Officer Sun Chong looked down at the property deed on the tea table and the deed of transfer stamped with the thumbprints of Apricot Blossom House’s entire staff. His mind was churning too much to settle.

After a long while, he finally raised his head to look at Yu Jiuling across from him. “Master Yu, what… is the meaning of this?”

Yu Jiuling said with a smile: “I’m just guessing — Officer probably won’t be leaving Lingshan County anytime soon?”

This was, in a sense, somewhat impertinent, because it implied: *Officer, a man like you will probably just stay stuck in this little county as a mid-level officer for the rest of your days.*

In truth, people of lower station are often the most particular about appearances — they’re the most eager to seem as though their position is not a humble one.

So that remark left Sun Chong quite displeased. But what Yu Jiuling said next made him feel rather better about himself.

Yu Jiuling said: “These past few days wandering around town, I’ve heard many of the townspeople saying that Officer Sun is the finest official they’ve seen in all their lives — they’re not at all willing to see the Officer go. I thought to myself, Officer works so hard for the people, and if such hard work goes unrewarded, that really isn’t fair. So I bought Apricot Blossom House and intended to give it to the Officer as a gift.”

Before he’d even finished speaking, Sun Chong’s eyes had gone from narrowed slits to wide open, wider and wider, beginning to shine, brighter and brighter.

He reached out his hand toward the property deed and document on the table. But before his hand could get there, Yu Jiuling’s hand was already resting on the deed.

“However…”

Yu Jiuling said with a smile: “I don’t know when I’ll be able to leave Lingshan County and enter service under the Great King, so I’ll keep running Apricot Blossom House on the Officer’s behalf for now. Whenever I leave…”

He looked at Sun Chong. The rest of the sentence needed no elaboration. Sun Chong immediately nodded. “Understood, understood.”

He drew his hand back awkwardly, silently cursing Yu Jiuling ten thousand times in his heart.

The meaning couldn’t be clearer: if you don’t get me a position, Apricot Blossom House stays out of your reach.

Yang Xuanji, the Tianming King, was different from other rebel leaders — he knew how to manage his own reputation.

So wherever the Tianming Army went, not a single common person was to be harmed. Beyond that, benevolent governance was enacted.

If any other rebel force had come to Lingshan County, who would need property deeds? They’d simply take whatever they wanted, and the girls in the house would likely have been abused and killed already.

Precisely because of this, in Shuzhou, Jingzhou, Liangzhou, and all those vast territories, Yang Xuanji had earned a reputation for virtue and benevolence.

The people’s strong sense of belonging to the Tianming King was real. On matters of civil governance, Yang Xuanji had always been strict and would not permit his subordinates to act recklessly.

If heaven had not produced Li Chi, Yang Xuanji would indeed seem like the right man.

And this again illustrated the complexity of Zhuge Jingzhan as a person. The many policies of benevolent governance applied in Yang Xuanji’s territories had largely originated from Zhuge Jingzhan’s counsel. So in these territories, the people’s respect for Zhuge Jingzhan was also considerable.

Yet in Yuzhou, Zhuge Jingzhan had been capable of breaking the levees to flood the land and poison countless lives.

This move was vicious to the extreme. The catastrophe was not merely the immediate flooding — it could easily cause years of famine across Yuzhou afterward, with untold numbers dying of starvation.

It was a scheme of devastating cunning: if Li Chi wished to save the people of Yuzhou, he would have no choice but to exhaust Ji Province’s resources providing grain and supplies to the disaster-stricken population. In doing so, Li Chi would be left with no capacity to expand his army, no capacity to wage further campaigns — a single great flood had single-handedly halted Li Chi’s advance.

Given enough time, if Li Chi could not mobilize massive amounts of food and supplies to replenish Yuzhou, come autumn there would be at least ten million disaster victims without a single meal to eat.

This was entirely unlike Li Chi’s own use of water tactics at Ji Province — that time, the flood was not caused by breaching levees but by building up a reservoir, releasing the water as the enemy troops crossed the river, using the surge to crush the enemy force. The common people of Ji Province outside the city had been brought inside the walls beforehand. Farmland and households were not submerged.

It was also precisely because he had recognized how utterly ruthless Zhuge Jingzhan’s flooding was that Yang Xuanji had understood — Zhuge Jingzhan had to die.

Whether the love for the people was genuine or performed, from the people’s perspective the result was the same benefit.

The common people of Ji Province lived well. The common people of Shuzhou, Liangzhou, and those other territories lived well too.

So from the very beginning of his southward campaign, Li Chi had understood that his greatest enemy was not the Dachu court, not the warlord Li Xionghu with his million-strong force — it was Yang Xuanji, who likewise knew how to treat the people well.

In Apricot Blossom House, Sun Chong drew his hand back awkwardly and looked at Yu Jiuling. “I’ve already sent my personal letter to the main camp by the fastest courier. Word should return soon — we’re only thirty or forty li apart, half a day’s ride at most.”

Yu Jiuling said: “Then I am grateful to the Officer.”

Yu Jiuling rose. The madam of Apricot Blossom House, Auntie Yao, was standing outside waiting. The moment she saw Yu Jiuling emerge, she immediately bowed in greeting.

The patron had suddenly become the proprietor, and Auntie Yao had not quite adjusted.

It couldn’t be helped — the former owner had received a large sum of silver and left immediately, without a shred of reluctance. Said he was tired of it all. In truth he was afraid of the war. When he’d owned property he couldn’t bear to leave; now that he’d exchanged it for silver, why linger?

The Tianming Army’s main camp was only thirty to forty li away, and Prince Ning’s armies were right across the river. War — when it would return, no one could say.

Yu Jiuling said to Auntie Yao: “See that the Officer enjoys himself well.”

Auntie Yao acknowledged this immediately.

Yu Jiuling looked over at Zhen’er, standing not far away, and said with an easy air of authority: “Miss Zhen’er is not to receive any other patrons. I’ve said so.”

Hearing these words, Zhen’er immediately flew over and clasped his arm, coquettishly fussing.

Yu Jiuling said: “I meant what I said — from now on you’re the only one treating this ailment of mine. No one else will do.”

Zhen’er’s beautiful eyes sparkled with light.

Yu Jiuling — what flair.

From somewhat further away, Cao Lie — still playing the part of Yu Jiuling’s attendant — watched this scene and thought of his own past.

He wondered: had he once been this… low-caliber himself?

That afternoon, Gao Qingsheng and Baihua arrived from the Tianming Army’s main camp. Sun Chong, upon receiving word, personally led men to the city gate to receive them.

Baihua was Sun Chong’s superior — a trusted confidant of Xun Youjiu, his status far above Sun Chong’s. And Gao Qingsheng was Zhuge Jingzhan’s man. The two of them arriving together left Sun Chong entirely bewildered.

One hour later, Yu Jiuling was summoned to Lingshan County’s county offices.

Another hour after that, Yu Jiuling had made arrangements for the two esteemed guests to enjoy themselves in Apricot Blossom House.

Half an hour after that, Yu Jiuling had acquired a new identity: appointed procurement clerk for the Tianming Army’s supply depot.

And on top of that, Yu Jiuling had unexpectedly received a further piece of intelligence — Zhuge Jingzhan was in a county near Shield Mountain, some less than a hundred li away, overseeing the collection of supplies and resources.

Deep in the night.

After Cao Lie heard Yu Jiuling recount everything in detail, a new assessment had taken shape.

“Yang Xuanji also wants Zhuge Jingzhan dead…”

Cao Lie paced the room, working through his deductions. What was now known was that the Tianming King Yang Xuanji had been promoting a new figure referred to by all as Master Xun.

No one had mentioned Master Xun’s given name, as though it were something to be wary of — only those three words: Master Xun.

Master Xun’s people were seizing positions left and right. So following the handover of the provisions and ships operation to Zhuge Jingzhan, another position had now been given to Yu Jiuling — all under Master Xun’s arrangement.

The power struggle had broken into the open. Zhuge Jingzhan’s fall from favor was now inevitable. Master Xun had already gained the complete upper hand.

There was also one important piece of intelligence: Zhuge Jingzhan had previously visited Apricot Blossom House, though he had concealed his identity. Auntie Yao and the others had not known who he was.

They only knew that when this man came, everyone around him was utterly deferential and fawning.

It was Gao Qingsheng, drunk, who had let it slip — he had once accompanied Zhuge Jingzhan on a visit there, and the girl who had received them was none other than Zhen’er.

Zhen’er herself naturally hadn’t known who the man was, and had mentioned him to Yu Jiuling, saying the man was a strange one.

This person — upon arriving at the pleasure house — had Zhen’er dance and sing for the first half of the night, and for the second half, had her give him a massage. Throughout the entire visit, he hadn’t touched her once.

He said only that he wanted to relax. He also said Zhen’er had quite good hands for massage and kneading. He needed to unwind — only when relaxed could he think clearly.

“For someone with Zhuge Jingzhan’s level of self-discipline — that is genuinely unexpected.”

Cao Lie said: “He must be under enormous pressure. He goes to a pleasure house only to listen to music and watch dancing, then has a girl give him a massage… “

A man bent on seizing power — ambition was his everything, and so the pressure upon him was also everything.

Drawing together all of these pieces, the outlines of Cao Lie’s plan grew steadily clearer.

“Three days.”

Cao Lie looked at Yu Jiuling and the others.

“We take action within three days — right here in Apricot Blossom House.”

Yu Jiuling and Cen Xiaoxiao looked at Cao Lie, then looked at each other. Cao Lie had yet to lay out the plan, and both of them felt somewhat lost.

One day later. A hundred li away.

Zhuge Jingzhan looked at the procession collecting grain and supplies, his brow deeply furrowed.

Recently a piece of intelligence had reached him — the Tianming King appeared to have elevated Xun Youjiu to prominence, and many of the positions held by his own people had been replaced by Xun Youjiu’s men.

A deeply ominous premonition rose within Zhuge Jingzhan. What he had dreaded had come to pass after all.

After the flooding, he had not been able to sleep either. Not because he felt remorse over the deaths and devastation he had caused — but because he feared his own standing was in jeopardy.

Yang Xuanji was a man who wore the outward face of benevolence and morality. But it was all a facade — one displayed for the common people.

That facade was, nonetheless, vitally important. By winning the people’s hearts, one could truly become ruler of ten thousand subjects.

In Shuzhou and Liangzhou and those other territories, Yang Xuanji’s winning of the people’s hearts had been accomplished through strategies that Zhuge Jingzhan himself had devised. Now it was also because of the people’s hearts that Yang Xuanji was ready to discard Zhuge Jingzhan like a spent piece.

“Master…”

Zhuge Jingzhan’s trusted aide Yin Yong also wore a face full of worry. “Should we return to the main camp?”

Zhuge Jingzhan glanced at him but said nothing.

Just then, one of his men came running urgently, his expression wretched.

“Master.”

The man ran up close, dropped to one knee in a bow, and said: “Trouble in the east of town. Xun Youjiu has actually sent people who came in here full of arrogance, loudly declaring they were taking control of our force and seizing command of the provisions operation. Things escalated into a brawl in the eastern district — those people were outrageously aggressive, they threw the first punch, so our men fought back, and after a beating they ran…”

“They ran?!”

Zhuge Jingzhan’s expression darkened. “How could you people handle this so carelessly — fine, if there was a fight, so be it. They got beaten and ran — do you think Xun Youjiu’s people are afraid to go before our lord and make accusations?!”

These people could die — but they could not be allowed to escape.

“I’ll go in pursuit.”

Yin Yong said: “We absolutely cannot let these people flee back to the main camp and stir up trouble.”

Zhuge Jingzhan’s eyes flickered. A moment later, he nodded. “Muster the force and return to the main camp. I will go personally to see our lord… Also — once you catch those people, leave two or three alive!”

“Understood!”

Yin Yong acknowledged the order and immediately set off with his men in pursuit.

Zhuge Jingzhan drew a long, slow breath and murmured to himself: “Xun Youjiu… you have gone too far.”