Chapter 112: A Familiar World (Part Eight)

Translator: Etern, Kim_Guo

After a long moment of silence, Wang Yun said, “I indeed transported the collections of Orchid Pavilion and Stone Room here, but I haven’t collected any books from other places.” He sounded hesitant as if he already knew that Huang Xuan was interested in those books, so he was reluctant to mention them.

Huang Xuan hummed in contempt. He didn’t believe Wang Yun was so stupid as to choose the books over the central power of the Han Dynasty, so asked Wang Yun directly, “Zishi, are you willing to sell them to me?”

Wang Yun remained silent and didn’t react much to Huang Xuan’s calling him by his style, which meant a lot to Huang Xuan. On the one hand, scholars in the Han Dynasty were proud; on the other hand, only seniors and the people who were very close could call someone by his or her style. Therefore, Wang Yun could call Lv Bu by his style but Lv Bu wouldn’t call Wang Yun by his style. In this aspect, Huang Xuan’s doing was inappropriate. 

Huang Xuan made two laughs and poured some wine for himself. Wang Yun observed him for a while and said, “I will make a copy of each book and then give you the originals.” Huang Xuan shook his head right away. He was too impatient to wait. “I will shoot Dong Zhuo as long as General Feng Xian takes him to the open air in three days. Lord Situ, how much time do you need to make the copies?”

Wang Yun didn’t reply immediately. Huang Xuan asked, “Lord Situ, are you reluctant to meet such a small request?”

At this point, Lv Bu was moved. He had always been elbowed out by the generals of Liangzhou. As long as he killed Dong Zhuo, he would get the power he had always desired. Seeing that Wang Yun still could make his decision, he put the cup heavily on the table, fists on his knees. 

“Aye!” Wang Yun let out a deep sigh and said to Huang Xuan, “I hope you can protect these books very well.” Hearing this, Huang Xuan couldn’t repress his satisfaction and replied, “Lord Situ, don’t worry.” This time he didn’t call Wang Yun by his style to provoke him. He turned his head and said to Lv Bu, “Feng Xian must control all the generals in city. When we succeed, you will be the head of the military of the Han Dynasty.”

Lv Bu had always dreamed of being successful. He drank two mouthfuls of wine quickly, stared at Huang Xuan for a long moment and nodded his head heavily and said, “Zhen Zai is a young hero indeed. I will wait for your good news.” Then he held out his hand to shake hands with Huang Xuan.

At this point, Wang Yun said, smiling, “My child, come over.”

The other three present looked toward the screen and were surprised to see a young girl with black hair and snow-white skin walk out slowly, who was wearing a purple garment and a long silk skirt with two butterflies embroidered on. She sat down gracefully with her head lowered. 

Wang Yun smiled proudly and said, “This is my daughter Diao Chan. Zhen Zai and Feng Xian are as close to me as relatives, so I want to introduce her to you.”

“This is Diao Chan! This is Diao Chan!” Huang Xuan was screaming excitedly inside. When the girl bowed, part of her neck was showed. It looked so fair and smooth that Huang Xuan couldn’t help leaning forward.

It seemed that Wang Yun had intended to let Lv Bu meet Diao Chan at the banquet this night. Maybe this day was the beginning of the series of stratagems. Just Huang Xuan’s appearance had changed it a little.

At the banquet, Wang Yun kept drinking and observing others expressions: Dian Wei was back to normal, holding the rifle; Lv Bu drank a mouthful of wine very quickly and drew back his look; Huang Xuan kept staring as if he didn’t want to miss anything.

“I am Diao Chan. It is such an honor to meet everyone.”

Her voice was so soft and melodious. Huang Xuan felt it was the most beautiful thing in the world. He couldn’t help exclaiming, “It is as elegant as a swan, as agile as a dragon and as lively as a chrysanthemum”, which was from An Ode to the Goddess of Luo by Chao Zhi, who was only two years old at that time. Odes were suitable to sing and in old times people hit bamboo joints while singing. But Huang Xuan knew little about it. He sang so excitedly that he stood up. When he sang “She walks so slowly on the green water that her silk socks are covered by dust. She moves about now fast, now slowly, now worried, now relieved.”, not only Wang Yun but also Diao Chan raised her head. At that moment, Huang Xuan felt as if there was mist around her by the water. She was so beautiful that he didn’t dare to stare. He couldn’t sing on. Diao Chan was confused. 

“It is her! It is her!” Huang Xuan shouted inside. He didn’t have the heart to keep the beauty waiting, so he continued, “One can’t anticipate when she will advance and when she will stop. Her eyes are so bright and her coutenance is so rosy. She seems to speak but holds back the words at last. She smells like orchid.”

He had been thinking about Diao Chan all the time that his singing get worse. Diao Chan was very smart. She lowered her head to savor the meaning of the ode. Huang Xuan cast a glance at Diao Chan now and then while singsing.

“Zhen Zai’s ode can be compared with that of Sima Xiangru,” said Wang Yun. Before Cao Zhi’s birth, Sima Xiangru had been the best poet, meaning that Wang Yun’s comment was a high praise. However, Huang Xuan looked at Diao Chan, who bowed and said, “I think you can be the present-day Sima Xiangru.” She smiled like the moon coming behind clouds. Huang Xuan wanted to say that she was supposed to be the present-day Zhuo Wenjun but was afraid of offending the beauty, so he became so nervous that he forgot to put the bamboo joints on the table.

Lv Bu got jealous. “I didn’t expect Mr. Huang to be good at both literacy and martial arts,” said he. All of a sudden, Huang Xuan became sober: it was Cao Zhi not he that wrote the ode; he wasn’t Sima Xiangru but a young lucky man from the later generations. “Diao Chan must be smiling because of the beautiful ode. She might be laughing at my pretention and embarrassing singing. She might think I am ignorant.” he thought.

He thought a lot and couldn’t sit any more. He sat up and said, “Lord Situ, I must go and deal with something else. The thing we just discussed is settled.”

Before any repliance was heard, Huang Xuan already stood up. He grabbed his rifle and whispered to Dian Wei, “Let’s go.”

Wang Yun smiled, but no one knew what he was smiling about.

Diao Chan raised her head, whose eyes were as clear as autumn waters.