The young woman watched for a while, then drew something hanging around her neck out from beneath her inner robe. Lowering her head slightly, she untied the red cord behind her neck.
"Hold out your hand," she said softly.
Wang Yang held out his hand, and the object, still warm from her body, dropped into his palm.
The thought of this stranger now holding something she had worn against her skin suddenly made her feel a little uncomfortable, and she quickly withdrew her hand.
Wang Yang walked over to the window and examined it carefully in the moonlight filtering through the gap.
It was an exceptionally small bronze seal with an arched handle on top-the sort scholars called a "tile-shaped knob." The red cord was threaded through the knob.
Five characters in seal script were engraved on it: Seal of the Champion General.
The young woman drew a deep breath. "My father was Chen Tianfu, the former Champion General and commander of the Imperial Guard's vanguard army."
Wang Yang: Who???
Seeing no reaction from him, she asked in confusion, "You aren't surprised?"
"Uh..."
Should I be surprised?
I don't even know who Chen Tianfu is. What is there to be surprised about?
The title of Champion General did ring a bell, but Wang Yang had little idea how high a rank it actually was. Still, if he had commanded an army of the Imperial Guard, it presumably wasn't a low one.
But military officers had held little status during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and were even looked down upon by the lofty aristocratic houses that prided themselves on their purity. The preference for civil officials over military men had been even more pronounced than under Song. Of course, if the officer himself belonged to a great aristocratic clan, that