Chapter 61: If Only He Were My Son, the Generous Immortal Emperor

The man left.

Before departing, he did not give Wang Chu any specific details, merely mentioning that someone would come to pick him up when the time arrived, allowing him to travel to Qianyuan City together with that person.

In addition, he left behind a purple card.

This card was known as a Purple Crystal Card, a transaction card jointly issued by the All-Heaven Chamber of Commerce and the imperial court.

Taking this card to the All-Heaven Chamber of Commerce allowed one to exchange it for the corresponding spirit stones.

Situated on the periphery of the Great Rui Dynasty, Ling City had a commerce and trading system that was far from developed, and such cards were almost never used there.

Only a tiny fraction of descendants from prominent families would use this currency for transactions.

During all these years spent living in Ling City, this was the first time Wang Chu had ever received such a purple card.

He held the purple card in his palm, turning it over to inspect it. He did not find it particularly remarkable, simply feeling a bit curious about how much the deposit combined with his two pieces of calligraphy was actually worth.

Although he had already prepared himself mentally—after all, that man possessed an extraordinary identity, and his spending would boundlessly be exceptionally lavish—

Wang Chu still vastly underestimated the degree of his extravagance.

"Damn it, he actually gave me ten thousand spirit crystals!"

Wang Chu blurted out this figure in profound shock.

If the surrounding neighbors were to overhear this number, it would likely provoke malicious intentions in their hearts, moving them to rob and kill Wang Chu—or kill him first and rob him afterward.

After all, ten thousand medium-grade spirit stones already constituted an astronomical fortune for the majority of common folk in Ling City.

As for spirit crystals, which possessed a value far exceeding that of medium-grade spirit stones, many people had never even laid eyes upon them.

Even a single piece would be enough for an ordinary person to purchase a very decent two-story house in the Ling City region, marry a pretty young bride, and live a life of abundance.

Ten thousand spirit crystals......

This already far surpassed the comprehension limits of most ordinary residents in Ling City.

To state it without exaggeration, based solely on this card, Wang Chu could already rank within the top five of Ling City's wealthiest individuals.

Had it been anyone else, suddenly coming into possession of such a colossal volume of wealth, their body might have trembled with ultimate excitement as they began daydreaming about a bright future.

Yet Wang Chu was different.

After a brief moment of shock, he quickly regained his composure, casually tossing the card into his spatial ring while whispering to himself:

"That old scoundrel of an emperor sure is generous with his spending."

......

After leaving Wang Chu's shop, Jiang Cheng turned into a deserted alleyway and, without a sound or trace, returned to the imperial study within the palace.

He walked over to the desk, spread out the two pieces of calligraphy he had purchased from Wang Chu, weighted each end down with paperweights, and began to admire them slowly.

The longer he gazed upon them, the more enchanted he became, repeatedly clicking his tongue in wonder:

"Splendid calligraphy, truly a magnificent hand of calligraphy."

"Splendid verse, calling them absolute masterpieces would not be an overstatement!"

As he spoke, Jiang Cheng placed a sheet of blank paper on the desk, picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and could not resist beginning to copy the work.

Yet, he discovered that although he had successfully imitated the form, he utterly failed to capture the spirit. His own writing perpetually lacked the divine charm of Wang Chu's work, missing that untrammeled and carefree flavor.

Jiang Cheng laid down his writing brush and shook his head with a helpless sigh:

"Forget it, there is no need. He has his path, and I have my method; forced imitation will only cause one to lose their true nature."

Uttering these words, Jiang Cheng seated himself in a chair and murmured with a smile:

"If this kid were my son, how wonderful that would be. He would surely be immensely popular among those stubborn old pedants."

With those words, the smile vanished from Jiang Cheng's face, suddenly replaced by a lingering trace of sorrow.

In a few hundred years, he would presumably ascend to the upper realm.

When that time came, he would naturally need to select a suitable candidate from among the next generation of princes and princesses to inherit the throne.

However, among the upcoming generation of princes and princesses of the Jiang family, not a single one could truly be considered a satisfactory successor by Jiang Cheng.

The eldest princess, Jiang Wan, possessed middle-to-upper cultivation talent. Her temperament, intellect, and capability in statecraft and governance were all acceptable.

However, her mother's birth and background were rather humble, being merely an ordinary palace maid; pushing her forward to claim the throne would undoubtedly encounter massive resistance.

The second prince, Jiang Ming, possessed astonishing cultivation talent, renowned across the continent as a rare prodigy once in a hundred million years. Having cultivated for merely eight hundred odd years, he was already a mighty master of the Fusion Realm.

His mother, furthermore, was the daughter of the current awe-inspiring Grand Marshal of Zhenyuan.

Allowing him to inherit the imperial throne seemed like a rather excellent choice.

However, this youth possessed an extremely narrow-minded and violent personality, routinely bullying the weak, acting lawlessly and arbitrarily, and threatening to dig up ancestors' graves or slaughter entire families over the slightest disagreement.

When it came to governing the state and managing political affairs, as well as literary accomplishments, he was utterly clueless.

Using him as a vanguard to slaughter enemies on the battlefield might be fitting, but making him emperor was an absolute impossibility.

Aside from these two, the other princes and princesses each had their own respective shortcomings and were not material for ruling an empire.

All in all, barring an absolute emergency, Jiang Cheng was utterly unwilling to pass the imperial throne down to these descendants.

Rather than doing so, he would much rather spend another hundred years reshaping his plans......

"Reporting to Imperial Father, this daughter requests an audience!"

Just as Jiang Cheng was feeling troubled over the realm he had built with such painstaking effort and at such massive cost, Jiang Wan's voice sounded from beside his ear.

Jiang Cheng reined in his wandering thoughts and calmly replied:

"Enter."

As the words fell, a kneeling woman materialized before the desk—none other than Jiang Wan.

"Greetings, Imperial Father, Your Majesty......"

"Enough, it is just the two of us; there is no need for such formalities."

Jiang Cheng interrupted Jiang Wan, his tone rather casual and amiable.

Jiang Wan rose from the floor:

"Thank you, Imperial Father."

Jiang Cheng shook his head:

"I already said there was no need to be so formal."

Jiang Wan lowered her head and cupped her hands:

"This daughter obeys the imperial decree."

With a helpless shake of his head, Jiang Cheng could only let the matter take its course and ceased pressing Jiang Wan on the issue.

He shifted the topic of conversation, bringing up Wang Chu:

"I went to see him. This young man is indeed extraordinary. Leaving aside his nebulous cultivation level and his concealed mysterious identity, purely judging by his literary attainments, he is definitely no ordinary shopkeeper."

"Literary attainments?"

Hearing Jiang Cheng utter this vocabulary, Jiang Wan felt a slight wave of surprise:

"Could it be that aside from the erhu, his literary proficiency is also quite remarkable?"

Jiang Cheng pointed toward the calligraphy displayed on the desk:

"Look at the writing on these three sheets of paper and give me your evaluation."

Hearing this, Jiang Wan walked over to Jiang Cheng's side and carefully observed the handwriting left upon the three sheets of paper. After a moment of contemplation, she stated:

"The handwriting on the first two sheets, though appearing very similar to the writing on the third sheet, differs greatly in artistic charm. The charm of the third sheet is clearly inferior to the first two."

From this, Jiang Wan deduced:

"Could this final sheet be calligraphy written by Wang Chu after imitating some great master?"

Jiang Wan's deduction inevitably caused Jiang Cheng a pang of awkwardness. He forced a calm facade:

"No. The writing on the first two sheets was indeed penned by Wang Chu. As for the final one...... I had someone imitate it."

Jiang Wan looked at him in disbelief:

"Then the verses written upon these pages were also originally created by Wang Chu?"

Jiang Cheng murmured softly:

"The one on the first sheet might not be, but the writing on the second sheet is, in all probability, his own creation."

"Hiss～"

Jiang Wan drew in a sharp breath of cold air.

Although her own literary standards were merely mediocre,

this did not mean she lacked basic appreciation skills. For verses like "A mountain need not be high; if there are immortals, it becomes famous," Jiang Wan could state with absolute certainty that even those pedantic old scholars who taught them books would inevitably break out in lavish praise upon encountering such a line.

To think that aside from playing the erhu with astonishing skill, Wang Chu actually possessed such an elevated level of literary mastery as well?

Just how many secrets...... did he still possess that remained unknown to her?