Serving the Country

Zou Qi was a nameless, small, street vendor in the capital. The only business he dabbled in was making porridge in the mornings.

And everyday, the thing that made his heart beat the fastest, was precisely when he made porridge for a very special customer in the early morning.

This special customer certainly wasn’t a random passerby, but the famous Fu Ning wang, Han Lang.

Even though so long had passed since the event had taken place, Zou Qi could still clearly remember the circumstances under which they had met: He’d stupidly stared at that person, watching him finish eating before collecting the fare in a muddle-headed manner. A long time had passed before he’d recovered; and immediately afterwards, he told everyone he met that he’d seen an immortal-like character.

In the end, other people couldn’t bear seeing him act like this anymore, extremely carefully revealing to him that the immortal-like character in his heart was actually a big, evil person - a villain called Han Lang.

Because of this, Zou Qi once again turned dumb from shock for the entire night. Only on the second day, when he absent mindedly set up his stall and saw that pretty villain again, hearing him say “A bowl of clear porridge, boss”, did he realise that he didn’t care a single bit about what other people said. In his heart, Han Lang was simply the most good looking immortal.

And it was from that moment on, that that immortal-like villain came to patron his business almost every day. His patronage was so often that it could pretty much be described as unstoppable regardless of wind or rain.

Slowly, he also came to understand Han Lang’s regular routine.

Han Lang had two youths serving as his bodyguards. One was called Liu Nian, the other was called Liu Yun.

They took turns to serve Han Lang, one person a day.

Liu Nian would sit beside Han Lang and accompany him to eat porridge, whereas Liu Yun would stand behind Han Lang and wait pointlessly.

Han Lang would only order clear porridge, eating it along with the self-made pickles offered at his stall.

The commoners who came here to eat breakfast would all offer up their seats when they saw this huge persona, whilst the ones who recognised him would straight up leave, and some others would find a corner to watch and whisperingly discuss.

Han Lang would never make any warm greetings, nor would he command for his people to seal the place off. He would only methodically finish eating his breakfast.

After paying his fare, he would compensate him with more silver according to the number of customers he’d scared off.

Slowly, the number of customers Zou Qi had in the morning lessened by a lot, yet the amount of silver Han Lang gave never lessened.

Today, the sky was clear and he woke up early. He’d only just set up his stall when he heard someone ask, “May I ask which type of porridge is the cheapest option here?”

“Clear porridge.” Zou Qi answered carelessly, glancing over to see a man. His shirt was slightly tattered, but his appearance was rather just and dignified.

“Give me a couple more bowls if it’s cheap!”

Zou Qi peered up at the sky and saw that the time was still early, thus hurriedly motioning for that person to sit down.

In the end, the result was out of his expectations.

“Da-ren (1), this… The clear porridge was eaten clean by this little brother here; how about I get you a bowl of sweet, red bean porridge?”

Only when Han Lang stood before the stall, face pale with rage, did Zou Qi realise what had happened. He could only cautiously reply in fear.

Han Lang waved his hand, gesturing that it was not needed. Sitting down before that person who’d stolen his breakfast, he glanced at him with slanted eyes and asked, “You’re a foreigner, right? What’s your name?”

“Yes.” That person didn’t even raise his head in the beginning, “This one is Lin Luo Yin.”

“Lin Luo Yin…” Han Lang repeated, murmuring beneath his breath. He measured him from head to toe, and said, “A good name! It must be very laborious to conduct business outside, do you normally use your left hand or your right hand?”

Liu Yun sighed from behind him. Human lives sure were cheap, the heavens truly had no eyes. If his master were to know the answer, then this Lin Luo Yin definitely wouldn’t be able to keep one his hands.

Even last night when he’d taken over this shift, he’d heard from Liu Nian that the master’s mood wasn’t good. And from the normal outcome of events, the more his master liked to pretend to ponder, the more it was time for him to be petty and bicker.

But it certainly wasn’t good for there to be a bloody massacre this early in the morning. He thought for a moment before taking a small step forward, “Master, it’s almost time to hold court, the emperor’s still waiting.”

Han Lang viciously glared at him, regretfully getting back on the litter. Then he purposefully gave a sigh, “Forget it, let’s go.”

Even a confidant had times when they couldn’t understand his mind. Just then, when he’d asked that sentence, it actually wasn’t to make trouble for Lin Luo Yin.

It was just that this person seemed to have a deep, profound knowledge of martial arts, and even had a habit of using his sword with his right hand. This was all the information he had concluded from simply looking at Lin Luo Yin.

Asking just then was merely to confirm it.

King Fu Ning’s study.

Liu Yun was kneeling on the futon by the Go table at one corner of the study, carefully sorting and piling up the Go pieces. One by one, black and white alternating.

For the sake of a single bowl of porridge, his master hadn’t shown a good face all morning, since returning from court.

“Wang-ye, a person surnamed Zou is requesting an audience. He says… he’s here to send you porridge.” someone reported from outside the door.

After a long time, Liu Yun finally saw his master smile.

He didn’t think that the boss of the porridge stall would be so diligent, even personally sending porridge over after the event had occurred. Moreover, there was even someone willing to notify him of his arrival. It could be seen that he had given that person a lot of benefits in order to come and see him.

After Han Lang ordered his subordinates to let Zou Qi in, he didn’t wait for the other person to speak. “Besides in the mornings, I don’t eat outside food.”

The originally excited Zou Qi suddenly became dazed after hearing his words. He really was a villain who feared being poisoned to death ah. He himself had even been so nerve wracked by this affair up until now (2).

“Zhou lao-ban (3), you spent a lot of money to get in here, didn’t you?” Han Lang thoughtfully glanced at the porridge that was still steaming.

“Indeed…” He was so nervous that he couldn’t even speak. He (4) actually remembered his surname, this really was… even his eyes felt a bit hot.

“Do you want to stay here and be my manor’s chef? Come live in the manor, and all you’ll be responsible for is making my breakfast. Your treatment will definitely be better than before.” Han Lang fiddled with his fingers and made an offer.

In the corner, Liu Yun momentarily lost focus and didn’t manage to balance the Go pieces. The pile toppled over, and the Go pieces scattered around the Go table. He really was still so petty, taking to things so badly.

“There’s no rush, you can consider it first.”

Zou Qi saluted and took a step forward, preparing to agree when tearful howling suddenly came from outside the study. “Wang-ye, you need to administer justice for me ah!”

Han Lang’s lips slowly curved up, forming a beautiful arc, “Zhou lao-ban, look at what my residence is like. Anyone who wants to come can come; anyone who wants to cry can cry.”

Without waiting for Zou Qi to ask to be excused, the howling person had already forced their way in. A fragrant wisp of wind floated in, the smell of pear blossoms in the rain. It was a pity that the fragrance was so overdone that it frightened people.

Under Han Lang’s instruction, Zou Qi was allowed to watch a huge spectacle for free.

This Zou lao-ban listened for a long time before realising that people who’d come was a crowd of official, government prostitutes (5). Even government prostitutes could come to this Fu An (6) Palace, Han Lang wang-ye really wasn’t one to care about small things ah.

His mouth was half opened as he tried his best to digest what he was hearing.

What 321 maxim (7), what unlicensed prostitute being favoured…

Head in the clouds, he had no idea what they were talking about.

“You’ve already told on him before.” Han Lang yawned in annoyance, “You’ve told on him at least twice this year.”

“Wang-ye! My brothel sends out invitations every year at Jiu Chong (8), and there are always many guests who humble us with their presence, but this year…”

“Enough! There are men and women in your brothel, yet all of them can’t even match up to a single Hua Rong? Then why don’t you just go bankrupt?!”

“Wang-ye, actually, losing face is but a small matter. It’s just that we can’t stand seeing that Hua Rong relying on his seduction to say pillow talk in those officials’ ears, boasting everywhere about it. He even said something about…”

“A mute who can’t talk, what can he go around boasting about?” Han Lang let out a loud laugh.

The government prostitutes were originally still feeling pleased with themselves, yet this time, they finally heard the ridicule in Han Lang’s words and shut their mouths.

“But wang-ye, it’s precisely because he’s mute that he knows a lot of things that he shouldn’t know. He really does know a lot ah.” Someone added something that they shouldn’t have said.

Han Lang squinted and made a decision. He had nothing to waste his time with anyways, so he might as well make an example (9) out of this affair.

Hua Rong, an unlicensed prostitute. He would play with him today then.

“Liu Yun, prepare the horses.”

Translator’s Notes:

Lol, another way of address for Han Lang. It has several meanings, but here, it’s mostly referring to 1. Han Lang being his customer, and 2. Han Lang’s status as a high official

There’s no literal translation, I wanna cry TT… Basically, the sentiment it’s supposed to be expressing is more like… I’ve been so nerve wracked/wound up by this affair, and yet you’re giving me this kind of [enter a suitable swear word] reply?! → expressing a kind of regret for putting all these extreme emotions on this kind of thing, only to have the other party give you a really dull and cold response

Zhou is porridge, and Lao-ban is just “boss” or “owner of store/stall”. Because there’s another reference to this particular way of address later on, imma just keep it in pinyin so that it’s easier to understand when the time comes

Lol, this is the reference mentioned in (3). This “he” refers to Han Lang; basically, Han Lang calls him porridge store owner, but Zhou (porridge) and Zou (his surname) sounds similar, so he thinks that Han Lang actually remembers his name and calls him Boss Zou

Different from normal prostitutes, they usually only serve officials who have a rank

Previously in Ch1 (the very first line), we were positioned in Fu Ning Palace… There are several palaces so I’m not too sure if this is just a different palace, or if the palace itself has always been called Fu An (cos his title is Fu Ning), or if the author made a typo… ahaha…

Originally translated this as 321 saying in the prologue; refers to the same thing here

Think of it as a festival in this context. The festival doesn’t actually exist irl, but from the way it’s phrased (and how all it’s dictionary definitions do not fit into context here), it’s suggestive of it being a specific period of time; either a festival or something similar

Could/does also refer to decapitation (execution by decapitation)

Note:

There are… NSFW scenes [shock][horror] I’m too young for this, what to do QAQ