Zhao Baihui couldn't have cared less about the title of juren. He waved his hand casually. "A juren, is it? We don't stand on ceremony here. It's about time for dinner — stay and have a simple meal with us."
"Then I shall graciously accept rather than stand on courtesy." The more casual Zhao Baihui was, the more it showed he cared nothing for Lin's academic rank — and somehow that only made Lin more guarded.
If even their master was like this, the others in the party were even more ill at ease.
The group made their way to the sitting room in the central courtyard and took their seats. Zhao Baihui said, "I must trouble you to wait a little longer — a few of my girls aren't back yet, and we're all in the habit of eating together."
"No hurry at all, no hurry."
Lin Xuejin couldn't shake the feeling that the man before him was a rare and peculiar sort. A touch of nerves came over him, and for a moment he found nothing to say.
Noticing the silence, Zhao Baihui opened the conversation himself, his tone easy and offhand. "A few months ago I heard that someone let northerners through the pass. Things must be uncomfortable at court?"
"How did it end up being resolved? Did they shut the city gates and leave the people to be plundered, or did they pay them off with gold and goods?"
Lin Xuejin looked up in astonishment. "How do you know about that? Well — as far as I'm aware, the court did indeed hand over a considerable amount of wealth, but the common people shouldn't know about it. It was announced publicly as a military victory."
"What's there not to know? The dynasty has stood for over two hundred years — the rot goes all the way to the roots. Where would you find any forces still capable of putting up a fight?"
"In the last twenty years, the northerners haven't shed an ounce of their wolfish nature. They've raided through the passes thirty-seven times — three times in last year alone. Do you really think it was an accident that some general opened the gates? Even without this incident, there would have been a next one. It was only ever a matter of a few years sooner or later."
Lin Xuejin's heart shook. He fell silent.
"Does the gentleman have any remedy for this?"
"I do. But it would be exceedingly difficult."
"Please, I beg you to enlighten me!"
"It wouldn't do any good. Let's forget it."
"Please, I beg you to enlighten me!" This time Lin Xuejin rose to his feet and bowed deeply before Zhao Baihui.
"You're a stubborn one, aren't you. The remedy is simple enough: either a sage ruler must emerge, or a man of towering power who nonetheless holds the world's people in his heart — a pillar of the nation. Either would suffice."
"But no matter how sound the remedy, it requires the right person to carry it out. You're nothing but a juren without so much as an official post to your name. You'd do well to put this out of your mind."
Lin Xuejin heard out these two conditions, was silent for a moment, then pressed on: "I would still like to know — if such a person did exist, what would need to be done to cure this minor ailment?"
"A minor ailment? Ha! Hahahahaha—"
"Why does the gentleman laugh?"
"I laugh because you're a fool!"
Lin Xuejin stiffened. His wife, his son, and his daughter all shot furious glances at Zhao Baihui. Remarkable man or not, you simply could not speak to people this way.
*My husband is brilliant — he passed as a first-rank juren. How dare anyone call him a fool!*
Lin Xuejin did not lose his temper. Instead he thought carefully for a moment and said, "I see no flaw in what I said. If the gentleman cannot give me a reason, I refuse to accept that I am a fool."
"Refuse all you like. You are missing far too much of the picture. If I were to explain it to you piece by piece, a full day and night wouldn't be enough."
"Then I will come every day to learn!"
"I haven't the time for that."
"Sir! Can you truly stand by and watch the common people be trampled beneath the hooves of barbarian horses? Do you have any idea how savage those people are? There is a saying — the world—"
"Stop. Don't lecture me about great principles. This realm belongs to the house of Li, not to Zhao — and even if it bore my name, it would be no concern of mine."
"Furthermore, as long as I have no morals, you can't use morality to blackmail me!"
"You—" These words broke through something Lin Xuejin had been holding fast to. He drew himself upright, glared at Zhao Baihui, then turned sharply on his heel and strode out the door.
The others hurried after him.
Once the Lin family had all gone, Jinyi sprang up and came running to grab Zhao Baihui's hand, practically vibrating with excitement. "Master, Master, you were incredible just now!"
"Even a juren you found foolish and insufficiently learned — I knew it, I just knew it, you're the only one who should be emperor!"
"I have to go tell Jinxiu and the others about how magnificent you were today — I feel like I'm going to burst!"
Zhao Baihui pressed a hand to his forehead in pained resignation. "Jinyi, not this again..."
Meanwhile, Lin Xuejin was storming out the gate, his wife and children scrambling to catch up behind him.
Zhao Shiyi, the coachman, was curious why they'd come out so quickly and in such a temper, but he did his duty and stepped forward to ask, "Mr. Lin, are you heading back? Allow me to drive you."
"No need!" Lin Xuejin threw out the words and walked rapidly away.
Mrs. Lin hurried to catch up, breathless, and caught her husband's arm. "What's the rush?"
"That man probably doesn't have any real ability after all — nothing but hot air and bluster. Why waste another moment on him? Let's go, let's get out of here. I won't stay another minute to be insulted like that!"
Lin Xuejin let out a long sigh, slowed his steps, and waited for his children to catch up. He turned to his son. "Yunxuan — what do you make of this Mr. Zhao?"
"I can't see through him. He never finished what he was saying. Either he's all talk with nothing behind it, or he's... unfathomably deep."
"But considering Village Head Zhao's abilities — she's that remarkable, yet she's merely his maid. I think it must be the latter."
Lin Xuejin sighed again. "A man like no other in this age. It's a pity he has no wish to lend his mind to the world. Let's go back — and tomorrow... we'll call on him again."
"What? Dear, we're coming back tomorrow? Then why did you storm off just now?" A barely suppressed laugh escaped her. "Surely you're not sulking because he called you a fool?"
"Do you really think me that petty? I am angry, yes — but I'm angry that a man who holds within him the means to set the realm in order refuses to put it to use."
"I need to walk off this temper first. I wouldn't be fit to learn anything in this state."
"I believe he genuinely has the ability to bring peace to the world. If he were willing to teach me, I would kneel and take him as my master without a second thought. What I fear is that he simply won't."
---
The next day, Lin Xuejin sent ahead a formal calling card. Zhao Baihui glanced at it. "Why is he back? What a nuisance. Turn him away."
Lin Xuejin sat waiting the entire morning, then left in disappointment.
He came again on the third day, and sat through another full morning.
Seven days in a row he sent in his calling card. On the last day, the gatekeeper stopped bothering to deliver it at all.
Left with no other course, Lin Xuejin returned to the inn and had his wife lease a small courtyard. He settled in for a long campaign.
Then he made his way to the village office and found Jinyi.
"Village Head Zhao, I would like to ask for a position here in Taoyuan Village."
Even Jinyi, composed as she was, nearly lost her footing.
*Juren, please don't do this.*
A first-rank juren, even one with no connections or backing, could walk into a seventh-rank post in the capital without much difficulty. And a seventh-rank post in the capital was a very different creature from an ordinary seventh-rank county magistrate.
So what on earth was he doing here asking for work in a village?
The most senior post the village had to offer was village head — she couldn't give him that. Which left...
"Mr. Lin... are you serious? If you are, I could arrange for you to serve as deputy village head..."
"I accept."