"Who is this?" Inside the hall made entirely of stone, Zhang Xing, seated high on the central stone seat of honor, asked the man beside him in bewilderment.
Confidential Secretary Xu Jingzu, standing at his side, hurried to answer. "Former Great Wei's Duke Mu, Cao..."
"Oh, right, I remember. Pardon him as a commoner and give him a... are you planning to return to Chang'an? It's called Chang'an now... or go to Hebei to find your cousin's son and his family?" Halfway through the introduction, Zhang Xing remembered who he was.
"This guilty subject does not wish to travel any farther." Former Duke Mu Cao Cheng wore a strange expression, somewhere between tears and laughter, as though he himself did not know what expression to wear before the Exorcising the Dragon Army and Zhang Xing. "It is already extraordinary that this guilty subject survived. I wish only to remain here and live in peace."
"Good." Zhang Xing nodded immediately. "We'll arrange a house for you in Sea-Watching City across the river. You'll support yourself from now on. If you're too lazy and starve to death someday, that will have nothing to do with us."
Cao Cheng bowed down and knocked his forehead heavily against the stone floor of the Listening to the Waves Pavilion's hall. Only after standing did he remember something, and he asked again, "This guilty subject ventures to ask Your Eminence, how will you deal with Lady Lu?"
"Lady Lu was taken away by the Demon-Suppressing Guard's Great Director of Fate. I have no authority to deal with her." Zhang Xing answered earnestly. "But I imagine the Great Director of Fate did so precisely to prevent jade and stone from burning together."
"That's good. That's good." Cao Cheng nodded repeatedly, completely relieved, then kowtowed once more and