The composure on Su Mu's face could no longer be maintained.
He blinked twice, taking a long time to swallow his shock. When he spoke, his voice was half a pitch lower than before.
"Lord Xu... where did this talk of a 'Valley Master' come from?"
"This, this... I am but a penniless scholar with nothing to my name. How could I possibly bear such a title!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, even he could hear the lack of confidence in his drifting tone.
Xu Qinghuan did not reply.
During the day at the arena in the West Market, he had touched fourteen poisonous herbs. For each one, from the moment his fingertips brushed it to the moment he called out its name, no more than three breaths had passed.
Even the old physicians from the military medical bureau had slapped their thighs in the audience, calling it utterly bizarre.
His fingers were long and slender, with a layer of old calluses on the webbing between his thumb and index finger. The pads of his index and middle fingers were much smoother than the other three, which were the marks left behind by years of pinching medicine and grinding herbal juices.
The hands of an ordinary scholar could never develop such traits.
Following Xu Qinghuan's gaze, Su Mu looked down at his own hands and instinctively shrank them back into his sleeves.
The movement was very slight, but in Xu Qinghuan's eyes, it was more telling than any defense.
Xu Qinghuan withdrew his gaze.
"If Young Master Su were merely a poor scholar, you could have easily stood by and watched at the arena today. There was no need to stick your neck out for those pedantic literati, let alone identify all fourteen poisonous herbs blindfolded without missing a single one."
"Such skill is naturally nothing worth mentioning to you, Valley Master Su."
There it was again, the title Valley Master Su.
Su Mu's shoulders visibly slumped.
He opened his mouth, just about to struggle with a few more words, when Xu Qinghuan delivered another blow.
"Luoxia Valley, personally established by the Founding Emperor of the Great Qian Dynasty, dedicated to taking in the world's most skilled artisans and craftsmen."
"Passed down to the current seventeenth generation, its population has withered."
"The Valley Master's surname is Su, his given name is Mu, and he is twenty-three years old."
"Not only is he proficient in medicine and classical texts, but he is also thoroughly versed in agriculture, water conservancy, mechanical construction, astronomy, and geography. He can be called the walking encyclopedia of all trades in Great Qian. People have given him the elegant moniker..."
Xu Qinghuan deliberately dragged out the last syllable, a hint of teasing in his tone.
"The Number One Polymath of Great Qian?"
Su Mu's expression completely crumbled.
He stood frozen in place. His lips moved slightly, but not a single word came out.
Beside them, Li Sheng had not yet processed the situation. His mind was a mushy paste as he muttered under his breath, "The Master of Luoxia Valley?!"
But no one paid him any attention at the moment.
Su Mu remained silent for a full ten breaths of time. Then, he let out a long exhale and shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Lord Xu."
"Hmm?"
"If you had said earlier that you knew everything, why would I have bothered putting on this one-man show for so long."
Su Mu dropped his scholarly demeanor, and his entire posture changed.
His back was still straight, but the carefully crafted layer of humility and eagerness had faded away completely.
He took a step back, stood up straight again, and cupped his hands in front of him, performing a proper martial world salute.
"Su Mu, the seventeenth generation Master of Luoxia Valley, greets Lord Xu."
Holding a teacup, Xu Qinghuan did not stand up, merely nodding in acknowledgment.
"Isn't this much better? Beating around the bush for so long, aren't you tired?"
Su Mu choked on his words for a second, then shook his head and chuckled. "You are right, My Lord. I am tired, truly tired. I memorized a whole bellyful of flattering praises for three days and three nights, and my throat is nearly smoking."
Only now did Li Sheng finally piece the whole story together. He slapped his forehead, pointed at Su Mu, and stuttered out, "You... you were faking it from the very beginning? All that 'my admiration is like a surging river' nonsense."
"Well, it wasn't entirely fake."
Su Mu cast a sidelong glance at him, his tone becoming a bit more serious.
"I truly admire the deeds His Lordship has accomplished."
"The Xu family's meat bricks saved three thousand crippled soldiers, and the Spinning Jenny crashed the Wang family's fabric prices."
"These are all things I have heard with my own ears and verified with my own hands."
He paused, then added, "Though my words were somewhat exaggerated, the sentiment was more or less true."
"Since your identity is out in the open, there is one thing this official does not understand."
Su Mu stood properly and said, "Please speak, My Lord."
"You are the dignified master of a valley, managing dozens of artisans under your command."
"Instead of staying in your own territory, you traveled all this way to the bitterly cold Zhenbei City, asking all over town about my whereabouts."
"You even figured out exactly what I eat every day and how many attendants I bring with me."
Xu Qinghuan leaned back against the chair.
"If Valley Master Su came north this time solely to express his admiration, a simple letter would have sufficed. Why go through the trouble of making the journey in person?"
Su Mu kept his mouth shut.
"Therefore," Xu Qinghuan said, toying with the lid of the teacup, "you must be seeking something else, right?"
Su Mu stood there, feeling uncomfortable all over.
Now this was great. He didn't even have a single fig leaf left to hide behind.
Traveling far and wide over the years, he had met calculating salt merchants and battled with scheming county magistrates.
He had treated bandits in deep mountains and old forests, and repaired steering gears for coastal boat gangs.
But this was the first time he had encountered such a difficult character.
Before he could even make his intentions clear, the other party had already slammed his bottom cards on the table, just waiting for him to bow his head and admit defeat.
The speeches he had held in his stomach all the way here.
Things like "artisans also have the ambition to serve the country," or "willing to serve like a dog or horse," and even "Luoxia Valley is full of talents."
These meticulously crafted pleasantries had all turned into waste paper in front of Xu Qinghuan.
Beating around the bush any further would just be inviting humiliation.
Su Mu gritted his teeth and steeled his heart.
"There is indeed a matter I must ask of you."
Xu Qinghuan nodded and lightly replied.
"The valley can no longer put food in the pot, so you came to seek wealth, I presume."
Su Mu opened his mouth at that exact moment, and their voices collided right in the main hall.
"...I came to seek wealth."
Su Mu was dumbfounded.
He stared at Xu Qinghuan and swallowed hard.
His face twitched uncontrollably, and it took a monumental effort just to keep his expression from completely collapsing.
"This... Lord Xu, you even predicted this?"
Off to the side, Li Sheng had long been staring in a daze.
He looked at Su Mu, then looked at his own Lord, opening and closing his mouth for a long time without managing to squeeze out a single word.
A thought suddenly popped into his mind.
It seemed that him standing here in this main hall was purely serving as an unnecessary decoration.
