Mopping Up (5)
Some time had passed since I raised Diaochan to an official post.
She had not betrayed my expectations. Her superb gift for administration was on full display, and she drew every ounce of admiration in the room to herself alone.
“She struck me as out of the ordinary from the very first moment I laid eyes on her. My instincts were not wrong in the least.”
Xu Huang marveled openly, singing Diaochan's praises without reserve.
“...Well, I don't see it.”
Lü Bu pulled a sulky face, apparently still unable to warm up to Diaochan.
Unlike Lü Bu — whose head, bless her, was of the pure and simple variety — Xu Huang knew her way around actual work, and she had apparently caught on to just how exceptional Diaochan's competence truly was.
With a faintly troubled air, Xu Huang spoke up. “Do be careful. Say such things and Lady Diaochan will be hurt.”
“Hmph. She couldn't care less what I say.”
Lü Bu snorted. “If she cared how I reacted, she'd have changed her tune ages ago.”
“What's that supposed to mean...? Oh.”
Mid-sentence, Xu Huang looked my way, seemed to work something out, and gave a single deliberate nod.
“It must be exhausting for you as well, being so popular.”
“...It is.”
The moment I agreed, Lü Bu's face flared red and she shrieked. “It's not like that! Don't you dare read into it!”
“But of course. I would never read into anything.”
Xu Huang absorbed the outburst with perfect composure. “Everyone already knows the Peerless Under Heaven is fond of the General-in-Chief, so why do you keep getting so embarrassed abou—”
“AAAARGH!”
Before Xu Huang could even finish, Lü Bu cut her off with a scream.
When Xu Huang broke into a wide, beaming grin at the reaction, Lü Bu snapped. “Follow me to the training grounds! I'm going to pound you into paste!”
“...I still have unfinished work, so I'll be on my way.”
“Hey! Where do you think you're going!”
Xu Huang, having thoroughly enjoyed egging her on, slipped neatly away under the pretext of work, and Lü Bu stormed after her until both vanished from sight.
It had been a racket, but hardly an unpleasant one.
Diaochan, too, must have found the commotion loud, for she had paused her work and was looking at me.
“…….”
“…….”
And so an incomprehensible staring contest began out of nowhere. The longer she held my gaze, the more I felt myself being pulled in, and I hastily tore my eyes away.
Good heavens. I had thought it a hundred times before, but hers truly was a beauty I would never grow used to. It was a familiar face — I had seen it two days ago, and again just yesterday — so why did it strike me as brand new every single time?
The staring contest had ended in my defeat, yet Diaochan kept gazing at me all the same, her stare needling the top of my head. What is with that passionate look? It's going to drill a hole right through my skull.
“…….”
At last, unable to bear watching any longer, Seo Yeo planted herself in front of me, trying to block Diaochan's line of sight.
Given the difference in their builds, however, the gesture meant absolutely nothing. She could not hide me at all — what was the point of standing there?
“!”
Seo Yeo seemed to realize it herself, and she fidgeted, visibly flustered.
I could not help it; a smile crept onto my lips. Seo Yeo usually carried herself like an automaton, but every so often she showed me moments like this. Life with her was never dull.
“Fufu.”
Diaochan withdrew her gaze from me as well, and let a smile play over her lips as she looked at Seo Yeo instead.
Like Lü Bu, Seo Yeo apparently still did not care for Diaochan, but Diaochan did not seem bothered in the slightest. With both Seo Yeo and Lü Bu shooting daggers at her every single day, that placid expression of hers proved she was genuinely unflappable.
So this is the caliber of nerve it takes to pull off the Lianhuan Ji, the Chain Strategy?
Just then, an attendant came to me with the news. “My lord. There is someone who wishes an audience with you.”
“Wants to see me?”
“Yes, my lord.”
Anyone even remotely dubious would be turned away by my attendants on their own judgment. If one had come all this way instead of turning the visitor away at the gate, it meant whoever sought me out was someone whose name carried real weight.
Leading Seo Yeo along, I set off toward whoever was waiting.
As I walked, sunk in thought, it did not take long to realize what this was. Isn't this a talent-recruitment event?
A celebrated luminary arrives, holds a conversation, is moved by the lord's character, and swears undying loyalty. A scene straight out of games and novels alike. A cliché, certainly — but a cliché only becomes one for a reason.
If there was a problem, it was that my silver tongue left something to be desired. Worse, should I fall short of that person's expectations, they would simply turn away in nothing but disappointment.
Hmm...
Well, nothing to be done about it. If it comes to that, I'll shrug and move on. How could the world bend itself to my wishes in every particular? Life, by its very nature, refuses to go the way you plan.
Arriving home, I found a woman of refined, graceful bearing waiting at the gate. Noticing me in turn, she came forward and bowed with impeccable courtesy.
“Am I addressing the General-in-Chief?”
“You are.”
A beautiful woman, memorable for her neatly worn official robes and her light-brown hair. One look was all it took. This woman is seriously capable.
With a serene smile, she introduced herself. “My name is Xun You, courtesy name Gongda — one who once served, in spite of her meager abilities, as a Yellow Gate Attendant.”
“…….”
A genuinely big fish just walked up to my door.
Her dark brown eyes, a striking contrast to her pale hair, regarded me steadily as Xun You continued. “I have known the General-in-Chief only by rumor, and I came hoping to meet you with my own eyes. Might I trouble you for a brief conversation?”
“You are more than welcome to.”
A renowned strategist — one who, in the original history, had held up Cao Cao's entire enterprise alongside Xun Yu — had come to me.
Shown into a room by the attendant, we settled in across from each other.
“…….”
“…….”
I held my silence on the chance that Xun You might speak first, but she simply went on watching me with that same tranquil smile. What is this? Why does it feel exactly like a pressure interview?
She was surely not staring because I was handsome. No — she appeared to be waiting for me to raise the subject myself. In the end, I had no choice but to open my mouth.
“You said you served as a Yellow Gate Attendant?”
“Yes. By Her Majesty's grace, I once rose briefly to office.”
The Yellow Gate Attendant — a court official who attended the sovereign at close quarters, charged with relaying matters between the palace and the world beyond. An office that served the most exalted person under heaven was hardly a post anyone could simply step into.
“Then may I ask why you laid that office down?”
For Xun You had, in fact, set it aside. Which was to say, she was now an idle layabout with nothing to occupy her days.
In the original history, this was the woman who would have kept the Yellow Gate post all the way until her plot to assassinate Dong Zhuo failed and she was thrown into prison. Why, then, would she abandon her office and walk out of the central government?
Come to think of it — when I first took the reins of Luoyang and made the rounds of the prisons, releasing everyone Dong Zhuo had locked up unjustly, I had been puzzled to find no Xun You among them.
To my question, she answered as though it were nothing at all. “A personal matter arose, and it seemed it would take quite some time to settle, so I had no choice but to lay down my post and go.”
“I see.”
Prying deeper would have been poor manners, so I nodded and accepted the answer. The Ten Attendants' Rebellion had broken out far earlier than it should have, and Dong Zhuo had seized power that much sooner in its wake — so there was nothing strange about Xun You, who in the original history would have plotted Dong Zhuo's assassination here in Luoyang, having been away at the time.
“Then word reached me that Dong Zhuo had taken the government and was drowning it in tyranny, so I settled my affairs as quickly as I could and returned to Luoyang.”
So in the end, she tried to kill Dong Zhuo exactly as history intended.
“But when I arrived, Dong Zhuo was already dead, and a new man had taken the reins in his place.”
“…….”
“And from that day forward, I did nothing but watch the General-in-Chief.”
So she had been testing me this whole time without my even knowing.
“I feared you might, like Dong Zhuo, trample upon Her Majesty and bleed the people dry.” Xun You carried the conversation on in a voice as smooth as flowing water. “But such fears of mine proved groundless.”
She closed her eyes as if sifting through memories, nodding ever so slightly.
“I could feel the people's expressions brighten by the day. Those who had lived in fear of today began to look upon tomorrow with hope.”
“Luoyang has regained its vitality. It was not like this even in the days when Grand General He Jin and the Ten Attendants were at each other's throats.”
The city that had once lain desolate and silent, its people huddled like mice playing dead, now rang with pleasant laughter wherever one walked.
“Having witnessed such a sight with my own eyes, how could I possibly stand by and do nothing?”
“…….”
The flattery never stops with this one.
They say praise can make even a whale dance, and I did feel good — but my face was quietly catching fire. It seemed Xun You was grossly overestimating me, so I opened my mouth to pour a little cold water on it.
“It was something anyone could have done.”
“Something only the General-in-Chief could have done.”
“All I actually did was dismiss the officials who had been lining their own pockets.”
“And it was precisely because that corruption went unchecked that the Han fell so far.”
“I was simply fortunate enough to pick a good moment.”
“And is seizing the moment fortune hands you not, itself, a mark of ability?”
Why do I feel like I'm being cornered even harder?
After pausing for a long while to choose my words, I spoke at last. “...The truth is, I'm a worthless fool who can't do a single thing on his own and does nothing but lean on other people.”
“If the General-in-Chief were truly so worthless, would all of those others follow you so gladly?”
There went my trump card, swatted down by Xun You without so much as a ripple in her smile. Strategists really are impossible to beat with words.
In certain records, strategists dueling in debate drove one side to die of sheer, choking fury — and just now I felt I had tasted a faint sliver of how that must happen.
“At this point, I understand, even if I would rather not.”
Having pieced together from our exchange exactly why Xun You had come to me, I let out a deflated laugh. Facing her, I cut through the preamble and got to the point.
“Will you lend me your strength?”
At my question, Xun You smiled and answered in a bright, clear voice.
“Of course.”
