HLCOB C31

Chapter 31

 

However, the power struggle that would arise from Wang Bo’s downfall was only a matter for high personages.

“Did you see it the other day? The carriages loaded with that eunuch’s property stretched from here to there!”

“To think I’d live to see the day that gelded bastard ended up like this!”

For common folk who toiled daily just to eat, power struggles were hardly of importance. So their attention turned to the beautiful young lord, Jaheon, who had brought down the eunuch Wang Bo.

“This is all thanks to Lord Huaseo!”

“Right! Exactly!”

“Since that scoundrel Wang Bo was seized, our daughter was freed too!”

With Wang Bo’s removal, commoners who had been forced into slavery were emancipated, and the excessive levies imposed on the people around Luoyang were markedly reduced.

“A true sage indeed!”

“Lord Huaseo must surely be one heaven has sent!”

Jaheon was the one who had directly opened the airways of people who had been too busy keeping their bellies from growling to even know how the world turned.

“We wish to pay respects to Lord Im!”

“Would you deliver this to Lord Im! It’s produce from our fields!”

“I truly wish to offer words of thanks to my lord!”

Before long, to the people near Luoyang, Jaheon had become a genuine man of virtue.

“Well now!”

Thanks to this, O Juk-yeop’s shoulders had lately been rising without limit.

“Apologies, but my lord is busy at present! It’s not possible to see everyone!”

He was not arrogant—only his shoulders had lifted a touch. After all, the lord he served was none other than Im Huaseo, who had struck down the treacherous eunuch!

“I hear that one is Lord Im’s closest aide!”

“Then he’s the one Lord Huaseo trusts with matters?”

“If one curries favor with him, could one meet Lord Im?”

Furthermore, because O Juk-yeop oversaw managing the talents who came to meet Jaheon, he was often taken as Jaheon’s closest aide. How could a servant receive such treatment? Only with Jaheon, who treated even servants without discrimination, was it possible. When working under Wang Yun, O Juk-yeop had been only a nameless houseboy, not O Juk-yeop.

It would have been strange if his shoulders had not risen.

“Yes, I am indeed my lord’s closest aide!”

Twitching the corner of his mouth, O Juk-yeop shouted to the crowd of commoners swarming before the residence.

“Instead, leave the gifts brought here! He has said he will accept anything personally grown or made!”

He was crying out endlessly, voice braced with force, when—

“E-excuse me, ahem, what should one do if one wishes to write one’s name?”

A man asked.

“Name?”

At the puzzling words, O Juk-yeop looked the man up and down.

“What do you mean, name…?”

Tall with white skin, light brown hair and eyes—the man, who looked mixed-blood of a “colored-eye” lineage, had a very strong physique. A frame that seemed eight chi tall, a solid-looking body. Wasn’t this the martial build Jaheon so dearly desired!

“Ah! If you wish to become a retainer, this way…!”

So O Juk-yeop, suspecting nothing, guided the man. It was the place where names were entered for those who wished to become Jaheon’s retainers or sought an audience with him.

“Write your place of residence here, and your name and special skill.”

“Ah. Name and special skill…”

At O Juk-yeop’s words, the man, watching his face, asked cautiously.

“But, you see.”

“Yes?”

“Is this truly the place where they give silver?”

“……?”

At that, O Juk-yeop stared at the man in disbelief.

“What do you mean, silver…?”

“Ah, well, I heard tell there was a place that gave silver if one came from far away…”

The fairly decent-looking man half-squinted and muttered. But the man was a grown adult, large to the point of boorishness, and O Juk-yeop snapped without thinking.

“Listen here! Our Lord Huaseo gives silver to support travel expenses for talents who journeyed far to meet him—it is not something just handed out…!”

“No, I merely heard the rumor and…”

Looking again, the man did not have the yellow shoot of a martial talent—only a yellow face.

“You lot! Seize this shameless fellow at once…!”

O Juk-yeop was about to cry out, pointing at the man, when—

“I-it’s because I botched the sale of game this time!”

The man suddenly grabbed the hem of O Juk-yeop’s trousers.

“I can chop wood well! Strong, too! I hunt well as well! I’ll be useful! If I don’t go back with even 1 nyang this time, my wife might really beat me to death!”

“And what has your wife beating you to death to do with us!”

At O Juk-yeop’s angry shout, the man began to sniffle.

“My boy, Macho, eats like me—she said that since he eats so much, she ought to kill me! This time I’ll truly die! She said if I don’t bring money again, she’ll make me a eunuch! Said I’m useless but only manage to sire more!”

At the man’s embittered words, O Juk-yeop suddenly thought of his family in Bing Province.

“Are you planning to starve all your brats to death?!”

Perhaps one would be all right.

If it was only hauling sacks—odd jobs—bringing in an outsider might be fine. Besides, Jaheon had entrusted the management of servants entirely to O Juk-yeop.

“Ahem. How many rice sacks can you carry?”

So O Juk-yeop quietly asked the man.

Jaheon, too, had run into a strange situation.

“Master Chae.”

He should have recognized it when Cai Yong himself came out to the main gate to greet him and lead him in.

“W-what is this?”

Jaheon’s lips trembled slightly.

“And who are the people in the back?”

At his words, Cai Yong beamed—a childlike smile unbefitting a man of years.

“They’re the fellows who handle documents. Those damned fellows need to see how you write… Ah, that’s not the important part—look here.”

Excited, Cai Yong explained the bamboo slips piled high before Jaheon’s desk.

“These are the Five Classics, and those are…!”

How many vacancies had been created by the purge of Wang Bo’s house? All were on edge, wondering if the power the eunuchs wielded would now flow to Jaheon. Some moved to get in his good graces, others to check him from seizing the remaining key posts.

“I’ve prepared twenty in case you get hungry. These are snacks for when hunger strikes, and I had tonics boiled to bolster your body.”

But Cai Yong had no thought to curry favor with Jaheon, nor to check him.

“There’s even a bed over there for you to sleep on…”

He was only full of thoughts on how to use Jaheon as profitably as possible.

In the record of events, he was the stubborn Cai Yong who had wept in front of Wang Yun—the very man who later killed Dong Zhuo—merely because Dong had treated him well; and who had ended up exiled for offending Wang Yun’s temper.

“Is it not enough?”

At his question, Jaheon swallowed the resentment that had risen to his throat and forced a smile.

“Not enough? It’s too much by far…”

By the look of them, the bamboo slips piled high on the desk were clearly the “ancient texts” Cai Yong had raved about. But why were they on his desk! Jaheon wondered if he shouldn’t run away at once.

One does not spit on a smiling face: forcing himself to smile, he said to Cai Yong,

“Master Chae. Is it not the Yirang’s duty to arrange and record His Majesty’s words, and answer when His Majesty inquires?”

“Huaseo. These are all recordings of His Majesty’s words.”

At Cai Yong’s brazen words, Jaheon’s vision swam as he unfolded a slip and asked,

“…How are the sages’ words His Majesty’s?”

“His Majesty cited the sages’ words. I merely followed and wrote them down.”

“……”

But Cai Yong, eyes gleaming with a touch of madness, was not to be taken lightly. He seized Jaheon’s wrist as the latter tried to flee. For a man almost seventy, his grip was surprisingly strong—enough to make the wrist tingle.

“Did His Majesty permit this?”

“His Majesty surely would have.”

Barely steadying his twitching lips, Jaheon spoke.

“Supposition is not fact, Master Chae.”

“No, he would have. Did His Majesty not spare this body thanks to you? It was meant as a command to make full use of a talent like you!”

At this point, Jaheon attained enlightenment regarding Cai Yong, who had reached a state akin to spirit-possession.

“How did your logic flow like that…?”

To be honest, Cai Yong was not entirely wrong.

In the record of events, Cai Yong had been sent down to his home by Wang Bo’s slander. But history had swerved due to Jaheon’s intervention: Wang Bo fell early, and the slander never happened. Strictly speaking, it was true that Jaheon had saved Cai Yong.

But how on earth would Cai Yong know that.

As Jaheon held his brow in the darkening situation, Cai Yong had a eunuch present a prepared tonic and said,

“You’re young—how can you be like this already? I had the imperial physician prepare a decoction just in case.”

He even kindly pressed a brush into Jaheon’s hand.

“Now. Drink up and begin work. Copy over all the ancient texts there.”

“……”

“I put in only medicinals that bolster vigor. From now on all day—no, during working hours—you’ll have to be writing…”

But there was no escape.

Cai Yong was a Yirang; Jaheon was also a Yirang. It meant the two had to be together in the palace for the most part, unless Jaheon petitioned the Emperor for a different post. An extreme weariness swept him. Perhaps it would be better to flee to the Emperor’s study.

“…That really might be better.”

Half resigned, Jaheon reached for the tonic Cai Yong had prepared, in the surge of fatigue—

“……?”

He caught sight of a eunuch’s face drawn tight with tension. It was the eunuch holding the tonic. Seeing the cold sweat on the eunuch’s face, Jaheon looked down at the decoction. The tray holding the bowl trembled.

“Heh.”

With a short laugh, Jaheon smiled at the eunuch.

“Would you drink it for me?”

Then asked,

“I cannot drink very hot things in one go—would you check that it is all right?”

At that, the eunuch, face gone ashen, dropped the tonic he was holding.

Footnotes:

• “Eight chi” describes imposing stature in Han-era measure; here it highlights the man’s physical suitability for labor or soldiery.