Nightfall

Rain in City of Wei and a Lad with a Servant

In the spring of the 13th year of Tianqi era of Tang, there was rain in City of Wei.

This military border town, which was located in the northwest of the extensive empire, was built to hold off the invasion of grassland barbarians. The cob walls were ramparted firmly around the city and they looked like a stocky earth block.

When the northwestern wind started to blow in the dry seasons, the floating dust on the cob walls would flutter around and land on the crude barracks or the soldiers. The whole world would become ocher and there would be a sandstorm when people were turning their quilts during sleep.

This rain was right in time and the soldiers were very pleased in this dry spring. The light rain was washing off the roofs, as if it could also wash people’s eyes to be brighter.

At least Ma Shixiang’s eyes were pretty bright now.

As the top military officer in the City of Wei, he was pretty humble now. He successfully covered his dissatisfaction with the footprints on the expensive carpet and pretended to act a little surprised.

Saluting to the elder with a dirty robe sitting at a low tea-table, he said in a low voice, “Dear Sir, does the noble need anything? If she insists on leaving tomorrow, I could send a hundred soldiers to protect her and make a record at the Military Ministry right away.”

The elder pointed at the figures inside the tent, shaking his head to agree with a smile. At that moment, a cold and arrogant woman’s voice sounded in the tent. “That’s OK. Just tend to your own business.”

It took very little time for Ma Shixiang to figure out who was in the carriage when they had crashed into City of Wei this morning. So he had no feelings about her cold attitude and didn’t dare to complain.

The person inside the tent suddenly spoke after a while. “The trip from City of Wei to the capital has to go through Min Mountain, right where the roads might have been washed out by the rain. Assign a guide from the army for me.”

Ma Shixiang was stunned and thought about that irritating guy. He lowered his head and said, “There is a candidate.”

…

…

Several lieutenants were staring at each other outside the barracks with different looks on their faces, some with regretful or shocked expressions. Apparently, none of them expected that Ma Shixiang would choose that person to be the guide for the noble.

“General, are you really ready to let him go like this?” A lieutenant asked with surprise.

City of Wei was very small, with less than 300 soldiers including the officers. It was more like a group of outlaws. The so-called general was really just a lowest ranking officer. However, Ma Shixiang was strict with his soldiers, and as the head of the bandits, he liked to be called general. His subordinates didn’t dare to talk to him without using the title general, even in the daily conversation.

Ma Shixiang cleaned his face and looked at the tawny pools of water around the barracks. He sighed. “We can’t always keep him in this damn place. The recommendation letter was received six months ago. That guy has a great future and he’ll go to the capital to take his first test at the Academy after all. Luckily, he could go together with that noble. Let me do her a favor.”

“I don’t think that noble will feel grateful… ” His lieutenant angrily replied.

The door of the barracks was pushed open and a pretty maidservant walked in. She looked at Ma Shixiang and the lieutenants and coldly said, “Show me the guide.”

As the noble’s maidservant, she didn’t hide her slight arrogance when facing the military officers of the imperial court.

The prime minister’s gatekeepers, nobles’ closest maidservants, and princes’ retainers were the three most troublesome kinds of people in all of the bureaucracy. Ma Shixiang really didn’t want to deal with them. So after chitchatting for a few seconds, he called a lieutenant to go with the maidservant to find the guide.