The fourth recommendation among the fine talents of Chang’an: Second Master Yu of the Duke of Zhenguo’s household, nephew of the Grand General of the Yulin Guard, son of the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial. In this year’s spring examination he placed eighteenth on the cassia roll [1]the cassia roll (guì bǎng, 桂榜) (Metaphor), the list of successful examination candidates jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253957_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253957_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. The man is warm and mellow as jade and upright in his usual conduct, and when he meets anything unjust he will always speak up and argue against it. But the aperture of feeling has not opened in him, and what he likes and dislikes is not clear.
Also, yesterday the Marquis of Pingyuan’s household opened its doors for a great banquet, and Third Miss Guo, the first hand of the realm on the pipa, came in person. It is said she left her seat for a while to meet her lover. Who is this man? Gentlemen may as well guess.
—Zhuyan Book Pavilion, Nanzhi Que, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the fourth year of Xihe
“Creak—”
On the third floor of Zhuyan Book Pavilion, Liu Ruyan pushed the door open carrying a red lacquer tray. The white porcelain teacups came down on the hardwood table with a crisp sound.
“Have a cup of tea. I just brewed it.”
Yu Nanzhi’s eyes did not leave the paper in front of her for a moment. She took the cup and brought it to her lips, and the next moment she coughed violently and sprayed out half a mouthful of tea, wetting half the sheet.
“This tea…” Her brows were almost knotted into a ball. “How on earth was it made? It tastes awful.”
“Does it?” Liu Ruyan poured herself a cup too, and after a while said awkwardly, “It does seem a bit bitter. But this is the most fashionable way of drinking it in Chang’an lately: roast the tea cake dry over a fire, grind it into powder, then steep it. Only this way can you taste the true flavor of the tea.”
“It steeps out all the bitterness, more like.” There were some Chang’an fashions Yu Nanzhi really could not understand, taking something perfectly good and making it taste odd, to show that one was different from everyone else.
Liu Ruyan thought about it and found what Yu Nanzhi said reasonable. “Then I’ll have someone brew another pot and send it up.”
In any case, when she had nothing to do she liked studying how to steep and brew tea, and she knew plenty of ways to make it taste good.
Liu Ruyan looked at the table. The writing on the wetted half of the xuan paper had already blurred, but the indistinct content could still just be read.
She said, “When I got the draft Xiaoguai brought over yesterday, I wondered why you had added your own Second Brother.”
With the situation in the Duke of Zhenguo’s household, it did not seem to fit very well.
Liu Ruyan had the same thought Yu Nanzhi had had at first, but she did not know why Yu Nanzhi was bending the rules for Yu Shuhuai.
She guessed, “Could it be that Zhizhi thinks Fifth Miss Feng outstanding in both talent and looks, and wants to keep her for her own family as a sister-in-law?”
Liu Ruyan had guessed right. Yu Nanzhi did not put on any coyness. “Sister Congrong is frank and natural as a person and generous in what she does. No one who has met her fails to like her, and of course I am no exception.”
Liu Ruyan said, “So you can have private motives after all?”
“The person from the Feng household bringing the money should be coming today.” Yu Nanzhi covered her mouth and yawned.
Liu Ruyan was puzzled. “Aren’t there still three candidates you haven’t written up? By past custom, the money always comes on the day you change the subject, or the day after.”
Yu Nanzhi’s brows and eyes curved, her chin lifted high, thoroughly pleased with herself. “That is of course because the flower-thrower has already got the answer she wanted.”
“Oh—” Liu Ruyan made her usual show of amazement to play along, then suddenly went round-eyed, with the look of someone wondering whether she had misheard. “Do you mean Fifth Miss Feng likes your Second Brother?”
Yu Nanzhi nodded.
“The Duke of Zhenguo’s household really does have good luck. Vice Director Feng manages the Secretariat and will take another step up sooner or later, and Fifth Miss Feng’s maternal grandfather, Old General Dugu, is Military Commissioner of Shuofang with the additional title of Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent.” Liu Ruyan clicked her tongue in admiration, then suddenly remembered something. “Wait. If Fifth Miss Feng already has her heart set on your Second Brother, why did she throw a flower into our pavilion? Isn’t that a wasted step?”
Yu Nanzhi explained, “Sister Congrong has been away from the capital a long while after all. She had to ask whether Second Brother already had someone in his heart, to avoid wasting her effort. Besides, when it comes to feelings, even the most open-natured person is torn between hope and dread. If things stayed as they are, Sister Congrong would still be my Second Brother’s future superior’s daughter and the daughter of the teacher he owes, with the affection of having spent childhood together.”
“But if she takes that step, everything is thrown into upheaval, like walking on a dangerous rock. If it fails, then at worst it could make enemies of the two families. To make a decision this important, one is bound to want some support and some hint from outside, and that is probably why Sister Congrong came to Zhuyan Book Pavilion.”
In fact Yu Shuhuai’s behavior at the Marquis of Pingyuan’s household yesterday had already set Feng Congrong’s mind at rest. The important thing next was how to get Yu Shuhuai to see what was in front of him.
Yu Nanzhi gathered her skirt and sat back down on the low corner stool. Her plain hand spread out a new sheet of paper, and she took up the brush and set down a few lines of fine flower-hairpin script. “This morning I asked Second Brother to make a trip to the West Market and buy me some golden milk pastry from Fourteenth Miss Huoxun’s shop to bring home.”
Liu Ruyan understood at once. “Fifth Miss Feng goes to Madam Mo’s place in the West Market every morning to eat crab-roe biluo and mutton botuo, and the two shops are right next to each other. Sitting in one of them, you can see the one next door perfectly clearly.”
She suddenly went quiet, then said with a look that was half a smile, “As a younger sister, you scheme against Second Master Yu rather too hard.”
Yu Nanzhi said, “Ayan, we have known each other more than ten years. Am I that sort of person? A blockhead like my Second Brother [2]a knot of elm wood (yú mù gē da, 榆木疙瘩) (Slang), a hopelessly thick-headed person jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253957_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253957_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, if no one gave him a push from behind, who knows what year and what month it would take before he understood his own heart. He would let an opportunity handed straight to him slip clean away [3]he would let a duck delivered to his own door fly off (sòng shàng mén de yā zi dōu huì bèi tā gěi fēi le, 送上門的鴨子都會被他給飛了) (Idiom), to lose even a chance served up … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253957_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253957_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.”
“Then Zhizhi really has worn herself out over it.”
Yu Nanzhi was well used to her friend’s teasing. She casually poured a cup of the freshly made milk tea. Amid the rising steam, the bitterness of the tea, the caramel fragrance of the brown sugar and the richness of the milk balanced each other just right.
Before long the pavilion’s shopkeeper did come up to report: the Feng household had sent the money over, a full thirty strings of cash, ten strings more than the custom.
It seemed Feng Congrong was very satisfied with the news Nanzhi Que had let out today.
“Send the extra ten strings back to the Feng household,” Liu Ruyan ordered.
This was the understanding between her and Yu Nanzhi: the price was posted plainly, they could not take more and certainly not less. Only so could Zhuyan Book Pavilion’s credit be guaranteed.
“Liquan Ward is only one street from the West Market. Shall we go and have a look together?” Yu Nanzhi proposed. “As it happens I have arranged to meet someone over there.”
The West Market of Chang’an.
Hu merchants from the Western Regions came and went leading camels. The smell of Dashi spices spread through the air and tangled together with the sesame hu flatbread just out of the oven.
A Hu woman parted the flow of people and walked gracefully along. Her brown hair curled slightly, her nose was high, and her deep green eyes were as clear as jade. The gold rings at her ears swayed lightly with her steps and made passers-by turn their heads again and again.
“Mistress Rongdi, is the new wine at your place ready?” the owner of the hu flatbread stall called out.
The Hu woman answered loudly, “There is newly arrived mare’s-milk wine and sanlejiang, and plenty of clear wine and sweet rice wine besides!”
The Hu woman was a well-known Hu tavern keeper of the West Market, called Rongdi Yeshe. No one knew from where she had made her way to Chang’an. She ran a tavern. From her appearance, though, most people guessed she came from the Yuezhi west of the Congling Range.
When Rongdi Yeshe had dealt with the warm greetings of the acquaintances around her, she turned and went into the Kang family’s Hu shop on the street. Ninth Miss Kang of the Kang family had long been waiting inside, and led her up to the second floor.
In a private room on the second floor sat two young men, both in identical round-collared robes of brocade with linked-pearl medallion patterns, the collars and cuffs densely bound with silver-thread vine designs. One glance showed they came from wealthy families. Only, neither wore a head-wrap, instead they wore veiled hats, covering their faces completely, which suggested something a little out of the ordinary.
Rongdi Yeshe kept firmly in mind what Ninth Miss Kang had just told her, pressed down the doubt in her heart and greeted them. “You two must be the people Ninth Miss mentioned who buy news? This woman, Rongdi Yeshe, pays her respects.”
“Please sit, Mistress Rongdi.”
What reached her ear was a somewhat hoarse male voice, listened to closely it sounded exactly like a duckling with its neck being squeezed.
A youth whose voice was breaking.
Still, Rongdi Yeshe did not let down her guard. Her years in the West Market had not been spent for nothing. She had seen plenty of jianghu tricks from every corner of the land, and had heard no fewer strange tales.
Plenty of monsters go about in the skin of decent folk [4]goblins and phantoms of every kind (chī mèi wǎng liǎng, 魑魅魍魉) (Idiom), villains and evil creatures of all descriptions jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253957_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253957_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, and who knows how black their hearts really are.
“Since both sides are willing, we may as well drop the pretence and talk in the open [5]throw the skylight wide and speak in the daylight (chǎng kāi tiān chuāng shuō huà, 敞開天窗說話) (Idiom), to set aside all indirection and speak frankly jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253957_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253957_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. We two are from Zhuyan Book Pavilion in Liquan Ward.” Yu Nanzhi came straight to the point without concealing who they were, so directly that Rongdi Yeshe was rather stunned.
“Zhuyan Book Pavilion.” Rongdi Yeshe searched her mind quickly for what she knew. “That is where Nanzhi Que’s little newspaper comes from, the most famous in Chang’an these past few years. So that is it…”
Nanzhi Que’s little newspaper never lacked scandal and anecdote, and from time to time it published reviews rating the young ladies and young masters of every household in Chang’an, such as these last few days’ review of the fine talents of Chang’an. It looked like nothing more than writing a few lines on paper, but Rongdi Yeshe hardly dared imagine what a frightening amount of news gathering, accumulation and piecing together lay behind it.
Of course, to have enough sources of news, Zhuyan Book Pavilion must have quietly built up a good many informants. Sweeping servants in deep mansions, flower girls who walked the streets and lanes, even daughters of official families pushed to the edge of noble-lady circles might all be among them.
Ninth Miss Kang, who had introduced her, was one, and she, Rongdi Yeshe, might very likely become one of them too after she walked out of the Kang family’s Hu shop today.
Yu Nanzhi stirred the sour-milk drink in the green-glazed pottery bowl. Orange jam mixed with milk-white yogurt, giving off a faint sweet-sour scent.
She knew well that while relying on her ability to understand the speech of plants and animals, she also had to develop some informants separately so as to be ready for anything. That way there was a reasonable explanation for Liu Ruyan, where the news in the little newspaper came from.
As for her ability, it could only be a secret.
Now that she had met someone like the Prince of Qinghe who could hold her ability down, Yu Nanzhi’s wish to develop informants grew stronger, because if one had appeared there might be a second and a third…
Yu Nanzhi tasted a spoonful of the sour-milk drink and said modestly to Rongdi Yeshe, “The pavilion has only a little name. How could it deserve such praise from Mistress Rongdi? Ninth Miss Kang must already have mentioned to Mistress Rongdi that Zhuyan Book Pavilion always pays in full for goods delivered. As long as the news you give is useful and verified as true, it will all be settled on the spot.”
“So Mistress may set her mind at ease. The two of us were willing to make this trip, first because Ninth Miss Kang, who acted as go-between, has worked with us a great deal, and second because we trust your character. After all, not everyone is willing to spend money supporting a group of little girls with no one to depend on.”
Rongdi Yeshe’s fingers, resting lightly on the gold ring at her ear, went still.
Zhuyan Book Pavilion’s reach really did go everywhere [6]divine powers wide and far-reaching (shén tōng guǎng dà, 神通廣大) (Idiom), commanding formidable, seemingly limitless resources jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253957_1_6').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253957_1_6', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, to have found out even this.
Rongdi Yeshe came from the kingdom of Khotan in the Western Regions and had been the daughter of a noble house. Ten years ago there was civil strife in Khotan. The king, the queen and the crown prince were all poisoned in a single night, and Tubo took the chance to invade. Most of the Khotanese died in the fighting, and most of those who survived by luck were taken captive by Tubo as slaves. Only a small number had the chance to flee east.
Rongdi Yeshe made her way by many turns to Chang’an, sold off the little gold and silver and small valuables she had left, and slowly built a small wine stall into a well-known Hu-girl tavern in the West Market. In these last few years she had taken in, one after another, many orphaned girls who had fled from Khotan.
Rongdi Yeshe was not annoyed. She said with a smile, “We all came out of the same place. It is only that this woman cannot bear to see those girls, still ignorant and understanding nothing, cheated into selling themselves into Pingkang Ward, becoming bonded Pusaman and struggling in the mire for the rest of their lives. I only do what little I can.”
Yu Nanzhi’s gaze rested on Rongdi Yeshe for a long while. Knowing that she had not spoken falsely, she pressed her lips into a smile. “I understand the whole of it now. I only wonder what news the Mistress wants to sell this time?”
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