The palace. The imperial study.

Li Hanru and Shen Min stood below the dragon desk with their hands folded and respect all over their faces.

The Xuan Emperor set down the imperial brush and picked up a sheet of fine paper, and there on it, plain to see, was the matched couplet.

南鳳北飛，遍地草雞難下足。

The southern phoenix flies north, and the ground is so thick with scrub hens it can hardly set down a foot.

The Xuan Emperor made a cold sound in his nose.

北麟南躍，滿山禽獸盡低頭。

The northern qilin leaps south, and the hills are so full of birds and beasts that every one of them bows its head.

Only then did a smile come onto the Xuan Emperor’s face. “There’s a fine one — the hills are so full of birds and beasts that every one of them bows its head. Ha ha ha… The boy surprises this emperor every time.”

“To plant a war banner in the imperial capital of the Great Xuan by way of a challenge. Do they really think winning a few battles puts them on a level with the Great Xuan?”

Li Hanru said quickly, “It was lucky we had Ning Chen, or the Great Xuan would have had no face left this time.”

The Xuan Emperor laughed lightly. “Whatever the boy does, it is never what this emperor expects! Breaking the banner and cutting down the horses in the open street — the Nanyue party must have wanted to find a crack in the floor and crawl into it.”

Li Hanru said, “Reporting to Your Majesty. The Fourth Prince of Nanyue has remarkable self-command. His face was as ugly at the time as a face can be, and he still held it in.”

The Xuan Emperor glanced at him.

“What else could he do but hold it in? If he had not, Ning Chen would have made it worse for them.”

“It seems this emperor made no mistake at all in choosing Ning Chen to receive them.”

The Xuan Emperor paused, then asked suddenly, “Beloved ministers, if Ning Chen had not been there today, how did the two of you intend to answer Nanyue planting that banner?”

Li Hanru and Shen Min were caught.

They were civil officials and nothing else. What could they have done?

They could have wanted to break the banner and cut down the horses all they liked. They didn’t have the skill for it.

The Xuan Emperor looked at the pair of them and said flatly, “Enough. You may go!”

“Ning Chen’s nature is a free one and he does not let a debt or a grudge sit overnight. The two of you had better keep a close watch on him, and not let him do anything outrageous.”

The two of them knelt quickly and said together, “Your subjects obey the command!”

The Xuan Emperor nodded slightly and made a sound of assent!

Li Hanru and Shen Min bowed and withdrew.

The Xuan Emperor looked at the couplet on the sheet of fine paper, and His Majesty was greatly pleased.

“Quan Sheng. How do you suppose that boy’s head is put together? He is fifteen years old.”

Eunuch Quan bent quickly. “Young Master Ning is an immortal of poetry born again, and talent runs over in him. Answering the Nanyue State Preceptor’s couplet must have been simple enough for him.”

The Xuan Emperor smiled and nodded slightly.

“And this first line of his — the starving chicken steals the seed rice, and the boy with the bamboo tube beats it off… It is interesting. This emperor has thought about it half the day and cannot produce an answering line.”

“The boy will not take the smallest loss… The Nanyue State Preceptor is very likely scratching his head over it this minute.”

Eunuch Quan’s smile was all flattery. When His Majesty was greatly pleased, he was happy.

The Xuan Emperor picked up the sheet. “Quan Sheng, take this over to Huai’an in a little while… and tell her what Ning Chen did today while you are about it. The child loves a story better than anything!”

“And send a copy of the couplet to the crown prince and the Third Prince as well, and let them study it properly… Every one of them like a blockhead, no good at letters and no good at arms. They will worry this emperor into his grave.”

Eunuch Quan said quickly, “This servant obeys the command!”

“Wait!” The Xuan Emperor called him back. “Send somebody to tell Ning Chen he is to attend court tomorrow.”

“Yes!”

Eunuch Quan waited a while, and seeing that His Majesty had no other orders, withdrew quietly.

At that moment Ning Chen was drinking at the courtesans’ quarter with Pan Yucheng and the others.

Yudie and Nanzhi were sitting with them.

“God damn it… We should have cut that Fourth Prince down along with the horses today!”

Feng Qizheng took a drink and muttered it.

Ning Chen had nothing to say to that. He looked at him. “Has the man offended you?”

“Planting a banner in the imperial capital of the Great Xuan offends me… And besides, I don’t think there ought to be anybody in this world who’s more of a badass than you.”

The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched. “Where is he more of a badass than me?”

Feng Qizheng said, with a perfectly serious face, “He’s taller than you, he’s better looking than you, and he’s higher born than you… And he’s no worse at leading an army than you are.”

The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth kept twitching.

“Do you piss out of your eyes? Where is he better looking than me?”

“Hand on my chest, the man is just better looking than you.”

Ning Chen kicked him. “That’s the clothes doing the work. If you want to look good, dress like a mourner — he’s in white from head to foot, so he looks that little bit better than me… And ‘hand on my chest,’ he says. I hope every girl you find tonight is flat as a board.”

Chen Chong gave a low, dirty laugh. “Ning Chen is too small. There’s no comparison to be made there.”

Ning Chen glared at him. “You had better be talking about his age.”

“I am talking about age. What did you think I meant?”

The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched. “Get out of here, you degenerate!”

The men horsed around, and Nanzhi and Yudie poured for everyone quietly at the side and never broke in.

Ning Chen smiled. “Miss Nanzhi, is it dull, being with Old Pan most of the time?”

Pan Yucheng was a closed-up man and did not say much.

Nanzhi’s smile was lovely. “It isn’t dull. Pan, dear is very good to me! And Nanzhi has Young Master Ning to thank, or she would have missed Pan, dear altogether.”

Ning Chen smiled. “No need for that! I was looking out for Old Pan’s happiness — the bedroom kind… Does he talk much when he’s with you?”

Nanzhi smiled faintly. “Well enough!”

Ning Chen gave a dirty grin. “I thought Old Pan just kept his head down and worked hard when he was with you.”

Pan Yucheng’s old face went red and he glared at him.

Then Pan Yucheng looked past Ning Chen.

Ning Chen turned his head without thinking about it.

Gao Ziping was coming up the stairs.

“I guessed you’d all be here.”

Gao Ziping came over and said it, smiling.

This was the courtesans’ quarter, where everyone came for a good time, so people spoke with fewer scruples here.

Otherwise Gao Ziping would have had to salute Pan Yucheng first.

Once he had sat down Gao Ziping looked at Ning Chen. “Somebody came from the palace a little while ago. His Majesty’s order is that you attend court tomorrow.”

“Me?” Ning Chen blinked, and then complained, “What business does one small silver coat have at court?”

Thinking about getting up earlier than the chickens tomorrow, he found the wine in his hand had suddenly stopped tasting of anything.

He stood up. “Bed, bed… I have to be up early tomorrow!”

Gao Ziping said, “Don’t do that. I’ve just sat down and you’re leaving.”

“You don’t have to be at court tomorrow. The rest of you keep drinking… The wine is on my account.”

Ning Chen took Yudie’s hand and made to go.

Feng Qizheng gave a dirty grin. “Go easy tonight. Don’t get yourself into a state where you can’t stand up tomorrow.”

Ning Chen swore at him, laughing. “Mind your own business!”

“You think I’m worried about you? It’s Miss Yudie I’m worried about.”

“Get out of here. Does my woman need your concern?”

Chen Chong gave a dirty grin. “Old Feng, you’re worrying over nothing… With a little frame like Ning Chen’s, twice is about his limit.”

The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched. “I’m a human being. There’s no comparing me with you animals!”

“The hell with all of you…

春宵一刻值千金

One moment of a spring night is worth a thousand in gold.

Yudie, we’re going back to the room. Let these animals sit there and want!”

Ning Chen led Yudie away, waggling his head from side to side as he went.

The next day, the hour of the Tiger.

Ning Chen opened his eyes unwillingly, with Yudie’s soft voice urging him along.

“What hour is it?”

Ning Chen asked it through a yawn.

“The hour of the Tiger!”

The hour of the Tiger is three to five in the morning.

Court sits at the hour of the Rabbit, which is five to seven.

So the officials, civil and military, are generally waiting outside the palace gate by the hour of the Tiger.

By that reckoning Ning Chen was already up late.

Ning Chen rolled over onto Yudie, put his arms around her soft body and said, thick with sleep, “Let me shut my eyes a little longer. I don’t feel as if I got a whole hour.”

“And whose fault is it that Ning, dear kept us up so late last night?”

Ning Chen rubbed his cheek against her little face and gave a dirty snicker. “It isn’t that Ning here is no kind of man. It’s only that Yudie is far too lovely.“

Yudie’s little face went red and she gave a sweet smile.

“Ning, dear, there really isn’t time left. Let this girl help you dress.”

It took Ning Chen several tries before he could bring himself to climb off her. “Go back to sleep. I can manage myself.”

He rolled out of bed, picked his clothes up off the floor and put them on, washed in a hurry, and went out and rode Diaochan straight for the palace.

Ning Chen lay over Diaochan’s back with no strength in him at all, shivering with the cold.

That hour is the coldest there is.

The sky was dark and there was not a soul in the street.

Ning Chen pulled his cloak closer around him and went faster.

He made it in time, at least.

Ning Chen walked into the court hall and looked left and looked right… Where was he supposed to stand?

There were rules about where a man stood. You could not simply stand anywhere.

While Ning Chen was still at a loss, a thin, high voice went up. “His Majesty the Emperor!”

Then the Xuan Emperor appeared, with the crown prince and Eunuch Quan.

The officials, civil and military, all went down on their knees.

Ning Chen had no choice and knelt where he stood.

“Your subjects greet Your Majesty!”

The Xuan Emperor raised a hand. “Beloved ministers, rise!”

When they were all on their feet the Xuan Emperor saw Ning Chen at once, planted in the middle of the hall, and had to hold a laugh back.

“Ning Chen. Have you a memorial to present?”

Every eye in the hall came to rest on Ning Chen.

Ning Chen was embarrassed and said quickly, “Your subject has no memorial to present… Your subject just doesn’t know where he is supposed to stand.”

The Xuan Emperor pointed offhandedly. “Stand there, then!”

Ning Chen said oh and went over quickly.

He thought nothing of it himself.

But the faces of the officials changed, because that was the place that had belonged to the Left Chancellor.

Since the Left Chancellor’s fall, every man with any weight at all had his eye on that place.

What did the Xuan Emperor mean by having Ning Chen stand there?

There was only one item at court that day, and that was the audience for the Nanyue envoys.

The Xuan Emperor glanced at Eunuch Quan.

Eunuch Quan took a step forward, and his thin, high voice carried right through the hall. “The envoys of Nanyue are called to audience!”

“The envoys of Nanyue are called to audience!”

The eunuchs outside the hall passed Eunuch Quan’s words on, one calling to the next.

After a while Kang Luo and the Nanyue State Preceptor came into the hall, with several attendants behind them carrying chests.

“Kang Luo, Fourth Prince of Nanyue, greets His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Xuan!”

“The State Preceptor of Nanyue greets His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Xuan!”

The two of them bent slightly and then straightened their backs again.

The faces of the whole court turned ugly.

The Xuan Emperor’s face darkened a little as well.

Nanyue was a dependency of the Great Xuan, so the Great Xuan was sovereign and Nanyue was subject… By the rules, a Nanyue envoy coming before the Xuan Emperor performed the full kowtow.

But Kang Luo and the Nanyue State Preceptor had only bent slightly.

It seemed that Nanyue, the dog that had never been tamed, could not even be bothered to pretend any longer.

Li Hanru said heavily, “Fourth Prince. State Preceptor of Nanyue. Do the people of Nanyue all know so little of the rules?”

Kang Luo looked at Li Hanru and smiled slightly. “I wonder what Lord Li is referring to?”

“The Great Xuan is sovereign and Nanyue is subject… Coming before His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Xuan, you ought to perform the full kowtow!”

Kang Luo smiled easily. “So we ought! It is only that the people of Nanyue have never knelt to anything but heaven and earth, their parents, and their own sovereign… It is a custom of our Nanyue, and we ask His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Xuan and all my lords to bear with us!”

The Xuan Emperor did not look pleased. But he was the emperor, and he could hardly get into a wrangle with somebody over a thing like this. It would be beneath him.

So this sort of thing had to be left to the ministers.

But looking at the whole court, not one of whom knew how to argue it back, the Xuan Emperor could not help frowning.

His eye fell on Ning Chen, and then he was angrier still… The fellow is actually dozing?

What was he doing last night? How does a man get that tired?

Wretched boy. Say something.

He could not shake the feeling that when it came to shoving people around, Ning Chen was the man for it.

But Ning Chen had his eyes half shut and his soul wandering somewhere outside the world, and never noticed the Xuan Emperor looking at him.

He really had not slept well.

The Xuan Emperor could bear it no longer. He coughed. “Ning Chen. Tell this emperor — are we to show respect for the customs of Nanyue or are we not?”

Ning Chen came awake with a start. He had heard what Kang Luo said. He simply had not troubled to answer it.

“Reporting to Your Majesty. As the saying goes, of the hundred virtues filial duty comes first. Our Great Xuan sets great store by filial duty, and these unfilial sons and grandsons of Nanyue… I can’t respect them one bit.”

The corner of the Xuan Emperor’s mouth went up. “You say they are unfilial. On what grounds?”

(End of Chapter 185)