Chapter 58: So This Is Chang'an?

“Sir, please step over the fire first.”
No one knew where Yiniang had learned such customs, but she placed a brazier at the door and asked Yang Xuan to cross over it.
Afterward came the ritual of bathing and changing clothes.
When he emerged, everyone had gathered together.
Upon hearing Cao Ying’s arrangement, Yang Xuan felt deeply gratified, wondering if he had perhaps suppressed Old Cao too much in the past, preventing him from showing his true abilities.
“Old Cao has done well.”
Cao Ying’s face was glowing with pride. “It’s good that you’ve come out, sir.”
The old rogue worriedly asked, “Does your official position still remain?”
“It does,” Yang Xuan replied, “and I should be able to get promoted.”
The old rogue was secretly delighted, feeling that the day he himself would become an official was drawing ever closer.
Cao Ying stroked his beard. “The life of a notorious old madam cannot be compared to that of the Imperial Consort. If you don’t get promoted, who will support her in the future?”
“Yang Xuan!”
Liang Jing arrived.
“Hahaha!”
Cao Ying gave a signal with his eyes, and everyone withdrew.
Outside, Yiniang asked, “Why has he come?”
Cao Ying softly replied, “He’s probably brought good news.”
“Originally, the Imperial Consort wanted to arrange for you to enter one of the Six Ministries, and then promotion and wealth would be at your fingertips. But after what you did—ah!” Inside, Liang Jing sighed.
Just say it already, you damned fool!
Yang Xuan felt like slapping him dead.
“Scoundrel!”
Suzaku was probably unable to hold back any longer too.
Liang Jing sighed for a while. “County Bailiff of Wannian County.”
Yang Xuan hadn’t expected to be appointed bailiff, and was momentarily stunned.
“Yang Xuan?”
Liang Jing waved his hand in front of Yang Xuan’s eyes.
Yang Xuan bowed toward the palace, “Her Highness’s favor is so deep that for a moment—”
“Cry!” Suzaku shouted, and then an erhu melody floated in, “A song of heartbreak, where in the world can one find a soulmate?”
Yang Xuan lowered his head, his body trembling slightly.
“Brilliant!” Suzaku praised, “The highest level of acting is silence. Yesterday you read about The Actor’s Self-Cultivation, and now you’ve truly grasped the essence.”
Liang Jing was clearly moved as well. He patted Yang Xuan’s shoulder. “Work hard, and with the Imperial Consort, we brothers will enjoy prosperity together.”
He hesitated, then pulled out a paper-wrapped package from his breast. “This is good medicine from the palace physician. You must have suffered in prison; just swallow it with warm water before bed.”
Medicine from the palace was naturally extraordinary.
But what suffering in prison…
“I didn’t suffer.” Yang Xuan felt Liang Jing was overthinking it.
“No need to explain.” Liang Jing sighed heavily. After leaving, he said to Cao Ying, “Yang Xuan is the kind of delicate type most favored in prison. He was inside half a day, probably couldn’t keep himself safe… I’m most worried he’ll lose interest in women, alas!”
Cao Ying was petrified.
“Assistant Zhou.”
Zhou Ning, ethereal as a goddess, arrived bearing the deep affection of the National Academy.
“Lie down.”
Hearing the words inside, Cao Ying and Yiniang outside laughed with the gentle warmth of mother hens.
Zhou Ning took Yang Xuan’s pulse.
After a while, she looked up, her slender, pale fingers adjusting her tortoiseshell glasses. “Your injuries are much improved, but your tendons are still a bit blocked. Lie still!”
“What is she about to do? Yang Xuan, since you can’t resist, just close your eyes…” Suzaku’s voice was oddly stimulating.
Can you stop with the innuendos?!
Yang Xuan was distracted, so when Zhou Ning produced a long silver needle and prepared to insert it, he instinctively grabbed her wrist.
In an instant, both were frozen.
How rude! Zhou Ning frowned slightly, looking at the hand holding her wrist.
Yang Xuan quickly released her, embarrassed by his impropriety, and tried to change the subject. “By the way, I have some medicine here—I’d like your opinion, Assistant Zhou.”
He didn’t dare take Liang Jing’s medicine lightly.
He opened the package, and Zhou Ning sniffed it, looked up, her expression icy. “This medicine will do.”
Why the sudden coldness?
Before bed, Yang Xuan took the medicine and lay down, waiting comfortably for sleep.
So hot!

Not long after, he woke up.
He was unbearably hot.
Yang Xuan sat up and touched his forehead—strange, no fever.
He felt warmth under his nose, wiped it, and looked at his fingers.
He had a nosebleed.
In a flash, everything fell into place.
Liang Jing was weak in the kidneys, so he’d asked the palace physician for medicine, assuming Yang Xuan suffered the same, and Zhou Ning, knowing the medicine’s properties, thought it would help circulation but found it improper and thus despised him.
Too damn hot!
Suzaku, upon hearing, said, “What you need now is a woman.”
But Yang Xuan had no woman.
So the next day the old rogue sneakily sought out Cao Ying.
“Sir soaked in well water until dawn last night.”
Such vitality in the young!
The two old men exchanged glances.
A feeling of envy, jealousy, and resentment arose spontaneously.
“Clang, clang, clang!”
In the kitchen, Yiniang was hammering the iron plate with the back of the cleaver.
“A household of bells and feasts—a good omen,” Cao Ying said, smiling with satisfaction.
“Cluck, cluck, cluck!”
The chickens Yiniang had bought a few days ago ran faster than they did.
So Yiniang stood at the kitchen door, a flock of chickens before her, and behind them a group waiting for breakfast.
Yiniang grabbed a handful of millet and flung it to the left.
Cluck, cluck, cluck!
The chicks rushed after it.
Everyone received a large bowl of noodles. As lord, Yang Xuan had the privilege not to serve himself, but he worried that Wang Lao’er, with a bowl in each hand, might eat his share too.
After breakfast, Cao Ying couldn’t help but say, “Sir, county affairs are divided among six bureaus. In smaller counties, one or two bailiffs handle all six. Wannian is a red county with six bailiffs each managing a bureau. If you end up in charge of useless matters, I think it’s best to go out early.”
The old rogue nodded, “It’s spacious outside.”
Wang Lao’er looked up, “Will there be meat to eat?”
Yiniang cared nothing for these matters, only hoping the lord would be safe and sound.
“Let’s go!”
Yang Xuan stood up.
At the door, it was unusually quiet. Yang Xuan turned to look back.
Yiniang wore the look of a mother watching her child succeed.
Cao Ying stroked his beard, unable to hide his pride.
The old rogue’s face was flushed.
Wang Lao’er was licking his lips, clearly not full.
“Work hard!” Yang Xuan whispered encouragement to himself.
“Go for it!” Suzaku echoed.
Leaving the house, the Gentleman Xie across the street bowed slightly. “Greetings, Commander Yang.”
After Yang Xuan left, Xie sighed, “To kill a man and only be detained for half a day—this young man… extraordinary.”
At the gate, the guards dared not tease him anymore.
They all knew this bailiff had connections with the Imperial Consort, and his rise was imminent.
Yang Xuan felt unaccustomed to the atmosphere.
He whispered, “Suzaku.”
“I’m here!”
“I feel I haven’t changed. Why are they so respectful now?”
“That’s because two words float above your head.”
“What words?”
“Power and influence!”
He walked slowly, and at this hour the streets were filled with officials.
“Rice cakes, Yuanzhou rice cakes!”
Behind a broken wall by the roadside, the young girl was still selling her wares.

Yang Xuan dismounted. “One coin’s worth, please.”
“I’ve never seen anyone so stingy!” The girl remembered him and teased with a smile.
Carrying the rice cakes, Yang Xuan understood much.
This girl didn’t know his status, so she treated him as before.
“Respect is for clothes, not for people.”
He realized this truth.
“You’re different now,” Suzaku said, sounding world-weary.
“Look at you—once such a pure youth, now after a little time in Chang’an, you’ve been blackened, even your guts are dark.”
“If you’re not tough, you won’t survive,” Yang Xuan felt he hadn’t changed.
Wannian County Office.
“Greetings, Junior Prefect Yang!”
The bailiff shouted loudly.
Yang Xuan nodded as usual.
“Greetings, Junior Prefect!”
Zhao Guolin and Wen Xinshu were waiting early to offer congratulations.
“Work hard.” Yang Xuan nodded.
“That sounds like a leader,” Suzaku’s sharp tongue pointed out.
Yang Xuan proceeded to the back.
All five bailiffs were in Huang Wenzun’s office, waiting to meet their new colleague.
Huang Wenzun smiled warmly, gesturing to Yang Xuan. “You all know him—our former bailiff, now promoted through merit to bailiff.”
The five bailiffs, including Qiu Sheng, all cupped their hands, their eyes focused on Yang Xuan.
After some polite conversation, Huang Wenzun said, “The Legal Bureau was formerly Qiu Sheng’s. He’s older now and not suited to handle criminal cases. Yang Xuan is young—work hard, I have high hopes for you.”
Yang Xuan gratefully said, “Your Excellency has considered much for me; I hardly know how to thank you.”
“Oh, hahaha!”
Everyone laughed heartily.
Laughter in the bureaucracy is a weapon: it lightens the mood, dissolves awkwardness, and flatters superiors.
If a superior makes a bad joke, subordinates must laugh, laugh knowingly, laugh obsequiously.
Yang Xuan reached his office, and his subordinates came to greet him.
“Greetings, Junior Prefect!”
Yang Xuan knelt at the head, gazing at his staff, the joy of stepping closer to his goal rising unbidden.
“From now on, we must unite sincerely.”
“Yes, sir.”
Just as Yang Xuan was basking in his success, a caravan slowly entered Chang’an.
“The new hostage from Southern Zhou has arrived.”
In court, the emperor remarked calmly, “Let them stay in the courier hostel.”
The Right Chancellor, Xiahou Yuan, said, “Your Majesty, last time Southern Zhou sent a foolish prince as hostage, and our envoys rebuked them. Who have they sent this time?”
State Uncle Yang Songcheng smiled, but in his heart he lamented the growing rumors in the city, even suggesting the Yang family wanted to be emperor.
What good is being emperor?
To be emperor is to be the target of all under heaven. Better to be a noble family, powerful for generations, and even if dynasties change, remain the same.
Only fools want to be emperor!
Wang Douluo laughed, “It must be a prince.”
The Left Chancellor, Chen Shen, lowered his eyes, imposing as a mountain, making Zheng Qi stifle a joke he’d just thought of.
An attendant entered.
“Your Majesty, the hostage from Southern Zhou this time is Princess Nanyang, Nian Ziyue.”
Zheng Qi was momentarily stunned. “Is it that Nian Ziyue, the so-called treasure of Southern Zhou?”
At a residence in Taiping Ward.
The carriage stopped amid a crowd.
The curtain was lifted.
A fair face, black hair gently swaying by her delicate ears, a pair of spirited eyes glanced outside, lips slightly parted.
“So this is Chang’an?”