Chapter 1: The Sound of Autumn (Part One)

  Mandarin ducks on the pillow, red peony curtains, threads of spring color fill the teeth of the bed. A little crimson lip opens lightly, two starry eyes slightly open. Rolling hot, rolling hot, calling out a small wronged wife, don't be too anxious... At first, the two were still frolicking, but later on, a flame burst forth in their hearts, just as they were about to "fight to the end and enjoy the day" when suddenly from downstairs came the sound of urgent footsteps. The door was pushed open with a creak, and Bai Lian's personal maid and pianist Xiao Ping rushed in hastily.

  "Little Hou..." was startled by the atmosphere in the house, and the maid Xiaoping was left with one foot inside the door and one foot outside, looking very embarrassed.

  Wang Xun was furious, his face burning with anger. He threw the jade pendant onto the bed and turned around to scold: "Has no one ever taught you any manners? You're always running wild and reckless everywhere. If this were my house, I'd have you dragged out and beaten to death with a big stick!"

  "Ah..." Xiaoping was scolded by him until her eyes were red and she was on the verge of tears. Wang Xun saw this and felt even more uncomfortable, his heart feeling unwell. He couldn't help but glare at her, rebuking in a low voice: "What are you crying about? Besides crying and causing trouble, what else can you do?"

  Bai Wei had already prepared to give up everything, but was suddenly interrupted at the most critical moment, so her mood naturally wasn't good. Therefore, when she saw Xiao Ping being scolded, she didn't help out. She simply propped herself up on the bed with half of her face and stared blankly at Wang Xun's back.

  As a courtesan, she had long been clear about her fate in this life. So she didn't have any hope of marrying into another family and becoming the mistress of the house, just wanting to be a lifelong favored concubine, no longer being treated as a plaything passed from hand to hand. Therefore, even if it was destined that the maid would follow her husband around to warm his bed, she still had very high expectations, not wanting the man to belittle himself for the sake of a maid in the future. Just when she was resentful that things were not going as planned, a loud shout suddenly came from downstairs, "Second brother, second brother, don't blame Miss Ping! It was I who told him to call you. Hurry up and get ready, something big has happened!"

  "What's the big deal, rolling up to say, can't the sky fall?!" Seeing someone standing up for Xiaoping, Wang Xun also found it inconvenient to continue arguing. He glared fiercely at the door and shouted loudly.

  "Then I'll go up and say it. Won't disturb Miss Bai, will I?" The rough voice from downstairs yelled again in a loud and clear tone, then rushed up the stairs three steps at a time. "I didn't mean to disturb Second Brother. But today our brothers were bullied terribly, if you don't stand up for us..."

  As they spoke, he had already come close. Bai Hua looked around Wang Xuan's back, frowning as she looked over, and saw that the person had a large black circle covering his left eye, two green bruises on his right cheek, and a ball of gauze stuffed up his nose, with blood still seeping out nonstop. It seemed he had indeed been beaten quite badly, no wonder he would run to Jin Hua Lou to ask for help.

  "Who on earth did this?! Seeing his childhood friend being beaten to such a state, Wang Xuan's anger instantly dissipated, he pulled over a stool and pressed the person down, while grabbing a towel from the dresser and throwing it into the water basin, furiously asking."

  "A group of ruthless outsiders." Hei Yanquan took the clean towel from Wang You, wiping away the dirt and blood on his face as he replied with a hint of grievance. "Second Brother, hurry up and go, or else they'll snatch the entire cockfighting arena!"

  "How dare he!" Wang Xun suddenly stood up, casually pulling over his own large red cloak. "This is Chang'an, under the emperor's feet. Has the law of the king not yet arrived?"

  "It's not just that there's no king, I, the two young masters of the Qin Manor in Xitou, and the fourth young master of the Ma Manor in Beibian, were all beaten by them! I reported the letter from my second brother, but they didn't take it seriously!" Hei Yanquan stood up immediately, grabbed Wang Chun's arm and pulled him out.

  Bai Hua Zhi had long recognized this uninvited guest, whose surname was Yuwen and name was Zhi. He was a childhood friend of Wang Xuan's, but his personality was vastly different from Wang Xuan's, always causing trouble and leaving his friends to clean up after him. Tolerating the man's face, Bai Hua Zhi had initially not planned to intervene too much, but seeing Wang Xuan prepare to take responsibility without even asking about the details of the situation, she couldn't help but furrow her brow and call out in a low voice: "Second Young Master is leaving already? Yuwen Young Master's nose is still bleeding!"

  "It's nothing!" The dark-circled man, known as Yuwen Young Master, turned around and gave her a big thumbs up, "I've offended the young lady. When my face heals from its injuries, I'll definitely set up ten tables of wine at Jin Hua Lou and make amends with you in front of everyone!"

  "That's not necessary! You and Erlang are childhood friends, his business is also my business!" Bai Huiqi sat upright on the bed, looking dignified and composed. "However, Dongshi is still quite far from here, your nose is still bleeding, can you ride a horse without getting dizzy? Moreover, you've come all this way to get help, it'll take some time to go back and forth. By the time Erlang arrives, those troublemaking outsiders will probably have run away already!"

  "Don't worry, don't worry." Yuwen Young Master waved his hand repeatedly. "They will definitely run, but they won't be able to run far. Dong City is our territory, and we have many eyes and ears in the open and in secret."

  "Since they can't run far, why not let the government catch them and give them a good beating? In this land of Chang'an, is Master Yuwen afraid to get into trouble with a few outsiders?" Bai Hui's eyes widened, feigning innocence and ignorance.

  "Miss, you don't know the situation?" Yuwen young master was so anxious that he started rubbing his hands. "We are all people who care about face, where we fall down, we make it up somewhere else. How can we casually disturb the government office? Otherwise, if it gets out, those who know will say we're following the Tang Dynasty's laws and don't want to cause trouble. Those who don't know will think we're relying on our connections in official circles to bully these outsiders!"

  After being blocked by Bai Hua several times, Wang Xun's anger slowly dissipated. However, he was used to bullying others with Yuwen Zhi, and now his dignity had been trampled on, making it hard for him to swallow this insult. Moreover, although he was called Young Master Hou, in reality, he was just a young master who inherited the residual prestige of his ancestors. The noble title earned by his ancestors' lives during the founding of the dynasty had been decreasing generation by generation, and now he only held a viscount's hat. It was useful for showing off, but not necessarily effective when dealing with officials. If he didn't catch the troublemaker himself today and chose to report it to the authorities instead, given the nature of the County Magistrate of Chang'an, the outcome would likely be nothing more than a mere formality.

  "Second Brother!" Seeing Wang Jun's face reveal a hesitant expression, Yuwen Zhi dragged out his voice in entreaty.

  "Don't worry, let me think!" On one side was the beauty's concerned gaze, on the other was the good friend's expectant eyes. Wang Xuan was somewhat indecisive: "Anyway, at this moment, no matter how we hurry, they've already run far away. Don't worry, first stop the bleeding. Ping'er, go get a basin of cold water. Bai sister, please find a few more clean towels. Best if they're made of long-fur cotton cloth. Xiao Wu, don't worry, sit down and slowly tell us, how did this fight start? I think those outsiders' guts are big enough, you didn't provoke him, he wouldn't dare to smash our stall in the east market!"

  "Second brother, didn't you see that those outsiders are just here to stir up trouble!" Hei Yanquan was unable to argue with Yuwen Zhi, so he could only sit back down obediently and let Bai Huiyi and Xiao Ping'er help treat his wounds. "They... Ah, Ping'er, be gentle! It hurts! If you're not careful, I'll get Second Brother to take you in as my bed warmer one of these days!"

  He was taking advantage of two women, and at the same time, he was describing the incident in a disjointed manner. The cause of the conflict sounded very simple: Wang Xun, Yuwen Zhi, and several other nobles had opened a cockfighting arena called "Chang Le Fang" in the East Market, which had been doing extremely well lately. Yuwen Zhi, who was idle and liked excitement, would often gamble on the outcome of the fights at the arena. However, he had extremely bad luck today, and his prized fighting cock, "Wu Wei Jiang Jun", unexpectedly lost after initially winning. As one of the owners, Yuwen Zhi felt humiliated and decided to borrow another prized fighting cock, "An Le Da Jiang Jun", from his other arena, "Bai Sheng Guan". However, a spectator from out of town thought that this was against the rules and insisted that "Chang Le Fang" should win or lose on its own merit. The staff at the arena tried to persuade the outsider to calm down, but he refused and instead started causing trouble, beating up several of them. Yuwen Zhi, who was not one to back down, jumped out to defend his staff, but ended up being beaten and humiliated by the outsider. Qin Guo Mo and Qin Guo Yan, two brothers who were watching from a private room on the second floor, jumped down to help, but the outsider immediately produced four or five accomplices, and they fought with the Qin brothers. Ma Fang, a descendant of the Duke of Gaotang, came to mediate, but was also beaten up by the outsiders, who thought he was in cahoots with them.

  "If we don't get this guy back today, in the future at Dongshi Kou, we..." Yuwen Zhi continued to add fuel to the fire, fearing that the world would not be chaotic.

  "Enough, don't say anymore!" Wang Xun slammed his hand on the table, shattering the tea set and cups all over the floor. If Yuwen Zhi had been beaten alone, he might have been able to swallow this insult. But Yuwen Zhi was a troublemaker who always caused problems everywhere he went, so getting into some trouble would be good for him to learn a lesson. However, the Qin brothers from Hu Gong Fu and Ma Siye from Gao Tang County were all old friends of the Wang family, and they had always taken care of each other's interests in their respective households. Now that they had been beaten by outsiders at the "Chang Le Fang" cockfighting arena until their faces were swollen and bruised, if the master of this cockfighting arena continued to hide and refused to show his face, then from now on, he would no longer be able to meet with these friends!

  Thinking of this, Wang Xuan didn't care about Bai Huiqi and her servant who were busy cleaning up the broken porcelain pieces on the ground. He pulled Yuwen Zhi's arm and turned around to leave, "Follow me to chase after him. Today, even if we have to chase him to the ends of the earth, we must get our courtyard back. You come with me first, if I'm not his match either, then we'll find someone else to take charge!"

  Bai Wei wanted to persuade him a few more words, but was afraid of hurting Wang Xun's face in front of outsiders, so he opened his mouth and swallowed the words that had already reached his lips. He watched as Wang Xun went downstairs, mounted his horse under the service of his personal attendants Wang Ji and Wang Xiang, before hastily rushing to the window, leaning out halfway, and whispering: "Second Master, be careful, don't get yourself into trouble!"

  "Don't worry!" Wang Xuan turned back, giving her a grateful smile. "What's the big deal about a few outsiders? Can they turn the sky upside down? I'll go take a look around first and listen to your new composition when I get back!"

  Go ahead, lightly tap the stirrup. The jujube red horse let out a loud neigh and galloped away along the same street that the soldiers had taken when they returned triumphantly earlier.

  "You ungrateful wretch!" Xiao Ping still nursed a grudge from the humiliation she had suffered earlier, and glared at Wang Xun's retreating back as she cursed.

  "Men's family affairs can be really troublesome at times!" Bai Jie Zi shook her head and slowly closed the window.

  "Sister is still protecting him. You have to know, when it comes to men, you can't be soft-hearted. The softer you are, the less they'll care about you. It's always better to keep them at arm's length." As soon as there were no outsiders around, Xiaoping's mouth started moving rapidly like a stir-frying bean, "If you had pressed him a bit harder today, he might have agreed to let you into the Chongrenfang mansion. You're always thinking for his sake, always thinking for his sake..."

  "Little girl, what do you know!" Bai Wei pointed her finger and poked Xiaoping's head, making her cover her forehead in pain. "Have you ever seen fishing? If it doesn't eat bait, you can't force-feed it into its mouth. At all times, you need to understand how to pull the line, letting it always be between eating and not eating. It will naturally get hooked!"

  "I'm afraid it's swallowed the bait and slipped away with a splash. Leaving you with an empty hook!" Little Ping'er stole a glance at her mistress and muttered under her breath.

  "Good grief!" Bai Wei Ci shook her head, slowly sat back down on the edge of the bed, and rubbed her scorching cheeks with her hands. Had she really almost been left with nothing but an empty hook? She felt a bit bewildered. How had she suddenly thought of putting everything in his hands without any guarantees today? She wasn't clear about that either. She just felt that there were many mysteries waiting for her to slowly figure out. Maybe it would only take a few days to see through everything. Or maybe, if she hesitated for even a moment, she would miss out on an entire lifetime.