Chapter 45

Chapter 45

But Lian Xiusheng went to the office by sedan chair, while Lian Cheng rode a horse, and they didn't work in the same unit—the Hanlin Academy was for upright civil officials, while the Embroidered Uniform Guard was for lackeys, one deep within the palace, the other far from the imperial city.

Moreover, Lian Xiusheng still had to attend the morning court, so after having breakfast together outside, they walked a short distance and then parted ways, though Lian Xiusheng didn't forget to tell his third brother that he would leave a little early from his office and go with him to the house.

Lian Cheng shook out his cloak and said okay, but inwardly wondered—was the Lian Xiusheng in the book this clingy? There was no record of it in the text, not even his background was mentioned. Unofficial history was just that—just to justify a trivial detail, they wrote an entire book, maybe just to smear his sixth brother.

He thought about it all the way, eating a basket of shaomai made with duck fat on horseback. Seeing that it was still early, he handed his horse over to the government stable, straightened his clothes, and walked into the Northern Office with his hands behind his back.

It was true that having connections made things easier—now there was no "this not allowed, that not allowed"; they directly let Lian Cheng into the Imperial Prison.

Xia Shutong was in much better condition than before—perhaps he had come to terms with it, or perhaps he had gotten used to it. When he saw Lian Cheng, he even showed a rare smile that was almost the same as before.

"Minzi!" He noticed Lian Cheng's clothes, his eyes widening. "You... how..."

"I asked my parents to help me find a job here, but I'm stationed at the Southern Office. Since I started work today, I came by to see you on the way." He took out a package of shaomai he had packed from behind.

Xia Shutong took the shaomai and held it in his arms, deeply moved. "Did you join the Southern Office for my sake? Are you trying to overturn my case and get me exonerated? Minzi, you..."

"...No." Lian Cheng hadn't expected Xia Shutong to have such a vivid imagination. He quickly said, "This was something I arranged with Li Wan and the others before the New Year—to find some work together. It has nothing to do with you."

"That's good," Xia Shutong breathed a sigh of relief. "Let my family's matter end here. No more people can be dragged into it."

He had lost a lot of weight; his face, which previously had no visible bones, now had protruding cheekbones and jawbones. His clothes were filthy, and he was still lying on the cloak Lian Cheng had spread for him earlier. Although Lian Cheng's heart ached deeply, seeing that the other's eyes were still bright, he felt a little relieved. "Tonight, I'll ask my sixth brother when your father will set off for the auxiliary capital. The day he leaves, I think you'll be released."

"Thank you, Minzi."

Leaving the Northern Office and entering the Southern Office, he had just reported for duty when Lou Lan called him over, first giving him a set of green and blue brocade robes for a chiliarch, then asking him what he had been doing at the Northern Office.

Lian Cheng told him truthfully.

Lou Lan sneered. "You sure have a lot of worries."

Lian Cheng thought to himself, 'Sarcastic,' but kept a straight face. He replied, "I just gave him some food. That's not meddling."

Lou Lan then said, "You sneaked off to Li Saner's house last night, delivering fabric, rice, and flour. Would you call that worrying?"

Lian Cheng pursed his lips. "When did you find out, sir?"

"When I found out, what does it matter to you? Li Saner is a former man of the Southern Office; the office will take care of him. You don't need to be a busybody." Lou Lan's words were laced with sarcasm.

"He is no longer a man of the Southern Office. What does it matter to you if I deliver fabric, rice, and flour? Besides, you said the office would take care of former people—then why is he lacking food and clothing?" Lian Cheng didn't know what he had done to offend Lou Lan. If he had a grudge against the Lian family, why not go after his father? Bullying a useless waste like him only showed lack of status—in short, anyone who would bully him was equally useless.

Having angered his superior and left him speechless, the consequences naturally wouldn't be good. Lou Lan kicked Lian Cheng out to organize the accumulated documents of the Southern Office.

However, fortunately, luckily, he had been promoted to chiliarch before being targeted by his boss. The office assigned two lieutenants to work with him, who would be his dedicated clerks from then on. The arrangement was good, but the intent was malicious. Lian Cheng's delight of "someone is here to help me" disappeared when he saw a big fat man and a very short man.

"I remember the Embroidered Uniform Guard has standards for selecting candidates in terms of appearance." Lian Cheng said seriously. He wasn't discriminating against looks; he was questioning whether the office's regulations were strictly enforced.

The big fat man said, "We two are hereditary."

Seeing Lian Cheng's distress, the big fat man comforted him, "My father used to serve in the Northern Office as a centurion. After he was injured, I, as his eldest son, took over his post. But I'm just not ambitious; I eat too much and am too fat. I'm inefficient and always mess things up, so I was sent to the Southern Office to sit in. You can call me Ji Xing, chiliarch. He is Qiao Yuer."

"Don't mind our average appearance; we're good at work and unmatched in skill." Qiao Yuer said fawningly.

"Let's not waste time," Lian Cheng said, having to bow to circumstances. "Let's get to work."

Document preservation has always been a troublesome matter, especially in ancient times with only paper and pen. If the paper was poor, it would crumble to dust after two years. If the ink was poor, after two years the words would disappear entirely. Even if the paper and ink were good and used properly, storing them was a great challenge: they had to be moisture-proof, fire-proof, and insect-proof. Even if all these conditions were met, they still had to be taken out annually during the best sunlight hours, spread out one by one to air, and then put back one by one. It was extremely tedious.

The documents belonging to the Embroidered Uniform Guard were stored separately in a building of five large halls, not connected to either office by pillars or roof tiles, to avoid losing all accumulated documents in case of natural or man-made disasters.

Lian Cheng first thoroughly inspected these five halls, then prioritized the sorting according to difficulty and frequency of use. He bent over his desk, wrote furiously, and handed it to Ji Xing and Qiao Yuer to classify. However, Ji Xing and Qiao Yuer couldn't read his atrocious handwriting, so he had to explain with gestures and live demonstrations.

Then, after working for less than half an hour, Ji Xing was panting heavily, his breathing like an old ox forced to plow barren land. Lian Cheng was afraid he might suddenly drop dead, so he hurriedly told him to rest.

After Ji Xing had rested for less than a quarter of an hour, Qiao Yuer fell off a ladder and sprained his ankle. So Lian Cheng also told him to rest.

Thus, Lian Cheng worked alone, huffing and puffing for an hour.

Until he went to relieve himself and heard a sound of laughter and playing behind the railing of the corridor.

"As soon as he came to the office, he became a chiliarch. It must be because his family put in a good word. Poor brothers like us can't even keep our hereditary posts."

"Working ourselves to death in this office for so many years, and now we have to take orders from a good-for-nothing waste. It's so unfair."

"I know exactly what the commissioner is thinking. He finds us ugly and disgusting, so he uses us to gross out Chiliarch Lian. He doesn't treat us as human beings at all. Hmph."

At first, Lian Cheng wanted to kick each of them from behind, but after hearing the rest, he pondered for a moment and left silently.

The fat and short minions had played outside enough, then came back arm in arm with a feigned limp into the document hall, and found Lian Cheng, who was lying on the ground drawing.

Seeing them come in, Lian Cheng glanced at them. "Take a look. How are these paintings?"

The two exchanged glances, their hearts pounding. They walked around to stand behind Lian Cheng.

On the ground were two paintings, with extremely simple lines but vivid forms: one showed a poisonous snake wearing a flower, the other a fat child with an innocent smile. "A mountain need not be high to be famous if an immortal dwells, nor water need be deep to be spiritual if a dragon lives. Those with ugly hearts cannot hide their cruel nature even if they wear flowers. Those with ugly appearance but kind hearts will enjoy continuous blessings. Those who value beauty and treat the ugly as dirt beneath their feet—in my view, only those with ugly appearance are not dirt, but those with ugly hearts are even worse than dirt underfoot. What do you two think?"

The two behind him were silent for a long time. They clearly understood the meaning of Lian Cheng's words and lowered their heads.

Although they said nothing at the time, they no longer slacked off afterward. When they left the office, they even asked Lian Cheng for those two paintings and later hung them on the wall at home, offering fresh fruit and incense daily—but that's a story for another time.

-

Time flew quickly. Lian Cheng had a good nature, and within less than half a month, he had become quite popular in the Southern Office. He was generous, clever, and very good at sweet talk. Everyone in the Southern Office, except Lou Lan who was always sullen when seeing him, including the two chiliarchs he had met on the first day, would occasionally invite Lian Cheng to drink and play cards.

Lian Cheng also liked to have fun. At first, he played with them, drank, played cards, got drunk, lost money, and got scolded by his sixth brother.

After that, he stopped playing with those old veterans—first, to avoid being cheated out of money, second, because drinking caused trouble and harmed health, and third, because his sixth brother's nagging was annoying.

So after leaving the office each day, he would go to Qiu Fang to practice swordsmanship. Although his sword skills hadn't improved noticeably, his posture and bearing had become much better and straighter, no longer the slouching, good-for-nothing wastrel he used to be.

On the day Xia Shutong was released from the Imperial Prison, Lian Cheng, Li Wan, and others personally went to pick him up. They ordered a table of good food and wine at a restaurant to wash off his bad luck. After a while of eating and drinking, they all shed tears.

Lian Cheng felt that the only bad thing about ancient people was this: even if the relationship wasn't that close, after a few cups of wine, they would start to get emotional. Unexpectedly, Lian Cheng also shed a few teardrops later, saying that when they arrived at the auxiliary capital, they must write to them. If things didn't work out with their families, they could return to the Divine Capital to find them.

It was getting dark, and the curfew was approaching. They were all dead drunk. Each had their young servant come to pick them up. Xia Shutong was personally picked up by his father Xia Dan. This was the first time Lian Cheng had met Xia Dan.

Completely different from the furtive, scheming rat Lian Cheng had imagined, the man wore a stone-blue straight robe and a Dongpo headband, with thick eyebrows and a high nose. He looked like an honest man. He came straight towards their group of handsome young men, helped Xia Shutong away, his hand like holding a skeleton frame, tears streaming down his wrinkled face. "How did you get so thin?"

Xia Shutong didn't respond. Xia Dan then thanked Li Wan, Lu Zhen, and Zhang Xian one by one. Whether intentionally or not, he left out Lian Cheng.

Lian Cheng hadn't helped expecting thanks, so he didn't take it to heart. But Li Wan reminded Xia Dan, "Lord Xia, we three didn't do much to help your young lord in this matter. You should thank Lian Cheng—he put in great effort."

Yet Xia Dan sneered. "I think he helped my son out of guilt."

Lian Cheng was stunned, then thought to himself, "Hey, you old thing."

But before he could question him, the other man, with a complex look—both hateful and melancholy, with worry—said, "I'm afraid you might not know, third young master, still having fun drinking here. So let me tell you: your sixth brother has already become a disciple