The following day, Gu Wen came down with a cold.
His mind was foggy, and mucus ran from his nose without restraint. He surmised that this was likely due to overindulging in drink the day before and dunking his head into the water, followed by a chill from the breeze—an illness was hardly surprising.
Luckily, with a fortune worth tens of thousands of silver, Gu Wen was not short on money to summon a doctor. Lying in his bed, Gu Wen had the servants of the household call for a famous local doctor. He listened to the old physician with white hair and beard utter medical jargon that he couldn't understand before the doctor respectfully bowed out of the room.
The discussions between the doctor and the servants continued outside the room, mostly involving care instructions and how to prepare medicine.
Such matters were not for Gu Wen to concern himself with—what else were the servants there for?
"This is the life of the rich," Gu Wen muttered softly. The ornate silk canopy obscured the ceiling while the gentle patter of the rain outside the window lulled him into drowsiness.
Having nothing to lose breeds fearlessness, while the opposite makes one cautious and timid.
Under Gu Wen's command, his vast family assets could be converted into nearly twenty thousand silver taels, if not eighteen thousand. With the average annual income of a Daqian citizen being a mere seven silver taels and ten taels constituting a well-off family, he was immensely wealthy. A country landowner or a scholar's family, perhaps even of those who had passed the imperial examination, would typically spend around a hundred taels.
Many landowners still needed to work their own fields; only those who kept from farmwork could be considered to have stepped into the scholar class.
With twenty thousand taels, one could indulge in a life of luxury and revelry. One could afford to buy a new and comely clean official as a concubine every year; each costing a few hundred silver taels, tens of thousands wouldn't exhaust even a tenth of your wealth—and that's the price in Bianjing; elsewhere it would be even cheaper.
Yet, the same wealth could be the cause of one's downfall, with a low-ranking official being able to strip you clean.
It is often said, "All is inferior; only scholarship is esteemed." Only with academic honors could one be deemed half a person.
Why only half?
Because even if one became a marquis, one would still be merely a dog in the Zhao family's eyes; it was the relatives of the royal family who truly held sway over Daqian. If you weren't born into a basin of gold, you were never destined to have it in this life.
Countless top scholars in the past would rather be a consort prince, and more so, many second-place scholars preferred their position over being the champion student.
The only path in this life is to pursue Immortal Ascension!
A fiery thought flashed through Gu Wen's mind, and even though the cold had weakened his body, he clenched his fist tightly.
The single path that now lay before him was clear: if he didn't want to end up as a fish on the chopping board in the future, he must seize this so-called opportunity for Immortal Ascension, he must grasp that wisp of golden light in his mind.
[Red Dust Immortal Fate Diagram]
[Ten years of Heavenly Marrow, the Imperial Brew yet untasted]
From what the Immortal, Zhao Feng, and the recent events in Bianjing had shown, Daqian appeared to be in a period akin to a resurgence of Spiritual Energy.
And what is a Fate Diagram?
If an opportunity for Immortality is a treasure left by ancestors, then a Fate Diagram must be the personal limit one can reach. The message his Fate Diagram conveyed to him was to understand one's lifespan and then pursue Immortal Ascension, but it required the gathering of "ten thousand years of Heavenly Marrow and ten thousand years of Imperial Brew."
The nature of the Imperial Brew was unknown, but Heavenly Marrow was likely what the Immortal had given him through the Spirit Pills, one pill accounting for ten years, meaning he would need a thousand similar pills.
This meant that one cannot become an Immortal simply by lying down.
He now had a stepping stone, but he was still an ordinary person, at least not someone with enough power to seize such an opportunity.
"I still need to stay in the Wang residence, stay by Zhao Feng's side, stay close to that Immortal. I still need to please them, still need to bow and scrape."
Gu Wen pressed his lips together, then closed his eyes and sank the arrogance that the Immortal Fate Diagram brought into the depths of his heart, the only pride he had in four years.
He would take pride in the heights he might reach in the future, but he also knew that he was not an Immortal yet, at least for now he was still a household slave. He likewise didn't mind continuing to bow and scrape, continuing to pretend to be harmless.
As long as this bowing and scraping could bring him a sufficient reward in the future, everything would be worth it.
Now, Gu Wen could comfort himself with "Heaven, when about to place great responsibility on a man, always first frustrates his spirit and will," he repeated to himself in his heart several times, calming his restless spirit.
He knew that the more crucial the moment, the more he needed to stay calm; he absolutely couldn't make any mistakes.
Musing, Gu Wen couldn't help but laugh, "I'm truly ungrateful for my blessings; all I know are a few verses of poetry and some market management experience, none of the essential knowledge for time traveling was learned by me."
He was a student of liberal arts, but since crossing over, he had never copied poems to win fame and fortune, for fear that his mediocre skill would be exposed and bring trouble. Ancient literature was vast, and it wasn't enough to know just a few verses. Besides, scholars loved to quarrel, and today if he presented a Shuiao Song, tomorrow someone would come to catch him.
If you are from an aristocratic family, you are considered talented, but if you are a lowly servant, you are accused of stealing your learning.
Gu Wen could understand, how could someone with no literary foundation suddenly produce shocking and unorthodox poetry? But that didn't mean Gu Wen would abandon what he had learned in his previous life; at least, he kept it for his own amusement.
-----------------
Above the Dragon Bridge, a procession of armored soldiers with weapons opened the way, followed by a carriage pulled by two white horses, adorned with carved dragons and phoenixes, gold and silver chi fish embroideries, and cyan silk ribbons.
Along the way, it drew the attention of countless eyes, and of course, the most conspicuous was the woman in a Daoist robe riding a donkey.
Yu Hua, the Immortal, frowned as she looked at the ceremonial procession; she knew that the mundane royal family was accustomed to extravagance, but such a display was too ostentatious. It did not suit her desire for asceticism and could also bring unnecessary trouble.
"Immortal Yu Hua, Gu Wen's residence is up ahead, home to ten acres with over a hundred servants, spending over ten thousand taels each year; one could say he enjoys all the glory and riches," Zhao Feng poked his head out of the carriage once again, emphasizing Gu Wen's wealth and his rightful chances.
Immortal Yu Hua did not respond; she didn't want to engage too deeply in the petty squabbles within the sect. Nor was it something she could manage; the decrees of great powers were difficult to change once spoken.
To compensate that young man surnamed Gu out of her own pocket was already the limit of what she could do.
Walking a thousand steps, passing the tall buildings on both sides of the Dragon Bridge, what replaced them were rows of orderly civilian homes, bustling with people.
They stopped in front of a tall, solitary gate, where two stone lions covered with sacks stood guard, hidden because Gu Wen held no title or official position.
In Daqian, the struggle for power was fierce, with the court being a place of swords and shadows daily; many former nobles and high officials died or were exiled, thus leaving many houses vacant.
Immortal Yu Hua looked around and indeed saw a mighty household; yet, there was a sense of Dull Energy in the air, and her thoughts stirred restlessly.
Clop clop clop.
The donkey's hooves tapped along, passing by the corner of the street and stopping at the alley next to the residence, where disordered household items piled up, and in a corner, beggars shivered.
They desperately covered themselves with objects and clothing, and further away, people ran and turned into the alley. A wooden top rolled to Immortal Yu Hua's feet; a child in a corner wanted to pick it up, but was held tightly by his mother, with eyes trembling beneath disheveled and dirty faces.
Immortal Yu Hua saw the riches of Gu Wen's descendants, but beneath his wealth lay poverty, and within the high walls were the common people.
There were not few wealthy houses around, but only here were countless poor people gathered, only here was the air polluted.
It was very strange.