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A single bright hall, a mat of finely woven bamboo strips, a lone desk, and one man sitting in solitude.
Yuan Wei had maintained this posture for a very long time, until the shadow of a figure fell across him.
"I pay my respects to Grand Tutor Yuan!" Wang Yun said, cupping his hands.
Yuan Wei lifted his eyelids and said, in a tone neither warm nor cold, "So, Minister over the Masses Wang has found the leisure today to visit this man who is already as good as dead?"
Wang Yun did not respond to this remark directly. Instead, he smiled faintly and walked slowly over, settling himself gently beside the desk. The attendants who had followed Wang Yun knelt to the side of the two men. They arranged the small red-clay stove, the charcoal, the bronze cauldron, the water ladle, and all the other implements in perfect order, then bowed and withdrew, leaving the space entirely to Yuan Wei and Wang Yun.
Wang Yun rolled up his sleeves and personally took over the task. He added some charcoal, then placed the bronze cauldron upon the small red-clay stove to heat. Yuan Wei kept his eyes lowered, appearing utterly indifferent to everything around him, not even glancing at what Wang Yun was doing, like a man who had transcended worldly concerns and forgotten himself entirely.
Wang Yun, too, remained silent, simply tending the little red-clay stove, watching the water inside the bronze cauldron as it went from placid stillness to rippling waves, then as clusters of dense bubbles began to gather. For a moment, within the hall, only the gradually rising sound of bubbling water could be heard.
When the water was on the verge of boiling but had not yet fully boiled, Wang Yun took a finely carved lacquered box and dropped the already ground and sifted tea powder into the water. At the same time, he stirred the cauldron gently with a long-handled bronze ladle, allowing the tea powder and water to fully mingle and merge together. As the water temperature continued to rise, bubbles began to form, and the color within the entire bronze cauldron slowly began to shift with the infusion of the tea. Wang Yun then took a small, decorated jar, scooped out a bit of greenish salt with a silver spoon, and sprinkled it into the cauldron. This was the first boil.
After a moment, a layer of froth and foam began to appear within the cauldron. Wang Yun slowly rotated his wrist, skimming the foam from the surface with the ladle and setting it aside in a prepared bowl. Once he had scooped out nearly all the foam, he added another ladleful of cool water into the cauldron and continued to stir slowly with the ladle. This was the second boil.
Though suppressed by the ladle of cool water, the water temperature had, in fact, already risen considerably. The fragrance of the tea slowly began to diffuse. The surface of the water now surged like ocean waves. Wang Yun took the foam he had earlier set aside and poured it back into the cauldron to still the boiling. Then, using a brocade cloth to protect his hand, he lifted the cauldron from the stove. This was the third boil.
After the third boil, the tea broth was perfectly prepared.
Wang Yun divided the tea into servings and said, "The tea of the Celestial Master Ge is pure and bright, refined and upright. To add too many worldly ingredients would mar its beauty, so only the merest trace of the source of all flavors is sufficient... Grand Tutor Yuan, please, have some tea."
The tea broth was neither more nor less, precisely divided into two bowls. As he spoke, Wang Yun slowly slid one of the bowls, resting on a wooden saucer, across the desk toward Yuan Wei's side. The faint, perfectly roasted charred fragrance of the tea leaves, mingled with the delicate scent released by the leaves themselves after steeping, intertwined and lingered at the tip of the nose. Yuan Wei's nostrils flared involuntarily. "Minister Wang truly is a master of skillful arts. Even after the relocation to the western capital, you still have the Celestial Master's tea..."
Wang Yun smiled, then picked up the small lacquered tea box, opened it, and showed it to Yuan Wei. "All of it has been used in this very cauldron."
Yuan Wei's eyebrows twitched slightly, then he raised the tea bowl and began to sip slowly.
When the tea was finished, Yuan Wei set down the bowl. Suddenly, he began to tap lightly on the desk and slowly intoned, "I drink from the Yellow Springs, my lonely body broken and decayed. Where does the soul return to rest? Heaven and earth verge on destruction. I pursue the past events, but time affords no waiting..." The tone of his voice was at first somewhat indignant, then turned bewildered, and finally revealed faint threads of grief, the sound gradually fading until it became barely audible.
"Why must the revered Yuan speak so despairingly!" Wang Yun consoled him.
Yuan Wei remained silent for a long moment before he spoke: "When is the execution to be carried out? Poisoned wine, or the white silk cord?"
Wang Yun was momentarily taken aback, then laughed. "You are mistaken! The Grand Tutor is greatly mistaken! It is precisely a heavy responsibility that awaits you. Why speak so lightly of life and death?"
Yuan Wei, too, was stunned for a moment. His eyes rolled as he said, "Minister, do not jest. Look at this thatched hovel and earthen steps, these walls whitewashed with lime—a crude tiled hut. Where is the semblance of any heavy responsibility?"
Wang Yun laughed heartily and said, "A bright hall five spans high, with tender lamb to eat and a mat to sleep upon—how is this considered unjust treatment?"
Yuan Wei paused, stroked his beard, and asked with a trace of hesitant hope, "East of the mountains... how goes it now?"
"Luoyang has been burned. As for the east of the mountains..." This was merely a matter of Yuan Wei having been confined and lacking information; it was no secret, and he would inevitably come to know of it sooner or later. Thus, Wang Yun did not conceal the truth and said directly, "...the coalition, too, has already dispersed!"
Yuan Wei raised his head, then his torso slowly seemed to crumple and soften, his head drooping low. "In that case, Gonglu and Benchu..."
"Gonglu is in Yu Province; Benchu is in Ji Province."
Yuan Wei let out a bitter, mirthless laugh and shook his head, murmuring, "Tiny are those little stars, I in the west while they are in the east... Ha, haha... Truly, my fate is not as theirs..."
"Why should the revered Yuan belittle himself so..."
Wang Yun was about to continue with further words of consolation, but quite unexpectedly, Yuan Wei cut straight to the point: "What does the Chancellor seek from me?"
The directness caught Wang Yun off guard for a moment. He paused, then said, "Nothing else, merely that the Chancellor wishes to invite the Grand Tutor to concurrently assume the office of Grand Minister of Agriculture..."
"Grand Minister of Agriculture?" Yuan Wei repeated the title. Suddenly, his triangular eyes flared wide. "Zishi, speak the truth plainly."
Wang Yun sighed, fell silent for a moment, and then said, "The Chancellor wishes to re-establish the position of Superintendent of the Imperial Aquatic Works and Parks."
"Superintendent of the Imperial Aquatic Works..." Yuan Wei murmured the title to himself, repeating it. His face darkened, and he declared, "Minister Wang, do you wish to make me a criminal before the eyes of the myriad common people? I absolutely will not accept this!"
What? You refuse? If you refuse, then this post may very well land squarely upon my own head! And then the deed of offending the common people would have to be carried out by me!
So, fellow traveler, I must ask you to please embark upon this path instead.
Wang Yun had come with this mission and had long prepared a strategy for just such a situation. Thus, he spoke in a measured tone: "In ancient times, King Wen was imprisoned at Youli and composed the Zhou Yi. Confucius journeyed through hardship and wrote the Analects. Qu Yuan, destroyed by slander, created the Li Sao. From this, one can see that in all the affairs of this world, how can everything proceed exactly as one wishes? Without being stained by black mud, how can one obtain the pure white lotus root? Or would the revered Yuan prefer to remain in this Xia Terrace prison and receive the three-foot length of white silk?"
Everyone wishes to do only what they are willing to do, only what brings them pleasure. Where in the world does such a cheap bargain exist?
"One thought may bring life; one thought may bring death." Wang Yun lowered his voice and continued, "Only by boldly accepting the duty can you have a sliver of a chance at survival. If you remain confined here..." Fellow traveler, do you realize that if you refuse, the moment I depart, someone will come bearing you a little parting gift right on my heels?
If Yuan Wei truly did not fear death, why would he have dragged things out, enduring such humiliation as this? On this point, many people—Wang Yun included—saw the matter with perfect clarity.
Wang Yun gazed at Yuan Wei, signaling for him to make his choice.
Yuan Wei closed his eyes. His beard stirred as though in a breeze, though there was none. After a long while, he let out a heavy sigh and said, "If it must be so... then let this old, decrepit body be driven and ridden as you will..."
Wang Yun nodded and said, "Very well. I shall report back to the Chancellor at once. Some days hence, I will seek the revered Yuan again to share wine and enjoy ourselves. For now, permit me to take my leave."