Wuxia: Drinking with Spring Breeze

The trouble had finally passed.

The inn had temporarily ceased operations.

After leaving three gwan of wages, Shen Fa also disappeared without a trace.

Yang Ge, having nothing else to do, threw himself into the complicated project of renovating the small, dilapidated courtyard.

He started by gutting the courtyard, leaving only a few beams and columns.

Then he found some bricklayers to help, and together they raised the originally over 8-foot low houses to about 15 feet, which is nearly five meters high.

He then added two more windows on both the south and the north sides, and finally, sunlight could shine into the house.

After that, it was all up to him.

Building walls, painting, making furniture, paving the small courtyard with bluestone slabs, digging ponds, planting greenery...

He was no skilled worker, and making mistakes was a common occurrence.

Even without mistakes, it would take him several times longer to barely meet the standards.

But it didn't matter; he had plenty of time...

Throughout the entire summer, besides visiting the old fisherman, he spent all his time sweating profusely in the courtyard.

Day by day, under the harsh sun, the small dilapidated courtyard gradually took the shape Yang Ge wanted.

And Yang Ge himself, after being sunburnt several layers, turned as black as charcoal.

But there was gradually a light in his eyes.

Shopkeeper Liu had visited twice, seeing the blackened Yang Ge and the completely altered small courtyard, his old face couldn't hide his relief, and he promised Yang Ge that as long as Yang Ge didn't leave, the Liu Family would absolutely not take back the house!

Wang Dali often came by.

Each time he said he came to lend a hand, but every time he just ended up chattering endlessly about martial arts competition tips, taking ages even just to sweep the floor, and later, he would even try to wheedle two buns from him before leaving!

This fellow was a local, with relatives and friends scattered throughout Luting County's lower and middle classes of various industries.

And as Luting County was a gateway to the capital, the commerce flowed in and out whether entering or leaving the capital, and casual chats could be about the biggest news in the capital city.

Thus, his channels for all sorts of gossip and rumors were incredibly well-connected!

Wang Dali had a mind full of twists and turns...

Yang Ge was, of course, well aware of it.

But how could he possibly tell Wang Dali, this loudmouth, about the Chaotic Wind Leg Manual still in his possession when he hadn't even told Shopkeeper Liu?

Was he looking for more trouble?

Look at Shopkeeper Liu, who, despite guessing that the manual was still with him, had never mentioned it again.

Only Wang Dali had no clue whatsoever, constantly bringing up the topic every few days with indirect phrases like, 'Folks like us can only make something of ourselves through martial arts', 'Young brother, if you could practice martial arts, perhaps you could also try your luck in the capital', and 'Our brothers can't always be waiters, right?'

Yang Ge simply ignored him, treating it as if he were just passing gas.

However, despite often listening to Wang Dali's nonsense, he still involuntarily learned a few things.

First and foremost, it was about the martial arts examination in Grace.

After Jiang Kui entered the capital, with his fierce North Wind Blade Skill, he immediately won first place in the outer fields of the martial arts examination, becoming the undisputed center of attention!

Unfortunately, in the subsequent internal strategy discussion, Jiang Kui was far inferior to those from military families, and ultimately only achieved fifth place.

Yang Ge did inquire about Jiang Kui's whereabouts, but sadly this was not something Wang Dali could find out.

Then, of the top three ranks of this gracious martial examination, besides the third placer who was a disciple of the Huashan Sect, the other two were rumored to be hidden nobility.

In the days following the close of the martial examination, Yang Ge saw large groups of sword-carrying men and women from the martial world silently leaving from Lu Ting County each day.

Gone were the calls to friends, the spirited laughter and joy of their arrival...

During those days, even Wang Dali no longer mentioned the words "striving for a future."

Beyond the ups and downs of the martial examination, from Wang Dali's idle chatter, Yang Ge also gleaned much current information about Wei.

For instance, having gone through the eras of Emperor Taizu, Emperor Taizong, and Emperor Zhongzong, Wei was now in its fourth reign under Emperor Xiping.

For example, in the past twenty years, the northern tribes had grown increasingly powerful, frequently sending their armies south to provoke the border, plunder wealth, and slaughter the populace. Five years ago, the current emperor had seized the opportunity of a leadership change among the northern tribes, dispatching three large armies totaling two hundred and fifty thousand elite soldiers to campaign against the Northern Desert Grasslands.

But ultimately, they lost soldiers and generals and returned without achieving any victory.

Furthermore, within five years, the price of grain had more than doubled...

Finally, Yang Ge began to take a slight interest in the environment he found himself in.

A series of rainy days marked the beginning of autumn, and with the small courtyard unable to continue construction, Yang Ge went to a bookstore. Recommended by the shopkeeper, he rented several unofficial histories that were fabrications in detail but largely line up with historical progress and took them home.

Over the following days, as he listened to the raindrops pattering on the roof tiles, he compared and read through these unofficial histories.

Eventually, he confirmed his earlier suspicion: this world was indeed a timeline with a historical path different from the one in which he originally existed!

The historical divergence between the two worlds occurred during the late Three Kingdoms period.

Before the Three Kingdoms, the course of history was broadly the same in both worlds: Xia, Shang, and Zhou, the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States, alternating between the Qin and Han dynasties.

The various schools of thought, the powerful figures of the Warring States, and various renowned scenes and allusions were nearly identical.

It was only in the late Three Kingdoms period that the Late Han, which should have been declining, instead shone ever brighter. Zhuge launched three campaigns from Qishan, eliminated Cao Cao, and reclaimed the north. Tian Shui's Jiang Wei, continuing his legacy, extinguished Sun Quan of Eastern Wu and reclaimed the territories south of the river, successfully unifying the Three Kingdoms under the Late Han, extending the Great Han's reign for over two hundred years...

Until the world again split apart, once more embarking on the cyclical history of division and unification.

And then followed, one after another, the Xiaoyi, Liliang, Zhou Tang... leading up to the current Zhao Wei.

Yang Ge became so engrossed in his studies that he made several more trips to the bookstore, renting numerous historical documents to study at home.

In the end, he indeed found the answer: the Sima family was gone!

To be precise, it wasn't that the Sima family was gone, but rather that Sima Yi was taken out early on!

Yang Ge wasn't able to find out exactly where Sima Yi was killed, but all the books about the Three Kingdoms period mentioned him only briefly: 'Sima Yi, styled Zhongda, appointed as a scholarly official in Cao Cao's chancellery, was headstrong and disliked by Cao Cao.'

Given Cao's reputation for killing in dreams, Sima Yi's obstinacy might not be true, but Cao's dislike for him certainly was!

Without Sima Yi, the great late-stage threat to Cao Wei, after Cao passed away, there was naturally no one who could withstand Zhuge.

With Cao Wei gone, Eastern Wu, isolated and lacking successors, would not have lasted much longer either.

And Liu Shan, Emperor Xiaohuai, was best known for his willingness to listen and tolerate others. With his temperament paired with the civil and military team led by Jiang Wei in the later period of the Late Han, wasn't it possible to prolong the Great Han's life for another two hundred years?

In this way, wouldn't that completely disrupt the historical process?

With no ancestors, where would the descendants come from?