Shen Zhuxi was woken partway through her sleep. She stumbled groggily out of the main hall and saw a carriage waiting outside the wide-open fence gate.

“Who has come?” she asked.

“No one’s come — we’re the ones leaving.” Li Wu said. “Bring anything of value with you. Everything else — especially your toilet paper — stays.”

“Leaving? Where to?” Shen Zhuxi was bewildered, feeling as though she had not yet fully woken from her dream.

How else could Li Wu have suddenly said they were leaving?

“Wherever is fine, as long as the four of us are together.” Li Wu said. “Get packed quickly. We depart in two incense sticks’ time.”

Li Wu had stated the time so precisely that, knowing him as she did, Shen Zhuxi understood leaving Yutou Town was already a decided matter set in stone. She did not dare to delay and, still thoroughly confused, pulled several changes of clothing from the wardrobe.

Once the clothes were packed, she stood on her tiptoes to lift down from the top of the wardrobe the dressing case Li Wu had prepared for her.

Shen Zhuxi opened the lid, checked that her hairpins, earrings, and her private savings were all still inside, and then placed the dressing case into her cloth bundle as well.

There were still so many things she wanted to bring — that wardrobe full of brightly colored garments she had not yet worn, the incense ball she had taken half a day to pick out, and the roll of toilet — well, let’s say, bathroom paper — she had used less than half of.

There were too many things she wanted to take.

Without her realizing it, she had accumulated so many things in Yutou Town that were uniquely hers.

What had been an abstract feeling suddenly became vivid and real. Shen Zhuxi’s heart gave a pang, and she nearly shed tears on the spot.

She did not want to leave this place.

No sooner had Shen Zhuxi thought of asking Li Wu whether leaving was truly unavoidable than she stopped herself at the doorway, hesitating.

If even she — who had lived in Yutou Town for only a few months — felt this sorrow, how much more so for Li Wu and the other two, who had lived here for over a decade?

If leaving were not absolutely necessary, how could Li Wu be willing to leave his hometown, and in such haste?

At a time like this, she must not hold Li Wu back any further. Shen Zhuxi rallied her spirits, looked around, and scanned for anything she might have missed.

Ah, right!

She started with sudden recollection, remembering the truly important “valuable item” — if she forgot this, everything would be ruined!

Shen Zhuxi dragged a chair over and, with some effort, retrieved the phoenix seal from the roof beam. She blew the dust from it and pressed it against herself with lingering unease, securing it close to her body.

Just then, Li Wu lifted the bamboo curtain and walked in. The very first thing he saw was Shen Zhuxi standing on the chair.

He stood in place, his expression complicated. “…Are you trying to hang yourself?”

Shen Zhuxi said angrily, “You’re the one who wants to hang yourself!”

And here she had been feeling a pang of sympathy for him just moments ago!

“All packed?” Li Wu said. “Bring everything. We won’t have time to come back for anything left behind.”

Li Wu’s words alarmed Shen Zhuxi enough that she dared not give a quick answer. She looked around again in all directions, racking her brain to think of what else might be forgotten.

After confirming three times that everything was packed, Shen Zhuxi clutched her small cloth bundle and clambered awkwardly up into the carriage.

Li the Windbag, that man — he did not even think to give her a hand! It was Li Que who could not bear to watch and reached out to help, so she could step up and get into the carriage.

The interior of the carriage naturally could not compare to the carriages she had ridden when travelling to the summer resort palace, but three bare wooden planks served as benches, and the only spot with a cotton quilt laid out over it was presumably her dedicated “soft couch.” Shen Zhuxi sat down on the quilt, waited a while, and then Li Wu and Li Kun climbed in one after the other. Li Que was last to board and took the driver’s seat.

“Is everything packed?” Li Que called out.

No one in the carriage spoke. Li Kun and Li Wu both looked at Shen Zhuxi.

Shen Zhuxi’s eyes went wide. “Why are you looking at me?”

“Apart from you, who else in this carriage forgets everything?” Li Wu said.

This was outright bias!

Li Kun rummaged through the things on the carriage, muttering, “Is there anything to eat…”

Li Wu gave him a light kick back onto the bench. “Just on the road and already eating — what are you going to eat for the rest of the trip? Sit still!”

After putting a stop to Li Kun’s restless mouth, the carriage slowly set off.

Shen Zhuxi pushed open the carriage window and asked curiously, “Is the carriage borrowed?”

“Acquired.”

“Acquired? There are carriages just lying around to be acquired?” Shen Zhuxi turned around in astonishment.

“Acquired from Du Yanlong’s house.” Li Wu said.

“You went raiding and pillaging?!”

“Watch how you talk.” Li Wu’s eyes narrowed, and he said in a tone of ill-temper, “He squeezed so much out of me over all this time — am I not allowed to walk away with a few things from his house?”

That… wasn’t that exactly raiding and pillaging?

Shen Zhuxi had no desire to dig deeper. Li the Windbag certainly was not doing this for the first time, and pursuing the matter would only lead her into a quagmire.

She changed the subject. “Did you tell anyone in town we were leaving?”

“What is there to say? Leave them a nice surprise.”

Shen Zhuxi: “…” So Li Wu leaving Yutou Town was supposed to be a pleasant surprise for the rest of the townspeople?

“Who did you want to tell?” Li Wu slanted a glance at her.

“I left without telling Jiu Niang. When she finds out, she’ll be upset with me.” Shen Zhuxi said with a forlorn look.

“Who matters more — Jiu Niang or me?”

“…” What did one have to do with the other!

With Li the Windbag’s clowning around, the sadness Shen Zhuxi felt about leaving gradually faded.

Without her noticing, the carriage had rolled out of Yutou Town. The clear tributary of the Lan River rushed and tumbled along the left side of the carriage, while sheer cliff walls rose on the right, and from time to time flower branches that had grown out from the rock face reached inside the carriage. Shen Zhuxi, taken with the novelty, snapped one off — a branch covered in small yellow flowers — and tucked it casually into the window frame. A faint floral fragrance began to drift through the carriage.

Li Kun slept soundly the entire way. Shen Zhuxi could not fall asleep in the jolting carriage, but with Li Wu there to talk to, she found the time did not drag.

The carriage rounded the cliff face, turned onto the main road, and then the previously drowsy Li Kun suddenly tumbled upright.

“Forgot! Forgot!” Li Kun cried out, his face frantic.

Shen Zhuxi had not yet caught up, but Li Wu understood immediately what he meant. “What did you forget?”

“My shuttlecock! My shuttlecock!”

“Once we settle somewhere, I’ll buy you a new one.”

Li Kun shouted, “No! No! I want my shuttlecock!”

Li Kun’s face was frantic. He climbed down from the bench and tried to squeeze out the door. Li Wu yanked him back and said firmly, “Li Kun!”

Li Kun, who normally listened to Li Wu above all else, this time broke into a most uncharacteristic fit of crying and screaming. He wailed and thrashed, and no matter whether Li Wu threatened him or tried to bribe him, he was dead-set on turning back to get his shuttlecock.

Shen Zhuxi also tried to coax and soothe him, but Li Kun was beyond reach, and iron-willed about having his shuttlecock.

A three-year-old child throwing a tantrum could be forcibly subdued, but a powerful, grown man throwing a tantrum with the mind of a child was entirely beyond anyone’s means.

To say nothing of the fact that this big child kept attempting a “jailbreak” — Li Wu blocked the door to stop him getting out, so he started prying at the window, declaring he would go back no matter what.

“I want my shuttlecock! My shuttlecock!”

“Fine, I’ll go back for it!” Li Wu shouted, his face dark.

“Big Brother, are you really going back?” the driving Li Que called from outside.

“What choice do I have?!” Li Wu glared at the sniffling Li Kun opposite him and said irritably, “Where did you put that precious shuttlecock of yours?”

“In… in your pillow…”

“Why is it in my pillow?!”

“Safe… safe…” Li Kun’s face was a picture of grievance.

“Who in their right mind would steal your shuttlecock — just you wait until I get back, I’ll deal with you then!” Li Wu’s expression was grim.

The carriage slowly came to a stop. Li Que opened the carriage door and asked once more, “Big Brother, are you really going back?”

Just then, a scholar in a blue robe came ambling along on an old horse. Li Wu jumped out of the carriage and yanked him clean off the saddle.

“Hey, hey, hey — what do you think you’re doing?!” the scholar shouted.

“Borrowing this for a moment.” Li Wu swung into the saddle and said to Li Que, “You all go ahead. We’ll meet up in Heping County.”

“Big Brother—”

Li Wu rode off without so much as a backward glance.

“My horse!” the scholar smacked his own thighs at Li Wu’s retreating figure and bellowed, “Someone help! Robber! Robber!”

“Horse money.” Li Que fished a small piece of silver from his breast pocket and tossed it to him. “Keep making noise, and I’ll show you what a real robber looks like.”

The scholar said angrily, “You—”

“A real robber,” Li Que said, his voice cold, “leaves no one alive.”

Li Que swept one cold glance his way. The scholar shuddered and hunched his shoulders into silence.

“Hyah!” Li Que, his face composed, drove the carriage forward.

Shen Zhuxi, uneasy about Li Wu, could not help asking, “Are we really going on ahead?”

After a long pause, Li Que’s reply came from the front:

“…We follow what Big Brother said.”

……

Li Wu flogged the old horse for all it was worth, until the poor creature was gasping and blowing hard the moment it finally stopped before the fence gate.

He dismounted and strode into the main hall.

The furnishings inside were exactly as they had left them, with no sign that anyone had paid a visit. Li Wu went straight through to the inner room, felt around under both pillows on the bed, and sure enough found something inside his own.

He reached in and pulled out a shuttlecock made of colorful rooster feathers — looking no different from any of the five-copper-coin shuttlecocks sold by street vendors.

Li Wu clenched his teeth and suppressed the urge to pummel Li Kun’s empty skull.

He stuffed the shuttlecock into his breast pocket, turned around, and walked out of the main hall. Li Wu stepped through the fence gate and was just about to lock it when a clamor of hurried footsteps sounded behind him.

His expression hardened. Without even looking back, he kicked the fence gate open and charged back inside.

“Cut him off!” An unfamiliar voice with a Xiangzhou accent called out from behind.

Li Wu had just moved to dart down the narrow path along the side of the house that led to the back courtyard, when six men in constable uniforms emerged from the back courtyard. Every one of them had drawn the long blade at his waist and was watching him with full alertness.

Li Wu’s gaze slid toward the chopping blade by the kitchen door.

“Li Wu, I advise you not to waste your effort.”

A steady voice came from behind him. Li Wu turned around and looked at the man walking in through the gate.

Li Wu’s gaze swept briefly over the insignia badge on the man’s chest and said with a sardonic edge, “What virtue and ability do I, a mere country bumpkin, possess, to deserve the personal visit of a sub-sixth-rank official?”

“Li Wu! Show some respect for our Lord!” one of the constables barked.

Li Wu said, “Your master hasn’t even spoken, so what are you barking about.”

“You—” The constable’s face flushed crimson. He gripped his long blade and stepped forward.

“No one is to make a move!” Fang Tingzhi said in a low, firm voice.

The restless constables all stopped where they were.

Li Wu smiled. “This official before me looks like a civil official. Civil officials prefer to assign things to others — why come personally?”

“Li Wu, stop stalling. I am not here to make small talk.” Fang Tingzhi said.

“My Lord, I don’t even know who you are. If you’re not here for a social call, then what are you here for?”

“I ask you—” Fang Tingzhi fixed his eyes on him without blinking, “Are you willing to come serve under the Xiangzhou Prefect?”