Chapter Fourteen: Life and Death, a Stage Play

Li Yu was in high spirits. “Tell me, how shall we duel?”

Yu Lang helped Li Bai lie down on the couch, then fetched brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. “Let us sign a life-and-death agreement—a fair contest, and whichever side loses and dies, the other bears no responsibility.”

“Oh? So if I kill you today, the Sword Sage will not cause trouble for my family?”

Though Yu Lang was not fully aware of the Sword Sage’s promise, he could guess most of it from Li Yu’s words. He replied immediately, “Yes. If I die, the Sword Sage will not trouble you; if you die, the authorities will not hold me accountable. We’ll write it clearly in the agreement.”

Li Yu fell into thought, deciding to alter his previous plan. After all, Zhang Jiuling was elderly—letting him go tonight would not stir up any great storm. At most, he could be ambushed on the road later; without his eight elite guards, Zhang Jiuling was but a toothless tiger. But Yu Lang was truly interesting, and even if tonight’s efforts came to nothing, seeing what this young man was up to would not be in vain.

Though it was a duel of life and death, Li Yu saw it as nothing more than a game. He acted without restraint, followed his whims, and was always proud. Naturally, he had no reason to decline Yu Lang’s challenge.

“Excellent. So, what shall we compete in?” Having made up his mind, Li Yu felt even more at ease. He reckoned that if he allowed Yu Lang to grow for another five years, he himself might be completely outmatched. For now, victory was almost assured.

Yu Lang smiled. “What are you best at? Surely your not-so-impressive martial skills at the Hundredfold Tempering stage are not your source of pride—or perhaps your greatest skill is being born into the right family?”

In a single sentence, Yu Lang blocked both family background and martial prowess as options. Yet Li Yu showed no embarrassment. “What I excel at is strategy and calculation. Judging by your words, you wish to play chess with me?”

“Yu Lang, you mustn’t. Li Yu is the youngest national chess master of our empire…” Zhang Xun could not help but interject. He had seen this young lord of the prime minister’s family play against foreign chess masters in Chang’an, and within a hundred moves, Li Yu had so infuriated the elderly foreign champion that he coughed up blood.

Yu Lang shook his head. “I want to compete in mathematics with you. We each pose three problems for the other; whoever creates the problem must be able to solve it themselves. Whoever solves more wins.”

“Interesting, very interesting.” Li Yu was quite excited. Besides his skill in chess, he was also well-versed in astronomy and mathematics. He had always lamented that these were not fashionable studies and rarely found an opportunity to show off. “Let’s do it, then.”

Yu Chaoran, Zhang Xun, and the others were bewildered. Mathematics was not popular in ancient times; only those who could not take to the classics and had a certain mental agility would study it.

Half an hour later.

Yu Lang had already solved all three of Li Yu’s problems. Two were at the level of elementary school math competitions—classic puzzles such as the “chicken and rabbit in the same cage”—while the third required building a simple mathematical model.

Li Yu, on the other hand, had torn up sheets of paper several times over while working out calculations, always feeling he was just one step away, yet never reaching the final answer.

Yu Lang knew the feeling all too well—the satisfaction teachers must have felt when setting traps disguised as straightforward exam questions, hiding a huge workload behind an apparently simple solution. Such problems were the ones students were most reluctant to give up on, always thinking that if they could just find the right key, they’d solve it. In reality… well.

In Yu Lang’s eyes, Li Yu would be a modern science student with a touch of obsession, prone to eccentric behavior and utterly unable to pull himself away from a problem once absorbed.

At last, Li Yu put down his brush and conceded.

Yu Lang was quite impressed with Li Yu’s ability. Despite lacking any modern mathematical foundation, Li Yu managed to solve one and a half of the three problems. Had he received a proper education in modern times, he would no doubt have been a top science student.

What surprised Yu Lang was that, despite his odd behavior, Li Yu was a man of his word. After setting aside his brush, he presented himself for judgment, ready for whatever penalty might come.

In truth, it was not so much a matter of honor for Li Yu, but rather his extreme pride. Once defeated, he would fall into profound self-doubt and could not accept failure. That a thirteen-year-old boy could defeat him in what he considered his own domain of expertise wounded him more than defeat in martial arts. This unspeakable sense of frustration even gave rise to thoughts of ending his own life.

Yu Lang tore up the life-and-death agreement in front of him. “Young Master Li, I bear you no real grudge. The world is wide and your future bright. I hope you can show us mercy and let us go our way.”

Li Yu was stunned for a moment, then turned to leave without another word. At the threshold, he paused. “If you were not Yu Jiao’s son, and my father not Li Linfu, I would surely count you as a friend. But our identities mean there can never be peace between our families. Let this matter rest for now; one day, we will meet again as adversaries. I owe you my life—may we meet again in this vast world.”

Lei Wanchun was rather dissatisfied with Yu Lang, feeling he had missed a golden opportunity to eliminate this young fiend.

Zhang Jiuling, on the other hand, greatly appreciated Yu Lang’s approach. “Lang’er acts with both firmness and gentleness, quite unlike his father.” Excessive rigidity can snap a person, and long ago, Zhang Jiuling had tried to warn Yu Jiao of this, but the lesson had never sunk in.

Zhang Xun went to the authorities, concocted a careful story, and settled the matter. The county magistrate, having been tipped off by Li Yu, did not make things difficult, and since he was of equal rank to Zhang Xun—whose family was no minor clan—he treated them all with courtesy.

After a long, exhausting night, everyone went back to rest.

Yu Lang sat gloomily in the empty main hall, lost in thought.

The innocent chef and the servant boy, Tiezhu, had died in vain—there was no way for him to bring them justice. In this era, the lives of common folk were as light as grass; life and death could be decided on a whim by the powerful.

Yu Chaoran tried to comfort him. “Lang’er, many things in this world make no sense. Order and law are but veils for the powerful, or tools for the emperor’s rule. You’ve done all you could. You’ve grown quickly and suffered much—get some rest now and don’t worry yourself further.”

Yu Lang replied dispiritedly and went off to sleep.

The next day, Elder Minister Zhang Jiuling came with Zhang Xun, Lei Wanchun, and Ning Xue to bid farewell. Lei Wanchun was determined to follow Zhang Xun wherever he went; Zhang Xun could not rest easy about the old minister’s safety and wanted to escort him before returning to his post in Qinghe County. Ning Xue, who had come to Yangzhou for Zhang Xun, would naturally travel with him.

Yu Lang saw them off one by one, exchanging goodbyes without much cheer. If not for his own weakness, he would have gladly followed Zhang Xun to Qinghe County, to stay by Ning Xue’s side. The loneliness of a time-traveler was hard to describe—even the company of someone who merely resembled an old friend was a comfort.

Ning Xue softly reassured him. “You are still young. When you meet the girl who stirs your heart, you won’t feel this way. There will be time to meet again—take care.”

Yu Lang accompanied them out to the pavilion beyond the city gates before returning alone, feeling as if the events of the past days had been nothing more than a fleeting dream.

Upon returning home, he found Qingqing sitting at the door, playing with a puppy.

Yu Lang was surprised. “Didn’t you go back home with Minister Zhang?”

Qingqing shook her head. “My father… he was only the old minister’s illegitimate son. The family in his hometown would never accept a girl like me. That’s why the old minister always asked Brother Li Bai to look after me. Now that Brother Li Bai has gone alone to Chang’an, the old minister asked me to stay with your family for a while.”

Afraid Yu Lang would mind, she quickly opened the wooden box on her lap. “I’m not staying here for free—these gold and silver ornaments are worth quite a bit. They can cover my board…”

In Yu Lang’s mind, Qingqing had always been bold, unruly, and fearless. Seeing her so cautious and anxious now made his heart ache a little.

Yu Lang smiled. “Stay as long as you like—it’s no trouble.”

Qingqing finally broke into a radiant smile, outshining all the spring blossoms on the tree behind her.