"When did you start contacting Shangguan Xiao?"
"A few years ago."
"Specific time."
"...During the thirty-ninth year of Hongguang, in May, I don't remember the exact day."
"How did you make contact?"
"...I hadn't graduated from Wuda yet, I remember that day I went to a social club party, had a few drinks, and was a bit drunk. Then someone suddenly approached me, and I thought he was some young master trying to befriend me."
"And then?"
"Then we started chatting, and he told me that he understood me, knew that I was someone very ambitious and capable, but my status in the Zhang Family doomed me to a life as at most a Ninth Level Subordinate Official. Ha, he was damn right!"
"Go on."
"He asked me to talk privately, and we found a teahouse. He said he was from Xing City and that he could help me. Of course, I didn't trust him that easily, but he left me a bottle of Elixir, a very high-quality one, which I couldn't get a few of even in a month at the Zhangs.