Chapter 360: The Four Dreams of Bianliang

The Imperial Music Bureau of the Ning Dynasty was divided into Northern and Southern branches. The Northern Imperial Music Bureau was located in the capital, while the Southern Bureau was in Jinling. The Northern Bureau maintained the Grand Hall of Music, where performers sang and played instruments, thereby preserving some dignity. The Southern Bureau, however, had completely devolved into a government-run brothel.

The Northern Imperial Music Bureau was further divided into a North Courtyard and a South Courtyard. The North Courtyard housed the Grand Hall of Music, serving as a venue for ceremonial music and rites, while the South Courtyard, with its ornate chambers and corridors, was a place for pleasure.

Chen Ji walked into the North Courtyard alone. At the entrance, a junior official from the Imperial Music Bureau politely asked, "May I ask, sir, what is your official rank?"

Chen Ji casually replied, "A Hundred-Household Commander of the Imperial Forest Army."

The junior official cupped his hands and said, "Sir, our Imperial Music Bureau has a rule: only civil officials of the fifth rank or higher, who wear red robes, are permitted entry."

Chen Ji took out Qi Zhenwu's invitation from his sleeve and handed it to the junior official.

The junior official untied the tassel, glanced at the invitation, and immediately bowed low, saying, "Oh, you are Master Qi's guest. Please come in." He handed the invitation back to Chen Ji, but Chen Ji did not take it, walking directly into the Imperial Music Bureau.

Chen Ji slowly walked through the dim corridor, and then the space ahead suddenly opened up. A path covered with red felt extended inwards, with candles hanging high, illuminating the room brilliantly.

On the white marble platform, there were sets of chime bells and stone chimes. Behind the gilded bronze chimes adorned with peacock patterns, musicians in scarlet round-collared robes were performing songs of peace, creating a solemn and elegant atmosphere. Below the stage, eight-immortal tables were laden with fruits and candied preserves. Around them sat noble men and women, dressed in luxurious silk and satin. This was the allure of the pleasure quarters, reflected in the flickering lights of a prosperous era.

Chen Ji didn't recognize any of the guests in the Imperial Music Bureau. He quietly kept to the edge of the Grand Hall of Music, like an observer in this prosperous age, silently moving through the extravagance and lights. His gaze swept across the crowd, searching for Huang Que.

Just then, "Brother Chen Ji!" Shen Ye of the Huqiu Poetry Society waved and called out loudly.

That single shout brought the bustling Grand Hall of Music to an abrupt silence. The musicians from the Imperial Music Bureau on stage thought something was wrong with their ears. All eyes turned towards the edge, fixed on Chen Ji.

He was a young man of eighteen or nineteen, not wearing luxurious clothes, with his hair simply tied up with a wooden hairpin. His figure was slender, and his face could only be described as handsome, far from the striking good looks of Chen Yu and Li Xuan. He was like a rugged blade.

"Is he Li Changge?"

"What Li Changge? His name is Chen Ji, from the Chen family of Fuyou Street."

"Is he the one who defeated Buddhist Master Wuzhai in a debate? He doesn't look like it."

"Nonsense! What does defeating a Buddhist master have to do with how he dresses?"

Chen Ji smiled and waved to Shen Ye, walking towards him. "Brother Shen."

As he walked across the red felt carpet, people along the aisle would occasionally stand up and cup their hands, saying, "Young Master Chen, I am Yuan Liyu from the Yuan clan of Runan."

"I am Yang Yuzhan from the Yang clan of Hongnong."

All along the way, countless people left their seats and came to the red carpet, eager to meet Chen Ji. Chen Ji returned their greetings one by one, overwhelmed by the attention.

By the table closest to the white marble platform, Qi Zhaoning watched Chen Ji in the crowd with bright eyes, saying to Qi Zhaoyun beside her, "Sister, I'm afraid many people tonight aren't here to see 'Four Dreams of Bianliang,' but to see him."

Qi Zhaoyun glanced at Qi Zhaoning. "That's just your imagination. Most of the guests tonight are here for the daughters of the Wang family. The Wang family was stripped of their property and exterminated. Today, two of their daughters, who have come of age, have been sent to the Imperial Music Bureau. There are rumors that one can be bought for sixty thousand strings of cash, which is why these newly rich families, the Yuan clan of Runan and the Yang clan of Hongnong, have all come."

Qi Zhaoning mumbled, "Newly wealthy families seldom adhere to propriety. It's all because of that Zhang Zhuo. As Assistant Minister of Personnel, he dares to accept money from anyone and sell any official position, allowing these vulgar people into such esteemed places!"

Qi Zhaoyun sighed in agreement. "Indeed. What's the difference between coming to the Imperial Music Bureau to buy the Wang daughters and kicking someone when they're down? The crimes were committed by Master Wang; even if his children are guilty, they shouldn't be publicly sold like this. If the Qi family ever falls, won't you and I also be placed on this white marble platform?"

Qi Zhaoning replied nonchalantly, "Don't worry, our Qi family won't fall... Zhenzhu, brew another pot of tea. The tea on the table has gone cold. When Chen Ji arrives, we shouldn't be impolite."

Qi Zhenzhu, who was standing by the two Qi daughters, still wore a veil. Hearing Qi Zhaoning's command, she softly assented and turned to find a junior official from the Imperial Music Bureau to get tea.

After Qi Zhenzhu left, Qi Zhaoyun turned to Qi Zhaoning. "Didn't you say that his sudden departure last time was very rude, and you planned not to speak to him for a month?"

Qi Zhaoning argued with her neck stiff, "This time, Brother sent him the invitation, but then Brother got tied up with official duties and couldn't come. You and I are representing Brother here, so we can't be impolite."

Qi Zhaoyun smiled, no longer teasing her, and turned to look for Huang Que in the crowd.

Just then, Chen Ji broke free from the crowd and walked towards the front row. Qi Zhaoning subconsciously smoothed the wrinkles in her clothes, straightened her back, making her neck appear longer and more slender. She pretended to look casually elsewhere, but her peripheral vision drifted towards Chen Ji. When Chen Ji's gaze swept over, she quickly averted her eyes entirely. Qi Zhaoning sensed Chen Ji approaching, getting closer and closer.

The next moment, Chen Ji quietly asked, "Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

Qi Zhaoyun gently replied, "No, Young Master Chen."

"Thank you," Chen Ji said, picking up a chair and walking towards Shen Ye and Huang Que, squeezing in beside an already full eight-immortal table. In the Grand Hall of Music, these tables usually seated only three people, and the seats with their backs to the white marble platform were generally left empty, as one couldn't watch the performance from there. Yet, Chen Ji deliberately sat with his back to the white marble platform, smiling and greeting Shen Ye and Huang Que.

Qi Zhaoning stood frozen in place.

Qi Zhaoyun looked at her with concern. "Perhaps Young Master Chen is shy, a bit embarrassed to sit on our side. I'll go ask him if he wants to switch seats with me."

Qi Zhaoning did not reply.

Qi Zhaoyun slowly stood up, lifted her skirt, and crossed the red carpet to Chen Ji's side. "Young Master Chen, would you like to switch seats with me?"

Chen Ji politely replied, "Second Miss Qi, I'm quite comfortable sitting here."

As they spoke, Qi Zhenzhu returned with a pot of tea and poured some for Qi Zhaoning.

Qi Zhaoning suddenly exploded in anger. "Why did you take so long? The tea is cold again! Go and get fresh tea!"

Qi Zhenzhu was flustered, unsure of what had happened.

Qi Zhaoning turned and glared at her. "What are you staring at?"

Seeing people looking their way, Qi Zhaoyun quickly returned to the table and said in a hushed tone, "Zhaoning, don't be willful here. People will make fun of you!"

Qi Zhaoning threw her handkerchief on the table, stood up, and left. "You can watch it. I've seen 'Four Dreams of Bianliang' three times, and I'm tired of it! That Li Changge is nothing more than a concubine's son; what right does he have to enter such a prestigious place? The person who wrote this story has no brains at all! He and the princess will never be together!"

Qi Zhaoyun calmly said, "Then go ahead. I still want to watch it again."

After taking a few steps, Qi Zhaoning looked back at Qi Zhenzhu. "What are you doing staying here? Come home with me!"

Qi Zhenzhu softly replied, "Yes."

Sitting at the table, Chen Ji cupped his hands and said, "Brother Huang Que, Brother Shen Ye, it's been a long time."

Huang Que did not reply, his gaze fixed elsewhere.

Chen Ji followed his gaze, which was towards Qi Zhaoyun. "I seem to have interrupted your gathering."

Huang Que unconsciously leaned back, his face slightly flushed. "No, no, Brother Chen Ji, please don't tease me."

Chen Ji got straight to the point. "I have something to ask. Does your family, Brother Huang Que, have any dealings with salt merchants? I imagine there's a lot of communication among salt merchants."

Huang Que's expression first showed surprise, then gradually grew cold. "Brother, why do you always inquire about salt merchants from me? I am a *Juren*; what my family does has no bearing on me. If you wish to remind me of my salt merchant background and that I shouldn't be in such an elegant place, you can say so directly. I have been in the capital for a long time and have heard plenty of ridicule and sarcasm; I can handle it."

Chen Ji suddenly understood; his interlocutor had faced too many misunderstandings since coming to the capital. Yet, today, he had come specifically for Huang Que.

Seeing the two in a stalemate, Shen Ye quickly intervened with a smile. "Brother Chen Ji, do you know that I've become famous recently because of you?"

"Oh?" Chen Ji asked, puzzled. "How so?"

Shen Ye chuckled, holding his sleeve with his left hand and picking up the teapot with his right to pour Chen Ji half a cup of tea. "The day you debated the Buddhist Master Wuzhai, I recorded the entire event. After you left, I went to Wenyuan Bookstore and sat there refining the text until midnight before finally completing the manuscript, which I then had the bookstore print overnight. Now, all major bookstores have my pamphlet, and storytellers, when they recount this second debate, will also mention me. I imagine, with the support of the Daoist Court, this debate will spread throughout the land within three months, so I've certainly gained fame through you!"

Chen Ji modestly said, "Brother Shen, you're too kind. The name of the Huqiu Poetry Society's literary champion has long been famous throughout the land."

Shen Ye quickly waved his hand. "The Huqiu Poetry Society is a thing of the past; don't mention it again. After your debate spread, literary gatherings are less frequent, and even when they happen, people don't write poetry anymore. Haha, everyone's afraid of being called 'using the vulgar to obscure the profound.'"

As they spoke, the chime bells on the white marble platform suddenly began to play, and the chatter in the Grand Hall of Music came to an abrupt halt. Chen Ji turned to look and saw a young Daoist priest stumbling onto the stage, carrying a huge brush. He wrote a few lines of seemingly mad poetry on a false stage door:

Yesterday, the deer-braying banquet; tonight, the cold iron chains.What of dragon and phoenix lineage? What of the commoner's plight?Remember for whom I debated the Buddhist master? Remember for whom I held the reins?My heart yearned, but alas, it was not a fated match.

Having written this, the Daoist priest suddenly threw down his brush and laughed up at the sky. "Who awakens from the grand dream? It's merely a lifelong folly, performed for eternity to see!" With that, the young Daoist priest stumbled off the stage.

Chen Ji stared blankly at the ambiguous verses on the broken door panel, momentarily unable to collect himself. The performance had just begun, yet some noblewomen were already covering their faces with handkerchiefs and weeping, standing up and crying out towards where the young Daoist priest had exited, "Li Changge!"

So, this Daoist priest was Li Changge.

Chen Ji was brought back to his senses by the women's weeping. He immediately cursed the Daoist Court under his breath for their despicable tactics, secretly inserting their own agenda to make the character Li Changge join the Daoist Court and become a Daoist priest in the play! This must have been written by Zhang Li; only that old man would be so annoying.

The main act began, with the *sheng*, *dan*, *jing*, *mo*, and *chou* characters appearing one after another, depicting a tale of love, hatred, and unfulfilled desire between a commoner's son and a noble's child. Chen Ji was not immersed in the play, as apart from the debate at Luhun Mountain Villa, the rest of the plot had little to do with him. The plays of this era were also far less dramatic and convoluted than those of later generations. Most importantly, the people on stage were not the ones in his memory.

Instead, Huang Que was muttering to himself, reciting lines from the play: "Twenty years of grinding ink to dust is no match for half a recommendation from the Qi family... I was foolish; the kindness of noble houses has always been a sword." In the play, Li Changge struggled for over twenty years and ultimately failed to be with the princess.

Towards the end of the play, Li Changge, dressed as a Daoist priest, stumbled onto the stage once more. He pulled out the copper hairpin from his hair and carved the character for "fate" (缘) onto the dilapidated wall of the City God Temple, standing desolate. A woman outside the stage softly sighed, "That single stroke carves through thirty years of human life."

In an instant, cheers erupted in the Grand Hall of Music, mingling with cries, as if in a dream. Some threw silver onto the stage, while women took off their hairpins and tossed them up, clattering against the white marble platform. All the performers came onto the stage together, bending down to pick them up. These were their rewards.

Shen Ye also joined in the fun, tossing out a silver ingot, then smiled and asked Chen Ji, "Brother, everyone says Li Changge in the play is you. What do you think?"

Chen Ji shook his head. "It merely borrows the debate scene; the rest has nothing to do with me. This performance of 'Four Dreams of Bianliang' ultimately serves only for the debate scene within it. Daoist Master Zhang Li of the Daoist Court prepared this whole meal just for this one dish of vinegar."

As they spoke, a ninth-rank junior official of the Imperial Music Bureau, dressed in a green robe, ascended the white marble platform and announced loudly, "All noblewomen and ladies are requested to withdraw. Gentlemen who wish to see the Persian gold-gauze 'Celestial Demon Dance' may proceed to the South Courtyard."

The women in the Grand Hall of Music departed one after another, while all the men remained.

Chen Ji asked curiously, "What's going to happen?"

Shen Ye explained, "They're about to sell the Wang family daughters."

Chen Ji asked again, "What if they aren't sold?"

Shen Ye shook his head. "Naturally, they'll be sent to the South Courtyard to be trained by ninth-rank palace attendants and become official courtesans."

On the white marble platform, the junior official pushed forward two women in white robes and announced loudly, "The Wang family daughters, Wang Enzhuan and Wang Enxian, skilled in calligraphy and painting, were personally taught by the renowned master Zhang Zhixian..." It was as if he were introducing two pieces of porcelain.

Chen Ji looked up and saw that the two women's eyes were red-rimmed and swollen. He slowly stood up. "Brother Shen, Brother Huang, I have no desire to watch this. I'll wait outside."

Shen Ye watched Chen Ji walk out and chuckled derisively. "Forget it, forget it. These human tragedies, it's better not to watch them. Brother Huang Que, let's go too."

Chen Ji walked out of the Imperial Music Bureau's brilliant lights and stood at the entrance, taking a deep breath of the cold spring night air, feeling somewhat clearer.

Seeing him emerge, Si Cao Gui, who was waiting in the distance, drove the carriage to the Imperial Music Bureau's entrance and respectfully asked, "Young Master, shall we return to the manor?"

Chen Ji calmly replied, "Not yet. I'm waiting for someone."

As soon as he spoke, he heard footsteps behind him. Chen Ji turned around and saw Shen Ye and Huang Que walking together. "Are you two not watching either?"

Shen Ye shook his head. "I'm tired of seeing the world's tragedies; there's nothing special about the ones here in the Imperial Music Bureau."

Huang Que, not wishing to speak further with Chen Ji, cupped his hands to both of them. "Gentlemen, I need to go back and study. Farewell."

Chen Ji stopped him and explained, "Brother Huang, I had no intention of looking down on your salt merchant identity earlier. Please don't misunderstand."

Huang Que still didn't believe him. "Perhaps I've been overthinking it." With that, he turned and walked away.

He had only taken two steps when he suddenly heard Chen Ji say, "Brother Huang, I have three hundred thousand salt warrants, and I can arrange for you to prioritize salt withdrawals from the salt fields."

Huang Que immediately stopped dead in his tracks and turned around abruptly. "Is that true?"

"It is true," Chen Ji said sincerely again. "If Brother Huang is interested in the salt warrants, let us go to Plum Blossom Ferry in Baishun Alley to discuss it in detail."

Before Huang Que could reply, Shen Ye pulled him onto the Chen family's carriage. "Come on, let's go see what trick Brother Chen Ji has up his sleeve."

Chen Ji asked, puzzled, "Brother Shen, are you coming too?"

Shen Ye smiled mysteriously. "Brother, I know no fewer salt merchants than Brother Huang."