Days without cool autumn breezes were hard to endure, at least for five people who were eighty percent drunk. Zhangsun Chong laughed loudly, dancing about. Li Huairen clung to a tree, continuously kissing the bark. Li Chengqian hung his neck over a low branch while standing and vomiting. Only Cheng Chumo was slightly better off, sitting there gnawing on a bare bone with crunching sounds.

Yun Ye lay on the blanket. Shishi cradled her master’s head, Xiao Wu wiped his mouth, and Di Renjie periodically gave his master some vinegar to drink, though it all came back up.

After kissing the tree for a while, Li Huairen found it boring and shouted that they must go to a pleasure house—they absolutely had to go, even if they had to crawl there. Thus, five swaying figures boarded a carriage and were sent to Chang’an by Li Chengqian’s guards.

Di Renjie didn’t know what a pleasure house was. He had just shouted that he wanted to go too when Xiao Wu grabbed his ear and spun him around. Shishi stamped her foot and called over distant household servants to pack things up, deciding to inform their mistress that their master had gone looking for bad women.

Li Chengqian’s tastes were quite particular. Seeing the large behind of the madam at Swallow’s Arrival Tower, he shook his head. Seeing the common vulgar women at Bright Moon Pavilion, he also shook his head. In short, upon seeing any women, he shook his head. Li Huairen grew angry and asked, “Where exactly do you want to go? We’ve circled Pingkang Ward twice already.”

“It’s not that I’m dissatisfied—Swallow’s Arrival Tower is quite good, and that fake madam’s plump buttocks are excellent. It’s just that my neck won’t obey and keeps swaying.”

The coachman quickly delivered the five drunkards to Swallow’s Arrival Tower. The madam incredibly hadn’t been replaced. In five years, Yao Niang’s body had grown much larger—the pair of male treasures on her chest were even more magnificent. Only her waist had also thickened accordingly, and she walked like Yuchi Gong, each step utterly solid. She had just been regretting letting several golden pigs escape, never expecting the golden pigs to come pushing at the door themselves. How could she dare be negligent? Waving her handkerchief as if seeing her lover, she immediately rushed over.

Li Huairen blocked her with his arm, saying, “Yao Niang, with your current build, this brother can’t withstand you. Whatever happened to that slender waist of yours from back then?”

Yao Niang took the opportunity to pinch Li Huairen’s arm lightly, casting flirtatious glances while scolding him for being heartless—after their last parting, he never returned, causing her such heartbreak that she ate voraciously, resulting in her current appearance.

Still so perceptive and accommodating. Words spoken in pleasure houses were meant to be heard and forgotten—only a fool would take them seriously. Yao Niang dragged Li Huairen upstairs, extremely fond of the heavy objects in his sleeves.

One room occupied an entire floor. Before Li Chengqian and the others, melons and fruits were arrayed, with pastries filling a whole table. Only Yun Ye’s table was covered with cucumbers, plus several small plates of pastries. Yao Niang had a deep memory of this marquis who was extremely obsessed with cucumbers.

Drunk people were difficult to serve. Reward money given by nobles in a sober state was real money. If one deceived them while drunk, the consequences were severe—not that she cared about those few coins, but nobles were unaccustomed to being deceived.

Lying face-up on soft couches, a long line of singing girls appeared carrying basins to wipe the nobles’ faces and wash their feet. Worthy of being professional attendants, their techniques were skillful, making everyone feel comfortable throughout their bodies. After downing two cups of mysterious beverages mixed with ice and fish, their spirits immediately improved.

Seeing the nobles had all perked up, Yao Niang smiled like Maitreya Buddha, the fat on her chin quivering. Speaking in a trembling voice, she said, “It’s an honor for our humble establishment that you noble sirs have graced us with your presence. I wonder whether you gentlemen wish to watch song and dance first, or desire personal attendance? We have dancers from the extreme western lands who perform wonderful dances—their skirts are extraordinarily beautiful, and when they dance, they’re like flower butterflies. The men specially swing ribbons with their heads, circling round and round—it’s extremely captivating.”

“Oh? Seeing pure Egyptian song and dance in Chang’an is indeed rare. However, this type of dance is specifically used by believers to receive divine teachings. Are there really people willing to perform it?”

“Oh my, the noble sir is truly well-informed! They do come from this place that loves chrysanthemums. How pitiful! According to a little girl among them who can speak our language, people everywhere want to kill them, saying they are unclean people. But this humble servant secretly checked—they’re very clean, without any odor. This humble servant took them in out of pity, giving them a bowl of rice to eat.”

“Yao Niang, the uncleanliness they speak of is in the head—they’ve been abandoned by their god. Aren’t you afraid their god will come punish you?” This was Yun Ye’s first time hearing about blasphemers, so he very much wanted to meet these people. Generally speaking, only capable blasphemers could survive—ordinary ones would have been burned to death by the church long ago.

“Ha! This humble servant isn’t afraid at all. This is the Great Tang—this humble servant fears the constables, not some nameless god. Noble sir, please sit comfortably. This humble servant will summon the song and dance immediately.” She clapped her hands twice, and gentle music immediately arose, ethereal as heavenly sound. Without many tonal variations, it was like wind blowing through reeds—light and airy—or like snow falling on pine branches—soft and gradual. Several young women wearing veils spun out from a hidden door, their steps light. As their bodies turned, their colorful skirts immediately flew up, forming large circles. Indeed, as the madam said, like blooming flowers and beautiful butterflies.

Gauze veiled their faces, with only pairs of eyes calm as water exposed. Rigid, without desire or pursuit—this should have been the essential spirit this dance required. But what showed in the eyes wasn’t reverence and hope, but rather numbness. This was wrong.

Before Yun Ye could ask questions, several men in white robes emerged from the hidden door, with very long ribbons on their heads. As soon as the men appeared, all of them placed their right hands at their ears, as if listening to distant sounds. Without visible movement, their robes flew up on their own, and the ribbons also floated. If the women were bright kapok flowers, then the men were like white morning glory flowers. The music came from an instrument similar to an ocarina, sounding like someone chanting scriptures in the distance. No mistake—this type of dance wasn’t meant for people to watch; it was song and dance dedicated to gods. Now they were selling it for money—if they weren’t blasphemers, what were they? No wonder the church wanted to burn them as firewood.

Li Huairen, seeing it wasn’t belly dancing, felt very uncomfortable. These women wrapped themselves up completely, not showing a bit of skin—boring. This lord wants to see belly dancing.

“Get down! Take off your clothes and come back up to dance! This lord wants to see the kind that can twist buttocks into ropes.” Once a young ruffian’s temper flared, it was hard to control. He’d brought a bag of gold to enjoy himself, not to watch several men and women shake their robes into flowers.

The madam appeared from somewhere and shouted at those trembling men and women, “Seeing you pitiful, I specially gave you an opportunity to earn money! Not serving well, you actually angered the noble sirs—you truly deserve death!”

No madams under heaven were any good. She even pulled a hairpin from her head and jabbed those pitiful women, shouting, “I told you long ago to dress like the Hu wine-selling girls outside—you refused! Missing a money-making opportunity—you should starve to death!”

All the women helped shield the one in the middle, willing to be jabbed themselves rather than let the madam touch the woman in the center once.

Zhangsun Chong clapped and laughed, watching the madam like a tiger among sheep, loudly cheering. He even threw silver cakes from his robe to watch the show. Li Chengqian had nothing to throw, so he grabbed some silver cakes and threw them down too. Yao Niang was overjoyed and jabbed even more vigorously.

Yun Ye smiled without speaking. He wanted to see to what extent the woman in the middle could endure. Cheng Chumo, however, disdained bullying the weak and held his arms folded while the singing girl beside him fed him grapes.

In the chaos, a thin book fell out. Yun Ye spoke a word to the singing girl beside him, and she ran to the middle and brought the book to Yun Ye.

Uninteresting—just an ordinary copy of *Elements of Geometry*. Euclid had written this thing over nine hundred years ago. This book’s importance lay not in any profound theory, but because it was an almost perfect textbook that could train one’s logical thinking, especially after Hypatia had supplemented and completed it—it had been continuously used for a thousand years.

After flipping two pages, Yun Ye couldn’t sit still. The book was large, made from very well-tanned lambskin. At the back were lines of new text added, the handwriting elegant—this wasn’t a man’s penmanship.

He stopped Yao Niang’s violence. Before Yun Ye could speak further, a woman rushed over and snatched the book from his hands, clutching it tightly to her chest. The guards on both sides were about to rush forward to punish this lowly woman who had offended Marquis Yun. Yao Niang was even more menacing. Those men surrounded the woman in the middle, backs outward, prepared to receive punishment.

Waving away those guards and chasing off Yao Niang, Yun Ye came before them and said to the woman in the crowd, “I mean no harm, nor do my friends—they’ve just come down from the battlefield and are a bit rough in temperament. I only want to ask one thing: What is Hypatia to you? She passed away two hundred years ago. Why do you have her manuscript? Also, I very much want to know what you’ve experienced. If it poses no harm to the Great Tang Empire, out of respect for Hypatia, I’m willing to help you return to your country. You’re from Alexandria?”

The woman in the middle gaped. She could never have imagined that in the distant East, someone would know about Hypatia. This was impossible.

Li Chengqian and the others couldn’t understand either—what business about washing teeth, or “pressure mountain big”—this was a group of singing girls; there was no need for any pressure. If you fancied one, just take her—why all the talk?

The young woman first spoke a long stream of gibberish. Yun Ye shook his head and said to her, “Since you understand the Great Tang’s official language, speak it. I don’t understand your language. The Great Tang doesn’t need those strange languages.”

The young woman seemed somewhat angry and chattered on some more. Yun Ye spread his hands, “I can’t understand. Even if you’re calling me an egomaniac, I can’t understand—aren’t you speaking in vain?”

The angry young woman pushed aside those protecting her and sat down before Yun Ye. Yun Ye diligently moved the low table over, placing it between them, and sat down himself, smiling at her.

“Are all people of the Tang nation as proud as you? Aren’t you worried about inviting hatred?”

“The Great Tang has never been meant to be liked—it’s meant to be feared.” Hearing Yun Ye say this, Li Chengqian, Zhangsun Chong, Li Huairen, and Cheng Chumo all nodded with smiles. Even Yao Niang, who was eavesdropping hidden in a corner, felt the marquis’s words made great sense and turned to kick a Hu girl in the behind.