“Conceal somewhat?” Song Chuyi held the scroll of sheepskin in one hand, lowered her head, and glanced at her chest and lower body. She murmured to herself, “But what…”
Although Song Chuyi felt that living as a man made it easier to move about in the world, she had never once considered actually becoming a man.
One’s body and hair were received from one’s parents and should not be damaged. But she certainly didn’t dare casually add something that wasn’t there, or remove something that was. If she really became a man, then a hundred years from now, even her own parents might not recognize her in the afterlife.
Song Chuyi shuddered, pulled herself back from her wild imaginings, and thought that since Xing Shou had said it was merely to conceal her femininity, it surely could not mean turning her into a man.
Then how exactly would it conceal it?
Song Chuyi was immensely intrigued. She pulled out the stopper and gave it a sniff. It smelled pleasant, with a faint fragrance of medicinal herbs. Carefully, she poured the contents into her palm. There were seven small reddish-brown pills in all, each no larger than half a pinky fingernail.
Song Chuyi put the pills back and carefully examined the sheepskin scroll. In one corner was a small line of writing explaining how to take them.
Starting from the first dose, take one pill every seven days. After taking them for forty-nine days in succession, one’s feminine features would remain concealed for five years.
“Brother Yugui, you really think far too highly of me.” Song Chuyi was deeply touched.
In her previous life, even when she was twenty-four or twenty-five, she had yet to develop any particularly feminine features. Later, she had acquired a few curves, but overall, she remained tall and slender, and there was hardly anything to speak of in terms of her chest. She had no need to deliberately bind herself.
Moreover, her master had only ever taken her as a single female disciple. He had raised her as a boy from childhood, and she had often mixed with her senior brothers. Her behavior and mannerisms were no different from those of an ordinary scholar. There really weren’t many people capable of seeing through her true identity.
Xing Shou was already quite impressive.
“Where else could the flaws be?” Song Chuyi wondered absently, casually tossing the sheepskin scroll into the fire.
After a while, Zi Ya came rushing in, covering her nose and mouth with her sleeve. “Master, has the place caught fire?”
Song Chuyi came back to herself and realized that smoke had begun to fill the room, carrying the unmistakable smell of singed fur. The sheepskin scroll in the basin had already burned down to a charred black mass. She hurriedly said, “Quick, quick, take it outside.”
Zi Ya promptly used a stick to hook the edge of the basin and carried it outside.
A short while later, someone knocked on her battered door. Nan Qi’s icy voice came from outside. “Song Chuyi, come out.”
The smell in the room was choking, so Song Chuyi did as he wished and stepped outside.
Nan Qi recoiled in disgust and tossed the bamboo slips in his hand to her. Glancing over to see that Zi Ya was standing some distance away, he said coldly, “I am reluctantly willing to share a roof with you, so I would ask that you read the rules carefully and follow them to the letter. Otherwise, either you leave, or I do.”
With that, he flung his wide sleeve and strode back towards his own room.
Completely bewildered, Song Chuyi opened the bamboo slips. She had barely begun to read when she heard a loud bang. Nan Qi had slammed his door shut.
Song Chuyi read through the contents. The very first rule was that she was not permitted to create any strange smells in the courtyard. Clearly, Nan Qi was deeply disgusted by what had just happened.
The second was that she had to maintain a proper personal appearance and must not do anything that would spoil his appetite.
…
There were still all sorts of other requirements, many of them exceedingly harsh in Song Chuyi’s eyes. A great number of them concerned her personal affairs, and reading them left her seething with anger.
Zi Ya used snow to put out the fire and had just finished cleaning everything up when she returned to the veranda.
Song Chuyi drew her sleeves together and solemnly warned her, “Don’t let that Master Yunsi who lives next door fool you just because he looks like such a fine gentleman. In truth, he has a penchant for abusing beautiful women. Just now, he offered me a hundred gold pieces in exchange for you, but I refused, so he angrily slammed his door. For your own safety, you and Zi Zhao should avoid him from now on. Don’t let him see you.”
Zi Ya’s face paled slightly. She had been standing too far away to hear what Nan Qi had said, but she had heard him slam the door. Remembering how he had occasionally stared at her over the past two days, she immediately believed Song Chuyi’s solemn warning.
“Yes,” she hurriedly replied.
Song Chuyi raised an eyebrow and turned back into the room.
The smell inside was still far too strong, so Zi Ya opened all the windows to air the place out. Song Chuyi decided to go out for a walk.
She had been in Puyang for two days, but had not yet had the chance to properly acquaint herself with the local customs and circumstances. She was going to freeze whether she stayed indoors or went outside, so she might as well take the opportunity to learn a little more about the place.
Having made up her mind, Song Chuyi put on her rain cape and bamboo hat, then left the residence once again.
The Longgu Residence sent provisions every two months, along with a fairly generous allowance. He travelled by carriage and was provided with meals at the estate. Back when Song Chuyi had been at the height of her fortunes, this was about as good as her treatment had ever been.
On such a snowy day, there were few people out on the streets. Song Chuyi touched the money pouch at her waist, wandered around for a while, then found a local and asked where the largest tavern in Puyang was.
Following the directions, Song Chuyi soon found a two-storey tavern called Zhuo Youquan. It was three or four times larger than the one she had visited before. The food here was nothing particularly remarkable, but the tavern boasted that whatever wine could be found under heaven, Zhuo Youquan had it.
“Enter the woods and drink from the secluded spring. What freedom!” Song Chuyi exclaimed appreciatively before stepping inside.
The warmth within was like spring, and the fragrance of several different wines mingled together and wafted towards her.
“Sir, would you prefer a private room or a seat in the main hall?” a servant came over and asked.
Song Chuyi glanced upstairs. From the private rooms near the railing, one could still hear the conversations in the main hall below. “A private room.”
“Please follow me.”
The servant led Song Chuyi upstairs and showed her to a private room.
Song Chuyi chose a seat beside the railing. She had barely sat down when she heard someone in the room next door say, “Do you know why the ruler is summoning scholars of exceptional literary talent?”
“What else could it be for? Perhaps His Lordship has grown tired of listening to those same few songs all the time. But once he confirms that someone’s writing is truly outstanding, he treats them with considerable courtesy. Why don’t we give it a try as well?”
Several others chimed in agreement. Then someone snorted, “The state is on the verge of collapse, yet he still has the mind for music and dancing. To have a ruler like this is truly a disgrace to us all!”
The remark was like a basin of icy water, dousing the enthusiasm of all the scholars.
A maid came over and asked Song Chuyi, “Sir, what would you like to have?”
“A pot of hot rice wine and a plate of roasted meat.” Song Chuyi untied her rain cape and bamboo hat and handed them to the maid.
The maid acknowledged her, put the rain cape and bamboo hat away, and withdrew.
Before long, the hot rice wine and roasted meat arrived.
The maid was just about to step forward to serve her when Song Chuyi said, “I can manage myself.”
The maid withdrew to the doorway, where she knelt and waited in attendance, ready to be summoned.
“Everyone, everyone!”
Someone suddenly called out from the main hall. Everyone stopped what they were doing and listened quietly to hear what he had to say.
Song Chuyi took a cup of rice wine and leaned against the railing, looking down. The speaker was a neatly dressed scholar of around thirty, with regular features, a fair complexion, and a handsome beard. By the standards of the day, he was the very picture of a refined gentleman.
“I have just come from the palace.”
The middle-aged scholar stood in the center of the main hall, his voice clear and resonant as every eye turned towards him. His expression was heavy with grief.
“The King of Wei has bullied our State of Wey beyond endurance. His Lordship has issued an edict seeking worthy men, calling for those of outstanding literary talent to take up their brushes and denounce the King of Wei. His Lordship… His Lordship said that he was incapable, that he had brought disgrace upon our ancestors and upon our state, and that he had allowed the people of Wey to fall under the rule of another state.
“Yet our generals are few and our soldiers are scarce. To go to war would be no different from striking an egg against a rock, bringing about our own destruction. And so His Lordship has appealed to us scholars, asking that we use righteous words to lend our strength to the State of Wey…”
The main hall fell silent for two breaths.
Then someone suddenly began to weep. Many others beat their chests and stamped their feet. Before long, the entire tavern was filled with sobs and sighs.
“Alas for our ruler! Alas for our state!”
From the private room beside Song Chuyi’s, someone suddenly shot to his feet. She distinctly heard the sound of a sword being drawn with a sharp clang.
The man cried out, “Our ruler is so deeply concerned for the state and its people, yet I actually insulted him with my words! I deserve to die to atone for my offence!”
At the very end, he shouted twice, “Long live our ruler! Long live the State of Wey!”
Immediately afterwards came a heavy thud.
Everyone instantly understood that someone had taken his own life to atone for speaking against their ruler. The extreme act immediately set everyone’s blood ablaze, and they raised their arms and cried out,
“Long live our ruler! Long live the State of Wei!”
The tavern owner hurried personally to the neighboring room to ask the name of the man who had killed himself. Once the fervor of the crowd had subsided somewhat, he announced loudly,
“Master Mu Xu has given his life to atone for his offence. Such devotion to principle!”
