Chapter 040: Extortion

To the north of the Western Market lies the Liqueur Spring Quarter, once named Chengming Quarter, but it was renamed after a sweet spring was discovered there. South of the west gate stands the Fire Temple.

When Aiermaidi first arrived in Chang’an, this was where she settled. The high priest in charge of religious affairs here was from the Central Cao clan, as were many among the faithful.

The high priest, Adar, was a tall, imposing elder with a thick beard and hair that merged together, a prominent nose, and deep-set eyes—features that unmistakably marked him as a foreigner. His bright eyes shone with a gentle serenity, filled with piety and devotion. Seeing Aiermaidi again filled him with such joy that it was as if a long-lost daughter had returned home.

He gently caressed Aiermaidi’s face as tears streamed down. “Aiermaidi, where have you been all these days? Why haven’t you come home?”

Aiermaidi knelt before him, kissing his hand, her tears falling freely. “May Ahura bless us, Aiermaidi has come home again.”

Upon hearing her tale, Adar sighed deeply. He had searched everywhere for her, never suspecting she was right next door in the Western Market, having been sold as a slave three times.

After reuniting, Aiermaidi conveyed Cao Yena’s message and asked for Adar’s help in finding a child similar to Chongniang for their scheme. Adar nodded repeatedly and summoned a young girl.

The moment Li Zaixing saw the child, he smiled. Perhaps some divine will was at work—for this little girl was not only about the same age as Chongniang, her features bore a striking resemblance, especially after Chongniang had been dressed as a foreign boy.

“So alike?” Li Zaixing laughed.

“Ahura bless us,” Adar replied with a smile. “She could be considered Chongniang’s cousin. Her mother and Cao Yena are sisters.”

No wonder, Li Zaixing thought, it all made sense now. “What is her name?”

“She has a Persian name, Mitra, and her Chinese name is Cao Mite.”

Li Zaixing rubbed his nose, thinking how awkward that Chinese name sounded—just like Cao Yena’s—clearly not a native’s name. He took Mitra’s hand and instructed gently, “You will still be called Mitra, but you also have a pet name, Chongniang. Understand?”

Mitra nodded, her large blue eyes blinking curiously at Li Zaixing.

Adar then called in a pair of agile, youthful twin sisters and said to Aiermaidi, “Like you, they once served as maids to the princess. They have stayed here searching for her, but to little avail. They may as well go with you now. This is Julia, the elder, and that is Hestia, the younger.”

Aiermaidi was overjoyed and turned to Li Zaixing for approval. Li Zaixing studied the sisters for a long while, unable to distinguish which was elder and which was younger, for they were identical in height and appearance. Though not as robust as Aiermaidi, they were tall for women. Clearly, Aiermaidi had not exaggerated the typical stature of the Central Cao people.

After discussing matters of secrecy with Adar, Li Zaixing left the Fire Temple with Mitra. Passing through the Western Market, he paused and said to Aiermaidi, “Come, let’s find that swindler and get our money back.”

Aiermaidi smiled, turned her horse, and followed Li Zaixing into the Foreigners’ Market. They returned to the establishment where Li Zaixing had bought Aiermaidi the previous day. The round-faced foreign merchant, upon seeing Li Zaixing, immediately greeted him with an ingratiating smile.

“Sir, are you here to buy or sell a person today?” He glanced at Aiermaidi and said with concern, “Did this beast harm you, sir?”

“She didn’t harm me, but you did,” Li Zaixing replied grandly, swaggering in and seating himself without waiting to be invited, crossing his legs and dusting off his trousers. The Julia sisters helped the still-injured Aiermaidi down from her horse, assisted her to a seat, and stood behind Li Zaixing, hands on their scimitars, their expressions grim and unfriendly.

Sensing the shift in mood, the merchant’s smile only grew more obsequious. He signaled to his strong slaves and offered fragrant tea, saying, “Sir, what do you mean by this? If I have in any way failed in my service, please let me know and I shall apologize.”

Li Zaixing pulled out Aiermaidi’s slave contract from his robe and tossed it onto the table, casting the merchant a glance. “This slave contract of yours caused me no small trouble. If I didn’t have friends in the authorities, I might not be here today. Trading in people without proper documentation is a serious crime, you know.”

A flicker crossed the merchant’s face, his smile stiffening. He was well aware that Aiermaidi was not a legitimate slave and the contract was fake—strictly speaking, what he’d done was illegal. Yet such things still happened; many buyers sought bargains and didn’t care about the origins of a slave, especially for homeless foreigners—who would bother to defend their rights? But he had not expected Li Zaixing to come calling, and, hearing that he had friends in government, the situation suddenly seemed precarious.

“Perhaps you are not fully aware,” Li Zaixing said with a slight smile, gesturing to the Julia sisters behind him. “You think they’re here to protect me? No, they’re here to settle a score. Aiermaidi is from the Fire Temple in the Liqueur Spring Quarter, of the Central Cao clan—one of the Nine Zhaowu Tribes. Surely you’ve heard of them?”

The merchant’s face turned ashen. He looked at Aiermaidi, then at the fierce Julia sisters. Beads of sweat gathered on his brow. Central Cao? He knew their reputation—quick to fight, even over trivial matters. How unlucky could he be, to pick up a stray slave and end up entangled with these fierce people?

“Sir, I truly didn’t know.” The merchant dropped to his knees and kowtowed repeatedly to Aiermaidi, weeping as if bereaved. “My dear lady, you stayed here for months and never once mentioned you were from the Fire Temple! If you’d said so, I’d never have treated you this way, would have sent you home at once, and not dared to take a single coin…”

He wept and pleaded as though he were the one who had suffered, not Aiermaidi. But she paid him no heed—after what she’d been through, she would not let this scoundrel off lightly. The Central Cao were warriors, but this was Chang’an, not the Western Regions. Even Adar, knowing her hardships, could only count his blessings that she was safe, not think of revenge. Li Zaixing, however, was different. As a Tang native with friends in office, bringing this swindler to justice would take little effort.

Li Zaixing remained unmoved. He knew things were not so simple: a merchant doing business here must pay protection money to some local power. Claiming to have friends in government might not be enough to frighten him. It wouldn’t be long before that local tough showed up. The merchant’s show of misery was just for appearance’s sake—if he were truly scared, he’d have produced money already to buy his safety, not just wiped at imaginary tears.

Sure enough, after the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, several burly men with crooked headcloths and open shirts barged in, shouting, “Who dares cause trouble in the Western Market and interfere with business?” The leader, Pi Erding, swept his gaze around, lingering a moment on the striking Julia sisters, then fixing Li Zaixing with a frown. “Where are you from?”

“Just came from Pingkang Quarter,” Li Zaixing replied unhurriedly, tapping the slave contract on the table. “Yesterday I bought a female slave here for eighteen strings of cash, only to find out she was an illegal slave. I nearly got arrested for it. I’m here today for justice—is that a problem?”

“Pingkang Quarter? You one of Zhang Wan’s men?”

“Zhang Wan?” Li Zaixing chuckled. “You know him?”

“We run in the same circles, of course I know him,” Pi Erding replied, raising an eyebrow. “But he’s in Pingkang Quarter, and we in the Western Market mind our own business. Even if you’re his man, you can’t stir up trouble here.”

“I’m not his man,” Li Zaixing interrupted. “I just took Pingkang Quarter from him yesterday.”

Pi Erding drew a sharp breath. “You took Pingkang Quarter from Zhang Wan?”

“Is that not allowed?” Li Zaixing shot him a glance. “I also had a drink with Xie Guanglong recently and heard some tales of Chang’an’s gallant men. I’d be curious to know—which noble house is backing you?”

Pi Erding’s expression changed to smug pride. “Third Young Master Wei—heard of him?”

“Who?” Li Zaixing was momentarily taken aback.

Seeing Li Zaixing’s look of surprise, Pi Erding was even more pleased, his eyebrows practically dancing. With a thumbs-up and a crooked smile, he declared, “Third Young Master Wei, of the Wei clan south of the city, just five feet from the sky’s edge—you must have heard of the Wei family?”

Li Zaixing nearly choked on his tea. No wonder Wei Yingwu was so wealthy—turns out he had a stranglehold on this prime spot in the Western Market. Time to squeeze him for a tidy sum.

“Oh, Third Young Master Wei,” Li Zaixing nodded. “He actually allows foreign merchants to traffic in freeborn citizens? That takes nerve. So, will you fetch him yourself, or shall I give you a beating and then go find him?”

Pi Erding was stunned. He hadn’t expected that even mentioning Wei Yingwu’s name couldn’t cow Li Zaixing. Worse yet, Li Zaixing insisted on seeing Wei Yingwu in person.

“You… you know Third Young Master Wei?”

“But of course. Just two days ago, I fought him outside the city. Last night, we drank together at the Quyang family’s celebration for the new exam graduates. I thought I’d be spared his ugly mug today, but fate clearly has other plans.”

Before Li Zaixing finished, Pi Erding’s face went white. As the Western Market’s chief, he was a known figure under Wei Yingwu, and he’d heard about the fight outside the city. But he had never imagined he would so soon encounter the man who had bested Wei Yingwu and killed three of his followers in a single breath.

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