Chen Caozhi welcomed Xi Chao into the main hall and, once they were seated, pointed to the apprenticeship gifts Li Jingshu had sent. "Brother Jiabin, I need you to rescue me-"
Xi Chao asked with a smile, "What is it?"
There were things Chen Caozhi could not conveniently say outright to Huan Wen, but he had no such reservations with Xi Chao. Speaking of them would only show their closeness and his trust, so Chen Caozhi recounted everything about his encounter with Li Jingshu beside Gushu Creek that day.
Xi Chao burst out laughing. "Zizhong, you are burdened by your fame as the Jiangzuo Wei Jie. Wherever you go, romantic entanglements follow. Li Shi's younger sister is twenty-eight this year, yet even she pursues you relentlessly. Ha ha, how very amusing!"
By the customs of the Jin, discussing another man's concubines was not considered rude. Still, this was Huan Wen's favored concubine, and her original status was unusual as well: she was a princess of a fallen kingdom, very different from an ordinary concubine.
"Brother Jiabin, do not merely make fun of me," Chen Caozhi said. "Tell me how to handle this."
Xi Chao picked up a green jade pendant Li Jingshu had sent and held it to the light. "A specialty of Shu-superior Green Langya Jade. These apprenticeship gifts are worth a considerable sum. It has been fifteen years since the Li family's Cheng Han kingdom fell, yet they still have supporters. Every year, people travel to Jiankang to present Li Shi, the Marquis of Guiyi, with specialties from Shu-" Then he changed tack. "If she were an ordinary concubine and had borne no children, what harm would there be in the Duke of Huan Commandery giving her to you? That, too, would make a romantic tale. But Li