After ending his brief visit to Wen County and bidding farewell to the Sima brothers, Xiahou Xian set off back to the Capital the next day.
When he returned to his residence, a servant handed him a letter.
He opened the envelope and felt a headache coming on. The letter was from Princess Anyang's residence.
The two Xun boys' lessons had been interrupted ever since Xiahou Xian left on his mission to Hebei.
According to Princess Anyang, her sons' thirst for knowledge had lately been like that of lambs bleating to be fed.
After finishing the lessons, Xiahou Xian went to take his leave of Anyang.
Anyang sighed softly. "I heard His Majesty has arranged a marriage for you, Fengming?"
Xiahou Xian said nothing, tacitly acknowledging it.
Anyang's eyes were filled with resentment. "Fengming, those teenage girls don't understand anything. What's so good about them?"
Xiahou Xian shook his head, putting all those tangled thoughts aside. "Forget it. Let's not talk about this."
He was not in much of a mood today and turned to leave.
But Anyang caught hold of him. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going home."
"Don't you miss me?" Anyang's alluring voice rang out.
Xiahou Xian turned his head and looked at Anyang before him.
He had to admit that Anyang had a lovely, shapely figure, and her voice was charming and seductive too, fulfilling every fantasy he had about the women of this era.
"This isn't right."
"Isn't right?" Anyang suddenly lowered her voice and leaned close to his ear. "What about me isn't right?"
Xiahou Xian remained restrained. "We had better stop seeing each other. Find another good teacher for Han'er and Yi'er."
"All right. I'll do whatever you say." Anyang agreed at once.
Xiahou Xian returned to his residence. When Princess Qinghe learned about the incident involving Wu Zhi, she was furious.
She complained that Cao Rui had actually sent her son to do something so dangerous and nearly went to the palace to argue with the emperor.
Fortunately, Xiahou Xian had emerged unscathed, so Qinghe merely grumbled about it.
Later, during dinner, Qinghe suddenly asked about Xiahou Xian's teaching at Princess Anyang's residence.
Xiahou Xian answered fluently, telling his mother every detail of the lessons.
Of course, that only covered the regular lessons, not the supplementary tutoring.
Qinghe smiled. Her attitude toward this younger sister of hers had changed somewhat recently.
That was because, lately, Anyang had been sending gifts to her residence from time to time.
Though they were only little things that could hardly be called rare treasures, it was the thought that counted. Qinghe had gradually come to feel considerably more tenderness toward her younger sister.
She instructed Xiahou Xian to be sure to lend this aunt of his more help outside of lessons.
Xiahou Xian nodded silently, then lowered his head and continued eating.
When he went on duty the next day, Xiahou Xian once again attended the emperor as he heard affairs of state.
This time, the matter concerned military affairs on the eastern front.
Man Chong, who had long served as commander in Yu Province, had submitted a memorial stating that the Wan City corridor had the great river at its back and was densely dotted with lakes. It was easy to advance into but difficult to retreat from, and rashly marching into the area was a cardinal military taboo. He urged Grand Marshal Cao Xiu to proceed cautiously.
Jiang Ji had also submitted a memorial stating that, by pushing deep into Wu State's heartland, the army would face Wu State's elite troops under Sun Quan, Lu Xun, and others, and Cao Xiu might not gain any advantage.
Yet Cao Rui had accepted neither recommendation.
The reason was that Cao Xiu had written to report that he had obtained highly confidential strategic deployments of the Wu army from Zhou Fang.
Thus, after discussing it with Sun Zi, Liu Fang, and the others, he decided to have General of Chariots and Cavalry Sima Yi's forces halt their attack on Jiangling and fall back to strengthen Xiangyang's defenses against the Wu army.
Poyang Commandery lay between Lujiang Commandery and Jiangxia Commandery.
The core of this campaign was to take Poyang, thereby preventing Wu State's eastern and western ends from coming to each other's aid.
With that, Wu State's allotted days would run out!
What was intriguing was that Sima Yi, who had always served as Great Wei's strategic mastermind, had offered a few token suggestions at the beginning, only to become "Xu Shu, who spoke not a word" afterward.
When Cao Rui ordered him to stop advancing, he obediently withdrew his troops to Xiangyang.
Even as Man Chong, Jiang Ji, and others issued warnings one after another, Sima Yi remained unmoved.
Xiahou Xian absolutely did not believe that, with his intelligence, he could fail to see through the hidden workings of the situation.
Yet Cao Rui's mind was entirely occupied with the great undertaking of destroying Wu, and he harbored no suspicions about Sima Yi's private calculations.
Naturally, Xiahou Xian offered no strategy either.
If speaking up would have been any use, there would have been no need to wait for officials outside the court like Man Chong and Jiang Ji to submit desperate memorials.
After the audience ended, Xiahou Xian walked slowly out of the East Hall administrative offices.
Facing southeast, he raised his head and gazed up.
He seemed to see a general's star falling at the edge of the sky...