Liu Cheng escaped the Huan residence early that morning. According to plan, he would first go home to fetch a few things and see whether anything had happened there, then find Luo You to arrange their meal of white sheep that evening.
But as always, the very first step of his plan ran into a problem.
It was not that someone at home had choked to death on an egg a day early, but that Liu Yehu, otherwise known as Dage, had actually returned from South of the Yangtze!
Liu Cheng had originally expected him to arrive after the New Year. After all, the return journey really did depend on the weather; there was no hurrying it even if you wanted to... The only explanation was that Dage had made good time on his outward journey.
"Thanks for all your hard work, Dage," was all Liu Cheng could say. "It's New Year. Take a few days off and enjoy yourself here in Jiangling..."
As he spoke, he reached for some silver. The hardship of this one trip equaled three of his own official journeys; giving copper coins would have been shabby.
Yet at the sight of this, Liu Yehu instead drew two bars of gold from his waist and laid them before Liu Cheng, leaving him staring in astonishment.
"Who gave you these?" Fortunately, Liu Acheng reacted quickly. "Shen Jin and Duke Xi?"
"Shen Jin and Duke Xi's daughter-in-law, Lady Zhou," Liu Yehu answered without hesitation.
"Keep Shen Jin's for yourself. Save it for a wife, spend it on a sweetheart, buy yourself a fine tall horse or some property-whatever you like." Liu Cheng waved a hand. "Keep Lady Zhou's for now too, but find Jiabin and show it to him in person. See what he says."
"Understood." Liu Dage