Xu Xingchen left, completely dejected!
He walked down the street, but it was as if his Soul had left him.
Usually intelligent and rational, his thoughts were now a tangled mess.
His mind was filled with Xia Chen's voice, devoid of emotion like the Heavenly Dao: exterminating nine generations of a family, that was exterminating nine generations of a family!
Xu Xingchen hadn't expected that one wrong step would lead to such a great disaster.
Xia Chen, the outside world rumored him to be gentle as jade, approachable, without the airs of a Young Master. Xu Xingchen had also judged him this way before, which was why he dared to approach Xia Chen, wanting to observe him up close.
But he hadn't expected this person to be so insidious; Xia Chen hid himself too deeply.
He turned hostile in an instant!
Xu Xingchen thought about falling into the hands of this cunning Xia Chen in the future and felt that his life was hopeless. His ambition to become Chief Minister would probably also fall through, and he would only be able to degenerate into a court lackey, becoming a Lantern Bearers scribe.
In the Great Wu Dynasty, officials looked down upon scribes. Becoming a scribe would be his black mark, and his future in this life would be hopeless!
Thinking of this, Xu Xingchen really wanted to find a tree and a rope and just hang himself!
But as soon as this thought emerged, he quickly shook his head.
“Xu Xingchen, Xu Xingchen, you who consider yourself extraordinary, yet your spirit is so fragile. As soon as you encounter adversity, you think of escaping through death. How can you be like this?
This great disaster today is precisely because you did not put the heroes of the world in your eyes, and your arrogance led to such a great loss.
Moreover, that Devil Head Xia is definitely a ruthless person. He certainly won't let your family go. If you die, they can arbitrarily assign crimes. How can a true man be so irresponsible?
Even if you live a humble and unremarkable life, you must live resiliently like a wild grass. Nothing can defeat you!
Go, Xu Xingchen!!!”
Xu Xingchen's psychological activity was extraordinarily rich. In an instant, he thought of many, many things. In the end, he clenched his fists and cheered himself on, but this posture was exceptionally comical.
“Hahahahaha, Daddy, look how funny this uncle is. If someone in our private school didn't recite their text and was punished by the teacher, when they were sad, the teacher would cheer us on like this. It seems this uncle also didn't recite his text and was punished by the teacher!”
A child on the street, holding a candied hawthorn and looking innocent, pointed at Xu Xingchen, who was clenching his fists with a look of Origin Qi, and laughed.
“Xiao Zhi, how can you be so rude? Quickly apologize to this uncle!”
The child's father quickly reprimanded him, then apologized to Xu Xingchen.
The child was only seven years old, named Song Zhi, a child from an ordinary family in the capital.
“Children's words are innocent, it’s fine!”
Xu Xingchen shook his head, glanced at Song Zhi, who was holding a candied hawthorn, smiled at him, and then turned and left.
…
In the private room of the restaurant!
“Young Master, what is so special about this Xu Xingchen that you went through so much trouble and expended so much effort to bring him to your side?!”
Xia Qian sat down at the table. Now that there were no outsiders, Xia Qian asked the doubt in his heart.
He had witnessed the entire scene earlier. Xu Xingchen thought Xia Chen wanted to make things difficult for him and tease him, but Xia Qian knew that Xia Chen valued this Xu Xingchen greatly. Even if he hadn't come to them on his own this time, Xu Xingchen wouldn't have been able to escape; his Young Master had already set his sights on him.
“This person has great talent; he has the potential to be Chief Minister!”
Xia Chen said calmly.
“Ah, impossible, right? He looks quite ordinary to me, and he's already over 20 but still only a Xiucai. There are many more excellent students than him in the Imperial College, aren't there?”
Xia Qian was somewhat unconvinced. Xia Qian looked at his Young Master, who smiled and did not continue to respond to him.
He couldn't help but fall into thought. His Young Master had never praised anyone like this before. What kind of talent did this Xu Xingchen possess?
“Then how does he compare to Chief Minister Lin?”
Xia Qian hesitated to ask, but as soon as he asked, he regretted it. Wasn't he asking a rhetorical question?
Who was Chief Minister Lin?
He had been in charge of the premiership for over 20 years, and he still stood firm. Even though His Majesty was suspicious, he had never moved Chief Minister Lin.
Moreover, when did Chief Minister Lin become a unit of measurement? Used to evaluate and calculate the talented people in the world?
But then, Xia Chen's voice rang out.
“Chief Minister Lin's talent is indeed extraordinary. Even in the 800-year history of the entire Great Wu Dynasty, he can rank among the top ten. Although the current world is rife with problems, this is not Chief Minister Lin's responsibility, but His Majesty's!”
“In fact, if Chief Minister Lin had not been in charge of state affairs for the past 20-plus years, with the continuous wars over these years, our Great Wu Dynasty might have already collapsed internally, and it would not be in its current state of flourishing but rather at the end of the Dynasty.”
“But… Chief Minister Lin is still not as good as Xu Xingchen!”
Xia Chen said in a calm voice. The private room was silent. Outside in the main hall, the diners were eating enthusiastically, and the clamor was constant.
These diners would never have imagined that in this small private room, someone was evaluating Chief Minister Lin, and they would never have imagined that the pillar of the Dynasty in their hearts was, in Xia Chen's mouth, inferior to an unknown ordinary Imperial College student!
Xia Qian swallowed hard, stunned by Xia Chen's words. Although he still somewhat disbelieved that Xu Xingchen possessed such talent, he… he believed his Young Master. If his Young Master said he had it, then he had it!
That was enough!
Xia Chen looked up, through the paper window, at the sky outside. Lin Hanpu was indeed a great talent, capable of ranking among the top ten in the entire 800-year history. But Xu Xingchen could rank among the top three, or even contend for first place, in the entire 800-year history.
He was an astonishing talent. Originally, with his intelligence, he could have left a brilliant chapter in history, but a great era of contention was about to arrive, an unprecedented era of Great Unification was approaching, and after the era of Great Unification, a golden great era was rushing in.
Countless heroes emerged like mushrooms after rain. Top-tier talents, even peerless talents, appeared one by one, stepping onto the stage of history.
A Prodigy like Xu Xingchen, in that future brilliant era, which had never been seen before, would inevitably appear somewhat overshadowed…
“Send someone to keep a close eye on him. Don't let him actually run away tonight!”
Xia Chen withdrew his thoughts and said to Xia Qian.
“Alright, I'll personally handle this tonight. But Young Master, he should be a smart person, right? He knows that we already control his fate. Even if he runs away overnight, we have the Lantern Bearers. Where can he run to?”
“Precisely because he is a smart person, we must prevent him from acting unconventionally. Scholars have the most thoughts in their minds; it's better to be cautious!”
Xia Chen was very cautious and did not believe he had already won or become arrogant. Xu Xingchen was the first talent he had encountered, and he attached immense importance to him.
Even if this person would not submit to him now, or even willingly work for him.
But what did that matter? Get the person over first. Even if he couldn't win his heart, he had to get his person first!