Your Circle Is a Real Mess

--[Huayang Needle Technique: An exceptional art created by a certain Constable Marshal and his close friend. Initially a method of moxibustion, nourishing life, and refining qi into form, it later became a means of defense, assassination, and defeating enemies. Used with the 'Huayang Needles' crafted by the divine physician Bian Que, it can disperse an enemy's internal energy. Able to kill and save alike, it is a supreme secret art for overcoming enemies and preserving oneself!]

The reward for treating Su Bonian was issued.

A set of needle techniques for treating illness, saving lives, inflicting injuries, and dispersing cultivation appeared in Lu Changfeng's mind.

A roll of Huayang Needles also appeared in his hand.

"Sir, please have your evening meal."

Qing Dai entered the Snow Listening Tower carrying a food box.

Lu Changfeng tucked the Huayang Needles securely against his body, rose, and walked out of his room. "Let's not eat in the room. We'll eat in the courtyard. Have you eaten?"

Qing Dai shook her head gently. "This servant has not yet..."

Her dinner was actually in the food box too. As a member of the Plum Blossom Guards at the Princess's Residence, she received treatment no worse than Lu Changfeng, a lowly medical officer of the Subordinate Eighth Rank. But since she was posing as a maid, she had to observe a maid's rules.

This was the training they had received since childhood. To maintain their disguises and gather intelligence, they had to "fulfill the duties of the position they held." Every word and action had to fit their assumed identity if they were to avoid suspicion.

Lu Changfeng paid these rules no mind. He walked straight to the courtyard's stone table and sat down. "Then eat with me. I happen to have something to ask you."

Qing Dai hesitated. "Sir, that would violate propriety..."

"There aren't so many rules with me."

Lu Changfeng pointed to the stone stool opposite him. "Sit."

After hesitating for a moment, Qing Dai finally sat as instructed, though she perched on the edge of the stool with her back ramrod straight.

Moonlight poured into the courtyard like water.

Several exquisite dishes and two sets of bowls and chopsticks were laid out on the stone table.

Qing Dai deftly began serving him, but Lu Changfeng raised a hand to stop her. "I can do it myself."

He picked up his silver chopsticks, tasted the steamed perch, and suddenly asked, "Are Phoenix Feather Invitations very hard to come by?"

At his question, Qing Dai instinctively started to rise to answer. When Lu Changfeng glanced at her, she could only remain seated. "Yes, exceedingly so! The elegant gatherings hosted by Her Highness are among the foremost events of our age. Those who receive a Phoenix Feather Invitation are either imperial relatives and nobles, direct descendants of great families, literary titans renowned throughout their regions, or... people like you, sir, who possess extraordinary skills and enjoy Her Highness's particular favor."

She paused. "A wealthy merchant from the Eastern Market once offered a thousand gold pieces merely to see a Phoenix Feather Invitation, yet even that proved impossible. This invitation is no longer simply a token granting entry to a gathering. It is proof of Her Highness's favor. Only those who receive one can truly be considered to have caught the eye of the highest nobility."

Lu Changfeng nodded. That was more or less what he had expected.

After all, this was a cultural salon hosted by the most powerful princess in the Great Tang. An invitation worth a thousand gold pieces was perfectly normal.

But he honestly had little interest...

If Princess Taiping hadn't specifically ordered him to attend, he would have liked to sell it-it would surely fetch plenty of rare medicinal ingredients or superior medical cultivation methods.

"There's more to a lifetime than surviving. There's living, too..."

Looking at the moonlit courtyard, he couldn't help sighing inwardly.

Since transmigrating here, he had survived one brush with death after another. Only after earning several great merits had he finally secured his footing and gained a brief chance to catch his breath. With his ten-day leave arriving just then, the soul from a later age deep within him yearned above all to experience firsthand the splendor of the flourishing Tang, where "robes and crowns from ten thousand nations bowed before the emperor's tasseled crown"!

-Though things had already gone rotten, the legacy of the Zhenguan era had been utterly discarded, and the flourishing Tang of the Tianbao era had yet to arrive, Chang'an was still Chang'an! The Great Tang's capital, the foremost city of the realm, that cultural pinnacle which had filled countless descendants of the Flame and Yellow Emperors with pride in later ages!

The original owner's memories extended no farther than cramped, narrow alleys. He had felt only awe toward lofty mansions and grand compounds. Lu Changfeng wanted to see the real Chang'an.

In his understanding,

Chang'an of the Great Tang was the prosperity of "broad avenues joining narrow lanes, blue oxen and white horses drawing seven-fragrance carriages"; the exotic charm of "a foreign girl with a face like a flower, smiling in the spring breeze behind the wine counter"; the Eastern and Western Markets whose lights burned all night; and the floating wine cups of Qujiang, where poets and scholars indulged in verse and drink.

Having finally come here, how could he fail to witness the soaring spirit of "a white horse with a silver saddle riding through the spring breeze"? How could he not listen to the ringing notes of the pipa's strings?

More importantly,

As a normal modern man, he truly... yearned for those lovely young women of Pingkang Ward, whose talent rivaled their beauty!

Listening to a few songs and watching some music and dancing-that was a fucking vacation!

Who wanted to attend some damned salon and spend the whole time scheming against everyone else?

Unfortunately, he had to go now, whether he wanted to or not...

Lu Changfeng sighed. Remembering Princess Taiping's instruction to prepare, he asked another question. "Who usually attends these gatherings?"

Qing Dai's expression grew serious as she recalled carefully. "Sir, those who receive a Phoenix Feather Invitation personally issued by Her Highness are all extraordinary figures. Apart from Her Majesty the Empress, Princess Anle, and Shangguan Zhaorong, who occasionally grace the gatherings with their presence, the most notable regular guests are outstanding imperial clansmen such as the Prince of Linzi. However, he also serves as deputy prefect of Lu Prefecture and is not currently in Chang'an. Among the imperial relatives by marriage are Her Majesty's elder brother, Lord Wei, and Young Master Wu of the Prince of Liang's Residence."

She paused, then continued listing them. "Among literary figures, Director Cui (Cui Rong, director of the Palace Library), Editorial Gentleman Zheng (Zheng Yin, gentleman for compilations), and Scholar Song (Song Zhiwen, attending scholar of the Institute for the Cultivation of Literature) are also honored guests. In addition..."

Qing Dai lowered her voice. "Sometimes there are people of unusual status as well, such as Daoists from Pure Yang Abbey, or sword-dance Grandmasters renowned throughout the world, like Mistress Gongsun. I have even... glimpsed foreign monks from the Great Cloud Temple at a distance."

Lu Changfeng knew little about officialdom, and the list left him lost in the clouds.

All he knew was that Shangguan Zhaorong should be Shangguan Wan'er, the Prince of Linzi should be Li Longji, now twenty-two, and Young Master Wu of the Prince of Liang's Residence was Princess Anle's husband, Wu Chongxun.

"No wonder she told me to prepare thoroughly..."

Lu Changfeng began to understand. This was no elegant gathering of scholars. It was clearly a miniature of Chang'an's inner circle of power.

Princess Taiping wanted him to attend so he could witness the terrifying waves beneath that curtain of refinement for himself. Then, in the future, he would know whom he should save and whom he should not...

"Give me a copy of the dossiers on these people."

After some thought, Lu Changfeng decided he should learn more about them, lest he make yet another enemy. He already had Medicine King Valley, the Great Vehicle Sect, and Wu Sansi... He wanted to live a few more years.

"Yes."

Qing Dai acted swiftly-or perhaps she had prepared in advance. She soon handed Lu Changfeng a stack of dossiers containing lists of people who had repeatedly attended over the years, along with accounts of their deeds. The records were exceedingly comprehensive, and some were even... explicit.

Once he had the dossiers, Lu Changfeng read them by lamplight.

The more he read, the more alarmed he became, shaking his head again and again.

What kind of people were these?!

-Shangguan Wan'er, a Zhaorong in Emperor Zhongzong's harem, had "a relationship of considerable intimacy" and "exceedingly close dealings" with Wu Sansi, the Prince of Liang; Cui Shi, a trusted subordinate of Wu Sansi renowned for his handsome looks, likewise turned around and had "exceedingly close dealings" with Shangguan Wan'er; Shangguan Wan'er had even introduced Wu Sansi to Empress Wei, whereupon Wu Sansi and Empress Wei also began to become "exceedingly close"; and Princess Anle was actually "exceedingly close" with her own cousin Wu Yanxiu, not even avoiding her husband as they displayed their "exceeding closeness" in public...

"Holy fuck!!"

Lu Changfeng was dumbfounded. He recognized every word in the dossiers, so why did they become so incomprehensible when strung together?

"Is this really ancient times? It's hardly any different from the modern world!"

Only after a long struggle did he barely untangle this chaotic web of relationships. In the end, caught between laughter and tears, he could only remark, "Your circle is a real mess!"

The dossiers also recorded the great poet Song Zhiwen, who had once fawned over and attached himself to Zhang Yizhi and his brother, as well as Cui Shi, who had sold out his friends for advancement and now held office as a Secretariat drafter...

At a glance, the Great Tang court revealed by these dossiers looked like nothing less than a gathering of beasts in human finery.

Beneath those robes of solemn propriety lay nothing but filthy bargains and sordid affairs, all in the ruthless pursuit of power.

Lu Changfeng closed the dossiers and exhaled a long, stale breath. His interest in tomorrow's so-called elegant gathering dwindled further and further, while his vigilance grew-with a crowd like this, nothing they did would come as a surprise!

I'd better keep my head down!

Could this also be an effect of the resurgence of spiritual energy?

As the thought crossed his mind, Lu Changfeng couldn't help shaking his head with a laugh. "This really is... a wild dance of demons..."

"Sir."

Suddenly, Qing Dai's voice came from outside the door.

Lu Changfeng blinked. Hadn't she only just gone to ask the residence's seamstresses to rush a set of informal robes for tomorrow's gathering? Back so soon? He said casually, "Come in. What did the seamstresses say about the robes?"

Qing Dai pushed the door open and entered, carrying a porcelain bowl. With her head lowered, she replied, "Sir, the instructions have been passed on. The seamstresses said they would work through the night and have them delivered tomorrow morning without fail..."

"Mm..."

Lu Changfeng murmured his assent, his nostrils twitching. As Qing Dai's scent drifted closer, his expression stiffened slightly, and the hand holding the dossiers abruptly froze.

No!

This wasn't Qing Dai!