This time, Chu Di came to Chang’an for two reasons: first, to escort the coffin of Elder Jiang Chou, a senior mentor from the academy, back to his hometown in Jingzhao for burial. The elder was highly respected but had no children, and his relationship with Chu Di was half mentor, and half friend. Both emotionally and rationally, this journey was necessary.
Second, he wanted to visit Li Yue and a couple of other old friends. After the Prince of Wu incident, everyone had either drifted through official circles or wandered the jianghu, each following their path. Though they occasionally exchanged letters, they hadn’t met in person. In the blink of an eye, more than ten years had passed, and who knew when they would meet again?
Seeing A Zhi again was an unexpected delight. Originally, Chu Di had very much hoped that A Zhi would come with him—he wanted to adopt her as his daughter, raise her properly, and find her a husband of good character and appearance, so she could live a peaceful life. That way, when he died, he could face Shen Wu in the underworld without regret.
But after visiting Shen’s tavern several times, he discovered that she truly enjoyed the atmosphere of common life and thrived in it. Such a young lady had such strong opinions that it wouldn’t be right to force her to do otherwise. Thinking also of that “ulterior-motived” Assistant Magistrate Lin from the same district, Chu Di pondered at length before finally sighing, “Uncle welcomes you anytime, A Zhi.”
This “ulterior-motived” Assistant Magistrate Lin later visited twice. Seeing his gentlemanly demeanor and thinking of A Zhi’s clever smile, Chu Di felt some sympathy for him, though he still put on a stern face to warn, “The Assistant Magistrate is a gentleman, I can rest assured.”
Lin Yan clasped his hands and bowed, “Yes.”
The one who wasn’t quite so gentlemanly was Shen Shaoguang. After Uncle Chu left, Shen Shaoguang returned to her old routine—eating and drinking a bit each day, collecting money and doing accounts, cursing this long, hot summer—and secretly watching the beautiful Lin.
Because of the heat, Beautiful Lin wore formal round-collared robes less often, instead favoring cross-collared shirts or new-style Hu clothing.
The Hu clothing was fine enough, just showing off his figure more, but he looked especially good in the shirts.
The wide-sleeved gauze shirts, continuing the Wei-Jin style, were elegant and graceful. When he walked, the clothes moved in the wind, and when he sat by the window with lowered brows, sipping tea, he looked like a living portrait of a scholar.
Shen Shaoguang was someone who paid attention to “details,” and several times she caught glimpses of the small red birthmark on his neck. It was tiny and red, like a dot of cinnabar, absolutely adorable. If there had been some beauty in the palace, it might have started a trend of body painting. As for what lay beneath that cross collar, down from that red mark…
Lin Yan reached for a mung bean cake, revealing the five-colored longevity thread on his wrist. As if burned by those bright colors, Shen Shaoguang quickly looked away.
But Lin Yan looked at her with a smile.
Shen Shaoguang put on a very proper smile: “Young Lord, try these water caltrop cakes. They’re made with early-harvested water caltrops this year, filled with date paste, very fragrant and sweet.”
Lin Yan just looked at her with a smile, saying nothing.
Shen Shaoguang gave a light cough, maintaining that proper smile, “Please enjoy, Young Lord,” then turned and went back behind her counter.
A Yuan quietly asked Yu San in the kitchen, “Has our young mistress taken a liking to Assistant Magistrate Lin?”
Yu San: “…”
A Yuan whispered, “Our young mistress has good taste. Assistant Magistrate Lin is the most handsome young lord in our district.”
Yu San couldn’t help but say, “What eyes do you have? It’s that Lin who’s taken a liking to our young mistress.”
A Chang put down the half-cleaned vegetables and stuck his head over too.
A Yuan thought for a moment: “Then Assistant Magistrate Lin has good taste. Our young mistress is really—” Still thinking how to continue, A Chang had already said, “The most beautiful young lady in our district.”
A Yuan nodded deeply.
Yu San couldn’t bear it anymore and pushed their heads away, “Get back to work!”
A Chang looked out through the open window and informed A Yuan: “The cat’s here!”
A Yuan went out carrying the prepared chicken rice. Seeing the familiar food bowls, three or four stray cats gathered around.
Shen Shaoguang came out to look too.
A Yuan was quite puzzled by the young mistress’s habit of feeding stray cats, “That black one even stole our meat before, and it doesn’t even catch mice for us.”
Shen Shaoguang smiled, “Just feed them. We’re not short of food anyway.”
After these four cats finished eating, they strutted away grandly. Shen Shaoguang couldn’t even manage to cuddle them, and couldn’t help but laugh and scold: “You little ungrateful ones.”
There was a light cough from behind. Shen Shaoguang turned around to see Assistant Magistrate Lin. Perhaps it was the heat, but his ears seemed somewhat red.
Shen Shaoguang smiled politely and said, “Walk slowly, Young Lord Lin.”
Lin Yan nodded and turned to leave. Watching his back, Shen Shaoguang felt somewhat resentful—why did he have to be so good-looking? It made her feel like someone who’d won five million in the lottery only to have it destroyed in the washing machine. Ah, destined to meet but not to be together, what can one do?
But unexpectedly, two days later, Lin Yan brought a cat.
Shen Shaoguang looked at the little darling in his arms—did Lin Yan like to pet cats? Just as she was about to be jealous for another quarter hour of this cat-having life, she heard him say: “This was given by a friend, but my grandmother starts sneezing whenever cats are near. I wanted to ask if the young miss would be willing to keep it?”
Shen Shaoguang still had her wits about her: “Young Lord saw the other day, I already have four cats, each one more robust than the next,” she looked at the cat in Lin Yan’s arms, “Your cat is too precious, I’m afraid it couldn’t handle our rough lifestyle.”
Lin Yan smiled slightly, put the cat down on the ground, and went to sit in his seat.
Shen Shaoguang couldn’t help but look at the cat. Its owner was truly beautiful—pure white all over, with only the top of its head black, and right in the center of its forehead was an amber-colored brown stripe, like a jade hairpin, yet its ears were white again. Shen Shaoguang saw something of an elegant dignity in the cat.
Though the cat was “low in altitude,” it had quite a haughty bearing, giving Shen Shaoguang a cold, indifferent look, then surveying its surroundings before elegantly walking to a cushion and sitting down.
Completely charmed by that tsundere little manner, Shen Shaoguang tapped her index finger on the counter, hesitating again and again.
Even A Yuan, who generally had an indifferent attitude toward cats, took to this one, actively asking Shen Shaoguang: “Young Mistress, shall we feed it some chicken?”
Lin Yan glanced at the conflicted figure over there, his eyes curving in a smile.
Well, it’s just a cat, not some precious thing. If she’d accepted the lotus pond screen, this wasn’t much different. Shen Shaoguang walked over to Lin Yan and said, “Then thank you, Assistant Magistrate Lin.” At that moment, Shen Shaoguang seemed to hear the splat of her integrity hitting the ground.
Shen Shaoguang asked about the cat’s habits, and Lin Yan said, “Its original owner said this cat is very quiet.”
Shen Shaoguang looked at Lin Yan—anything else?
Lin Yan suddenly felt like he was back in his childhood, being called on by the teacher when he’d been playing instead of studying, but his face maintained a gentle smile: “They didn’t say anything else. If there’s any issue, just let me know, and I’ll have someone ask.”
Shen Shaoguang suddenly remembered the “book borrowing” trick mentioned in “Fortress Besieged”—in male-female relationships, one shouldn’t give books as gifts, it’s best to lend them. With the back and forth of borrowing and returning, people naturally become closer. And taking care of a cat was even more troublesome than borrowing books…
Shen Shaoguang looked at Assistant Magistrate Lin’s gentle face. Lin Yan raised an eyebrow. Shen Shaoguang felt she was overthinking it and smiled, “If I really can’t take good care of it, I’ll have to trouble Young Lord Lin.”
Lin Yan smiled and nodded.
Shen Shaoguang suddenly remembered to ask, “What’s this cat’s name?”
“Its eyes sparkle like lightning, so it’s called ‘Ming Nu’ (Bright Servant).”
Shen Shaoguang nodded, thinking it was quite nice, and casually asked with a smile, “Did you name it, Young Lord?”
Lin Yan licked his lips: “This name isn’t… offensive, is it?”
Shen Shaoguang paused, looking at him with a somewhat teasing smile. Lin Yan lowered his eyes, gently pushing around the tea powder floating in his cup with the lid.
But Shen Shaoguang thought of something else and asked with a smile, “Speaking of offense, I still don’t know Young Lord’s given name.”
“My single name is Yan, courtesy name An Ran.”
The “Xiao Er Ya” dictionary says “Yan means bright.” Ming Nu… Lin Yan’s little servant? Or perhaps “Nu” was simply a complementary word?
Under Shen Shaoguang’s gaze, Assistant Magistrate Lin continued to drink his tea unhurriedly. After a moment, Shen Shaoguang reluctantly looked away. After all, he was a jinshi graduate and a young high official in crimson robes—when he played the rogue, common folk couldn’t compete.
Like in a game of chess, as soon as Shen Shaoguang retreated, Lin Yan advanced, raising his eyes to smile at her, with a look that seemed somewhat expectant yet also slightly embarrassed.
Shen Shaoguang stiffened—surely he wasn’t waiting for her to introduce herself too?
Lin Yan stopped teasing her and lowered his eyes, smiling softly.
After a while, Shen Shaoguang also smiled helplessly—how had things become so ambiguous?
“I’ll go check on your meal, Young Lord.” Shen Shaoguang stood up.
“Something simple is fine.”
“Mm.” Shen Shaoguang nodded and returned to the kitchen.
While deboning fish, Shen Shaoguang pondered her situation with Assistant Magistrate Lin. Was it that Lin’s beauty was too alluring, or that her willpower was too weak? Knowing there could be no result… Shen Shaoguang developed deep doubts about her moral bottom line and willpower.
She mixed the deboned fish with sesame oil, salt, ginger juice, and a bit of pepper to marinate, then cut preserved bamboo shoots and scallions into tiny dice, and chopped some green onions. In the pot, the fish soup porridge was already thick with broken rice grains. Shen Shaoguang added the fish pieces, bamboo shoot dice, scallion dice, and chopped green onions, stirring evenly. She just needed to wait for it to boil again before adding salt to taste.
Looking at this slowly simmering pot of fish congee, Shen Shaoguang suddenly realized—the saying goes that governing a great nation is like cooking small fish, and this Assistant Magistrate of Jingzhao was truly a master of subtle manipulation… he was treating her like fish to be stewed.
Shen Shaoguang felt quite unwilling, but thinking of his smile like spring mountains touched by green, thinking of when he seriously said “We Confucian disciples only speak of ‘aspiring to the Way, taking virtue as foundation, and relying on benevolence,’ doing our utmost to pursue these, that is all,” and that lingering tone when he said “perhaps it’s very ‘possible’,” Shen Shaoguang felt her reaction was understandable.
Yu San turned around and asked with furrowed brows: “Is the porridge not ready?”
“It’s ready, it’s ready.” Shen Shaoguang added salt and took the pot off the heat to cool—actually, this was the evening porridge for the four staff members, from which she would portion out a bowl for Assistant Magistrate Lin.
She also casually took several small plates of cold dishes and seeing some stewed tiger-skin chicken feet, a vengeful thought arose, and she put two on a small plate. Putting all of these on a tray, she brought them out to Assistant Magistrate Lin.
“Young Lord Lin, please try our fish congee,” Shen Shaoguang smiled, then deliberately pointed at the two chicken feet, “And this—this is our tavern’s signature dish. First blanched, then fried, then stewed. It’s fragrant and tender, best eaten with porridge.”
Seeing Young Miss Shen’s somewhat mischievous yet pretending-to-be-proper smile, Lin Yan took a sip of congee, picked up a chicken foot, and slowly began to eat it.
There wasn’t the awkwardness Shen Shaoguang had hoped for—some people could probably wear shorts and sit on a stool by the roadside eating skewers, yet still appear as graceful and elegant as if they were strolling through a garden admiring fallen flowers. Shen Shaoguang glanced at the sauce on his cupid’s bow, and with great self-control said: “Please enjoy, Young Lord Lin.” Then turned and left.
In the kitchen, A Yuan was feeding chicken breast to the cat, which ate in quite a restrained manner, sitting there eating slowly.
A Yuan praised: “Indeed it’s Assistant Magistrate Lin’s cat—even its eating is beautiful.”
Yu San glanced at the cat and snorted.
Shen Shaoguang looked at the cat—Ming Nu, Lin Yan… truly, the pet resembles its master!
Author’s Note: After half a month, the crafty Assistant Magistrate Lin meets with the little angels again…