Chapter 26

Blue stone road, yellow ox cart, black-lacquered cart shed, red silk netting.

A young girl sat in the cart, her body like a slender moon, her eyes like stars, her beautiful fine eyebrows slightly furrowed, like an ink painting.

She wore a white gauze dress, with delicate silver silk trim embroidered on the lapels and cuffs. The collar overlapped and opened, exquisitely paired with a pale green inner garment, appearing layered and distinct. Even with only one maid by her side, her slender back remained elegant and upright—not to maintain the most graceful sitting posture, but simply because it had long since become a habit.

This was the famous Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi of the Xie family—Xie Xinghan.

"My Xie Xie Niangzi, you have already done enough for this matter! Even if the Master were here, he wouldn't blame you." The maid Xiao Ning looked at the unresolved worry gathered between her mistress's youthful and beautiful brows, and comforted her with heartache.

Xiao Ning wore pink clothes, her hair in double buns, her eyes lively, and her appearance sweet. If she walked down the street alone, she would also be radiant, and might even be mistaken for a young lady from a wealthy household; it was only beside Xie Xinghan that anyone would see at a glance that she was a maid.

Xie Xinghan furrowed her brows and shook her head gently: "Since I am here, of course I must see it through to the end."

As the personal maid who had always accompanied her mistress, Xiao Ning naturally knew her mistress's temperament, but she felt that her mistress was still too young, and no matter how talented, she shouldn't be involved in such matters.

Just as she was about to speak again, the ox cart suddenly stopped.

"I am Le Pang of Yuyang, asking... asking the Xie... Xie Mansion... Fourth... Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi... for peace!" Le Little Fatty stood in the middle of the road and bowed. Because he was too nervous, he stumbled through the second half of the sentence.

A group of playboy youths stood not far away, cheering and applauding together, whistling and clapping, doing everything. The looks they cast at Le Pang were either like looking at a true warrior or like looking at a rare, big idiot.

Xiao Ning looked at Xie Xinghan, and Xie Xinghan nodded.

Xiao Ning lifted the cart curtain and ordered: "Scare them away."

Four men in green clothes with short sticks tucked at their waists pressed their hands on the sticks and stepped forward quickly. Their eyes were cold and their movements sharp; they didn't look like ordinary servants at all.

Although they wouldn't draw their sticks without their mistress's order, anyone who saw this posture felt they were about to have their heads bashed in!

"Don't, don't, I... I came... I am here to..."

The group of youths scattered in a flurry. Le Pang felt his legs go soft, and he couldn't even say the words Wang Yang had taught him completely. He took a few steps back, wanting to slip away, but couldn't make up his mind.

Wang Yang thought about the two thousand coins he hadn't received yet, gritted his teeth, rushed out from the crowd, and shouted:

"My Young Master is here to repay a debt! The Xie family is a family of high status, yet you are beating people in the street in broad daylight!"

The four men in green stopped three steps away from Wang Yang, not because of what Wang Yang said, but because the order they received was to scare these people away. Since they hadn't been scared away, the next step of action had to wait for the mistress's instruction.

The strong man stood in front of Wang Yang, confronting the four. Le Pang grabbed Wang Yang's arm, barely managing to hold on without running, but he was already sweating profusely and couldn't even stand steadily.

Xie Xinghan said something softly to Xiao Ning, and Xiao Ning said loudly through the cart curtain: "The sticks haven't touched you yet, how can you call it beating people?"

Le Pang heard the Xie family maid's voice for the first time and was very excited, hoping the other party would say a few more words. Although he wanted to converse, this question from the other party was not in the "answer" Wang Yang had prepared for him, so he didn't know how to answer and could only look at Wang Yang pleadingly.

Wang Yang let the strong man step aside and said: "A tiger chases a person wanting to bite; the tiger's teeth haven't touched the person yet—can the person being chased not even shout 'the tiger is biting people'?"

Xie Xinghan pursed her lips gently, her fine eyebrows relaxed, and a smile appeared on her clear, jade-like face, making the entire carriage look a bit brighter. Xiao Ning couldn't help but spit softly: "What a sharp-tongued little servant!"

Xie Xinghan said something again, and Xiao Ning relayed loudly: "If you want to repay a debt, go to the mansion to present your card and state your name, and explain the reason. How can there be any reason to block a carriage on the road and engage in private dealings?"

Wang Yang gave Le Pang a look. Le Pang shook his head anxiously, not knowing how to respond. Wang Yang had no choice but to continue answering for Le Pang:

"The Young Xie Xie Niangzi does not accept private letters, so there is no way to present a card or state a name. With a clear conscience, the world is wide. Now, under the bright sky and on the main thoroughfare, we are publicly greeting and repaying a debt—how can this be called private dealings? If you really must say so, the giving and receiving exist, but the words 'private dealings' are truly undeserved."

Le Pang was overjoyed and looked at Wang Yang with both gratitude and admiration. Xie Xinghan frowned and said something.

Xiao Ning said sternly: "My Young Xie Xie Niangzi has never lent out money at all! Naturally, there is no talk of others repaying debts!" She even imitated her mistress's displeased tone to ninety percent accuracy.

"I didn't say my Young Master owes your Young Xie Xie Niangzi money; it is my Young Master's ancestor who owes your Young Xie Xie Niangzi's ancestor money. My Young Master is now repaying the debt on behalf of his ancestor, so I ask the Young Xie Xie Niangzi to collect the debt on behalf of her ancestor!"

"Full of nonsense!" Xie Xinghan's expression turned cold, and she patted the cushion embroidered with silver silk.

Xiao Ning immediately shouted: "Full of nonsense!"

Seeing their mistress angry, the four Xie family servants stepped forward simultaneously, their eyes like hawks.

Le Pang was so scared he took a few steps back, and the strong man also nervously protected Wang Yang. With his experience in the army, he had long seen that these four were agile and extraordinary. If they really started fighting, he wouldn't be confident even in a one-on-one.

At this time, more and more people gathered around. Wang Yang's expression remained unchanged, and he replied: "I have evidence!"

He whispered a few words to the strong man. The strong man's face showed hesitation, and Wang Yang urged: "Go quickly and return quickly!" The strong man hurried toward the wine shop.

"What evidence?" Xie Xinghan had Xiao Ning ask.

Wang Yang looked back at the somewhat dazed Le Pang and whispered: "Hurry and take out the letter!"

Le Pang finally reacted and took out the letter Wang Yang had written for him.

Wang Yang took it and said: "There is a written contract here; one check and you will know."

Xie Xinghan was skeptical and ordered her servant to hand it over.

Le Pang watched as the letter was passed into the carriage, feeling both happy and nervous, while at the same time admiring Wang Yang to the point of prostration.

Wang Yang was thinking: If the worst-case scenario happens, how should I escape?

Xie Xinghan opened the letter paper and saw a poem written on it:

"Roaming the rivers and lakes carrying wine, the Chu waist is slender and light in the palm. Dongshan always rises for the sake of the common people, winning the name of a romantic prime minister.

A cup of wine brews the tears of a treacherous official, knocking on the chess pieces startles the heart of the Northern Di. Fifty thousand palm-leaf fans can break the summer, half a day of cool breeze holds ten thousand years of affection."

After the poem, there was another line of small print: "Grand Tutor Xie helped my ancestor sell fifty thousand palm-leaf fans, and that kindness has not been repaid to this day. This poem not only recalls the high righteousness of Grand Tutor Xie but is also my heart's contract. A heart's contract is a contract in the heart, only wishing to repay it once! I hope Young Xie Xie Niangzi Xie will not refuse! Words cannot express the meaning, Le Pang of Yuyang bows his head."

Grand Tutor Xie refers to Xie An.

Xie An was a romantic prime minister of the ages and the leader of the Xie clan of Chen Jun during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Naturally, he was also an ancestor of the same clan as Xie Xinghan. What Wang Yang didn't know was that, counting from the genealogy, Xie Xinghan's father, Xie Fei, was the fifth-generation grandson of Xie An's own younger brother, Xie Wan. In other words, although Xie Xinghan's branch was not a direct descendant of Xie An, it was not far off, and certainly not comparable to those distant branches.

More importantly, Xie Fei admired his ancestor Xie An's character and often had the heart to imitate him. Xie An also loved his niece Xie Daoyun very much, and Xie Xinghan was known as "Little Xie Daoyun."

Therefore, from the perspective of both the glory of the clan and the education of the family, one can imagine the degree of Xie Xinghan's reverence for this ancestor.

Thus, Wang Yang's "Ode to Xie An" was truly "flattering" the right target!

The first four lines of this poem were adapted from Du Mu's "Sentiments," secretly matching the anecdote of Xie An taking prostitutes to Dongshan, where scholar-officials said to each other, "If Anshi does not come out, what will happen to the common people?" The fifth line speaks of Xie An stopping Huan Wen from declaring himself emperor; the sixth line praises the Battle of Feishui, where Xie An retreated the troops with a casual game of chess. The seventh and eighth lines tell an anecdote about Xie An, which was also the inspiration for Wang Yang's "letter-sending grand plan" this time.

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Note: ① In the modern context, the word "romantic" is mostly associated with derogatory meanings; this is the result of the narrowing of the word's connotation. In fact, in ancient times, especially during the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, "romantic" did not just mean affairs between men and women; it more often described the demeanor of a famous scholar. However, Xie An's keeping of prostitutes was indeed a bit "romantic."

② At this time, the poetic form had not yet evolved into regulated verse, so there was no talk of tonal patterns and rules. However, a poetic reform was brewing in the capital, which later became the sprout of regulated verse, but with the protagonist's time travel, this process was naturally different from before. This will be detailed in the Jin Ling Volume.

③ Although the characters "Xing" and "Han" are familiar to modern readers, they were commonly used characters in ancient names. First, the character "Han": Emperor Wenzong of Tang was originally named "Han," and at that time, a scholar-official named Zheng Han changed his name to "Zheng Han" to avoid the taboo. *Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang* records that during the Northern Wei Dynasty, when the tomb of Bodhi Temple was opened to take bricks, a person named "Cui Han" was found. The nun in Quan Zuwang's *Biography of Shen Yin* was named Han Guang. As for the character "Xing," the only daughter of the great Tang poet Cui Shu was named "Xing," and in the Ming Dynasty, there was a famous scholar named Zhou Xing, and the great calligrapher Chen Zhaolun had the courtesy name Xingzhai.

Perhaps there are people named "Xinghan" and perhaps there are not; I have not read it. However, it is not a made-up name. *Wuzazu* says: "Moon halo, star-filled, the wonder of posture." Liu Captain of the Southern Liang Dynasty had the line "The front star contains auspicious colors, the thunder raises distant sounds," and even more famous is Han Yu's "Just wait for the night to go by the moon, try to see how many stars are swimming."

In the medieval period, there were women's names that fit the cultural context familiar to modern people, such as Yang Yan, Rong Ji, Zuo Fen, Li Lingrong, Hu Fang, etc., and there were also names that don't look like women's names at all now, such as Zhang Weide, Liu Duanyan, Zeng Mile, Wang Muzhi, etc.