Chapter 126: Dragon Saliva Grass
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The young man who suddenly sprang out was short and exceedingly lean. Lu Xin stood five feet nine, while the newcomer was a full head and a half shorter. When he first appeared, Lu Xin took him for a child who had lost his way.
The man was dressed like a typical street ruffian: a coarse short jacket, paired with a broad, wicked grin that marked him as anything but trustworthy. During the two years Lu Xin had traveled the world buying and selling tea, what sort of people had he not encountered? Naturally, he paid the fellow no attention.
But the moment Lu Xin turned to leave, the ruffian panicked and hurriedly blocked his path.
“Young master, to tell you the truth, our big brother wishes to see you. If you leave, I won’t know how to answer to him.”
“Your big brother?”
Lu Xin frowned and studied the ruffian’s expression. The man truly did seem anxious. The look in a person’s eyes and the tone of his voice when faced with an urgent matter were difficult to fake. Yet Lu Xin was certain he knew no “big brother” in Chang’an, much less this short, wiry ruffian standing before him.
“If you don’t believe me, young master, just look up.”
The ruffian gave an embarrassed chuckle, turned his head, and pointed toward the second floor of a shop some distance away. Lu Xin looked in that direction and saw an open window. A man in hemp clothes, his hair hanging loose, was seated by the window with one leg crossed over the other, drinking tea. The moment he caught Lu Xin’s gaze, he split his lips into a wide grin and waved enthusiastically.
“So it’s him!”
Lu Xin nodded in acknowledgment, though his heart was filled with doubt. The man waving at him was Zhao Li, whom he had met twice before. They were hardly acquainted, let alone friends. Besides, Zhao Li was a street tough who operated in the southern part of the city. Why had he appeared in the Western Market?
Yet the instant Lu Xin saw Zhao Li, he remembered the man’s other identity: the capital’s all-knowing information broker. Lu Xin was desperately searching for dragon-saliva herb but had no idea where to begin. Zhao Li’s sudden appearance might prove to be an opportunity.
Led by the ruffian, Lu Xin soon entered the shop where Zhao Li was waiting. It was little different from the herbal stores he had visited earlier, selling only common medicinal herbs. The most valuable items were a pair of ginseng roots displayed high above the shelves as treasures meant to anchor the shop’s reputation. The proprietor was a sharp-looking old man in his fifties with a long beard. But with the ruffian leading the way, the shopkeeper merely glanced at Lu Xin and said nothing.
The second floor was furnished in lavish style. There were screens and paintings, while the tables and chairs were made of sandalwood and edged with gold. More than a dozen medicine jars stood in the corners, and a faint medicinal fragrance lingered in the air. The entire floor radiated solemn grandeur. It was probably where the herbal shop received distinguished guests and prepared its finest medicinal decoctions.
Zhao Li was still seated by the window, his legs propped up on the table, his whole body sprawled back in utter ease. Lu Xin ignored him and walked over to the window on his own. Looking down, he could take in the entire street. Countless merchants and travelers from every province and prefecture, even people from the various kingdoms of the Western Regions, hurried about their business.
Though it was merely a small market in the western quarter, it was enough to show how stable the Great Tang had become in the third year of the Zhenguan era. The imperial court possessed sufficient strength to deal with any sudden disturbance.
“About ten days ago, when you and your master first entered Chang’an, I told you that the city was a tangle of fish and dragons, with every power under heaven gathered here, and that a great disaster was on its way. I advised you to leave, but you insisted on staying. These past few days must have been hard on you, haven’t they?”
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After a long silence, Zhao Li suddenly spoke and rose from his reclining chair. There were mats and a tea tray in the room, but both men were rough fellows; naturally, they were not the sort to sit cross-legged on the floor drinking wine and chatting. Lu Xin did not turn to look at him. His gaze remained fixed on the street below.
“If I remember correctly, you belong to the Nine-Star Gang. This herbal shop belongs to your gang, doesn’t it?”
“Sharp. I, Zhao Li, love dealing with clever people.”
“Heh. I’m nowhere near as clever as a man who can see the future. Zhao Li, you didn’t summon me here merely to reminisce, did you? You and I hardly have any friendship. Besides, on the day my master and I first arrived in Chang’an, you concealed a great deal when speaking to him. You know far more than you let on. So tell me—why did you call me here?”
“Heh heh heh. No wonder you’re the top scholar’s cousin. Your thoughts are meticulous indeed; I admire you. As for why I summoned you, it’s simply because I saw you had run into trouble and wanted to lend a hand. Nothing more. The Nine-Star Gang has always delighted in helping others, and I, Zhao Li, enjoy making friends throughout the martial world.”
Zhao Li narrowed his eyes and let out a strange chuckle, still refusing to speak the truth. Lu Xin could not guess his purpose, but the phrase “the top scholar’s cousin” startled him.
In this world, he had only one male cousin: Lu Tingfang. Yet Lu Tingfang was still taking the imperial examination at the Hongwen Academy. The examination had not ended, and the court had not even posted the results. How could anyone already be calling him the top scholar?
“Heh heh. It’s no wonder you don’t know what happened inside the examination hall. This year’s special examination is for the presented scholar degree and lasts a full day. Policy essays, classical passages, and poetry and prose make up the three major sections. They say the Emperor himself set the questions, and they were extraordinarily difficult. By the customs of the Wude era, even the most talented candidates would not hand in their papers before dusk. But your cousin completed every question in only two hours. By the time he left the Hongwen Academy, it was not yet midmorning.”
As Zhao Li spoke, his expression gradually grew solemn, and the air of frivolity vanished from him. He knitted his brows and stared at Lu Xin’s face, drawing in a deep breath. When the young man did not respond, Zhao Li waited two heartbeats before continuing.
“He completed the entire examination in two hours. Nothing like it had happened since the third year of the Daye era, when Emperor Yang of Sui first established the imperial examination system. At first, everyone assumed that someone who handed in his paper so hastily must be an ignorant good-for-nothing. Yet his answers shocked every examiner. Even Li Gang, the Crown Prince’s Grand Tutor, now more than eighty years old, could only sigh and call him a once-in-a-millennium prodigy. Changsun Wuji went so far as to send an attendant to carry the paper into the palace for the Emperor to read. By now, your cousin should already have entered the palace to meet His Majesty.”
Zhao Li’s voice was filled with complicated emotions—astonishment mingled with a trace of doubt. Throughout history, there had been countless scholars who achieved fame in their youth and possessed extraordinary learning. Yet not one had treated the empire’s candidates as though they were beneath notice, as Lu Tingfang had done. With nothing but a brush and a single hour, he had astonished the entire imperial court.
As a dealer in information, Zhao Li considered himself widely traveled and well informed, but he had never heard of anything like this.
What puzzled him even more was Lu Xin’s reaction. After hearing the story, Lu Xin merely nodded and uttered an indifferent “Hmm.” His face did not change in the slightest, as though everything were perfectly natural. Zhao Li stared at him with his mouth hanging open.
“You’re not surprised at all?”
“What is there to be surprised about? He is capable of it. Compared with Lu Tingfang, his master, Yuan Tiangang, is the truly terrifying one.”
“Hahahaha! You two brothers really are more interesting than the last.”
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Zhao Li stared at Lu Xin in utter astonishment. Seeing that the young man did not appear to be lying, he burst out laughing and sat down again. But his gaze had changed completely. He had thought he had long since seen through Lu Xin, yet now the young man seemed more mysterious than ever.
“A few days ago, the Emperor transferred Li Jing, Minister of Justice, to the Ministry of War and appointed him General Commander of the Army of Jiannan Circuit. He is leading a hundred thousand troops to Tibet to assist Songtsen Gampo in suppressing a rebellion. The Emperor used this matter as one of the examination questions and required the candidates to write a policy essay. Do you know how your cousin answered it?
“He wrote out decades’ worth of strategies in a single breath and explained Songtsen Gampo’s entire past and future as though he himself were the new sovereign of Tibet. Yet in truth, Songtsen Gampo is only twelve years old—by the standards of our Great Tang, he is not even old enough to undergo the coming-of-age ceremony. Before he ascended the throne, the imperial court knew virtually nothing about him.
“That was not all. Your cousin also wrote a policy essay on the Turks. Its logic was clear, its diction precise, and its prose flowed like a stream. His calligraphy, moreover, bore much of the lingering style of Wang Xizhi. They say that after reading it, the Emperor was overjoyed and immediately summoned him to the palace.”
“How did you, an outsider, learn all this?”
Seeing that Zhao Li was becoming increasingly animated and extravagant in his account, Lu Xin quickly interrupted him. He then closed the window and sat down nearby. He had no desire to hear any more about Lu Tingfang. A brilliant student from the modern age had traveled back a thousand years to the Tang dynasty. Even if he became the top scholar, he would merely be plagiarizing the wisdom of others. There was nothing glorious about it.
Zhao Li had no idea what Lu Xin was thinking. Seeing his expression turn cold, he gave an awkward chuckle.
“I nearly forgot. Your cousin almost put you to death outside the Hongwen Academy. Best not mention it, best not mention it. Hahahahahaha.”
“What exactly are you trying to say? Zhao Li, I have important business to attend to and no time to waste on idle chatter. If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave.”
“Don’t be in such a hurry, Brother Lu. To tell you the truth, even if you had not come to the Western Market today, the Nine-Star Gang would have sent someone to invite you from the Qian residence. It isn’t I, Zhao Li, who need your help. It is the Nine-Star Gang. But as a gesture of sincerity, there are some matters I would rather discuss after you have finished what is currently in your hands.”
“You need my help? Heh. Your Nine-Star Gang is powerful and prosperous, and you have an all-knowing information broker like yourself among its ranks. Why would you need the assistance of a nobody like me? Still… there is indeed something urgent I wish to ask you. Where in Chang’an can one buy dragon-saliva herb?”
“Dragon-saliva herb? That is a sacred medicinal plant that blooms only once every thousand years, a treasure of heaven and earth. What do you need it for?”
“Hmph. What I need it for—is that something I must explain? If you don’t know, then never mind. I’ll find it myself.”
Lu Xin gave a cold snort and rose abruptly. The moment he finished speaking, he moved to leave. Zhao Li stood as well and blocked his path.
“If it exists anywhere in the capital, there is nothing I, Zhao Li, do not know about it. Come along. It is only one stalk of dragon-saliva herb. The Nine-Star Gang can still afford to present you with such a gift.”
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