The flaw

Steam rose from the wooden tub, filling the tent with warmth.

Wang Yang had just finished bathing and stood beside the tub with his arms spread. Black Han was dressing him, while Ding Jiu combed his hair and bound it into a topknot.

It was not that Wang Yang wanted a taste of decadent aristocratic life. First, he had to live up to his persona as a member of the Langya Wang clan; second, he really did need to learn how to dress and tie his hair.

The topknot went without saying. In all his years, he had never worn his hair long.

As for dressing, ancient clothes differed from modern ones, and naturally, so did the way they were worn.

The outfit he was changing into was a new set of Squad Leader Xue's clothes that had never been worn: a short blue cloth tunic above and black closed-crotch trousers below. By the standards of the time, it was hardly a distinguished outfit, and it did not fit Wang Yang either, but it was still much better than the coarse hemp clothes he had worn before.

"Ow!" Pain stabbed the back of Wang Yang's head. "Be gentler!"

"Yes, yes! I'll be careful! I'll be careful!" Ding Jiu's thick, clumsy fingers gathered Wang Yang's hair into a topknot. The process was anything but comfortable for either of them.

"Oof!" Wang Yang felt something cinch around his waist. Black Han had tied his belt too tightly.

"What is it, young master?" Black Han asked, completely oblivious.

Wang Yang sighed inwardly. Other people transmigrate and have beauties in red sleeves tending their incense. I get two rough fellows piling on misery. He was just about to send them both away when the squad leader called loudly outside the tent, "Young Master Wang, our commander requests your presence!"

With Black Han and Ding Jiu in tow and the squad leader guiding him, Wang Yang swaggered into Squad Leader Xue's tent. The moment he entered, he sensed something wrong with the atmosphere.

Squad Leader Xue had lost every trace of his earlier eagerness to please and had not even risen to welcome him. There was also an unfamiliar man in his forties in the tent. Dressed like a scholar in clean indigo cloth robes, he was watching Wang Yang with a faint, ambiguous smile.

Recalling that the squad leader's manner had also been rather strange just now, Wang Yang's Xin Yi sank.

Had they begun to suspect him?

Had his false identity been exposed already?

The unfamiliar scholar smiled. "To behold the bearing of the Prince of Langya today is truly a blessing earned over three lifetimes."

The words were flattering, but thick with mockery. There was not the slightest respect in his tone.

Though Wang Yang felt uneasy, he knew this was no time to show fear. With his hands behind his back, he walked slowly up to the scholar and said, "You. Stand up."

The scholar's smile froze.

Seeing this, Ding Jiu hastily said, "This is Clerk Wang of our unit."

"A clerk? You're telling me he's a clerk?" Wang Yang transformed into an Oscar-winning actor, arrogantly suppressing a laugh. "Anyone who didn't know better would think some great scholar-official had arrived. So he's just a clerk! Hahahaha! Even the clerks of the Department of State Affairs have no right to remain seated before me. You're a petty official no bigger than a sesame seed or mung bean, and you think you deserve to sit while speaking to me?"

Anger flashed across Clerk Wang's face, then vanished. He smiled. "Such lofty words, young master. But of course, with your uncle holding the exalted post of Attendant Gentleman of the Cavalier, it is only natural that you see nothing of the dust beneath you."

Not good!

The hairs on the back of Wang Yang's neck stood on end. In an instant, he understood where the flaw lay!

The Attendant Gentleman of the Cavalier!

The central government offices of the Southern Dynasties were known collectively as the "Three Courts and Five Ministries."

The Three Courts referred to the offices of the three highest ministers: the Grand Commandant, the Minister over the Masses, and the Minister of Works.

The Five Ministries were the Department of State Affairs, the Secretariat, the Chancellery, the Palace Library, and the Gathered Drafts Department.

Of these, the Gathered Drafts Department was headed by the Attendant Gentleman of the Cavalier, and was therefore also called the "Cavalier Department."

As the head of one of the Five Ministries, the Attendant Gentleman of the Cavalier's name would certainly have been circulated to the provincial authorities. Anyone who cared to inquire could find it out.

He had been too eager to frighten those soldiers and had failed to think things through. Otherwise, he would never have assigned such a conspicuous office to his "nonexistent" second uncle!

Don't panic!

I have to find a way to fix this immediately!

Meanwhile, Squad Leader Xue could no longer restrain himself. He slapped the table and was about to order the soldiers to seize Wang Yang.

Wang Yang blinked, feigning anger.

"What, are you mocking my uncle for not being an Attendant Gentleman of the Cavalier? My family has worn the caps and robes of office for generations. We can sail smoothly into advancement and attain the highest offices without stirring from our seats. Why would we haggle over every scrap of rank? So what if he isn't an Attendant Gentleman of the Cavalier?!"

Clerk Wang froze and blurted out, "What?! Your second uncle isn't an Attendant Gentleman of the Cavalier?"

Wang Yang said slowly, "Who said my second uncle was an Attendant Gentleman of the Cavalier?"

Clerk Wang and Squad Leader Xue both looked at the squad leader.

The squad leader hurriedly said, "I remember, I remember it was..."

Wang Yang stared at him, his gaze cold and threatening. "It was what? I clearly told you my second uncle was a Cavalier Attendant! What are you plotting by inflating his rank?"

Leaving aside honorary appointments bestowed as marks of favor, under ordinary circumstances there was only one actual head of the Cavalier Department-the Attendant Gentleman of the Cavalier. Sometimes two men held the title simultaneously, but even at its most numerous, there were no more than four.

There were, however, quite a few subordinate Cavalier Attendants. Add the Supernumerary Cavalier Attendants and General-Service Cavalier Attendants, and the total could sometimes reach more than a dozen!

Though Wang Yang knew little of Southern Qi history, the political institutions of the Six Dynasties had carried on largely unchanged. Inferring Southern Qi's system from the offices of the Jin and Song dynasties, he was actually fairly close to the mark.

He refused to believe this clerk, whatever his name was, knew every Cavalier Attendant's name by heart!

Clerk Wang barked at the squad leader, "Tell the truth, now!"

Frightened, the squad leader hastily dropped to his knees. "I... this... this lowly one doesn't know!"

Clerk Wang looked anxiously at the other two. "Black Han, Ding Jiu, what exactly did he... Young Master Wang say at the time?"

Ding Jiu was still struggling to remember, but Black Han hesitated for only two seconds before kneeling and cupping his hands. "My lord, Young Master Wang said Cavalier Attendant."

Wang Yang was somewhat surprised. Had he remembered it wrong?

"Are... are you certain you remember correctly?" Clerk Wang's voice trembled a little.

Black Han kowtowed. "There's no mistake. I remember it perfectly clearly. Those were the exact words. At the time, I was thinking that I'd heard of the Mounted Attendant, but what sort of official was an Attendant?"

Wang Yang did not know why Black Han was lying, but this was no time to investigate. He immediately nodded. "At least someone here has his wits about him."

Ding Jiu truly could not remember which two characters had followed "Mounted Attendant." But seeing Wang Yang praise Black Han, he immediately said, "I remember now too! It was Mounted Attendant Attendant!"

Clerk Wang rose in alarm and bowed deeply to Wang Yang.

"I am Wang Luo of Zhijiang. Unaware of your honored identity, I spoke without propriety and gave much offense. I beg your magnanimous forgiveness!"

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, people prefaced their surnames with their registered place of origin when introducing themselves. Sometimes, that alone was enough to tell with considerable certainty whether someone was noble or common.

For instance, a distinguished Wang would belong either to the Langya Wang clan or the Taiyuan Wang Clan. Below them came the Beihai Wang Clan, the Shanyang Wang Clan, the Donghai Wang Clan, and others. Though this Wang Luo also bore the surname Wang, adding "Zhijiang" made it worth nothing.

Wang Yang said coldly, "This is no place for you to sit. Get out of that seat."

"Yes, yes. Please calm your anger, honored sir. Please calm your anger." Clerk Wang hurriedly moved away, then brushed the seat with his sleeve and invited Wang Yang to sit.

Wang Yang sat down as though no one else were present. Clerk Wang asked cautiously, "Might I ask, Young Master Wang, your uncle's honored name..."

Mockery curled at the corners of Wang Yang's mouth. Imitating the swaggering, invincible heroes of webnovels, he put three parts disdain and three parts restrained anger into his gaze. "Who are you to inquire after the honored name of an elder of my family?"

Clerk Wang was so terrified that he dared not even lift his head. He repeated, "I overstepped. I overstepped."

Wang Yang glanced at the still-bewildered Squad Leader Xue and asked, "Squad Leader Xue, what did you mean by slapping the table just now?"

Though Squad Leader Xue had no idea what was going on, the enormous change in Clerk Wang's attitude told him there was more to this than he understood. He hurriedly said, "I was rebuking Clerk Wang for his rudeness to you, young master!"

Wang Yang sneered. "So Squad Leader Xue does understand propriety. But 'gentry and commoners do not sit together.' Surely our sharing a table like this also violates propriety?"

The Northern and Southern Dynasties placed the utmost importance on bloodline and pedigree. There was a saying: "Gentry and commoners are separated by heaven." It meant that the gulf between aristocratic clans and common families was as vast as that between heaven and earth.

Never mind that Squad Leader Xue was merely a lowly military officer-even if fortune one day smiled on him and he attained high office, he would still have no place at the tables of the great aristocratic clans. It had nothing to do with official rank and everything to do with bloodline and pedigree.

Clerk Wang hurriedly gave Squad Leader Xue a meaningful look. Squad Leader Xue sprang to his feet, almost crashing into the table in his panic.

Note: In fact, below the Attendant Gentleman of the Cavalier there were also General-Service Attendant Gentlemen of the Cavalier and Supernumerary Attendant Gentlemen of the Cavalier. Had the protagonist mastered the official system of the Six Dynasties, he could have used this to bluff his way through; had Clerk Wang understood the structure of the higher offices, he would not have dared conclude that the protagonist was an impostor solely on the basis of the title "Attendant Gentleman of the Cavalier." As it happened, both were only half versed in the subject, making them evenly matched opponents who could trade moves back and forth.