Chapter I: A Long Journey (Part One)

“Welcome to Silver Lake, the commerce centre of the Empire.” A man who looked about in his mid thirties cried loudly. With a towel hanging over his shoulders, and his hair combed neatly into a bun, he stood beside a rickshaw beckoning to the travelers who have just entered the city. Positioned himself near the city gate, it was his way of getting customers, as many would have had travelled a long distance, and some would welcome a bit of comfort being transported around the city. Nevertheless, he was not the only rickshaw-puller as there were more of his kind; waiting around the same vicinity. Many people passed him by without paying any attention towards him, until he saw a neatly dressed scholarly young man. This young man wore a long white silk tunic with embroidered trims, whilst his hair was knotted into a bun, and fastened by a jeweled hairclip. On his belt was a jade pendant of an unusual shape, the color a glistened shade of emerald.

“He must be a rich person if he can afford a jade like that and wearing such fine silk. I wonder if he is one of those candidates for the imperial examination, which would only be held once in three years?” The rickshaw-puller kept this in mind, as he approached the young man.


“Good-day, young sir, would you like a ride on my rickshaw? Where are you heading? Do you need a guide?”

“Well, how much would it be to get to Silver Lake Inn?” The young man asked. Although he had never been to Silver Lake, he had heard a lot about its charm, and also of the oldest inn in town, the Silver Lake Inn. It was said to have been built around the coasts of Silver Lake, and staying in that inn gives the opportunity to view the lake at its best spot. How true it is, the young man thought he would verify it if he stays there, despite the much higher costs than other inns. Moreover, it was summer, and the heat was horrendous, and the young man was evidently tired having travelled a full day on foot, any mode of transportation apart from his feet was very enticing. “I should have rented a carriage.” The young man thought miserably to himself.

“Ah… that would be twenty giins, sir.” The rickshaw-puller replied with a broad grin.

“That much? Is the place really that far?” The young man exclaimed; his eyes drifted towards the rickshaw, and pack to the man. The condition of the rickshaw was quite alright, in fact it was even decorated, possibly a gimmick to draw customers. The man on the other hand, wore much worn out clothing, but the cost for some personal comfort seemed a little steep. The young man considered carefully, mentally calculating his budget. On the other hand, if the inn was really that far, it might be a better idea to hire transportation than using his poor blistered feet.

“It’s already very cheap! Ask around, others charged more. You’re lucky, sir, to have met me.” The rickshaw-puller replied convincingly.

“Well…” The young man was still hesitating. Deciding between satisfying current discomfort and losing a significant sum of money was not an easy decision. He had miscalculated and brought too little money for the journey, and was already regretting it.

“It’s your choice, but I can tell you, others charged a lot more than I do, and you see, there are so many travelers, if you don’t want the ride someone else will approached me.” The rickshaw-puller tried again, sensing that the young man was at least tempted by his offer.

“But twenty giins for a ride is really quite steep.” The young man replied instead.

“Alright, you drive a hard bargain. I shall give you a special price, just for you sir. What about eighteen giins?” The rickshaw-puller negotiated.

“Alright then.” The young man finally relented, since his legs were already swelling from the long walk he had earlier, and the temptation of comfort was hard to resist.

“I wouldn’t accept that deal if I were you.” A voice interrupted the two suddenly. The young man turned his head towards the voice, and saw it belonged to a very beautiful youth. His features were delicate, and reminded him of a finely sculptured porcelain doll. As if well aware of his luscious dark hair, he allowed it largely undone with only two tiny braids at the side, falling down to his waist. Under the strong sun, it almost seemed to glow. However, what surprised the young man was this beautiful youth’s choice of apparel. Instead of going for a long tunic of rich fabric, he opted for a dull shade of green, shorter tunic and pants with high boots, giving him the option of maximum mobility. And to top it off, the youth carried a blade with him. “Could it be that this beautiful lad is an athletic person? Can he really use the blade? After all these days it is fashionable to wear a jeweled weapon as an accessory more so than as a weapon.”

In fact, the young man had never seen someone as beautiful that he stared at the youth for a long while until the youth spoke again, “This fellow over-charged you by three-fold at the very least!”

“Erm, really?” The young man widened his eyes, studying the beautiful youth uncertainly, before turning to the rickshaw-puller. “And they’d always said maidens of Silver Lake are beautiful. If these maidens would possess half the beauty this youth have, Silver Lake must be a paradise for men!”

“Don’t listen to this kid!” The rickshaw-puller protested, his voice had just shaken the young man out of his thoughts. Turning to the youth the rickshaw-puller scolded, “If you don’t want a ride just get lost and stop causing me to lose my business!”

“I could take you to court for over-charging, and cheating a tourist.” The youth rebutted confidently.

“As if I’m afraid of you! What evidence do you have?” The rickshaw-puller demanded angrily.

“I overheard the conversation. This man asked to be taken to Silver Lake Inn, which is really just round the corner. A short ride to that place would cost at the most four or five giins, but you’re asking for eighteen. Under the law of Silver Lake, that is considered cheating, and you could be heavily fined if I stand in at witness in court. But since this was merely a small matter, if you would charge fairly, I can pretend I did not overhear anything.” The youth threatened.

“Gosh, despite the beautiful face, the kid was pretty firm.” The young man thought, watching on the exchange quietly, whilst the physical aspect of him could feel the soreness of his feet.

The rickshaw-puller considered the information carefully, and decided it is not worth the trouble and muttered under his breath, “Just my luck.” Turning to the young man he stated disdainfully, “Final price, five giins, take it or leave it.”

“Alright then. Five giins it is.” The young man nodded, delighted that the youth’s intervention had saved him a great deal of money. Turning to the beautiful youth he added, “Thank you for your intervention, else I would have been duped.”

“Despite that, you still want to give him business? You’re one funny person. He tried to cheat you earlier.” The youth blinked, seemingly surprised at the young man’s decision.

“Such long lashes…” The young man cannot help but noticed that and wonder if that was really a boy. “Of course that must be a boy; he is wearing male attire…probably just very young. Goodness, why am I paying so much attention over a boy in the first place?”

“Are you alright?” The youth waved a hand in front of the young man’s eyes, for he seemed to go into a daze. “Was it the heat? This fellow looked as if he’s lost…”

“Ah yes!” The young man replied belatedly, kicking himself out from his dream-world. “Well, since he’s charging correctly now, it wouldn’t be cheating anymore.” The young man replied with a smile, not wanting to mention that his legs were too tired to even move another inch to find another rickshaw-puller.

“Suit yourself.” The beautiful youth shrugged. “In any case, I am staying at Silver Lake Inn too, so perhaps we might meet again later.”

“Really?” The young man widened his eyes again, “That will be great. By the way, my name is Yang Hsu-Wen, from An-Chih province. How may I address you?”

The youth thus replied with a smile, “Yuen Hsin-Yu, from the capital.”

It was just at this moment did another person entered into the scene, interrupting the two. The intruder was a round-face youth wearing a short navy cotton tunic, and grey pants of a similar fabric came running towards Yuen Hsin-Yu. He kept his hair rolled up into a bun, and his right hand was holding a stick of honeyed-plums.

“Young Master! There you are.” The round-face youth began with a shrilly voice, and from his breathlessness, it was evident that he had been running. “Where did you go, I have been searching high and low for you!”

“I didn’t venture far; I thought you might take longer to get the honeyed-plums since it was a long queue.” Hsin-Yu cocked a head at his servant, before taking the stick of honeyed-plums from him.

Noticing Yang Hsu-Wen for the first time, the round-face servant blinked, seemingly surprised to see him, but turned to his master and asked, “Young Master, is he a friend?”


“I’d just met him. His name is Yang Hsu-Wen, from An-Chih province.” Hsin-Yu informed his servant.

“Nice to meet you.” Yang Hsu-Wen nodded at the servant, and thought he looked rather effeminate, although he would hardly consider him beautiful; and certainly pale in comparison to his master. “Then again, with such looks, I doubt any woman can match his beauty.”

The servant did not say anything but continued to study Yang Hsu-Wen closely. It was awhile later before Hsin-Yu belatedly introduced his servant to Yang Hsu-Wen, “This is my personal attendant, Sun Ping.”

“I see, and once again, thank you for your help.” Yang Hsu-Wen replied, before getting onto the rickshaw. It would be a polite way of ending the conversation.

As the rickshaw disappeared from view Sun Ping finally voiced out, “Good grief, I nearly thought I’d seen a ghost!”

“You’re exaggerating. There may be some resemblance, but it is certainly not substantial enough to cause mistaken identities.” Hsin-Yu brushed off his servant’s comments.

“There is the likeness though. I don’t know why, though if one compared in detail they may not look all that alike, but when I first saw this man he just reminds me of him.” Sun Ping described.

“I guess people do have similarities.” Hsin-Yu argued, as he chewed off the first honeyed-plum from the stick. “He is from An-Chih, and his surname is Yang. The chance of the two being related is probably very slim…”

“Young Master…” Sun Ping gasped, seeing the hurt in his master’s eyes and felt awful. It has already been three years, but the pain that dwelt in Hsin-Yu did not seem to subside. “Your humble servant deserved death! I should have never mentioned that person again.”

“No matter. We are supposed to be touring in Silver Lake, and touring is supposed to be an enjoying thing to do, so do not speak of inauspicious matters like death.” Hsin-Yu chided, by now the stick of honeyed-plums was almost gone.

“Yes of course.” Sun Ping nodded his head with a wide smile. “So, where would young master like to go to next?”

“I think I’ll head back to Silver Lake Inn for now. I’m not particularly in the mood to move around now.” Hsin-Yu replied, as he devoured the last honeyed-plum on the stick.