Chapter Ninety-Five: The Junior Hanlin Academy

The true seat of the Hanlin Academy lay deep within the imperial palace, on the western side of Daming Palace, adjacent to Qide Hall and the Hall of the Golden Throne. Those who served there included gifted men and women in literature, the classics, alchemy, monks, Daoists, diviners, ritual specialists, craftsmen, calligraphers, and players of the board, all known as Hanlin scholars in attendance to the edict.

The little Hanlin Academy to which Du Fu had brought Yu Lang and Li Yaxian was, in truth, only an office outside the palace. After all, these Hanlin scholars could not remain in the inner depths of the palace at all hours, waiting for the emperor to summon them. Often the emperor would not call upon a single one of them for a year or more, and in such times they would live at this outer post instead, where it was also easier to go out, take their leisure, and make purchases.

Before the little academy stood a pair of imposing stone lions, quite unlike ordinary carvings. They were wrought with exquisite detail, capturing every hint of a mighty male lion’s bearing, and their eyes held the proud, disdainful gaze of one who looked down upon the world.

The porter was slight of build, with narrow brows and eyes that gave him a shrewd, capable look. The moment he saw Du Fu, his face darkened with impatience. “Have you no shame? We have driven you away so many times already, and you still insist on coming back to make a fool of yourself. Go on, get lost.”

Yu Lang could not abide that kind of smug, petty face. By now, Du Fu had already brought forth dozens of widely loved poems and could be called a master of the poetic art, yet he was being harassed and insulted by a porter with no learning whatsoever. If not for the fact that violence was forbidden within the city of Chang’an, then with Du Fu’s cultivation at the upper level of the Profound Insight realm, such a man would have had no choice but to kneel and tremble. But the inability to bully others with force was precisely one of the most lovable things about this city. No matter whether one was a great cultivator of the Profound Insight or the Formless realm, one still had to obey the law here, and for a cultivator to strike a commoner with ruthless intent was a sure road to death.

Yu Lang stepped forward briskly and approached the porter, first using the advantage of his height to look down on him.

The porter jumped in fright. “What are you doing? This is Chang’an, and I am the porter of the Hanlin Academy. You wouldn’t dare lay a hand on me, would you?”

“How grand Mount Tai is; the vast lands of Qi and Lu are boundless.” Yu Lang was not foolish enough to beat the porter of the Hanlin Academy in the street. Instead, he recited two lines of poetry with full force and grandeur.

The porter savored them closely and felt, deep down, that the opening of those lines possessed tremendous momentum.

“Creation has bestowed on it divine beauty; yin and yang cleave dawn from dusk.”

A look of longing came over the porter’s face, as though the green mountains and blue distance stood before him in person.

“The clouds pile up, stirring the chest; the returning birds pierce the eye.”

Birds slicing through layered clouds, inner and outer vision answering one another—marvelous indeed.

“Then one shall climb the very summit and see that all the other peaks are small.”

The force of it concluded perfectly, without the slightest hitch.

“Whose poem could have such majesty?” The porter had even forgotten to quarrel with Yu Lang, and could only chew over the exquisite beauty of the poem again and again.

Yu Lang wore a faint, amused expression. “It is none other than the same Du Fu Du Zimei whom you have driven away so many times.”

At that, understanding finally dawned on the porter. He bowed to Du Fu. “So you are Du Zimei. If only you had given your name sooner, how would I dare treat you with such discourtesy? This poem truly is a rare masterpiece.”

Seeing that the man’s attitude was loosening, Yu Lang pressed the advantage. “How would Du Zimei compare with the Hanlin scholars of poetry and prose?”

The porter gave a bitter smile. “I’m afraid the only one who could rival him would be Li Taibai.”

“Then do us the favor of going inside and passing on a word. Say that Yu Lang Yu Ziyou and Du Fu Du Zimei have come to request an audience.”

The porter still shook his head. “Those gentlemen dislike being disturbed in their daily lives. I have no wish to make a fool of myself.”

Though the man knew quality when he saw it, he was, at heart, a mean-spirited creature. So what if Du Zimei was gifted beyond measure? In the end, he would still have to be turned away again and again before this porter’s face. He had spent his whole life studying the classics to exhaustion, yet his talent and accomplishments remained limited. After becoming the porter of the little Hanlin Academy, he took pleasure in making things difficult for the scholars who came seeking audience, preserving the shattered and pitiful scrap of self-respect he had left.

Yu Lang had intended to reason first and use force only if necessary. Seeing that persuasion had failed and emotion would not move him either, he had no choice but to bring out a killer move.

Yu Lang snapped his fingers, and Li Yaxian suddenly staggered out, wailing at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her face. “That cursed Li Taibai cheated and deceived me at my Spring Blossoms House, eating and drinking at my expense and toying with my feelings! He left behind only a written note saying it was worth fifty taels of silver, yet he has delayed and delayed and still not redeemed it. He has ruined me!”

Even Yu Lang could not help admiring Li Yaxian’s performance. From the buildup of her emotion to the delivery of her lines, everything was first-rate; she played the image of a deserted woman to perfection.

The porter glanced at the passersby who had been drawn over and grew somewhat flustered. The little Hanlin Academy had always been a place of quiet, so when had it ever suffered such treatment? He forced himself to remain calm and replied, “Where did this shrew come from, spouting nonsense? Scholar Li enjoys the emperor’s deepest favor and has received many rewards. How could he possibly be short a few silver coins of yours? If you keep spouting nonsense, I will have you driven off.”

Li Yaxian was unmoved. She went on enumerating Li Taibai’s ungratefulness and heartlessness, in such detail that those who heard it were moved to tears and those who saw it were filled with sorrow.

The porter summoned four guards and was about to throw the group out, but Yu Lang revealed a trace of his Profound Insight cultivation, and the four men were so frightened that they did not dare move. Though fighting was forbidden in Chang’an, cultivators of the Profound Insight realm still held extremely lofty status. Even to secure a place as a retainer in the household of a prince or the crown prince was fiercely sought after. With the other side not striking first, how could the four guards dare act rashly?

Although Yu Lang’s singularity imprint and the power of the Northern Ocean had been tightly sealed by the yin-yang seal of life and death, he had, the previous night, observed the Vermilion Bird and entered the Profound Insight realm, opening up another sea of qi within his body. By now, he was the real thing: a lower-level Profound Insight cultivator. Du Fu likewise possessed cultivation at the upper level of the realm, but he had never liked to overpower others through force, so this matter could only fall to Yu Lang.

Seeing that none of the guards dared move, the porter began to see the shape of things. These people were clearly not easy to deal with, so he could only engage the girl directly. “You say Scholar Li failed to pay his wine bill and left you a written note. May I see this note?”

The porter took the sheet from Li Yaxian’s hand and studied it for a while. As the porter of the Hanlin Academy, he naturally knew Li Taibai’s handwriting. Yet with his eye, he could not detect the slightest difference. He only felt that while the crooked poem was indeed no great thing, the handwriting was unquestionably Li Taibai’s.

It was all his own fault for repeatedly pushing these people. Now that they had brought out such a deadly weapon, if this matter reached the ears of the Hanlin scholars, he, as the porter, would likely be branded as troublesome and meddlesome, and this job of his might be lost. The porter cast a furtive glance at Yu Lang. Seeing the other’s face full of arrogance, he knew there was likely no room left for maneuver. He immediately hardened his heart, shoved the note into his mouth, and chewed furiously.

Li Yaxian flew into a rage and beat at the porter’s back with all her strength, finally forcing him to spit it out. But the note was already torn to pieces, and many parts had been soaked through with saliva, until it was wholly blurred and unreadable.

Du Fu looked at the porter with a trace of pity. There are always reasons for a man’s hatred. For this fellow to cast aside all dignity merely to keep his bowl of rice was, too, a kind of tragedy. He lifted his sleeve and flicked it once, and the shattered scraps of paper on the ground whirled together and were restored to their original form.

The porter sat down hard on the ground in terror.

Yu Lang was also somewhat startled. Du Fu’s spell of returning things to their source was no less wondrous than the reverse movement of winter branches blooming before Li Mi that day. Had he not severed his own dao root, he would surely have ranked among the foremost figures of the age.