Chapter Nineteen: The So-Called Rebel

[You have successfully met Li Laiheng.]

[As you sit before him, you find him unexpectedly calm, showing none of the rage, panic, cowardice, or agitation you had anticipated...]

[Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain!]

[To avoid any complications, you state your purpose from the start: "I have come to negotiate..."]

["Negotiations can wait... how did your whistleblowing go?"]

[The old man waves his hand, interrupting you while smiling, his eyes filled with undisguised curiosity.]

[You were planning to get straight to the point, so his unexpected question catches you off guard, leaving you stunned: "You know about my report?"]

["Of course. The moment your master returned, he went to your home, declaring he was severing ties with you because of your reckless attempt to report the provincial examinations... We happened to witness it."]

[Li Laiheng’s amused remark leaves you even more bewildered: "So, you actually knew I failed the exam all along? Then why didn't you follow through with the agreement..."]

[According to your agreement, if you failed to pass, they were to vent their anger by killing your entire family, but now...]

["You actually believed that?"]

[Li Laiheng strokes his beard and chuckles: "Although I’m not exactly a saint, I wouldn’t force a five-year-old child to pass the imperial examinations... What kind of normal five-year-old can pass the provincial exam anyway?"]

["I only said that to bluff you!"]

[You: ...]

[You: Huh?]

[A bluff?!]

[For a moment, you are completely stupefied...]

Huh?!

Not only was "Zhou Liang" in the simulation stunned, but Zhou Liang in reality was also dumbfounded:

"No... what is going on? Didn't this Li Laiheng threaten to kill me earlier? How did it turn into... a bluff?"

What is this, a Ming Dynasty version of a telecommunications scam?! How did I not know you were bluffing me?

"But... if we go by his logic, it does seem to make sense. A normal five-year-old definitely couldn't pass the provincial exam. If someone forces a child to do that, and they don't actually want the child dead, then they must be running a scam..."

Zhou Liang’s mouth twitched:

"So... this old guy never actually wanted to kill me? Then what on earth was he trying to do..."

Li Laiheng’s baffling behavior left Zhou Liang, who always prided himself on being a seasoned veteran, feeling mentally overloaded.

["Although you looked like a normal child when we first met—clinging to my legs and crying for mercy—I could tell at a glance that you were anything but ordinary!"]

[Li Laiheng laughs: "What kind of normal four-year-old has a brain that sharp? While begging for your life, you managed to shift all the blame onto your master, claiming the scholar’s title was bought for you and that the essays were written in advance..."]

["The key is that not only did you shirk responsibility, but you also laid out their entire scheme and motives. You clearly understood that they were using you as a pawn to secure fame and fortune, and you grasped the intricacies of the situation..."]

["Can someone with a brain that sharp really be a normal child?"]

[He clicks his tongue in amazement, as if he had been holding these words back for a long time: "In short, it wasn’t that you acted poorly, but that you acted too well—so well that it didn’t match your age..."]

[You: ...]

[You realize it only now: even though you tried your best to act like a child afraid of bad guys, being forthcoming whenever questioned, it is incredibly difficult for an adult to hide that kind of rigorous logical thinking.]

[Normal children simply cannot say the things you said. When faced with questions beyond their comprehension, they would only cry or wet their pants...]

[So, in the eyes of the Li Laiheng of that time, you were likely a real-life Conan—your body had shrunk, but your mind remained sharp... A child’s body with an adult’s logic; it would be strange if Li Laiheng weren't suspicious!]

[Having figured this out, you can’t help but wear a bitter smile: this is what happens when one is too clever for one's own good. The better the acting, the worse the outcome...]

[Li Laiheng seems to have opened the floodgates, continuing to chatter incessantly.]

["That’s why I found it strange at the time: how could there be such a weird child? Could it be a case of a ghost or deity possessing a body?"]

["So, I decided to test you... I deliberately set an impossible task for you, demanding you pass the provincial exam in one year and assassinate the Provincial Administration Commissioner... I even threatened you: if you failed, your whole family would pay with their lives!"]

["If you were a ghost or deity, then since you could pass the scholar's exam, you might be able to pass the provincial exam... or perhaps use your supernatural powers to kill me..."]

[He can’t help but laugh: "And you actually passed!"]

["I was right, wasn't I? A ghost or deity possessing a body!"]

[You: ...]

[His wild, imaginative theory leaves you stunned: it can even be like this?]

[Although you aren't a ghost or deity, you are indeed a transmigrator possessing a body, so in a sense, he actually guessed correctly...]

[However, you are still puzzled: "Why did you think I was a ghost or deity? What if I were just a once-in-a-millennium prodigy?"]

["Intuition."]

[Li Laiheng beams: "After all, if there really are true gods like the Divine Emperor who can return from the dead, why can’t there be other spirits or deities possessing bodies?"]

["Besides, isn't your current reaction proof that you are indeed a spirit?"]

[You: ...]

[You had calculated everything, but you didn't account for this old man being a superstitious person who attributes everything to ghosts and deities—and he actually hit the bullseye... Or perhaps it can't be called superstition, given the precedent of the Divine Emperor. For an old man who lived through those times, it's hard not to think in that direction...]

[You were exposed for good reason.]

[Yet, you still don't understand: "If I were truly a normal person, how should I have responded to your probe? What reaction would be normal for a child?"]

[You decide to seek some advice so you can disguise yourself better in the future.]

[Li Laiheng finds this amusing: "I knew you’d ask that... Fine, I’ll tell you."]

["A normal child facing such a dilemma would either harden their heart and run to the authorities to report it regardless of the consequences, or... or they would simply resign themselves to death."]

["If you had chosen to report, I would have killed your whole family and then killed myself, so as not to betray the spirit of the Chuang Wang!"]

["And if you had resigned yourself to death, I would have let it go. At most, I would have criticized you for slandering the Chuang Wang, and as long as you mended your ways, I would have continued to live in seclusion, never asking about worldly affairs again."]

["But you ended up passing..."]

[You: ...]

[Zhou Liang: ...]

["This really is..."]

[Zhou Liang’s mouth twitches:]

[What is "being too clever for one's own good"? This is exactly what it is!]

[It turns out he was just conducting an experiment; he never intended to kill him. He was the one who overcomplicated things, applying adult logic to a primary school problem...]

["But then again, why didn't he kill me? Wasn't he very angry about those articles cursing Li Zicheng earlier?"]

[Zhou Liang pondered this repeatedly but still couldn't understand. It was clearly a matter of a single blade strike, yet it involved so many twists and turns...]

[You think the same!]

["Why didn't you want to kill me? Clearly, before..."]

[Li Laiheng finally turns serious, saying in a low voice: "Boy, what do you think our Chuang Wang’s army is? Do you really think we would randomly slaughter the innocent as the Ming court claims?"]

["If we were truly the lawless bandits they say, would the common people have been fools back then? Why did they surrender and offer up their cities everywhere we went?"]

["Admittedly, our Chuang army was not without its faults, and we did indeed harm the innocent. But we, the elite who stood by the Chuang Wang, have always remembered the vows we made when we rose up."]

["We wanted to eradicate corrupt officials, we wanted to punish the gentry and landlords, we wanted to abolish exorbitant taxes, and we wanted the people of the world to enjoy peace!"]

["We wanted to slaughter those royal princes and nobles of the Ming court who were as fat as pigs, drag them out of their magnificent palace pigsties, and in front of the people they preyed upon, chop their pig heads off with a single stroke! Cook them together with that Prince Fu!"]

["We also wanted to destroy the Jiannu, chop off the heads of those man-eating wild boars, and boil the Jiannu wild boars and the Zhu Ming house pigs in one pot!"]

["What is the 'Fu-Lu Feast'? A 'Full Pig Feast' is the ultimate delicacy!"]

[He seems to have regained the fiery passion of those years, his withered fists clenching involuntarily. The fire in his eyes as he stares at you is so intense that one dares not meet his gaze!]

[In that moment, you are inexplicably moved: they... really aren't the kind of army you thought they were. Compared to the pillaging feudal armies of the Ming and Qing, the elite of Li Chuang were actually much purer because they truly had ideals and a military spirit. It’s just a pity...]

[You sigh: "I believe you."]

[Afterward, you tell him everything you experienced around the provincial examinations, holding nothing back.]

[Seeing you start to talk about these things, Li Laiheng puts aside his past fervor and listens with great interest, as if he were listening to a storyteller spinning a yarn...]

["So you came to find me this time because you wanted me, as Li Laiheng, to write letters to those corrupt officials to serve as evidence of false accusations?"]

[You nod, your eyes filled with anticipation.]

[He laughs heartily: "Good! I accept! From the Provincial Administration Commissioner down to the prefects and magistrates, I won't let a single one of them go!"]

[Hearing him agree, you finally breathe a sigh of relief...]

[However, one doubt has always lingered in the back of your mind. You never had the chance to ask before, but now you finally do... So, you curiously ask him one last question.]

["Are you really Li Zicheng’s grand-nephew, Li Laiheng?"]

[He smiles meaningfully at the question.]

["What if I am? What if I am not?"]

["Whether I am or not, I must be, and I can only be... because everyone wants me to be, and I want to be."]

["If my life can truly be exchanged for the downfall of so many Ming court officials... then, just consider me to be him."]

[He smiles, then begins to write the letters, while you sit beside him, lost in thought...]