CH 48

When Li Yuhan first saw Chang Er, he could only stare blankly at her. He then got up and clasped his hands in her direction politely. “Young miss, how may I address you?” he said.

“Bah. Who’s a young miss?” Chang Er sniffed, raising her eyebrows and looking at the man holding on to Ah Mu. He had a tall, slender frame, and his features were refined and handsome. There was a deep worry line in the middle of his brows, and he looked rather awkward after she came into the room. One look at him and you could tell that this was a fellow who lived and breathed martial arts to the extent that he ignored all worldly matters, save his little nephew. He was obviously an old bachelor. 

Li Yuhan was rendered speechless by Chang Er’s unexpected reply. He turned to look at Chen Ziqi helplessly.

Chen Ziqi stood up. “This is my mother, Yue Taifei,” he said by way of introduction. As Chen Ziqi and the new Emperor were on friendly terms at the time, the Tiande Emperor appointed Chang Er as Yue Taifei after the previous Emperor’s death.

“Jiujiu, this is my Mum,” Ah Mu said rather excitedly as he ran over to tug Chang Er over.

“Ah, so you’re Taifei niangniang. My apologies if I was discourteous earlier,” Li Yuhan said, bowing with his hands clasped. “I am Ah Mu’s Jiujiu, Li Yuhan.” 

When Ah Mu called Chang Er “Mum”, Li Yuhan was quite surprised. He thought that Ah Mu had followed Chen Ziqi to his fief because he had a good relationship with Chen Ziqi, and didn’t know that he thought of Yue Taifei as his own mother.

Jiujiu… Chang Er frowned. She pulled Ah Mu by the collar to one side and whispered to him. “He’s really your Jiujiu?” she asked.

“Mmhmm.” Ah Mu nodded earnestly.

“Does he want to take you away with him?” Chang Er asked, glancing back at Li Yuhan. Her back was facing Li Yuhan, and before Ah Mu could reply, she started scolding Ah Mu in a low voice. “You ungrateful little brat, you’re gonna abandon your mum now that you’ve got your Jiujiu now, is that it? This old mum here has raised you for seven years! I feel like I’ve raised you just to give you away to someone else!”

“No!” Ah Mu shook his head vehemently. “I’m not going with Jiujiu.”

Dan Yi poked his head out of Chen Ziqi’s clothes and looked at Li Yuhan. This man had very strong neili. He could probably hear everything that the mother and son pair were whispering fiercely about. Dan Yi suddenly found the whole situation hilarious.

Chen Ziqi also realised this, and he stole a glance at Li Yuhan’s face. There was indeed some awkwardness there, albeit so slight that he’d have missed it if he weren’t looking out for it. Chen Ziqi coughed lightly. “This matter has quite a long history. Ah Mu entered the palace at three years old, and his palace staff were ill treating him. He rarely ate well, so much so that he lost a lot of weight and turned into a bag of bones even though he was quite plump when he first came in…”

As Chen Ziqi spoke, he started to embellish the story flagrantly. Ah Mu was the pitiful young child whom no one cared about in the palace. Everyone who heard about his plight felt sorrowful, and anyone who saw his tragic state would cry a river. He, Chen Ziqi, had expended great efforts and gone through much hardship in order to bring Ah Mu over into Chang Er’s care. He had schemed to make his mother rise up the ranks of the concubines, so that she could earn the right to adopt another prince. After she adopted Ah Mu, they had both taken great pains to nurse him back to health, and that was why this chubby little boy was standing before them hale and whole today. 

When Chang Er finished reprimanding her younger son, she saw her own little brat start to boast shamelessly about how he got Ah Mu over. She didn’t expose his half-truths and simply sat down in the host’s seat.

Li Yuhan was very touched on hearing Chen Ziqi’s story. He got up and kowtowed to Chang Er. “Please accept my humble thanks for all you have done for Ah Mu all these years,” he said sincerely.

“He’s my son. I don’t need you to thank me for raising him,” Chang Er said. Ah Mu was trying to help his Jiujiu up, and Chang Er pulled him over with a sharp glare.

Ah Mu scratched his head. He wasn’t sure what he should do anymore. 

“Sigh, you don’t need to be so formal,” Chen Ziqi said, taking advantage of this situation to go forward and help him up.

“I have yet to thank Wang ye,” Li Yuhan said politely.

“You’re Ah Mu’s Jiujiu, so you’re also my Jiujiu. In future, you can just call me Ziqi,” Chen Ziqi said. He made full use of this opportunity to get on his good side and simply recognised him as his Jiujiu.

“Great,” Ah Mu’s Jiujiu said. He actually looked rather pleased. 

“Jiujiu, have a seat,” Chen Ziqi said, the new form of address coming as easily to him as a duck took to water. “The day before last, we saw a group of Lushan Sect people outside the Temple of the Earth God. Are they all your disciples?”

“They’re my Shixiong’s disciples,” Li Yuhan said in a warm voice. He was the Lushan Sect leader’s youngest core disciple of that generation, and had only been in the sect for seven years. He had yet to take in any disciples.

Jtfc Ildl mjgglfv atf mbcnfgrjalbc cjaegjiis, jcv jrxfv jybea ktja tjqqfcfv klat atf Vezlc Vfma. Pa agjcrqlgfv atja j ofk bo atf Jtjcupljc Vfma’r vlrmlqifr tjv obecv atf Vezlc Vfma ijvlfr nfgs jaagjmalnf jcv tjv wjvf rbwf mgevf pbxfr jybea atfw. Itjb Vegbe kjr ijaf lc pblclcu tfg Vezlc Vfma rlrafgr, jcv jgglnfv pera lc alwf ab tfjg ktja atf Jtjcupljc Vfma vlrmlqifr rjlv. Itjb Vegbe kjr cba bcf ab ifa tfg rfma reoofg atfrf lcreiar, rb rtf xliifv akb bo atf Jtjcupljc Vfma vlrmlqifr lc delmx remmfrrlbc.

One could see why both sides acted the way they did, but it was also plain to see that neither sect had the moral high ground here. Zhao Surou was considered an elder, and it was within her rights to discipline her juniors, but she had gone overboard and killed people. In the end, Lushan Sect mediated in this matter, and the Suxin Sect compensated the Changjian Sect with ten thousand taels of silver. The matter was thus considered closed. 

“Eh? You can settle things with money?” Chen Ziqi said, his eyes lighting up. He never thought that disagreements in the martial arts world could be resolved using money. Had he known this earlier, he would have just recognised Li Yuhan as his uncle right then and there, then asked his Jiujiu to get justice for him and make Suxin Sect compensate him with a nice bit of silver.

Li Yuhan pressed his lips together and smiled faintly.

In the course of their conversation that morning, Chen Ziqi agreed with his new Jiujiu that he would go to Lushan Sect to formally visit their leader. As to the matter of Ah Mu, Chang Er refused to budge.

“This boy is the kind that will just deflate when you hit him with a stick. He’s not martial arts material at all! If he went back with you to Lushan, he’d just be bullied,” Chang Er retorted. “If you miss your nephew, then just come here to visit him. I won’t stop you. However, if you want to take him away, it’ll be over my dead body!” 

Chang Er was standing protectively in front of Ah Mu, and the little boy was very happy about his mother’s protectiveness. Chang Er had often reminded Ah Mu about his Jiujiu, and he had always been worried that one day, if his Jiujiu came to call, his mum would just hand him over to his Jiujiu. He’d never thought that his mum would be as protective of him as she was of Chen Ziqi.

“My Imperial Uncle has said this before too. My body isn’t suited to learn martial arts,” Ah Mu said pleadingly. “I… I want to stay with my mum.”

Li Yuhan sighed. “So be it,” he said.

Chen Ziqi walked his new Jiujiu out of his residence personally, and many of the passers-by saw him do so. The Lushan Sect’s three-layered sword tassel was very distinctive, and the news of how Chen Ziqi had been seen walking with a Lushan Sect swordsman spread very quickly to the Prefectural Governor’s ears. 

The Prefectural Governor was born in a sword sect, and naturally had heard of Li Yuhan’s good name before. He was a swordsman of peerless talent in the Lushan Sect, and right now, he was the most favoured disciple in that sect. This King Jian, who he had originally thought had no backer to count on, had actually managed to forge a connection with this important figure in a major sect!

“This servant heard King Jian call him Jiujiu,” the person who brought this news to him said.

The Prefectural Governor couldn’t sit still any more. He went to King Jian’s Mansion with a gift in hand.

This time, Chen Ziqi didn’t bother hurrying out to meet him. He just left the man to cool his heels in the front atrium whilst he played with his bird in the study. 

“Divine chicken, I really need money,” Chen Ziqi said, reaching up to touch the little red bird’s tail feathers. “This tail of yours looks like a divine phoenix’s.”

Dan Yi raised his head, then strutted around the table in a circle, proudly displaying that one tail feather of his.

“If I sold it, I think I could get quite a bit of money,” Chen Ziqi said thoughtfully, pinching the tail feather as it brushed past his hand, as if he was considering whether to pluck it off and sell it.

The little red bird chirped in alarm and quickly leapt away, making great efforts to hide his tail from sight. 

“You silly bird. I’m just teasing you,” Chen Ziqi said, flicking its bum. This little creature treated his tail feather like its most precious treasure. Even when it snuggled in Chen Ziqi’s arms to sleep, it would first arrange the tail feather carefully around itself, as if it were afraid Chen Ziqi would press on it in his sleep. If he really plucked it off, he would probably lose the favour of the Protector-God.

He casually flipped through the “Compendium of Gods and Spirits” that was next to him and looked for the entry on phoenixes. In the past, he had always thought that the divine chicken was a young chicken that couldn’t seem to grow up, but now that he’d seen its tail feather, he suddenly realised that it might actually be the mystical bird of lore. The image of the Protector-God in Zhanghua Temple depicted a phoenix and a dragon, after all.

The book had a traditional line drawing of a phoenix. The picture showed a bird with two flowy crown feathers and a long, slender tail that was tipped with something similar to the eye of a peacock’s feather. The lower part of the feather was short, neat and fluffy; much more dignified and exquisite than a peacock feather.

He then read the accompanying description next to the picture, trailing a long, slender finger down the page. The finger stopped at a certain sentence. 

Phoenixes will not roost on any tree other than Wutong trees, and will only eat food derived from the bamboo plant.

Wutong trees and bamboo… Images from his time in the Cloud Palace flashed before his eyes, and an absurd notion entered his mind. Dan Yi slept in a Wutong forest and ate bamboo rice!

“Wang ye, the Lord Prefectural Governor has been waiting for quite a while,” Fuxi said, reminding him of the time.

Chen Ziqi put down the book in his hand, then picked up the little red bird and stuffed it into his clothes. He raised his chin, put on an arrogant expression, then walked imperiously into the front atrium. 

The Prefectural Governor had already been waiting for more than two hours. He paced back and forth in the front atrium anxiously. He guessed that his attitude at the last meeting might have offended the Wang ye. He had to make it up to him properly this round.

“Lord Ceng, I’ve kept you waiting,” Chen Ziqi said in an unhurried manner as he seated himself on the host’s seat. The maids came in to pour tea for them. Chen Ziqi took a slow sip of his tea, then suddenly slammed the teacup down on the table, as if he were either displeased with the tea he drank or the person sitting in front of him.

Prefectural Governor Ceng’s heart jumped violently in his chest at the sound, and he smiled nervously at Chen Ziqi. “If Wang ye doesn’t like this tea, this official has brought an excellent Longjing with him. Perhaps you’d like to try it?” he said. As he said this, he signalled to his servants to offer the giftboxes to Chen Ziqi. There were seven or eight of them in varying sizes, and it wasn’t clear what their contents were.

Chen Ziqi didn’t even look at the proffered gifts. He lowered his eyes and thought back on what the Second Prince had taught him years ago. If you want to rap a subordinate official across the knuckles, you need to use the thing that he cares about most. 

“I only got here recently for the first time, and there were many things I didn’t know. I only understood a number of things after seeking guidance from my Jiujiu. The biggest problem facing Jianyang City right now is the conflict between the Changjiang and Duanjian Sects. Since this place is mine to manage now, I will also be taking action in this matter,” Chen Ziqi said. He paused at this point for a bit, picking up his teacup and taking a languid sip. “I am an acquaintance of Ge Hong of the Changjian Sect. When we spoke, he promised me that if one of his Shidi were to be made the Prefectural Governor, he would make sure the conflict was resolved asap.”

Ge Hong was the leader of the Changjian Sect men who were fighting with the Suxin Sect ladies at the Temple of the Earth God that day.

The Prefectural Governor broke out in cold sweat on hearing this. He pulled out a stack of silver notes from his sleeve and passed them to Chen Ziqi. “Wang ye, please exercise your brilliant judgment in this matter. People from the Changjian Sect have been appointed as the Prefectural Governor before, but the outcome was no different. This situation can only be resolved by a wise and powerful King such as yourself. Just give the command, and this humble official will spare no effort to make sure your orders are carried out perfectly.”

Chen Ziqi’s face was cold as he accepted the stack of silver notes. “First, get the city’s defences in order. They’re a joke right now,” he said. 

“Yes, certainly!” Ceng Shan said, his expression brightening instantly. He clasped his hands together and bowed repeatedly to Chen Ziqi. After he got back to his residence, he immediately got the city’s defences in order. Now, Jianyang City at least had someone guarding the gates.

Shortly after the Prefectural Governor left, Chen Ziqi picked up the silver notes and counted them. There were eight thousand taels in total – neither a very large nor a very small sum. This money was enough to pay for his most pressing needs – in the very least, maintaining the expenses of his residence weren’t a problem any more. However, in order to make his fief a prosperous one, he would need to raise an army, and this sum was nowhere near enough for such an undertaking.

Chen Ziqi thought hard, then sent his Brother Emperor and his Brother Second Prince a letter each. The contents of the letter were plain; it was a simple request for money.

However, even if those two were willing to give some to him, the fastest it would reach him was a good ten days or half a month later. Right now, he still needed to entertain the Lushan Sect’s disciples and give the Lushan Sect leader a respectable gift. Water from a faraway river was unable to quench an immediate thirst. Chen Ziqi looked at Wu Bujian and Tu Buxian, who were having a snowball fight in the yard. He would have to borrow some money from Dan Yi first. 

Chen Ziqi stroked the little red bird, who was sleeping soundly in the folds of his clothes. A thought suddenly came into his head. He’d always wanted to show the divine chicken to Dan Yi, but somehow he’d never been able to. Now he finally had the chance to show it to Dan Yi!

Chen Ziqi decided to leave that very day. Brown Berry’s injuries had also taken a turn for the better, and he wanted to head back to his fief in Lu City, which was in the same general direction as the Cloud Palace. They set off together as such.

“Why are you going back to the Cloud Palace again?” Chen Zimo asked.

“I want to let Dan Yi see my bird,” Chen Ziqi said proudly. 

“What?!”

The author has something to say: Mini-theater

Qiqi: C’mere, I’ll show you something good

Birdie Gong: What? 

Qiqi: My bird

Birdie Gong: (/⊙/v/⊙/) Um… let’s go to my bedroom for that

Qiqi: Why do we need to go to your bedroom? Here’s fine

Birdie Gong: Here’s… not very appropriate 

Qiqi: ???