CH 1

The moon shone brightly in the sky this midsummer night. Birds flew across the cloudless sky, leaving the soft echo of their beating wings in the silent capital under curfew.

On the Zhanghua Pavilion, moonlight gleamed on a smooth bluestone slab like winter frost, faintly revealing the pale patterns on its surface, the lines intermingling in a complicated fashion.

The High Priest*, clad in a silver brocade huafu* delicately patterned with clouds, stood in the very centre of the Zhanghua Pavilion, chanting with his eyes closed. Behind him stood seven princes, all with their heads deferentially lowered, not daring to look around.

*T/N: I’ve translated guoshi (国师) as High Priest.

Huafu is ancient Chinese attire worn by the nobility. It’s an elaborate long sleeved robe with many layers of clothing. Google “华服” for an image.

“God will soon alight upon us. Your Highnesses, please,” the High Priest. He did not turn around, and only gave this calm instruction.

Behind the Zhanghua Pavilion was the Zhanghua Temple. This was the temple that enshrined the God that the current dynasty had relied upon generation after generation. The seven princes filed into the temple, scrupulously sitting down on the round prayer mats on the temple floor to await the coming of God.

The legends said that when God descended, the Zhanghua Pavilion would glow bright as a sun, so bright that its glow could be seen across half the capital. The Emperor and his Ministers of Court waited expectantly below the Zhanghua Pavilion for the shining moment of God’s descent.

An incense time* passed. The moon shone calmly down, and the stars glittered prettily in the night sky.

*T/N: An incense time, or the time taken for a stick of incense to burn, is about 5 minutes.

An hour passed. The breeze blew gently, and nocturnal birds called to each other in the quiet night.

Another hour passed…

…but nothing happened.

The Emperor could no longer sit still. He gathered up his robes and climbed up onto Zhanghua Pavilion.

“High Priest, what’s going on?”

The High Priest was quiet for a moment. He looked at the silent Zhanghua Pavilion.

“If the Imperial descendants are not all in attendance, God will not alight.”

Essentially, God was not willing to select one of the princes today, and wanted the Imperial descendants who were scattered in the general populace to be gathered before him before He would make His divine decision.

On hearing this, irritation flashed on the Emperor’s face.

“Zhen* will get people to look for them,” he eventually said, after mumbling discontentedly under his breath for some time.

*T/N: Zhen (朕) is how the Emperor refers to himself. It basically means I. The Chinese have a million ways of saying “I” that don’t translate to English.

In the Zhanghua Temple, the seven princes looked awkwardly at each other. The High Priest’s euphemistic explanation earlier really only had one meaning – that God did not favour any of them present today.

A round, fluffy red chick scanned the seven princes, its gaze disinterested. It was standing steadily in the shadows of the temple rafters, and had gone entirely unnoticed in the whole process.

[Jiuru Town, Southwest Fortress]

Jiuru Town was a prosperous town at the intersection of many travel routes, bustling with people and activity all year round. However, it was also in a far-flung location, and no one had claimed jurisdiction over it. There were trades aplenty on the main street – mercenaries, medical shops, fortune tellers – you name it, you have it.

“BANG!” Someone fell from the sky and knocked down the fortune telling stall.

“Brother, be careful,” a man who looked like a ruffian said, standing up immediately to help the fallen man up.

“Many thanks!” the fallen man said, clasping his fist and palm together in greeting. He grit his teeth and dashed out again, fighting hard with the large fellow who pushed him into the fortune teller’s stall.

The ruffian exchanged a look with the fortune teller, grinning as he tested the weight of the money pouch that he had just stolen. He then curled his lip at the two who were still fighting.

“Idiot,” he muttered under his breath.

The ruffian and the fortune teller quickly packed up the stall, and the fortune teller pulled off his robes, revealing his brown shirt and pants, identical to the one the ruffian was wearing.

Two ruffians were sitting at the side of the street. One of them was smiling foolishly at the coquettish girls directly opposite him; the girls hid smiles behind little hankies and were soliciting business at the main door of the Scarlet Robe Court. The other ruffian was scanning the street intently, and when he saw a small figure emerge from the crowd, his small, sneaky-looking eyes lit up.

“Xiao Qi!”*the ruffian called. He ran over quickly to meet the boy, who looked to be only about five or six years old.

*T/N: It’s common practice to call children Xiao [insert syllable of child’s name]. Xiao means small. We Chinese find it cute to address children this way.

The little boy was very good looking, with pink lips, a straight nose, and large peach blossom eyes. Even the coarse peasant clothing he wore could not hide his good looks. The boy and his mother lived in the outskirts of Jiuru Town with his uncle’s family. He didn’t know who his father was, so he took on his mother’s family name, which was “Chang”. His uncle named him “Chang Qi”*, a very inauspicious-sounding name.

*T/N: This roughly means constant sadness.

“Xiao Chen Ge*,” Chang Qi said, quickening his pace as he saw the ruffian approach. When he was within reach, he leapt up and clapped the ruffian on the shoulder by way of greeting.

*T/N: Ge is how you address an older male who is still a young man. It means “brother”.

Xiao Chen reached out to catch him, and then brought him into an alley. He took out a child-sized brocade robe.

“Wear this quickly, Mr Ma will be coming to the brothel very shortly,” Xiao Chen instructed.

“This bastard is going to get married the day after tomorrow, and he’s still fooling around in a brothel? I’ll show him later… eh, this material’s not bad, where did you get this from?”

Chang Qi expertly slipped on the huafu*. The clothes were very luxurious, with a plum-patterned inner layer made of ice brocade, and a wine-coloured outer robe. The only issue was that it was a little too long for Chang Qi, such that the hem would get stepped on when he walked.

*T/N: A huafu refers to Chinese robes worn by the nobility.

“I just stole it from Yunjinzhai (a shop),” Xiao Chen said with a touch of pride. He squatted down to help Chang Qi arrange his robes. “Mr Ma is betrothed to the Wang family’s daughter – her name is Wanrong. You got it?”

“Got it, Wanrong,” Chang Qi winked. Raising his chin, he folded his hands behind his back and walked out of the alley with the imperious air of a spoiled young noble.

Two of the ruffians followed behind Chang Qi, and the three walked grandly into Scarlet Robe Court. The girls at the door gave them a knowing smile, and Chang Qi reached out to gently tug at one of the girls’ clothes.

“Xiaoru jie*,” Chang Qi mouthed at the girl whose clothes he just tugged.

*T/N: Jie or jiejie is a Chinese mode of address for an elder female who is still a young lady. An lady who is not considered a young lady would be addressed as an “aunt”.

Xiaoru flicked him lightly on the head, and surreptitiously passed two sweets to him.

Without changing his expression, Chang Qi smoothly hid the sweets in his sleeve, and stepped over the threshold. He looked around, and found his target sitting at one of the tables in the main hall, surrounded by courtesans.

His target was an overweight, large-eared man. He was presently drinking wine, and he clutched a courtesan in each arm. This was the Mr Ma he was looking for. Mr Ma had just entered into a betrothal agreement with a distinguished family, but apparently still had the guts to engage in debauchery.

Chang Qi strode over quickly, and landed a solid slap on Mr Ma’s thickset back.

“Jiefu!” he said.

*Jiefu is how you would address your older sister’s husband.

“What?” Mr Ma was shocked. He squirmed left and right, looked high and low, and finally his gaze fell upon the short little boy.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I am Wang Wanru’s little brother. I saw you just two days ago, when you came over to my house!” Chang Qi said, grinning widely. His ability to act as a spoiled, rude young master was 10/10.

Mr Ma looked at this delicate, good looking little boy, and then looked at the two persons following behind him. His heart skipped a beat. He knew Wanru had a little brother, but he had never met him formally. Young children were playful, and it was not surprising that the little brother had somehow managed to sneak a peek at him when he was last at the Wang estate. The real issue here was that he, Mr Ma, was meeting his brother-in-law for the first time in a brothel. It was truly… awkward.

“Ah, little brother, why did you come here?” Mr Ma asked, looking around anxiously. He was really worried that the old Mr Wang, his fiancee’s father, might be nearby as well.

“I came out to do some shopping, but I forgot to bring money, and just so happened to see you here,” Chang Qi laughed innocently. “Jiefu, could you lend me five taels of silver? I want to get… ah, just lend it to me.”

Upon hearing this, Mr Ma rolled his eyes, thinking that this little jiuzi* must want to buy something unspeakable. Having drawn this conclusion, he pulled Chang Qi closer to him, and said in low tone, “I don’t carry that much money with me and can only give you three taels. But we have a deal, yes? You won’t say anything to your mum and dad about running into me here. If you say anything, I’ll tell on you too.”

*T/N: Jiuzi is how you would address a brother-in-law.

Chang Qi furrowed his brows, making a show of thinking for a while, then replied, “Deal!”

Mr Ma immediately pulled out his money pouch, and gave him all the money that he had in there, which amount to three taels of silver.

“Thanks Jiefu, I’ll return this to you another day,” he said, smiling exuberantly.

“Off with you, then,” Mr Ma said. He raised his eyebrows and exchanged a tacit look with Chang Qi.

Chang Qi rolled his eyes heavenward the moment he turned around. What tacit understanding would I have with you, idiot?

He walked out of Scarlet Robe Court with the same imperious air he had when he entered, and once they had left the building, Chang Qi exchanged a meaningful look with the two ruffians. Xiao Chen picked Chang Qi up in his arms and ran like the wind, only stopping when he ducked into a small alley to hide.

“Hahaha, that dumbass!” the three of them guffawed. Chang Qi pulled off the huafu, tossed it to Xiao Chen, and then took out the three taels of silver to split between them equally.

“Are you going to pawn the clothes?” Chang Qi asked. He felt around for the sweets that Xiaoru Jie gave him, and tossed one into into his mouth.

“Pawn? Nah, if I did that, I’d be found out. I’m going to return this to Yunjinzhai,” Xiao Chen replied. He picked up the clothes and shook it to get the dust off.

“Yes, this is the ‘Way of Thieves’!” said another ruffian, agreeing with Xiao Chen’s plan.

“Woah,” Chang Qi said, nodding. He learnt something new today; even thieves had ethics. He bade farewell to the ruffians, and put his one tael of silver from today’s takings into one of his socks before putting on his shoes, donning an innocent expression, and making his way home.

The day was still young, and Jiuru Town was lively as usual.

“Little brother, where’s your family? Are you lost?” a wrinkled old lady asked him, smiling.

“My family’s right behind you,” Chang Qi said, an earnest expression on his face.

The old lady turned in surprise, but found nothing behind her. She turned back to Chang Qi, but the pretty little child had disappeared. She stamped her foot in frustration. This Jiuru town truly had bad fengshui; even kidnapping a child was particularly difficult.

“Walk the walk, talk the talk, watch your supplies like a hawk! Feed a goose, feed a moose, but don’t let a rat run loose!” the rat poison seller piped in a singsong voice. His voice could be clearly heard from afar. Chang Qi walked past one stall, then decidedly walked back to the rat poison seller.

“Mister, do you have something that causes sores on the mouth and tongue?” Chang Qi said, picking up a bag of rat poison to examine as he did so.

“Ha, I don’t carry goods that cause harm to humans,” the rat poison seller said, his bushy beard twitching as he chuckled.

Chang Qi dropped the bag of rat poison and turned to leave, but then heard the seller say in a low tone, “However, if you want to harm some vermin, I might have something suitable.”

Chang Qi had already taken two steps away from the stall at that point, but upon hearing this, he immediately turned around.

“Yup, harming vermin is exactly my purpose.”

“That’ll be two wen*,” Bushy Beard said. He fished out a little yellow packet about the size of a copper coin from his inner clothes.

*A wen is a small denomination of money.

Chang Qi accepted the yellow packet, and gave Bushy Beard the two wen.

“Have a rat concern? Don’t be burned. My medicine only costs two wen! Do not fret, don’t be upset, buy now or you will regret!” Bushy Beard piped again in his singsong voice, beaming at Chang Qi for reasons unknown.

Chang Qi lived in the farming village on the outskirts of town. There was a huge chicken farm there, as well as arable farms growing produce. The entire village and its farms belonged to a martial arts sect called the Jingang Sect. His uncle, Chang Sheng, was one of the Jingang Sect’s disciples, but not an important one, as his cultivation ability was not high. He was therefore cast to the farmlands to oversee the Sect’s property.

The farmlands were closely guarded by people, and ordinary folk could not enter.

Chang Qi leaned on the fence, looking at the lively chickens scratching and flapping in the chicken pens. He swallowed hard. This morning, when he came to assist with collecting eggs, his pay was just one egg.

“Xiao Qi, you managed to get some money?” asked the person in charge of the chicken farm. He was slaughtering chickens. Every day, they would slaughter a few, and send them to the restaurants in Jiuru Town.

“Old Uncle Qiu, I’d like to buy half a chicken, can I?” Chang Qi asked, taking out some money from one of his socks.

“Of course you can, why would you not be able to?” Old Uncle Qiu said, ruffling Chang Qi’s hair affectionately. “I heard your mother is sick?”

“Yes, I want to make some chicken soup for her to drink,” Chang Qi said, looking every bit the dutiful son. His bright, large eyes were a little misty, and anyone who looked at him could not help but feel at least a prick of sympathy.

Old Uncle Qiu gave him the half-chicken he asked for, and also threw in some chicken intestines and gizzards for free. Chang Qi thanked him and carried his half-chicken back home. A fat little child stopped him at the entrance to his home.

“Chang Qi, did you steal again?” the little fatty asked. This was Chang Qi’s cousin, Chang Jiabao. He was a younger cousin, but was taller than Chang Qi by a full half-head, and looked to be seven or eight years old.

“Yo, our Xiao Qi has hit it big today!” said his aunt, who was, like her son, also rather fat. She sashayed out to where Chang Jiabao was. “Come, give the chicken to me.”

“My mother is sick. I need to boil chicken soup for her,” Chang Qi said. He hid the chicken behind his back protectively, looking warily at his aunt. His aunt had a black mole at the corner of her mouth and was not good looking to begin with. Today, she looked even uglier than usual to him.

“You’ve already stolen a chicken, and now you dare to hide it? Give it here, or I will tell my daddy!” Chang Jiabao said confidently, standing next to his mother.

The neighbours all came out upon hearing this commotion. This Chang family could never go more than two or three days without quarreling; it was never-ending entertainment for the whole neighbourhood.

Chang Qi pressed his lips together. He took hold of the chicken intestines in one hand, and extended these to his aunt and cousin with a serious expression.

“These aren’t stolen. Old Uncle Qiu washed these intestines clean and gave it to me. If you don’t believe me, you can try it for yourself.”

With this, he shoved the raw chicken guts into his cousin’s mouth.