Chapter 147: The Scholar's Humor

"As expected of a minister's son, quite unmatched. He gives away a fine steed worth eight hundred strings of cash without blinking." The man sighed, seeming as if he were truly hearing the horse's price for the very first time.

Tang Renxian immediately turned to Shen Yuejiao and said, "If Younger Sister Yuejiao wants it, just take it."

This time, he even placed the reins directly into Shen Yuejiao's hands.

His casual expression and demeanor made it seem as though he were not giving away a fine horse worth eight hundred strings of cash, but merely a box of rouge and powder worth eight mere cash.

That act of posturing was an absolute ten out of ten!

At least to outsiders, this was someone who lacked for nothing. How could someone who casually gives away a horse worth eight hundred strings of cash possibly cheat and renege on a debt?

Even if his underlying motive was to win Shen Yuejiao's hand and recoup all his losses, as long as he kept it to himself, he remained a generous and magnanimous Young Master Tang. How many people would ever suspect that he had even calculated her dowry into his schemes?

Shen Ancai, however, understood. A bunch of scholars frequently discussed the bride's dowry. Some even harbored designs on the wealth of their prospective fathers-in-law.

This had nothing to whether one was a scholar or not; it was simply a matter of human nature. A scholar's character was not necessarily loftier than that of an unlettered man; in fact, because of their broader knowledge and greater desires, having enjoyed more, they naturally craved even more and better things.

The outward facades of these self-proclaimed gentlemen and their true inner thoughts were hardly consistent.

...

Cao Jinhua was having the time of her life. She felt there could be nothing more amusing than today's events. She truly had zero regrets about the choice she made this morning.

The muscles on Zhao Zongjing's and the others' faces were also twitching.

If you are going to put on airs, at least pick the right occasion. Refusing to admit defeat after cheating, and then turning around to give away the horse you lost?

Is it really wise of you to provoke the Emperor so desperately?

"Good, very good! Having lost, he simply refuses to honor the debt."

Zhao Zhen no longer had any idea what to say. Today... was definitely a day he should have checked the almanac before stepping out.

"Patron, I suppose he simply didn't want to lose the racecourse," Shen Shi mused after a moment of thought.

Such a massive racecourse, and right here in the capital district. For it to belong to a mere minister by any stretch of logic seemed unreasonable. Even if the racecourse truly belonged to his family, losing it over a single horse race—how many people would ever be happy about that?

"Right! Exactly! It must be that. Willing to part with a single horse to preserve the racecourse, this fellow isn't quite stupid after all."

Shen Shi's speculation made Cao Jinhua's eyes light up: To think there was such an inside story behind this. Truly fascinating.

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Tang Renxian's face darkened on the spot. "Are you implying that I am a sore loser?"

Credit and reputation had always been tied to a person's character, and in ancient times, honoring one's promises versus breaking one's word was the absolute measure of a person's moral standing.

No one wanted a ruined reputation, and Tang Renxian least of all. Sooner or later, he intended to enter officialdom. Once branded with the label of dishonesty—holding public office? Heh, heh, heh...

In this era, even a corrupt official was still expected to maintain a semblance of credit: "taking another's wealth, and averting disaster for them."

"Older Brother Renxian..." Shen Yuejiao felt a pang of worry for him. She was not worried about Tang Renxian's credit, but rather about his reputation. A man's reputation was like a woman's waist; once lost, it was truly gone forever.

"Younger Sister Yuejiao, I am not that kind of person. A loss is a loss, a win is a win. Years ago, when I raced horses against the Khitans, a single wager was eight thousand strings of cash. I lost ten times in a row before finally winning this horse..."

Unwilling to let his reputation be tarnished, Tang Renxian did not hesitate to bring up the truth of his past horse races against the Khitans to prove his point.

"Hiss—truly worthy of the Tang family, so wealthy."

This was an embarrassing mishap, not a glorious feat; how many people would normally dare to speak of such things?

"Haha, truly worthy of Brother Tang. This horse is no mere eight hundred strings of cash; it was clearly bought for eighty thousand strings. This single horse alone is worth more than all the horses on the opposing side combined."

Eighty thousand strings of cash—for a few fine horses, eighty thousand strings was indeed a higher valuation, but reality did not work by such a simple calculation.

"If you are willing to play the fool and be taken for a ride, don't expect others to foot the bill for you," Cao Jinhua retorted bluntly, leaving him not an ounce of face.

"You! You! Fine, very fine! Let this matter be judged by the Prefect himself!"

Tang Renxian had already put on more than enough airs, and he believed he had given them ample grounds to back down gracefully. Yet, since they stubbornly refused to yield, Tang Renxian had not the slightest hesitation in teaching these bumpkins a lesson on what it meant to "have powerful connections in the imperial court."

...

"Brother Tang, are you coming to the poetry gathering tonight?"

"Coming? Why wouldn't I?"

Whether it was Tang Renxian or the others, none of them felt for a moment that they could possibly lose this dispute.

It was not that they believed the Kaifeng Prefecture would openly "bend the law for personal favors," but rather that the racecourse belonged to the imperial household.

That was right. They all knew perfectly well that this was the Imperial Stud Farm. The reason they dared to make such a wager was not because of some reckless mindset of squandering ancestral property, but because they understood that no one would dare collect this stake.

Anyone who dared to collect it would have to be an utterly ignorant country bumpkin. And for such people, a trip to Kaifeng Prefecture would be more than enough to deal with them. He was truly eager to see the expressions on their faces once they found out to whom this racecourse belonged.

The young gentlemen maintained a very calm demeanor. Initially, they had marveled at Tang Renxian's quick wit in pulling off a bluff with empty hands. Coupled with their absolute confidence in Tang Renxian's riding skills, they had been eagerly waiting to celebrate.

Although things had turned out differently from their expectations, this matter still promised plenty of entertainment and a different kind of amusement.

This spectacle was thrilling enough that they could not help discussing it loudly, their enthusiasm running high.

Tang Renxian, however, harbored a trace of anxiety, as it was he who had used the racecourse as a wager.

"Brother Tang can rest easy. They simply do not know the origins of this racecourse. Once they find out, even if it were given to them for free, they wouldn't dare to claim it," a young master surnamed Xu comforted him.

"Brother Xu makes a valid point." Tang Renxian thought about it and decided it made sense.

The young master surnamed Xu fancied himself witty and quipped, "Unless they are bold enough to court financial ruin and pile up mountains of debts. Haha..."

"Piling up mountains of debts" was a very famous idiom and allusion.

In 256 BC, the State of Qin launched a massive offensive against the State of Korea, quickly capturing its territories of Yangcheng and Fushu (both located in the area of present-day Dengfeng City), executing forty thousand troops, and pressing close to the royal city where King Naowang of the Zhou dynasty resided (in the area of present-day Wangcheng Park). King Naowang and his ministers were thrown into absolute panic, having no idea how to deal with the powerful State of Qin. Just at that moment, an envoy sent by the State of Chu offered King Naowang a stratagem: the State of Qin was too powerful for any single state to resist; the only way to save themselves was to use the name of the Son of Heaven of Zhou to summon the six states into a grand alliance against Qin. King Naowang and his ministers felt they had no other choice, and thus drafted imperial edicts, dispatching them to the six states, setting a date to concentrate their military forces for an attack on Qin.

At this time, the Son of Heaven of Zhou was left with only a tiny patch of territory. Despite repeated mobilizations, he could only muster an army of six thousand men. To raise the military funds for this force, he had no choice but to borrow money from wealthy merchants and grand grocers within the realm, promising to repay the principal and interest in full after the destruction of Qin.

When the appointed date arrived, King Naowang led the six thousand troops to the designated gathering place—Yique (namely Longmen). After waiting for many days, apart from the states of Chu and Yan, not a single echo came from any of the other states. Relying solely on this meager force was clearly no match for the mighty Qin. By this time, the military funds were also nearly exhausted, so the plan to resist and attack Qin had to be abandoned, and the assembled troops dispersed.

When the State of Qin learned that the Son of Heaven of Zhou intended to unite the six states east of the Hangu Pass to resist and attack Qin, it ordered its grand army to assault the Son of Heaven. The Qin forces reached the royal city, and King Naowang surrendered, whereupon the Qin banished him to Xincheng, south of Yique.

All the creditors rushed together to Xincheng to demand repayment from King Naowang. Unable to cope with the demands, King Naowang hid inside a post station built upon a high terrace, and this high terrace came to be known as the "Terrace of Debt Evasion" or "Refuge from Debt Terrace."

As the saying goes: In the company of scholars, there is brilliant conversation; among their visitors, there are no vulgar men.

The humor of scholars was naturally nothing like the crude insults of commoners—such as calling someone a fool or an idiot so straightforwardly.

Scholars could curse people without uttering a single profanity, weaving in classic allusions so that the uninitiated had no inkling they were being insulted and cursed at all.