Wei Xiaobao's Three Kingdoms Adventure

Chapter 46
Wei Xiaobao rode to Situ's house and handed over the visiting card according to the etiquette taught by Lu Zhi.

When the guards at Wang Yun's mansion heard that he was Lu Zhi's student, they did not dare to neglect him and hurried to the inner courtyard to report. After a while, someone came to take Wei Xiaobao in, and a servant came up to lead his horse to the stable to feed it with hay.

This was the first time Wei Xiaobao had been treated as a distinguished guest. When he had previously met Tao Qian in Xuzhou, he had been escorted by Zhang Kai, who had disguised himself as Lu Zhi's son. Tao Qian and Mi Zhu were suspicious of his identity, so naturally, they weren't polite to him. Last night, when he had gone to see Lu Zhi, everyone in the Shangshu Mansion was busy packing their bags and bags, leaving no one to spare him.

Wei Xiaobao found the feeling of the first time he went to the Prince Kang's mansion for a banquet. Although he was still Eunuch Gui at that time, he was already surrounded by people.

Wang Yun had already prepared a banquet for Wei Xiaobao, but when he saw Wei Xiaobao dressed in a soldier's uniform, a hint of contempt appeared on his face. When he saw Wei Xiaobao sitting on the ground, he was even more dissatisfied.

Wei Xiaobao was still the same as always, sitting on the ground with his legs spread apart and his buttocks.

Wang Yun thought to himself, "Your teacher only said you were of commoner descent, but seeing you today is simply an insult to your dignity."

Wei Xiaobao was thinking about how to get Wang Yun to tell him something, and he didn't notice that Wang Yun looked unhappy. In addition, he was thirsty from riding all the way, so he poured himself three glasses of wine without waiting for Wang Yun to call him.

Although Wei Xiaobao was young, he drank a lot in the palace with the young eunuchs and guards from the Cavalry Battalion, so he could drink quite well. Furthermore, the winemaking techniques of the Eastern Han Dynasty were different from those of the Qing Dynasty. The wine at that time was not as strong and did not easily make people drunk. To Wei Xiaobao, it tasted no more than water.

Seeing Wei Xiaobao drinking so relentlessly, Wang Yun felt a wave of ridicule in his heart: "I didn't expect him to be a heavy drinker."

After three cups of wine, Wei Xiaobao's mouth no longer felt dry. An idea came to his mind, and he said, "My teacher left Luoyang last night in a hurry and didn't have time to say goodbye to Situ Wang. So he asked me to come and tell you today."

The Wang family was a prominent family in Bingzhou, and Wang Yun was one of the Three Dukes. He was also on good terms with Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song and others, and their conversations were all about classics and history books. Now, when he heard Wei Xiaobao speaking in colloquial language, the contempt and ridicule in his heart had long since turned into disgust.

Wang Yun said, "My dear nephew, when your teacher left last night, did he tell you anything else?"

Wei Xiaobao didn't understand and was stuffing some dried meat into his mouth. He thought Wang Yun was asking him about this, so he quickly waved his hand and said, "It's not salty, not salty at all. Although I'm from Yangzhou, I'm used to the dried meat of you northerners."

Wang Yun said, "Besides bidding me farewell on behalf of your respected teacher, do you have anything else to do?"

Wei Xiaobao understood the words "Is there anything else?" and said, "There is one more thing I would like to trouble you with, Master Situ."

Wang Yun thought, "He must be here to ask about marrying the singer Diao Chan. This man is so unworthy that even if one of my singers marries him, it would damage my reputation. Besides, Lu Zhi has already resigned, so I'll just pretend there's no such marriage and see what he can do to me."

Wang Yun said, "Your teacher and I served in the same court. Although we are now separated, if you have anything to ask of me, I will do my best to help you in any way I can."

Wei Xiaobao cursed in his heart, "Damn it! This old man is so difficult to talk to. He's talking a lot of nonsense. I don't understand a word he says. Never mind. He talks his way and I talk mine."

Wei Xiaobao said, "Did you give Cao Cao the Seven-Star Sword that he used to assassinate Dong Zhuo?" Wang Yun had already thought of an answer to Wei Xiaobao's marriage proposal. Suddenly, when he heard him asking about Cao Cao's assassination of Dong Zhuo, his heart skipped a beat and the wine glass in his hand fell to the ground, soaking the Shu brocade fox fur cushion on the couch.

Wang Yun had brought out this cushion specifically to show off when meeting Wei Xiaobao. He thought it was their first meeting, and he couldn't show any weakness in front of Lu Zhi's students, lest his singing girl be wronged if she married him. Now that it was soaked with wine, he felt distressed at first. He wanted to ask the servants to take it out to air it, but he was too embarrassed. Furthermore, he felt so humiliated that he had even dropped the wine glass after being frightened by Wei Xiaobao's words. He quickly picked up the wine glass while Wei Xiaobao wasn't paying attention and said, "Mr. Dong is a trusted and important official of the court. How could I have the intention of murdering him? Who did you hear these words from?"

Wei Xiaobao thought to himself, "What does he mean? Is he admitting it or denying it? Damn it, why didn't Dong Zhuo lend Cao Cao the Seven-Star Sword to assassinate Wang Yun? I can just ask Dong Zhuo. After all, he's a military commander, and he certainly wouldn't talk in such a roundabout way!"

As he was thinking, Wei Xiaobao blurted out: "It would be great if I could just ask Dong Zhuo directly."

Wang Yun was even more terrified. Dong Zhuo had already killed several ministers in front of him. If he knew about his conspiracy with Cao Cao, not only would he lose his head, but his entire family would also die. Cao Cao had no family in Luoyang and had fled the city after his assassination attempt failed. How could Wang Yun, with dozens of family members, escape so easily?

Wang Yun said, "Wait a minute! Cao Cao's assassination of Dong Gong was done by him alone. Why would he mention me?"

Wei Xiaobao had noticed the change in Wang Yun's expression and thought to himself, "I don't understand what you're saying. Since you're so afraid of Dong Zhuo and worried he'll know you gave Cao Cao the Seven Star Sword, I'll just scare you as much as I can. I'll probably get you to tell the truth."

Wei Xiaobao said, "The Emperor and the Prince of Chenliu heard that Dong Zhuo had been assassinated, and because of Dong Zhuo's meritorious service in protecting the Emperor, they sent someone to comfort him early this morning. Master Situ, guess what Dong Zhuo told me after I arrived?"

Wang Yun hurriedly asked, "What did Lord Dong say to you?"

Wei Xiaobao didn't care whether Wang Yun interrupted or not, and continued, "Dong Zhuo said that Cao Cao was too stingy. He only sent me one precious sword. It would be better if he could send me a few more swords."

Wei Xiaobao saw Wang Yun's mouth twitch, and he chuckled to himself, then continued, "I was thinking at the time, this sword is so precious, I'm afraid it's hard to find another one in the world. So I asked Dong Zhuo where Cao Cao got it from. Dong Zhuo asked me why I was asking such questions. I said, since you like it so much, the high officials in the court will surely be vying to find a similar sword to give to you, so I have to be the first to get it. If someone else gets it first and finds out which master's house it came from, they'll trample down their doorsteps and I won't be able to squeeze in. So, I'm going to ask every master's house, trying to find another one."

After Wei Xiaobao finished speaking, he paused deliberately to observe Wang Yun's expression, then continued, "Even if we can't find the sword, if we can find out where it came from and report it to Dong Zhuo, it would be a great achievement. We can't let those who already know the news take all the credit. Master Situ, don't you agree?"

Wang Yun's back was soaked with sweat. Although few people knew about the Seven-Star Sword, there was no guarantee that some of them would betray him in order to steal the credit, as Wei Xiaobao had said.

Seeing beads of sweat on Wang Yun's forehead, Wei Xiaobao suppressed a smile and said, "I'm afraid this sword was a gift from the Emperor or the Prince of Chenliu to Cao Cao. Then there's no way I can ask Dong Zhuo for credit. After all, no matter how powerful Dong Zhuo is, he's still no bigger than the Emperor. He can't possibly beg the Emperor to give him a sword as well!"

Wang Yun murmured to himself, "What a brilliant plan!" But then he thought again, "How could Your Majesty help me to lie and get along?"

Wei Xiaobao had finished what he wanted to say, and he didn't understand what Wang Yun was saying. He stood up angrily, patted his butt, and said, "Wei Xiaobao, go back to the palace!"

Wang Yun quickly stood up and said, "My dear nephew, please stay!"

(End of this chapter)