Nightfall

Nice to meet you, Chang'an!

Chang’an did deserve to be honored as the grandest city worldwide. It was so huge that there were eighteen city wall archways in four directions of north, south, west, and east. However, every day, when the noble and the folk went in and out of the city, a large stream of people would jam these city wall archways and endless lines of people were normal in the avenue.

Ning Que and Sangsang were waiting in a long line. It was not until sun setting that they were pushed by the crowd to approach a city gate. Looking at those guards who carefully went through their luggage with a grave face, Ning Que, though sweating a lot, shook his head leisurely and teased them, since it reminded him of a capital city somewhere which was famed for a traffic jam.

His voice was low and nearly undistinguished, whereas citizens in Chang’an cursed as loud as possible. It might be due to their nature as a man of Tang Empire, unsophisticated but undefeated. Thus, few feared those serious soldiers, but none chose to ignore stern laws and break in.

Finally, it was their turn. When a soldier received documents from Military Ministry which Ning Que handed, he surprisingly noticed this lad was a fellow and used to set noble exploits in the frontier, so the soldier’s face softened much, but just for a while. He frowned at the sight of three hilts on Ning Que’s back, all of which points proudly to the sky.

“Inherited. Ancestors once said…” Ning Que explained with caution.

“Your life will be with the sword,” the soldier said. Taking an indifferent glimpse at Ning Que, he waved his hand and continued in disdain, “I hear people swearing this thousands of times every day. Save your time, kid. Take off your luggage. Why do you two little guys carry such large bag? You don’t look like you’re here for studies. It’s more like you’re moving.”

He turned to stare at the big black umbrella on Sangsang’s back and asked with eyebrows wrinkled, “An umbrella? Why so huge?”

Sangsang reached a hand to her back and grasped middle part of the big black umbrella. She raised her cute little face, coldly saying to that soldier, “My life will be with the umbrella.”

Gazing at this little black girl, the soldier gave her a thumb up and said with praise, “That’s… creative.”

Ning Que was undoing their bag with a bitter smile on his young face. He thought that only he knew this statement was not a joke and Sangsang did mean it.

Inside that large bag were sundries, such as carpet and quilt. However, the hard wooden bow, as well as several tubes of arrows, caught the soldiers’ eyes when he was inspecting Ning Que’s belongings and, undoubtedly, his face was stiffened again.

…

…

Pathway of city gate in Chang’an was long and dim. Exit on the other side was far and looked like a shining hole, from where the sun could be vaguely seen setting down in the distance and few red sunlight spread into the path. Nonetheless, that sunlight was not bright enough to survive shadows and noises in the path.

Ning Que and Sangsang followed the stream to the exit. The large bag seemed rather heavy so that Sangsang had to adjust belts to save some strength. Curiously, she asked, “Young master…will anyone else be as chatty as that soldier?”

“Almost.” Ning Que answered, “Thinking that this city had all the wealth and power. People in Chang’an will surely feel superior. The more proud they appear, the more tolerant they should be toward the outlander, because they need to show they’re gentlemen. And they do.”

“And you know, sometimes it’s hard to hide your pride because it hurts inside. What can they do?… They talk! From horse carriage stores to local government, every citizen in Chang’an is addicted to chatting. And their topics range from secrets of royals and anecdotes in brothel. They seem to know everything under the doom. The point is they’re knee on spreading tales of wars or relationships in Tang Empire and other countries with a calm tone.