tai felt no different. He just thought that his second brother was amazing to be praised by so many people. He wanted to be just as amazing. A look of determination flashed across his chubby face, which later led him to specialize in classics and history, earning him a great reputation and even Li Er's favor. Of course, that's a story for later. For now, it was just a seed planted in his young heart!

The civil officials were filled with emotion, but the military officials had a different scene. A group of rough men couldn't understand poetry. The first poem's boldness of drinking and lying on the battlefield resonated with them, but the second poem seemed to them like a pretentious work, not even as good as the old Cheng's poem about drinking from a large bowl. So, they continued to eat and drink. Only Li Shiji and Qin Qiong, who had some literary knowledge, understood the emotions in the poem and felt that the second prince was no ordinary person.

But they only felt this in their hearts and said nothing. Neither of them was good at flattery. Both had earned their current status through hard-fought battles: Qin Qiong was a formidable warrior, capable of taking the head of a general in a thousand soldiers, always leading the charge in battle, a rare brave general on the battlefield; Li Shiji was a military genius, second only to the legendary Li Jing in the entire Tang Dynasty. Other generals like Hou Junji and Chai Shao were not his match. He was full of strategies, often outmaneuvering the enemy and achieving victory with minimal losses, much like Zhou Yu in the Three Kingdoms period, who could destroy the enemy with a smile.

The military officials didn't speak, while the civil officials continued to discuss, creating a different atmosphere on both sides of the hall.

Cheng Yaojin didn't speak this time. He wasn't a fool. Seeing the scholars praising the young man's poetry, he knew it was a great poem and didn't want to spoil the mood. He just drank with Liu Hongji, Qu Tongsu, and others, enjoying himself.

Yuchi Gong, now full, started looking for Cheng Yaojin in the crowd. He had decided on the way to get this fool drunk, and now was the perfect opportunity. He had only taken a few sips earlier, waiting for Cheng Yaojin to drink enough before challenging him.

"Cheng the Demon, let's have a drink!" Yuchi Gong, the tall and muscular man, pushed through the crowd, holding a wine jar to challenge Cheng Yaojin. This was a regular event at every Tian Ce Fu banquet. The two of them always clashed, one a tough fighter and the other a big troublemaker. Both were unruly, but they didn't get along, perhaps due to the principle of like repelling like!

"Sure, I thought you'd be a coward today!" Cheng Yaojin, not one to back down, stood up with his wine jar, ready to face Yuchi Gong.