Regardless of what attitude the Yuzhou army might take about the matter afterward, one thing was certain—they’d made enemies of those Yuzhou medicine merchants.

The medicine trade was a tight-knit fraternity. So when Li Chi had stepped forward on behalf of the Jizhou merchants, even Ding Shengji wouldn’t suspect anything was off. Which meant that once Li Chi’s group set foot in Yuzhou merchant territory, what awaited them was anyone’s guess.

You squeeze someone on your turf—can you really expect them to roll out a welcome mat when you show up on theirs?

So Li Chi sat there and said to Yu Jiuling, with perfect seriousness: “Once we reach Anyang City, we’re going to get pushed around.”

Yu Jiuling said, “Then we fight back!”

Li Chi slapped his own thigh—or rather, slapped Yu Jiuling’s thigh.

Yu Jiuling jolted from the sting.

“That’s exactly the spirit,” Li Chi said. “So once we reach Anyang City, tell everyone outside that you’re the head of Shen Medical Hall.”

Yu Jiuling: “……”

Mister Ye was rummaging nearby for something. He paused at that, turned to look at Li Chi, and thought to himself: so you can actually sink even lower.

Yu Jiuling said, “Boss, why not just kill me outright? At least dying by your own people’s hands is a cleaner way to go.”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Li Chi said. “How could you die? You need to stay alive and take hits for us in Anyang City.”

Yu Jiuling: “……”

“I’ll raise your pay,” Li Chi offered.

“It’s not that I don’t want to do it,” Yu Jiuling said. “It’s that everyone already knows you’re the boss—me pretending at this point won’t fool anyone.”

“Fool one, fool none, it’s still worth trying,” Li Chi said.

“I won’t—”

Li Chi sighed. “I’ve heard the pleasure quarter scene in Anyang City is far more prosperous than anything in Jizhou. I was thinking, since you’d be playing the boss, that category of expenses would naturally have to go through the accounts as reimbursable.”

“Pay raises can wait,” Yu Jiuling said. “I pour my heart and soul into serving everyone here—bringing up wages makes it sound like you don’t trust me.”

He patted his chest. “It’s mainly my naturally chivalrous character and my spirit of adventure.”

Li Chi laughed. “Then in Anyang City, you’ll be the grand steward of our Shen Medical Hall.”

“All the front-facing affairs—just leave them to me,” Yu Jiuling said.

Still rummaging, Mister Ye shook his head inwardly. The young people nowadays were truly… a sign of declining times.

“Mister, what are you looking for?” Li Chi asked. “You’ve been at it for a while.”

Mister Ye ignored him and turned to head upstairs. At the foot of the staircase he ran into Lü Qingluan and lowered his voice: “Do you have any burn ointment?”

—

The next morning, the heavy rain had stopped. The merchants from Yuzhou departed at first light, moving fast.

They left nursing deep resentment. The loss was real, but there was nothing to do but swallow it for now.

Still, they surely knew by then that Shen Medical Hall’s people were heading to Anyang—and upon returning, they would certainly be digging pits to drop Li Chi’s group into once they arrived.

Li Chi’s group had purchased more than enough medicinal supplies. The caravan of over a hundred carts set off in full force toward Anyang.

Yu Jiuling sat atop a heap of medicines in one of the carts, swinging his legs as he asked Li Chi: “Boss, we’ve bought all these medicines—are we really just going to hand them over to the Yuzhou army in Anyang?”

He didn’t understand. “Didn’t you say before that these medicines were exactly what the Yuzhou army would need to prepare for attacking our Jizhou?”

Li Chi made a sound of agreement. “That’s right, they’re war supplies—but we’re not giving them away. We’re selling them, naturally.”

“Even selling them to those people doesn’t sit well with me,” Yu Jiuling said. “We’re feeding so many medicines into this just to gather intelligence.”

Li Chi smiled. “There will be arrangements further along.”

“Where further along?” Yu Jiuling asked curiously.

“Where the peach blossoms bloom,” Li Chi said.

As it turned out, such a place existed.

Four days of southward travel brought the caravan to Taoyuan Township.

The season matched the place perfectly.

Inside and outside Taoyuan Township, peach trees grew everywhere. The local people made their living from them.

Nowhere else in all of Jizhou could match Taoyuan Township’s peaches—plump and honey-sweet, fragrant and delicious.

When the peach blossoms opened in the fourth month, that sweeping expanse of soft pink was enough to stir a tender longing in even the most hardened man, let alone any young woman who laid eyes on it.

Just look at Yu Jiuling—eyes fixed on the blossoms, and those eyes full of hearts.

At Yun Yin Mountain, where Shen Rujian and the other wanderers of the jianghu had retired from their travels to live in seclusion, there were also many mountain peach trees. The climate there ran slightly cooler, and the mountain peach trees bloomed a little later. Every year when the mountain peaches came into full flower, Shen Rujian loved to sit at the mountain summit and look down upon that sea of blossoms.

Sometimes she herself felt it strange—in her teens she had never cared for such things, thinking the pink and soft too childish. But now, at her present age, she suddenly found that pink quite beautiful.

Perhaps it was longing for Yun Yin Mountain’s peach blossoms that moved her—because here, even Shen Rujian could not resist strolling through the peach gardens for a look.

If any other woman had put on a plain coarse hemp robe and walked through those gardens, she would have looked like a farmwife. But when she wore such clothes and walked through the peach gardens, she looked like a peach blossom immortal who had come down to tend the trees.

The caravan rested in Taoyuan Township for roughly two days, lingering in the beauty of the place, which put everyone in high spirits.

Even Shen Rujian—particular as she was—found the peach blossom wine here to be well above ordinary.

Two days later, they departed with some reluctance, and the caravan moved on.

—

Ten more days passed.

The previous day, upon returning to Anyang City, Ding Shengji had gone first to see General Meng Kedi and reported the entire encounter.

When Meng Kedi saw that Ding Shengji grew animated at the mere mention of the strangely-named young man, he understood that the youth must have truly made an impression.

Ding Shengji had never yielded to anyone in martial arts—and certainly never in appetite.

On returning, rather than brooding over the failed medicine procurement, he had praised the young man without reservation.

On the spot, Ding Shengji had told Meng Kedi: if this person could be kept in service to the army, he was at the very least on par with himself.

To receive such an assessment from Ding Shengji—this was the first time for anyone.

So when Xue Chunbao, seated nearby, heard this, curiosity rose in him—and with it, competitive pride.

Ding Shengji and Xue Chunbao had refused to yield to each other for years. Even to this day, Ding Shengji had never once said that Xue Chunbao was his equal.

Yet he was singing the praises of some young man he’d met once. Xue Chunbao was naturally unsatisfied.

Precisely because he now knew there was such an outstanding young man—and that Jizhou’s largest medical hall would be bringing a large shipment of medicines—Meng Kedi had not lost his temper.

If he could bring Shen Medical Hall under control, it would be like gaining countless informants on the eve of war.

For the campaign against Jizhou, that was undeniably an advantage.

And even if they chose not to attack Jizhou, a close relationship with Shen Medical Hall would provide constant intelligence on Jizhou’s movements.

—

Anyang Army. Main Camp.

After delivering his report the previous day, Ding Shengji had gone home to rest for the night and arrived at the camp at dawn to drill the troops.

The Anyang Army was府 garrison troops through and through—but somewhat different from others.

That difference could be summed up in two words: bandit edge.

These府 troops of Great Chu, with their fearsome combat power, had taken on an extra layer of ferocity owing to the temperament of their commander.

Their ferocity was not a matter of slack discipline—it was a heavier killing intent.

The Anyang Army soldiers took turns disguising themselves as river pirates, raiding merchants along the Nanping River, cutting down lives without hesitation.

This was also why the Anyang Army was well-funded, and being well-funded meant never being short on equipment.

Drill was in progress when a scout came sprinting back.

The scout pulled up in front of Ding Shengji and dropped to one knee: “General!”

These scouts had been left by Ding Shengji to monitor Shen Medical Hall’s caravan along the route—a perfectly routine arrangement for the man commanding the operation.

“Speak.”

Just those two syllables from Ding Shengji.

“When your subordinate departed, the Shen Medical Hall group had already passed through Taoyuan Township. The brothers behind will continue to shadow them along the route.”

“They spent two days at Taoyuan Township—no unusual movements. The one called Li Duidui, along with his household and attendants, spent both days touring the gardens. He seems particularly fond of peach blossoms.”

Ding Shengji nodded. “Understood.”

Young people, he thought to himself. Always chasing after peach blossoms.

By his own age, who had the leisure for such things.

Then again, that Li Duidui ran such a sizable operation and had money to spare—it was natural that he’d live carefree.

“Dismissed.”

Ding Shengji gave the order and went back to watching the troops drill.

That afternoon, a messenger arrived ordering Ding Shengji to the General’s residence.

General Meng Kedi stood in the courtyard. There was a peach tree in the courtyard too, its branches covered in soft pink.

Ding Shengji entered, spotted Meng Kedi in the yard, and strode forward to bow.

“Any news?”

Meng Kedi asked.

“The scout just reported back,” Ding Shengji said. “Shen Medical Hall’s caravan has passed Taoyuan Township—by the timing, that was ten days ago. Scouts will continue to report in stages, so at most another ten days before they reach Anyang.”

Meng Kedi made a sound of acknowledgment. His tone was measured. “I called you here to tell you something.”

He gave Ding Shengji a look. “Du Qingteng and his group came back and had nothing good to say about you in front of me.”

Ding Shengji let out a contemptuous snort. “A pack of useless men.”

“Xingsheng Trading has given considerable backing to the caravan,” Meng Kedi said, “so I have to keep a few courtesies toward them. If it had been anyone else talking about you in my presence, I’d have already had them dragged out for several dozen strokes of the military rod—beating to death permissible.”

Ding Shengji bowed. “Your subordinate understands.”

“Du Qingteng is only a minor player,” Meng Kedi continued. “No need to bother with him. But his employer still carries that particular connection.”

Du Qingteng was no more than one of Xingsheng Trading’s twelve branch managers—a glorified shop supervisor at best.

Yet the proprietor of Xingsheng Trading was surnamed Cao. The Cao family had always kept a low profile in Yuzhou, yet no one dared to cross them.

Because Prince Wu’s consort was surnamed Cao. The Cao family was the consort’s own clan.

Meng Kedi let out a quiet sigh and looked at Ding Shengji. “If… if the young lord comes to make trouble for you, bear with it.”

The young lord in question was a Cao family scion—the consort’s nephew.

The one presently heading the Cao family was the consort’s younger brother, Cao Tingman, who held a marquis title. He had fathered five daughters in succession and only at forty had this son arrived—Cao Lie.

The young lord couldn’t exactly be called arrogant. In daily life he carried himself no differently from other Cao family members—keeping a low profile.

But he was fiercely protective of his own.

If Du Qingteng and the others went and whispered a few words in Cao Lie’s ear, the young lord might well come to the Anyang Army garrison to demand an accounting.

Just thinking of that young lord gave Ding Shengji a headache.

“I’ve already sent some small gifts to the young lord,” Meng Kedi said. “I hope he’ll show me face and not give you trouble.”

Ding Shengji bowed. “Thank you, General.”

“Just mind yourself.”

Meng Kedi raised a hand and pressed his fingers to his temple. This was truly headache-inducing.

That young lord, several years ago, had set fire to Yuzhou Military Governor Liu Li’s carriage without a second thought.

The military governor himself had had to bear it and coax the boy like a child.

“The rest of it I’m not too worried about.”

Ding Shengji said, “My only concern is that Du Qingteng and his people might say something in the young lord’s ear—and then once the Jizhou Shen Medical Hall’s people arrive, the young lord might…”

Meng Kedi, hearing this, felt the headache worsen.

He waved his hand. “You know what you need to know. Go back and continue drilling. And when… when Shen Medical Hall’s people arrive, tell that Li Duidui—if the young lord really does come looking for him, tell him to bear it.”

—

—