“Yellow Sky”: Crisis for the Han Dynasty sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne

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“Ah, Jian Shuo: any luck?” Cao Jie wondered.
“Another three that probably know nothing,” Jian Shuo sighed.
“We have to find out who did this, in case they’re planning something more,” Wang Fu insisted. “Daubed messages on walls and doors is how it starts: such courage will eventually lead to something else, and we have to do something!”
“Stop… panicking,” Cao Jie pleaded half-heartedly. “I’m worried too, but whining will get us nowhere… not with regard to this, anyway.”

“…Well I think it’s funny,” Cao Cao whispered to Yuan Shao, Zhang Miao, Wei Zi and another old friend - Xu Yòu, who was now styled ‘Ziyuan’ - as they walked past some agitated eunuch attendants that were desperately trying to remove a message that had been left on the doors of the southern palace.
The message read,

“The whole world under Heaven is in disarray. Cao and Wang stole the life of the Dowager. But despite this, the highest officials know only their own names, and say nothing.”

The eunuchs Cao Jie and Wang Fu - whose names had now been publicly linked to the supposed untimely death of Lady Dou the Empress Dowager, in addition to the previous accusations of corruption - were understandably anxious to discover the identity of the perpetrators, but their response had been unduly severe.
“Keep it down!” Yuan Shao hissed.
“You’re actually louder than me, Benchu,” Cao Cao chuckled. “No, I was referring to the thought of His Majesty being married to Lady Song. I don’t recall her being that pretty, which is not a good sign, historically.”
“But besides that, you cannot disapprove, surely,” Zhang Miao joked.

“No, it’s another good thing to have to say,” Cao Cao replied confidently. “My grandfather a trusted eunuch, my father a much-respected marquis and Director of Retainers, and now a distant cousin is not only the wife of another newly-created marquis, but a marquis that is closely related to the Empress… friends, I see an upwardly moving career man, and his name is Cao Cao!”
“Am I not the heir to the Yuan clan…?” Yuan Shao said with sudden jealousy.
“…Yes, and doesn’t Shu, your beloved younger brother and self-proclaimed former possessor of that honour, love you all the more for it,” Cao Cao teased. “In fact, I recall seeing him grinding his teeth at the sight of you only the other day, for having yourself adopted like that and destroying any chance of him being anything else other than your shadow now.”
You…!” Yuan Shao exclaimed; he shook angrily and pointed his finger at Cao Cao, which only made the mischief-maker and his friend Wei Zi laugh boisterously.
“Stop it, you two!” Zhang Miao scolded. “Is it really a good idea to be audibly bickering when half of Luoyang is being arrested for ‘treasonous vandalism’?”
The five teenaged students were now walking across an otherwise empty street; this prompted Cao Cao to retort by saying, “They can’t hear that well, I think.”
“…But who would do such a thing…?” Yuan Shao wondered.
“What, the thing with the door…?” Cao Cao chuckled. “An idiot, Benchu… certainly not a man that treasured the lives of the ‘partisans’… a disgruntled junior official that lost his job to a man chosen by the eunuchs, perhaps.”

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