Zhang Xiaojing walked to a well like no one was watching. It was somehow against the rule, but the jailors all stood off, no one saying anything. His pliers-like hands alternately pulled the rope and quickly pulled out a bucket of water with ice. He raised the bucket over his head and poured water down. He cooled down with a cozy chill, sweeping away the filth and slump of the dungeon.

He put down the bucket, looked up and ice water dripped down the hair, exuding a hint of aggressive momentum. The sun was burning, casting golden suns.h.i.+ne on his left eye socket, which was empty with a deep old scar that looked fierce in the sun.

“h.e.l.lo, bright world.”

He threw a hard punch into the sky. At that moment, the light and shadow swayed, making his axe-sculpted side look like grim-faced King Kong.

After completing the transfer procedures, Xu Bin rushed out of the court of Chang’an County with Zhang Xiaojing. It was so urgent that Xu Bin didn’t give him time to take off prison suit. In front of the door, two fast horses from Liangzhou were tied to a stone-post, and clear headbands on their foreheads suggested that they could gallop on any street, even the Royal Road on Rosefinch Street, free from regulations in the Yi Zhi Act (traffic laws).

They each mounted a horse. Zhang Xiaojing asked, “Where are we going?” “Go back to the Jing’an Department in Guangde Fang,” Xu Bin looked at the sundial at the door, “It will take us one and half a quarter to get there. Hurry up.”

“A quarter is enough.” Zhang Xiaojing swept the horse ear with his ring finger, satisfied with the sensitive response of the horse.

The outer city of Chang’an was separated by Rosefinch Street with the east under the control of Wannian County and the west ruled by Changan County. The prison in Chang’an County was located in Yongda Fang, West City. The journey to Guangde Fang from here was four miles long that required one to first cross three streets to the west and then four blocks to the north. If you wanted to arrive in a quarter, you must run fast without any delay.

They galloped up the street and flew away. Both pedestrians and litters dodged their tall speeding horses lest cras.h.i.+ng into each other. Xu Bin’s riding was obviously worse than that of Zhang Xiaojing. His whole body was almost crouched atop the horse, his hands holding the reins tightly, which was quite awkward.

Zhang Xiaojing slowed down a little to keep up with Xu Bin. His single eye squinted, “Hey, buddy, what the h.e.l.l is going on?”

Xu Bin barely took control of his post, took a breath and said, “It’s the Jing’an Department that gets you out.”

“Jing’an?” Zhang Xiaojing was a bit surprised. He was familiar with the government system in Chang’an, but he never heard of the name.

Xu Bin explained, “Jing stands for rebellion suppression and An for security defense. The Jing’an Dep. is a new agency of the government to undertake the security and thieves catching in west city. All these things happened after you went in prison. They are recruiting talents, and I recommend you.”

His lying silkworm eyebrow c.o.c.ked as he thought to himself, “There are officers from Jinwu Guards, imperial censors from Yus.h.i.+ Office (The Censorate) and Marshals from Chang’an and Wannian County to defend the security of Chang’an city. What kind of thief is this that forces the government to set up a new agency to deal with it?”

Xu Bin continued, “The director of Jing’an Dep. is called Li Bi, courtesy name Changyuan. He is Hanlin scholar on call and Sicheng of the Jin’an Dep. It’s he who wants to see you this time.”

“S…. It’s more unusual.” Zhang Xiaojing was more confused, “The job of the Jing’an Dep. is thief defense, and they must have crus.h.i.+ng workloads. How do they ask a Hanlin scholar on call, which is an idle civil official, to catch fugitives? Isn’t that nonsense?”

Zhang Xiaojing searched for name in his brain and suddenly remembered, “Isn’t he... the child prodigy who composed poetry on chess?”

Xu Bin nodded intently.

In the 13th year of Kaiyuan (725 DC), a child prodigy named Li Bi, seven years old, presented himself at court. The Emperor was going chess with Zhang Shuo, head of the secretariat. So, the Emperor asked Zhang Shuo and Li Bi to compose poem on Chess with the word “Square”, “Round”, “Act” and “Calm”. Zhang Shuo wrote, “Square as a chessboard; round as a piece. Act like a live game; calm is a dead one.” Li Bi said, “Square is to be righteous; round is like using wisdom. Act seems to display talents; calm is just satisfaction.” The Emperor was quite impressed and sent him to the Orient House (where the crown prince lived) to accompany prince in studying.

As counted, he was already 26 years old, the age with ambition to stand out at court. The post, Sicheng of Jing’an Dep. was low yet powerful, and could help him acc.u.mulate experience for public affairs, perfect for promotion. Thinking of this, Zhang Xiaojing sc.r.a.ped his left eye socket with little finger and smirked, “Sicheng Li is so thirsty for talents, it seems that Jing’an Dep. has been deep in trouble?” He always talked with a hint of sarcasm.

Xu Bin looked away, a little embarra.s.sed. With penetrating insight and straightforward speaking, his friend would make people go crazy.

“Sorry, I can’t answer you now…. Sicheng Li will tell you later.”

Zhang Xiaojing laughed, “Well, it doesn’t matter. Is anything worse than being killed?”

Xu Bin looked far away, and his face turned grim, “It’s... hard to say.”

As they ran towards the Jing’an Department, Cao Poyan had just climbed up the ca.n.a.l bank. On the bank stood a blue guide-stone with a height of more than twenty feet, which said “North Yong’an Ca.n.a.l”. He crawled to the stone tablet, sat down with his back against it, and gasped, his face ghastly pale.

His left elbow was bent, with a dark steel crossbow protruding at joint and blood revealing in his sleeve. He was lucky; had there been an arrow on the crossbow, he would have lost his arm.

All of a sudden, his ears moved, and he quickly bent down and hid behind the stone. On the road not far away, a patrol of Jinwu Guards rumbled along. The road was particularly crowded with pedestrians and horses. The patrol had to shout around to clear a path; in this case, few people would pay attention to the movement beside the ca.n.a.l.

When the patrol was far away, Cao Poyan covered his left elbow with his right hand and slowly got up. He looked around and was about to step out. Suddenly, vigilance appeared in his eyes. In the distance, a man left the road, crossed the drain, and staggered towards the stone.

It was a drunkard in his forties, dressed in a white robe with slit up to the waist on sides, and with wet stain on the chest. From his staggering step, he must have drunk a lot. Cao Poyan had to bend down again and tried to lower his breathing.

The drunkard walked to the stone and burped loudly; one of his hand lifted his robe along the slit, the other hand rustled his belt open, and he began peering against it. He peed so long, dedicated in holding his p.e.n.i.s to wipe away dust on the stone. After finis.h.i.+ng, he tied belt casually and turned to go, but suddenly he looked down and said, “Eh?”

Seeing a string of messy wet footprints on the bank between the ca.n.a.l and the stone, he walked up curiously and got around the stone, just facing Cao Poyan behind the stone.

The drunkard was stunned, then he laughed and said, “Zimei, you came back, let’s have a drink.” Cao Poyan threw his arms around the drunkard’s neck. The drunkard muttered, “Oh, stop it.” In the next instant, the sound of breaking neck bone came from behind the stone, and together the mutter stopped.

Soon, Cao Poyan, dressed in the drunkard’s robe, walked naturally toward the road. It was more common to see Hu people wear Tang robes in Chang’an. He walked into the crowd like a grain of sand into the desert.

Zhang Xiaojing and Xu Bin arrived in Guangde Fang in precisely a quarter. The price was that Xu Bin lost his headscarf. Through strict body frisking, the two met Li Bi in a quiet yard behind the hall of the Jing’an Department.

It was a waiting room with plain wall, grey tiles and simple bed and table. Under the window, honeysuckle, Bauhinia, and several cl.u.s.ters of half-dried yellow bamboo were randomly planted. Obviously, the owner did not pay any attention to the decoration. The only special was a small copper sundial with an oblique finger pointing to the sky, which suggested he was very concerned about time. A small ca.n.a.l was dug around the sundial, and the babbling water wound its way to the courtyard.

Xu Bin returned the silver fish bag and bowed out, leaving Zhang Xiaojing and Li Bi alone.

Zhang Xiaojing made a deep bow, and quickly looked Li Bi over with his only eye. The handsome chess-reciting prodigy was wearing a dark green robe, which was fit for his sixth rank, Hanlin scholar on call. However, his silver fish bag for officials above the fifth rank indicated that it was a privileged gift from the Emperor. From this small detail, you could smell the emperor’s favor to him.

But Li Bi was not proud this time. Although he was trying to keep calm, his brow and lip muscles were tensing. With a single glance, Zhang Xiaojing knew that the youth was under great pressure.

And interestingly enough, Li Bi was holding a fly-whisk. Why a magistrate of Jing’an Department had a Taoist tool?

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Li Bi shook the fly-whisk and said simply without any greeting, “What I gonna tell you are the top secrets of the court. You have two choices: work for me, or go back to die.”

Zhang Xiaojing remained silent. He knew that the youth before him didn’t expect any answer, but was confirming his dominance in conversation.