The Splendid Brocade of the Painting Physician – Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Casual Talk about Prince of Lanling

In an elegant building about fifty steps away from the training ground, a group of young masters from aristocratic families were playing the game of “winding stream and floating cups,” composing poems and prose. Suddenly, they heard the shouts and cheers coming from the training ground, and some of them couldn’t resist crowding to the window to watch the excitement.

When they saw Fenghuang, who was galloping towards them on the training ground, standing tall and proud against the wind, one of the young masters, dressed in green brocade with wide sleeves and a broad sash, couldn’t help but widen his eyes, revealing a greedy gleam.

“Go and find out whose family that Northern Barbarian boy belongs to!”

“Lu Sheng, I heard that you have dozens, if not hundreds, of concubines in your household. Don’t tell me you swing both ways?”

This Lu Sheng was the son of the Assistant in the Secretariat, Xin Deyuan, and the speaker was Xiao Yun.

After swallowing the grape he had been feeding the woman in his arms, Xiao Yun pushed the courtesan away and walked over with a mixture of curiosity and impatience. He roughly shoved the two heads peering out the window to the side, taking the lead himself to look out. As he did, a look of triumphant glee flashed in his eyes.

“It’s her! I didn’t expect her to arrive so early!”

“Eighth Young Master Xiao, who is this ‘her’ you are talking about?” Lu Sheng asked curiously, and the other young masters echoed his question.

“Hmph! She is my niece who recently made a fuss about returning to our Xiao family to acknowledge her ancestral roots. As for who her father is, I’m sure you’ve all heard of him, right?”

“Of course we have. Eighth Young Master Xiao, your niece seems to have quite a fiery personality. Is she really as beautiful and alluring as you say?”

“Heh, I, Xiao Yun, consider myself to have a discerning eye. That day she came to my residence, although she was wearing a veil hat, I knew she was a rare beauty from a single glance. And that skin and figure, I guarantee you have never seen anything like it. If you could have a taste, it would be an unforgettable experience!”

Hearing Xiao Yun say this, the gleam in the eyes of the young masters intensified, and the mere thought of it made them drool with anticipation.

Lu Sheng couldn’t wait to urge, “Then what are you waiting for, Eighth Young Master Xiao? Hurry up and bring your niece… I mean, invite her here!”

“What, Lu Sheng, don’t you want that Northern Barbarian boy anymore?” Xiao Yun teased with a smile.

“With such a rare beauty to play with, who needs that Northern Barbarian boy? Besides, even if I did, that’s for later. Since we’re here today, we’ll definitely cooperate with Eighth Young Master Xiao to put on a good show, right?”

“Yes, yes, of course, of course!” the other young masters agreed loudly.

“Alright, I’ll call her over right away. But you have to find a way to distract that Northern Barbarian boy. He’s a tough one to handle!”

“Oh, come on, Eighth Young Master Xiao, you’re worrying too much. Look at that Northern Barbarian boy, he’s having so much fun, how could he possibly care about your niece? If you invite her now, she wouldn’t want to disturb him either. Besides, even if he comes, there are so many of us, can’t we distract a little kid?”

“Exactly, exactly. If all else fails, we’ll trick him into going to the toilet and then give him a whack!”

The young masters in the private room were chattering away, oblivious to the fact that their conversation had been overheard in a smaller private room just a wall away.

Unlike the noisy atmosphere in Xiao Yun’s large private room, there were only two people sitting by the window in the smaller room next door. One of them was also wearing a veil hat, dressed in black robes with tight sleeves and a belt with only a single jade ornament. Despite the simple attire, it couldn’t conceal the air of authority and nobility that surrounded him.

The man had been looking out the window for a long time, and suddenly, he slammed the teacup he was about to bring to his lips onto the table.

“Prince, I think that Northern Barbarian boy looks like the one we saw in Xuzhou Pengcheng the other day. He was almost killed by a severe poison, but the Divine Physician by his side saved him. And what those people just said… could they be talking about that Divine Physician?” a man dressed as a guard said awkwardly.

“I heard that these Southerners value elegant discourse, refined demeanor, and scholarly conduct. I never thought they would be so depraved and cruel in matters of women, even targeting their own nieces!” the man paused, as if remembering something, and sighed softly.

“What’s a niece? Our ruler…”

The guard stopped mid-sentence, noticing the gaze from behind the veil hat, and quickly changed the subject, asking, “So, Prince, are you going to intervene in this matter?”

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As soon as he finished asking, he saw the man stand up and look out the window. The guard hurriedly followed his gaze and saw that the young lady who had been waiting and drinking tea on the training ground had now stood up. It seemed that a servant had shown her a letter, and she then left the training ground with the servant, leaving the Northern Barbarian boy behind. She even left her maid at the training ground.

“She… took the bait?” the guard was surprised and apprehensive.

He looked at his master, who was standing there with a straight back, not moving a muscle, unsure what to say. Suddenly, he heard his master say, “Let’s go! Let’s go take a look!”

✿✿✿

Xiao Jinyu had indeed left the training ground after receiving a letter, and when she was leaving, A’xiu wanted to follow her, but she was stopped.

“I’ve never seen Fenghuang having so much fun today. Let’s not disturb him now. When he’s done playing, you tell him to come find me at the Elegant Poetry Pavilion!”

“Yes, My Lady!”

As its name suggests, the Elegant Poetry Pavilion was a place for elegant gatherings of poetry and wine, where Xiao Yun and a group of young masters from aristocratic families were playing the game of “winding stream and floating cups” and indulging in extravagant displays of wealth. Because they had booked the entire place, there was no one else there except for the seven or eight young masters and the few maids serving them. The Elegant Poetry Pavilion covered a large area, with a pool of water specially dug in the middle. Through clever design, winged cups placed in the pool would flow down with the current.

This was the game of “winged cups following the waves,” popular among the sons of aristocratic families since the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The rule was that whoever the cup landed in front of had to compose a poem. If they couldn’t come up with a suitable one, they had to drink three cups of wine as a penalty.

Naturally, there were other stakes involved to heighten the excitement. Money and material possessions were no longer the things these young masters used to compete and show off their wealth. The stake Xiao Yun was playing for with the other young masters at the moment was that whoever lost had to offer up one of their concubines for everyone to enjoy!

Therefore, the hall was filled with the sounds of women’s laughter and moans.

After several rounds of this, one of the young masters seemed to grow bored and suddenly said, “Have you heard? Minister Xu is hosting a Pure Conversation Gathering this time, and it seems he has invited quite a few scholars from the north to attend. Even Gao Changgong, the Prince of Lanling from Northern Qi, and Dugu Shan and Yuwen Hui from Northern Zhou will be coming to our southern lands as envoys to participate in the grand event. Heh, I can’t believe that those barbarians from the north want to learn our Han culture and engage in such pretentious displays of elegance!”

“Heh, what’s so strange about that? Back then, Emperor Xiaowen, Tuoba Hong, even changed their Xianbei surnames to Han surnames in order to learn our Han culture. But after the Gao family of Northern Qi seized the throne, they went back to their barbarian ways, indulging in those ugly Western Region music and Kucha dancers. It’s truly…”

“Why are you talking about this, Master Kong? Why don’t we talk about this Prince of Lanling, Gao Changgong? I heard he’s a handsome man as famous as our Han Zigao in the south. I once caught a glimpse of Han Zigao from afar, and he truly is a beauty like a woman! I wonder how beautiful this Gao Changgong is, and whether he can compare to Eighth Young Master Xiao’s niece, who has Han Zigao’s blood in her?”

“Master Lu, you’re too greedy. Just now you wanted to kidnap that Northern Barbarian boy, and now you’re setting your sights on Gao Changgong of Northern Qi. That’s the Prince of Lanling who repelled the Turkic army not long ago and is known as the God of War. Aren’t you afraid that he’ll hear your words and chop off your head!”

“Hahahaha… That kid deserves to be called the God of War? I don’t believe it. A pretty boy who’s more beautiful than a woman, how could he truly understand military strategy and warfare? In my opinion, he only won that battle by relying on his status as a member of the Northern Qi imperial family and Duan Shao covering for him! Don’t you agree?”

As Lu Sheng laughed loudly, he gestured for the maids and servants who had come with him to laugh along. Amidst the awkward and suppressed laughter, suddenly, “Hahahaha,” several people burst into laughter together, filling the entire Elegant Poetry Pavilion with their loud and piercing laughter, reaching even the other end of the top floor, where another corridor was located.

In the corridor, behind a folding screen, a man in black robes with tight sleeves was standing tall, listening intently. Hearing this, he merely frowned in displeasure, but the guard beside him couldn’t take it anymore.

“Your Majesty, these Southern scholars are going too far! Let me go down and give them a good beating!”

With that, the guard took a step forward, ready to charge out, but at that moment, a clear voice suddenly rang out in the hall, like a mountain spring, instantly dispelling the noise in the hall and the irritation in people’s hearts.

“How can a sparrow know the ambitions of a swan? How can you gentlemen, who have never been on the battlefield, know what kind of man and general the Prince of Lanling is?”