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

“They’ll all be paid,” Cao Cao promised. “I’ll pay them… your days in here are over, my lady. From now on, the only man you’ll know is me.”
Lady Bian’s eyes wandered.
“…Why do you hesitate?” Cao Cao asked as he withdrew his hand.
“I… do not know,” Lady Bian admitted. “You are handsome enough, and from a good family… perhaps that is why.”
“My best friend’s mother is his father’s maid, and he’s the heir to the Ru County Yuan clan estate,” Cao Cao retorted. “I’m not a man that judges people by anything other than their character… and yours is too good to be here. Besides… I’m smitten, and therefore too befuddled and stupid to think about anything else but getting you home to Pei.”
Lady Bian smiled and said, “Then I’m yours, my lord… when do we leave…?”

Lady Bian would not be easily welcomed into Cao Cao’s household, but his word was final: Lady Liu, his principal wife, accepted the situation, and Lady Bian became a new favourite that entertained Cao Cao’s every whim from that day forth.

*************

13

Despite his innermost feelings, Cao Cao heeded Yuan Shao’s words and quietly waited for the time when he would be forgiven for his tenuous link to the fallen house of Song. He would not have to wait for long; within 2 years, his father had been inexplicably elevated to the role of Commander-in-Chief, the previous incumbent Cui Lie having become the new Excellency over the Masses. Cao Song wasted no time in inviting his son back to the imperial court, and none objected, not even the eunuch Jian Shuo, who expected that Cao Cao had learned his lesson. However, Cao Cao had no intention of being grateful and remaining silent. The eunuchs - who were now becoming commonly known as the ‘Ten’, regardless of the current number of offenders - would quickly learn that Cao Cao was a tenacious and fearless enemy.

“Well, well… so I am not the only one that has been allowed to come back!” a middle-aged man chuckled as Consultant Cao Cao walked into the imperial courtroom.
“Mister Lu Kang!” Cao Cao said with surprise. “You’ve been ‘forgiven’ as well, then…?”
Lu Kang smirked and said, “It won’t last, I expect.”
“But yet you are happy,” Cao Cao noted.

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