An heirloom of my family!

"Young master, I was a fool! I spoke out of turn! Please spare my life!" The henchman knelt on the ground, knocking his forehead against it with repeated thuds.

Of course Wang Yang could not kill him. But after declaring that "anyone who insults my mother dies," immediately changing his tune and granting mercy as soon as the man apologized would make him lose face. Ideally, someone would give him another step down, allowing him to descend with dignity.

But where was that step?

Under ordinary circumstances, Third Master Du should have stepped in to smooth things over and plead for his subordinate. But he doubted Wang Yang's background, so he said nothing, merely watching coldly to see how Wang Yang would bring this to a close.

Black Han was in a bind as well. If he had no daughter, he could grit his teeth and kill the man. But A-Wu was still so young. If he were sentenced to beheading, who would look after her?

Who among the other three henchmen dared speak at a time like this? They were all silent as cicadas in the cold, and the air seemed to have frozen solid.

Little A-Wu looked at the henchman kneeling on the ground, trembling like chaff in a sieve, then at Wang Yang's icy expression, then at Third Master Du's watchful face, and finally at her father, who held his saber raised without bringing it down. Her big eyes darted about, and she rushed forward to hug her father's arm, crying, "Daddy, you can't kill anyone!"

Then she turned her little head toward Wang Yang. "Young master, you're so handsome. You surely wouldn't kill anyone!"

Wang Yang frowned slightly. "What does being handsome have to do with not killing people?"

With a look of perfect innocence, little A-Wu said, "Handsome people are all good people! Of course good people don't kill anyone! Bad people kill people, and bad people are ugly!"

You little clever imp! You've got quite a bit of my childhood flair!

Now that Wang Yang had been given a step down, he promptly took advantage of the slope to dismount and laughed heartily. "Good, good, good! Since I look like a good person, I won't kill this man. Black Han, put away your saber."

Only then did Black Han breathe a sigh of relief. He slid his saber into its sheath, deliberately using a little extra force so that it rang with a metallic hum. All the henchmen felt their hearts tighten. The man kneeling on the ground, having "escaped death," repeatedly kowtowed his thanks.

Third Master Du cupped his hands. "Young master, I don't know what your background is. There's no grudge between us, and I never intended to offend you. But repaying a debt is as right as heaven and earth. No matter where you take the matter, no one can refute that principle."

"Isn't it just money? What's the big deal? How much does he owe you?"

"Thirteen thousand two hundred coins."

Black Han was shocked. "Not at all! It's nowhere near that much!"

"It wasn't that much before, but you've kept failing to repay it. Interest accrues at ten percent a month. It's written perfectly clearly in the contract. You can calculate it yourself. I wouldn't stoop to cheating you out of such a trifling sum." Third Master Du sneered.

Black Han felt cold all over. Wang Yang said unconcernedly, "Isn't it just this little bit of money? Wait three days. You'll get your money then."

"He can't produce it now, but he'll be able to in three days?"

"He can't, but I can. The people coming to fetch me will arrive in three days. Come here for your money at the hour of the rooster, three days from now."

"Young Master Wang..." Black Han was so moved that tears nearly spilled from his eyes. This was no small sum. Even selling himself would not cover it. Besides, he was on the military rolls. Even if he wanted to sell himself into slavery, he had no right to do so.

Third Master Du fixed his hawklike eyes on Wang Yang. "But why should I wait three days?"

Wang Yang yawned and said lazily, "Is the name Langya Wang not enough to make you wait three days?"

"You... you're from the Langya Wang family?!"

Although he had already suspected that this young man came from a great aristocratic clan, Third Master Du was still startled to hear him name the Langya Wang family himself.

Wang Yang smiled without speaking.

At a time like this, he needed someone else to sing his praises. Saying it himself would cheapen him.

Black Han stepped forward without prompting and introduced him. "This is Young Master Wang, the Prince of Langya. His uncle holds the office of Cavalier Attendant!"

"Cavalier Attendant?" Suspicion filled Third Master Du's eyes. His gaze settled on Wang Yang's face, as though trying to catch the slightest change in his expression. "There's only one member of the Langya Wang family in Jingzhou City, the gentleman living in the Ding Family Old Residence on Shoukang Lane. His surname is Wang, his given name Tai, and he's thirty-nine. You're very young, sir. You certainly don't look thirty-nine."

With his eyes half closed, Wang Yang patted his thigh and recited in a leisurely cadence:

"The drums resound with thunder, we leap to take up arms. Others raise earthworks in our homeland and wall Cao; I alone march south."

Everyone was bewildered. No one present had read the Book of Songs, so they did not know what Wang Yang was reciting, though they could still tell it was poetry. The intonation, however, was exceedingly strange, quite unlike ordinary speech.

Third Master Du frowned. "What do you mean by this?"

Ignoring him, Wang Yang continued reciting. "Following Sun Zizhong, we bring peace to Chen and Song. He will not let us return; my heart is heavy with sorrow."

Third Master Du had seen and heard much. He could tell that Wang Yang's intonation was heavily nasal, with drawn-out syllables, and seemed somewhat like northern speech.

"Where shall we dwell, where shall we rest? Where did we lose our horses? Where shall we seek them? Beneath the forest trees."

The longer Wang Yang recited, the more he warmed to it. Amid the resonant, ringing sounds, the others gradually began to hear the poetry's rhythm. Just as they were about to listen further, the recitation stopped abruptly.

Everyone in the room looked at Wang Yang in confusion. Wang Yang looked at Third Master Du. "Do you understand now?"

Third Master Du was baffled. "This... understand what?"

An arrogant look appeared on Wang Yang's face. "This is the 'Luosheng Chant,' the proper pronunciation of the Central Plains! Since the Five Hu threw China into chaos and the gentry crossed south, few have been able to produce these sounds. Though there are many aristocratic clans south of the Yangtze, they can speak only the 'Wu Dialect'! But to me, this is an heirloom of my family. What difficulty could there be?"

The aristocratic clans of the Southern Dynasties fell into two groups. The first consisted of eminent Central Plains families that had migrated from the north after the Five Hu threw China into chaos. Since they had settled away from their ancestral homes south of the Yangtze, they were known as "immigrant clans." The Langya Wang family and the Chen Commandery Xie Clan were representative examples.

The other group consisted of native families that had lived south of the Yangtze since the Eastern Wu era. They were known as "Wu clans."

A hierarchy of contempt had always existed within the aristocracy: the immigrant clans looked down on the Wu clans. They disdained not only their bloodlines, culture, and learning, but even their accents. Thus, despite having lived among them for generations, some old Central Plains clans still insisted on learning northern pronunciation, refusing to be assimilated into the Wu Dialect.

Yet as time passed, the blending of northern and southern pronunciation was inevitable. Against this trend, the "Luosheng Chant" became a rather distinctive "skill."

The "Luosheng Chant" referred to the standard refined pronunciation used by students at the imperial academy in Luoyang when chanting the Confucian classics before the Eastern Jin. Ordinary aristocratic youths could not perform it at all. Only great immigrant clans with orthodox pedigrees and inherited traditions of family learning could nurture children capable of the "Luosheng Chant."

Wang Yang had never had the chance to be steeped in a great clan's family learning, but he had received modern academic training. In "On the Qieyun in Light of Historical Facts," Chen Yinke had pointed out that the Sui-era rhyme dictionary Qieyun represented the system of old Luoyang pronunciation from before the southward migration of the Eastern Jin. This "old Luoyang pronunciation" was precisely the pronunciation used in the "Luosheng Chant."

Thus, Wang Yang's "Luosheng Chant" relied on the Qieyun, a book that had yet to appear in this era. Although it could not perfectly reproduce standard Luo pronunciation, it came fairly close.

For one thing, so much time had passed that northern pronunciation had not been faithfully transmitted, and an authentic Luosheng Chant was already rare. For another, Third Master Du was neither a master of historical phonology nor the son of a great immigrant clan. How could he possibly distinguish one Luosheng Chant from another?

But he had heard northern speech and had also heard of the immigrant aristocracy's reverence for the so-called "proper sounds of the Central Plains." Thus, Wang Yang's "recitation performance" still left him awestruck.

More importantly,

Suddenly reciting poetry in the middle of negotiations, carrying on as though no one else in the room existed-that really was the damned bearing of a great aristocratic clan!

Note: Using the "Luosheng Chant" to overawe others was hardly unique to Wang Yang. Huan Wen once laid on a Hongmen-style banquet, stationing armed soldiers everywhere to intimidate the court officials. Xie An performed the Luosheng Chant before everyone, and Huan Wen, "awed by his lofty detachment, promptly ordered the troops withdrawn." (A New Account of Tales of the World, "Magnanimity.") Another example appears in the historical passage from the Book of Southern Qi quoted in the author's notes: when mountain Lao tribesmen were about to kill Zhang Rong and eat his flesh, Zhang Rong "performed the Luosheng Chant; the bandits found him extraordinary and did him no harm."

One rumor claims that "the Five Barbarians’ Upheaval" was an expression coined only in later ages. In fact, it existed long before. During the Liu Song, He Changzhi said, "Moreover, since the Five Barbarians’ Upheaval, the people have been plunged into mud and burning coals, and those who died unjustly or violently are beyond counting." (Collection of Extensive Clarification, "Reply to Emperor Wen of Song on Praising Buddhism.") As for the terms "Five Hu" and "throwing China into chaos," their use was earlier still. "Five Hu," in particular, was a commonly used concept in medieval China.