“Oho, he’s here to make trouble!”
Someone called out softly. Clearly quite a few people still remembered that not long ago Second Master Qi had come here once already to corner Fifth Miss Feng. And just now Fifth Miss Feng had actually invited another young master to go along with her. There really was excitement to be had.
Second Master Qi plunged into Madam Mo’s shop and for a while blundered about inside with no notion where to go [1]like a fly with its head off (wú tóu cāng ying, 無頭蒼蠅) (Idiom), rushing about in all directions to no purpose jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253959_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253959_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. Just as everyone thought he would come away empty-handed, Second Master Qi suddenly climbed over the fence between Madam Mo’s place and Fourteenth Miss Huoxun’s place and shouted, “Fifth Miss Feng, I have found you at last.”
“Throw him out!”
At the slightly angry female voice, the two fighting maids at Feng Congrong’s side seized Second Master Qi and threw him out. The guards Second Master Qi had brought immediately surrounded their master, fussing over him.
“Young master, did the fall hurt?”
“Shall we help the young master teach those two maids a lesson?”
…
“Fifth Miss! How can you be so hard-hearted!” Second Master Qi lay half sprawled on the ground, both hands clutching his stinging backside, wailing loudly. His voice was as shrill as a wolf’s howl, and he paid not the least regard to his own face. “What have I done wrong! And you have taken a fancy to some soft pretty boy! I won’t live any more!”
“Wait, this development seems a bit off.” Even from a good distance the sound was an affliction to Yu Nanzhi [2]demon-music going straight into the ear (mó yīn rù ěr, 魔音入耳) (Slang), a noise so dreadful it torments whoever hears it jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253959_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253959_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. She covered them and silently grumbled to herself about everything happening in front of her.
By Second Master Qi’s usual style, shouldn’t he have charged into the shop again with his guards, gone a round with the Feng family’s fighting maids and turned the shop utterly upside down?
Which “master” had instructed him, to have Second Master Qi take up the conduct of a “shrew,” throwing a tantrum and playing the rogue in the middle of the street?
It really was more than one could stand to watch.
Second Master Qi sat on the ground rubbing the inner corners of his eyes with his fingertips, trying to squeeze out tears that were not there, while stealing glances now and then through the gaps between his fingers. But what came into view was not the Feng Congrong he had been longing for, but a soft pretty boy.
“You… who are you?” Second Master Qi’s eyes went wide, and he had finally rubbed out a few tears. “Where is the Fifth Miss? I want the Fifth Miss. Is there something I have done wrong? And the Fifth Miss is going to look for someone else and doesn’t want me!”
After the whole performance, Second Master Qi finally made up his mind, pinched his voice and shouted, “As long as I can stay at the Fifth Miss’s side, I… I am willing to be the lesser one!”
“Pffft—”
Liu Ruyan sprayed out a mouthful of wine, wetting half the table.
“I thought this sort of scene only turned up in storybooks.” After a long silence, she grumbled quietly.
Yu Nanzhi thoughtfully cleared a place at the window for her friend, exactly right for her to see everything perfectly clearly. “This time we really have widened our experience.”
Yu Shuhuai, who was facing Second Master Qi directly, felt even more that there was no summing it up.
Because Nanzhi Que had mentioned several times in the little newspaper that Second Master Qi had gone out of his way to corner Sister Feng, and because a true man ought to protect the weak and help the poor, how could he let Sister Feng deal with this lecher by herself [3]a Dengtuzi (dēng tú zǐ, 登徒子) (Idiom), a byword for a shameless womanizer, from the philanderer of Song Yu’s rhapsody jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253959_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253959_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });? So he had stepped forward himself to handle Second Master Qi.
He had only never expected Second Master Qi to turn out with this sort of character.
A wastrel turning into a rogue really was the most vexing thing in the world.
Yu Shuhuai showed nothing on his face. He spread a hand forward, all in the manner of a young master of a great house. “Second Master Qi, forcing what is hard on another is not what men like us should do. Since Fifth Miss Feng has already declined politely, why go on pestering her bitterly and ruin a girl’s name?”
As a wastrel, Second Master Qi most hated those polished young talents, and Yu Shuhuai, who had made Nanzhi Que’s review, was exactly the kind of other family’s child the elders at home were forever drumming into him. Given a lecture like this by Yu Shuhuai, Second Master Qi could not get his anger out anywhere. He clenched his fist and suddenly swung at him.
Yu Shuhuai had martial arts to fall back on. He instinctively stepped aside at an angle, twisted his body out of the way, and at the same time caught Second Master Qi’s arm with a reverse grip and pinned it behind his back.
“Attacking by surprise and injuring someone is not what a gentleman does,” Yu Shuhuai said.
“This young master is no gentleman. What business is it of yours?” Second Master Qi spat and stopped pretending at all.
Yu Shuhuai spoke righteously. “Gentleman or not, making trouble in a busy market should be handed to the Jingzhao Prefecture office to punish.”
“They wouldn’t dare!” Second Master Qi had powerful backing and so feared nothing [4]with something to lean on there is nothing to dread (yǒu shì wú kǒng, 有恃無恐) (Idiom), made bold by the protection standing behind one jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253959_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253959_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
His eldest sister was a consort in the palace, much favored in recent years, and she managed part of the palace affairs. The Qi family had been lifted along with her, and this was the backing that let Second Master Qi run wild inside Chang’an.
“Whether they dare or not, we will know when the men from the Jingzhao Prefecture office come.” Yu Shuhuai did not give an inch.
Suddenly Second Master Qi swept his left leg out, meaning to trip Yu Shuhuai.
Yu Shuhuai caught it at the edge of his vision and stepped back reflexively to avoid it.
In that instant a small tea saucer flew over like a meteor and struck Second Master Qi heavily in the back.
“Aah—”
A shrill howl escaped Second Master Qi’s lips. The seventh vertebra where he had been struck ached piercingly in wave after wave. He curled up like a bow and fell to his knees. Yu Shuhuai took the chance to pin Second Master Qi again and pressed his back with his fingers.
“Nothing seriously wrong.”
That righteous person who threw the tea saucer really had a practiced hand: it made him break out in a cold sweat from the pain, and yet only bruised the flesh without damaging the bone in the least.
So Yu Shuhuai thought.
The “righteous person,” Yu Nanzhi, let the credit go unclaimed and quietly withdrew from the window.
This Second Master Qi really was a shameless sort, daring to attack by surprise. Just now Yu Nanzhi had grabbed a tea saucer offhandedly and thrown it down, and it had let out a good deal of her anger.
“Let’s go,” Yu Nanzhi said to Liu Ruyan, “Someone just looked in this direction.”
In a while someone would probably trace it up here.
Liu Ruyan picked up her veiled hat, and the girl’s face was hidden away in the light gauze again. The two of them went down the stairs, said a few words to Ninth Miss Kang and went out to mix into the watching crowd.
Sure enough, Second Master Qi, caught again, was shouting loudly for the guards beside him to find whoever had thrown the tea saucer.
“You dare ambush this young master! This young master will catch you and drag you back, and smash your head every day with a hundred, a thousand tea saucers!”
Everything in and behind his words was a threat.
Liu Ruyan leaned close to Yu Nanzhi’s ear and grumbled, “Consort Qi is careful in speech and conduct in the palace, and in her dealings she has much of the late Empress’s manner, so the Sage favors her. Academician Qi and Eldest Master Qi are both well-read men with fairly good official reputations. How did they produce a son and a brother like this?”
Yu Nanzhi said, “Bad ground may grow a good sprout, and good bamboo may put out a bad shoot [5]bad soil can raise a fine seedling and good bamboo can send up a poor shoot (huài de dì kě néng zhǎng chū hǎo miáo, hǎo zhú yě kě néng huì chū dǎi sǔn, … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253959_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253959_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.”
Liu Ruyan thought about it and found it reasonable. Long ago in Datong Ward in Luoyang there had been a family named Yan. The Yan parents were diligent and charitable all their lives, and yet they produced a rotten son who left out nothing of eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, and ruined the whole family estate.
Liu Ruyan said, “Still, your Second Brother really shone today. I imagine it will not be long before Chang’an hears the happy news of the Duke of Zhenguo’s household and the Feng family.”
“I hope so,” Yu Nanzhi answered.
A hero saving a beauty, whether Yu Shuhuai meant it or not, it was the most common scene for advancing feeling between a man and a woman. She wondered whether it could set Sister Congrong’s mind at rest first.
“Jingzhao Prefecture on a case. Idlers stand aside!”
The clatter of hooves came from a street not far off. At the end of the long street a guard troop suddenly appeared. The four bailiffs running in front held up red lacquered wooden boards with the three large characters “Jingzhao Prefecture” in gilt. Behind them were two constables on black horses with long blades at their sides, and after them a young man in purple official robes came into view.
“So it’s him?” The moment she saw the young man’s jade-like face, Yu Nanzhi went slightly blank.
The horses at full run stirred up gusts of clear wind. Cui Zixu sat high in the saddle, driving his horse forward. He lifted his lids a little and let a careless glance fall into the crowd around him—
At the edge of the crowd, a youth in a round-collared brocade robe with linked-pearl medallions wore a veiled hat, and the veil gauze was lifted open a crack by the wind. What was glimpsed in that instant was a girl’s pretty face.
The hand gripping the reins paused slightly, and in the end Cui Zixu turned his eyes away.
The clear wind brushed her face. Yu Nanzhi seemed to sense something and quickly raised a hand to press the fluttering veil gauze down, and so happened to miss the glance the young man had cast. A few breaths later, somehow, she stole a look up, and only saw a white horse passing in front of her, the back of the young man in purple made especially hazy by the warm winter sun.
“So that is the Prince of Qinghe?” Liu Ruyan asked curiously.
Yu Nanzhi nodded and said “Mm.”
Liu Ruyan went on with her verdict. “From that one look just now, His Highness really does deserve all those fine names that go around Chang’an.”
A cold smile, hard to notice, rose at the corner of Yu Nanzhi’s mouth. She thought, “That is because you have never seen how odious he is in private. That is why you have this mistaken notion.”
Still, he probably had not spotted her just now. After all, why would a young master of a great house, so high above everyone, pay particular attention to some passer-by watching the excitement in the crowd?
And what if he had? There was no law under heaven that said she could not happen to be in the West Market watching her own Second Brother’s excitement.
“Whoa—” Cui Zixu eased the reins and looked down from above at the whole lot of them in front of the hu flatbread shop. His gaze finally stopped on Second Master Qi. “This Prince hears that someone has been venting himself and stirring up trouble in the West Market. Was it you?”
With the men of the Jingzhao Prefecture office at hand, Yu Shuhuai was not afraid Second Master Qi would make more trouble, so he released his hold for the moment, clasped his hands and bowed to Cui Zixu. “Allow this subject to report, Your Highness. Today, at the request of my sisters at home, I came especially to Fourteenth Miss Huoxun’s shop to buy golden milk pastry, and met Second Master Qi, who for some reason flew up and picked a quarrel. This subject had to act so in order to protect himself. If there is anything improper in it, I hope Your Highness will deal with it by the rules. This subject will not evade it.”
“Buying golden milk pastry for your sister…” Cui Zixu’s tone was thoughtful. Whether it was her imagination or not, Yu Nanzhi, hidden in the crowd, felt for an instant as though someone had fixed a glance on her. “Is what Second Master Yu says true?”
Second Master Qi was about to argue back with a good deal of embroidery when a female voice sounded. “Every word Second Brother Yu says is true. This humble girl saw it perfectly clearly, and not a hair of it is false.”
Feng Congrong stepped out of the hu flatbread shop and walked gracefully to a place shoulder to shoulder with Yu Shuhuai. Seeing Feng Congrong suddenly come out to bear witness for him, the always steady Yu Shuhuai grew anxious, rarely for him. With this, it would be impossible to avoid stating the origin of his conflict with Second Master Qi, and that would drag her in.
Two men and one woman, people were bound to think of a romance between men and a woman. For a man it was only a fine rage on a woman’s behalf [6]his fury lifting his cap for the sake of a fair face (chōng guān yī nù wèi hóng yán, 沖冠一怒為紅顏) (Idiom), a man’s righteous anger in defence of the woman he cares for jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253959_1_6').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253959_1_6', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, but when the thing fell on a girl she came under suspicion of being the beauty who brings ruin down on everyone [7]the fair face that is a flood of calamity (huò shuǐ hóng yán, 禍水紅顏) (Idiom), a beautiful woman blamed for the disasters of the men around her jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3253959_1_7').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3253959_1_7', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
“Fifth Miss Feng, how can you treat me like this? Everything I have done was for you!”
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