The Three Ancient Capitals
Kaifeng, Luoyang, and Xi'an (Chang'an) were known as the three great ancient capitals of Zhonghua. In an era when primitive farming methods were all that existed, they shared the common trait of developing upon the vast productivity of the plains stretching from Hebei through Henan to Hubei and Hunan. Among them, Kaifeng could never be discussed without mentioning its enormous canal. The canal reached straight into the heart of the city, allowing one to board a boat right in front of the government offices and travel north to Beijing, west through Luoyang to Xi'an, or southwest via Hangzhou out to the sea. It was the central hub of Zhonghua's water transport, connected to the three great rivers of the Central Plains—the Yellow River, the Yangtze, and even the Huai River.
“Hmm. I’m starting to wake up a bit. Let’s go up and sleep.”
“Huuuh? Don’t wanna……”
Cheong answered without even opening her eyes, half-asleep.
“If you don’t want to, are you planning to sleep here and be uncomfortable? We’ve got a room, so why not sleep properly on a bed?”
“I wanna sleep here……”
“Hmm. Then you’ll have to stay in the carriage. I’m going.”
Without realizing it, Paeng Daesan had delivered the classic “You stay here, Mommy’s going home” line. On reflection, it was a rather universal human sentiment.
“Go on…… See you later……”
Yet Cheong was the ultimate deadweight among deadweights. Paeng Daesan reached out his hand, then withdrew it, awkwardly stroking his chin with a troubled expression. No matter how close their friendship was, one that ignored the distinctions between men and women, this was not something he could allow himself to do.
Instead, Paeng Daesan leaned in close to Cheong’s ear and whispered in his characteristically low frequency.
“If you’re awake now, get up.”
“Eek! Wh-what? That gave me chills.”
The effect was tremendous. So tremendous that Cheong’s eyes flew open and she bolted upright, forcing Paeng Daesan to dodge at the last second and prevent a collision between his precious handsome face and her rock-hard, millennium-forged-yet-empty skull.
“Whoa, chills, seriously, don’t do that.”
Cheong rubbed her forearm vigorously, looking disgusted. She had been lying there pleasantly drowsy, only for a man’s voice thick with sensuality to suddenly burrow into her ear canal. Of course this was the result.
“Hooh.”
Paeng Daesan’s eyes gleamed. It was the spark of someone who had finally discovered his annoying friend’s weakness. But it lasted only a moment before he suppressed that sharp starlight, drawing down the cheap veil attached to the wide bamboo hat he had hurriedly purchased from a servant that morning. The veil’s quality was not particularly good. Through the cheap fabric, the lower half of his face peeked through, revealing a pleasant curve.
“What, you’re covering your face now? I thought you said you weren’t going to because you had nothing to hide.”
“I thought about it overnight. In the end, the only one who suffers is me. It’s the dirty one who should avoid it. I didn’t want to deliberately step in filth while claiming to walk a straight path and then complain about the unpleasantness. So I had a servant fetch one.”
“Yeah. Good thinking. That’s exactly right. Then I’ll do the same.”
Cheong pulled the veil over her head as well. Watching her, Paeng Daesan asked,
“Was that always that color?”
“Yeah. Choryeo washed it well for me. Wow, it smells nice. She really doesn’t seem like it, but she’s a heavenly woman. So attentive, too.”
“Unlike someone.”
“Well, I’m a man, after all. And actually, I could be a heavenly woman too if I wanted. I just choose not to.”
“That’s precisely what it means to already be beyond saving.”
With that, they stepped out of the carriage. Cheong stretched grandly.
“Aah, riding all night has me dying of exhaustion. People really should sleep at night and not do other things.”
Paeng Daesan shot back incredulously,
“What were you doing with your eyes closed in the carriage? You didn’t wake up even once. Your face is thick.”
“Ehh, sleeping in a carriage doesn’t count, okay? It doesn’t feel like you actually slept. Haaah, huuaaah.”
Cheong yawned so wide her mouth looked ready to tear. A woman with a large mouth was one of the representative conditions for an ugly woman in the Central Plains, so even the sound of a woman yawning was taboo—she was supposed to turn away and cover her mouth. Of course, Cheong didn’t know this, and even if she did, she would have said it didn’t matter since she wasn’t ugly anyway.
Paeng Daesan clicked his tongue at such manly boldness.
“Go finish sleeping and I’ll see you around lunch. It’s the second room from the end on the fourth floor, marked with ‘Red Pine.’”
Still seated in the carriage, Paeng Daesan spoke while holding the door Cheong had flung open.
“What, San? Where are you going?”
“Every inn is packed with guests, so I barely managed to get a room even with extra money. I’ll catch some sleep in the carriage and come find you around lunch, so don’t cause any trouble and stay quiet.”
With the Grand Murim Tournament right around the corner, every guest had reserved their rooms long in advance. If he hadn’t covered his face, he would have stayed at the Murim Alliance’s Heavenly Warrior Lodge, but since he was hiding his identity and on the run, he had no desire to do so. That was why he intended to sleep in the carriage parked at the stables.
“Ehh, why sleep in the carriage when it’s so uncomfortable? I was being thoughtless. With your personality, San, there’s no way you actually slept. You probably stayed up all night with your eyes wide open worrying something might happen.”
“……I did doze off a bit.”
“Tired people should sleep in beds. I’ve already slept plenty anyway, so you take the bed, San. Don’t say anything about men and women being different. I’ll just sleep on the floor.”
“Very well.”
Paeng Daesan said this and immediately leaped lightly from the carriage, as if he had been waiting for the invitation. Cheong’s veil tilted slightly askew.
“Hmm?”
“What is it? Ah, and—”
Paeng Daesan’s translucent lips stretched into a long line.
“There are two beds, yet you say you’ll sleep on the floor. You must have gotten too used to sleeping on the ground after living like a beggar for so long.”
“Ah, the beds are separate? Then why did you say you were sleeping in the carriage?”
“Because if I said there was only one room but two beds, I would have had to suggest we sleep together.”
“Ah. Right. I’d look like a weirdo.”
Cheong understood, then thought: So he couldn’t get more than one room, but couldn’t bring himself to suggest sharing, so he was waiting for me to say it. What a troublesome guy.
But the carriage owner was San, the one who got the room was San, and the money spent was also San’s. So what could she do? As someone tagging along, she had no right to complain. No, actually—she had only planned to leisurely travel from the manor with Choryeo and Jun, but had come along because she felt sorry for friendless San. Therefore, Cheong had every right to demand anything during this Kaifeng trip.
If Paeng Daesan heard this, he would retort that she had been tiptoeing around during the Luoyang and Mount Hua incidents.
Paeng Daesan slept soundly until nearly midday. It was only natural after staying up all night guarding the carriage without a wink of sleep. When he woke, he was somewhat surprised to find Cheong asleep on the opposite bed as well. She had woken up, ridden in the carriage, woken up again, come up to the inn, and gone back to sleep? If left alone, could she sleep until noon all day? He had only barely caught up to this lazy Cheong’s martial realm, and now he felt a sense of self-loathing.
Afterward, he woke her for lunch and immediately piled snacks in front of her. She devoured them noisily, then asked,
“So, what do we do now? What’s famous here? Aren’t there any sights to see?”
“Could you ask one thing at a time? First, we should go to the Alliance and pay respects to the Lord…… Hmm. If we cover our faces, there’s no need. I like that. I should have covered my face and gone around from the start.”
“See? Covering your face is convenient.”
“It does damage one’s dignity somewhat.”
Bamboo hats with veils were common sights in the Central Plains. Usually worn by boatmen and coachmen, they served as functional clothing that blocked sunlight when the sun was out and rain when it rained, with the veil preventing splashes and dust. However, because boatmen and coachmen had poor reputations, it was considered a lowly item for a noble young master to wear.
“What are you talking about? It’s not like anyone would recognize you anyway, so what dignity is there to damage?”
“Hmm? Is that so? You have a point.”
“So, what do we do now? I’ve been lying around so long I’m dying of boredom.”
“There are two famous pagodas in Kaifeng. One is tall and one is short. There’s also the largest market in the Central Plains. And, though you probably won’t be interested, there are shrines dedicated to King Yu, Yue Fei, Zhang Liang, and Bao Zheng respectively.”
If Jegal Ihyeon had been there, he would have poured out every related story, but Paeng Daesan only provided the bare minimum information. Two pagodas. One tall, one short. Shrines—you weren’t interested anyway. And the largest market in the Central Plains.
“Hmm? Bao Zheng? I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere.”
Paeng Daesan’s pupils trembled.
“I mentioned four names and you only know one? And even that’s Bao Zheng?”
“Honestly, I don’t. Bao Zheng? Is he a dancer? Anyway, shrines mean there’s nothing to see, right? And pagodas are just temples, aren’t they? How tall and big could they be?”
Cheong imagined pagodas as something like National Treasure No. 1, the kind engraved on ten-won coins. There had been a time when she thought pagodas, no matter how tall, would only be about twice a person’s height……
“Whoa. It’s freaking tall.”
After a late, hearty lunch, standing before the towering brick pagoda of Kaibao Temple, Cheong couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration. Anyone would be surprised upon seeing a thirteen-story pagoda built of bricks reaching eighteen jang in height. The Iron Pagoda wasn’t made of iron—its bricks were dark like iron, hence the name.
“We’ve seen the tall one, so we don’t need to see the short one, right? Shall we go to the market? Markets mean street food.”
“You’re going to eat again after that?”
“There’s not really room left. So let’s walk. We need to digest as much as possible before carefully selecting what to eat. You should have told me before lunch. You tricked me well.”
“Good heavens. You have a talent for shutting people up.”
“If you polish anything enough, it becomes a talent, doesn’t it?”
She never lost an argument, so responding would only lead to an endless stream of nonsense. Thus Paeng Daesan fell silent at this point. However, just because Paeng Daesan closed his mouth didn’t mean Cheong would follow suit.
Before leaving the sect, she hadn’t been particularly talkative—more the type to listen than speak. But when a person lived away from home, especially considering Zhonghua’s friend culture…… There were ranks among friends, strict stages one had to climb from mere acquaintance. When the stage rose, one even notified the other of the fact. “From today, I shall regard you as a close friend.” This common phrase in Zhonghua implied that one hadn’t regarded them as a close friend before.
When a person was starved for rice, they overate. When one lived soaked in loneliness just to survive, they couldn’t bear the fear of silence and couldn’t stop themselves from filling every quiet moment with sound.
“Oh. What’s that? It’s rice wrapped in leaves.”
“It’s mianfan. Rice mixed with honey.”
“Why put honey in rice? It doesn’t sound tasty.”
“Honey is expensive, so they usually use boiled fruit.”
“Eugh.”
“Don’t you like sweet things?”
“Sweet things and rice are separate, okay? They shouldn’t be combined. Sweet things should stay sweet, and rice should be salty, spicy, sweet—huh? Can it be sweet? What sweet foods are there? Braised ribs? Ah, I want braised ribs.”
“Your mouth really says whatever it wants.”
“Hah. Isn’t friendship supposed to bloom through conversation? Fine. I’ll shut my mouth. Don’t be surprised if it suddenly gets quiet.”
And Cheong really did close her mouth. Since Paeng Daesan wasn’t the type to speak first either, the two simply strolled through the market. Suddenly, Paeng Daesan became aware of an unfamiliar feeling. Just by wearing a veiled hat, he felt strangely at ease without women constantly following him around. Hiding his identity and sneaking about now felt foolish, as if he had only been fleeing from their pestering.
“Ah, San. What’s that again? It looks kind of gross.”
“Chicken heads.”
“What, chicken heads again? What kind of chickens do they have here that people eat even the heads? They don’t discriminate between men, women, young, or old.”
“……? Then shall we skip it?”
Chicken heads, along with duck necks, were representative snacks of Zhonghua. But chicken heads were too much for Cheong, so after much deliberation, she chose a well-roasted duck neck. As Cheong happily gnawed on the duck neck, her voice filled the silence once more. It was said that one could tell whether someone was from Zhonghua or a barbarian just by watching them eat duck neck—tearing off the meat, breaking the bones, rolling them in the mouth, cleanly stripping every last bit of flesh, then sucking out the marrow before spitting it out on the ground. Cheong, now five years into her life in the Central Plains, could be considered a proper Central Plains person.
While Cheong was slowly picking at her duck neck and curiously observing the various things from all over the Central Plains that had gathered via the waterways, her left hand suddenly shot out to the side and grabbed a man’s wrist. The sensation of bones grinding traveled up through her palm. Ah, yes. This was it. It had been quite a while since she’d seen blood.
“Aaaagh!”
Only the man’s scream echoed pitifully.