More than twenty days had passed without seeing each other, and Meng Wanquan’s face had grown deeply hollow, his expression utterly exhausted.

Five days of continuous rain had left the interior of the house damp and humid. Qiqian’er ordered the padded curtains hung up, and had a small charcoal brazier lit under the covered walkway, sitting on a small stool brewing tea while listening to Quanzi Ge complain.

These past days, every three days this man had to make a trip to the Xiaonan Mountain area, and it had worn down even someone as tough as him until he could barely keep going.

“…In a frantic rush they sent over thirty cartloads of prepared medicine, wouldn’t even let us open the crates to inspect them, just said it was urgently needed up front, told us to rush it to Xiaonan Mountain right away. I thought they must be in a real hurry over there — turns out we waited half the night after delivering it, and only then did a few lazy fellows amble out to receive the carts. Have they all gone mad!

I told them, at least check it over, this is medicine we’re talking about! Nobody even bothered to acknowledge me. It was only because a few old acquaintances from the wounded soldiers’ camp quietly told me — some old prepared medicine, hmph… I shouldn’t even bring it up. They just keep toying with people all day, won’t let anyone rest, sending over these baffling things day after day, and who knows when it’ll end…”

He clearly didn’t want to speak of military affairs, but he was so stifled he couldn’t help but come complain.

After finishing, he glanced cautiously toward the back courtyard and asked, “Where’s the physician?” He wanted to pay his respects and talk over these matters.

Qiqian’er didn’t even look up as she said, “He was summoned into the palace the other day. Said he won’t be back for the next several months.”

After saying this, she looked up and met Meng Wanquan’s eyes, then both of them looked away.

Meng Wanquan wasn’t foolish. In fact, he saw things quite clearly.

Meng Wanquan feigned lightness and said, “Little sister-in-law, don’t overthink it. We’ve weathered so much hardship before and come through fine. From my experience… it’ll always work out. You don’t know how it was before — back then I was your Dasheng’s senior in rank, but his talent was a hundred times better than mine. When the two of us sparred bare-armed, someone like him could beat ten of me.”

Qiqian’er nodded indifferently and said, “Oh.”

She herself knew exactly how formidable her own skills were, and with Uncle Xin’s abilities added in, if he still couldn’t escape danger, then Heaven truly had it in for him, and it would simply be a matter of hard luck.

Everyone who knew the full situation felt they ought to be worried and afraid. In truth, she wasn’t — she had already worried herself through all of that long ago.

The clay kettle began to bubble softly. Qiqian’er had just picked up a cloth to cushion her hand and grasped the handle, not yet lifting it, when Yu Shoutian arrived outside. He was the eldest legitimate grandson of a family in Qinwei Lane, and the moment the two of them saw him, they both broke into smiles.

The once scrawny, monkey-thin, hard-luck child was sixteen this year, a remarkably sensible and gentle boy, and his looks had grown ever more handsome — truly no worse than any young master from the Six Ministries Lane.

His father was the Marquis of the City Gate, so he too counted as a proper young master of an official household. He himself already held a minor military post, managing his own share of affairs, and this had given him a certain steady bearing.

Ever since the men of Qinwei Lane had left, and his Uncle Meng and Uncle Chen had also gone out to attend to busy matters, the boy — who had a post at Qingfeng Right Guard that wasn’t too demanding but wasn’t leisurely either — had taken to running home every day after his duties. He wanted to check whether his aunts were well, whether his younger cousins needed anything. He’d also take a servant boy and inspect every courtyard wall in Qinwei Lane, and lead out the horses his uncles kept at home to exercise them together. He could bear hardship; it was only that his studies were middling. But having entered Quanhou Street and seen wealth and privilege up close, he hadn’t picked up the bad habits the young masters of that street had learned — which was no small feat.

Mainly, he was tight with money — unwilling to spend on the “dues” that came with learning bad habits — so the others didn’t invite him along to play. Today, though, he’d come home later than usual.

He greeted his aunts and uncles, handed a ring of keys to Jixiang’s wife, and after a quick wash with what the maids brought him, Yu Shoutian finally sat down and said to his aunt, “Auntie, there’s been so much spring rain this year, and it’s a shame about the back courtyard wall at my Fifth Uncle and Seventh Uncle’s place. I noticed it looks a bit unsteady — you should have someone go take a look.”

Qiqian’er turned to Jixiang’s wife and said, “Go take a look. If it really can’t hold, send word to the estate over at Jiang Zhu’s place and ask the eldest uncle to open up a kiln. Our side is all old houses — there’s plenty that needs repair, and summer brings even more rain. Whatever needs fixing, get it seen to. Their side is also planning to build new houses this year, so the kiln costs can come from our general account.”

Jixiang’s wife acknowledged and went off. Only then did Qiqian’er ask Yu Shoutian, “Why did you come back so late today?”

Yu Shoutian scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed, and said, “I went over to Sanli Academy to check on Zhuangyuan. His… his mother came looking for me, crying as if she couldn’t catch her breath, saying Zhuangyuan hasn’t eaten or drunk anything for days. He won’t speak, and his mother doesn’t dare remarry.”

Officials’ children tended to cluster together from a young age, each with their own circle. Yu Shoutian belonged to none of them particularly closely. He used to get along well with the boys from the Ministry of War Lane, but once he took up his official post, they grew distant from him.

Having a post meant being an adult now.

Qiqian’er was startled inwardly, but asked with a smile, “I didn’t even know you’d become friends with the Tao family’s Zhuangyuan. When did you two start being friends?”

Children could be snobbish too. The Tao family’s Zhuangyuan was a boy without a father; nominally his grandfather and uncle held official posts elsewhere, but he couldn’t draw on their influence, and with the family poor besides, the boy was sensitive and couldn’t fit in on Quanhou Street.

“It’s not really like that… actually we’re not that close. His mother thinks we’re close friends, but I just happened to run into him on the road often, so I’d walk part of the way with him. The time I get off duty and the time he gets out of school aren’t too different, and we’re both from Quanhou Street…”

From the day Yu Shoutian took up his post, all his uncles and aunts had given him congratulatory gifts and prepared adult things for him — such as a horse of his own, and quite a presentable carriage, as well as a raise in his monthly allowance.

Meng Wanquan asked curiously, “Didn’t his mother remarry already? After all that fuss, hasn’t it even happened yet? Why did he go on a hunger strike? No wonder — I always say, the quiet ones are stubborn underneath. He was so close to his grandmother; making him change his surname, of course he wouldn’t be willing.”

After he finished asking, Yu Shoutian’s face filled with sympathy. Even a boy of fifteen or sixteen had learned to feel melancholy, and he sighed, saying, “Ah, I — I do understand him quite well, actually. My family was the same back then. He’s really pitiable too, just landed with a grandfather like that.”

Qiqian’er didn’t think much of the Tao family, but she wasn’t about to interfere with the children’s friendships, so she just asked, “How is he pitiable? His mother has money in hand, and now she has both backing and a renowned teacher…”

Hearing Qiqian’er say this, Yu Shoutian laughed and said, “Auntie doesn’t like his family, my mother doesn’t either, and my grandmother is always saying that family’s heart isn’t straight. But, Zhuangyuan is just the younger generation — what can he do? He’s terribly foolish, but he’s really pitiable too, you know? His family split into four branches, and that grandfather of his is the type who bullies the weak and fears the strong. He couldn’t find a widow willing to remarry into hardship, and he didn’t dare provoke his fourth uncle’s branch, so he sent someone to have Zhuangyuan go over there to nurse him through illness, claiming he’d been injured over on our side.

He’s meant to go into officialdom, and with the weight of filial duty pressing down on him from above, what could his mother do? People kept sending someone with a note demanding money every day, and the two thousand strings of cash in her hands were visibly not going to last. His mother had no choice but to hurry and remarry him along with her — otherwise… after a few more rounds of extortion, they’d have been out begging in the streets.”

Qiqian’er was startled. “It was over that?”

Meng Wanquan nodded. “Indeed. Old Tao had four daughters-in-law. Zhang Shi learned a bellyful of petty scheming from her mother-in-law — hah! Anyone with real means, who wants to spend all day scheming? Of the whole Tao family, she’s the only one willing to stay a widow. Huang Shi and Guo Shi took their children and said they were going to a nunnery — I don’t believe that for a second. Who knows where they actually are now?

Hah, if they wanted to leave, that’s only reasonable too — old Tao never treated them particularly well either. Each family has its own hardships, and what else could they do! The family split up! With over two thousand four hundred strings of cash in hand, and a widow with a fatherless child besides — how are they supposed to get by?”

Yu Shoutian nodded repeatedly. “That’s right, that’s right, that’s exactly what I told him too. No matter how hard things are, eat first — a person has to be alive to talk about anything else, right? Anyway, it’s already come to this. Even without a wedding banquet, he’s moved with his mother into the academy to live. That old Master Feng is a good man — when I went over, the old teacher was still there under the eaves, fanning a stove to brew medicine for him.”

Meng Wanquan lifted the tea Qiqian’er had poured him and drank it down like water, then wiped his mouth and continued, “Old Master Feng really does have great learning in his belly. What does he want out of it? Just that now he’s old, he wants some warmth around in his later years.

Right, old Madam Tao originally split off from Zhou Xingfa — she could shield her grandson while she was alive, but now she’s dead, and that Zhou Xingfa is the only elder left. What’s his mother supposed to do? Filial duty weighs heavier than heaven — refuse to remarry, and she’ll just be bullied! It’s a sure thing every time. Zhou Xingfa bullies the weak and fears the strong — without finding some backing, he might as well just go die. Master Feng used to be a client-scholar in the household of Grand Tutor Li, and he’s taught some genuinely capable students too — otherwise the Tang family wouldn’t have invited him to lecture at Sanli Academy. I thought you already knew about this — turns out you knew nothing at all.”

Qiqian’er picked up the fire tongs to grip a piece of charcoal and said, her tone indifferent, “I don’t go asking about their family’s business. They wouldn’t dare bring it up in front of me either.”

Meng Wanquan laughed heartily. “Heh! I know you can’t stand it. Old Madam Tao did have some petty schemes toward us, but that’s water under the bridge now — the person’s gone, and what’s past is past! That Zhuangyuan boy, well, I’ve watched him grow up too. Nobody has it easy. I just hope things go well for him.”

Yu Shoutian nodded. “Mm. His pride has always run strong. Back when we walked home from the old town school, in that heavy snow, all the carriages on the road were from our Quanhou Street — which family wouldn’t stop to give him a lift for part of the way? But he’d never ask. I ran into him like that several times, and I’d think… once we’re out of the lane, it’s right by his house, and it’d feel awkward for me to just ride comfortably past, so, so I’d give him a ride home. I know his grandmother has her own ideas about it, but Auntie, I think, well…”

This boy had learned to leave sentences half-finished too.

Qiqian’er liked watching him grow — whether in outlook or in generosity of spirit, he really was a fine boy.

So she reached out and tapped his forehead, her tone affectionate. “What do you think? Tell me and let me hear it.”

A chubby maid with a patch over one eye stood bowing by the courtyard gate, holding a cloak. Everyone recognized this maid — her name was A’Luo.

After the war, orphans were everywhere, and the court had no way to handle it all — they simply had to leave things to fate. Old Madam Yu was too tight-fisted to spend money buying servants, but one day out walking the streets she’d picked up this maid missing an eye and named her A’Luo, keeping her close in service ever since.

Qiqian’er raised an eyebrow, and a maid went over to take the cloak inside.

The maid came back holding the cloak and said, “Madam, Old Madam Yu says the spring breeze is chilly, and she’s worried Young Master Shou will catch cold.”

Yu Shoutian laughed and turned to call out toward the gate to A’Luo, “Go on back. Tell my grandmother and mother that I’m eating at my aunt’s place today, and I’m dressed warmly enough — I won’t catch cold.”

A’Luo nodded and turned to run off swiftly.

Once she’d gone, Yu Shoutian said with a smile, “A’Luo can eat five flatbreads and drink three big bowls of soup in one sitting. My grandmother says she’s losing money on her, so now she just sends her out running errands all the time.”

Every family had its own difficult old woman to manage — Old Madam Yu really was tight-fisted, but she was also kindhearted and lovable in her own way; at the very least she wasn’t the type to go out brawling.

Everyone laughed together. Yu Shoutian shook out the cloak, and everyone could see it had four or five patches on it, neatly mended, and made from good cloth too — but patches were still patches.

Yu Shoutian wore it without a hint of self-consciousness, and even patted it with a sigh once he had it on. “It’s really warm, Auntie, look — my grandmother remade it out of an old quilt from home. My younger brother and I each got one.”

Everyone laughed together again. Every family had its elders, and no matter how one’s own family fussed and fretted, it was all done out of love, and one was glad to indulge them. As for other families — even His Majesty couldn’t escape it, and he had two of them, which was hard enough on him too.

Empress Dowager Zheng put on airs of magnanimity inside the palace, while Empress Dowager Jiang, even fiercer, played the pitiable one outside the palace, digging at her son’s heart every single day.

Qiqian’er asked Shoutian again, “What do you make of that Zhuangyuan boy from the Tao family?”

Yu Shoutian blinked. “Oh, him. My father told me once — for a man to grow up, it happens practically overnight. I went to see him just now, and that kid’s eyes had gone awfully hard. In the future, well, as for that grandfather of his — heh heh…”

Qiqian’er’s feelings were complicated, her eyes holding both release and detachment at once.

Since Yu Shoutian said he’d eat here, the kitchen had to prepare properly for him. Once a small table of food was brought out, Meng Wanquan sat with Qiqian’er watching him eat.

Among the dozen or so households of Qinwei Lane, all the children were raised as one family’s own. Never mind Shoutian eating here — even with how tight-fisted the old lady was, whenever the children went over there, their sleeves still came out bulging, and sometimes when she was in a good mood, she’d even string coins on red thread for them.

Just as the mood was pleasantly settled, that irritating man named Yang Zao sent someone to the house again.

He’d been doing this constantly of late. In Qinwei Lane, Qiqian’er was pregnant, Zhang Wanru was pregnant, and with Chen Dasheng and the others gone for over ten days now, Chai Shi had also become pregnant — three pregnant women all at once.

His Majesty had sent the men of the lane off on that deadly mission, and with a whole lane full of fine young women and not a single man left, His Majesty also hoped Chen Dasheng and the others would have descendants to carry on their family lines.

Feeling guilty at heart, he often quietly showered them with generous gifts — bolts of cloth, silk fabric, clothing, silver, jewelry, tonics, household goods… Qiqian’er wasn’t short on money, and some of these things were useful, but others were simply a burden that needed careful storing.

Chang Lianfang walked in laughing, “Sister-in-law, hey, it’s me again!”

They didn’t dare give things too openly, so each time Chang Lianfang returned from Qingfeng, His Majesty had him bring gifts along this way.

Though they were all family, Qiqian’er still stood up to receive the gift, though by now she no longer felt the trepidation of the first or second time.

She felt the soft bundle and asked, “Little flower prints? What’s this?”

“Ah? Oh! It’s little clothes our Sixth Immortal wore as a baby. Empress Xiao said he’s got a good fortune to him, so she set aside three sets, wanting you all to dress the little one in them. Sister-in-law, I haven’t eaten yet either — get me a portion too.”

Chang Lianfang shamelessly begged for food, and without waiting for Qiqian’er’s instruction, the kitchen was already off preparing more.

This fellow had sent away all the servants his family had given him, keeping only two personal guards to live with him at Qipan Courtyard, and had even handed off the cleaning there to this household. He shamelessly brought his men to mooch meals here at Qiqian’er’s place or over at the old lady’s every single day.

He was, after all, the old lady’s dutifully recognized godson — counted as a proper young master of the household in his own right.

Whatever her tight-fisted ways, the old lady was quite fond of Little Flower too, treating him with the affection due a true grandson. Even the old lady’s stale, moldering pastries — this fellow would occasionally manage to scrounge a few pieces.

Before long another small table of hot dishes and rice was brought out. There was no rigid formality in this household, so the three of them just sat in the small courtyard eating while talking over the war. Yu Shoutian, having finally caught Uncle Chang just back from putting down the rebellion, seized the chance to ask for guidance:

“Uncle, today at the garrison our commanding officer argued — he used to be a cavalryman, you know — and he said cavalry warfare has no end of advantages, plenty of benefits. I’ve read the same in military texts too, that cavalry warfare has many merits, swifter than a loosed arrow, light and fast. But the Tan people are all elite horsemen, coming and going like a whirlwind. I, I’m worried this battle of ours in Daliang won’t go well.

Our cavalry, I feel, falls just a bit short. The horse breeds from Liujun Horse Ranch just aren’t good enough — smaller build than theirs. I wanted to ask about it, but our commander just glared at me and I suddenly couldn’t say another word.”

The boy looked genuinely wronged.

“Heh…” Meng Wanquan couldn’t hold back his laughter, and seeing the boy’s awkwardness, he said, “Silly boy! What was there for him to say to you? Since your father and your uncles joined the army, the trade they’ve practiced is slaughtering horses — their specialty is beating down the fiercest black cavalry in the world! Anyone skilled in cavalry warfare would have nothing to say to you — and you went and crowded up next to him with that talk?”

Yu Shoutian looked utterly wronged. “I was just listening, what’s wrong with that? Even if my father and the others are formidable, they’re still just seven or eight men. The enemy has a thousand troops and ten thousand horses — wasn’t I just worried on Daliang’s behalf?”

Chang Lianfang swallowed what was in his mouth and laughed. “Worried, my ass! Without Lao Dao we still won it just fine. We’ve had experience fighting cavalry armies since ancient times — Lao Dao’s frontal hard-clash approach is just one method. Some other day when you’re free, come find me and I’ll tell you about anti-cavalry warfare — there’s a lot more fancy tricks to it than that.

And you don’t need to worry about the Tan getting in — they can’t get in! If they come in, we’ll finish them off! Hmph, I don’t even know what His Majesty is thinking sometimes.

Ah, it’s the border people who suffer, really… Those Tan aren’t stupid — cavalry warfare fears bad terrain most of all. Ever since Zuoliang Pass fell, every city has set up defenses against cavalry warfare, and how many anti-cavalry formations have the city walls added since? They can’t afford to lose that many men either. If they could push through smoothly, those bastards would’ve already come in. Right now it’s the rainy season — if they dare come in now, that’s practically suicide for them!”

Seeing Yu Shoutian looked unconvinced, Chang Lianfang pointed at Meng Wanquan. “Ask your uncle if that’s not right.”

Yu Shoutian looked to Meng Wanquan, and Meng Wanquan glared at Chang Lianfang. “Don’t go teaching him nonsense. Every move of a great army — advance or halt — depends on timing and terrain. Right now, in the rainy season, the ground easily traps horses’ hooves, so it’s not suited for the Tan to invade. But what about once the rainy season passes? Back when I was in the Changdao Battalion, we split into ten columns just like this, trailing and harrying them piecemeal — who knows how many we wiped out that way. And you talk about anti-cavalry warfare — do you know how much grain and supplies that would cost to sustain?”

Chang Lianfang wasn’t convinced. “My spear formation training these past years wasn’t for nothing either! Just wait, tomorrow I’ll go request to fight before the Emperor!”

Meng Wanquan didn’t rise to the bait, and continued instructing Yu Shoutian like an elder to a nephew. “Waging war, like living life, has its natural balance — everything has something that overcomes it. Take the iron caltrops the Ministry of Works has been rushing to send to the border cities lately — that’s one method too, only… our Daliang just finished putting down the rebellion, and this fellow here has eaten and squandered no less than his father did…”

Chang Lianfang lightly kicked Meng Wanquan’s foot under the table. He startled, glanced over at Qiqian’er sitting silently to the side, and changed the subject to Yu Shoutian, “Ahem… has the martial examination tutor your father found for you arrived yet?”

Qiqian’er’s ears were sharp, and going along with the others’ unspoken intent, she asked Yu Shoutian as if she knew nothing. “Oh, Shoutian is going to sit the martial examination?”

Meng Wanquan nodded. “Indeed. Whether it’s good or bad for this generation of theirs, who knows — young, strong, and well-off in family circumstances, it’s worn down their drive to strive. They missed out on the merit of founding the dynasty, and now they’ll miss out on fighting the Tan too — what then? They started reading too late, so they haven’t read much, and they’ve had no chance to sharpen themselves on the battlefield either — that skill’s lost to them too.

Ah, he really ought to sit properly with a proper tutor and study the military classics. At the very least he should try for a military-track scholar’s degree — otherwise what else is there, relying on ancestral face to coast through life as a palace guard on his family’s merit? Leading troops into battle — there’s a world of difference between those who’ve studied and those who haven’t. He really should read a few proper military texts…”

“The child doesn’t lack for that mouthful of bloodshed rice — don’t you dare go teaching him nonsense, or his grandmother will hear of it and come fight you to the death! There are plenty of trades in this world that can earn a living. What’s wrong with not being an official? And even being an official, what does it really amount to? If you ask me, nothing matters more than safety and peace — a person needs to be able to breathe easy sometimes. As for anything else…”

From the courtyard gate came the voice of Lu Shi, and everyone looked up to see her carrying a pink, tender-skinned little girl, her two sons trailing behind her with beaming smiles as they came in.

Lu Shi’s two sons — the elder named You Chongjin, twelve this year, the younger named You Chongtian, nine — had lost their father the night Qingfeng City fell; the man had been trampled to death by the panicked crowd while trying to protect his family.

After Lu Shi married Meng Wanquan, these two boys had gained the benefit of entering Sanli Academy, the finest school in Qingfeng Prefecture — a privilege normally denied to families of merchant status, whose descendants weren’t permitted to sit the imperial examinations.

Meng Wanquan smiled at the sight of Lu Shi, scooping up his daughter one-armed and kissing her cheek twice before looking up and patiently asking the two boys, “Out of lessons early today?”

Having survived life and death himself, he took a very open view of the matter of carrying on the family line. Lu Shi had brought the two boys along, and he’d never asked them to change their surname, getting along with them rather well.

The two boys bowed and greeted their stepfather, and the elder said, “Teacher said there’s a happy occasion in the family, so they let us out early to celebrate.”

Meng Wanquan nodded, then turned to look at Yu Shoutian. “Well, would you look at that — you’re quite useful after all. The moment you show up, the old teacher ends up with a happy occasion in his family.”

Qiqian’er glared at him. “The children are still young — what are you saying such things for? What if he doesn’t want to think it through? People still have to keep living.”

Then, turning to Lu Shi with a smile, she said, “The day after tomorrow, our Old Seventh’s father is opening a new course at the Imperial Academy — send Er Tian and the others to have a look. Boys should get out and about more; it broadens their horizons.”

Lu Shi was delighted, sitting down on the stool a maid brought over and said, “Oh, that’s wonderful — but can mine… can they go?”

Chang Lianfang set down his bowl and chopsticks, rinsed his mouth, and said with a laugh, “Others might worry about not even getting through the gate, but these are Qinwei Lane’s children, proper relations — why couldn’t they go? Go, of course!”

Qiqian’er shot him a look. “Look how pleased with yourself you are — you’re from Qipan Courtyard, you’re not even from our Qinwei Lane…”

But before she’d even finished speaking, a scream suddenly rang out from next door, startling everyone.

Before anyone could react, Meng Wanquan, still holding his daughter, was already sitting up on the courtyard wall, shouting over toward Teacher Cheng’s house, “What’s going on? That sound didn’t sound right…”

Before long, Xue Gu’s voice came from the other side, tinged with a panic she herself seemed unaware of, “It’s, it’s A’Ning going into labor… no— it’s nothing!”

Lu Shi and Qiqian’er exchanged glances. Qiqian’er, unable to go next door in her condition, hopped up and hurried toward the exit, saying, “Meng Wanquan! Get down from there right now, a grown man your age climbing walls with your daughter in your arms — I’ll go find the old lady, it’s fine, it’s fine…”

Inside the birthing room, Teacher Cheng’s wife was drenched in sweat, not making a sound, while Teacher Cheng sat outside the room, his face streaked with tears…