Chapter 17: Rootless Duckweed (Please add to favorites and keep reading)

“You should also offer a handful of incense.”

Candidate Dan stepped aside, gesturing for Wei Tu to step forward.

“Yes, Master.”

Wei Tu nodded, took a handful of incense, and lit it on the incense stand. He bowed deeply, then knelt on the ground and performed three distinct kowtows.

Only after completing these actions did Wei Tu place the incense into the burner.

Seeing Wei Tu’s polite and proper conduct, Candidate Dan felt a growing sense of satisfaction.

...

By the time the apprenticeship ceremony concluded, it was already late. To avoid any suspicion, Wei Tu bid Candidate Dan farewell and left the inner courtyard.

Along the way, he encountered several maidservants.

These maids were clearly aware of the news regarding Wei Tu’s apprenticeship to Candidate Dan. Upon seeing him, they cast aside the arrogant demeanor they previously held toward long-term laborers, turning humble instead. They stepped aside and offered respectful bows.

One maidservant with a voluptuous figure even addressed him as "Young Master," her voice so sweet it felt as though it could be squeezed into water.

This left Wei Tu in a daze; it wasn't until he exited the second courtyard that he regained his senses.

“Young Master?”

“I’ve become a Young Master?”

Wei Tu returned to the west room feeling somewhat lightheaded. He repeatedly savored that title, "Young Master," a smile frequently appearing on his face, losing the composure he had maintained during the ceremony.

If anyone had seen him, they might have thought he had succumbed to a fit of madness, grinning foolishly to himself.

In the fifteenth year of Qing'an, he had been sold to the Li family. Although he was appreciated by his masters, he was ultimately just a groom who tended to horses and stirrups.

And now.

It was the twenty-third year of Qing'an.

Not only had he redeemed his indenture, but he had also become the foster son of Candidate Dan, marking a massive leap in his social status.

Under such circumstances, no matter how steady Wei Tu’s temperament was, it was difficult to remain indifferent and unswayed.

“I cannot slack off! The reason the servants of the Dan residence respect me is because I am Candidate Dan’s disciple. This identity is like floating duckweed without roots; it is not stable...”

A quarter of an hour later, Wei Tu climbed down from his sleeping platform, wrung out a bucket of cool well water, and washed his face. His expression returned to its usual calm.

“I must write a letter to tell Xinghua about this joyous occasion...”

“Tomorrow, I will ask Candidate Dan to borrow some paper and ink to write a letter to Xinghua,” Wei Tu thought to himself.

The west room where he stayed was a laborer's quarters; aside from a bed, a table, and bedding, there were no other belongings. There was certainly no mention of paper, ink, brushes, or inkstones—items reserved for wealthy households and scholars.

However.

Just then—

A series of light footsteps sounded outside the door of the west room.

Having practiced health-cultivating techniques for so long, Wei Tu had not only increased his physical strength but had also improved his hearing and vision. He could tell that these footsteps did not belong to a man.

Following this, a knock sounded at the door.

“Brother Wei, are you resting?” Lady Shan Gao asked, knocking on the door.

“Is it the Third Mistress?”

Wei Tu was surprised.

In large households, not only were men and servants expected to observe propriety to avoid suspicion, but the inner ladies were expected to do the same.

It was now late at night; for Lady Shan Gao to come to the laborer's quarters was somewhat inappropriate given the setting of a man and a woman alone.

But before Wei Tu could overthink it, Lady Shan Gao’s next sentence dispelled his concerns.

“The west room is too crude. I have orders from the Master to take you to a side room in the second courtyard,” Lady Shan Gao said.

Hearing this, Wei Tu felt relieved and let out a breath.

He immediately dressed, tidied his appearance, and opened the door.

As the door opened, Wei Tu discovered that not only was Lady Shan Gao standing there, but Deng An had also just returned from the threshing floor.

Perhaps intimidated by Lady Shan Gao, Deng An stood outside the eaves, about ten paces away, watching the commotion from a distance, not daring to return to his room to rest.

“Follow me,” Lady Shan Gao said with a smile when she saw Wei Tu emerge.

A short while later, the two walked one after the other into the second courtyard.

As they entered, Lady Shan Gao handed a key to Wei Tu and said, “This is the key to the second courtyard gate. Keep it safe; do not lose it.”

Wei Tu nodded, hung the key at his waist, and quickly increased the distance between himself and Lady Shan Gao, maintaining a gap of about five paces.

To prevent unauthorized movement between the outer and inner quarters or instances of adultery, large households often locked the gates between courtyards at night.

Before long, Lady Shan Gao led Wei Tu to a side room in the second courtyard and instructed a maid to arrange his bedding and clean the room.

“Brother Wei, it is late, so I shall take my leave.” Lady Shan Gao stood outside the door, pursed her lips, and gave a slightly reserved, respectful bow to Wei Tu before disappearing down the corridor.

“This...”

Seeing this, Wei Tu was momentarily stunned, but after a moment of reflection, he felt a sense of clarity.

In the Shan household, because Lady Shan Gao managed the internal affairs, he had viewed her as a mistress of equal status to Lady Li.

But only today did he remember that Lady Shan Gao was merely Candidate Dan’s third concubine, without children of her own—a relatively favored concubine, but nothing more. Her actual status was not high.

In contrast, having become Candidate Dan’s foster son, his status in the Shan household was actually equal to Lady Shan Gao’s, or perhaps even a step above her.

Although Candidate Dan had never explicitly stated these differences in status, the servants and concubines of the Shan family understood them perfectly well.

“This is indeed like floating duckweed and clouds drifting with the wind,” Wei Tu warned himself silently.

While he had realized this earlier in the west room, it had not been profound; after all, he had just ascended in status and was still immersed in immense joy.

Now, seeing Lady Shan Gao—a former "mistress"—bowing to him, no matter how muddled he might be, he had to wake up.

If his martial progress failed to meet Candidate Dan’s expectations, or if he failed the upcoming military examinations, while his status as a foster son might not be revoked, his standing in the Shan household would become uncertain.

Once the maid had laid out the bedding, Wei Tu began to inspect his new room.

A wooden bed was placed against the eastern wall, draped with a printed summer cloth curtain. In front of the bed, against the western wall, sat a half-table with two long-necked porcelain vases.

Further west, separated by a curtain, was a lacquered wooden desk holding a stack of old books and a brush rest.

Wei Tu pulled back the cloth curtain and stepped closer. On the brush rest were several brushes of varying sizes, both wolf-hair and goat-hair.

Paper, ink, brushes, and inkstones—nothing was missing.

As for the old books, Wei Tu flipped through them and found they were military treatises not commonly found in ordinary bookstores: there were manuals on troop training like *The Disciplines of Command*, as well as works on strategy and formations such as *The Book of Tai Gong* and the *Yinfu Jing*.

“Master is truly thoughtful...”

Seeing this, Wei Tu felt a deep sense of gratitude toward Candidate Dan for taking him in as a disciple.

If his chances of passing the military examinations after redeeming himself were thirty percent, then with Candidate Dan’s comprehensive guidance, Wei Tu was confident he could raise those odds to over fifty, perhaps even sixty or seventy percent.

Soon, Wei Tu composed himself, began grinding the ink, and started writing his letter.

In the letter, he informed Xinghua of the joyous news of his apprenticeship to Candidate Dan. He also told her not to wait for him to come home for the New Year, as he intended to work intensely to shore up all his weaknesses before the examinations in February.

Only then would he have the certainty required to participate in the military examinations.