“Goodness, from now on I’m never sleeping with you again — all night long, moaning high and low… what didn’t you want?”

Qiqian’er opened her eyes, her chest heaving as she looked left and right. Oh, right — she was back… it had just been a nightmare.

The old lady rolled up her bedding and leaned in, teasing her. “Tell me, what didn’t you want? Did someone offer you a gold ingot? You should’ve heard yourself! You didn’t want to give it to me!”

Ha, a gold ingot?

To think that she, Huo Qiqian, had lived a whole lifetime — not an easy one, but at least a clean and honest one — and now, in her old age, she’d been bullied by some shriveled old eunuch even in her dreams.

Wretched old man, had she done something so terrible in life? Even in dreams there was no escaping him — why did he have to slap the crown of her head like that?

And this was just a dream.

Qiqian’er felt a fresh throb at the crown of her head, reached up and grabbed, pulling away a handful of sparse hair.

She was struck as if by a bolt of lightning.

The old lady noticed the hair too, and seeing how badly shaken Qiqian’er looked, said, “It’s fine, it’s fine — not eating enough, low on salt, no strength in the body, losing hair is common. Later on, your hair…”

She examined Qiqian’er’s hair from all angles and sighed with dissatisfaction. “So thin?”

Qiqian’er said helplessly, “This is still my birth hair.”

The old lady was astonished. “What, no one even shaved it for you?”

Qiqian’er let out a long breath. “Who would’ve bothered with me!”

The old lady nodded. “Just as I thought. It’s fine, tomorrow I’ll get a razor from the camp up front, we’ll shave it all off, and once you’ve eaten well, I’ll find you some good black beans — Grandmother’s telling you, in a few months you’ll have a head full of ink-black hair…”

Hearing this, Qiqian’er genuinely looked forward to it — in her previous life she really had spent her whole life with thin, sparse hair.

She sat up, pulled on the outer robe beside her; the old lady also put on her outer coat and muttered, “From the sound of you, who had you in their grip? Was it that so-called lady of your family?”

Qiqian’er tilted her face up to think, but couldn’t explain it to her, so she brushed it off. “Not just her — even at the gates of Qingfeng City, the carts hauling corpses ran back and forth all night…”

At this, the old lady grew unexpectedly pleased, raising her eyebrows as she pinned up her hair simply. “Such a chatty little mouth you’ve got — I thought you had some real skill. Heh! It’s just dead bodies? I’ve seen plenty of those, and not just me! Go ask the aunties around this estate — back when the fighting first stopped, before the sound had even settled, we’d already rushed in — arrive even a step late and you wouldn’t find anything good… heh, look how scared you are.”

At this point the old lady didn’t want to say any more.

Both grandmother and granddaughter-in-law were the efficient sort; they got up together and began tidying up, the old lady constantly reminding Qiqian’er that finding proper housing was today’s priority matter.

Seeing Qiqian’er agree, she happily went off to Qiao Shi’s place, and before long came back carrying a water bucket, personally drawing well water for Qiqian’er to wash up with by the bucket.

Qiqian’er accepted her kindness, her words honey-sweet as she thanked her. “Grandmother really does dote on me, won’t let me lift a finger for anything.”

The old lady loved hearing her granddaughter-in-law talk like this, feeling that the girl’s voice was clear and refined, every word dripping with sweetness.

Pleased, she swung her neck and said, “That’s right — go ask around, how long has that other one been here, and I haven’t wasted a single extra word on her. Girl…”

“Mm?”

“Say that thing again from yesterday, would you?”

Qiqian’er wiped water droplets from her hands and looked at her. “Which thing?”

The old lady looked a bit sheepish, sitting on the stone drum-stool in the courtyard, smoking her pipe. Around the pipe stem, she said indistinctly, “Um… the nice things you said yesterday about this estate. I like hearing that. Tell me again.”

Qiqian’er couldn’t help but laugh — the old lady had already heard it twice last night, and she still wanted more?

Fine, if it made her happy, she’d tell it again.

So she said, “You mustn’t look down on our place just because it’s outside Qingfeng City… the wealthy households in the capital, only the ones with really deep pockets set up estates outside the city. All the land around Yandu belongs to the imperial family, and they don’t dare claim it, so they come to Qingfeng instead. So wouldn’t you say Qingfeng’s a good place?”

“Good! Of course it’s good. Back in our family’s hometown, even the rich landlord’s house didn’t have eaves as tall as this little countryside house.”

“Exactly! That’s how it is right under the Emperor’s feet! Once you’ve seen more, you won’t find it strange. Take our estate here — the houses here are even better than those in Qingfeng City itself.”

“Really?”

Qiqian’er, helpless, patted her forehead and laughed. “Really! Qingfeng City is an old city just like Yandu — over there, it’s all been family property passed down for a dozen generations, generation after generation crammed together. Tomorrow when you see it you’ll understand — it’s quite shabby, men and women, children and grandchildren, all crowded into one courtyard. Over there, if any family has a spacious garden, that’s already considered an impressively wealthy household. Here, it’s so much better — spacious! Every family has its own flower garden and vegetable patch. Later we’ll pick out some newly built, unremarkable house and set it up for the older brothers, how about that?”

“Good! Good, good, good!”

The old lady kept saying “good,” reciting a long string of Buddhist chants, and, feeling that wasn’t quite enough, thanked a whole slew of Taoist deities as well.

Once done, she watched Qiqian’er carry the water bucket into the west room, climb onto the west room’s kang, lift her outer robe, and tear off a large piece from the padded jacket underneath, using it right there on the kang to wipe herself down.

Goodness! What a wasteful girl — how could she not treasure her clothes like that? The old lady wanted to scold her, but didn’t quite dare.

But not daring to say it, she still couldn’t quite let it go, and after a good while, hesitantly said, “You… why are you tearing your clothes? I have rags over there. You really are a child who doesn’t know how to manage a household.”

Not knowing how to appreciate a compliment, indeed!

Qiqian’er didn’t argue the point; she walked over holding up her clothes, pointing to a torn patch of fabric, and said to the old lady, “Try pulling this.”

The old lady reached out and gave it an easy tug, and the fabric tore right open.

“Oh my, this has completely rotted through.”

Qiqian’er pursed her lips and nodded. “Mm, rotted.”

She lifted her foot, showing the toe poking out of her worn shoe, and laughed — this shoe was falling apart too.

The old lady felt a pang of pity, thinking of Wang Shi’s calculating face, and after a good while of mixed anger and frustration, said, “They shouldn’t have given them so much! Better to let them starve… you’re the one who suffered for it.”

Qiqian’er said, unbothered, “It’s not suffering — I’m getting all the hardship of a lifetime out of the way in these past dozen or so years. From now on I’ll be sweet, don’t you think? If it weren’t this way, I wouldn’t have ended up in our family, would I?”

What an endearing thing to say!

The old lady gave her a firm pat, and without waiting for a reply, waved her hand grandly. “That’s right! It’s just a few pieces of clothing, what’s that! I’ve still got two bolts of fine satin locked away at home, and some cotton cloth too — let me go cut you a big piece…”

Well, she didn’t even wait for tomorrow — once she’d said it, the old lady turned right around and went out.

Qiqian’er watched the old lady’s retreating back for a long while in silence. She knew from now on things would go well for her — she just hadn’t expected the old lady could be this good to her.

Before long, the old lady came sneaking back in, stomach bulging suspiciously, cradling a coarse porcelain bowl.

Entering the room, she said with a beaming smile, “Girl, come quick, we’re having noodle soup this morning, I scraped up the bottom of the pot for you — here, thick and hearty, drink it while it’s hot.”

Qiqian’er took the bowl and looked at the broken rice grains floating in the mixed-grain broth; the bowl felt heavy, and its meaning was hard to put into words.

The old lady was still boasting. “Drink up, you know, when I scooped this out and brought it here, the look on her face! I’m not afraid of her — this is grain my son earned with his life, if I want to eat it, I’ll eat it! What can she do about it!”

Watching Qiqian’er drink it down in one long gulp, the old lady asked with satisfaction, “Delicious, right?”

Ah, delicious indeed! So many days without anything hot to eat.

“Delicious!”

Qiqian’er nodded and handed the bowl back to the old lady.

The old lady took it, ran a finger around the rim and bottom of the bowl, then put her finger in her mouth to lick it clean.

In truth, this had been scraped from the old lady’s own mouth’s portion — Qiao Shi wouldn’t add an extra grain.

The old lady lifted her robe, pulled out a dried taro root and gnawed on it as she complained, “We’ve only got the one cooking pot at home. Tomorrow, if there’s a spare pot around, I’ll eat separately with you, take my own grain ration, and not have to look at that woman’s sour face anymore.”

This reminder from the old lady made Qiqian’er’s busy hands pause. A pot — right, there were plenty of those.

Look at her memory! Truly rusted shut — if the old lady hadn’t reminded her, she’d have forgotten all sorts of things by now.

Seeing her stop moving, the old lady reached out and patted her, saying proudly, “Come, girl, Grandmother’s got something good to show you, you’ve surely never seen the like.”

With that, she pulled two narrow strips of homespun cloth, dyed with local dyes, from inside her robe.

She spread the fabric out on the kang mat, stroking it lovingly back and forth, smoothing the edges before saying, “This darker color, I’ll make you an inner lining jacket; this scallion-green one, a lined jacket. What do you think, good?”

Of course it was good, how could it not be?

She was actually getting clothes made for her?

In two lifetimes, she’d always had to manage for herself — this was the first time anyone had ever given her clothing.

Qiqian’er looked at the fabric, sniffed, and said, “Good, so good.”

Seeing she was about to cry, the old lady quickly comforted her. “Don’t cry, let’s just be at ease. Tomorrow I’ll get new clothes made for my girl. Girl, you know, we’d never met before — why do you think we get along so well?”

She reached out to brush the hair from Qiqian’er’s forehead, and somehow her own eyes welled up with tears too. “I have to say… you really do look like your aunt — most of all your youngest aunt, the same eyebrows and eyes… People are moved to tears by even a little kindness.”

And so, this one true old lady and one false young wife ended up holding each other and crying.

Once the crying was done, Qiqian’er tugged at the old lady’s arm and said, “Grandmother! We have pots — plenty of them.”

The old lady didn’t understand and just made a puzzled sound.

Qiqian’er smiled and counted off on her fingers. “The Huo family looked after the imperial estates for the previous dynasty for generations. When the mistress and the others fled, there was far too much to carry — think about it, such a huge estate, such a large yield every year. Just what I personally know of, our back courtyard produced at least two bolts of cloth a day. The Huo family’s grain didn’t go to waste on nobody — I’d wager these things are certainly hidden away somewhere. They definitely couldn’t have taken it all with them.”

The old lady’s face was full of astonishment. “Couldn’t take it with them? Then… who does it go to?”

Qiqian’er pursed her lips. “Them? No one’s getting the benefit of it! It’ll just rot and be thrown away — they’d rather that than give us even an inch of it. You think I don’t know? It’s probably in the graveyard at the village entrance, wouldn’t you know it — how crafty they are.”

The old lady was startled. “What? Grave, graveyard?”

Qiqian’er nodded. “Yes! Fake graves. They’re clever, they know the rule outside is, no matter which dynasty, grave robbers face death. You think I don’t know? Yesterday morning passing by the edge of the estate, I saw more than a dozen freshly piled grave mounds, with newly planted saplings too, as if they’re afraid people won’t be able to find them again later…”

Qiqian’er suddenly felt a pang of bitterness, thinking of her own mother.

Come to think of it, she was quite heartless herself — long ago, someone had pointed out the place to her, but in her previous life, by the time she’d finished dealing with everything else and remembered to go back to think of it, gone back to the Huo estate, that place was just a stretch of wild grass. A few autumns’ cold winds, a few winters’ snow, with no one to tend the grave, and the burial site could no longer even be found.

She really was an unfilial one.

Seeing Qiqian’er on the verge of tears again, the old lady grew flustered. She pulled up her satin robe and, without much thought, used it to wipe Qiqian’er’s tears.

“Why are you crying again? Did this remind you of something? Tell Grandmother, I’m the best at comforting people!”

Qiqian’er wiped her tears, laughing through them. “It’s nothing, let’s not talk about it anymore.” She stood up, looking at the brightness outside the window, and said, “Grandmother, from now on, we’re putting down roots here. Let’s build this place up until it’s overflowing with everything — let’s live better than anyone else!”

The old lady loved hearing this, feeling utterly at ease, every pore of her body tingling with unfamiliar comfort.

She patted the edge of the kang and nodded. “Good! Putting down roots, good! I’m not boasting, but aside from everything else, I’ve still got over a hundred catties of fine grain stored away.”

She winked at Qiqian’er and held up four fingers. “She doesn’t know about it. Tomorrow, you and I will quietly eat it together, not a single grain for her!”

Pfft!

“Deal, none for her!”

Over at the wounded soldiers’ camp, Meng Wanquan had finished his breakfast and, with nothing to do, was leaning against a haystack chatting idly with others. As he talked, someone laughingly reminded him, “Meng Wanquan, your grandmother’s here.”

Meng Wanquan cursed furiously, “Your grandmother!”

The man wasn’t offended, just pointed toward the gate, laughing. “I’m not lying to you, it really is your grandmother.”

Meng Wanquan sat up and finally saw it — at the entrance of the wounded soldiers’ camp, Chen Wu Shi was craning her neck, peering this way. Seeing his gaze land on her, she happily waved and called out loudly, “Wanquanzi, come out here!”

“Oh, my dear, my dear precious ancestral grandmother’s here, how come so early!”

Meng Wanquan and Chen Dasheng were sworn brothers bound by a debt of life — he had properly kowtowed to the old lady and formally recognized her as his adoptive grandmother.

He too had come up through the Long Saber Battalion as a squad leader; he’d had an arm hacked off, lying on the ground, and it was Chen Dasheng who’d dug him out of the pile of corpses and carried him out.

When the old lady called for him, he naturally didn’t dare delay, scrambling up and trotting toward the camp entrance.

Reaching her, he looked at the old lady, then at his “little sister-in-law,” and asked, “Grandmother, what brings you…?”

The old lady, her face lit with undisguised joy, grabbed hold of Meng Wanquan and said, “Wanquanzi, find Grandmother some helpers, and hitch up a few carts — your little sister-in-law’s maiden family left behind some heavy, bulky things we want to bring back.”

With that, the old lady licked her lips, wriggling her eyebrows with such delight that, decorated with a flower, she could have practically danced a little jig.

Ah, this was good news then — there were things to be had too?

Meng Wanquan glanced at Qiqian’er, and Qiqian’er greeted him with a smiling bow.

Truly a girl without a shy bone in her body.

It had been so long since anyone had bowed to him with proper courtesy; Meng Wanquan hastily returned the gesture, then asked with a smile, “Little sister-in-law, are you settled in alright?”

Qiqian’er smiled and said, “Thanks to you for asking, everything’s settled. Our grandmother dotes on me so — she even gave me two pieces of cloth to make new clothes.”

My, had the sun risen from the west today?

Meng Wanquan glanced quietly at the old lady, who swung her neck proudly.

Meng Wanquan laughed helplessly and asked again, “Wonderful, indeed — our old lady’s always been the best at caring for people. Little sister-in-law, you’ve truly landed in a blessed nest — from now on, you must live well!”

“Naturally,”

“Have you eaten, little sister-in-law?”

“I have — Grandmother brought me noodle soup.”

Meng Wanquan grew even more astonished. “That’s wonderful, wonderful! So, this thing our old lady mentioned, is it really true?”

Qiqian’er nodded solemnly. “It’s nothing so grand, just leftovers from my family — they’ve gone back to their hometown and can’t carry it all, so I figured I might as well bring it back and use it to help support Grandmother’s household. As things are now, we can’t even find so much as a bolt of cloth to buy — there isn’t even a fabric shop left in the city…”

As she chattered on, Meng Wanquan grew more and more astonished.

Well now — who would have thought this girl had such a clever mouth on her, and quite the head on her shoulders too — in just one night’s time, she’d already won the old lady over completely?

Thinking this, Meng Wanquan felt a flicker of unease, but before he could think further on it, a line of carriages arrived from the south, and Meng Wanquan quickly excused himself from the two women, shouting toward the camp:

“Everyone up, quick! Company’s here!”

In that instant, a crowd of wounded soldiers came pouring out of the camp — men missing hands, men blind in one eye, all in all a whole crowd of walking wounded who could still move.

As the group drew near, Meng Wanquan spotted, at the head on horseback, a slender young general of handsome bearing, dressed in gold armor, a gleaming phoenix-winged gilded halberd on his back.

Meng Wanquan recognized this young general immediately, and delighted, walked over to grab the man’s rein with one arm. “Hey, if it isn’t our City-Breaker General!”

Hearing this, the young general grew bashful, spun neatly with one leg still on the horse, and with an extremely graceful, flowing motion, leapt down.

At once, cheers rose up from those nearby.

The young general smiled and cupped his hands in greeting. “Brother Meng, you jest — what City-Breaker General, when others say it in jest it’s one thing, but even you’re mocking me now.”

Meng Wanquan laughed too. “I’m not mocking you — you really do look dashing! Nice horse — when did you get it?”

The young general, still young in years, lifted his chin and said, “His Majesty gave it to me yesterday.”

Meng Wanquan felt no envy — he’d long since made peace with such things.

Hearing this, he praised the horse accordingly, and his praise made the young general laugh heartily.

This young general’s full name was Chang Lianfang; he, along with Meng Wanquan and Chen Dasheng, had all once served together in the Tan family army.

It was only that his backing was different — he followed the Second Prince, Li Zongshan. The two paths had only crossed for half a year before he left with his father.

Speaking of the current court, aside from the civil officials, the military officers could be divided into three factions. The first were His Majesty’s personal guard, the Li family’s own troops.

The second faction was the group represented by this young general — those who came from the martial world of the south.

Back when the Grand Marshal first raised his banner at the Protector-of-the-Nation Temple in Shaoshang, he had few reliable men at hand. As it happened, his second son Li Zongshan, being frail from childhood, had been sent at age three or four to be raised at the southern Protector-of-the-Nation Temple.

This Protector-of-the-Nation Temple was divided into northern and southern branches. The northern branch was considered the imperial temple, said to be the foremost monastery under Heaven, while the southern branch held five hundred years of standing in the martial world, a towering figure of the jianghu.

Amid the chaos of the times, the abbot of the southern temple, seeing the world’s order collapsed and the common people suffering, had exerted his influence to rally a group of martial figures from the south to help the Grand Marshal in his campaign to conquer the realm.

And now, Meng Dichen of Jiu Si Tang was this very monk, returned to secular life — by generational rank, he counted as Li Zongshan’s uncle-in-discipleship.

Ostensibly, they’d only taken up arms in service of a wise ruler for the sake of the common people, but since north and south had split, who wouldn’t want to be the foremost monastery under Heaven?

In worldly affairs, all the bustle and clamor ultimately comes down to profit.

The martial world was vast, with countless figures of renown, but those with true roots, proper lineage, and old established sects were few in number. Not to mention those in the north who’d sided with the old dynasty — the south and north had already clashed more than once these past years, and if the court hadn’t established the new office of Jiu Si Tang, it might well have led to another great north-south schism.

Back then there had been a certain southern wandering fighter known by the nickname “Xin Claw, Chang Polearm, Flying Star Monkey”… this “Xin Claw” referred to a renowned old sect from Jiugong Mountain in the south, whose family practiced eagle-claw hand techniques. As for “Chang Polearm,” that referred to Chang Lianfang’s family — by his generation, the Chang family’s polearm technique was said to have already been passed down through seventeen generations.

Chang Lianfang’s father used to say that the Chang polearm existed even before the dynasty before this one — that their ancestors had originally been mounted cavalrymen, but later, disillusioned by power struggles and various grievances, had retreated to the countryside to become free-spirited wanderers of the martial world.

Well — that was one way to put it, embellishing things to sound impressive.

Among the eighteen traditional weapons, the polearm was renowned as a “long weapon of might,” grouped together with the long spear and the crescent-blade shovel as weapons well-suited to mounted combat.

When the righteous fighters of the south rallied to help the Grand Marshal’s rebellion, the weapons truly effective on the battlefield for mass combat were the hammer, polearm, spear, and halberd — these long weapons. As such, Chang Lianfang’s family had gained great prominence, essentially making their fortune through this.

Nowadays they didn’t even need to rely on Jiu Si Tang — they counted as newly risen military nobility in their own right, and Chang Lianfang’s father had been enfeoffed as an earl.

Watching this old acquaintance rise so swiftly, Meng Wanquan showed no outward reaction, simply calling people over to help — some carrying, some supporting, some hauling — moving the several dozen wounded soldiers who’d just arrived into the camp.

Once the men were inside the camp, Meng Wanquan pulled Chang Lianfang aside and asked, “Things have been quiet up front for days now — why’s there suddenly such a commotion, with all these arriving at once?”

Hearing this, Chang Lianfang’s expression turned strange; he glanced around and pulled Meng Wanquan off to a quiet corner. “I won’t hide it from you, Brother Meng — His Majesty was the target of an assassination attempt the other day, and these are the brothers who got caught up in it last night…”

Before he could finish, Meng Wanquan exclaimed in shock, “What? Is His Majesty safe?”

“Safe, His Majesty is protected by Heaven, unharmed.”

“Then why were these men sent to our Tan battalion camp?”

Chang Lianfang already knew he’d ask that; he sighed wryly and pointed north. “Ah, they got caught up in it too. They’re just ordinary soldiers, but the ones who came from the south — their protection failed, and the old Empress Dowager was so frightened she said she wouldn’t stay in Yandu any longer, insisting on returning to Shaoshang before she’d even left. His Majesty was furious, and summoned Master Dichen into the palace… saying he wants to establish an Eastern Bureau, set up Jiu Si Tang…”

Meng Wanquan understood from the start what this was really about, and even as Chang Lianfang tried to explain further, he no longer wanted to hear it. He waved him off. “Hey, good brother, whatever this soup or that flatbread business is, don’t tell me about it, alright? I don’t understand any of it! This is your north-south jianghu rivalry. We who used to take orders from the old dynasty don’t have it easy either these days — we’re just small fry cleaning up the scraps, eating leftovers, catching a whiff here and there, that’s all.”

Neither favored by father nor mother — that described Meng Wanquan and Chen Dasheng and the others who followed General Tan.

General Tan and His Majesty had once served together under the old dynasty; back when they first raised their banners, there had even been private disputes between them. It was unfortunate that, though the old Tan family had no shortage of capable men, they also had more than their share of eccentric characters, which had held them back.

As a result, though they were men of proven merit, everyone knew they ranked at the very bottom of His Majesty’s regard, and likely wouldn’t be given much further advancement.

Furthermore, this Master Dichen that Chang Lianfang mentioned represented the southern martial world — and these past years, what they’d been suppressing was precisely the northern martial factions who’d served the old dynasty…

The fighting was over now, and yet here they were, still heading toward more killing and bloodshed — wasn’t that foolish?

Seeing Chang Lianfang’s troubled expression, Meng Wanquan grabbed his arm and said, “Look at you, worrying about fires burning on some distant mountain — which family’s roof beam are you propping up, anyway? Come on, brother, look who’s here!”

With that, he pulled Chang Lianfang along toward Chen Wu Shi, calling out as they walked, “Old lady, hey, look who’s here!”

Chen Wu Shi had been watching the commotion, and hearing Meng Wanquan call to her, she looked over as the two men approached, examined them closely, and then laughed too, saying, “Oh, my goodness! Ah, isn’t this Hua’er? Isn’t this Hua’er? What brings you here?”