Boom—boom—
The next day the morning bell rang out across Chang'an, and as ever the sound of recitation rose from every study hall of the Imperial College.
Song Yufu, her eyes faintly red at the rims, paced back and forth in Wenqu Court with her books in her arms, reciting the classics she knew by heart. The hall was still not full of princes and noble sons; most were dozing, and very few students actually read along.
Her father, Grand Libationer Song Baiqing, had long since been so exasperated by these blocks of rotten wood that he no longer came to lecture, and even her gentle temper was wearing down into helplessness. She had not slept well these past days either; when drowsiness rose she could only pinch her own leg to stay awake.
Thinking of what she had been through these past days, she could not help but feel a stir of anger.
That night she had gone to the Bell and Drum Tower meaning to explain to Heir Xu the rules a scholar lives by—and as it turned out, he had hung her over the side of the tower and frightened her so badly she had not been right for days.
Being forced to copy the Record of Learning was one thing; she had sat in the freezing cold of the tower and solemnly written the whole text out from memory, and only then did Heir Xu, drinking beside her, open his mouth and say:
"The handwriting's wrong. Copy my hand and do it again."
This is bullying, plain and simple!
Furious, she threw down the brush—and got hung over the tower wall again for it...
A flush of shame and fury rose to Song Yufu's face.
Later, only when it was nearly the midnight hour and her wrist ached did Heir Xu let her go. She had meant to keep her distance and leave the rest for him to write himself, but then Heir Xu added:
"Be here on time tomorrow night, or the whole Imperial College learns that you did my copying for me."
Ugh...
He was the legitimate son of a prince of another surname and could afford not to care about his good name. She had been born into a house of scholars; her father and brothers were all renowned great Confucians. How could word of such a thing ever get out? So she had no choice but to arrive at the Bell and Drum Tower at dusk, on time, and write until midnight.
Seven days of it, and she was dead on her feet, while Heir Xu had sat beside her drinking for seven days straight. The more she thought about it, the more suffocated she felt...
Lost in her own thoughts, Song Yufu suddenly caught the murmuring of several princes' sons:
"Xiao Ting, how come you're not staring at Miss Song from behind today? Last time you were savoring the view..."
Song Yufu snapped back to herself and frowned slightly. They were all sons of princes and dukes, so she could hardly scold them; without a word she made to slip out. But she had barely taken a step when she heard Xiao Ting's voice:
"Don't talk nonsense. A gentleman does nothing shameful in the dark."
"Pfft—you know 'a gentleman does nothing shameful in the dark'? Last time you were practically drooling. If Xu Buling hadn't smacked some sense into you, who knows what you'd have gotten up to..."
"How could I, Xiao Ting, be that sort of filthy-minded man..."
"Come on, there's not a decent one among us here. Who are you playing the gentleman for? Xu Buling isn't here today—go on, look all you want..."
"That drunken lunatic—what if he suddenly comes back..."
"Ohho—so that's what Young Master Xiao is afraid of..."
"Bah—get lost..."
"Hahaha..."
Hearing all this, Song Yufu stood frozen where she was, poetry book in hand.
Heir Xu... he beat Xiao Ting because Xiao Ting's eyes were rude?
At the thought, light broke over Song Yufu! So Heir Xu was not arrogant and overbearing after all—he was a gentleman who cares nothing for empty reputation!
She thought of how she had run off that night to berate Heir Xu for wounding a man without cause...
Song Yufu paced a few more turns, and slowly something like shame crept into her eyes...
Winter sunlight spilled across Vermilion Bird Avenue. Carriages and horses crowded the road on both sides; the temples and Taoist shrines along the street burned incense in abundance; ladies of official households came and went in carriages and sedan chairs, and merchants fresh from long journeys stopped here and there to take in the sights—a grand picture of a flourishing age.
Xu Buling rode across Vermilion Bird Avenue and reached the outskirts of Yongning Ward just as the hour drum sounded on time from the watchtower.
The third quarter of the chen hour, not a hairsbreadth off.
"Young Master Xu!"
His horse came to a stop, and Zhu Manzhi came running over beaming to salute him, a small coin purse in her hand. Smiling, she said:
"Those three rogues from yesterday were repeat offenders—they'd hurt a good many of our people. The yamen awarded us thirty taels. That credit is yours, Young Master—all of it goes to you."
Xu Buling swung down from the saddle without reaching for it, led his horse toward the street, and glanced at her sidelong:
"What jobs did you take?"
That perked Zhu Manzhi right up. She briskly pulled the Wuchang Ledger from her breast and flipped through a few pages, pointing at the entries:
"With Young Master Xu helping, I specially picked out a few really nasty jobs—not a soul in the whole Earth Camp would take them, and the bounty is high..."
"Fine. Let's go."
"Have you eaten this morning, Young Master Xu?"
A short while later, at a stall by the market road, two bowls of mutton soup were set on the table, steaming and fragrant.
Zhu Manzhi sat at the little table with her chopsticks and declared grandly:
"My treat—double portions of mutton, and we'll order more if that isn't enough."
Xu Buling shook his head with a smile, set his long sword on the table, and dug in heartily.
Zhu Manzhi lowered her head and sipped her soup in small mouthfuls, her eyes constantly flicking to Xu Buling across from her. Perhaps she was a little nervous: she glanced this way and that, settled her gaze on the long sword on the table, and smiled as she fished for something to say:
"Young Master Xu, what's your sword called?"
"Zhaodan."
"Zhaodan... I feel like I've heard that somewhere... My dad used a sword too, and he even taught me, only he wasn't much good with it, so I know just one move..."
"Is that so..."
Mutter, mutter...
As the sun climbed higher, the streets grew steadily more crowded.
Two empty bowls sat on the little table. Zhu Manzhi stood and patted her belly, wiped the fine sheen of sweat from her forehead, and saw Xu Buling take a wine flask down from the cart and tip back a mouthful. She said with a light laugh:
"Young Master Xu, drinking so early in the morning is bad for your health."
"Not drinking is what's bad for my life."
"Oh... so Young Master Xu is a real drinker. I like a drink too—my favorite is Broken Jade Fire from the Sun family shop in Daye Ward. It's fierce stuff..."
Xu Buling led his horse off the busy street into a lane and turned his head with a helpless look:
"Miss Zhu, you talk a bit much."
"Really? I... then I'll stop talking..."
"Get to the point."
"Oh... There's a 'Zheng Sandao' in the West Market, the local snake around there. Word is two of the gambling dens are his. Only it's a pity we've got no leads on him, and he's got sharp eyes and ears—the moment anyone shows up, he's already gone..."
"Candied haws—"
"Coal for sale—"
"You son of a—"
Noisy and clamorous: near the watchtower of Chang'an's West Market a cluster of buildings had gone up, where merchants and peddlers from the market came to amuse themselves. Gambling dens and brothels stood row on row.
In one courtyard a clerk was tallying the silver collected the night before while Zheng Sandao sat at a table wiping a saber with a white cloth. The blade was scarred with the traces of years—it had followed him as long as he had roamed the jianghu.
From the gambling den next door came a hubbub of voices; now and then a fellow who had lost even the clothes on his back was thrown out, cursing and spitting on the ground as he went.
"A pack of gambling dogs. If the likes of you could win, I'd be out on the street starving..."
Zheng Sandao cursed, wiped the blade a while longer, and then a servant boy came running into the courtyard: "Boss, a Wolf Guard has come into the West Market, heading this way."
"Just one?"
"There's a rich young gentleman with her too, on a horse worth a fortune. Doesn't look like they've come to shake us down for pocket money—should you lie low a bit, Boss?"
"No need to hide."
As the words left his mouth, a cold voice rang out from the courtyard gate.
Zheng Sandao's face changed abruptly. He rose, gripped his saber hilt, and looked toward the gate—and saw a tall young gentleman in white striding in, a long sword in his hand.
Behind him came a female Wolf Guard, breathless from running, chest bouncing as she hurried to keep up.
Seeing this, the thugs in the courtyard took up clubs and sticks and closed in around them.
Zheng Sandao stepped down from the stairs, his tigerish eyes measuring the newcomers a few times, and first turned his saber point-down and cupped his hands in salute:
"The Young Master drops in unannounced—is there some urgent business?"
Xu Buling did not stop walking. His right hand closed on his sword hilt.
"Look out!"
The courtyard erupted in an instant; the club-wielding underlings braced themselves as though facing a mortal foe.
Zheng Sandao gripped his saber two-handed before him and dropped into a stance, robes billowing, his aura surging and the murderous light in his eyes flaring:
"Brother, don't refuse the polite way and force me to get rough..."
Before the words were out, there came the soft sching of steel leaving its scabbard, and a flash of cold light.
Clang—
Zheng Sandao hastily raised his saber to block—and never expected the blade in his hands to be sheared clean in two.
At the sight, Zheng Sandao's soul nearly fled his body. He scrambled backward, but could not escape the point thrusting at his throat.
At that razor's edge between life and death, Zhu Manzhi lunged forward and clamped both arms around Xu Buling's:
"Spare him!"
Xu Buling halted, sword point at Zheng Sandao's throat. He looked at his own arm, buried between two soft, yielding mounds, and frowned slightly. "Miss Zhu, what exactly are you doing?"
Zhu Manzhi, still panting, clinging to his arm, said with a pained face, "Young Master Xu, he doesn't deserve death. Why kill him outright?"
"That's right!"
Zheng Sandao, ashen from his brush with death, dropped onto the ground and said in a shaking voice:
"I only stole Squire Wang's concubine—killing people is against the law..."
Xu Buling had no answer to that. He drew a breath, put up his sword, and turned to leave.
Zhu Manzhi panicked. She hauled Zheng Sandao to his feet and hurried after Xu Buling, saying urgently:
"Young Master Xu, don't be angry—Squire Wang has posted two hundred taels for his capture and jailing. That's worth a fortune..."
Xu Buling turned his head. "I told you to take on a few big cases, and you waste my whole morning dragging me around to arrest a rascal for an affair. Is this supposed to be fun?"
Zhu Manzhi's face fell, her eyes full of apology. "I... I've only just arrived. I can't get the big cases..."
Xu Buling thought it over, then said gravely, "You want into the Heaven Camp? Catching these stray cats and dogs for the rest of your life won't qualify you. You need to catch real jianghu players."
Zhu Manzhi's face soured and she sounded aggrieved. "The tough jianghu types don't sit around Chang'an where we can find them, and the easy catches all get snapped up by others. Unless we investigate slowly on our own, where are big cases supposed to come from..."
Zheng Sandao, following along in terror, hurried to cut in. "Officer, this humble one does know of a secret matter—a great merit for certain—if you'd only be so gracious as not to drag me before the magistrate..."
Xu Buling's eyes cooled. "Talk."
Zheng Sandao opened his mouth, judged that he had no standing to negotiate, and spoke honestly:
"Lately a good many gamblers have gone missing in the city, and no one in the yamen will touch it. This humble one hears it has something to do with White Horse Manor outside the city..."
Xu Buling frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and tilted his head. "Get lost."
"Thank you, Young Master!" Zheng Sandao's face lit with joy, and he turned and ran.
"Hey—stop right there!"
Zhu Manzhi, who had finally landed herself a fat rabbit, grew frantic at the sight. She ran after him a couple of steps, glanced at Xu Buling beside her, and her voice went small again:
"That's two hundred taels of reward... three years of my salary..."
Xu Buling whistled up his horse and swung into the saddle. "Go look into this White Horse Manor business, and ask around the Bureau whether any dangerous jianghu men have entered the city lately... I'll give you seven days. If the next time you come to me it's to catch stray cats and dogs again, I'll sell you off to a brothel—and I guarantee you'll have silver you can never finish earning."
Zhu Manzhi shivered and answered meekly, "Don't be so fierce. I'm a Wolf Guard—selling me off is against the law..."
"I can kill a man without breaking the law. What law would I break selling one?"
"Even the Son of Heaven is punished like a commoner when he breaks the law..."
"I'm not the Son of Heaven, and I'm not a commoner."
"Oh... got it."
Zhu Manzhi lowered her head meekly, watched Xu Buling gallop away, and quietly stuck out her tongue:
"Such airs..."
Bosses, toss a recommendation vote my way as you pass! Thanks for the support!