History's Strongest Son-In-Law Living With The In-Laws - Chapter 46
Chapter 46: Pretend to be High-Class! Young Master Is Extremely Smart
The Earl’s mother let go of Jin Mucong and said, “I shall forgive you this time because of Lang’er. If you dare to be disrespectful to your brother-in-law, I will make sure you are skinned and slaughtered.”
When she left, she secretly hoped that her son was half as witty as Shen Lang.
…
“Brother-in-law, thank you so much for not killing me. I will remember it,” Jin Mucong hit his chest and said, “in the future, if you need any help, just let me know. I am extremely loyal.”
Shen Lang said, “Then tell me who triggered you to come and hit me?”
Jin Mucong shook his head and said, “No, no, I am not going to betray that person. I cannot say it even if you hit me. One has to be loyal.”
Shen Lang looked at the unfortunate kid and finally understood why his father-in-law and mother-in-law could not resist the urge to beat their son.
If he had a son that was as stupid as him, he would also hit him twice or thrice a day to vent his anger.
However, Shen Lang did not continue probing.
Although the son of the Earl was foolish, being loyal was a good character trait.
If he was loyal to the person, the person would also be faithful to him.
In the future, he could take the blame for things.
Therefore, this character trait of his had to be preserved.
Instantly, Shen Lang gave him a thumbs up and said, “You are indeed a loyal person. I am impressed.”
The son of the Earl hit his chest and said, “If you know me well, you will know that I am extremely loyal.”
Then, after staying a while in Shen Lang’s study room, he yawned non-stop and left to return to his residence to sleep.
…
Meanwhile, Shen Lang closed all of his doors.
Then, he took out a sack of black maize. The black maize was moldy, and he had to scrape off the mold slowly.
If anyone understood what he was doing, they would be scared since they had no idea who Shen Lang was trying to target.
Shen Lang was preparing this before anything terrible happens in the future so that he could turn the tables at critical moments.
…
The next morning, Mulan had not returned when Shen Lang woke up.
His wife was too busy with military duties.
Xiao Bing was still the one who helped him to rise and shine.
Shen Lang suddenly recalled that time Jin Mucong came over to hit him, he said that he came because Shen Lang bullied Xiao Bing.
Therefore, he pretended to ask casually, “Xiao Bing, did you cry yesterday?”
Xiao Bing was shocked. “No, why would I cry?”
…
After breakfast, Jin Zhong appeared in front of Shen Lang.
Jin Zhong never smiled, but the way he looked at Shen Lang seemed to be kinder than before. Back then, he used to look at Shen Lang as though Shen Lang owed him 1000 gold coins.
“Master instructed the young master to study with the son of the Earl and keep up with your studies.”
After saying that, Jin Zhong left.
Studying?
Please!
“I, Shen Lang, had already risen to this position; why do I still need to study?”
However, since his father-in-law was still angry, it was better to follow his instructions and pretend to study.
Moreover, he could try to get something out of Jin Mucong.
Who exactly was the person who triggered him to hit him?
…
There was an extraordinary institution in the Palace of the Earl with 100 students.
There were more than ten people who went to school with Jin Mucong. The youngest was 15, and the oldest was 20 years old. They were considered the same generation as Shen Lang and Jin Mucong.
When they saw Shen Lang enter, the entire classroom became excited.
More than ten pairs of eyes turned to Shen Lang; their hatred and jealousy could be seen.
The reason was simple, Shen Lang married Jin Mulan.
Mulan was the dream girl of all guys from eight to twenty-eight years old.
After exchanging gazes with each other, the teenagers were about to surround Shen Lang.
Teenagers were simple-minded; they wanted to beat Shen Lang up!
“What are you guys doing?” Jin Mucong went beside Shen Lang and put his arms around Shen Lang’s shoulders. “He is my brother-in-law. Be respectful to him, or I will teach you a lesson.”
Then, he waved his fat fist.
It seemed that Jin Mucong had a little power in the institution since, after all, he was the son of the Earl. The teenagers dispersed out of fear but were still looking at Shen Lang with anger.
This felt like a drama plot.
“Shen Lang, I am loyal, right?” The son of the Earl hit his chest and said, “If you sit beside me, nobody will dare to hurt you.”
After a few minutes, the teaching mister had arrived. He was old, and half of his beard was white. He was extremely skinny and looked as though he was less than 40 kilograms.
Everyone called him Old Mister Lin.
Not only was he the teacher of the son of the Earl, but he was also one of the most trusted persons of the Earl. He was well-educated.
The lesson was on “Yi Jing”[1].
This was a famous philosophical book of ancient China, which included every feature of philosophy.
The more one studied “Yi Jing,” the more one would find that one’s knowledge was too shallow.
Therefore, Shen Lang was extremely fixated in the lesson, but the other students had lost their focus.
Evidently, the knowledge in the book was too dull for them.
After half an hour, the teacher suddenly asked, “There’s one new student today, huh?”
Shen Lang was speechless. He just realized that?
“What a handsome lad! It is such a pity that you are a man,” said the mister.
Shen Lang was even more speechless. Although he was old, he was weird.
“You are Shen Lang, the person who studied for ten years in the Hanshui Town College but could not graduate from the elementary class and was instead chased out?” asked the mister, “some of the teachers were saying that you are probably the shame of the educated people in Xuanwu City.”
Shen Lang narrowed his eyes. Was the mister trying to trigger him?
“Have you read ‘Yi Jing’ before?” asked the mister.
Shen Lang replied, “I know a little.”
The mister looked at him in doubt and said, “‘The Heavens are in motion ceaselessly, a gentleman should constantly strive for excellence,’ how do you interpret this sentence?”
Shen Lang replied, “Heavenly Dao repeats itself and does not stop. Nobody can stop the Heavenly Dao. A gentleman should follow the Heavenly Dao and continue pursuing his goals.”
The mister asked again, “‘The high-flying dragon regrets!’ How do you interpret this sentence?”
Shen Lang replied, “A dragon that flies too high will regret it. A person should not be a perfectionist, and there should always be regrets!”
His interpretations were accurate.
The teacher was slightly surprised. How was Shen Lang supposed to be the same moron in the rumors?
The rumors were ridiculous.
However, being able to interpret the sentences were useless unless one understood them and practiced them in real life.
That was real intelligence. Forcefully memorizing things was useless.
Therefore, he decided to come up with a difficult question to test the handsome young man.
The teacher asked, “The new governance is popular now. With the change in power, many old generation aristocrats lost their territory and military power. If I ask you to choose a sentence from ‘Yi Jing’ to describe this scenario and persuade the Earl, what sentence would you choose?”
This question was difficult and easy at the same time.
“Yi Jing” was a fantastic book. One could find a sentence that describes any situation.
No matter whether the situation happened 2000 years ago or was predicted to happen 2000 years later.
However, it was challenging to be accurate and fitting.
The most-used sentence was “the high-flying dragon regrets.”
Even Mister Lin used this sentence to describe the new governance.
However, that sentence had been used.
Shen Lang thought about it for a moment before another sentence came to his mind.
This philosophical sentence could better describe the current situation of the new governance in the Yue State. Moreover, it was able to dissect the nature of the core of the problem.
The teacher said, “It is alright if you cannot answer. This question is too difficult.”
Shen Lang said, “What goes around will come around.”
The mister was astonished and looked at him in disbelief.
“Good, good!”
Then, he slammed the table.
He appeared extremely excited. He walked to Shen Lang and said, “The rumors are ridiculous. How are you a moron? The people must be jealous of your intelligence.”
“The sentence you said earlier is extremely accurate. I cannot believe that a young man said it. Even I won’t be able to think of this sentence,” continued the mister, “moreover, there’s no better sentence to describe the current situation of the Palace of the Earl and the new governance in the Yue State.”
“Good, good…” the mister clapped and said, “an intelligent child like you should not be in this class.”
The mister praised him for several minutes.
The other students in the class were shocked and began to talk amongst themselves.
“What are they talking about? Why do I not understand anything?”
“I don’t know!”
“What is the meaning of the sentence that Shen Lang said?”
“What did Shen Lang say?”
“The teacher has never praised someone like that before. He must be mad.”
“He must be mad, mad for pretty boys.”
However, the old mister was not exaggerating.
The sentence that Shen Lang said was completely spot-on.
“What goes around comes around.”
“What did the sentence mean?”
The nature of the world, people, and things all worked around the same principle of what goes around comes around as things were ever-changing.
Although this sentence meant nothing much by its pure meaning, the sentence did not describe the Earl but the monarch of the Yue State.
The monarch who pushed for the new governance continuously took away the land and military power of the old generation aristocrats and took these powers into his own hands.
However, there was always the opposite side of things.
One should not forget that, although the Yue State was powerful, it was merely a vassal state of the Dayan dynasty.
Today, he took away the power and land of the old generation aristocrats, what if one day, the King of Dayan took away the power of the monarchs?
Today’s hunter might become the prey tomorrow. By doing that, wasn’t the monarch looking for trouble?
Therefore, the monarch should not take things so extremely!
Therefore, Shen Lang’s sentence was incredibly accurate!
Therefore, the teacher praised him for it.
***
[1] an ancient Chinese divination text
