It wasn’t just one cicada crying in the trees — this deep-summer heat had reached a scorching pitch, and the closer it drew to noon, the more it carried an air that seemed determined to wring every last drop of moisture from the world.
Hu Yougui struck up a conversation with the two drivers: “Awfully hot day, isn’t it.”
The carriage was some distance off, and the driver hadn’t quite caught it at first, glancing around to make sure Hu Yougui was really speaking to them, before bowing respectfully with a smile and saying, “You’re quite right, my lord. It was a bit more bearable the past few days with the rain, but these last few days have gotten unbearable. Just look at the leaves on that tree — all curled up.”
Hu Yougui, with an air of irritable complaint, said, “The heat itself is nothing, it’s these cicadas in the trees I can’t stand. Just when evening finally comes and it cools off a little and you want to sleep — forget it, no chance. They don’t get tired either, just keep going on and on… Come, come, such a hot day, come have a drink to cool off some of that fire.”
He wore his usual amiable expression, pointing first at a bronze pot of cool drink, then at a few melons that looked thoroughly thirst-quenching, and beckoned them over. “This local first-crop melon is quite good, just the right season for it — I just tried a piece myself, remarkably sweet. Come have a piece, quench your thirst.”
The old driver really was thirsty, but didn’t dare come sit down. He only unhooked the gourd hanging beneath the carriage, uncorked it, and took a sip of water, then thanked him with a smile, saying, “My lord is too kind — that’s the good melon the shop offered you, how could the likes of us, so lowly and coarse, dare sit beside you, let alone eat your good melon?”
This might be nothing more than a bit of shade by a gold shop’s door, but it wasn’t a spot just anyone could sit — especially not among the old established clans, where the hierarchy was far stricter, and servants would never dare sit at the same level as their masters.
And it didn’t matter that Hu Yougui was dressed in plain cloth — some people these days really did put on such airs. Even though he wasn’t riding a horse decked out in gilded tack, he was still not the same as they were.
Since the man wouldn’t come over, Hu Yougui, looking rather bored, picked up a fan, waved it a few times, and asked again, “Really won’t eat any?”
The old driver smiled apologetically. “Many thanks, my lord, but truly — I’m not thirsty either.”
He swallowed after saying it.
Hu Yougui shook his head, thoroughly easygoing, and said with a laugh, “Fine then, if you don’t dare eat, at least come sit over here — it’s just a bit of shade, what harm could there be? Who knows how long your master’s going to be in there anyway?”
The old driver did know how long his master would be — ever since arriving in the capital, they went out every day making the rounds of every gold shop in Yandu. In this heat, the master could at least cool off inside the shop, while they could only endure it outside.
Hu Yougui glanced at the street, growing emptier by the minute in the heat, and shook his head. “This wretched weather — it’s going to boil me down to nothing, dried up and shriveled!”
At that, both drivers grew even more restless.
They exchanged a look, and finally went to tie up their carriage horses at the hitching post, then cautiously came over to the shade of the tree together — still not daring to actually sit, but finding a spot on some exposed old roots to perch on instead.
It really was cooler here, and once seated, they let out a comfortable sigh.
Hu Yougui smiled, satisfied. “Cooler, isn’t it?”
The old driver nodded. “Yes, yes! This spot is good. Many thanks for your kindness, my lord. One look and anyone can tell you’re a good man.”
Hu Yougui laughed and shook his head, then asked, “Now, your master’s got quite the entourage — which family is it? I don’t believe I’ve seen them before.”
Hearing the gentleman ask, and seeing nothing improper about answering, the two drivers replied, “To answer you, my lord — we’re from the Lan family of Ziye.”
This driver was a hereditary servant of the family, and speaking of his masters, his face was full of pride.
Hu Yougui, in his current position, still didn’t know the family trees of the old clans, so he smacked his lips and shook his head. “Is that so? The Lan family of Ziye? Never heard of it.”
Hearing this, the younger driver grew anxious and raised his voice slightly. “How could that be? My lord must have heard of the Ziye Lan family — generations of literary talent in the examination halls, names constantly on the honor rolls, a family whose reputation has been passed down through generations of scholars! Our masters’ house is the grandest household in our hometown, holder of the golden gate bestowed by imperial decree — a family of noble distinction that’s produced worthy talents without interruption for centuries, its good name spread across the four provinces and eight seas. You really haven’t heard of it, my lord?”
Hu Yougui was taken aback for a moment. He recalled his teacher once telling him that even the servants of truly great old clans had read a few books and could toss off a line of poetry — he’d never quite believed it, but now he’d seen it for himself.
Seeing Hu Yougui say nothing, the old driver gave the younger one a swat, then turned to Hu Yougui with an apologetic smile. “What does he know! My lord, you’re clearly a person of noble bearing here in Yandu — how could you not know the Lan family? You’re just humoring this fool, aren’t you — teasing him for fun.”
Hu Yougui shook his head good-naturedly. “Ha! Well now, don’t blame him for it. I really don’t know the Ziye Lan family — I’ve only just arrived in Yandu, how many people could I possibly know yet?”
The old driver had offered Hu Yougui a way out, but Hu Yougui hadn’t taken it, leaving him embarrassed. He mumbled awkwardly for a while, and finally lowered his head and fell silent.
Before leaving home, the head steward had warned them repeatedly to be extra careful when out and about, to watch their words and conduct closely, and under no circumstances to embarrass the family or bring trouble down on their masters.
These days weren’t like the old dynasty. The new emperor had always been rather indifferent toward the old established clans, and their family currently had no one serving at court — so there had been no choice but to send the two young ladies to the capital to be considered for selection.
The driver regretted his words, and even wished he could crawl further into the shade to hide. They’d rather have sat baking under the blazing sun than talk to this man any further.
Fortunately the ordeal didn’t last much longer — soon several male guests emerged from the shop, and the one who’d been asking them questions stood up to join them, and they all left together.
The gold shop’s proprietor and several assistants saw them off, bowing all the way out, and only straightened up once the group was far off.
Watching this whole display, the two drivers’ hearts trembled with unease, and once no one was around, the old driver finally smacked the young driver’s head, cursing, “You reckless fool, courting death — what were you blathering on about!”
The young driver rubbed his head, aggrieved, protesting, “Uncle, why are you hitting me? I wasn’t talking nonsense — those were the very things you told me, back when.”
The old driver was still angry. “Wasn’t talking nonsense?”
He glanced around cautiously, and seeing it was safe, lowered his head and warned him, “What you said happened eight hundred years ago. Sure, the Lan family ancestors were like that — but that was back in Ziye, thousands of miles from here. Do you know where this is? This is Yandu, right under the emperor’s own feet!
Didn’t you see the jade belt hook that gentleman was wearing just now? That was a beast-face jade belt hook — back when our old master was alive, our family could still wear something like that. But by our current master’s generation, look at him and the young masters — it’s all gold belt hooks, silver belt hooks now. With that mouth of yours, I could just about beat you to death, you thoughtless fool!”
He raised his fist a few times but in the end didn’t strike, only saying helplessly, “Just watch yourself from now on. Lucky that gentleman didn’t hold it against you — and ‘the Lan family,’ really? Who even knows the Lan family anymore, here of all places? Hah… if you weren’t my own nephew, I swear I’d really…”
He raised his fist again, and in the end just gave his nephew a few light knocks.
Outsiders didn’t know it, but these old servants understood perfectly well in their hearts — this so-called Ziye Lan family had already fallen into decline long ago. Their noble title had been lost back in the previous dynasty; among their several branches, the scholars had only managed to produce a few petty clerks. Putting on such airs back in Ziye was enough to frighten country folk, that was all.
As for the Lan family’s marriage connections, there wasn’t even a single fifth-rank official among them now — truly a case of dung shined up to look pretty on the outside, a family selling off ancestral land just to maintain appearances. If they’d had any other option, why would they need to send their two legitimate-born eldest daughters all the way to the capital to be considered for selection?
And it wasn’t even selection for the emperor himself — it was for a few of the imperial princes. The ones who weren’t chosen as principal consorts would end up as mere bed-warming maids.
Hu Yougui had no idea he’d gotten the young driver into trouble. He simply followed along after his chief. The whole way, their chief said nothing, walked quickly, his face darkening, the veins at his temples pulsing the entire way, all the way to the six-market intersection.
Chen Dasheng stopped in his tracks and instructed Tong Jintai and the others: “Split up and go find my eldest brother, second brother, and third brother — bring them to the Changdao Bureau. Tell them… tell them the person who once tricked us, who sold our whole family — I… I think I’ve found him.”
Everyone was startled. Hu Yougui stepped forward and asked in a low voice, “Brother? Are you serious?”
Chen Dasheng nodded solemnly. “I’ll never forget that steward’s face as long as I live. He had a big black mole on his nose, with hair growing out of it. He may be old now, but I could never forget him — even if I died and turned to ash! Buried in the ground, I still wouldn’t forget, wouldn’t dare forget…”
That night Chen Dasheng didn’t go home. The four brothers gathered together, and Chen Dasheng took his token and, under cover of night, led several of his brothers out of the city to Qingfeng.
No mistake about it — this was something that couldn’t be kept from Grandmother, not under any circumstances. Every tragedy that had befallen her, her sons, her grandsons, her entire household — all of it had begun with that deception, that sale.
By the time the group arrived at Qinwei Alley in the dead of night, it was already close to midnight. The old lady was startled awake; she had someone light a lamp, threw a robe over her shoulders, and sat up on the heated brick bed to ask, “This — the middle of the night — has something happened?!”
Once the attending servants had been sent out, Chen Dazhong led his younger brothers in kneeling before the old lady and said, “Grandmother! We’ve found our enemy.”
The old lady gave a slight start and lowered her voice. “You — what are you saying?”
Chen Dasheng lifted his head. “Grandmother, do you remember — that year at the Yizhou checkpoint, the steward with the big black mole on his nose, surnamed Jiang?”
The old lady’s body trembled violently, and her voice immediately went hoarse. She sat up straight, staring fixedly at her grandsons, her tone carrying hatred enough for a lifetime. “You — you found him?”
That ferocious, cruel, vicious face rose up instantly before her eyes — her sons and grandsons dragged away, struggling in the mud not far off, while she knelt, prostrate on the ground, begging that man: “My lord, you have such a kind and benevolent face, the look of a Buddha! Your household is prosperous, blessed with children and grandchildren! My lord, we never sold ourselves, we never sold…”
But that man had held out a stack of sale contracts and said, “What are you talking about? Our family has great wealth and standing — would we cheat the likes of you? Look here — black ink on white paper, red thumbprints and all. You took the money, and now you want to go back on it? These wretched, unruly commoners… Fine, I’ll spare you, seeing as you’re old. Someone, drive them off — filthy things…”
Finding himself dirtied and disgusted with himself, he’d kicked his own face and drawn blood from his own nose instantly…
The old lady’s heart ached but she didn’t cry — all that old suffering had long since turned into fury. Having asked her question, she stared fixedly at her grandsons, waiting for an answer.
Chen Dasheng nodded in confirmation. “Yes, we found him! That beast doesn’t even really go by the surname Jiang — he’s the second steward of the Ziye Lan family, named Lan Anjiang. I made some inquiries into his family’s affairs and pieced it together — back when His Late Majesty rose up in rebellion, there was killing and forced conscription everywhere along the way. The year they passed through Ziye happened to be the year the Tan family army was conscripting there, and with Tan Er’s temperament, he wasn’t the type to give face to anyone. The Lan family had no choice but to send that steward out to find a batch of unlucky souls from outside the prefecture to take their place. Our family just had the bad luck of having so many sons — that’s how it started.”
Two years had passed; the wounds in her heart were healing, and the shadow of war was gradually fading. Old Madam Chen wasn’t particularly surprised by this news — their family had been nothing but destitute refugees fleeing famine, with no one to turn to. Whether persecuted on this side or that, and whether people took them in or not, Heaven itself had never paid them any mind either.
Through all this suffering, this old woman in truth hated Heaven more than she hated any person. But now that the enemy had been found, she sat there in silence, and after a long while finally forced out a single sentence: “Dasheng — kill him! Kill him! Avenge your father, avenge your brothers! Do you hear me?”
Chen Dasheng and the others bowed their heads to the ground and said earnestly, “Yes, Grandmother, we understand. We came back tonight just to tell you — we’ve found him. He won’t get away. Our family’s vengeance is coming.”
The old lady gritted her teeth for a moment, and seeing her grandsons about to leave again in the dead of night, reminded them, “Your wives are all delicate. Handle this quietly.”
Chen Dazhong sniffed and said, “Yes, we understand, Grandmother. Take care of yourself. Your days of enjoying good fortune are still ahead of you.”
The old lady said nothing more, only sat there quietly.
As Chen Dasheng and the others left, they weren’t in the least worried that the old lady’s health might suffer from her anger. They all knew well — after enduring such long suffering, what the Chen family lacked in most things, they made up for with hearts forged and hammered a thousand times over like a blacksmith’s steel, and a spine to match.
Vengeance, at last! How could Grandmother possibly collapse now?
Once her grandsons had left, the old lady sat quietly until dawn.
At first light, before the sun had risen, the sky was still that ink-washed dark blue.
The old lady threw a robe over her shoulders, shuffled out in her slippers, and leaning on her cane, went out into the courtyard to look at the sky. She watched until that dark blue gradually brightened, deepened, and finally the sky was fully light. Suddenly she laughed, and spoke to the sky: “Ha, regretting it now, are you? Opened your eyes at last, have you? Too late. I’ll still curse you — curse you till the day I die… And even after I die, reborn as a pig, reborn as a dog, I’ll still curse you…”
That summer was scorching hot, but the hearts of Chen Dasheng and his companions were cold as ice.
And the Lan family, unaware that disaster loomed over them, spent that very day carrying gifts all over Yandu, seeking out old friends and distant relations who’d once had some connection to their ancestors, hoping to find a path upward — such things always came at a price.
Yet it was no use. This new Great Liang dynasty’s rising elite were mostly of the merchant faction; even ministers from the previous dynasty who still held some standing found no foothold for the Lan family — how much less so now, in the current reign?
And with the great old clans gradually returning to Yandu to reclaim their positions, who among them didn’t want to walk this same path to preserve their fortunes? These families were throwing money around with a hundred times the force of the already-declining Lan family.
So it was that after a whole day of running around without so much as getting past anyone’s threshold, Lan Zili, the head of the Lan household, sat drinking away his sorrows in a modest little courtyard in broad daylight.
The place the Lan family currently occupied was a rented residence in a respectable part of Yandu — a three-courtyard house on Wenxian Street, three streets from the Great Liang palace and not far from the six-market intersection, the cheapest such property available, going for a hundred and fifty strings of cash a month, not even counting daily living expenses and the cost of maintaining appearances the family was straining to keep up.
Having come to the capital in such a rush, and living so far from the circles of wealth and power, his two daughters couldn’t even dream of entering an imperial prince’s household — even being sent as a concubine to some high official’s household, the family might not even be considered good enough.
And besides, the Lan family’s two legitimate daughters weren’t even particularly good-looking — passable at best, ordinary really.
The weather was scorching, yet despite living in this large house, they didn’t dare buy ice. Lan Zili could only dangle his legs in the flowing water of the small garden, trying to steal a bit of coolness.
He hadn’t been drinking long when Lan Anjiang, the steward who’d grown up alongside him since childhood and whom he trusted completely, came into the courtyard. Seeing him, he trotted over and said, “Young Master, the mistress and the young ladies are back.”
Lan Zili’s eyes lit up and he turned at once to look at Lan Anjiang, who kept his head lowered as he spoke. “The young ladies bought a few pieces of jewelry — didn’t spend much today, just about ten-some strings of cash. Young Master, don’t get upset!
As it happens, word around town has it that the head matrons from the Palace Bureau of Apparel like to visit the gold shops to look at the latest styles. We didn’t run into them today, but we’ll keep going for a few more days. Once we pick an auspicious day to go out, our luck’s bound to turn. Young Master, don’t let it get to you.”
Lan Zili laughed helplessly and drank a cup of wine with a sigh. “Ha! I’m not the one getting upset — I feel like hanging myself! Two, three hundred strings a month going out the door, Old Jiang — at this rate our family’s going to end up begging in the streets.”
He gazed off into the distance, uncomprehending. “Just tell me — why can’t this new emperor be more like the ones before him? If he’d just choose more consorts and concubines for the palace, we wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble.”
Lan Anjiang walked over and knelt beside his master’s low couch, helping himself to a bite of the food to go with the wine, and consoled him, “You shouldn’t drink on an empty stomach, Young Master. And I’ve heard talk that this isn’t His Majesty’s fault at all — after all, what man in this world doesn’t love fresh, new beauty? They say it’s the Empress who’s the jealous one…”
“Nonsense!” Lan Zili cursed loudly. “Nonsense! You listen to too much idle chatter out there. Does your Young Master here need his wife’s permission to take a concubine? By the rites, sure, that’s how it’s supposed to work — but look at who actually does it that way! The emperor of this Great Liang dynasty is the founding emperor himself — would he be afraid of his own Empress? Hah! That’s just idle talk from the streets. Go on, off with you, let me sit here a while longer.”
Lan Anjiang had gone only a few steps when he heard his master behind him sigh mournfully, “Old Jiang, ah, these past few days your Young Master here has really been suffering.”
Lan Anjiang turned back with a warm smile. “Yes, it’s this scorching weather, Young Master, you’ve had a rough time of it. Don’t worry, tomorrow I’ll go take a look at the slave market.”
Lan Zili laughed lightly. “Mm, good, look carefully, keep your eyes sharp. Don’t go finding another one of those old dried-up sticks your mistress found for you last time — no flavor to them at all, your Young Master doesn’t care for that. The flower mustn’t be old — a bud just opening is best, with a touch of dew on it still, that’s the delicate, charming kind. You know what I mean?”
Lan Anjiang nodded knowingly, then slipped away back to his own room. He set down his satchel, shut the door, and began working on his account books.
He was a hereditary servant of the Lan family, and having served them so long and knowing all their affairs inside and out, his hands had grown less than clean.
He didn’t dare be too greedy, though — this trip, sending the young ladies to the capital for selection, had drained more than two hundred thousand strings of cash, the whole clan’s fortune staked on this one gamble.
However greedy he might be, he knew the consequences well enough — after all, he was a servant, dependent on his master’s household for his livelihood. So his skimming was modest: today a little off the wine money, tomorrow a little off the horse feed money, even the mistress’s cosmetics allowance he dared to take a cut from.
In all his life, he’d trusted human nature the least — the only thing he trusted was money. These few coins here and there weren’t much, but they added up.
Once he’d finished tallying the day’s accounts, Lan Anjiang ate the same food and wine as his master, drinking leisurely until the first hour past nine at night, then went over to the cook’s wife’s quarters to steal a bit more of a cheap thrill, before finally returning to his room to sleep.
He had no idea that this would be the last drink he’d ever have in this world.
In the last hour before midnight, several figures dropped down from the wall of the house the Lan family was temporarily renting. They went from room to room, pumping in stupefying incense.
In the summer heat, the Lan household didn’t use ice, so the doors couldn’t be kept fully shut — everyone slept with just a bamboo curtain and the door left open.
Because they had two hundred thousand strings of cash with them, the Lan family had brought no small number of guards into the capital, so they didn’t worry about leaving the house unlocked at night.
But unfortunately, the men they’d run into were Old Dao and his group — men who would one day become the emperor’s most trusted scouts. Dealing with a few household guards was child’s play for them.
Once a full round of the stupefying incense had been released and everyone in the three-courtyard house had been knocked out, Chen Dasheng and the others searched the courtyard without the slightest restraint. Before long, they found Lan Anjiang in a side chamber near the front courtyard.
Having had a bit of wine and then been drugged by the incense, Lan Anjiang was roused awake by a couple dozen forceful slaps from either side, followed by a scoop of cold water.
He woke wanting to shout, but someone clamped down hard on his throat, and the fierce man threatened him, “Dare to shout? I’ll slit your throat right here.”
As he spoke, he really did draw out a knife and cut a slice of skin from Lan Anjiang’s thigh. This man’s knife skill was excellent — he cut only a strip of skin the length of a hand span, without touching a bit of the flesh beneath.
The searing pain hit instantly, and Lan Anjiang was jolted fully awake.