Luoyang (4)
Invited by Wang Yun, I prepared thoroughly before heading to his residence.
What Wang Yun was aiming for by inviting me to a banquet remained an utter mystery.
Perhaps he genuinely wanted to be on good terms going forward — or failing that, it could have been some insidious scheme with an ulterior motive.
But of one thing I was certain.
Wang Yun was one of the Han Dynasty's few remaining loyalists, and the odds were high that inviting me now was groundwork laid for the sake of the empire.
I wondered what sort of move Wang Yun would make at the banquet.
And honestly, I was curious about something else, too.
I wanted to see for myself what the adopted daughter of Wang Yun — one of the Four Great Beauties of China — actually looked like.
"Welcome, General-in-Chief. We have been expecting you."
Gazing at the servant who bowed with practiced courtesy, I stepped slowly through the gate.
"Haha! And so I said to him…"
"My, my. Is that so…"
Scarcely had I arrived before the banquet began to warm up, and soon the whole room was buzzing.
It was all so utterly ordinary that I felt a touch embarrassed for expecting anything more from the evening.
I wasn't the only one invited, either — Wang Yun had gathered quite a crowd, and most of them were people I'd recently had my eye on.
Not figures I watched with wariness, but with genuine admiration.
In a country as rotten as this one, they were among the handful of upright officials who had held fast to their integrity and handled affairs fairly.
Men who, in a Han Dynasty rotting from the Emperor down to the lowliest clerk, had become something like living relics — precious and nearly extinct.
As I moderated my drinking and surveyed the hall, Wang Yun, seated beside me, spoke up.
"General-in-Chief. Do you know why I have invited you here today?"
"I believe so."
Something along the lines of working together for the empire's restoration, I imagined.
Looking around at the assembled guests, the intent was plain enough.
Honest and capable men who, precisely because of those virtues, had failed to rise in the Han court.
Wang Yun was introducing them to me, one by one, with a quiet plea in his gestures.
A bitter look of reminiscence crossed his face as he spoke.
"When I exposed the corruption of the Ten Attendants to His Majesty, it was the Emperor himself — siding with the eunuchs — who nearly put me to death for it."
"……"
Emperor Ling, you too?
Wang Yun took a sip of wine and continued.
"Only through the help of my acquaintances was I released moments before my execution. Even now, whenever I recall those days, a faint bitterness wells up in me."
At his words, I opened my mouth.
"Then do you regret what you did back then?"
"I do not."
Wang Yun looked at me with eyes aged but still bright with intelligence.
"I only wonder — was there not a better path I might have taken…? That is what I think."
"……"
"A way to turn His Majesty's heart before the people, driven past endurance, rose in rebellion. A way to revive the country."
It felt improper to think this in front of a loyal minister who loved his nation, but I rather doubted such a path had ever existed.
If it had, the Emperor would never have behaved so outrageously in the first place.
Around us, the officials who had overheard Wang Yun's past grew somber, a gloomy air settling over their faces.
Somehow reading my silence, Wang Yun laughed heartily.
"I have brought far too heavy a topic to so merry an occasion. Forgive me."
"Not at all."
The banquet's mood had already sunk, all the same.
After the silence lingered for a while, Wang Yun spoke again.
"Since I am the one who spoiled the mood, it falls to me to make amends."
Was this too a calculated move?
Saying nothing, I watched closely to see what Wang Yun would do.
"Diaochan! Come out, child!"
"Yes, Father."
And in that instant, a figure appeared from the far end of the house.
"……"
And then — it's a trite phrase by now, but — everyone in the room drew a collective breath at the sight of the girl.
Flowing garments like the feathered robes of a celestial maiden.
A face and bearing flawless from every angle, without a single fault to be found.
And an inexplicably intoxicating fragrance that drifted from her very being.
A girl so perfect one would believe her body had been sculpted for the sole purpose of ensnaring others.
…She keeps glancing at me, doesn't she? Must be my imagination.
"My blunder has soured everyone's spirits, you see. With your talents, might you lift the mood once more?"
"If it serves you, Father, gladly."
Diaochan bowed her head, then began to play an instrument and dance at once.
"……"
All of the Four Great Beauties of China are described in this fashion.
Chinyeoknaekan — fish sink and geese fall from the sky.
Pye-wolsuhwa — the moon hides its face and the flowers blush.
Gyeonggukjisaek — a beauty who could topple a nation.
Beautiful, beyond doubt.
On this continent, where greater ability tended to come wrapped in greater beauty, hers was a face that could stand at the very summit.
To put it more crudely — you might say her looks carried overwhelming 'credibility.'
"Wow… I've never seen anyone that beautiful in my life."
Lü Bu, enjoying the banquet at my side, murmured.
Recalling Romance of the Three Kingdoms for a moment, I teased her playfully.
"Love at first sight, maybe?"
"…What are you even saying? Why would I fall for her? We're both women."
Lü Bu drew a firm line, her tone baffled.
Hm. Then in the original history — had I never existed — what would have driven her to betray Dong Zhuo?
Perhaps it would have unfolded as some tale of inseparable friendship ending in Dong Zhuo's slaughter.
Since that future would never come to pass now, I was curious, but it wasn't worth deep thought.
As I watched Diaochan's endless music and dance, Seo Yeo posed a question.
"…What does my lord think?"
I nodded and answered.
"She's pretty."
"……"
"Plays well, dances well. Beautiful on top of that? Men would lose their minds over her."
Come to think of it, wasn't that basically the same package as a modern idol?
Just as I said, the men at the banquet could not tear their eyes — or their silence — away from Diaochan.
Seo Yeo fell quiet for a moment, then spoke again.
"And my lord… feels the same?"
Her voice sounded perfectly ordinary, yet I could detect the faintest tremor in it.
I chuckled.
"If I say I prefer Seo Yeo, who's been by my side all this time, over a woman I met today — is that too obvious?"
"……"
"Seo Yeo?"
"……"
What is wrong with her?
I couldn't hide my bewilderment at Seo Yeo, who had frozen solid on the spot.
Don't tell me she stiffened up just because I said I liked her? Good grief.
"Then what about me?"
"Huh?"
I turned to find Lü Bu, who had abruptly thrown out the question.
"Do you not like me?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course I like you too."
"……"
"…Lü Bu?"
"……"
Since when does hearing I like you turn a person into a stone statue?
Hopeless romantics, the both of them.
Come to think of it, Xiang Yu and Lü Bu were often romanticized in later works as utterly devoted to love.
Hm… I trust she won't one day split my body in two under the banner of 'dividing things fairly.'
Just imagining it made me want to wet myself.
"…The General-in-Chief is quite popular, it seems."
Wang Yun, who had apparently been watching the whole scene, addressed me.
I took a sip of wine and answered.
"They are women far too good for me."
"Is that so…"
Diaochan's beauty was simply otherworldly, but even setting her aside, Seo Yeo and Lü Bu were both stunning in their own right.
I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but Wang Yun cast a peculiar glance toward Diaochan at my answer.
Diaochan was still absorbed in her performance, dancing and playing at the same time.
That must be exhausting to pull off simultaneously.
I could see the traces of earnest effort in every movement.
Time slipped away, and before anyone noticed, the sun had set and the moon was peeking over the horizon.
The banquet wound down naturally, and Jeong Reung and Wang Yun stood facing each other, exchanging farewells.
"Thanks to you, I have spent a most enjoyable evening."
"Haha. Coming from the General-in-Chief himself, I hardly know where to put myself."
Wang Yun stroked his beard and laughed, and Jeong Reung smiled in return.
"Then I shall take my leave. May you remain in good health."
"Indeed. And you, General-in-Chief."
With those parting words, Jeong Reung turned and walked slowly away, the two girls following behind him.
Just as his figure began to fade into the night, Wang Yun spoke.
"…Diaochan. What did you think of him?"
"He was every bit the extraordinary man you said he would be, Father."
The girl who emerged from behind the tree spoke in a calm, level voice.
"At the very least, he does not strike me as a man who would make foolish choices over a woman's charm."
"I thought as much. I thought as much."
Wang Yun nodded.
While every soul at the banquet had been unable to look away from Diaochan, the General-in-Chief alone had leisurely turned his gaze elsewhere.
"A man of rarer courage than any."
Unlike Wang Yun himself, who had cowered in silence beneath Dong Zhuo's crushing weight, that man had stood tall and faced the tyrant head-on.
"When all the world called his defiance reckless, he showed that opposing overwhelming power is not impossible."
He possessed the surpassing ability to achieve whatever he set out to do.
"And a true heart that cherishes the common people."
He had reportedly transformed Bing Province into a place worth living in, after all.
As a native of that same Bing Province himself, no one understood better than Wang Yun just how difficult such a feat was.
"He planted courage in His Majesty, who trembled alone, believing she had no one on her side."
Whoever needed help — whoever they were — he extended his hand.
"He feels anger at injustice, acts upon it, and sees it through to the end."
Wang Yun, who had been speaking in a measured tone, allowed himself a slight smile.
"If that is not a hero, then what would you call him?"
"……"
"Yes. Perhaps I too had grown a little arrogant — thinking that I alone remained as the Han Dynasty's last loyal minister."
"…You could never be such a man, Father."
"No, Diaochan. I had most certainly grown arrogant. I would have clung to the certainty that my word was absolute, and died stubbornly for it."
Wang Yun lifted his head and gazed at the moon hanging in the night sky.
"And I might well have made you, my one precious daughter, die for my sake as well."
"Father…"
"Diaochan. You are grown now. Do not simply follow my words — pursue what you yourself wish to do."
"What I wish to do… you say?"
"Yes. Your talents are exceptional. Whatever you choose, you will surely succeed."
Conviction rang in every word Wang Yun spoke.
"The martial path? Good. You could already defeat any ordinary soldier with ease — no obstacle there."
"The scholarly path? Also good. You are brilliant; it would be well within your reach."
Pabangmiin — a beauty of eight directions, accomplished in all things.
No phrase suited Diaochan better.
"My daughter. What is it you wish to do?"
At Wang Yun's question, Diaochan closed her eyes.
After a long moment of contemplation, her lips slowly parted.
"I────"