Kuaiji

By dawn the next day, Shen Jin had already left, and Liu Acheng received by far the most valuable gift he had been given since coming to Great Jin... a tall, powerful horse, a straight saber, a stiff bow, a bolt of brocade, and a bar of gold of unknown weight.

Liu Acheng hesitated, then earnestly asked the Manor steward, "Since these are gifts from Brother Shijian, may I give them to someone else?"

Though the Manor steward inwardly cursed him for being troublesome, he still met him with a smile. "What are you saying, young sir? You are our master's honored guest. Just tell us wherever you wish to send them!"

"Send the horse, bow, and gold to Garrison Commander Gao Jian at the Jiangcheng garrison in Jingkou. I'll write a letter to go with them," Liu Acheng instructed seriously. "I'll keep the straight saber. Send the brocade to Pass Official Huang at Zhangpu Pass for me, and tell him it is an apology from your master."

The Manor steward was speechless inside. What gives you the right to apologize to someone else on my master's behalf? I'll certainly have to ask the master before doing anything.

Outwardly, however, he still nodded. "Understood. Please go ahead and write your letter, young sir."

Clearly, he wanted to get rid of the fellow as quickly as possible.

Liu Acheng nodded and went into a room nearby to write the letter. He told Liu Jili to take the gold, buy whatever clothes and equipment he needed, rent whatever lodging he needed, and go mingle with the children of the powerful and wealthy. The bow and horse were naturally for Liu Huzi.

After writing those few lines, he handed the letter to the steward, strapped on the straight saber, climbed back onto the cart concealing the military crossbow, and continued on his way.

Only after they had traveled a dozen or so li did the followers of the Way of the Celestial Masters beside him breathe a sigh of relief.

Daoist Feng and the others first rode side by side and exchanged a few words. Then, evidently pushed forward by the rest, he urged his horse up alongside Liu Acheng and thanked him for saving them the previous night.

"What is there to thank me for?" Liu Acheng, diligently driving the cart, sounded quite sincere. "We're traveling together. Saving you was saving myself... even Shen Jin didn't really need to thank me. Once he came to his senses, he would surely have grasped that reasoning himself. His family simply happened to be rich, so I might as well take the gifts they offered."

"That isn't how it works." Daoist Feng shook his head with a bitter smile from horseback. "Young sir Acheng, you are still young and kindhearted. You have no idea what sort of world this is... people are not all the same. The same deeds and the same words are entirely different coming from you than from us... take what you said to the head of the Shen Family. Since you said it a day before he realized it himself, the credit belongs to you. If people like us had said it, it wouldn't have counted for anything. And if a celebrated scholar of Kuaiji had spoken those words last night, believe me, that Shen fellow would have bowed his head to the ground on the spot."

Liu Acheng smiled and nodded in agreement.

He was not merely humoring the man. That was exactly how things worked. Otherwise, why would he insist so stubbornly on his identity as a scion of a fallen gentry clan?

Still, whether last night or today before Daoist Feng came over to say this, he had felt no genuine connection to these people and events along the road. They had simply met while traveling and continued together. Everyone away from home needed a persona, so naturally they had to play along, pretending to be old friends at first sight and to get along harmoniously.

Could he really expect a single remark yesterday to make Shen Half-a-Commandery regard him as some unparalleled genius, or even promptly offer him a younger sister or daughter in marriage?

In this world, just as Daoist Feng had said, everyone looked at status and rank. If Liu Acheng went to Kuaiji and really managed to earn himself a place among something like the Eight Worthies of Kuaiji or the Thirteen Friends of Eastern Mountain, Shen Jin would surely tell everyone he met that one sentence from Liu Acheng had saved his entire family's miserable lives! He would also keep asking whether Liu Acheng had married yet.

Until then, he only needed to keep up his persona.

Thus, the party entered the heart of Wuxing Commandery, and this stretch of the journey proved distinctly dull. Apart from its towns, the commandery consisted of estates-estates everywhere, one after another... in fact, what Liu Acheng did not know was that the account he considered somewhat exaggerated was simply reality. The commandery's official Yellow and White Registers together currently listed more than twenty thousand households, with the population unknown. Yet after Liu Song was founded and the households were counted anew, the figure suddenly became nearly fifty thousand.

The reasons behind that needed no explanation.

And this was probably also one of the central reasons Kuaiji had become a gathering place for celebrated scholars and refined pursuits, even the cultural center of the south at this time. Following Great Jin's strategy of "pacify through stillness" after its flight south, both shores of Lake Tai, developed early, had already been divided almost completely among the southern gentry and powerful clans. Under these circumstances, to avoid a fundamental conflict, the great northern gentry clans wishing to claim broad stretches of forests and farmland could only go farther south-south of the Zhejiang-to seize land and extract wealth.

When the upper gentry who controlled public opinion and held high political office began enjoying life in Kuaiji on the southern bank of the Zhejiang, and assigning value to that way of life, a new cultural center naturally took shape.

Liu Acheng reached the Zhejiang-the Qiantang River of later ages-on the eighth day of the twelfth month. Instead of crossing immediately, he first went to a mountain estate north of Qiantang city on the northern bank... only upon arriving did he learn that Master Du Ming himself was actually from Qiantang. His family and his first Daoist establishment were all here.

That made his connections with Kuaiji's celebrated scholars, including the financial support he received from Shen Jin's family, all the more understandable.

Master Du Ming was absent, but several of his sons were there. Even after the Daoists reported Liu Acheng's circumstances, however, they showed no interest whatsoever in meeting him. Worse still, they withheld a full seventy to eighty percent of the money and supplies originally intended for Shanyin in Kuaiji. When the party set out again, only five carts remained, two of the larger ones considerably emptier than before, while not a single accompanying follower had been left behind. They all crowded around those five carts. Even the long-robed Daoists' horses had been kept back, leaving them to squat in the cart behind Liu Acheng.

The scene looked much like when Liu Acheng and a dozen others had escorted a single cart of charcoal.

The mood, however, was different. The long-robed Daoists in charge were visibly swallowing their anger the whole way. After they crossed the river on a large boat and reached Kuaiji Commandery on the opposite bank, they finally could not hold it in any longer. Yet they still dared not openly curse those men surnamed Du, and merely argued among themselves over which of Master Du Ming's direct disciples was the most outstanding.

They talked round and round, from Master Xu to the newly arrived Lu Song, then to some Master Sun, Master Qian, and Master Li, but nobody mentioned Master Du Ming's sons.

These were internal disputes within their order, and Liu Acheng could hardly stir up discord. He could only prick up his ears, enjoy what he heard, and keep driving.

That was all there was to it. Once across the river, they turned east from south of Xiaoshan. After barely a day's travel, they came upon a great lake, like a mirror laid flat upon the earth, reflecting every peak and hill to the south. Only after asking did he learn that this had originally been a Han-era irrigation project, and was now genuinely called Mirror Lake.

Here, the long-robed Daoists no longer dared continue their discussion. Following Mirror Lake's northern shore onward, they reached Shanyin, the seat of Kuaiji Commandery, on the morning of the eleventh.

With that, they had officially arrived at their destination.

But Liu Acheng, utterly unfamiliar with the place, still did not part from the Daoists of the Way of the Celestial Masters... instead, he followed them all the way into their order's base in Kuaiji city.

Only after entering did he learn that Master Du Ming and several trusted disciples were actually here in person. Upon hearing the Daoists' account, this southern leader of the Way of the Celestial Masters clearly grew interested and summoned Liu Acheng.

The moment Liu Acheng entered the hall, he received a tremendous shock.

The reason was simple. It was indeed the depths of winter, but Kuaiji was still much warmer than Jingkou. Liu Acheng had felt hot even driving his cart in his winter outfit with its fur jacket. Yet bronze charcoal braziers stood everywhere in the hall, and smoke wreathed the room. As soon as he entered, the heat overwhelmed him; his face probably turned crimson on the spot. Nor was that all. Since it was so hot, everyone in the hall, whether the man presiding, those seated or standing on either side, or the women and boys serving them, was dressed in loose, scant clothing.

The man at the head of the hall was particularly striking. He was probably in his forties or fifties, with his hair tied in a topknot and an extremely thick beard, yet he wore a garment held up by shoulder straps, leaving his snowy-white shoulders bare. Only the ribbon binding his hair was crimson. At the moment, he was reclining against a voluptuous woman wearing nothing but a gauze robe, looking so dazed that he seemed not to have noticed the arrival of the person he had summoned.

As for the others, a single glance told Liu Acheng that they broadly fell into two groups: those serving and those being served. The servants consisted of women and adolescent boys and girls. Those being served also fell into two groups. Some were as dazed as the man at the head of the hall, while others were clearly alert. Many noticed Liu Acheng's entrance immediately and were studying him.

This damned spectacle seemed... hardly surprising?

Isn't this simply the combined character of Eastern Jin's celebrated scholars and the Way of the Celestial Masters? At most, they've taken some powder or elixir and then held a routine gathering with their household courtesans, one that doesn't even qualify as a festival of moral depravity.

Still, hearing a hundred accounts could not compare with seeing it once. Witnessing it for the first time today inevitably gave Liu Acheng quite a shock.

So this is the elegance of Kuaiji's celebrated scholars. This is the decadent life of the gentry, including the upper ranks of the Way of the Celestial Masters. You're no longer a refugee in Jingkou, Liu Acheng. You're now an honorable retainer of the Xi Family, and that means you've gained access to this world.

While his thoughts wandered, a man beside him stood up. It was none other than Master Xu, whom he had met once in Jingkou. The man rose and called loudly to the figure in the chief seat, only a dozen paces away. "Master Ming, the scion of the Liu Clan of Pengcheng I mentioned before has arrived-the one who came from the Huai River region and met with extraordinary good fortune."

So "Ming" is a title?!

Liu Acheng first cupped his hands toward the man, then respectfully bowed to Master Ming in his strappy gown up ahead.

For all his constant mockery of their inability to hold office and so forth, he still had to bow when courtesy required it.

At last, the man at the head sat up at those words. He squinted at the boy already bent in a bow, nodded, and spoke, sounding surprisingly less muddled than expected. "You are that Liu Acheng?"

"This junior is indeed Liu Acheng, born of the Liu Clan of Pengcheng. I crossed the river and came south only this year." Liu Acheng remained respectful. "My respects, Master Ming."

"Good, good, good," Master Ming continued. "I heard you met that boy Shen Jin on the road. When talismans were being drawn to cure Wang Pingbei's illness, you said music should be played... is that a custom in the north?"

"No." Liu Acheng answered plainly. "I was simply afraid Shen Shijian would use the occasion to make trouble, so I improvised a pretext."

"I see." Master Du Ming visibly lost much of his interest and lay back in the woman's arms before slowly asking, "I see that you have an affinity with our Way of the Celestial Masters... well? Would you like to join our order?"

Join, my ass!

If Liu Acheng had previously been merely wary, worried that this was not the proper historical path, then now, with his newly broadened horizons, he faced a real problem that every religious tradition in every age throughout the world had to confront: What if I'm a handsome young lad with strong brows and bright eyes?

Are there not enough boys serving people in here already?

But he knew that this was no time to play the big bad wolf in front of a group of high-ranking religious figures who were very likely high on medicinal powders. He could only proceed gently... so he turned toward Master Xu, who was stroking his beard at one side, and lightly waved a hand.

Master Xu laughed at the sight, immediately rose, and cupped his hands. "What are you thinking, Master Ming? Young Brother Acheng has been recommended by Xie Eastern Mountain to Xi Linhai's household. Given his relationship with us, wouldn't it be better for him to go there?"

"Oh." Master Du Ming had visibly wilted, though it was unclear whether he had already walked off the powder's effects earlier or the drug had not yet reached the stage requiring such a walk. He simply nodded. "Good... just as well. Take him to Xi Linhai's residence."

"Understood." Master Xu cupped his hands, then gestured toward the door as he sat back down.

Without the slightest hesitation, Liu Acheng bowed once more toward the man above, then fled outside as though escaping for his life.

Perhaps gatherings like this took a considerable time. They did not depart that afternoon, and nobody even came looking for him. Liu Acheng merely ate and chatted with the Daoists in long robes and crimson headcloths. Since they were under someone else's roof, he dared not say or ask too much about sensitive matters.

Instead, he asked where Kuaiji's celebrated scholars lived.

And sure enough, only after asking did he discover that not everyone lived here in Shanyin City, the commandery seat. The only celebrated scholars here were Wang Xizhi and Xu Xun and their households, with Wang Shu of the Taiyuan Wang Clan, currently serving as Kuaiji's administrator, perhaps counted as well.

As for the others, even Master Du Ming actually spent much of his time in Qiantang. Xie An's Eastern Mountain lay farther east in the Shangyu area. The famous monk Zhi Daolin's monastery was actually around Yuyao, farther east than Shangyu. Another famous monk, Zhu Faqian, who also came from the Langya Wang Clan and was Wang Dun's younger brother, lived in seclusion in Shan County in southern Kuaiji.

Sun Chuo, the leading literary figure of the age who was mentioned alongside the celebrated scholar Xu Xun, had indeed originally lived in Shanyin. Recently, however, he had entered office as magistrate of Zhang'an County, the seat of Linhai Commandery, and was now some distance away.

Finally, the most important man, Xi Yin, was an even more interesting case. He had reportedly made a fortune while serving as governor of Linhai Commandery to the south, developed the "resolve to end his days there," and decided to grow old and die in that place. He therefore built a grand residence in Zhang'an, Linhai's commandery seat. But its design was so extravagant that construction remained unfinished after a year or two. Besides, he still needed to keep in touch with friends and relatives such as Xie An and Wang Xizhi, so lately he had spent more time at his estate in Shan County, in southern Kuaiji Commandery.

Having learned the most crucial information, Liu Acheng made up his mind. Even if he knew nothing of the way, he would leave tomorrow. He would beg his way to Xi Yin's household in Shan County rather than stay here any longer. As for his beloved military crossbow, if he could not take it out, he would leave it here. Master Xu had given it to him anyway.

Fortunately, Master Xu came over at breakfast the following morning and told Liu Acheng to prepare to set out with him for Xi Linhai's home.

The boy felt a great weight lift from his shoulders, and promptly rallied his spirits and took to the road.

This final stretch of the journey was much simpler. After passing Mirror Lake and heading south upstream along the Cao'e River, Liu Acheng gradually resumed his persona, growing lively and asking about this and that... sure enough, the "Ming" in Master Du Ming was merely an inherited honorific. And faced with Liu Acheng, whose status was clearly a level above his own, Master Xu no longer concealed very much.

"For example, that estate in Jingkou was entrusted to the old Master Ming by the Shen Family." Wearing a crimson windproof cloak, Master Xu rode ahead on a tall horse with a faintly ambiguous smile. "But in all fairness, eight or nine parts out of ten of the reputation attached to the name Master Du Ming today come from the achievements of the man you just met. His preaching in Kuaiji and Jiankang has been highly successful. By curing illnesses and driving out spirits, he won over quite a few scions of great clans. Now that those scions have gradually become ministers of state and even princes governing the realm, naturally our Way of the Celestial Masters has risen with the tide. Everyone respects him."

"Of course everyone respects him. But if that's so, won't the next Master Ming have to be surnamed Du as well?" Liu Acheng, trying his hand at riding a mule, finally could not hold back. "Yet from what I've seen along the road, the ordinary Daoists and followers below recognize only the masters of their own estates."

Master Xu looked back at him, his smile growing more pronounced. "That is why, Young Brother Acheng, your prospects would not actually be so bad if you joined... look at Xi Linhai and Wang of Jiang Province"-Wang Xizhi's highest previous office-"even with backgrounds like theirs, they have developed the resolve to settle down for the rest of their lives. Even Administrator Wang of the Taiyuan Wang Clan had more than a thousand pieces of furniture made as soon as he took office. Why must you spend every day thinking about the north?"

Liu Acheng merely smiled without answering.

"You'll understand what I mean when we reach Xi Linhai's home." Seeing his response, Master Xu only shook his head. "We both came from the north, and we've formed a friendship. We ought to look after each other in the future."

"You're right, you're right," Liu Acheng hastily agreed, though he had no idea what the man actually meant.

Thus, a day later, the two reached Shan County and entered an estate outside the town. They needed no visiting card from Xie Eastern Mountain to gain admission. Indeed, under Master Xu's guidance, they went straight into the main hall.

The slave retainers here evidently regarded this as routine. They not only set out seats and served fragrant tea well in advance, but also said that their master would arrive shortly.

Master Xu was clearly accustomed to this and immediately began enjoying his tea. Although Liu Acheng disliked its flavor, he could only join him, while keeping his guard up. After all, this was where he would spend the next few years, and he would be living under another man's roof... before long, as Liu Acheng was looking around, horses suddenly neighed outside the hall, and slave retainers cried out in panic. He turned, only to see a fair-faced boy of fourteen or fifteen storm into the hall. Before either of the two men inside could react, the boy snatched the headcloth off Liu Acheng's head as he turned to look and violently flung it onto the floor.

Then he seized Master Xu's crimson cloak, tore it off, and hurled it onto the floor as well, before shouting, "You crimson dogs of the Daoist orders, here to swindle money again?! Attendants, beat them out!"

-------The dividing line that knocks off your hat at our first meeting-------

Xi Chao, courtesy name Jingxing and childhood name Jiabin, was fourteen and studying at home in Kuaiji. At the time, Emperor Gao, the Great Ancestor, was fifteen, wandering alone south of the Yangtze. Through Xie Ju's recommendation, he sought refuge under Xi Chao's father, Xi Linhai. The two felt like old friends at their first meeting and thus forged a sworn brotherhood. Their contemporaries compared them to Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.

-Old Book of Qi, Biographies, Volume Thirteen

PS: My deepest thanks to our new alliance leader, Lord Young Master Su Ming, for becoming an alliance leader.

My unbroken midnight posting streak has been shattered... I'm terribly sorry, but I truly have no chapters saved up. Please forgive me.