Sun Chong looked at Yu Jiuling. Yu Jiuling looked back with a face full of fawning smiles. Had there not been twenty gold beads laid out on the table, Sun Chong might have turned and left on the spot, because Yu Jiuling’s smile made him feel this man was a bit of a fool.

Sun Chong was only an officer of mid-level rank. Before coming to Lingshan County, he hadn’t even been that.

He owed his position to the conflict between Xun Youjiu and Zhuge Jingzhan. Yang Xuanji had already decided to cut Zhuge Jingzhan loose, and naturally could not let Zhuge Jingzhan’s people continue holding important positions.

These machinations — Yang Xuanji had mastered them by the age of ten. His father had taught him exactly this way.

Give Zhuge Jingzhan a weighty responsibility — put him in charge of supervising the procurement of provisions and ships, tell him it was entirely in his hands, and in reality it was a way to push him aside.

Then arrange trusted men to replace Zhuge Jingzhan’s people while he was gone. By the time Zhuge Jingzhan returned, he would find his subordinates had all been swapped out.

The post here in Lingshan County was one of those positions being replaced. Unimportant — a small county town at the foot of a mountain. So it fell to an unimportant person like Sun Chong.

So when Sun Chong, newly arrived in Lingshan County, faced the temptation of twenty gold beads, he truly found it difficult to hold back.

He had previously been nothing more than a squad leader — not a position with any perks to speak of.

“Officer.”

Yu Jiuling said with an ingratiating smile: “If you could help recommend me to the Tianming King, there will be further generous thanks once the matter is settled.”

Sun Chong nodded. “It’s not a difficult matter, but it depends on what skills you have. Our lord welcomes talented people of all kinds. As long as your abilities are exceptional enough, I need only inform our lord and you could serve at his side.”

As he spoke, his eyes drifted — intentionally or not — back to those twenty gold beads.

“Skills…”

Yu Jiuling thought for a moment, then lowered his voice. “This humble one is just a merchant. As for skills — writing and arithmetic should be manageable.”

Sun Chong frowned. Writing and arithmetic — did the Tianming King’s forces lack for people who could do that?

Pull anyone out at random and they’d be more learned than this fellow.

So Sun Chong thought it would be easiest to just string this man along — take his twenty gold beads, then tell him in a few days that the Tianming King wasn’t currently accepting new followers and he’d have to wait.

Before long the army would be crossing the river to campaign northward, and by then who would have any attention to spare for such an inconsequential person?

So Sun Chong smiled. “That’ll do. I’ll send a message to the main camp tomorrow. You just wait here patiently for word.”

Having said this, he extended his hand toward the box of gold beads.

With a snap, Yu Jiuling’s hand closed around Sun Chong’s wrist.

Sun Chong’s expression changed. The look he turned on Yu Jiuling was one of barely concealed anger.

But Yu Jiuling just smiled. “Officer’s generosity — I fear this offering is rather too modest.”

Sun Chong frowned. “What do you mean?”

Yu Jiuling gestured toward the door. Cao Lie, dressed as a servant, entered from outside, carrying a wooden box in both hands.

He opened the wooden box in front of Sun Chong. Inside was a single Eastern Pearl, slightly larger than a chicken egg.

The moment the box was opened, a radiant sheen seemed to flow from within.

Sun Chong’s eyes went wide. A pearl this large and this perfectly formed — on the open market it would fetch five thousand taels of silver without question. Combined with the twenty gold beads, this was close to ten thousand taels’ worth of gifts.

Yu Jiuling said with a smile: “Officer, this humble one has one more small request. If the Officer can see it fulfilled, this generous gift will be presented again in full once the matter is concluded.”

Sun Chong swallowed, looked at Yu Jiuling, and asked: “What do you want?”

Yu Jiuling said: “To become a follower in the Tianming King’s household — it’s too hard to make a name for oneself there. I’ve heard the Tianming King has five thousand followers, and the vast majority of them do nothing but idle their days away. I’d still rather accomplish something in the military — advancement is what I want.”

Sun Chong thought to himself: I’ve scraped my way to barely a mid-rank officer — you think I can actually speak before the Tianming King?

But then he heard Yu Jiuling continue: “I’ve also heard that Master Zhuge in Xin’ling City holds a position of great trust under the Tianming King. To be honest, I’m from Xin’ling City myself — the trouble is I don’t know Master Zhuge personally. If the Officer could arrange an introduction to Master Zhuge, even if I only start as a minor clerical official, I would be deeply grateful to the Officer for a lifetime.”

Sun Chong felt a jolt inside.

He was one of Xun Youjiu’s people. And the man before him — willing to spend a fortune to buy his way into the Tianming Army — wanted to attach himself to Zhuge Jingzhan.

Yu Jiuling made to continue speaking, but Cao Lie had already spotted the flicker in Sun Chong’s eyes.

Cao Lie tapped the back of Yu Jiuling’s heel with his foot. Yu Jiuling caught on immediately, rose, and cupped his hands. “This humble one has been too presumptuous and doesn’t know his place — talking nonsense before the Officer. Please do not take offense.”

Sun Chong said: “No matter — I will do what I can for what you’ve asked of me.”

Yu Jiuling offered several more words of thanks, then took his leave.

On the way back, Yu Jiuling asked Cao Lie: “What did you notice was off?”

Cao Lie gave a sound of affirmation. “When you mentioned the name Master Zhuge, that man’s eyes flickered — wariness, and a flash of sudden hostility.”

Yu Jiuling said: “Did I say the wrong thing?”

He hadn’t actually noticed anything unusual in Sun Chong’s manner himself. This was precisely why he held such deep admiration for people like Li Chi and Cao Lie.

Because their leader was the same way — one glance at someone and he could guess what they were thinking.

Cao Lie said: “Most likely he’s not one of Zhuge Jingzhan’s people. Yang Xuanji’s forces are a tangle of factions — Zhuge Jingzhan holds a preeminent position, but that doesn’t mean he has no rivals.”

Yu Jiuling asked: “Why is it that you and our leader can read so much from someone’s eyes?”

Cao Lie thought for a moment, then replied with a smile: “Probably from seeing too much.”

He paused, then continued: “Growing up in my family’s household in Yuzhou, the people I saw most were the hypocritical kind, and the expressions I saw most were hypocritical ones. Everyone who came to our home, everyone who dealt with the Cao family — each of them had their own agenda. As for Prince Ning…”

Cao Lie looked at Yu Jiuling. “Prince Ning walked the Jianghu roads for more than ten years starting from his teens — he has seen more of human nature than almost anyone else in this world.”

Yu Jiuling asked: “You were just too polite to say outright that our leader used to be a little swindler, weren’t you?”

Cao Lie: “…”

Yu Jiuling said: “It’s fine — no need to hold back on my account, even in private. Try it.”

Cao Lie thought to himself: no wonder Li Chi said most of the people around him were rebels…

Yu Jiuling asked him: “So what do we do now?”

Cao Lie said: “Wait a few days. If he sends no news, it likely means he had no intention of helping you — he just wanted to pocket your gold, silver, and jewels.”

Yu Jiuling said: “Meaning pocket yours, to be precise.”

Cao Lie shot Yu Jiuling a glance.

Two days later.

Xun Youjiu was in the main camp attending to official business when one of his subordinates entered from outside and presented a sealed letter with both hands.

“Master, this is a confidential report sent by Sun Chong, the officer stationed in Lingshan County. He says it is urgent and asks you to review it at your earliest convenience.”

Xun Youjiu took the letter, waved his hand, and the subordinate bowed and withdrew.

After reading the letter, Xun Youjiu turned it over carefully in his mind. It didn’t seem like much of anything — Sun Chong was clearly making a mountain out of a molehill.

Someone like Zhuge Jingzhan — given his position under Yang Xuanji — had no shortage of people back in his hometown trying to attach themselves to him through connections.

Never mind Zhuge Jingzhan. Even a random general in the Tianming Army — which one of them hadn’t arranged for people from back home to be placed near them?

This was entirely normal. He’d seen it far too many times.

But one sentence in Sun Chong’s letter gave Xun Youjiu pause — the words were: *this person is extraordinarily wealthy and spends lavishly.*

“Interesting.”

Xun Youjiu rose and gestured toward the door. “Baihua.”

A young man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties stepped briskly inside from outside, bowed low, and said: “What are your instructions, Master?”

Xun Youjiu said: “I told you to get close to Zhuge Jingzhan’s subordinates — have you made any progress?”

Baihua said: “To report to the Master — this subordinate has been spending more and more time with Gao Qingsheng, one of the close attendants at Zhuge Jingzhan’s side. The man is greedy and lecherous — quite easy to cultivate.”

Xun Youjiu thought back over Gao Qingsheng’s position and recalled that the man had been placed by Zhuge Jingzhan in the supply depot — a post with some real authority.

“I have a task for you.”

Xun Youjiu said: “Some fellow townsmen of Zhuge Jingzhan have arrived in Lingshan County, intending to attach themselves to him — but they’ve approached the wrong person and ended up seeing Sun Chong. Sun Chong used to answer to me, so he sent me a report. I want you to introduce these people to Gao Qingsheng.”

Baihua said: “Master, please be more explicit — I’m afraid I’ll bungle the task.”

Xun Youjiu said: “Think it through. A sail has wind at its back — if one hole tears in the sail, the sail is still usable. No one throws away a sail over a single hole. To get that sail replaced, you need more holes to appear. More and more of them.”

Baihua considered this carefully, and understood.

“Let Gao Qingsheng bring these people in, then make sure our lord hears of it — that Zhuge Jingzhan’s people are selling positions for bribes… The supply depot is somewhere we’ve never had a proper opening to reach into. Now the opportunity has arrived.”

Xun Youjiu smiled and said: “Not entirely foolish. Now that you’ve worked it out, go do it.”

Baihua bowed low and turned to leave, then stopped and looked back: “Those fellow townsmen of Zhuge Jingzhan’s…”

Xun Youjiu said carelessly: “A sail was gnawed through by mice — so the sail is discarded. The whole sail is being thrown away. Why would we keep the mice around to gnaw at other sails?”

Baihua nodded. “This subordinate understands… If these people were to meet with an accident during the investigation, our lord would likely wonder whether Zhuge Jingzhan silenced them to protect himself?”

Xun Youjiu smiled. “Go tend to your business.”

Baihua left the tent, then heard Xun Youjiu call him back. He turned and re-entered immediately.

Xun Youjiu said: “Have Gao Qingsheng go to Lingshan County to meet these people. Business must not be conducted inside the camp — our lord is in the camp…”

Baihua bowed. “Understood.”

If this were done inside the camp, who knew which of them might be eyes planted by Yang Xuanji? If Yang Xuanji found out they were framing Zhuge Jingzhan, that would be a case of the chicken-catcher losing the chicken and the bait both.

Half an hour later. The supply depot.

Baihua raised his cup and toasted Gao Qingsheng. Gao Qingsheng laughed. “You showing up out of nowhere today — you must have something you want to say, right?”

Baihua smiled: “I came to do you a favor. Some fellow townsmen of Master Zhuge have arrived — but they approached the wrong person, went to Lingshan County, and ended up seeing Sun Chong. Sun Chong used to be under my supervision, so he came to inform me. I came here specifically to pass the news along to you. When this goes smoothly, don’t forget to stand me a drink.”

Gao Qingsheng laughed heartily: “Even without this, would I ever let you go thirsty? I’ll have people arranged right away to bring Master Zhuge’s fellow townsmen to the main camp.”

Baihua said: “I don’t think that’s wise. If our lord finds out, it won’t reflect well on Master Zhuge. Better if you go to Lingshan County yourself — if those people are genuinely useful, arrange them in the procurement teams. That’s far better than bringing them directly back to camp.”

Gao Qingsheng came to his senses, threw an arm around Baihua’s shoulder, and said: “Brother, you think things through so carefully — thank you, thank you.”

Baihua said: “You and I help each other — there will be many more times we’ll need each other’s support. No need for thanks. When I need your help in the future, don’t refuse me.”

Gao Qingsheng roared with laughter: “How could I possibly refuse? You and I are brothers.”

The two of them laughed together — quite the pair of good brothers, by all appearances.

Lingshan County.

Yu Jiuling looked at Cao Lie. “It’s almost three days. Nearly three days and not a word.”

Cao Lie: “Wait a little longer.”

Yu Jiuling said: “I can’t wait.”

Cao Lie: “Why not?”

Yu Jiuling said: “I haven’t been to Apricot Blossom House in three days.”

Cao Lie: “…”

Yu Jiuling continued: “Three days without going — how does that look for someone who’s supposed to be a wealthy fool with a healthy constitution?”

Cao Lie chuckled. “You can go today.”

Yu Jiuling extended his hand. “Money.”

Cao Lie turned to Cen Xiaoxiao. “Give him the thing.”

Cen Xiaoxiao handed Yu Jiuling a small wooden box. Yu Jiuling opened it as he asked: “What is this? Medicine?”

Cao Lie: “…”

Cen Xiaoxiao said: “While you were meeting with Sun Chong, I also went to Apricot Blossom House.”

Yu Jiuling looked at what was in the box and his expression shifted.

“You people… is this how the wealthy do things? So heavy-handed?”

He looked at Cao Lie in disbelief. “You just bought out Apricot Blossom House outright — for a one-time use?”

Cao Lie got up and walked away. “Have fun with it first.”

—