The next day, around noon.
The madam hurried into Wenxiang Grass Hut and paced anxiously outside, softly calling, "General, General."
But no one answered.
The madam didn't dare barge into Wenxiang Grass Hut, so she could only fetch a familiar courtesan and whisper a few instructions to her, telling her to open the door and go inside.
The courtesan shook her head again and again, then begged, "Madam, spare me. The general ordered that anyone who disturbed his sweet dreams would be severely punished."
The madam was nearly in tears. That day, an arrogant messenger had arrived, showing a token from a power she absolutely couldn't afford to offend. He'd ordered her to notify General Anyuan at once: "A messenger from Great General Qin's manor has arrived."
She'd pretended to make several trips, then returned to report that "General Anyuan is still asleep after a night of drinking." The messenger had waited a while, then told her to hurry again.
She'd tried to brush him off once more, but he'd grabbed his weapon and slammed it hard onto the table. The dozen or so fierce, armored soldiers behind him had taken half a step forward, frightening the madam into collapsing onto her backside.
The messenger had looked down at her and said, "If you can't get him out here, I'll burn this brothel down!"
The madam didn't dare offend him, so she hurried over.
Now she paced back and forth outside the door a few more times. At last, she gritted her teeth and prepared to enter.
But just as she reached the doorway, hurried footsteps sounded behind her, followed by a voice saying, "You mustn't."
The madam of Chenxiang Pavilion turned her head and saw a petite young lady in fine silks, decked out in gold and jade, smiling as she stood at the courtyard entrance with her hands clasped behind her back.
The madam recognized her and hurried over, her face crumpling as she said, "Lady Jie, on one side is Great General Qin, and on the other is General Ning. I... I can't afford to offend either of them."
Xiao Jie smiled. "You're a madam, yet how can you be so muddleheaded? Let me ask you, who rules Wangyue Prefecture?"
The madam wailed, "But he said he'd burn this place down! How... how am I supposed to explain that to my boss?"
Xiao Jie smiled, showing her pearly white teeth. Her smile was sweet as she said, "If Chenxiang Pavilion really gets burned down, your boss won't blame you. He'll praise you instead."
The madam froze, then thought it over.
A cold sweat broke out across her.
It wasn't that she didn't understand the reasoning. She'd simply been so startled moments ago, so frightened by the killing aura of those soldiers that she'd nearly lost her wits and almost disturbed the general's rest.
"Thank you for the reminder, Steward Jie," the madam said gratefully.
Xiao Jie shook her head. "I'm not a steward."
In the blink of an eye, evening arrived.
The slanting rays of the setting sun poured through the wooden lattice windows, casting a dim glow across the floor, as though darkness were about to swallow it whole.
Inside Chenxiang Pavilion, the messenger from Great General Qin's manor grew more and more grim.
He glanced at the sky, a trace of ferocity flashing in his eyes.
Suddenly, he stood and barked, "Burn it!"
By now, he'd learned all about General Anyuan's sordid debauchery, but what did that have to do with him? His mission was to see General Anyuan and take him to meet a distinguished guest.
That guest had traveled a long way and was waiting outside the city.
He'd already kept the guest waiting all day.
He couldn't wait any longer!
"Burn it! Burn it all down!"
The messenger had the decisiveness of a battlefield veteran.
One of the armored soldiers behind him immediately took out a black tube he'd been carrying close to his body. Inside was a concealed weapon called Palm Fire. Once activated, it could unleash a blazing inferno, enough to burn Chenxiang Pavilion to the ground.
The soldier was just about to activate the Palm Fire mechanism when his body suddenly went limp, and he lost control of it.
He fell forward against his will, a golden serpent surging out of the ground and coiling tightly around him.
The messenger frowned and turned his head, shouting, "Who's there?!"
A young Taoist nun in a Python Robe now stood outside the door.
The messenger glanced at the robe. In the past, only princes could wear one like it. Later, Great Generals had been allowed to wear them too. And now... they'd only just received word that a new kind of person could wear one: the Son of Heaven's Emissaries from Purple Cloud Temple in the Imperial Capital.
These emissaries had a special status. The Son of Heaven had granted them the right to wear Python Robes as a mark of their rank.
But not all Python Robes were alike.
A prince wore a bright yellow robe embroidered with nine pythons; a Great General wore a scarlet robe with seven. These Son of Heaven's Emissaries wore black robes with five pythons.
Even so, not even someone in a black robe with five pythons was a person he, a mere subordinate of a general, could confront head-on.
The messenger's eyes darted about. At last, he gave up on the idea of meeting force with force, stood, and bowed. "A guard from General Qin's manor pays his respects to the Son of Heaven's Emissary."
Immortal Aunt Yaozhen said, "This place is under General Ning's jurisdiction. I now share its governance with him. How could I let you run amok?"
The messenger waved his hand.
The armored soldiers understood and drove everyone nearby away, leaving the area clear.
Immortal Aunt Yaozhen raised a hand. The golden serpent that had emerged from the ground vanished, and the soldier it had pinned down put away the Palm Fire and silently withdrew. Then he shut the door.
Only two people remained in the hall.
Only then did the messenger lower his voice. "Your Excellency, my mistress has arrived in secret and is waiting outside the city for General Ning. Her personal visit must mean something important. I was forced into this and had no choice but to resort to such measures. Now that Your Excellency is here, please tell me what I should do."
Immortal Aunt Yaozhen said, "That's easy. Tell your mistress that General Ning spends every day carousing and has no interest in anything else."
The messenger said, "I'm afraid my mistress won't believe that."
Immortal Aunt Yaozhen replied, "That's easy too. I'll bring your mistress to see General Ning myself. I won't let the people below make trouble for her."
With that, she moved, taking the messenger with her as she burrowed underground and sped away. A short while later, she returned from afar with a beautiful woman in military garb, then quietly emerged behind a rockery in Wenxiang Grass Hut.
Laughter and the heady stench of debauchery drifted over from a distance.
The woman in military garb was Madam Zhao, Great General Qin's wife. She peered through a hole in the rockery and saw a young general surrounded by a bevy of beauties. Their lewd whispers were unbearable to hear, and the wanton scene was too indecent to look at.
Madam Zhao frowned, unable to hide her disgust.
Seeing this, Immortal Aunt Yaozhen grabbed her again and burrowed underground, taking her to the upper floor of an empty building. She said coolly, "General Ning is young, hot-blooded, and debauched. I've tried to dissuade him many times, but with little effect. If you came here hoping to arrange a marriage alliance, I'm afraid you'll leave disappointed."
Madam Zhao frowned. "I'd thought he was a brilliant young talent. I never imagined he'd be like this..."
She sighed, then said, "Sorry for the trouble, Immortal Aunt. Please take me back."
Immortal Aunt Yaozhen silently gritted her teeth. Burrowing underground again and again had exhausted her, but the thought of turning away a general from the old faction and drawing Ning Xuan closer to the Son of Heaven's side gave her new strength. So she grabbed Madam Zhao and burrowed underground repeatedly, returning to a patch of tall grass outside the prefectural city, where the blades reached above the knee.
The convoy was quietly waiting beside a pond in the wild grass.
After Madam Zhao returned, Immortal Aunt Yaozhen didn't linger. She vanished from sight, then silently took up a position on a hidden rise nearby, overlooking this force from the old faction of generals.
After a long while, she saw the convoy turn back and gradually disappear into the distance. Only then did she return.
When she got back to General Ning's manor, she was exhausted. After bathing and changing in the courtyard, she maintained a simple spell to "scout the ground," just in case Madam Zhao returned. When midnight came and she hadn't seen even a shadow of her, she finally relaxed and went to sleep, thinking, That should be the end of it.
Tomorrow, after reporting the matter of "requesting a ruling" to the Imperial Capital, she would find an empty spot in a deep mountain and begin refining pills for General Ning.
Madam Zhao's carriage stopped twenty li away.
She sat quietly inside, waiting.
Debauchery and licentiousness could not possibly be grounds for her to reject a marriage alliance.
She lifted the curtain and glanced upward.
The moon had passed its zenith.
It was already past midnight.
She wasn't some pampered wife who stayed cooped up at home; she was often out and about. Now she murmured, "That Son of Heaven's Emissary used the burrowing spell repeatedly today. After seeing me and showing undisguised disdain, she left without hesitation. She must have let down her guard by now. Though that Son of Heaven's Emissary wears a black Python Robe with five pythons, she's still too young."
A beautiful young woman beside her asked, "Mother, what should we do now?"
Madam Zhao pondered. "The key isn't the Son of Heaven's Emissary's attitude. It's Ning Xuan's. He's putting on an act."
The young woman cut in, "I heard from the guards that General Ning has always been like this. He may not be putting on an act."
Madam Zhao smiled. "If he's always been like this, does that mean it can't be a mask?"
After smiling, the woman in military garb swept away her hesitation and looked over her three daughters, all of them of marriageable age. One of them was the Top Scholar's fiancée. She asked, "Here's what we'll do. Pretend you're coming to find me, and follow me to Wangyue Prefecture, to General Ning's manor. When you get there... how could he refuse to see you?
"But only one of you can go.
"You've all learned from the guards what that general is like.
"So, who dares to go into battle?"
After a moment, she added, "You mustn't mention a marriage alliance during this mission. Otherwise, the Son of Heaven's Emissary will send you straight out of the city, and you won't get a chance to grow close to Ning Xuan. But you're all daughters of the Qin Family. If you get even a little close to him, you won't be able to deny it. So... you'll have to use your wits.
"Of course, you won't be going alone. Long ago, Ning Taiyi came to my manor and begged me to agree to a marriage alliance. He waited for over a month. I took pity on him, and only then did I agree to the marriage between Ning Xuan and Jin'er.
"Ning Taiyi owes me this favor, and he must repay it.
"Once you enter the city, find Ning Taiyi first.
"With Ning Taiyi there, and as long as you don't openly bring up a marriage alliance beforehand, the Son of Heaven's Emissary won't be able to send you out of the city."
Another daughter said, "Mother, why not send little sister Jin'er again and let the Ning Family honor the engagement?"
Madam Zhao said, "I want Ning Xuan as my son-in-law, not to turn a good thing into a bad one. There isn't even a written marriage contract. Do you want to force him into marrying a concubine-born girl and insult him, driving him straight to our enemies?"
The daughter hurriedly said, "I wouldn't dare."
Madam Zhao said, "All right. Tell me, which of you will go?"
Another daughter asked, "Mother, is Ning Xuan really that good?"
Madam Zhao said, "He has the bearing of a tiger and wolf. I'm quite taken with him."
Before you continue