Volume One: First Steps in the Martial World, Becoming Immortal Chapter Two: The King of Liang Arrives in Liangzhou, the Heir of Liangzhou Berates the King of Liang

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At this moment, the top floor of the Sky Smoke Pavilion in Liangzhou City was filled with noise and commotion. A group of young nobles clustered together, engrossed in a cricket fight.

“Ah! Mingxuan, you’ve lost again today, haven’t you? Well, does yesterday’s bet still count?” A plump, well-dressed boy beamed as he addressed another youth, who looked quite dejected.

The dejected young man was none other than Chu Mingxuan, heir to the Prince of Liangzhou. He replied, “Isn’t it just a banknote for a hundred taels of silver? Take it.” With that, he fished a note from his sleeve and tossed it to the plump boy.

The plump boy grinned, stroking the note. “As expected of Your Highness—the heir to Liangzhou. A hundred taels is thrown away as easily as water. Sigh, last month I won over six thousand taels from you and was planning to keep it hidden, but my old man found out. He took it all and, I hear, even sent it straight back to your mother, the Princess. What rotten luck!”

At this, the young nobles around burst into laughter, and even Chu Mingxuan couldn’t help but kick the plump boy in jest, smiling.

Just then, a man in servant’s garb approached Chu Mingxuan and whispered a few words in his ear. At once, Chu Mingxuan’s expression turned irritable. Muttering a curse, he said, “Why did that old man have to come back now?” Then he turned to the servant and said, “You go back first. I’m going to have some fun at the Rouge Pavilion with the others. I’ll come home when I’m done.”

The servant bowed and hurried off. The group of young nobles seemed unfazed by this exchange. Only the plump boy asked, “Has the Prince returned?” The others turned to Chu Mingxuan, waiting for his answer.

Chu Mingxuan shot him a look. “Who else but him? If not him, then which other old man? Why couldn’t he just stay away instead of coming back? Enough, let’s go to the Rouge Pavilion.”

At his words, a ripple of unease passed through the crowd. After all, everyone in Liangzhou City knew that the Prince of Liangzhou was frequently called “the old man,” and the one who dared to call him so was none other than his own son, Chu Mingxuan.

Of course, in all of Liangzhou or even the entire Fengyang Dynasty, only the current emperor and this young heir dared call the Prince of Liangzhou “the old man.” Anyone else would likely vanish the moment they uttered such words.

The plump boy hurriedly said, “Um, Mingxuan, maybe we shouldn’t go to the Rouge Pavilion today. Some other time, I’ll treat you. You can have the whole place to yourself, but right now, I really need to get home. If my father finds out I knew about this and didn’t tell him, he’d probably break my legs.” With that, he turned and dashed downstairs, his round form wobbling so much he nearly tumbled down the steps.

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Watching the plump boy’s retreating figure, Chu Mingxuan muttered, “Understandable, understandable. After all, that old man is always going on about cleansing the bureaucracy with blood.”

He glanced around at the others. None of the young nobles had any desire to linger. They clasped their hands in farewell and quickly departed. Chu Mingxuan shrugged. “Well, no one left to play with me. Guess I’ll head home.” With that, he turned and left.

At the Liangzhou Prince’s mansion, the main gates stood wide open. The steward waited respectfully at the door, awaiting the Prince’s return. As noon approached, a troop of black-armored cavalry rode up. At their head was a man clad in black armor with a red cloak, his austere bearing commanding respect. The steward hurried forward to greet him, calling out “My lord!” The Prince of Liangzhou dismounted, nodded to the steward, and said, “Old Yang, you’ve worked hard.”

The steward smiled without replying and stepped aside. The Prince strode directly into the mansion, servants along the way bowing and greeting him.

Shortly after the Prince entered, Chu Mingxuan, chewing on a wild grass stalk he’d picked up somewhere, strolled back into the estate. Passing through the front courtyard and into the covered walkway toward the inner quarters, he was eyed warily by the maids. All in the Prince’s household knew of their young master’s habits, and the maids did their best to keep their distance.

As he passed two maids, Chu Mingxuan pulled the grass from his mouth and brushed its feathery end against their faces, grinning, “So pretty—how delightful!”

He continued on, and no maid he passed escaped a swipe from his grass stalk.

The Prince’s mansion in Liangzhou was immense—the largest building in the city. Elsewhere in Liangzhou, whether for the inspector or the county magistrate, official residences were only modestly larger than ordinary homes. In fact, some wealthy merchants had estates bigger than those of government officials.

It might sound unbelievable, but this was a well-known anecdote at court. The story went that the inspector of Liangzhou once built himself a grand residence, complete with pavilions and towers rivaling a fairyland. But soon after its completion, Baili Yixing, head of the Prince’s youth corps, led three hundred armored youths to the inspector’s door, threw him out without a word, and issued a proclamation throughout Liangzhou: No official was to live in grand mansions or pavilions, nor abstain from manual labor. Any violation would be met with execution. Several regional governors ignored the order, continued their lavish lifestyles, and every last one lost their heads to Baili Yixing.

When news of this reached the capital, the court’s censors protested with their lives, demanding the emperor depose the Prince of Liangzhou and execute Baili Yixing. The emperor, however, merely replied, “Liangzhou is impoverished and exhausted. Officials must not burden the people. The Prince’s intentions are for the good of the country and the people; he is guiltless. As for Baili Yixing, he merely carried out orders—dock his pay for a year.” And the matter was closed.

From then on, no official in Liangzhou dared live in a grand house, and the original inspector was driven off by the Prince, reportedly to become a mere county magistrate in Western Shu.

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Of course, there was still one grand residence in Liangzhou: the Prince’s own mansion, an opulent palace. This again provoked a memorial from the civil officials. The Prince simply said, “My son likes it, so I built it for him,” leaving the officials speechless, calling him a shameless brute with no virtue.

Yet, over time, these actions caused some people to reconsider their opinions of him.

In the rear quarters, the Prince of Liangzhou sat at the head of the main hall, sipping tea and gazing at his wife with a smile, about to speak, when a voice rang out, “You old relic, you actually remembered to come home? I thought you’d died at Tianle City!”

The Prince hurriedly set down his teacup and stood up, looking at his son, who still had that grass stalk in his mouth, and said, dotingly, “Ah, my little ancestor, don’t go cursing your old father. Come here, let me see if you’ve lost weight.”

Chu Mingxuan said nothing, just glanced at the Prince before spotting the Princess and quickly calling out, “Mother, I’m home.”

She shook her head with a smile. “You only know how to play. Even when your father’s coming home, you don’t hurry back to greet him.”

Chu Mingxuan glanced at the Prince and said, “He even remembered to come back? Always scowling, so unpleasant to look at. Just puts me in a foul mood.”

The Prince laughed, standing aside. “You are right to scold your father, son. From now on, I’ll try not to scowl. But an ugly face is no matter—what’s truly hard to fathom is the human heart.”

The Princess nodded. “After dinner, don’t run off. Your father has something to discuss with you.”