Spring in Jizhou City was the most comfortable time of year. The wind was refreshing, carrying none of summer’s sticky sweat nor winter’s bone-piercing chill. It could blow away the body’s fatigue and sweep away the mind’s irritations.

Walking down the streets of Jizhou, Li Chi felt settled and at ease at the sight of every person he encountered. The people’s lives were prosperous, which meant more smiles on their faces — and smiles were healing.

Smiles healed oneself, and they healed others.

Li Chi liked to watch people smile. Gao Xining had once asked him what he considered the most prideful thing in this world.

Li Chi had said: there are three things that could fill me with such pride I’d have no regard for anything — raising my Master, marrying you, and a nation at peace with its people thriving.

Li Chi had said: if a person — especially a man — could make everyone around him smile so wide they couldn’t close their mouths, what an incredible thing that would be. And if a man could make every person in the whole realm smile like that… if I were that man, I’d strut around sideways all day and still feel I wasn’t arrogant enough.

The people of Jizhou were among the very first to have tasted this kind of joy. Life had its sweetness and its bitterness, with small worries over trivial things — but the people of Jizhou no longer lay awake at night worrying about whether there would be food to eat.

Even an ordinary household, if they were a little free with their spending in a given month, would not find themselves in any real difficulty.

Li Chi had also said: to raise his Master fat and healthy was one of his life’s wishes; to raise every person in the realm hale and strong was his life’s pursuit.

Now, walking through the streets of Jizhou City, Li Chi was tasting exactly this pleasure — watching the brag he’d made come true, little by little.

An extraordinary kind of happiness.

In Daxing City at this moment, ordinary people might not eat meat even once a month — never mind once a month; some went three, five months, even half a year or more without a taste of it. Here in Jizhou City, a steamer of meat dumplings was priced low enough that any household could afford it without a second thought.

“I’ve laid a pretty remarkable foundation,” Li Chi said as they walked, speaking to Gao Xining. “You’ll have to put in the effort on your end — the children we have will need to be exceptional enough to be worthy of such a remarkable father.”

Gao Xining: “Don’t worry, I’ll put in the effort. If the children we have together aren’t exceptional enough, then to fulfill your instructions, I’ll try with someone else — try a few people, and I’m sure the children will all turn out worthy of you.”

Li Chi: “I… “

Gao Xining: “You won’t do — this matter is really something only I can handle.”

Li Chi: “I’ll work hard, I’ll work hard. From now on it’s always me who works hard.”

Gao Xining: “How can that be — why are we still being so distant with each other? I’ll make sure that all my future children are exceptional. Don’t worry.”

Li Chi: “I can’t stop worrying…”

Gao Xining: “Look at you — you want exceptional children, but you don’t want me to find a way to guarantee they’re exceptional. You’re being unreasonable.”

Li Chi: “The two of us having them together is fine, whatever we have is fine.”

Gao Xining: “The two of us can only produce what we produce — what do you mean, whatever is fine?”

Li Chi: “…”

He looked at Gao Xining. “I was wrong…”

Gao Xining: “Where were you wrong?”

Li Chi: “Never mind where — I was wrong about all of it.”

Gao Xining: “What kind of attitude is that?”

Li Chi: “I…”

Gao Xining burst out laughing. “I just saw a woman walking by earlier teaching that man of hers exactly like this. I thought that poor fellow really was pitiful — didn’t know what he’d done wrong, but still had to admit to it.”

Li Chi asked, “Is it fun to do that?”

Gao Xining: “I just tried it. It’s not fun.”

Li Chi: “Since it’s not fun, can we play this game less often?”

Gao Xining gave a sound of agreement. “Actually, when I saw that couple just now, I was thinking — why does one person always have to seem dominant? Especially in public, the more people watching, the more they need to look dominant. Putting on a show for strangers while making the person closest to them feel wretched inside — what’s the point?”

Li Chi shook his head. He didn’t know what the point was either.

“Some men are like this, some women are like this,” Gao Xining continued. “The more people watching, the more they want to humiliate their own family. Is it to make strangers say, ‘Oh, how fierce that person is’?”

She asked Li Chi, “It’s really because they don’t care enough, isn’t it. The one who swallows their feelings does care enough — but it’s no use, and they end up seeming pathetic for it. Is there anything that can be done?”

Li Chi said, “Honestly, no.”

Gao Xining said, “If I ever throw a clod of dirt at you in public again, you should just beat me in front of everyone.”

Li Chi said, “You want those three old men to string me up and beat me?”

Gao Xining put her hands on her hips and laughed. “Ha! Foiled again!”

Li Chi knocked her on the head. “If you hadn’t obviously been trying not to laugh, I’d have almost been moved to tears by your sudden meekness.”

“Speaking of those three old men,” Gao Xining said, “maybe we really should put the plan into action. I’ll pick up my main profession again.”

Li Chi: “Don’t — it’d be better to send someone else to handle it. If you personally take charge, this world will have three more men who swear off marriage for life. They’re still young. Don’t go blocking their futures before they have a chance.”

Gao Xining: “But if I don’t target my own family… who else can I target… ha ha ha ha ha.”

Li Chi looked at her foolish expression and let out a heavy sigh.

Gao Xining was still laughing away over there.

“Ha ha ha ha ha… *hic*… Ugh, I’m hungry. Let’s find somewhere to eat.”

“That was a full stomach belch!”

“That was a hungry belch.”

“…”

“What could I eat that would make you give up the idea of finding those three old men a wife?”

“That’s not asking much of me at all — a decision this simple needs food as a factor? Give me anything to eat and I’ll give it up. Ha ha ha ha… *hic*.”

They found a restaurant that looked quite good, one specializing in Shuzhou cuisine. Gao Xining loved that kind of sweet-and-sour flavor. When they came out full and satisfied, she looked down at her slightly rounded belly and patted it. “Does this look like something?”

Li Chi immediately covered her mouth with his hand.

Gao Xining blinked her wide eyes, looking as though a plan had suddenly occurred to her.

Li Chi released his hand and looked at her seriously. “You’d better speak like a normal person.”

Gao Xining: “Take me somewhere else to eat, and I’ll get my belly even bigger. Then we’ll go back and frighten those three old men — say that I’m expecting, that we’ve already cooked the rice, so they should go ahead and hold the wedding.”

Li Chi: “…”

He asked, “Do you think you could actually fool those three old men?”

Gao Xining: “Honestly, I wasn’t planning to fool those three old men. I was planning to trick you into taking me somewhere else for more good food. Ha ha ha ha… *hic*…”

She blinked her wide eyes. “If I tell you this is another hungry belch, will you still believe me?”

Li Chi turned and walked away.

Gao Xining raised her hand, with an expression of utter tragedy, and called out, “My dear husband, please don’t leave me, my dear husband!”

Every passerby turned to look.

Li Chi fled, hiding his face.

Gao Xining chased after him with the tiny shuffling steps they used on stage: “My dear husband, how can you be so heartless, leaving me and the… what’s in my belly…”

Li Chi turned back and clamped his hand over Gao Xining’s mouth again.

Through the gap between his fingers, the last word still squeezed out: “…gas…”

A while later, Gao Xining saw Li Chi bending down to fix his shoe, so she ran straight toward him and vaulted over him like a pommel horse.

Li Chi happened to be standing up at that moment, and Gao Xining ended up sitting right on his shoulders.

Li Chi straightened to his full height. Gao Xining said, “It’s so… high up here.”

Then she hit her forehead on a tree branch.

—

The courier and transport inn.

After Li Chi and the others had left Jizhou, the courier inn had continued to operate, staffed mostly by the old companions from the former Yanshan Camp. Weary of fighting and killing, they had grown accustomed to life in Jizhou City, and had built the courier inn into a thriving business.

When Li Chi and Gao Xining returned, those three old men were naturally at the courier inn, listening to a group of workers share funny stories from their trade runs, erupting into laughter every now and then.

When everyone stood as Li Chi and Gao Xining arrived, Li Chi smiled and said, “Sit, sit — are all of you looking after children here?”

The workers didn’t quite follow, but Changmei Daoren pulled off his shoe and flung it at Li Chi.

Li Chi dodged to the side, but Gao Xining, standing right behind him, caught his arm in a grappling move and pinned him in place. The shoe struck Li Chi square in the chest.

Li Chi: “Traitor.”

Gao Xining: “You think I just charmed my way into our Master’s heart and made myself the one true candidate for his disciple’s wife? It’s all because I’m willing to sell you out.”

Li Chi: “…”

The courier inn’s business wasn’t entirely just business. The workers might no longer go to the battlefield to fight, but they were all members of the intelligence garrison force. Traveling widely, they could pick up a vast amount of information.

Now that the Tingwei Office had become an official, above-board government bureau, many things were inconvenient for it to investigate — the moment anyone from the Tingwei Office appeared, they would immediately be watched.

The intelligence garrison force was different. The vast majority lived as ordinary people, and no one knew they carried important responsibilities. Local officials who failed at their duties, took bribes, or engaged in graver corruption and abuses of power — the intelligence garrison could uncover this far more easily than the Tingwei Office could.

In the back courtyard of the courier inn, a cooking stove was set up. Li Chi and Gao Xining prepared to cook a meal for everyone.

The moment Gao Xining rolled up her sleeves, all three old men’s faces changed.

“Go play for a while,” Changmei Daoren said with complete sincerity. “Cooking is rough work — let Diudiu and the others handle it. You go play.”

Director Gao: “Yes, yes, yes. I have a bit of loose silver here, it’s all yours. Take it and go buy some sweets.”

Gao Xining: “I’m the one who sells sweets.”

Director Gao: “Then… go buy some salt to eat.”

Gao Xining: “Is it really so difficult, as your junior, to make you all a meal to express some filial devotion?”

Director Gao: “You stay as far away as possible from here — that is the greatest devotion…”

Changmei Daoren: “The farther away, the more devoted.”

Cooking in a big pot really did produce a wonderful aroma, and as long as Gao Xining didn’t get involved, things should in principle go fine.

But just then, Xiahou Zuo and the others arrived too. The moment Xiahou Yili stepped into the back courtyard and spotted the stove, her eyes lit up like an alchemist seeing a furnace — as if she were about to take flight: “What are we stewing in the iron pot?”

Xiahou Zuo grabbed the about-to-take-flight Xiahou Yili. He said seriously, “If you dare cause trouble, I’ll stew you.”

Xiahou Yili: “Hmph…”

Then she spotted Gao Xining, and the girl bounced over to her with little hops.

Xiahou Zuo glanced between Gao Xining and his own sister, thinking that Li Chi was probably in for a difficult life.

Other men, worn out from their time away, would come home dreaming of a warm, simple home-cooked meal.

Li Chi, half-dazed with exhaustion, would come home thinking there was a meal waiting — and might as well be dead if there wasn’t…

—