In the eighth year of Yonghe, in the fresh spring month of February, the spring plowing was already finished.
Liu Cheng came out beneath the covered walkway. Seeing that Xi Chao had yet to emerge, he took a small knife from his document bag and began shaving before the bronze mirror hanging there.
This shaving was not an attempt to turn himself into a pretty boy; that was not what people admired these days. Rather, he hoped shaving would make the hair in certain areas sprout stubble sooner, then take some semblance of shape, so he could pass for a grown man.
While he was shaving, Xi Chao emerged from the courtyard with his document bag slung over him, and this time stood to one side to wait.
Seeing how seriously Liu Cheng was shaving, Xi Jiabin could not help asking, "Does it really work?"
"It does." Liu Cheng put away his knife and turned with a smile. "By the time we march this year, I reckon I'll be a magnificent bearded lord... but I advise you not to shave. You've barely got a few hairs above your mouth as it is. Careful you don't shave the roots clean off and never grow any again. Then you'll be in trouble if you run into Yuan Benchu slaughtering eunuchs."
Although Xi Chao knew the other man was almost certainly spouting nonsense, he still did not dare try it lightly.
The two left the walkway, fetched their horses outside, and rode side by side toward the Jingzhou governor's offices... Fu Hong was not in Jiangling. Just after the New Year, he had volunteered for a dangerous assignment: traveling to Xuchang to meet Zhang Yu, who had nominally submitted as a subject of Great Jin. There had been rumors that a gentleman surnamed