The moon had risen above the treetops, yet the streets and lanes of Yangzhou remained filled with the sounds of bustling life.
Before the lantern-hung Chunfeng Tower, carriages and horses came and went in a ceaseless flow, the entrance bright as daylight. Customers stumbling with drink were helped into their carriages by attendants, brushing past stiff-faced new arrivals putting on airs of propriety. Common folk who had spent the day in hard labor were only just ending their day; for another part of the population, a night of drunken revelry had only just begun.
A magnificent pleasure boat adorned with flickering lanterns and dancing red silk drifted slowly past the window on the fourth floor of Chunfeng Tower, like a brilliant river of stars flowing through the latticed, multi-paneled window frame.
Li Wu sat with his back to the window, watching with absent-minded eyes the song and dance performances playing out before him. His silver chopsticks had reached for several dishes, yet not a single bite had passed his lips.
“It seems Lord Li has little interest in the performances?” said Bai Anji.
“Too soft and languid — dull,” said Li Wu.
Bai Anji cast a glance, and the brothel attendant standing nearby immediately bent forward in a bow. After Bai Anji murmured a few words, the attendant shuffled quickly out. Before long, the delicate and low tones of the plucked strings filling the hall gave way to rousing drums and percussion. Dancers from the Western Regions, clad in gauzy light garments with golden bells at their ankles, spun their way into the room to the lively music, their skirts billowing and their smiles bright and bold.
Every Yangzhou notable in attendance fixed their eyes on the spectacle, and some of those who had already drunk their fill even began to clap lightly along with the rhythm.
Bai Anji leaned back in his seat, resting against the huanghuali wood chair, his gaze shifting imperceptibly toward Li Wu beside him.
Li Wu, utterly indifferent to the eyes around him, let out an unabashed yawn.
Bai Anji’s brow furrowed slightly.
After finishing his yawn, Li Wu rubbed his full belly and stood up. “I need to use the facilities.”
The attendant at once stepped forward eagerly: “Shall this one show the way, my lord?”
“I know how to get there — no need to follow,” said Li Wu.
He made his way out the door with a slight sway, glanced left and right as if getting his bearings, and then headed toward the latrine. Once inside, finding it empty, he turned and shut the door behind him. The lazy, slightly tipsy manner he had worn until now vanished at once.
He undid his outer robe, and with a look of distaste, removed an oilcloth pouch hanging between his inner and outer garments. He tipped its contents — food and drink — into the waste bucket, then crumpled the oilcloth pouch and tossed it out the window. He retrieved a fresh oilcloth pouch from his sleeve, hung it in place, and refastened his outer robe.
“…Want to take advantage of me without paying a single coin — keep dreaming,” he muttered to himself.
Once his clothing was set right, Li Wu opened the door and resumed his slightly unsteady, swaying gait as he walked back out.
A woman from the brothel, slender at the waist and generously figured above, was swaying her way toward him from the other direction, her cheeks flushed — she appeared to be quite drunk. Just as she and Li Wu were about to pass each other, the woman’s foot slipped and she lurched forward, pitching herself straight at Li Wu.
Well now!
Li Wu spun faster than the Western Regions dancer had a moment before; in the blink of an eye he had stepped aside.
The brothel woman, with nothing to grab hold of, went down in a full stumble and tumbled down the staircase, drawing cries of shock from the guests on the third floor.
Li Wu leaned out over the staircase and had a look, confirmed that the woman who had taken the tumble and was thoroughly dazed had not been crippled or killed, and then withdrew his gaze with a thoroughly baffled expression.
He continued his swaying walk back to the room where Bai Anji was hosting his banquet.
Inside the banquet hall, the spirited Western Regions song and dance was still in full swing, golden bells jingling without pause on the feet of the shapely dancers. Li Wu dropped himself back into his chair and fixed his gaze on those moving golden bells, genuinely contemplating how much gold had gone into them and what they might fetch —
“What is Lord Li thinking about?” Bai Anji suddenly spoke from beside him.
Li Wu told him plainly what was on his mind.
“Lord Li is joking again. You are now a military governor over a region — how could a few golden bells even register in your eyes?”
“Frugality builds modest wealth; fate builds great wealth,” said Li Wu. “What of a few golden bells? Many a little makes a mickle.”
Bai Anji was silent for a moment, then said, “…Lord Li’s disposition would suit commerce rather well.”
“Indeed — and I won’t hide it from you, a few years back I nearly made my fortune raising ducks, if it weren’t for…” Li Wu paused, recalling the memory of Sui Niang chasing him three streets with a cleaver. “Never mind — a true hero does not live in the past. Being a military governor isn’t bad either — at least I don’t have to go down on my knees at the sight of an official robe.”
Li Wu’s words left Bai Anji in silence.
The Bai Family of Yangzhou was known to all as immense merchants. Yet no matter how much wealth they accumulated, they remained lowly traders. Even a penniless scholar could look down on them for reeking of money. What did it matter if one were the wealthiest person in the land? When an imperial edict came down, their feeble wings could not even protect their own family.
While Bai Anji was lost in this silence, the drumming came to a halt and the dancers, gleaming with perspiration, all stopped their movements. The lead dancer — whose grace and beauty were both of the highest order — swayed her way toward Li Wu, goblet in hand.
“Lord Li slew the pretender emperor and rid the Great Yan of a great threat, and may truly be called a pillar of the court. My sisters and I in this tower have often heard of the lord’s brave deeds and have long admired you. This cup, I offer on behalf of my sisters to salute you — I hope the lord will not refuse.” The Western Regions dancer with golden hair and blue eyes spoke in fluent court Mandarin, her flirtatious eyes fixed on Li Wu.
Li Wu looked right past her and waved a hand. “No more drinking — any more and I’ll vomit and ruin everyone’s mood. That won’t do, that won’t do.”
“Just this one cup, my lord —” the dancer said with a look of grievance, speaking in a coquettish tone. “Is my lord truly so heartless as to refuse me?”
“What softness of heart are you speaking of?” said Li Wu, genuinely startled. “Are we well acquainted?”
The dancer was momentarily speechless, the smile on her face wavering on the verge of collapse.
“Since Lord Li does not wish to drink, you may step down,” said Bai Anji.
The dancer glanced at Bai Anji’s inscrutable expression and rose to her feet, hesitantly.
“Since the lord cannot hold his drink, I will not press the matter. Perhaps another time, we may…Ah!”
The dancer’s hand gave a jerk and the liquid in the goblet leapt directly toward Li Wu.
Li Wu had not anticipated it; the wine drenched his chest.
“I beg the lord’s forgiveness! It was not intentional!” The dancer sank to the ground like a boneless crimson serpent, lifting her glistening eyes toward Li Wu.
“Clumsy thing — get out!” Bai Anji said in a low voice. The dancer appeared to have been waiting for exactly this, and immediately scrambled to her feet and slipped out of the hall without a backward glance.
Li Wu frowned, looking down at the wet stain on his chest.
“Someone — will no one take Lord Li to a private room to change into dry clothes?” said Bai Anji.
An attendant immediately stepped forward, bowing. “My lord —”
“No need,” Li Wu said at once. “I brought four sets of clothing with me — for all four seasons — in my carriage. I’ll be right back.”
Without waiting for Bai Anji to say a word, he was already on his feet and heading for the door, leaving a tableful of dumbfounded guests staring at his retreating figure as he walked out of the hall.
That entire evening, it seemed as though every woman in Chunfeng Tower was drawn to Li Wu’s bearing, and they descended upon him in a relentless swarm, like bees and butterflies seeking a flower.
Li Wu evaded each and every advance with nimble footwork and remarks that left the entire room speechless.
Try to take advantage of him for free? Not a chance.
As the latter half of the night finally arrived, many guests began to show signs of drowsiness, and some who had drunk to excess could not help but droop over the table, snoring. Every manner of beauty scheme, overt and covert, had been tried in turn, yet Li Wu remained unmoved throughout. Bai Anji had gone from being confident at the outset to feeling thoroughly dispirited and numb by the end.
Full-figured and slender alike — every type had taken a turn. All of Jiangnan’s beauties of any renown were at Chunfeng Tower tonight. Still, not one had managed to ensnare Li Wu.
Was this really a normal man?
He seriously began to suspect that his niece had married a man with an unspoken difficulty.
Whatever the case, the beauty scheme his father had devised was truly useless. Whether feigned or real, Li Wu treated what others regarded as rare pearls as nothing more than fish eyes — utterly beneath his notice.
At last, the banquet drew to a close.
Li Wu had cycled through three oilcloth pouches in total, and finally stepped into his homeward carriage with his integrity pristine and intact.
He hummed a little tune, crossed one leg over the other, and sprawled comfortably inside the carriage, feeling immensely satisfied whenever he pictured Bai Anji’s face, which had grown so stiff it seemed numb and blank.
“Stop, stop, stop —” he rapped on the carriage door and said, “Go buy me four catties of spirits from one of the roadside stalls.”
The servant driving the carriage promptly brought the horses to a halt and set off on foot to the nearest tavern to fetch four catties of hard liquor for the exacting gentleman inside.
Li Wu pulled off the jar’s stopper and took a large gulp. A satisfying hiss escaped his throat: “…Now that’s a drink with some kick!”
Only then did the carriage slowly roll forward again.
He lounged with one leg crossed over the other, drinking from the jar cradled in his arms, and with his right hand pushed open the carriage window. He narrowed his eyes in contentment, gazing out at the nighttime panorama of Yangzhou.
This was a fine place.
What if, in the future when he retired from public life, he simply retired to the hills of Yangzhou?
No more official duties, nothing pressing to attend to — he would have to get his hands on Sui Niang’s roast chicken recipe so he could make duck instead. He couldn’t just fritter away his savings… He also had to make sure Shen Zhuxi ate well, drank well, and never ran short of paper for the privy.
Daydreaming about his future path to prosperity, Li Wu’s thoughts drifted further and further away.
Little did he know that a carriage pressing through the night into Xiangzhou had come to a stop before the Li family residence. Fu Xuanmiao, clad in wide-sleeved robes, stepped down from the mounting stool and, flanked by a great number of soldiers, strode into the gates that had been forced open.
A neighbor who had not been informed of this rubbed the sleep from his eyes and shuffled out their door, gaping at the dense forest of torches outside the house next door.
A soldier shouted at him: “What are you staring at! Military matters of urgency — that is the Right Vice Chancellor arriving!”
The neighbor quickly ducked back inside, afraid to bring trouble upon himself.
In the vast and serene rear courtyard of the residence, Fu Xuanmiao stood beneath a sweet osmanthus tree already lush with dense foliage, and gazed up at the osmanthus leaves above him without a word.
“Young master…Li Wu is not in the residence.” Yan Hui came forward quickly, knelt on one knee, and reported. “But we have found someone else…”
“Who?” Fu Xuanmiao’s voice was calm.
“The young master of the Yangzhou Bai Family — Bai Rongling.”
The impassive expression Fu Xuanmiao had maintained as still as a deep, undisturbed well finally rippled with the faintest stirring.
He withdrew his gaze from the osmanthus tree above. His eyes, growing colder by the moment, fell upon Bai Rongling, who was being pushed and shoved toward him, his face white with terror.
Bai Rongling had not even reached Fu Xuanmiao’s presence before his legs buckled of their own accord, and he collapsed to his knees with a thud.
Father! Grandfather! Where are you?! Don’t leave him here to face Fu Xuanmiao alone — not with that terrifying expression on his face!
What sins had he committed in a past life to deserve this?!
The first time he came to Xiangzhou, he’d eaten braised pork for the better part of a month. The second time, his own father had used him as a hostage. He’d been hauled out of bed in the dead of night and, before he’d even properly woken up, had been shoved before the most frightening person in the world —
Bai Rongling swore in his heart that he would never set foot in Xiangzhou again for as long as he lived.
“Sis… brother-in-law…” Bai Rongling forced out a smile that looked worse than crying, and stuttered, “Y-you’ve… also come to Xiangzhou to eat roast chicken?”