Chapter 5: An Unexpected Encounter in the Snow

  He is the Zao Jiao in Xuande's imagination, a rough and unrefined warrior - no, thinking again, this person serves as the military officer of Xuzhou, should be a scholar-official rather than a warrior. Later being beaten by Zhang Fei, if talking about being rough, it shouldn't be that much... or maybe he has a common face often used by treacherous and cunning people or unknown low-ranking officials.

  But he never expected that the owner of this room, who came out from behind the screen, would be such a figure. The man was about 8 feet tall - or around 1.8 meters - with broad shoulders and narrow waist, long limbs, and just his physique alone could make it onto the cover of a magazine. As for his looks, how to describe them? It seemed that most of the clichés used to depict handsome men in storytelling performances could be applied to him, at least 5 or 6 out of 10.

  Let's start with "face like jade", Cao Jiao's skin tone is quite good, no acne, scars, freckles or anything, but a healthy wheat color, not too pale; then "eyes like bright stars", his pair of small eyes are often narrowed, occasionally opened, indeed shining brightly, making people dare not stare; as for "nose straight and mouth square", this person's nose bridge is indeed tall, but the tip of the nose is slightly hooked, giving off a bit of sinister air, while the thick lips dissipate this sinister air naturally, making him look quite calm and peaceful; "five willows long beard" he can't compare to Guan Gong on stage, his dense and neat whiskers just reach his chest, still far from his belly...

  In short, if Cao Jie shaved off his mustache, he would be a handsome and elegant man in his previous life, the kind that would make young girls and daughters-in-law scream with excitement when he goes out. And if he were to act in a play, with this image, he wouldn't be just any ordinary actor, but definitely a leading man or a righteous character, or perhaps a deeply hidden villain. Is this really the oily Cao Jie? His face is almost as wide as Run Fa Ge's, and three points thinner it would be Dao Ming Shu...

  "Is Uncle Yuan's brother doing well?" was a greeting that completely dispelled Shi Xun's doubts - indeed, this was Cao Jiao, Cao Shu-Yuan... He saw Cao Jiao with a dignified demeanor, bowing his hands in return: "Reunited with Uncle Mian, I am overjoyed, may I ask who this is?"

  He introduced himself to Cao Jiao, and after they sat down as host and guest, they exchanged a few pleasantries. Cao Jiao didn't beat around the bush and soon got to the point: "I've already understood your intention from your letter the other day. Please rest assured that with me in Xuzhou, no matter where you want to buy land or houses, I'll take care of it, and we can discuss the location and price."

  "It's such a bother to trouble Uncle Yuan." It seems that the relationship between Cao Jiao and this person is quite good, just a few words, and the big things have been basically discussed. Then they started talking about their respective experiences after parting ways. Xun was leaning in with his ears perked up, listening carefully, and managed to glean several important pieces of information from their conversation.

  One, Cao Jue Xing San (so he was as broad-minded as Kuai, with the character 'Shu' in his courtesy name), had an older brother named Cao Hong, courtesy name Zhong Hui, who also gained Tao Qian's trust and was appointed to the position of Bù Cáo Cóng Shì; Two, although Tao Qian frequently mobilized troops over the past two years, driving out the Yellow Turbans from Qingzhou, in reality most of the battles were led by Cao Jue and Mǎ Dūwèi Zāng Bàng, while he himself stayed in Tán County without much movement - due to his advanced age and poor health, he was no longer capable of withstanding the hardships of horseback riding; Three, Tao Qian's two sons, Tao Shang and Tao Ying, were both spoiled and depraved, so people throughout the state worried about the future after Tao Qian.

  Cao Jiao and Shi talked for over an hour, during which they both intentionally or unintentionally steered the conversation towards Shi Xun, as if worried about leaving him out. Before responding, Shi Xun would clasp his hands together in front of his chest, answering one question at a time with extreme respect, never taking the initiative to interject - and even if he wanted to, he couldn't have inserted himself into their discussion of local historical details anyway.

  The feast was quite sumptuous, and after it ended, the family members came to report that the accommodations for the Shi brothers' entourage had been arranged, and the two rooms for the young masters had also been cleaned. So they dispersed after the banquet, and Shi Xun returned to his bedroom, using the excuse of having drunk too much wine, he lay down and fell asleep, fearing that Shi Kuan would take advantage of the wine's excitement to come and chat with him about something. As he lay on the bed, he thought, since Cao Jiao had already promised, wouldn't it be possible to return to the counties tomorrow? Or should they buy land somewhere, or build a house somewhere, all of which required discussing the details with Cao Jiao? Anyway, he couldn't intervene, so maybe it was better to find an excuse not to show up? But what excuse could he find?

  It was probably due to the fatigue of the journey, and also because he had been teasing himself about his travel experiences, that his spirit was too tense. He lay down for a short while, and soon fell asleep in a daze. That night, he had a wild dream, where he saw Kuan coming to talk to him about poetry. In the dream, he himself was fearless, opening with "When will the bright moon appear? I'll ask the blue sky". But Kuan retorted: "It's not as good as 'The blue sky has a moon, when will it come? I'll stop my cup and ask'." Wen was shocked to hear this: "Third brother, you're also a time-traveler? I don't know what year or month you came from?" Kuan suddenly turned serious, his face stern: "I'm from the 78th century, specially sent to capture you and take you back to be castrated as a eunuch!"

  He woke up with a start from his dream, again covered in cold sweat, feeling parched and dry, and couldn't help but call out: "Mei, bring me some water to drink." Only then did he fully come to his senses, realizing that there were no maidservants accompanying him on this trip, let alone Mei, not even a single star.

  Opening his eyes and lifting his head, he saw a hazy white light shining directly through the thin curtains of the window frame - ah, it had already dawned. He got out of bed, pushed open the window, and was suddenly hit by an endless wave of cold air, which made him want to sneeze. His gaze swept outside, but all he saw was that the originally withered shrubs and lawn in the courtyard were gone, replaced by a vast expanse of white.

  What? It's still October and it's already snowing? The timing is off.

  "Hey, someone's coming to fetch water. It's just after washing up and I'm thinking about how to get through the day when I see Kuan trudging through the snow, shouting from afar: "Hong Fu is up? The snowflakes are dancing, the world is vast and mysterious, what a great scene! The Cao family has a delicate backyard, but it's not as good as going with me to admire the snow and have some fun."

  Xuan's heart skipped a beat, thinking that he was afraid of what might happen. Can this snow be taken lightly? For those who love poetry, seeing any scenery will inevitably give rise to some poetic inspiration, let alone this vast expanse of snow covering the sky and earth? It's not possible to trudge through the snow in the garden while asking for a detailed account of his travels and studies, is it? If he really wanted to talk about those things, why bother going outside? He's done for, done for - it looks like his own literary reputation is about to be exposed today!

  He wanted to find an excuse to shirk, but it was no use, and he was dragged away by the sleeve. Xi Yun had no choice but to lower his head and think hard, what kind of poem about snow could he plagiarize? But no matter how hard he thought, all that came to mind was: "The mountains and rivers are all mixed up, the well is a black hole. The yellow dog has white on its body, the white dog has a swelling." Oh no, if this sloppy poem were to be sold, it would immediately become a laughingstock among scholars!

  He was walking with a wide stride, one foot deep and the other shallow, his heart racing with anxiety, his mind in a daze, completely unaware of where he had walked to or what scenery surrounded him. Suddenly, the wide figure stopped in front of him, and he also stopped involuntarily, only to hear the wide figure say: "This must be the young lady of Cao Gong's household, I am Kuang, and this is my younger brother Xun."

  Young lady? Where did this young lady come from? It was Xun Wenyan who raised his head and looked forward, only to see two young women's figures emerging from behind a cluster of shrubs covered in white snow. One seemed to be a maid, while the other wore a fur coat with a hood, dressed in attire that suggested she was a miss from a wealthy family.

  His first impression: Indeed, this is Cao Jiao's daughter, the two are almost carved out of the same mold. Of course, this is just a figurative expression, if you really want to shave off Cao Jiao's beard and put him in women's clothing, no matter how handsome he is, he would still be able to scare children from crying at night. So as soon as they met, it was clear that she had a blood relationship with Cao Jiao, because this girl was also quite tall, estimated to be around 1.7 meters, her skin tone wasn't pale enough, but it was a healthy wheat color, which complemented the white fur and snow, giving off a unique charm. Like her old man, her eyes weren't big either, they were narrow and seemed slightly closed, her nose bridge was high, the tip was slightly hooked, her mouth wasn't big, and her lips were slightly thick. In short, she couldn't be said to be very beautiful, compared to the second miss of the house, she was still three points inferior, but she seemed to have combined lazy, lively, cunning, and kind personality traits, which had a unique charm.

  He was gazing at the young lady, and the young lady happened to cast her eyes on him at this moment. With a faint smile and a hint of shyness, she lowered her head, turned sideways, and asked in a low voice: "Is it Mr. Hongfu who is 'Cai Cai Rong Mu'?"

  Xun's left eyelid twitched, and he thought to himself: In this era without telegrams or phones, how did the poem I copied in Qingzhou spread to Xuzhou in just a year? And it even reached the inner chambers! I must say, one can't underestimate the connections between scholars in this era. From now on, I'll have to be more careful when copying poems.

  "Indeed, it is I, Xun. Yesterday, I came to your esteemed residence and this morning, seeing the auspicious snowfall, I specially came to the rear garden to admire the scenery, but unfortunately collided with the young lady, please forgive me."

  Following this, the host said with a smile, and Mr. Hong Fu instinctively bowed his head and waist, only to hear Miss Cao ask again: "I wonder if you have any other wonderful works after seeing this beautiful scenery, Mr. Hong Fu?"

  Oh my, it's come to this! It's Xunzi's fault for being so arrogant. He thought he was still figuring out how to deal with Lao San, but then Cao Miss suddenly appeared and also wanted to discuss poetry papers - You're a young lady who grew up in a secluded boudoir, why aren't you focusing on needlework? What characters do you recognize, what literature have you studied, what kind of artistic youth are you pretending to be? At this point, he's actually somewhat looking down on Confucianism. In the era when Confucianism was prevalent, it was rare for a young lady from a good family to meet strangers and not quickly run away!

  Unfortunately, I didn't get to wear it during the Ming or Qing dynasties. If I had traveled back to that time and month, I definitely wouldn't have dared to plagiarize any poems again, so I wouldn't have been questioned by a girl.

  In the blink of an eye, Xun's mind was racing rapidly. Hey, don't underestimate him, when he's desperate, he can come up with anything. At this moment, he closed his eyes tightly, squeezed out a hint of sadness and sorrow, and said: "How can there be any brilliant ideas..."