Hu Xiaotian smiled. "Looking back now, I truly had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai. Had I known who you were, I would never have dared display my meager skills before a master by answering your couplet."
"At the western bank's end, a pagoda stands like a brush, writing verses straight across the heavens," Zhang Ziqian recited. "Who but you, young Brother Hu, could have composed such an exquisite line?"
Hu Xiaotian chuckled. "At the southern bridgehead, two ferries dart like shuttles, weaving brocade across the river. Was that opening line your work, Lord Zhang?"
Zhang Ziqian smiled and shook his head. "I lack the learning for that."
"Could it have been Commander Li?" Hu Xiaotian asked meaningfully.
Their eyes met. Each understood that the other already knew his identity and purpose, and they burst out laughing together.
Zhang Ziqian still did not broach the matter outright. Instead, he said tactfully, "The commander is very fond of that couplet, too. He even wrote out a copy himself and presented it to Lord Hu, the Minister of Revenue." In effect, he was telling Hu Xiaotian, Stop pretending, boy. We know your background inside out, yet here you are, still playing mysterious. Were it not for your father and the marriage ties between our families, would I lower myself to come calling at your door?
Knowing there was no longer any point in concealing his identity, Hu Xiaotian rose and bowed deeply to Zhang Ziqian. "Please forgive me, Lord Zhang. I had my reasons for hiding who I was."
Zhang Ziqian hurried forward and took him by the arm. "There's no need for this, young Brother Hu."
All this "young Brother Hu" business made Hu Xiaotian's scalp prickle. Given his connection to Li Tianheng, he ought to address Zhang Ziqian as