Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Conned Him Lame

Grand Secretary Liang left court at a near sprint. Even Dongfang Wei found it strange that the old man hadn’t come pestering him for Grand Tutor Lin today.

Grand Secretary Liang thought to himself, How could I not hurry?

Yesterday, the moment he had gotten home, that unfilial son of his had run over to tell him he’d offended Cang Chuli-and that Cang Chuli wanted to take him to the Northern Frontier!

It had nearly worried him sick. Honestly, the man had just been sitting there having a perfectly good meal. Why on earth did you have to provoke that living calamity?!

When that man dug in his heels, who could possibly talk him out of anything?!

Had the families of the civil and military officials he had tricked into going to that godforsaken northern wasteland been few in number?

He specifically picked people’s sons to con!

If he couldn’t con them into going, he simply knocked them over, threw a sack over them, and carried them off! Wasn’t that exactly how Prince Zhao’s youngest son had been dragged away last year?!

Once they arrived, he made them write a letter home to say they were safe, and after that, they couldn’t escape from his barracks even if they wanted to.

It wasn’t as if no one had gone there to demand them back. But when so many soldiers of the Zhenbei Army planted themselves in front of you, what could you say? What do you want?

Delivering supplies? Fine. Want to take something away with you? Not a chance!

“Grand Secretary Liang.”

Oh no! He still hadn’t run fast enough!

Grand Secretary Liang failed to stop his momentum in time. His foot slipped, and he was about to fall backward.

At the critical moment, someone grabbed him by the back of his collar, and only then did he wobble back onto his feet.

He patted his chest, huffing and puffing. Once he caught his breath, he turned to look. Sure enough…

“General Cang! Ahahaha, this old man still has business to attend to, so I’ll be taking my leave first!”

“Grand Secretary Liang, wait a moment.”

Cang Chuli calmly dragged him back again.

Poor Grand Secretary Liang was already advanced in years, yet he was still being grabbed and hauled around like this.

“How has your esteemed son been lately?”

Seeing him bring up his son, Grand Secretary Liang knew he could no longer play dumb. He wrinkled up his face.

“General Cang! My boy is young and ignorant. If he offended you, I hope you, as a great man, will not stoop to the level of a child. Just treat him like a fart and let him go.”

After saying that, he felt his wording might not have been very refined, so he pursed his lips.

“This old man has only the one son. At home, his mother and grandmother spoil him until he’s become completely lawless. Rest assured! I’ll go back right now and whip him! I’ll make him apologize to you! I guarantee he won’t be able to get out of bed for three days.”

“Grand Secretary Liang, what are you saying? It was clearly Young Master Liang who yearns for life in the army and wants to follow this general to see the scenery beyond the northern passes!

“As the saying goes, a true man should set his ambitions in all four directions!

“The child is already grown. Grand Secretary Liang, surely it isn’t right to keep him locked up at home forever?”

Grand Secretary Liang cursed his own son over and over in his heart.

Look at the great trouble you’ve invited down upon us!

“General Cang, those words are mistaken. While it is true that a good man should have ambitions in all four directions, my son is still young.

“His main task right now is to study. Only by passing the examinations and attaining rank can he accomplish great deeds! If he does not study properly now, how can there be any future to speak of?”

Cang Chuli smiled. He lowered his head slightly and leaned a little closer to Grand Secretary Liang.

“Grand Secretary Liang, your view is still too narrow.”

At that, Grand Secretary Liang was so angry his beard practically bristled.

“Since ancient times, has studying ever been the only path to achievement?”

Grand Secretary Liang froze for a moment and was just about to speak.

“But I…”

“This general knows. Grand Secretary Liang entered officialdom as the top scorer in the imperial examinations and climbed step by step to where you are today.

“However, as for how well your son does in his studies, surely you know that better than anyone!”

For a moment, Grand Secretary Liang felt blood rush to his head. He covered his face with one hand.

Ah, shameful. Truly shameful. He, a top scorer in the imperial examinations, couldn’t even teach his own son properly!

That son of his loved eating, loved drinking, loved cuju, loved fishing, and loved cricket fighting! He loved everything-everything except studying!

Ask him to recite a text, and he would come out with:

“Chirp-chirp and again chirp-chirp, Mulan hatched little chicks… When elder sister heard younger sister had come, she hanged herself on a southeast branch!”

Give him a book to read, and even the book would end up filthy.

Honestly, he wasn’t exaggerating. If the boy had even the slightest connection to scholarship, would things have come to this?

That was why he had been thick-skinned enough to ask His Majesty for Grand Tutor Lin.

Grand Tutor Lin had once taught even His Majesty and Cang Chuli!

If he could train up two fiends like them…

Then his son! His son should be teachable too… right…?

“Don’t make things difficult for Grand Tutor Lin. Grand Tutor Lin is already seventy-eight this year.

“You want him to teach your son? If your son angers him into some kind of illness or worse, who will be responsible?”

Grand Secretary Liang bristled with rage, his beard trembling and his eyes bulging.
“Not hand him over to him? Then hand him over to you?”

“Why not?”

Cang Chuli clasped his hands behind his back and straightened.

Grand Secretary Liang looked at the young man before him, and another figure rose in his mind.

The same high spirits. The same boundless ambition.

“Your son may not have inherited your talent for studying, but if I recall correctly, Old General Liang once rode across the battlefield in armor, commanding troops with sweeping confidence, did he not?”

“Your son truly does have a mouth that makes people want to dislike him, but yesterday, when I knocked the wine cup out of his hand with my chopsticks, though his build was soft and plump, his reaction was not slow in the slightest.

“A full cup of wine, and not a single drop spilled on him.”

Grand Secretary Liang fell into thought.

“You aren’t tricking me, are you?”

“Heh. Grand Secretary Liang, my Zhenbei Army’s Tiger Cavalry does not accept just anyone.”

“You mean you want him to join the Zhenbei Army’s Tiger Cavalry!?”

Cang Chuli nodded.

Grand Secretary Liang could not help but consider it seriously.

He had taught his son for so many years. The boy was already sixteen now, yet had accomplished nothing. He could not even sit quietly and finish reading a single book.

When Grand Secretary Liang had been sixteen, he had already become the top scorer in the imperial examinations.

Could it be that the boy had truly inherited his grandfather’s talent instead?

In recent years, among the armies in all four directions, the Zhenbei Army had won the most merit. And within the Zhenbei Army, the Tiger, Lion, Wolf, and Eagle units were the most renowned.

It was no exaggeration to say that the men in those units were promoted at a speed that could only be described as shooting upward.

He knew of a young man surnamed Zhang who had already become a deputy general. That man was from the Tiger Cavalry.

If his son really did have a talent for martial arts, then by forcing him to bury his head in books all these years, hadn’t he delayed the boy’s future?

At that thought, Grand Secretary Liang could no longer remain calm.

He and his wife had gained a son late in life, and they treasured this child like a precious pearl.

Other than making him study, they had never forced him to do anything.

That was how their son had grown fatter the more he ate, but in Grand Secretary Liang’s eyes, that was nothing serious.

If the child wanted to eat, could they really keep him from eating his fill?

But if things were as Cang Chuli said, then the boy was born to practice martial arts. It was only because he had never had enough training that he had grown fatter and fatter.

Grand Secretary Liang had never been the sort of fool who cared only for books. If his son truly had talent, entering officialdom through martial merit was not out of the question.

And what was more, the person he would be following was Cang Chuli.

Huaxia’s God of War!

Grand Secretary Liang was tempted.

Cang Chuli did not speak either. He simply stood quietly to the side, his aura restrained, yet no one dared underestimate him.

“General Cang keeps his word?”

“Naturally.”

Cang Chuli smiled.

“Since General Cang thinks so highly of him, this old man will go back at once and discuss it with my family and that good-for-nothing son of mine.

“If this truly comes to pass, I must ask the general to take good care of my boy!”

“Once he enters my camp, he is my soldier. My soldiers are mine to discipline.”

Grand Secretary Liang nodded.

In any case, he could not control that big fat son of his himself. Sometimes, when he wanted to smack him a few times, he could not even catch up.

He might as well throw the boy to the Zhenbei Army and let Cang Chuli handle him.

Cang Chuli might be the nightmare of every official in the capital,

but he was also extremely strict with his subordinates.

If nothing else, the men under him had never been involved in any idle, troublemaking nonsense!

Handing his son over to a man like that, Grand Secretary Liang could rest easy.

The only thing he worried about was that his son would suffer hardship.

But then he looked at the handsome, elegant young man before him.

Let him suffer, let him suffer!

What young man did not suffer a little hardship? If it had to be endured, then he should endure it!

He looked again. Mm… In fact, he should suffer a bit more.

The officials following behind Cang Chuli and Grand Secretary Liang silently slipped away.

Heavens above! Cang the Fiend had fooled Grand Secretary Liang into limping along with him again!

Was the Zhenbei Army an easy place to go!? Yes, promotions came fast! But it was also the most dangerous!

…Hurry, hurry, leave quickly. They absolutely could not let him set his sights on them next.

According to Grand Secretary Liang’s neighbors on either side, that night, terrifying wails came from the Liang residence and went on for nearly half the night.

The contents seemed to be:

“Father! Did I tell you about that matter so you could pack me up and send me in there!!

“Wasn’t I telling you to refuse them!! How could you send me under that fiend’s command???

“You really are my dear father!!”