Three Beauties of the Imperial Capital

What did he mean, it wasn't worth it?

Wang Yang felt as though he were lost in clouds and fog and did not rashly take a seat. Thinking Wang Yang was refusing to heed his advice, the plump youth earnestly tried to persuade him:

"I'm telling you, someone's already tried that trick. That fifth son of the Yin family, from the Chen Commandery Yin Clan, did just what you're doing—changed his clothes and went to bump into the carriage. And what happened? They broke his leg! It even went before the authorities! Never mind that his father is the province's Administrative Commissioner Secretary; as a son of the Yin family, there should have been no way he'd take a beating for nothing! But what happened? Not only did he get beaten for nothing, they threw him in jail for six or seven days!"

Wang Yang immediately realized there had been a misunderstanding. The plump youth must have seen his ordinary clothes and heard Black Han call him "young master," then assumed he had deliberately changed his outfit. He simply did not know what the youth meant by bumping into the carriage.

Since he wanted to inquire about Jingzhou's aristocratic clans, he offered no explanation. Instead, he took a seat and played along, putting on a horrified expression. "An Administrative Commissioner Secretary is one of the senior assistants!"

During the Six Dynasties, officials in provincial administrations were divided into senior and junior assistants. Chief clerks, Military Commissioners, deputy governors, and Administrative Commissioner Secretaries were all high-ranking officials immediately below the provincial governor. Also called "senior officers" or "senior assistants," they held honored positions.

Lu Su had once said of Pang Tong, "Pang Shiyuan is no talent to be confined to a hundred li. Only when appointed Administrative Commissioner or deputy governor will he begin to stretch his thoroughbred's legs." Here, "Administrative Commissioner" referred to the provincial office responsible for documents from the various bureaus, ranking below the deputy governor.

"So what? I'm from the Yuyang Le Clan, the son of Jingzhou's deputy governor, and I still can't get anywhere near her!" The plump youth shook his head, drank a cup of wine, and sighed. "Let Heaven bear witness-I'm not an old hand at chasing flowers and seeking willows like Yin Xiao Wu. I truly admire Lady Xie! I've carried a letter in my robes for two months, but I haven't even had a chance to give it to her!"

"Lady" was a respectful form of address for women at the time, much like "Miss" in later ages.

Watching the plump youth put on a mature air and sigh so mournfully, Wang Yang found him rather amusing. He asked curiously, "Who is Lady Xie?"

The plump youth grew a little angry. "I'm doing this for your own good! I stopped you and told you the inside story, and you're still playing dumb with me? If you want to go, then go. Nobody's stopping you!"

The plump youth seemed quite a straightforward fellow.

Wang Yang wanted to ask for details, but if he said he had merely happened to pass by and had nothing whatsoever to do with the matter, the youth might no longer be willing to talk to him.

For one thing, if he was merely passing by, there could have been no deliberate change of clothes. However straightforward the youth might be, he was still an aristocrat. Would he willingly chat with a commoner?

For another, if Wang Yang had nothing to do with the matter, why should the youth discuss it with him? Besides, wouldn't all his kindness in stopping Wang Yang and explaining things have gone to waste?

Wang Yang lowered his voice, his eyes brimming with sincerity.

"Brother, don't be angry. I really don't know. I'm not from around here. I lost a bet, and that's why I came. Thank goodness you warned me, or I really would have suffered today!"

Seeing only a pot of wine, a plate of hyacinth beans, and a plate of walnut kernels on the table, Wang Yang said:

"This meal is on me, as thanks!" Then he called out, "Proprietor! Bring us two more dishes to go with the wine!"

Black Han trembled in fright. They were already short of money and had not even managed to buy the clothes, yet the young master was treating someone to a meal!

Well, this affair had nothing to do with the young master in the first place. If he wanted to treat someone, then let him. If Black Han could not repay the money, he would fight Third Master Du to the death. Ideally, he would find a way to destroy the contract before he died, so he would not drag the young master down again.

"No need, no need. What's worth eating here? If it weren't for the location, who would come here for a meal? Once we've seen Lady Xie, let's go eat at Gathering Cauldron Fragrance." The plump youth cupped his hands toward Wang Yang. "Le Pang of Yuyang, courtesy name Zi Gao."

Wang Yang returned the gesture. "Wang Yang of Langya, courtesy name Zhi Yan."

Le Pang started. "You're from the Langya Wang clan! Then what relation is Wang Tai to you?"

"We merely belong to the same clan." Wang Yang gave a brief answer, then steered the conversation back. "So what exactly is the story with Lady Xie?"

"You're from the Langya Wang clan, yet you don't know Fourth Lady Xie, the daughter of Director Xie, whose brilliance rivals Xie Daoyun of the Jin? Don't you live in Jiankang?"

Jiankang was present-day Nanjing, as well as the Capital of Southern Qi. It was a gathering place for the great houses and first-rank clans.

Wang Yang's thoughts turned quickly. "I belong to a distant branch of the Wang clan. I don't have a place in Black-Clothed Alley."

During the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, Black-Clothed Alley was where the Wang and Xie families lived together in the Capital. Their sons who lived there were also known as the "Black-Clothed Young Masters" or "Black-Clothed Scions."

Wang Yang meant to indicate that he belonged to a relatively marginal branch of the Wang family. But he knew only half the story. In fact, the Wang lineage of Black-Clothed Alley was not the most illustrious branch of the Langya Wang clan; it could only be considered second-tier.

Of course, the Langya Wang clan's "second tier" was still "top tier" compared with the vast majority of aristocratic families. Even in the Tang dynasty, Liu Yuxi gazed at the entrance to Black-Clad Alley and sighed, "The swallows once before the halls of Wang and Xie now fly into ordinary people's homes." The departure of the swallows from the Wang and Xie households in Black-Clad Alley stood for the fall of the age of the great aristocratic houses of the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties.

When Le Pang heard Wang Yang admit that he belonged to a distant branch of the Wang clan, he immediately warmed to him.

"I've never been to Jiankang either. But I've heard Fourth Lady Xie is very famous in the Capital. She's Xie Fei's only daughter. You know Xie Fei, don't you? He was just promoted to Director of the Secretariat this year."

To encourage Le Pang to keep talking, Wang Yang chimed in, "So she's a chief minister's daughter."

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, aside from the Three Excellencies, the heads of both the Department of State Affairs and the Secretariat could be called chief ministers. The Director of the Secretariat was the head of the Secretariat.

Fortunately, political institutions throughout the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties largely followed established precedents. Otherwise, given how unfamiliar Wang Yang was with Southern Qi history, he would have struggled even to keep the conversation flowing.

The plump youth loved discussing this subject and said excitedly:

"Exactly. Otherwise, even if she belongs to the Chen Commandery Xie Clan, she couldn't have made the Yin family swallow that grievance in silence! But she's not famous because she's a chief minister's daughter. It's because her beauty is breathtaking and her talent and grace are unmatched. Together with the daughter of the Marquis of Xichang and Shen Pingdong's younger sister, she's known as one of the 'Three Beauties of the Imperial Capital'!"

"They say the northern barbarians' Elder Princess of Pengcheng is the greatest beauty under Heaven and takes immense pride in her looks! After hearing of the Three Beauties, she planted a painter in a diplomatic delegation to secretly paint their likenesses. When the delegation returned home with three portraits, her smile vanished at the sight of the first. After seeing the second, she looked utterly crestfallen. By the third, she could barely eat, and she didn't utter a word for days!"

Le Pang grew so carried away that he even forgot the customary "false" that should have preceded the northern court's title of Elder Princess of Pengcheng. Fortunately, this was only an informal conversation among ordinary people, so there was no fear of anyone finding fault.

Wang Yang did not believe a word of this story. Presumably, whoever invented it had wanted to "glorify our nation," and so arranged for the Three Beauties to deliver a blow to that Eldest Princess. Still, it gave him some idea of how famous the three women were.

Le Pang tilted his head slightly, as though lost in a daydream. "If I could see the Three Beauties, I'd even be willing to let the Central Evaluator rate me third or fourth rank!"

The nine-rank system, Wang Yang thought. It seemed the plump youth had not yet been assigned a rank, and naturally had not taken office either.

"Unfortunately, the Marquis of Xichang's daughter stays secluded and rarely ventures out. General Shen is now governor of Yingzhou, and he must have taken his younger sister with him. I won't have a chance to see those two."

Le Pang had barely finished lamenting when someone among the tavern's patrons shouted, "Here she comes! Here she comes!"

Everyone immediately held their breath and focused, craning their necks to look out the window. Le Pang forgot all about talking to Wang Yang and peered out excitedly, his fists clenched.

Following their gazes, Wang Yang saw a small, elegant ox carriage parked at the mouth of an alley across the street. Though the carriage was not large, its canopy was made of understated, beautiful satin, with tasseled ornaments dangling from all four corners.

Beautiful patterns had been carved into its body, and its painted finish glowed softly and discreetly in the sunlight.

Four men stood outside the ox carriage, wearing blue-green clothes and small caps, with short clubs tucked at their waists and alert expressions on their faces.

They waited a while, but the carriage did not move. It had been a false alarm; Lady Xie had not yet boarded.

Everyone deflated at once. Feeling that their excitement had been wasted, they angrily began searching for the person who had "reported false military intelligence."

Watching Le Xiaopang and the other youths wring their hands and sigh together, Wang Yang nearly burst out laughing.

Thinking about it, though, he could understand. Ancient times had none of modern society's comprehensive audiovisual technology, which let people feast their eyes on any kind of beauty they wished. Back then, even catching a distant glimpse was difficult. No wonder these "starstruck youths" were so "fanatical."

Notes: ① The term "xiaojie," rendered as "Miss," originated in the Song dynasty and originally referred to women of low status. Only in the middle to late Yuan dynasty did it come to designate unmarried women from wealthy households. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, such women were generally called "niangzi" or "nülang," or simply identified as a particular family's daughter. However, surviving records of spoken language from the Northern and Southern Dynasties are far scarcer than those from the Song and Yuan. Ordinary people may well have used other forms of address that are now unknown.

② Some scholars believe "niangzi" referred exclusively to unmarried women before the Song dynasty, but this was not necessarily so. Liu Zongyuan's "Elegy for My Niece of the Cui Family" opened with, "Your maternal uncle Zongyuan offers sacrifice to the spirit of the Twenty-Sixth Lady," yet this niece was married. Another example appeared in Collected Records of Court and Country: "Liang Renyu served as General of the Valiant Guard. He had previously favored a maidservant, and his wife, Lady Li, was fiercely jealous and cruel, binding the maid and striking her head. The maid cried out, 'I am lowly and base, with no freedom over my circumstances. My lady, you have shackled my neck-why torment me so terribly?'" Here, "niangzi" was the maidservant's address to her mistress, who was also married. However, both examples cited above came from Tang texts. For the Northern and Southern Dynasties specifically, the documentary evidence was insufficient to establish whether "niangzi" referred exclusively to unmarried young women.

③ The Book of Rites stated, "At twenty, a man is capped and receives a courtesy name." This was the ideal prescribed by Zhou ritual. Yet even during the Spring and Autumn period, some people did not observe it. By the Wei and Jin and afterward, it was little more than an empty rule. Many children under ten received courtesy names, and there were even examples of names being given at birth. For instance, the "Biography of Ruan Fu" in the Book of Jin recorded, "When Fu was first born, his paternal aunt took the line 'Foreigners gathered high upon the upper beams' from Wang Yanshou's Rhapsody on the Lu Lingguang Hall and used it to give him his courtesy name."