It was full dark outside by the time Ning Chen woke.

“How long did I sleep?”

“Ning, dear slept four hours.”

Ning Chen felt a pang. “Your legs must have gone numb under me. Next time I fall asleep, just put a pillow under my head.”

Saying it, he sat up and rubbed her legs gently for her.

“Hm?” A wicked grin came over Ning Chen’s face all at once. “As wet as this?”

Yudie’s pretty face went crimson, and she said sweetly, “That’s Ning, dear’s own drool.”

Ning Chen: “???”

“Uh… no wonder I was dreaming about abalone.”

Yudie’s face was all puzzlement. She had not followed.

“Ning, dear must be hungry. The food they brought earlier has gone cold. I’ll have them make a fresh lot and send it up.”

Ning Chen made a sound of assent.

He ate and drank his fill.

Yudie waited on him while he bathed.

Young men get their strength back quickly. Four hours of sleep had restored him, and he drew Yudie in and unlocked several new positions.

Early the next morning, Ning Chen went to the Inspectorate.

Geng Jing sent someone to fetch him.

“You march out tomorrow, don’t you?”

Ning Chen nodded.

“Pan the Gold Coat, Feng Qizheng and Chen Chong will be going with you, to keep you safe along the way… Gao Ziping will take charge of the first department for the time being.”

Ning Chen stared for a moment. “Better not, surely? They’re first-rate at running a case, but marching and fighting is outside their line.”

“This is His Majesty’s wish.”

Ning Chen made a small sound of acknowledgment and said nothing more about it.

The truth was that having a few men he could trust was not a bad thing, and all of them could fight.

“Ning Chen. Blades and swords have no eyes on a battlefield. Take good care.”

Ning Chen made a sound of assent and said, smiling, “Don’t worry. I won’t shame the Inspectorate.”

After talking with Geng Jing a while, Ning Chen went back to the first department.

Feng Qizheng, Chen Chong and the rest were not there.

Geng Jing had given them a day’s leave to go home and put their affairs in order.

Ning Chen talked idly with the others for a while, then left the Inspectorate and went to the general’s residence.

Old General Chen had spent his whole life in the saddle. He was the god of war of the Great Xuan, and on a battlefield the sight of him broke the enemy’s nerve.

His body was broken now and he could not take the field, but the experience was all still there.

Ning Chen stayed at the old general’s residence until dusk before he left.

He returned to the courtesans’ quarter.

He was about to go in when somebody stepped into his path.

The man fixed unfriendly eyes on him.

Ning Chen was delighted. He knew this one. It was the crown prince’s bodyguard who had played the Fifth Prince at the Heavenly Blessing Tower and taken a beating from Ning Chen for it… Lu Yan.

“Well, well… isn’t this the Fifth Prince? Itching again, are you? Want me to loosen your hide for you?”

The corner of Lu Yan’s mouth twitched. “Young Master Ning. The crown prince asks for you!”

Ning Chen smiled and let him alone. “Lead on!”

The crown prince’s carriage was drawn up at the roadside a little way off.

When they reached it, Lu Yan said respectfully, “Your Highness. Young Master Ning is here!”

“Ning Chen. Come up!”

Ning Chen sprang onto the carriage, lifted the curtain and went in.

“Presenting myself to Your Highness!”

The crown prince waved a hand, smiling. “There’s no need for ceremony between us… Have you time?”

Ning Chen said, smiling, “That depends what for.”

“You march out tomorrow. I’ve laid on a dinner to see you off.”

Ning Chen shook his head. “Never mind that. I’ve just eaten at Old General Chen’s… Why not come into the courtesans’ quarter for a couple of cups instead?”

The crown prince smiled ruefully. “A man in my position, going to that whole side of the city? If I dared, there’d be a good many people jumping up to impeach me for it at court tomorrow.”

Ning Chen made a small sound of acknowledgment. “Then get yourself home early. It’s bitter cold out.”

The crown prince had no words for him. “Can’t you give this crown prince a little face? Shall we go somewhere else for a few cups, then?”

“Never mind. I’ve been run off my feet these last few days and I’m worn out… How about you give me a welcome dinner when I get back instead?”

The crown prince hesitated. “Is the courtesans’ quarter any fun?”

Ning Chen looked at him and started laughing. “Come on, then. I’ll take you in the back way… Nobody will find out.”

The crown prince set his teeth. “Very well. I’ll forget myself for once today.”

Ning Chen took the crown prince and slipped him in through the back.

Once inside, the crown prince looked around him, all curiosity.

“Well? Has a door onto a whole new world just opened?”

The crown prince nodded. “They say the courtesans’ quarter and the pleasure houses are the two greatest devourers of silver in the capital. This place is more splendid than my own Eastern Palace.”

“Comparing a pleasure house to your Eastern Palace. You’re really something.”

Ning Chen took him up to the third floor and along to Yudie’s room.

Yudie heard that Ning Chen had come and ran out delighted to meet him.

Finding that he had brought a stranger with him, she stopped short.

The crown prince looked Yudie over, and his eyes brightened.

“This will be Miss Yudie, I take it?”

Yudie said in a small voice, “This girl presents herself to the young master!”

“It’s put about everywhere that the courtesans’ quarter has twelve houses, and that the girl of every house is a beauty without equal in this world… Having seen Miss Yudie today, I know the report was no lie.”

“The young master flatters me!”

“I hear Miss Yudie’s lute is without rival in the capital. I wonder whether I might have the honor—”

“You might not!” Ning Chen cut him off. “You’re lucky to be getting a drink. And now you want my woman to play the lute for you? Shall I dance for you as well, to help it along?”

The crown prince smiled ruefully.

He made a very poor crown prince. Still, he knew Ning Chen’s temper. The man had never had much use for the proprieties.

“Sit anywhere!”

Ning Chen pointed the crown prince at the table in front of the screen, then said to Yudie, “Fetch us some wine.”

Yudie nodded obediently and went to fetch it.

Ning Chen went and sat down opposite the crown prince.

The crown prince said, smiling, “Ning Chen. You’re a lucky man where women are concerned.”

“Setting aside Yudie and Nanzhi, the girls of the other houses are all beauties too. Shall I find you one?”

The crown prince waved both hands. “Coming to the courtesans’ quarter at all is already too far.”

While they were talking Yudie brought the wine, and some little cakes with it.

Ning Chen reached out and took the wine jug, and then put a hand out toward the crown prince.

The crown prince did not understand.

“A hundred taels.”

“What hundred taels?”

Ning Chen said, smiling, “You wanted to give me a send-off. You can hardly expect me to buy the wine.”

The crown prince stared, then said flatly, “What sort of wine is this of yours? Worth a hundred taels?”

“The wine of friendship… and friendship is beyond price.”

The crown prince began to laugh. “Good. Well said.”

While he was saying it he pulled a sheaf of silver notes out of his sleeve, and was about to draw one out when Ning Chen took the whole sheaf off him.

Ning Chen counted them. “Six hundred taels altogether. Then we’ll drink six jugs of wine tonight.”

“As the old saying goes, when a friend comes from far away, is it not a joy! Buy him a drink, and you must charge him six hundred taels — five notes of a hundred and two of fifty.”

The crown prince glared at Ning Chen and said with an edge in his voice:

“Ning Chen, Ning Chen. In the whole of the Great Xuan there’s nobody but you who’d dare take silver out of my hand… I’m thinking how to punish you for it.”

Ning Chen said, smiling, “I’ve thought of it for you. I’ll fine myself three cups!”

“You’d like that. Six jugs, three each, and neither of us gets the better of the other.”

Ning Chen’s face was full of disdain. “And you call yourself a crown prince? Look at how petty you are.”

Crown prince?

Yudie, in the middle of pouring for the two of them, jolted, and the wine went all over the table.

(End of Chapter 138)