Chapter 54

"Light, clear, fine and fair — the southeast is first among them..."

One hand propping his cheek, the other turning pages, Zhuo Siheng was near worn out of patience by the Qingyi Lu, written by Tao Gu of the former dynasty.

The book told in fine, scattered detail much of southern life, but hadn't the content he was looking for.

Jinzhou lay in a corner of the southeast, once belonging with Leizhou and Wuzhou to the ancient kingdom of Dianyue; since the old dynasty unified the realm centuries ago, through however many changes of dynasty and surname over the land, the name Jinzhou had been used unbroken to this day.

The emperor had indeed found him a fairly decent place.

The three southern prefectures — Weizhou, Wuzhou, Leizhou — and the four northern prefectures were all lands of extreme remoteness; by comparison, just north of Jinzhou lay the bustling, prosperous Jiangnan Prefecture, and though the Xiapeng Mountains formed a natural barrier hard to cross by land, the sea route was easy and quick, so it wasn't a place that must have mountains cut and roads hewn to reach.

Jinzhou's prefectural seat and its harbor were both in Yongming City, but the Anhua Commandery Zhuo Siheng was bound for lay, unluckily, inland. By the limited materials he'd found, Anhua Commandery was the poorest and most backward of Jinzhou's four commanderies: Chaoping and Yongming Commanderies lived off the sea, their shipping flourishing, counting among the rich and easy lands of the whole southern dynasty; Huyang Commandery, though not so famed as those two, as its name implied — thanks to the fine geography of Lanxi Lake in the lower Yue River — had made itself a settled, well-watered region too.

Only Anhua Commandery — even the books held little material on it; the records of successive ages mostly wrote only that it lay "in the cleft where two mountains meet, a basin-valley deep and dim," and for the rest, how strange and sheer and lovely its mountains, how spirit-graced its waters, how simple and ancient-pure its folk-ways — all words that never came down to anything concrete.

Only the country-kiln coarse porcelain the emperor bestowed was the one tangible thing from Anhua Commandery Zhuo Siheng had ever touched.

But Zhuo Siheng didn't blame the emperor for picking this place for him; he was even stirred to curiosity and a competitive zeal. This was, in fact, a very fitting posting-destination for him to display his talent and ambition.

Truly, had the emperor meant to make things hard for him, Leizhou farther south was simply the Heaven-chosen spot for tormenting officials.

Leizhou, southernmost under Heaven, the Lei Marsh hard to cross — a famous place of exile these several centuries, still called a wild, miasmal frontier, bordering besides on dozens of native-chieftain stockades within the Hundred-Yue jimi prefectures; every few days in the Secretariat he'd see pacification-petitions come from Leizhou, and though there'd never been open war, small frictions never ceased.

So Zhuo Siheng's posting, though no rich land of fish and rice, was no untamed wilderness either; compared with the prefecture's other three commanderies it was indeed rather "a far commandery on the frontier, wild lakes and untamed ridges," yet just for that the more suited to his making something of himself.

Those fat, fertile soils and splendid watery realms wouldn't fall to him anyway, and mightn't suit a young official spreading his wings: such places were mostly thick with entrenched powers, tangled dense with human ties; with no root at court and no family to help, to build from nothing he'd surely need a lay of the land where he could benefit a region, and an ambition to match.

Anhua Commandery met every one of these conditions in full.

Zhuo Siheng's mood slid smoothly from bafflement to yearning; he bought a great many geography-gazetteers and local-customs books, some officially printed, some private notes, and the more he read the less he found of Anhua Commandery, and the less he found, the more excited he got.

Curiosity is forever the fatal weakness of one who loves learning.

Home again, Zhuo Siheng kept his head buried in books, even eating supper alone in the study; today happened to be the day Xiheng came home from the academy for his ten-day rest, and Ciheng was home too. The two had meant to find their brother to dine together, but Huiheng stopped them: "The three of us will just eat; Elder Brother's had a lot of books to read since he came back from the palace — likely some pressing official business."

"Second Sister, do you know what the books Elder Brother newly bought are?" Xiheng was always sharp.

"The bookshop sent over travel-accounts and notebooks and such, and a good many gazetteers and geographies." Huiheng searched her memory, and suddenly thought of another shared trait: "And... these books are all about the southern prefectures."

On the quiet supper table sat four meat-and-vegetable dishes Widow Chai had carefully matched and two hot soups, yet only Zhuo Ciheng knew to appreciate the fine food, head down eating in earnest; Huiheng and Xiheng both left their chopsticks untouched, full of unspoken care and silent.

When Ciheng had eaten her fill and set down her bowl she said: "Widow Chai's cooking gets better and better; if she left our house and opened a shop she'd be famous all over the capital! This time the water-dragon meatballs were fresh and springy and smooth — really superb! Sister, tomorrow I want bamboo-shoot-and-pork wontons."

Having enthusiastically expressed her zest for life and her hopes for tomorrow, she saw her sister and brother seeming to hold a silent mourning over a table of food, and was for a moment bewildered.

"Is Elder Brother to be posted out?" Xiheng suddenly spoke.

Huiheng said bitterly: "Likely to the south..."

"The south splits into Jiangnan Prefecture and the three Lingnan prefectures." Young as he was, Xiheng knit his brows with a maturity beyond his years: "Our family has no root or connection at court, no one to run about for Elder Brother; the easy posts and plum jobs won't fall to us."

"The three Lingnan prefectures are desolate and unpeopled, their heat hard to bear; Elder Brother grew up in the north from childhood — how could he stand it?" Huiheng's voice was uneasy.

Ciheng looked at her sister, looked at her brother, and rose and went out all in one motion, striding straight to the cool-pavilion study, pushing the door open without a word, hauling up the desk-bent Zhuo Siheng: "Elder Brother! You're being posted out, aren't you! And to some unpeopled place like the three Lingnan prefectures, aren't you!"

Zhuo Siheng looked up from his pages, all astonishment: "Who told you that?"

"Sister and Brother!"

So the four siblings sat gathered in the study, Ciheng all but dragging her rattan stool behind Zhuo Siheng to dodge Huiheng's and Xiheng's sharp eyes.

Zhuo Siheng, knowing the whole how-and-why, found Ciheng's pitiable look funny within, and said to her gently and helplessly: "If only you'd listened to one word at supper..."

Ciheng, by habit, meant to talk back, but one glance from Huiheng and she wisely fell silent.

"Rather than guess blindly, better come ask me directly; we're family — I don't tell outsiders out of caution, but you're my siblings. Only, this isn't settled yet; the emperor has only told me an idea, and the specifics won't have firm official papers until my term ends at year's end." Zhuo Siheng's patience with his family was always great.

"If it's a Lingnan posting, I can't rest easy with Elder Brother going alone."

This family council was a surprise: the ever-few-worded Xiheng was the first to declare himself.

"Me neither!" Ciheng chimed in at once.

Zhuo Siheng cut in before Huiheng could speak: "I'll think over who of the family should go or stay — but that's for later; we can still have our reunion this New Year. Other things we'll settle afterward."

In fact he had a notion in mind, meaning to keep Huiheng back for a private talk; but just then Ahuan passed word that a guest had come to the gate, naming Master Zhuo to take his card.

Zhuo Siheng thought: it's past supper — who calls at this hour? Taking the card and looking, he was stunned, and, with no mind for anything else, said to his sister and brother: "I'm going out a moment; I'll be right back."

Reaching the door, he turned back and smiled at his family: "Don't dwell too much on the other things; let's first live well the days we have." And left.

The one who'd sent Zhuo Siheng the card was none other than Tong Shipei.

The card was written not the least to form — the sort of style that would make Uncle Tong faint to see; on it was only: "The matter of going or staying — come to the residence at once, urgent!"

That "urgent" Tong Shipei had indeed written most urgently, the ink run dry, the last stroke a flying-white — rather with the flavor of the wild cursive of Zhang Xu and Huaisu.

What Zhuo Siheng hadn't expected was that Tong Shipei should actually know he might be posted out — could it be news Uncle Tong had gotten?

The carriage reached the Tong residence, and sure enough a servant waited outside to lead Zhuo Siheng to Tong Shipei's study.

There was more than one person inside.

Zhao Ting'an paced back and forth, looking extremely anxious; Tong Shipei leaned arms-folded against a side of the bookshelf, brows knit tighter than his folded arms.

Seeing Zhuo Siheng arrive, the two hurried to crowd round; once only the three were in the room, Tong Shipei said urgently: "Are you really being posted out to Jinzhou?"

"You can't go to Jinzhou!" Zhao Ting'an cut in before Zhuo Siheng could answer.

Zhuo Siheng smiled and was about to speak, cut off again by Tong Shipei: "Everything about Jinzhou is fine — except the prefectural seat!"

"Do you know who their prefect is?" Zhao Ting'an pressed close and pursued.

"Their prefect is called Wang Botang!" Tong Shipei took it up at once.

"Do you know who Wang Botang is?" Zhao Ting'an bore in.

Just before the two, a line each, choked Zhuo Siheng to bursting, the study door suddenly opened.

Tong Duo stepped in, his face a cold iron-grey.

Tong Shipei and Zhao Ting'an at once went quiet, each with his own greeting.

"Uncle." / "Father."

Zhuo Siheng too bowed: "I trust Uncle Tong is well."

Tong Duo didn't so much as glance at the two boys of his house, only nodded to Zhuo Siheng and went straight in to sit.

"You two — out."

Tong Shipei and Zhao Ting'an dared not defy, and, meek as two droop-eared rabbits, quietly left their own study.

Tong Duo watched their backs — beyond anger, short of fury, only shaking his head helplessly — and, seeing Zhuo Siheng still standing, beckoned him to sit near.

Then, slowly, low: "Wang Botang is Tang Lingxi's son-in-law, Tang Qifei's brother-in-law."

Zhuo Siheng's first reaction was: their family really does have a lot of daughters.

But what he truly cared about wasn't who his future immediate superior was, but another question.

"Uncle Tong, forgive my presumption — Fangze and Boying likely learned of this here from you." Zhuo Siheng asked sincerely.

Tong Duo had always admired and liked him, and, so asked, wasn't angry but rather smiled in relief: "Half a lifetime weathered at court — I've a few old friends in the Ministry of Personnel to ask for news; they told me the emperor specially charged that this year's vacant vice-prefect's post at Anhua Commandery, Jinzhou, be held, with no candidates put up for discussion — and thinking of the autumn-hunt business, I knew this was the emperor meaning to send you out from the center..."

"Uncle Tong sees as clear as through fire." Zhuo Siheng admired this aged retired cadre from the bottom of his heart: "There is indeed a vice-prefect vacancy at Anhua Commandery; but my three-year term isn't up, so though the emperor favors it, it's not yet certain."

"Being farther off is a good thing; hearing it, I only felt easier." Tong Duo's wrinkles seemed to ease open with his smile: "Meritorious though you are, you've still touched people and matters you oughtn't touch at this juncture; keep a little distance, lie low a while — with your ability, that you'll return to court someday bearing merit is certain; the man I've marked out is no one to stay long beneath others."

Back from the hunt, Tong Duo was the first to analyze the whole matter through with him; and though Zhuo Siheng decided all things himself and had his own measure of them, now he felt somewhat eased too, as if no longer fighting alone, and that battle-ready tension seemed to loosen.

But Tong Duo turned back to a stern face and snorted: "That good-for-nothing son of mine — he'd only meant to find him to pass you some news, and then panicked himself, and dragged his brother-in-law in as a cur of a strategist; the two of them thinking to talk you into feigning illness to stay in the capital — sheer fantasy!"

Hearing this Zhuo Siheng truly couldn't hold back, and laughed and shook his head a long while.

"The Wanyang Tangs..." Tong Duo sneered: "What is there to fear in the Wanyang Tangs? Once you've been numbered on our sovereign's list, no one has ever come whole out of the court to a peaceful old age."

"I don't fear the Tangs." Zhuo Siheng knew Tong Duo said this to spur him to action, and said clearly: "The Tangs' power is not necessarily a blessing, and my feud with them not necessarily a curse. Since everyone at court knows my house and theirs are at odds, if they collude to shut me out and do something outrageous, would it not the more prove them the very thing Gao Yongqing charged?"

"That you can think so is best of all!" Tong Duo clapped his hands, hearing it: "Go off to the high, wide land to hone your blade, temper your abilities well, and win yourself the capital to return to court — these are what matter most; to be tangled up thinking too much of human ties and grudges would be to trouble yourself for nothing. That you grasp this is the best thing."

Zhuo Siheng rose and bowed deeply to Tong Duo, moved: "Since I came back from the hunt, amid all these tangles, Uncle is the first to open his heart to me and lay bare the pros and cons; let your junior bow to you again." So saying, he bowed again.

Tong Duo too was moved, his heart stirred, and at once made to reach out and raise him, but on second thought accepted the bow, and only after a long while sighed: "I won't fear your guessing it: at first I befriended you fearing Fangze had no brother at court; clever and Heaven-gifted as you are, yet settled and pure of conduct, I did hope you might lend Fangze a hand. And admiring your grandfather's character besides, I looked after you the more — it wasn't all purely disinterested. But over three years, seeing your conduct and breadth of mind, how could I not come to love you? Today's doings I did go to some trouble to learn of; your thanks I'll accept, but since you and I have opened our hearts, hereafter treat this withered old man as no stranger."

Hearing this heartfelt speech, Zhuo Siheng's breast surged; he'd long known Tong Duo meant him to companion Tong Shipei, but that was only human, and the Tong family had never meant him harm — when he first entered officialdom the Tongs had often lent him their connections to gather news and made known to him many an unspeakable turning-point; the friendship and kindness in it far outweighed the use.

"My father taught me that in being a man and an official one must weigh much; yet in weighing, one should hold gain light and the ground of it heavy. Fangze and I are truly friends; that he panicked into disorder just now — I found it funny, yes, but warm at heart. Such friendship is no exchange; had I befriended Fangze for power and profit, Uncle would surely not treat me with such sincerity as today."

These words too came from Zhuo Siheng's very heart; hearing them Tong Duo's eyes grew dim, and he mastered himself a long while before he could speak without choking: "Good... it being so, you brothers must uphold each other — cutting jade and severing gold will surely be nothing to you..."

After Zhuo Siheng gravely assented, Tong Duo charged him with many cautions for the posting; and when at last there was nothing left to say, he seemed to recall some hard matter, and after pondering and hesitating, spoke:

"...Do you still remember the Jiang family?"