Jia Heng's First Visit to Rongguo Mansion

As the two brothers were talking, a sudden commotion arose outside. "First Madam You and Second Madam Lian are here."

Feng-jie and You-shi entered the hall and froze at the sight of Jia Zhen lying in a wicker chair, groaning in pain. Inwardly, however, they both breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"How could he have beaten you like this?" You-shi lamented. Having only just finished a bout of weeping, she had few tears left, but she went forward to examine Jia Zhen's injuries.

Feeling humiliated and thoroughly irritable, Jia Zhen shoved the weeping You-shi aside and snapped, "What are you wailing for? I'm not dead yet!"

Pushed aside, You-shi felt a pang of hurt. Her eyes reddened, and this time they truly brimmed with tears.

Feng-jie asked urgently, "How did it turn into a fight? Weren't you supposed to discuss it peaceably?"

Jia Lian sighed. "That Jia Heng never intended to agree. Brother Zhen offered him a thousand taels of silver, but he said something about... if Brother Zhen would agree to one condition, he would break off the engagement. Then... they started fighting."

"What condition?" Feng-jie asked, knitting her brows. "A thousand taels is no small sum."

Jia Lian glanced at You-shi. "Jia Heng said that if Brother Zhen wrote a divorce letter dismissing Sister-in-law You, he would give Brother Zhen a thousand taels too."

Feng-jie: "..."

You-shi: "???"

You-shi lifted her tear-streaked face, as lovely as pear blossoms drenched in rain, a sight to stir anyone's pity. Pressing together her full, lustrous pink lips, which gleamed alluringly in the lamplight, she asked clearly, "What have I ever done to him for him to target me like that?"

Feng-jie's willow-leaf brows rose as well. "Well! What a wicked creature, blind to all decency! You can know a man's face without knowing his heart! What sort of toad is he, daring to covet swan meat!"

Jia Lian sighed. "He was clearly trying to provoke Brother Zhen with his words. Then... they started fighting."

Jia Zhen said coldly, "Report him to the authorities. Have him arrested!"

Jia Lian shook his head. "I'm afraid we shouldn't make too much of this. If he had seriously injured you, Brother Zhen, we could report him for assault."

At this, fury surged in Jia Zhen's eyes, and his beard trembled with anger. So he had not been beaten badly enough?

Seeing Jia Zhen's expression turn ugly, Feng-jie glared at Jia Lian. "We must report this to the Old Madam first. She was furious earlier and said she would summon Jia Heng tomorrow to question him."

Jia Lian considered for a moment. "The other day, the chief eunuch at Daming Palace sent word that our eldest sister has now been selected to serve as a female official in the Empress's Palace. These next one or two years are crucial. We'd best not stir up a storm that sweeps the whole city."

After Yuan-chun entered the palace, Jia She had personally overseen such secret dealings as bribing the palace eunuchs, while Jia Lian handled the actual arrangements. Thus, he knew Yuan-chun's current situation in the palace.

Jia Zhen's face darkened. However unwilling he might be, he dared not hold them back in a matter that could determine whether the Jia family gained ties to the imperial house. His gaze turned sinister as he said coldly, "Are we supposed to let that little beast off, then?"

Whether he let him off hardly mattered.

But that Qin Family Young Lady-the mere thought of her sent a surge of heat through his heart.

Jia Lian sighed. "Let's see the Old Madam tomorrow first and hear what she says."

Jia Zhen snorted coldly, clearly still seething.

The night had deepened, but a light still burned in the study of Jia Heng's courtyard home in Liutiao Alley. Fresh from his bath and dressed in a blue long robe, Jia Heng held a brush and wrote out the second installment of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in small regular script beneath the lantern.

He had been terribly sleepy earlier, but after his bath he found himself unable to sleep for the moment, so he simply picked up his brush and began writing.

The lone lamp cast circles of candlelight over the young man's face.

"Brother Heng, it's late. It's already the third watch. You should turn in."

Just then, the bamboo curtain lifted, and Aunt Cai appeared with a cup of tea in her hands.

Jia Heng set down his brush and smiled. "I'm going to bed now."

Though he had written only a few hundred characters, he felt much calmer. Another hard battle awaited him tomorrow, involving not only Lady Jia but also the Qin Family.

One course available to Jia Zhen was to report him to the authorities. Though Jia Zhen would most likely keep the matter within the clan, there was no guarantee he would not lodge a complaint.

He therefore needed to prepare his response in advance.

Meanwhile, if the Qin Family learned that he had beaten Jia Zhen, might they think, This young man is reckless, always eager to fight and prove his strength. He is no suitable match for Keqing?

That was another matter for which he needed to mend the roof before the rain came.

As for Lady Jia's questioning, he was not particularly concerned.

Because... he sought nothing from the clan.

So long as he appeared respectful, however unconvinced he remained inwardly, Lady Jia could do no more than lecture him.

If a woman nearing eighty chose to scold him a little, he could simply let it go in one ear and out the other. There was no need to take her seriously.

Of course, the Old Madam might order him to kneel in the ancestral hall, though a beating with clubs was hardly likely.

The same principle still applied: he belonged to the Ningguo branch and was nearly beyond the five degrees of mourning kinship. His position on the boundary between close and distant relations was a delicate one-he could advance by attaching himself to the Jia Family or retreat and establish his own household.

A gentleman's legacy of favor ended after five generations. Likewise, once relatives fell beyond the five degrees of mourning, they were essentially strangers.

The clan's patriarchal rules had no such strong hold over him. Otherwise, even a charge of talking back would have left him stifled.

Of course, he could not act too brazenly either. Before Lady Jia, he needed to be neither servile nor overbearing, appealing to her reason and moving her feelings.

Jia Heng considered everything and, satisfied that he had overlooked nothing, extinguished the lantern and went to bed.

The night passed without incident, and morning came.

After getting up and washing, Jia Heng sat down to breakfast. He planned to take some gifts to the Qin Family shortly, pay Qin Ye a visit, then go to the Literary Gathering Pavilion at the Imperial College to apply for the position of Canon Clerk. As before, there was no reason for him to sit at home expressly waiting for someone from the Ningguo and Rongguo Prefectures.

Yet Jia Heng had barely finished a bowl of porridge when he heard someone calling outside.

"Is Master Heng at home?"

The servant's call carried over the courtyard wall and into the yard.

Jia Heng frowned, picked up a handkerchief, and wiped his mouth. They came quickly.

Before long, an elderly servant with an aged face stood beneath the veranda eaves, accompanied by several strong young manservants.

It was Lin Zhixiao.

Lin Zhixiao said, "Master Heng, last night's affair has reached the Old Madam's ears. She wishes you to come over now so she can question you."

With a faint, ambiguous smile, Jia Heng said, "So she sent Steward Lin to arrest me?"

"I wouldn't dare," Lin Zhixiao replied. "It's just that the Old Madam heard Master Heng had beaten Master Zhen of the Eastern Mansion, and she couldn't get a proper night's sleep. You should go and explain things, Master Heng, and let her judge who's in the right. Otherwise, Master Zhen will make another fuss, talking of reporting it to the authorities and summoning the clan elders to deliberate. If it all blows up, it won't look good for anyone."

Jia Heng smiled. Lin Zhixiao really doesn't leave so much as a drop leaking through. There's no threat in his words, and he even seems to be considering my interests at every turn, yet openly and subtly, he makes clear what will happen if I refuse.

Of course, he had no intention of hiding away and refusing to go. That would only invite contempt and do nothing to help matters.

"Wait a moment, Steward Lin. I'll be right back." With that, he went to fetch the Precious Sword hanging on the wall.

Lin Zhixiao's brow twitched. By questioning some of the manservants, he had already pieced together most of yesterday's details.

This Master Heng had cleaved a tabletop several inches thick in two with a single sword stroke. And now he was taking the Precious Sword to see the Old Madam...

He wanted to ask about it, but when he met the young man's calm, unfathomably dark gaze, Lin Zhixiao's heart jolted. Once we reach Rongqing Hall, I'll have someone take his weapon.

Jia Heng wore a blue everyday robe, with the Precious Sword hanging at his waist. His youthful features were refined and handsome, his expression as still as dark water. As he walked, the military bearing and posture of his previous life as a border-defense armed police officer showed in his imposing presence.

Lin Zhixiao glanced at the manservants who had accompanied him. Seeing fear on every face, he smiled bitterly to himself. If a fight really had broken out just now, these men I brought would never have been enough.

Jia Heng smiled. "Steward Lin, let's go."

Lin Zhixiao acknowledged him, then led the way toward Rongguo Mansion.

Jia Heng strode proudly through the Western Side Gate, passed through the Hanging Flower Gate, and followed the Covered Corridor. Along the way, maids and older serving women looked at him in astonishment.

"That's Master Heng. He's the one who beat the master from the Eastern Mansion until his face swelled terribly," said a maid, twisting a handkerchief between her fingers.

"Master Zhen from the Eastern Mansion came over here first thing this morning to see the Old Madam," another maid said in a lowered voice.

Jia Heng surveyed the Jia Residence with an impassive expression. As expected of a ducal household a century old-pavilions and towers, vermilion eaves and green-tiled roofs, soaring roof corners and interlocking brackets, lofty halls rising in splendor.

Indeed, this was his first visit to Rongguo Mansion.