Chai Dazhuang hesitated. He could not bear to leave Uncle Chai and his boy.

Smack!!!

Uncle Chai’s hand came up and caught him across the back of the head.

It was not for show, either. It sent Chai Dazhuang staggering a few steps.

Chai Dazhuang’s face was all astonishment. “Pa, what are you hitting me for?”

Ning Chen was blank too.

Uncle Chai was in a fury. “You worthless thing! The Fourth Young Master gives you work to do and you stand there hesitating?”

“Your son can’t bear to leave you and the boy.”

Uncle Chai grew angrier still. “You good-for-nothing, the Fourth Young Master is handing you a chance… Do you imagine anybody at all gets a chance like this?”

“It’s only Mangzhou. He isn’t sending you out of Great Xuan.”

Chai Dazhuang ducked his head at once. “Pa, I was wrong.”

“Don’t tell me. Tell the Fourth Young Master.”

Ning Chen smiled. “Uncle Chai, don’t be angry with him… Brother Dazhuang not wanting to leave you and the boy is only human nature.”

Chai Dazhuang said quickly, “Fourth Young Master, I’m willing to go!”

Ning Chen smiled and nodded.

“I’ll have Gu Yichun send a few good fighters along with you.”

“Once you’re in Mangzhou, find your own maids and servants.”

“But remember one thing. Don’t let it out that the house is mine… I’ve already had the deed changed over. When you get there, hang up a plaque reading Chai Residence.”

“Unless you run into trouble you can’t settle. Then you may use my name.”

Chai Dazhuang nodded. “The Fourth Young Master can rest easy. I’ll keep that house well for you.”

Ning Chen said with a smile, “Go after the fifteenth.”

“Yes!”

Sending Chai Dazhuang was, first, a matter of trust.

And second, even if Chai Dazhuang found the gold and silver the Left Chancellor had left behind, he would not dare lay a finger on it, with Uncle Chai and his boy at Ning Chen’s side.

Ning Chen went on. “Uncle Chai, after the fifteenth, go and find a teacher and bring him back… Xiaohu is old enough now to learn his characters.”

“And if any of the servants want to learn to read and write, they can study with him too, so long as it doesn’t interfere with their work.”

Uncle Chai said quickly, “Yes. This old servant will arrange it at once.”

“Fourth Young Master, there’s one more thing… When are we going to open the household?”

Ning Chen was brought up short for a moment, then smiled ruefully.

He had been shouting about opening the household since the day he moved in.

Then one thing had come on the heels of another and it had been put off and put off again… The plaque His Majesty had given him was still under its yellow cloth.

“Uncle Chai, pick a lucky day and let’s have it done before the fifteenth.”

Uncle Chai said, “This old servant has already looked into it. The ninth is a good day.”

Ning Chen thought a moment. “The ninth is cutting it close… Never mind. We’ll ask the friends we know well and make an evening of it.”

“Let’s do this. I’ll write the invitations tonight, and tomorrow you send someone out with them… For the rest, I’ll trouble Uncle Chai to take the trouble.”

With that arranged, Ning Chen did not go to the courtesans’ quarter. He slept at home.

Sleeping alone did not feel right. Something always seemed to be missing.

The ninth came around in no time.

That day the Ning residence was livelier than it had ever been.

Ning Chen had invited only Old General Chen, Li Zhixing, Li Hanru and his colleagues from the Inspectorate.

He had not expected the Fourth Prince to come, and the Ninth Princess came along with him.

A great many high officers of the court did not appear in person but all sent congratulatory gifts.

And a fair number came without being asked at all.

They did not know Ning Chen well, but they admired his gift for letters, or they came with other ends in view… After all, Ning Chen was the emperor’s favored minister now.

Ordinarily they did not dare come too close to him, for fear of looking like men building a faction for private gain. But today Ning Chen was opening his household, and none of that mattered.

Even the Right Chancellor sent a man with a gift.

His Majesty went so far as to send Eunuch Quan in person, and a quantity of gifts with him.

As the host, Ning Chen naturally went the whole round of the room.

Every man there was somebody of face and standing, and not one of them could be slighted.

A few circuits and Ning Chen was drunk clean out of his senses.

The one thing that cast him down was this: he had sent Gu Yichun to fetch Yudie… and Yudie did not come.

Her father’s name had not been restored yet, and she was still on the slave register.

Everyone who came to congratulate him that day was either of the imperial kin or a high officer of the court. Her station made it wrong for her to be there.

“Ning Chen, congratulations! This eunuch can’t stay long. He has to get back to the palace and wait on His Majesty, so he’ll take his leave.”

“Old Quan, thank you! And thank you for making the trip… Come on, I’ll see you out.”

Ning Chen put an arm around Eunuch Quan’s shoulders and walked him toward the door.

“Hey, hey, hey… None of that hanging on me. Is this eunuch on such terms with you?”

Eunuch Quan’s face was all distaste, but he did not shake Ning Chen’s arm off either… In the whole of the imperial city, not even a prince would have dared lay a hand on his shoulder.

Ning Chen swept a look around, fished out a silver note for a thousand taels and pushed it across. “Go on, say it. Are we on such terms or not?”

Eunuch Quan looked thoroughly smug. “Not with you. But this eunuch is on very good terms with silver.”

“Then I’ll keep the silver myself.”

Eunuch Quan put the silver away in a hurry. “That time you borrowed money from me at the Inspectorate, this counts as paying this eunuch back. This eunuch owes you no thanks for it.”

Ning Chen rolled his eyes at him.

Having seen Eunuch Quan off, Ning Chen came back and went on drinking with everybody.

The feast ran on into the afternoon.

When it broke up, Ning Chen held himself together long enough to see the last guest out, then pitched over on his face, drunk out of all sense.

By the time he came out of it, it was the next day.

He spent that whole day in a fog, and threw up several times.

No more drinking like that. It did too much damage.

For the next few days Ning Chen lived at his ease.

In the blink of an eye it was the fifteenth of the first month.

That day word came from the palace: His Majesty wanted him at court tomorrow.

Ning Chen felt a stir of excitement.

The Xuan Emperor calling him to court tomorrow ought to mean the marquisate.

After all this waiting. It had come at last.

The next day, the morning court.

The officials, civil and military, stood ranked on either side.

Ning Chen went straight to the place that belonged to the Left Chancellor, because that was where he had stood the last several times.

For now the Left Chancellor’s place still stood empty.

Everyone else was in official robes.

Ning Chen alone was in black, picked out with gold, and the whole figure of him was commanding — a man of consequence who kept it in reserve.

“His Majesty approaches!”

As Eunuch Quan’s thin, high voice rang out, the Xuan Emperor took the dragon throne.

“Your subjects greet Your Majesty! May Your Majesty be in health!”

“Rise, beloved ministers!”

As the Xuan Emperor spoke, his eyes came to rest on Ning Chen, and the corner of his mouth lifted a little.

“Today, everything else waits… This emperor has something of great importance to announce.”

So saying, the Xuan Emperor looked to Eunuch Quan.

Eunuch Quan stepped forward and unrolled the edict in his hands. “Ning Chen, silver coat of the Inspectorate, attend the edict!”

Ning Chen knelt. “Your subject receives the edict!”

Eunuch Quan’s thin, high voice rang out.

“Ning Chen, silver coat of the Inspectorate, is loyal to his sovereign and devoted to his country, of high and unblemished character, matchless in loyalty and courage… He first took the King of the Left Court alive, then seized Mangzhou and recovered the frontier passes, so that our Great Xuan has not lost a foot of its territory. His war record is a blaze of merit, and his labors have been long and hard. He is hereby created Idle Marquis, ranking equal to a chancellor, with command of the fifty thousand of the Dragon Guard and also of the twenty thousand of the garrison. Respect this!”

The officials, civil and military, broke into an uproar at once.

His Majesty had raised the marquisate more than once before.

Until now they had had grounds to block it.

But Ning Chen had taken Mangzhou and recovered the frontier passes, and his war record was a blaze of merit. They had no grounds left.

But to give Ning Chen command of fifty thousand of the Dragon Guard, and the twenty thousand of the garrison on top of it — was that not too much power in one man’s hands?

(End of Chapter 323)