Bai Shan and Bai Erlang had already dismounted from their horses. Seeing the three on the carriage not getting off for a while, they couldn’t help but go up and knock on the carriage door.
Manbao sighed and hopped off the carriage. She looked around and then pointed to the teahouse diagonally across from the inn, saying, "You all go wait for us over there."
Bai Shan turned his head to glance at the teahouse and asked, "Where are you going?"
Manbao glanced at him, reached out to point at Mingda and Changyu, and said, "They are you all," then pointed at him and herself, "and we are us!"
Bai Shan laughed out loud and asked instead, "Where are we going?"
Manbao sighed, pointing to the inn ten steps ahead, "We’re going there."
Bai Er couldn’t hold back and asked, "What about then?"
Manbao thought that since they were the hosts today, it would be impolite to let the guests play by themselves, so she said to Bai Er, "You lead the princesses to the teahouse, order them sothing nice to eat and drink, and sit for a while. We’ll catch up soon."
Bai Er extended his hand, "Money."
Manbao slapped his hand away, "Just treating guests to a al, since when did you beco so stingy?"
"I just gave you the money for the manor the other day; now I have no money on ."
"How much can a tea treat cost?"
Bai Shan had already taken a string of coins from his purse and handed it to him, saying to Manbao, "Don’t ask him for money anymore. I saw Liu Huan borrowing money from him today, and tomorrow is Double Ninth; I heard he wants to spend to give gifts to his grandparents."
Bai Er, taking the money, led Mingda and Changyu to the teahouse opposite.
Manbao and Bai Shan stood in front of the inn as well, looking up together at the inn. Bai Shan was curious, "You’ve already t Scholarly Senior Brother Yang; with such a gem before you, what’s the point of seeing other handso n?"
Manbao couldn’t quite understand Mingda and Changyu either. In her view, Scholarly Senior Brother Yang was handso enough, and other than him, Bai Shan and Yin Huo also weren’t ugly. With so many good-looking people, why insist on seeing Goryeo’s handso n?
But they were her good friends, so she felt she should defend them a bit. After pondering, she said, "It’s like you n; even after seeing the most beautiful woman, you’d think all beauties have their charm, like the spring flowers and autumn moon, and can’t help but look at other beauties."
Bai Shan shook his head, "I don’t think that way. Appearance is just a shell."
Manbao said, "You’re lying. I don’t believe there’s a man in this world who doesn’t like beauties?"
Just like there’s no woman in this world who doesn’t like handso n.
The two soldiers guarding the inn saw them standing at the entrance chatting lively but not going in. Unable to bear it, they stepped forward loudly, "Hey, what are you two doing?"
If they didn’t see their fine clothing and that they ca from the carriage, they would have been chased away.
Only then did Manbao and Bai Shan realize they had been standing in front of the door a bit too long.
Bai Shan imdiately cleared his throat, tidied his clothes, stepped forward to bow, and said, "This humble one is Bai Shan, a student of the Imperial Academy. We’ve heard that Goryeo’s envoys are staying here. We have so matters related to Goryeo we’d like to consult with the envoys about. We ask the officers to inform them."
The Chongwen Pavilion is under the Crown Prince, so using this na isn’t good. If it gets out, soone might slander the Crown Prince, claiming he associates with vassal states. What then?
Even though Goryeo isn’t like the steppe’s Hu tribes that need to be wary of.
But who knew that the guards just glanced at them and waved them in directly, "Go on in."
The two of them: ... This casual?
Manbao couldn’t help but step forward and point at her nose, asking, "Can I go in without giving my na?"
The soldier curiously replied, "What’s wrong with that? Just don’t fight and brawl inside the inn."
After finishing, he added a bit uneasily, "And don’t swindle all the money from others. If trouble arises, it won’t look good on you either."
Manbao and Bai Shan: ... Do they look like swindlers?
But the two of them successfully went in.
This particular inn was one among many under Honglu Temple, where mainly Goryeo, Huihe, Tangut, and other tribes’ envoys stayed. It was their first ti here. Entering the building at the front, there was a hall leading straight to the courtyard at the back.
After all, it was an inn, so the yard wasn’t built very large. The courtyard was square, planted with so potted plants, and there were corridors leading everywhere. Standing in the courtyard looking up, they noted that this inn had three floors, and for the mont, they didn’t really know where to find people.
Just as they were hesitating, a bearded man ca down from upstairs. Bai Shan quickly stepped forward to bow and ask for directions.
The bearded man’s Chinese was quite broken, but Bai Shan slowed down, and he understood. Hearing Bai Shan say he was there to see Goryeo’s envoys, the man hesitated but, after looking at them, turned and led them upstairs.
On the second floor, the bearded man led them to a room, pushed open the door, which was quite spacious inside, with only a few screens as partitions. The furnishings were not chairs and tables but seating cushion style. Inside, there were ten or so people sitting as if discussing sothing, and hearing the door open, they all turned their heads together.
Seeing their attire, Bai Shan guessed they were Goryeo people. As Manbao scanned their faces, her gaze paused on several of them, recognizing those Mingda and Changyu wanted to see.
Her gaze flitted among the three of them, finally fixating on one, and she sighed inwardly: though he wasn’t as handso as Scholarly Senior Brother Yang nor had Yang’s cool deanor, his skin was like congealed fat - quite attractive nonetheless.
While Manbao pondered, Bai Shan was already smiling and exchanging introductions with the people inside.
Initially, the dozen or so people inside didn’t pay much attention to Bai Shan, standing and greeting out of politeness and respect for a big nation. But when they heard Bai Shan was a student of the Imperial Academy, their eyes lit up with excitent.
Seeing Manbao still in a trance, Bai Shan turned to slightly shield her from their gaze, pulling her sleeve and hinting with his eyes, "Lord Zhou, isn’t it so?"
Manbao snapped back, having no idea what Bai Shan had said before, and just nodded, "Yes, yes."
The Goryeo envoy looked at Manbao skeptically and asked, "Is this the editor Lord?"
Bai Shan nodded with a smile, "Yes, this is Lord Zhou."
The envoys exchanged glances, hesitating, as they pondered, how is it a woman?
Can won be officials?
Bai Shan didn’t care what they thought internally. He quickly glanced around the room and asked, "Are the lords discussing matters? Are we disturbing you?"
In Goryeo, Chinese is considered a refined language that only nobles can afford to learn, and only nobles can be officials. So, the envoys could all speak Chinese. Even if their pronunciation was off, communication wasn’t an issue.
Don’t people from different regions have accents when speaking official language?
Bai Shan didn’t intend to stay in the inn. They were outnumbered and chatting felt awkward. It’s better to take the best-looking three out with them.
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