Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 804 A friend comes from afar
The rain intensified in the afternoon, with large raindrops pounding on the roof tiles of the inn, splashing up countless tiny droplets that trickled down the eaves and formed a small puddle at the entrance. The sounds of hammering from the docks ceased with the rain, and workers and craftsmen, wearing raincoats, returned to their lodgings in twos and threes, leaving a trail of footprints of varying depths on the muddy road, which were quickly washed away by the rain.

Just then, a donkey cart emerged against the flow of people, its wheels rolling over the muddy road, leaving two long ruts, before finally coming to a steady stop in front of the "Listening to the Wind by the Sea" inn.

The driver, wearing a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, jumped off the carriage, first setting up a large oil-paper umbrella, then lifting the curtain and calling out softly to the driver inside, "Sir, we've arrived."

"Okay, thank you." The passenger carefully disembarked under the umbrella, but the hem of his scholar's robe was still inevitably covered in water droplets.

Inside the inn, Lao Fang was wiping the table with a rag when he heard the noise at the door. He immediately put down the tablecloth and went to greet them with some surprise.

Old Fang arrived at the door, put on a smile, and prepared to greet the visitor, but the person's appearance made him swallow back the words he was about to say.

The newcomer was a young man of about twenty-three or twenty-four years old. He was dressed in a close-fitting Confucian robe and wore a black gauze hat with a wide brim. The brim of the hat covered part of his eyebrows and eyes, but could not hide his deep features and a pair of light-colored eyes in his eye sockets.

The young man wasn't embarrassed by Lao Fang's stunned expression. Instead, he pointed to his face and asked with a smile in standard Northern Mandarin, "Shopkeeper, is there someone here who looks just like me? If I remember correctly, he would call himself 'Luo Yagu'."

"Yes," Old Fang nodded. "There is such a person staying here."

"Where is he! Tell me quickly!" the young man asked excitedly.

Old Fang glanced instinctively toward the stairwell, about to raise his hand to point, but suddenly remembered Manager He's earlier reprimand. He quickly withdrew his hand and turned to look at Manager He behind the counter.

Shopkeeper He, all smiles, came out from behind the counter, walked up to the young man, and cupped his hands in greeting: "Sir, what can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for Mr. Luo Yagu. Where is he?" the young man asked.

Instead of giving direct directions, Manager He smiled and gestured for the empty seat next to him to sit down: "Sir, please sit here for a while, I'll go and inform them right away."

“No need for that.” The young man waved his hand. “Just tell me where he is. He’ll see me.”

"Of course he will see you." Manager He smiled even more solicitously. "But Mr. Luo is taking a midday rest right now. If you go up there so abruptly, he won't have time to get dressed. Why don't you sit down and have a cup of tea first?"

The young man thought about it for a moment and felt that what he said made sense, so he nodded: "Alright, then I'll trouble you."

"Of course," Manager He replied with a smile, then called to Old Fang, "What are you waiting for? Quickly pour this gentleman a cup of hot tea!"

"okay."

Manager He hurried up to the second floor, but instead of going directly to the room at the end of the corridor, he came to Ren Gui'an's door and knocked.

"Who is it?" Ren Guian's voice came from behind the door.

"Inspector Ren, it's me." Manager He leaned to the side of the door and answered in a low voice.

"Come in. The door's unlocked," Ren Gui'an said casually.

Manager He pushed open the door and found Ren Gui'an sitting at the table, leisurely drinking wine.

"Inspector Ren, a foreigner has come downstairs. He says he's looking for Mr. Luo," Manager He said quickly, lowering his voice. "I've done as you instructed and temporarily stalled him. What do you think we should do? Should we let them meet?"

Ren Gui'an, the "foreigner," put down his wine glass, his eyes becoming much clearer. "Where did he come from? What's his background?"

"Uh," Manager He's eye twitched, not daring to say directly that he had come up without asking anything. "That foreigner looks to be about twenty-three or twenty-four years old, and looks about the same as Mr. Luo. He also has deep-set eyes, curly hair, and is dressed like a scholar. He also speaks good Chinese. Judging from his appearance, he is probably from the docks. Perhaps he is an interpreter hired by those foreign merchants."

"Hmm," Ren Gui'an paused for a moment, "Here's what we'll do. Bring him up here directly and find a way to let them talk in the room."

"Okay, sure!" Manager He responded, turned around, and quickly went downstairs.

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Luo Yagu sat by the closed window, a few lines of curly Italian text on the open diary in front of her:

"The officials in this country are quite interesting. When they are with gentlemen, they will never express their doubts to their faces, much less insult or slander them with harsh words. Even if their suspicions and distrusts are already evident in their words and actions."

"The officials in this country are very clever, or rather, cunning. Once they determine that you are not a traitor opposing the emperor, their attitude will immediately change. Their suspicion and hostility will quickly turn into respect and even flattery in a very short time."

"Almost all the officials I encountered along the way were like this, even if they were only the lowest-ranking officials in the empire, the ninth rank."

"It's difficult for me to describe what kind of noble a ninth-rank official would be in Europe, because there are just too many ninth-rank officials in the empire, far more than I can imagine. As for this ninth-rank official who escorted, or rather, escorted me, his status should be close to that of a knight without a fief. He can ride a horse, and he is a very good rider. His two subordinates, who could perhaps be considered apprentice knights, can also ride horses, and they are also very good riders. They are both highly respected, and ordinary commoners would treat them with the utmost respect."

"I must clarify that the vast majority of officials within the empire own their own land, but this land is not a fiefdom granted by the emperor, and the peasants who cultivate it are not the officials' fiefdoms or serfs. Legally speaking, these officials and the peasants who cultivate their land are no different in terms of human dignity. In other words, whether officials or peasants, they are all equal subjects of the emperor. This is truly astonishing."

"What also surprised me was that this low-ranking official, who might never even see the emperor, held boundless loyalty to him. He was on the verge of attacking me because I might be a heretic defying the emperor, yet he also held me in high esteem because he knew I had the honor of meeting him. I had no doubt that his respect was not directed at me personally, because I clearly noticed the undisguised contempt in his eyes when he first saw me. That look was like that of a civilized person looking at a barbarian."

Luo Yagu stared intently at the paragraphs interspersed with annotations and corrections, lost in thought about what else might be on them.

Just then, there was a knocking sound behind me.

Luo Yagu turned around, and the bodyguard Jiang Wei had already reached the door: "Who's outside?"

"Master Jiang, it's me." Manager He's voice came from outside the door.

Jiang Wei removed the latch, opened the door, and asked, "What brings you here, sir?" "Master Jiang, Mr. Luo's friend has arrived." Manager He stepped aside and let the guest stand in front of Jiang Wei.

Jiang Wei was taken aback when he saw the visitor's face, but then he realized what he was doing. He quickly opened the door and called back into the room, "Master Luo, your friend has arrived!"

Luo Yagu had already stood up, but was still holding the calligraphy brush in his hand. Hearing the call, he immediately put the brush down on the inkstone and walked over quickly.

"Sergei!?" Luo Yagu came to the door and recognized the person at a glance. "It's raining so hard outside, why did you still come all this way?"

"Now that I know you're here, how can I sit still?" Sergei was also very pleased.

"You didn't get wet, did you?" Luo Yagu waved enthusiastically into the house.

“No, no,” Sergei stepped inside. “I came by car, and I only got a little wet when I got on and off the vehicle. It’s nothing.”

Manager He wanted to follow him inside, but Jiang Wei stopped him subtly. "Is there anything else, Manager He?"

"As the saying goes, 'Isn't it a pleasure to have friends coming from afar?'" Manager He stopped and waved to the person behind him. "My shop is grateful for Mr. Luo and Master Jiang's patronage. We don't have much to offer in return, so we've prepared some simple wine and snacks. Please enjoy your meal and chat."

As soon as Manager He landed, Old Fang came over with a pot of wine, several plates of cold dishes, and a plate of braised meat.

Upon hearing the shopkeeper's words, Luo Yagu quickly patted Sergei on the shoulder, signaling him to wait a moment. He then turned around, walked up to Shopkeeper He, and bowed to express his gratitude: "Thank you for your trouble, Shopkeeper He."

"Don't mention it, it's just a small token of my appreciation." Manager He said as he took the plate from Lao Fang's hand and handed it to Jiang Wei. "Please enjoy your meal. If you need anything else, just let me know."

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Jiang Wei placed the plate on the small square table in the middle of the room, then returned to the door and gently closed it. The door hinges creaked softly, just drowned out by the sound of rain outside the window.

Luo Yagu and Sergei sat on either side of the dinner plate, speechless for a moment. It wasn't until Jiang Wei returned to his bedside and sat down against the wall that Sergei asked in fluent Latin, "Who is that person? Why is he sitting so calmly in your room?"

“Oh. That’s the ‘bodyguard’ I hired in the capital, named,” Luo Yagu replied in Latin, while writing the name “Jiang Wei” on the table. “The young man who delivered the message to you at the dock was his apprentice.”

"'Escort'?" Sergei looked puzzled, clearly unable to understand the term.

“You can think of him as a mercenary.” Luo Yagu poured a glass of wine and pushed it in front of Sergei. “What? Didn’t you hire bodyguards when you left the capital?”

Sergei smiled and raised the glass of wine as a gesture of thanks: "We came here by boat with officials from the Ministry of Revenue. We didn't hear of any bodyguards, but we did have quite a few proper soldiers with us."

“With officials accompanying you, there’s no need for bodyguards.” Luo Yagu nodded and poured himself another glass of wine. “However, if you need to go somewhere alone in the future, it would be best to hire a few bodyguards.”

"What? Was it dangerous on the road?" Sergei raised his glass in a gesture of respect. "Did you encounter bandits?"

“We didn’t encounter any bandits, but we heard plenty of wolf howls. If we hadn’t hired bodyguards, I would probably have been worried about those howling beasts suddenly rushing out and killing me the whole way.” Luo Yagu raised his wine glass and gently clinked it with Sergei’s. “More importantly, having bodyguards with us can save us a lot of trouble.”

"Trouble?" Sergei took a sip of his drink. "What trouble?"

“Of course, it’s the hassle of dealing with people.” Luo Yagu put down his wine glass and pointed to his face. “We are foreigners, or as the Chinese say, ‘barbarians’ or ‘foreigners.’ Every Chinese person I’ve met along the way has treated me like an outsider. Without a bodyguard, I probably wouldn’t even have been able to find a place to stay. But with a bodyguard, it’s a different story. They not only help plan the journey, arrange accommodations, and provide protection, but they can even help deal with the questioning from local officials. You could say that as long as you hire a bodyguard, you can put everything else out of your mind and enjoy the journey in peace.”

Sergei was somewhat surprised. "So convenient?"

“It’s that convenient.” Luo Yagu nodded.

"Aren't you afraid they'll be tempted to rob you because of your money?" Although Sergei was still speaking in Latin, he subconsciously lowered his voice. "After all, they're strangers."

"Hehehe, you don't need to worry about that at all." Luo Yagu waved his hand with a smile. "I used mercenaries as an example just to help you understand. In fact, they are completely different from those barbaric mercenaries. These bodyguards are very moral. They are honest, restrained, taciturn, brave, and unafraid of death. The most devout Christians are pretty much like that. They know exactly how much luggage I have and how much money I have on me, but they would never have any ulterior motives. Even when we eat, they would thank me first. If I don't start eating, they won't start eating either."

He paused, then added, "To use a somewhat inappropriate analogy, every time I eat, I feel like I'm dividing 'five loaves and two fish'."

"Oh?" Sergei couldn't help but steal a glance at Jiang Wei. "What do they believe in? Are they Christians?"

Jiang Wei did not lower his head, as if he had not heard their conversation.

“Sigh.” Luo Yagu sighed softly, looking regretful, and said, “They are not Christians, nor do they believe in my Lord. The person they worship most is a man named Guan Yu.”

"Guan Yu?"

“It is said to be a military general who lived 1,400 years ago,” Luo Yagu explained. “The late emperor honored him as ‘Lord Guan Sheng.’ Not only people in the escort agency, but almost all of China believed in and worshipped him. Especially those who practiced martial arts.”

“Guan Yu… Hmm…” Sergei pondered, “I feel like I’ve heard this name somewhere before.”

"You've not only heard of it, you've seen it too!" Luo Yagu added wine and raised her glass.

"Seen it before?" Sergei raised his glass as well. "When?"

“Many times,” Luo Yagu laughed, “the temple where he is worshipped is inside the barbican of Zhengyang Gate. Every time we enter the inner city, we have to pass in front of his temple.”

(End of this chapter)