# Chapter 86: Whom Do You Resemble
After the morning lesson, Jiang Wang went out to buy breakfast as usual.
The fried flatbreads by Green Wood Avenue, the bean-curd jelly across from Du Dewang's — these had been Jiang An'an's favorites of late.
Pushing open the courtyard gate, he found an unexpected visitor.
The man had a simple, honest face and a sturdy, robust build, and carried a great bundle on his back. The moment he saw Jiang Wang, he began to bow again and again: "Mr. Jiang!"
It was the constable Tang Dun, the one Jiang Wang had met at Tangshe Town back then. His plain, unpretentious honesty had made no small impression on Jiang Wang at the time.
Only this bow was clumsily made, and the form of address sat awkwardly.
Jiang Wang remembered that as a boy Tang Dun had once been taught by a wandering Confucian scholar, and that for him, in all likelihood, "Sir" was the highest form of address he knew for expressing respect.
"Constable Tang, have you come to Fenglin City for the Outer Court admission exam of the Dao Academy?" Jiang Wang asked, puzzled. "To come now — isn't it far too early?"
Every year, the third month was when the Dao Academy's Outer Court exam was held. It was only the winter month now; a whole new year had still to pass.
"Not a constable anymore — I've quit that job." Tang Dun gave a simple grin. "Not early at all. Getting into the Dao Academy is so hard, don't I have to prepare ahead of time? I've been thinking it over, and this time I'm going to break the cauldrons and sink the boats. I've got to succeed!"
"...Break the cauldrons and sink the boats?"
"Right, right, right! That's the one! That's why they say Mr. Jiang's attainments run deep!" Tang Dun flattered him with great delight, then rubbed his hands together and turned stiffly to the point: "Among everyone I know, only Mr. Jiang has real skill. So I thought, I'd beg Mr. Jiang to give me a few pointers for a while..."
"Not free teaching, of course not free!" he said, reaching into his breast as he spoke, and drew out a cloth bundle. Layer after layer he unwrapped it, to reveal a gleaming silver ingot of about ten taels.
He stared wide-eyed at Jiang Wang: "Sir..."
He might have meant to show sincerity, but it looked more like a constable fixing his gaze on some roving robber.
"There are still several months before the Academy exam. Have you found a place to stay?" Jiang Wang asked.
With matters of this kind, one either agreed at once or refused decisively. Hesitation was what hurt a man's pride the most.
"Not yet, not yet. The moment I got to the city, I went around asking people to find you. You're a famous man in this town!" Tang Dun held up his thumb, pleased, and only after a few more of these pleasantries did he say, "I'll go find a place at once, right away!"
He thrust the silver out toward Jiang Wang: "Please, sir, take it first."
Jiang Wang patiently helped him fold the layers of cloth back over it. "Keep it for yourself. Renting in Fenglin City isn't cheap. As it happens, I'm starting to train my little sister in the martial arts from today onward — why don't you come and listen along? It costs me no extra effort."
He casually latched the courtyard gate behind him. "I'm going to buy breakfast now. Why not come along? We can also ask the neighbors if there's any suitable lodging nearby."
"Right!" Tang Dun slung his great bundle onto his back and followed eagerly.
The man was simple and solid, with just a touch of the craftiness peculiar to honest folk, yet not in the least off-putting. Jiang Wang's impression of him was not bad. And of course, part of it may well have been owed to that little girl of whom he had only ever seen a corpse and a painting.
In truth, the courtyard did have an empty room to spare — lodging Tang Dun would have posed no problem. But for one thing, their friendship had not yet reached that point; and for another, this home was not Jiang Wang's alone — An'an's feelings mattered too. He could not simply let another person move in without first asking how An'an felt.
This had nothing whatever to do with a man's morals or character. It had only to do with that sense of "home" that Jiang Wang guarded over with such care.
...
Wangyue Tower.
The finest food and wine had all been laid out. Even the singing girls that Fang Zehou had raised for her were performing song and dance up front.
Fang Heling was hosting a banquet for Shen Nanqi that day, sparing no expense on the pomp.
Fang Heling's smile was radiant as he pressed glass after glass of wine upon his guest, while Shen Nanqi wore a perpetually half-asleep look throughout.
"Come, Senior Brother Shen! Let me offer you this cup, wishing you a meteoric rise, swift progress in your cultivation, and an early place among this city's top three!"
"No more drinking." Shen Nanqi reached out and pressed a hand over Fang Heling's cup, a smile that was not quite a smile playing on his lips. "Won't be long now."
Fang Heling blinked, then realized what Shen Nanqi meant, and turned it into a smile: "But of course! With Senior Brother Shen's gifts, how could it not be soon?"
"Zhu Weiwo is about to leave for the National Dao Academy, and Wei Yan has been slaughtering so many heretics these past days that he should be getting promoted soon too." Shen Nanqi swirled his own cup, half-closing his eyes. "So how could I not be soon?"
This was not an easy remark to answer.
"As I see it, even now, Senior Brother, you already have the strength of the Academy's top three!"
Fang Heling's expression was earnest: "Others never saw the vigor with which you cut down vicious beasts in the Sanshan city domain — but I have seen it with my own eyes. In my opinion, Senior Brother Shen, you're simply too low-key. Otherwise, among the fifth-year students of that Three-City Dao Debate back then, it should have been you, apart from Senior Brother Zhang Linchuan!
You didn't even take the field. And what happened? That senior brother who did take the field, with Lin Zhengren never having lifted a hand, was beaten by that Fu Baosong. Tell me now — what was that all about!"
"Heling *junior* brother, if you have something to say, just say it plainly." Shen Nanqi smiled and looked at Fang Heling. "Keep flattering me like this, and this senior brother of yours will be unable to bear it."
"Truly, there is nothing I seek from this senior brother." Fang Heling moved closer and said seriously, "Everything I said came from the bottom of my heart. Today I asked this senior brother over for no other reason than pure admiration, and to thank him for looking after me in the Sanshan city domain."
"That time at Sanshan City, I received my benefit and there's nothing to thank." Shen Nanqi raised his eyelids slightly. "Suddenly so attentive, and yet asking nothing of me. Could it be — you want to make friends with me?"
"If this senior brother would deign to look upon me with favor, then it would be Heling's honor!" Fang Heling put on a delighted look. "Heling may indeed be unworthy, but the Fang clan is after all one of the Three Great Clans of Fenglin City. We are, after all, in a position to offer this senior brother some backing for his cultivation!"
Shen Nanqi smiled. "Heling, you speak plainly, and so I'll be plain with you."
He leaned back into his chair. "The you of the past, I would certainly have disdained to befriend."
Fang Heling nodded, playing along with a smile: "I truly was naive before."
"But the you of now..." said Shen Nanqi, "I wouldn't dare befriend."
Fang Heling's smile froze on his face.
Shen Nanqi asked, "Do you know whom you resemble now?"
"Whom?"
"To be precise, you are merely straining to imitate some outward things." Shen Nanqi rose to his feet and patted Fang Heling on the shoulder. "Fang Pengju."
And with that, he walked out on his own. "Forget the friendship part. If it's a transaction, you can still come to me."
In the days of the Outer Court, Shen Nanqi had been one of the senior brothers who favored Fang Pengju. This was also the reason the Fang clan had been able to establish ties with him.
"Senior Brother Shen, go slowly!" Fang Heling still squeezed out a smile at his departing back.
Dong, dong, dong.
The sound of footsteps going downstairs receded into the distance.
At some point the song and dance had fallen silent.
The expression on Fang Heling's face slowly ebbed away. He lurched to his feet and overturned the entire feast table!
There had been certain shadows hanging over his head that he thought he had long since torn away.
He had put forth countless efforts, tearing layer after layer.
Only in the end did he discover that what he had been tearing at — was an entire stretch of night.
And that could not be torn away.