Liu Jingli, thoroughly flustered, led the Imperial Rear Guard toward Yanlan Hall.
A little over an hour earlier, His Majesty had ordered him to gather every guard who wasn’t currently on duty, bring a change of ordinary clothes and shoes, and report to Yanlan Hall to await orders.
Most of the guards allowed near the Emperor’s person in the palace came from families of some standing — none of them were simply sitting at home waiting to be summoned on their day off.
So it had taken him a good deal of effort — over an hour — before he’d managed to round up two or three hundred men.
It was rather comical, really — different households, different means, and the orders from above had been vague, only saying to bring a change of clothes. Some came still wearing what they had on; some carried three or five garments bundled in their arms; some had only a string of shoes hanging at their waist; and some had families who’d sent carts loaded with three or four large trunks…
In the open square, clusters of guards stood chattering among themselves like peddlers hawking clothes in the market — some showing off, some swapping garments with each other — buzzing away like a swarm of green-headed flies.
Liu Jingli’s head was spinning from the noise, but he didn’t dare delay. Taking however many men he had, he assembled them and hurried off toward Yanlan Hall at a rushed pace.
Yanlan Hall had been the third storehouse of the former dynasty’s inner palace, generally used to store textiles. Because the previous dynasty had suffered several great fires, all of which had started from this very location, the place had been named Yanlan — meaning “peace and water,” a wish for safety.
The former emperors had been fond of tinkering — not content with renaming the palace halls several times, they’d also built a Fire God Temple nearby, evidently rather anxious about protecting their own property.
Unlike the current Emperor, who to this day, whenever referring to any location, simply called it “that hall on the left” or “that pavilion in the back.”
After much trouble, they finally arrived. Liu Jingli leaned against the wall, panting hard before he could lift his head — and saw that behind Yanlan Hall lay three separate courtyards. The outer courtyard was bustling with noise, all eighteen of its doors flung wide open, with over a hundred young eunuchs carrying armfuls of various animal furs, silks, and cloth of every kind, piling them up in heaps outside the Fire God Temple.
His Majesty, cloak draped over his shoulders, hands tucked in his sleeves, stood on the temple steps watching the spectacle with a pleased smile.
Standing below the steps were the twenty-four chief eunuchs of the inner palace’s various offices — old hands who were normally the picture of smooth, warm courtesy whenever you saw them.
Today, though, was rather interesting — each one stood holding a ledger, solemn as a Ministry of Finance official with the sharpest of eyes, in short, taking the matter very seriously indeed.
Liu Jingli’s eyes darted around until he finally spotted the men he was looking for.
Everyone else in the courtyard was busy at work, but these two wandered about like idle visitors at a temple fair, browsing here and there, quite particular in their picks.
Eunuch She walked ahead with his hands clasped behind his back, and trailing behind him — the very man who’d run off without a trace — was Chen Dasheng, hands also clasped behind his back, eyes gleaming bright.
Where had he ever seen so much cloth in his life?
The boy looked positively stunned.
It reminded him of how he used to think Chang Lianfang, with his several changes of clothes, had enough to last a lifetime. It wasn’t until he’d found his grandmother and his wife that he learned he too could own many changes of clothes — and he’d thought that alone was already more than enough, that those clothes could last him a lifetime.
And now — because of his idea, His Majesty had simply turned out eighteen storehouses of fabric for him!
He was completely dumbstruck! Upon closer inquiry, it turned out all of this had been unwanted goods from the previous dynasty, just piled up in storage to rot.
And this place called Yanlan Hall wasn’t just one courtyard either — it was a temple complex with three courtyards behind it, each courtyard having eighteen doors and eighteen storerooms, every single one packed with goods like this.
Chen Dasheng could hardly take it in.
Every day complaining about how poor he was — and here he had three courtyards full of fabric and still called himself poor? Wasn’t that just deceiving people!
So, City Gate Marquis Chen Dasheng fixed His Majesty with a look of pure envy, disbelief, terror mixed with revival, and something like moral outrage, muttering under his breath the entire time.
Eunuch She quietly crept over to listen, and burst out laughing again.
After a while, having apparently grown numb to it all, Chen Dasheng recovered and began wandering alongside Eunuch She, picking up a bit of knowledge along the way.
He only really knew cloth — and this cloth here wasn’t even like what he knew.
Liu Jingli quietly slipped over to follow, and overheard Eunuch She actually giving Chen Dasheng a lesson.
“…This is silk tabby, produced in the Four Prefectures of the Two Rivers region. The Ministry of Justice, when sentencing theft cases, uses this type of silk as the standard whenever the stolen goods are textiles — the sentence is calculated based on the converted silk-tabby value…”
Chen Dasheng was studying hard, and when he didn’t understand, he asked: “Sentence calculation? What’s ‘converted silk-tabby value’?”
Eunuch She was patient in his teaching. He picked up a bolt of gauze from nearby and said: “Say a thief steals five bolts of gauze, and the case occurs in Yandu — the sentence is calculated using this year’s Yandu gauze price. Since the quality and origin of textiles vary, prices naturally differ.
“For goods of Yandu quality, roughly one string of cash per bolt — five bolts stolen comes to five strings total. But the law has a fixed conversion rate for silk tabby: two strings per bolt. This conversion method isn’t tied to market prices; it’s simply a fixed standard.
“Five strings converts to two and a half bolts of silk tabby, which comes to exile at five hundred li and five years of hard labor under heavy cangue. Calculating the value of stolen textile goods this way — that’s the ‘silk-tabby conversion’ — it makes it easy to work out the severity of the punishment. Sentencing severity is just how harsh the punishment is. Understand now?”
Chen Dasheng stood there thinking for a moment, then nodded. “Mm, I understand.”
Hearing him say he understood, Eunuch She began to laugh — clearly not believing it — and tested him: “If you understand, then answer me this — if an official embezzles, and ten bolts of top-grade silk are found in his home as evidence, how should that be handled?”
Chen Dasheng answered almost without thinking: “Convert it to silk-tabby value and apply the punishment.”
Eunuch She was quite surprised, and pressed further with a laugh: “This is a case of official corruption, not a commoner’s theft.”
Chen Dasheng, still without hesitation, said: “Isn’t an official embezzling the same wrongdoing as a thief stealing? Is there some separate rule for when officials do wrong?”
Eunuch She marveled inwardly — to grasp the essence of the matter from a single explanation was a rare gift indeed.
The boy wasn’t wrong — the crime itself was the same, and the method of conversion was the same too; it was only the manner of punishment that differed.
Depending on an official’s background and status, sentencing became a matter of complicated distinctions.
Yet this boy’s thinking had always been straightforward — blunt, but effective. Truly, he was quite endearing.
Watching Eunuch She fall silent for a while, Chen Dasheng offered earnestly: “Actually, I think the way you framed the question wasn’t quite right!”
Liu Jingli, eavesdropping nearby, stumbled and nearly fell into a pile of silk brocade.
How could you not understand your own good fortune! Eunuch She is teaching you, just listen properly — where do you get off having so many opinions?
Eunuch She froze for a moment, then, after some thought, nodded with genuine appreciation: “You’re right! That was too broad a question on my part.”
Liu Jingli scrambled up, then fell right back down again.
You — you’re Eunuch She! The very Eunuch She that even His Majesty dares to point a finger at and scold! And you’re — you’re admitting fault to this kid?
Chen Dasheng’s mouth curved up with a bit of pride: “I think I roughly understand what you mean. When I was little, I went with my grandmother to watch an opera, and the honest magistrate on stage said — a knowing official who breaks the law himself deserves an extra-severe punishment, stripped of his black gauze cap!”
Eunuch She froze for a moment, then burst out laughing again.
Once he’d finished laughing, he led Chen Dasheng onward, sighing as he walked: “Quite the opposite, actually. What the operas sing about is all just the wishful fantasy of common folk — you mustn’t believe a word of it.”
Chen Dasheng was stunned for a moment before asking: “The operas lie?”
Eunuch She tucked his hands into his sleeves and nodded as he walked: “Except for the Ten Unpardonable Crimes, take you as an example — you hold military merit and a noble title, and you have a ceremonial cauldron too, which can offset one crime. Beyond that, crimes can be offset by rank, or redeemed with money…”
Chen Dasheng’s footsteps slowed. He looked up toward His Majesty.
Eunuch She walked a few more steps, then, noticing Chen Dasheng hadn’t kept up and was looking toward His Majesty, smiled and beckoned him over: “Come here.”
Chen Dasheng followed, and heard Eunuch She whisper in his ear: “Your Emperor is different from those before him. He’s added an eleventh crime to the Ten Unpardonable ones — corruption is unforgivable in our Great Liang!”
With that, he patted Chen Dasheng on the shoulder and walked off on his own.
Chen Dasheng stood rooted to the spot, until Chen Jingli, catching up from behind, kicked him. “What are you thinking about? Are you a fool, brother? Hurry up and catch up!”
Scholars across the realm worshipped Eunuch She the way they might revere a historian like Sima Qian — the man was willing to teach, and here this fellow was, standing there in a daze? What a waste of a good mind.
So Chen Dasheng passively followed along after Eunuch She, catching bits and pieces of miscellaneous knowledge about textiles.
“…In the age of the ancient sages, officials didn’t receive silver salaries, and there weren’t nearly so many varieties of textiles back then. In those days, a minor sixth-rank official like yourself could receive a hundred bolts of silk a year, and four hundred hu of grain…”
“A hundred bolts is already a lot — enough to clothe my whole family for a lifetime… and besides, sixth rank isn’t small either!”
“Pfft… not small, not small! Hey? Where’d he go?”
As they walked, Chen Dasheng fell behind again. Eunuch She turned back to look and found Chen Dasheng standing motionless beside a waist-high pile of tangled brocade — some rolled up messily, not even proper bolts, half-unspooled and glinting, half yellowed, scraps a few feet long here, a few inches there.
Chen Dasheng stared fixedly at the ground, and after a long while said with difficulty: “I recognize this stuff. This is brocade — palace-made. You can’t buy this outside for money these days. Never mind a full bolt of proper width — even a narrow roll like this would run over two hundred taels of silver.”
Hearing this, Eunuch She understood at once — that brocade had been fetched on his own orders — and he smiled and nodded. “That’s right! This is palace-woven brocade. I know your household has some.” At this, something occurred to him, and he asked, astonished: “Outside, it goes for — two hundred taels a bolt?”
Chen Dasheng looked up with a bitter smile and nodded with difficulty: “Mm, my wife told me — forget about now, even in good times there was nowhere to buy it. Common brocade is common brocade, but palace brocade is palace brocade — the palace doesn’t count the cost, so of course it’s expensive.”
Thinking of that roll of brocade, Chen Dasheng’s heart ached all over again — that night he’d tossed and turned, unable to sleep; the whole matter had become something of a private torment for him.
Eunuch She, sharp as he was, could see something was off with the boy, and asked patiently: “Is there some story behind this?”
Chen Dasheng nodded, and told him about how he’d taken an extra five taels’ worth of a family’s sheep back home, and how, in the end, his wife had compensated the family with the brocade meant for her own dowry chest, and had given him a thorough talking-to besides — he held nothing back. He had a good memory, and repeated it word for word, growing more distressed as he went: “…And that’s how it happened. My wife’s brocade is gone. Today I’ve gone and borrowed money from His Majesty on top of it, taken on a heavy debt, and I don’t know when I’ll ever be able to get her a roll like that again…”
Before he could finish, someone cut in beside him: “Hmph! You little rascal, do you think We need you to pay Us back? Serves you right to get scolded! Good! Well done!! You did the right thing! You didn’t need to replace it either — it’s not just brocade, is it? We’ll gift her some! You — you married yourself a fine wife!”
Everyone turned to look, and there was His Majesty, having wandered over at some point behind them to listen in on the gossip.
His Majesty looked around, then waved Zhang Minwang over. He pointed at the mountain of old brocade piled on the ground, opened his mouth, hesitated, then asked Chen Dasheng: “…What’s your wife’s family name again?”
Chen Dasheng answered, dazed: “Huo — Huo Qiqian. Didn’t you already know?”
His Majesty ignored him entirely. He stood there with an expression of both admiration and gratification, and finally said to Zhang Minwang: “Have the Ministry of Rites draft an edict — promote the Madam Huo from seventh-rank Ruren to sixth-rank Anren. The Huo lady is virtuous and worthy, of gracious and generous character, deeply understanding of the greater good, guiding her husband well. We…”
His Majesty genuinely wanted to give more, but the truth was, all his worldly wealth consisted of these leftover odds and ends from the previous regime; he felt a pang of shame over it, yet an emperor’s dignity couldn’t be sacrificed either.
And so His Majesty said, in a rather awkward tone: “We — ahem — grant the Huo lady a mountain of brocade!” He gestured with a sweep of his hand across the ground. “Just — all of this, give it all to her!”
With that, he walked off rather quickly.
Chen Dasheng had no idea what had just happened. He looked around, and everywhere his gaze landed, he saw nothing but pure envy.
Oh, well, never mind the “Ruren” or “Anren” titles — none of that mattered! What mattered was — all of this stuff on the ground now belonged to his wife?!
Chen Dasheng pointed at the ground, his voice trembling slightly: “This — all of this? It’s all for my wife?”
Eunuch She, holding back laughter, patted his shoulder. “That’s right! A whole mountain of brocade, all yours — your wife’s, that is!”
Chen Dasheng, overjoyed, dropped to his knees toward His Majesty’s retreating back and shouted: “This subject! Thanks His Majesty for his boundless grace, long live the Emperor, long live, long long live!”
With that, he kowtowed hard three times, loud enough to echo.
His Majesty, standing at the entrance to the Fire God Temple, finally said to Zhang Minwang in a peculiar tone after a long moment: “That little rascal — this time, he didn’t get a single word wrong!”
Zhang Minwang, suppressing laughter, nodded solemnly in agreement.
After all this commotion, the sun had begun tilting westward, and the contents of all eighteen storerooms had finally been carried out.
Zhang Minwang called out once, apologized for the offense of standing higher than His Majesty, and climbed up onto a square table set in the middle of the courtyard.
“Silence!”
With His Majesty present, none of the inner guards dared make noise, and the scene immediately fell quiet.
Zhang Minwang waved a hand, and a young eunuch handed him an old garment of his own.
Pulling out the hem of the old garment, Zhang Minwang addressed the guards in his somewhat high, thin voice: “All you young generals, please, pick up your own garments and do as I do!”
With that, he grasped the hem of the garment with both hands and gave it a sharp tug left and right — riiip — and the garment split into two halves.
What on earth was this for?
The guards exchanged baffled looks with each other, when a second tearing sound rang out. Everyone turned to look and saw none other than Liu Jingli, holding up the new garment his wife had made him, ripping it in half right in the open air.
The man had considerable strength; having torn it apart, he even turned to give His Majesty the same sweetly obliging grin Chen Dasheng always wore.
His Majesty silently turned away to gaze at the face of the Fire God statue instead.
Zhang Minwang called out loudly to stop them: “Hey, hey! No need to go that far! It’s just one garment — tear seven or eight slits in it, that’s enough, so it’s easy to patch and mend afterward. No need to use so much force — such a waste…”
The courtyard erupted in a chorus of tearing fabric. Though no one quite understood the purpose, with His Majesty right there, no one would balk even at tearing their own flesh, let alone their clothes.
Once everyone had finished tearing enough, Eunuch Zhang waved his hand again, and a row of young eunuchs ran into the courtyard carrying trays laden with cloth pouches, handing one to each man.
The moment the pouches touched their hands, everyone knew — there was at least a hundred taels’ worth inside, at a rough guess.
Once the silver had been distributed, Eunuch Zhang gestured toward the piles of silk, brocade, cloth, and furs scattered across the courtyard and said: “Young generals, you’ve all seen what Yandu looks like these days. The household registry says there are six hundred thousand residents, but this humble servant thinks it’s more than that — the previous dynasty’s way of squeezing people meant plenty weren’t even registered…
“These people have lived in Yandu for generations. The records say a third of the households in this city made their living from stalls and shops. These past days, what things have looked like out there — you young generals have seen it too. Our Emperor, the old ministers, they’ve all racked their brains trying every method — nothing’s worked. These people simply won’t come out.
“So now, it’s come to this — we have no choice but to trouble you young generals to run some errands for the court, to put in some effort for our Emperor too. His Majesty won’t shortchange you for it either…”
Zhang Minwang paused, glancing at Liu Jingli, who immediately shouted out: “Eunuch Zhang, just say the word! Forget running errands — if it’s holding a blade as a human shield for His Majesty, we, the Imperial Rear Guard, won’t hesitate either!”
His outburst naturally stirred everyone’s blood, and a chorus of enthusiastic agreement followed.
Zhang Minwang smiled with satisfaction and raised a hand for quiet. “No need for that, no need! Young generals, do you see all this cloth and silk on the ground? Come, take whatever you like! Take as much as you can carry — all of it’s a free gift from His Majesty! Come on, take it…!”
Heavens above, was there really such good fortune to be had?
“Take whatever you like” — what a marvelous phrase. It really did stir the blood, set hearts racing wildly.
Goods like these — the imperial household wouldn’t think much of them. But these men treasured them! Even those with some wealth at home were newly risen nobility; anything stamped as “palace-made,” even a scrap of cloth, was a mark of honor once you wore it out and about, a sign of His Majesty’s favor.
Still, no one quite dared to move first. Everyone turned to look at Liu Jingli.
Liu Jingli himself was half in disbelief. He looked at Zhang Minwang, who was watching him, then at His Majesty. His Majesty gave a slight nod, and Liu Jingli reached over and scooped up several rolls of red gold-threaded silk. “Well then — well, I won’t stand on ceremony. Really — really, we can take it?”
This was palace-made goods — money couldn’t buy it.
Zhang Minwang waved his hand generously: “Take it! You’re only taking that much? Well then — this humble servant won’t stand on ceremony either…”
With that, Zhang Minwang climbed down off the table — stumbling once on the way, but no matter, that was a piece of kesi silk tapestry after all…
From the moment Eunuch Zhang scooped up his kesi silk, someone shouted excitedly: “Grab it!”
The crowd surged forward like a tide, delighted beyond words, thrilled to the core.
Eighteen storerooms’ worth, piled across the ground? With two or three hundred guards there, clearing the courtyard was a matter of the blink of an eye — nowhere near enough to go around.
In an instant, aside from the pile of brocade set aside for Chen Dasheng, the courtyard was left with only a few scraps of unwanted cloth; everything else, down to the scraps of silk, had been snatched up.
Eunuch She stood beside Chen Dasheng and asked: “Why didn’t you all grab any?”
Chen Dasheng looked toward the scattered remnants in the distance and said: “Isn’t that right there?”
“That’s just plain cloth!”
Was this boy a fool, or wasn’t he?
“Right, exactly, just cloth is what we need! My wife told me — there’ll always be fashionable new things in Yandu that we can never keep up with, and our salary could never chase after it, it’s exhausting. From now on, we’ll just wear plain cloth — a person’s dignity comes from their character, not their clothes. Clean and tidy is enough… oh, and my wife also said, even in plain cloth, you should find a good tailor to cut it properly — she said that’s where real refinement shows, in the small details.”
Eunuch She was stunned for a good while before finally saying, somewhat hesitantly: “Your wife — was she really the one your grandmother bought for ten strings of cash?”
Hearing this, Chen Dasheng grew annoyed, turning to Eunuch She and saying: “What are you talking about? There was also fifty catties of grain on top of that!”
How could his wife have come so cheap? Nonsense!
Eunuch She started laughing again, and once he’d finished, said to Chen Dasheng with genuine sincerity: “From now on, if anything comes up and neither His Majesty nor I nor anyone else is around, go home and ask your wife. She’s smarter than you, and wiser too! Ah — who would have thought, you’d have such good fortune. You lucky rascal — who could have imagined such a windfall…”
Chen Dasheng’s face swelled with pride, and he began chattering away to Eunuch She about his wife’s many virtues — like the time she’d climbed through a window to steal meat for his grandmother, out of concern for him — a story he simply had to bring up and boast about.
He was an interesting sort — when it came to formal talk, official business, polite conversation, he had no confidence at all, grew timid, stammered over his words, and used language so awkward he sometimes couldn’t understand what others meant when they spoke over his head.
But get him talking about his wife, and the words flowed out in an endless stream, until even the normally stone-faced Eunuch She was reduced to laughing like a blooming flower.
The two of them chattered on, oblivious to everyone around them.
Meanwhile, Eunuch Zhang was over there giving further instructions: “All you young generals, much obliged! Starting tomorrow, any of you who aren’t on duty, who have some free time, and who’ve received His Majesty’s silver and fabric — go out early into the market wards and go door to door calling out for business!
“If people won’t open their doors, no matter! Call a few more times, someone will eventually open up…
“But remember — you’re not there to throw your weight around as officials or bully and frighten people! Young generals, do us all a favor — leave your waist sabers, your meteor hammers, all of that, at home… Smile more, be generous with your rewards, and let the common folk of Yandu see the spirit of our Great Liang…
“In general, just get every tailor, seamstress, dyer, shoemaker, hat-maker, and net-maker’s door open, give them something to do, get their businesses running again… Keep it in mind, and keep good records too — the goods and money are given freely, but you still need to record where every last coin was spent. The Ministry of Finance will still want an accounting later…
“…If you come across someone with fine craftsmanship, praise them more generously, and you can pay them extra! But don’t get carried away — pay exactly what’s fair, until the funds run out. Just consider that His Majesty is being generous, given how hard you’ve all worked in service all these years…
“…Those of you with elderly parents at home, wives, and especially children, best to bring the whole family out and get everyone a few new garments made… Think of it as an early New Year’s celebration!”
The common people of Yandu would never forget the winter of the first year of the Yong’an era…
That morning, bright and early, Chen Dasheng rose early in the Changdao Guard’s courtyard outside the palace.
After getting up, following his wife’s instructions, he went door to door waking his brothers, first having them wash their faces thoroughly, then rinse their mouths three times with refined salt. Once they’d all tidied up, they let their hair down, each picked up a fine-toothed comb, brought out stools, and sat in a row in the courtyard, combing the hair of the man in front of them.
After days of careful grooming, it had become quite difficult to find so much as a single louse or nit on any of their heads anymore.
Liu Jingli and Chen Dasheng lived in the same courtyard outside the palace. He too had risen early that day, and gathering a few of his better subordinates, came over cheerfully with armfuls of silk and leather, eager to find the others.
The moment he stepped into the courtyard, the scene before him gave him quite a fright.
Good heavens, had a ghost taken hold in broad daylight?
This was downright eerie — the Changdao Guard sitting in a row, hair disheveled like a row of wraiths, each one methodically combing the hair of the man ahead of him, stroke by careful stroke.
Once they’d finished on one side, they’d switch to comb the other direction, leaving nothing untouched.
Liu Jingli’s subordinate asked, voice trembling: “S-sir, what… what in the world are they doing?”
Liu Jingli tilted his head, and after a long pause finally managed to say: “No idea. Practicing some kind of secret cultivation technique, maybe? Perhaps this is the Changdao Guard’s method of tempering their spirit — tomorrow… ahem! You lot better start doing this too! Our Imperial Rear Guard will never fall behind others!”
“Yes, understood.”
Once their long hair was smooth and untangled, the men would tie it up into topknots and wrap it with head cloths for the man in front of them.
Once fully groomed, they stood up and merely smiled at Liu Jingli and his group before each returning to their own rooms, carefully sweeping and tidying everything up, then taking their tools out to sweep the whole courtyard as well.
Once things were roughly settled, the mute couple who worked as servants in the courtyard, Han Yaba and his wife, brought food boxes in, gesturing with smiles to signal it was mealtime.
Chen Dasheng nodded and called over to Liu Jingli: “Brother Liu, have you eaten yet? Bring your men over and join us?”
Seeing this spirit, this courtyard, and now their room too! In just this short time, Liu Jingli felt he’d already lost countless times over on behalf of the Imperial Rear Guard.
He managed a dry laugh. “Brother Chen, so refined! We — well, we’ll go back and tidy up ourselves too, and meet up at the market wards later, all right…”
The group walked quite a distance away, and you could still hear Liu Jingli loudly saying: “Damn it! I really am impressed! How the hell did Tan Er train his troops? Can’t even compare, can’t compare at all… so damn meticulous, way too meticulous… no wonder they smell so fragrant every day, did you see that, they even use hair oil!”
“Isn’t that a bit girly?”
“You don’t know a thing! When these men go out, people don’t just look at what you’re wearing — the finer folk look at your bearing, your spirit! Did you see that? Starting tomorrow, our Imperial Rear Guard is doing the same!”
A few pained shrieks later, it finally went quiet outside.
Chen Dasheng and the others sat down at the table, expressionless, and ate their morning meal in earnest. Once finished, chewing slowly and thoroughly, they rinsed their mouths again, then dressed in the new guard uniforms His Majesty had granted them, and stepped out the door, spirits high, fragrant all over, faces gleaming, hair smooth, dignified and proper.
Guan Si’er and the others carried leather and cloth in their hands, unable to hide their excitement.
“Chief, where are we headed?”
Chen Dasheng looked around and spotted, not far off, at a street corner, a group of idlers and vagrants crouched against a sun-facing wall, chatting and picking lice off themselves.
Chen Dasheng gestured with his chin toward them, and Hu Yougui tossed the few bolts of cloth he was carrying into the air and ran toward the group.
Cui Erdian stepped forward, hugging his leather goods, and steadily caught the cloth as it fell.
Behind them, Liu Jingli, who had just been about to head out, was struck by this once more and, extending an arm, ordered the men behind him: “All of you, get back inside — five hundred stone-lock lifts each, on my honor…”
A round of anguished cries rang out from the courtyard nearby, and just then Hu Yougui came back leading one of the idlers by the collar.
The man was scared half to death. Seeing Chen Dasheng, he immediately tried to kneel, crying out: “General, sir, I didn’t do anything, I was just, just sunning myself, just, just scratching an itch…”
Before he could even finish, a few copper coins came flying toward him. Out of pure habit, he reached out and caught them, and a crisp clap echoed as his palms met.
Habit took over again, and the man raised his voice and called out: “May good fortune shine upon you, sir, may joy meet you at every turn! Thank you, my lord, for your gener— cough, cough! Generous… reward?”
Was — was this hush money?
The idler’s legs were about to give out from fear, when he heard the good-natured young officer ask him: “Do you know where Jia Qianzhen’s tailor shop in the West Market is?”
The idler nodded immediately upon hearing this: “Of course I know it, Jia Qianzhen’s place! You’ve got sharp eyes, young officer, sir! His shop’s always been the best in Yandu… even the young ladies from the Princess’s mansion and the Duke’s household used to have their tailoring done there…”
He wanted to show off a bit more, boast some more of his knowledge, but was cut off, grabbed by the collar and spun around: “Enough talk, lead the way!”
“Yes! Right, right! This way, young lords, it’s close by…”
The West Market. The back courtyard of Jia Qianzhen’s tailor shop.
Jia Qianzhen’s old mother sat on the ground, hugging the household’s skin-and-bones old dog, crying. As she cried, the old woman kept pleading: “My son, let it go, my son! It’ll die out there just the same as it’ll starve in here — how many meals could it possibly give you anyway? Feel its ribs, Hongxian’s — there’s nothing left on it. Why eat it? Sooner or later there’ll be nothing to eat regardless… my son, I’m begging you…”
The old dog seemed to understand what was happening, and rather than run, it wobbled to its feet and walked over to Jia Qianzhen, who stood there trembling, a kitchen knife in hand, and slowly lay down right beneath the blade…
Jia Qianzhen could bear it no longer. He bent down, hugged the old dog, and cried out: “Hongxian! What a cursed world this is…”
Before he’d even finished crying, a series of knocks sounded at the door outside.
Jia Qianzhen jumped, startled, wiped away his tears, and cautiously walked to the front, listening through the shop’s door panel first. Once he felt it was safe, he called out: “Who — who is it?”
The voice outside belonged to a young man, with an accent from elsewhere, speaking gently: “Is Master Jia in? We’ve come to have some clothes made…”
Eh? Someone wanting clothes made? Was it — was it finally safe outside? Customers were actually daring to come to the door — did that mean there was a way to make a living again?
Jia Qianzhen’s family had already reached the point of desperation where they were about to slaughter their own guard dog for food. He didn’t think twice, threw open the door bolt, and stepped forward — only to find himself face to face with a group of military officers.
Terrified, Jia Qianzhen’s legs gave out and he sat down on the ground.
Chen Dasheng recognized at once that the man was starving — fortunately, he was in the habit of carrying food.
He pulled a dry steamed cake from the small leather pouch at his waist, bent down, and offered it to Jia Qianzhen with a warm smile. “You must be starving, don’t be afraid. We’re just here to have some clothes made — steady yourself first, eat a bit, and you’ll feel better.”
Jia Qianzhen took the cake in a daze. He swore that in his more than forty years of life, he had never seen such a kind smile.
The smell of grain wafted into his nose, and Jia Qianzhen struggled back to his feet, tears streaming down his face, leaning on the door and the wall as he stumbled toward the back, crying out as he went: “Mother! Hongxian, wife — there’s food, someone’s come to have clothes made… we’re going to survive…”
Chen Dasheng and his brothers stood quietly on the street.
The market ward was as silent as if no living soul remained, yet with his keen senses, he could feel countless eyes watching them secretly.
A scrawny, skin-and-bones old dog wobbled out, walking to the middle of the street as if to block their path, but its legs gave out and it collapsed to the ground.
Chen Dasheng said quietly: “Everyone, smile.”
Yu Qingguan and the others immediately broke into warm smiles, gazing at the old dog with tenderness.
The Blade-Head reached a hand back, and Guan Si’er, always eager for food, handed over a still-warm hard-boiled egg.
Chen Dasheng peeled off the shell, crouched down, and broke off pieces of the yolk, feeding them to the dog one by one, saying with a smile: “Good, isn’t it? It’s been hard, hasn’t it. Eat up, eat up, it’s all over now! You won’t die. Don’t be afraid…”
Behind them, down the long street, somewhere unseen, a door panel was quietly being taken down…