The desert now consisted of several distinct zones:
- Innermost Zone (50–60 li wide): The original “grass grid” barrier to stabilize sand and block wind erosion.
- Middle Zone (approximately 180 li wide): Mosses and lichens interspersed with sparse cacti and succulents, which Wang Cang Hai nicknamed the “Sea of Sand.”
- Outermost Zone (500–700 li wide): A mixed forest of poplar, tamarisk, saxaul trees, and sea buckthorn. This area began to attract settlers. Wang Cang Hai’s Silver-Armored soldiers assisted residents in building wooden homes and exempted them from taxes.
Interestingly, Wang Cang Hai imposed an unusual policy for these settlers: every household was required to raise long-haired rabbits and patrol their assigned forest section. They were also required to hunt wild goats and hyenas and hand over their catches to the Silver-Armored soldiers. For other animals, no restrictions were placed—residents could either hunt them or domesticate them as they pleased.
As Wang Cang Hai approached his twentieth birthday, his father, Wang Cheng Xing, a Ministry of Revenue official, sent a letter urging his only son to return home for his coming-of-age ceremony. The messenger traveled from Yingjing to the Gobi Desert, searching through the poplar forests and the “Sea of Sand,” but Wang Cang Hai was nowhere to be found. Eventually, the messenger reached the Silver-Armored Army’s main camp and learned that Wang Cang Hai was hosting a banquet at a place called “Mirage Pavilion,” meeting with several scholars, merchants, and local gentry to discuss an important matter.
The Mirage Pavilion, completed just three months prior, was an extraordinary “floating structure” built on the northwestern edge of the “Sea of Sand,” where it bordered the poplar forest. From a distance, the pavilion appeared to hover mid-air, a grayish-yellow fortress veiled by wind and sand. Upon closer inspection, the pavilion stood on six sand-and-earth pillars—four at the corners and two central ones forming semicircular staircases for ascending and descending.
As the messenger approached the staircase, two Silver-Armored soldiers guarding the entrance stepped forward. Presenting his credentials, the messenger suddenly heard a crisp, girlish voice from above:
“Is that someone sent from home? Come upstairs quickly!”
The messenger looked up and saw a girl around thirteen or fourteen years old calling to him. He recognized her as Pipa, one of Wang Cang Hai’s personal maids.
The Wang household had many servants, but everyone knew Young Master Wang Cang Hai and his two maids, Xia Xia and Pipa. However, Pipa did not recognize the messenger and had no memory of his name. She politely welcomed the family servant who had come from afar, guiding him upstairs and inviting him to wait in a small tea room outside the banquet hall.
In the tea room, the messenger noticed a row of people dressed as merchants, both young and old, all clad in extravagant and luxurious attire. Feeling out of place as merely a servant of the Wang household, he avoided sitting on the chairs and instead took a straw mat, placing himself in a corner at a modest distance from the others.
Pipa busied herself boiling water and brewing tea, pouring a bowl of fragrant tea for everyone in the room.
After finishing her task, she stopped by the messenger and asked softly, “You look unfamiliar. I don’t think I’ve seen you around the master before.”
The messenger, uneasy, stood up again and answered in a low voice, “My name is Wang Chao. I used to work in the outer stables, but I was transferred to the inner courtyard about a year ago to run errands for the master. Since you serve in the East Wing with the young master, it’s natural you wouldn’t have seen me before.”
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