The physicians of the Shen Medical Hall examined Yu Jiuling thoroughly and confirmed that the initial treatment of his injury had been managed well enough. Everyone let out a collective breath.

But after the examination, the attending physician’s expression shifted slightly. He stepped out and glanced at Li Chi.

Li Chi understood that look immediately and followed him outside.

The physician lowered his voice. “After General Yu recovers, he should have no trouble with ordinary daily activity. My concern is whether, in the future, he will be able to exert sudden explosive force — whether he will be able to run and leap as he once did.”

Li Chi said, “You mean he won’t be able to run the way he used to?”

The physician said, “It’s difficult to say with complete certainty. Perhaps… seventy or eighty percent, yes.”

Li Chi let out a slow breath, nodded. “I understand. Thank you.”

The physician bowed and withdrew.

Li Chi stood outside for some time. He steadied his mood before going back in.

Yu Jiuling was lying in bed, joking with Xiahou Zhuo and the others. When Li Chi came back, he looked up with a smile. “What did the physician say?”

Li Chi said, “He said there are two approaches to the medication for the broken bones — one conservative, one more aggressive, so to speak.”

“What’s the difference?” Yu Jiuling asked with interest.

Li Chi said, “The aggressive approach uses stronger medicine. It can ensure your legs recover completely — so that afterward you can run the way you always did, leap around the way you always did, no problem at all. But…”

“But what?” Yu Jiuling asked immediately.

Li Chi said, “I’m talking about your eggs.”

Yu Jiuling froze for a moment, then caught on and asked, with some care, “What happens to the eggs?”

“The medicine is powerful enough that it could damage them,” Li Chi said. “Having children afterward might be difficult. That’s what the physician said — the medicine burns, basically.”

“And the conservative approach?” Yu Jiuling asked.

“With conservative treatment, you’d still make a full recovery in the ordinary sense. You just wouldn’t be able to run like that without limits anymore. You’d be stronger than a normal person, just not as strong as you used to be. But everything else would be unaffected.”

“This…”

Xiahou Zhuo glanced at Li Chi. He didn’t buy a word of it — and his instinct sharpened immediately.

He thought it through. Then he thought about Li Chi following the physician outside just now. And Xiahou Zhuo understood.

He played along: “If you ask me, conservative treatment may take longer to heal and feel slower, but it doesn’t affect… that, right?”

“Then maybe I’ll go with conservative treatment?” Yu Jiuling said.

Li Chi nodded. “The physician and I talked it over. He’s inclined that way too.”

Yu Jiuling looked down at his legs. When he looked down, a brief flicker of grief passed through his eyes and was gone.

“It’s fine…”

He murmured to himself: “Once I’ve healed, I probably won’t need to run like that anymore anyway. By then the realm will be at peace. No more enemies.”

Li Chi said, “Saying it like that puts a lot of pressure on me. A few more months at most.”

Xiahou Zhuo said, “Put pressure on Old Tang. Tell him to push harder.”

Yu Jiuling said, “Xiahou’s right — tell Old Tang to give it everything he has. If he can’t finish the job, he doesn’t need to bother coming back to see me.”

Li Chi said, “You can tell him yourself.”

“I’m not *that* much of an idiot,” Yu Jiuling said. “If I go tell him—”

The room erupted in laughter. At least Yu Jiuling’s spirit was intact — the rest was simply a matter of rest and recovery.

Just then an aide came in from outside to report that Master Yan had something urgent to discuss. Li Chi exchanged a few words with Yu Jiuling and went out.

The others made their excuses and left one by one. The room was left with only Xiahou Zhuo and Yu Jiuling.

“Water?” Xiahou Zhuo asked.

Yu Jiuling shook his head. “No need. You should go rest too — you’ve been worn out for so long.”

“I’m fine wherever,” Xiahou Zhuo said.

He pulled a chair to the side of Yu Jiuling’s bed and sat down, picked up a piece of fruit, and started peeling it.

Yu Jiuling looked at Xiahou Zhuo like this and grinned. “I never knew you had such a soft, fussy side.”

Xiahou Zhuo: “I’ll give you a chance to rephrase that.”

Yu Jiuling said, “I never knew you had such a caring, tender side.”

Xiahou Zhuo said, “With that first version, you insulted me and ‘soft’ both.”

Yu Jiuling burst out laughing.

Xiahou Zhuo peeled the fruit and held it out to Yu Jiuling. “Here. Good boy. Take a bite.”

Yu Jiuling glared at him hard, then took the fruit and bit in, laughing while he chewed.

Xiahou Zhuo said, “What are you laughing at.”

Yu Jiuling said, “The kind of treatment I’m getting — I wonder how many people would envy this.”

Xiahou Zhuo said, “Whoever wants to envy it can envy it. We’re not suffering like this ever again…”

Yu Jiuling slowed his chewing. Then he nodded hard. “Right. Never again.”

Xiahou Zhuo saw the brief shadow of grief pass through Yu Jiuling’s eyes. He was quiet for a moment, then asked, “What are you thinking?”

Yu Jiuling said, “My legs really aren’t going to be what they were, are they? I knew when the boss was talking — I’m not a child. There’s no medicine for setting bones that turns around and burns something else.”

Xiahou Zhuo didn’t know what to say. He looked at Yu Jiuling, and his eyes were full of ache.

Yu Jiuling said, “Don’t tell the boss I figured it out, though. The boss is more upset about it than I am. You all are. But I’m honestly fine with it. Being able to live like a normal person is already good. Think about it — I was nothing special to begin with. This is just going back to being nothing special.”

Xiahou Zhuo bowed his head and made a low sound. It was hard for him.

He thought: you know Li Chi lied to you. But do you think Li Chi doesn’t know you lied right back to him?

Sometimes, lying like that to each other — it somehow felt like a comfort to both of them.

Yu Jiuling said, “It’ll be easier this way, not being able to run fast. No more being so reckless.”

He looked at Xiahou Zhuo. “Though — while you have a chance, could you ask the boss something for me? Does the medicine actually damage… that? I mean the conservative treatment medicine. What if it… coughs… what I mean is, there’s always a chance, right?”

Xiahou Zhuo, who had been sitting there genuinely moved, choked out a sudden laugh. “You never do anything normal, do you.”

Yu Jiuling pulled the blanket aside, craned his head under to look, then came back out. “Looks fine to me. Doesn’t seem like there’s a problem.”

Xiahou Zhuo stared at him. “You can tell just from looking?”

Yu Jiuling said, “I gave it a poke.”

Xiahou Zhuo: “Get out of here!”

After a while, Yu Jiuling said to Xiahou Zhuo, “Do me a favor — send someone back to Jizhou. Have my wife and children brought to Chang’an. I figure I’ll be heading to Chang’an soon myself. I’ll talk to the boss later — I’ll go help out over there.”

Xiahou Zhuo said, “Don’t you dare start thinking like that. You think you can hide? I’ll strap you to my back and make you see this whole conquest through.”

Yu Jiuling was taken aback, then looked down.

Xiahou Zhuo thought he was about to cry, and reached out to pat his back. “Your brothers won’t let you slip away like that.”

Yu Jiuling looked up, looked at the fruit Xiahou Zhuo had picked up again, then looked at his own hand.

“I just realized I can’t remember which hand I was poking with earlier.”

Xiahou Zhuo: “Oh for—!”

He raised his hand and knocked Yu Jiuling on the head.

When Li Chi reached Master Yan, Yan Xiansheng raised his head to peer out from behind a tall stack of documents.

Li Chi looked at the piles on Yan Xiansheng’s desk and suppressed a quiet sigh. There was so much that could be passed to subordinates — and yet Yan Xiansheng always did it himself.

“Master Yan.”

Li Chi called out to him.

Yan Xiansheng rose quickly, first stretching out his body — his back had started to look a little bent, as if under a weight. There was a time when he had been so free — the Master Yan of the Academy, unconventional and self-possessed, free and easy as a wandering swordsman. But now his hair was going grey at the temples, buried every day under mountains of affairs. Perhaps he’d even forgotten what he loved most — growing vegetables.

“I just received word from Lu Chonglou.”

Yan Xiansheng handed a document to Li Chi. “This is a report Lu Chonglou compiled after two months of inspecting the territories. I’ve already read it — all pressing matters, all requiring immediate action.”

Li Chi took the document and read it.

“How is Jiu-ling?” Yan Xiansheng asked.

“The physician says that after he recovers, he probably won’t be as nimble as before.”

Yan Xiansheng startled. His expression clearly changed — the pain of it reflected in his eyes.

“I’m swamped here, but I’ll go see him tonight.”

Yan Xiansheng returned to his seat, and the thick stacks of documents swallowed him from sight once more.

“Master Yan…”

Li Chi was still reading the document as he spoke. “Among the officials transferred here from Jizhou, there are a few young talents — exceptionally capable, but short on experience. I’d like to post a few of them to work beside Master Yan. In their day-to-day work sorting and handling these documents, they can learn from your approach and get up to speed on how things are managed here.”

Yan Xiansheng looked up at Li Chi. A slight smile came to the corner of his mouth. He nodded. “That sounds fine.”

Li Chi set down the report. “Everything in the report can proceed as outlined. But something urgent must have brought you to find me — what else is there?”

Yan Xiansheng raised his head again. He sat up straight, rested his hand on the tallest stack of documents before him, and patted it. “One thousand, one hundred and thirty-two petitions. All requesting that you ascend the throne as Emperor.”

Li Chi smiled slightly. “I have something more important I’d like to discuss with Master Yan first.”

Yan Xiansheng asked at once, “What is it?”

Li Chi said, “The wedding date for Master Yan and Miss Ruoling. If it’s put off much longer, Miss Ruoling is going to have opinions.”

Yan Xiansheng actually flushed.

Li Chi said, “Xu Ji should arrive in about another half-month. Once he’s here, these miscellaneous matters can be handed off to him first. Master Yan, the most important business ought to be attended to first.”

Yan Xiansheng said, “I’m… not really in a rush. You’re not even in a rush yourself — why should I be?”

“Who told you I’m not in a rush?”

Yan Xiansheng, despite himself, let out a laugh.

Li Chi said, “You don’t have three mountains pressing down on your head, Master Yan. Proper business should be dealt with properly.”

“Let me get through this stretch first,” Yan Xiansheng said. “Then we’ll sit down and discuss it properly, pick a good date.”

Li Chi said, “No time like the present.”

“We can’t be that careless about it,” Yan Xiansheng said.

Li Chi took Yan Xiansheng by the arm. “What are you thinking? Of course we can’t be careless about the wedding date — I meant we shouldn’t wait to start *discussing* it. That should happen today.”

And with that he pulled Yan Xiansheng toward the door. Yan Xiansheng kept looking back at the documents on his desk as they went.

“So much still to be done, still to be done…”

“Everything can wait,” Li Chi said. “First we go set the wedding date, then we visit Yu Jiuling. Today, Master Yan, you’re off duty.”

“How can I just take time off — so much still on my desk that hasn’t been handled—”

Li Chi had already pulled him outside and was issuing orders as they went. “Send a carriage to Master Yan’s house. Bring Miss Ruoling to the New Garden.”

The New Garden was the name Gao Xining had given to the Yu family compound.

Li Chi and Yan Xiansheng got into a carriage. Yan Xiansheng looked more and more uncomfortable.

Li Chi said, “Master Yan, stop putting this off. Men have such a short golden window — if you wait much longer, Master Yan will be…”

Yan Xiansheng said, “Don’t talk nonsense…”

He coughed a few times, then turned to look out the window. “I feel… that I am still very much in good condition.”