“…What?”

Everyone present except Fang Tingzhi and Li Wu was left speechless by his utterly unexpected words.

Li Wu’s expression became all the more careless and casual.

He strolled over to the osmanthus tree, leaned his back against the trunk, and let his gaze settle on Fang Tingzhi’s face with a half-smile. “I am a man who is idle by nature and no good at farming.”

“Li Wu, neither of us need to dance around this.” Fang Tingzhi said. “Huang Jinguang worked for the Xiangzhou Prefect. You killed him — which means you struck the Prefect in the face. Considering that Huang Jinguang first committed wrongs himself and could be said to have brought his fate upon himself, if you are willing to redeem yourself and pledge your allegiance to the Xiangzhou Prefect, I will speak on your behalf to the Prefect.”

“The Xiangzhou authorities are really so easy to get into? Kill one of the Prefect’s men and take his place?” Li Wu laughed. “If things were that good, why wouldn’t you spread the word far and wide — your authorities would never be short-handed then.”

Fang Tingzhi answered a question with a question. “…Do you know how many people I asked after entering Yutou County before I found where you lived?”

He paused and looked Li Wu in the eyes. “Twelve people… a full twelve people.”

“…”

“Not one of them gave me a straight answer — either they talked around the point, or they gave me the wrong directions.”

Li Wu listened to Fang Tingzhi’s words with apparent indifference, his hands behind his back slowly running his fingers over the rough bark of the tree trunk.

“From that moment on, I decided — if you were willing to turn over a new leaf, I would spare no effort to persuade the Prefect to bring you in under amnesty.” Fang Tingzhi said.

“My Lord, you are so confident you can sway the Xiangzhou Prefect’s mind?” Li Wu smiled. “What if I go back with you and he wants to cut my head off instead?”

“My name is Fang Tingzhi. I am the Xiangzhou Deputy Prefect.” Fang Tingzhi said. “Though I cannot always sway the Prefect’s mind, protecting one individual is well within my ability. And what’s more, the Prefect understands perfectly well that he needs a capable man to step into Huang Jinguang’s position.”

“There is one thing I don’t quite follow.” Li Wu said.

“Go on.”

“What Huang Jinguang was doing — it wasn’t exactly the kind of thing that could be put on the table in polite company, was it?” Li Wu curved his lips slightly and said slowly, “Is this truly turning over a new leaf and pledging allegiance — or is it asking me to go and be an outlaw?”

One of the constables could not contain his indignation. “Li Wu, don’t push your luck! Deputy Prefect Fang is extending his hand to bring you in — that is doing you an honor!”

“No one but me can do me honor.” Li Wu laughed coldly.

Fang Tingzhi clasped both hands behind his back and said, “Li Wu, you have no other choice.”

Li Wu finally extracted a thin cord that had been wedged into the tree bark behind him.

He yanked it down hard. “Now he does.”

Cries of alarm rang out all at once from around the ring of men surrounding Li Wu. Several large nets sprang up from beneath layers of compacted sand, ensnaring in one sweep all the constables who had been closing in around Li Wu.

Fang Tingzhi, who happened to be standing between two of the nets, escaped by fortunate chance.

“You—” Fang Tingzhi’s expression changed drastically.

Li Wu went around kicking each of the trapped turtles-in-a-jar, confiscating their long blades without preamble, and hurled them toward the fence.

After a clatter of clanging steel, the fence was bristling with a row of blades.

Li Wu dusted off his hands and turned to face the no-longer-composed Fang Tingzhi.

Fang Tingzhi instinctively stepped back.

“I dislike being threatened, but as it happens, your proposition interests me greatly. Deputy Prefect Fang — now that you’ve come all this way, why not step inside for a cup of tea?”

……

Shen Zhuxi had reached Heping County by evening, but she waited and waited without any sign of Li Wu arriving to meet up with them.

“Sister-in-law, are you hungry? Shall we order something to eat first?” Li Que came down from the second floor of the inn.

Shen Zhuxi sat at the square table and shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”

Li Kun, who had been sitting with her in the inn’s main hall waiting for Li Wu, immediately announced, “Third Brother, hungry… hungry…”

Li Que ignored him and sat down across from Shen Zhuxi.

“Sister-in-law, please eat a little something. If you go hungry, Big Brother will hang me upside down when he gets here.”

Li Kun beside them cast a hopeful look.

“…Then let’s eat a little.” Shen Zhuxi said.

She was too worried about Li Wu to have much appetite, and only ordered a bowl of vegetable congee. Li Kun on the other hand recited a long list of dish names, but Li Que did not echo a single one. He turned to the waiter and said: “Three bowls of vegetable congee.”

Li Kun’s face immediately fell.

Li Que said coldly, “If Big Brother cannot return safely, you’ll have no meat to eat for the rest of your life.”

Li Kun, knowing he was in the wrong, said nothing in reply.

When the vegetable congee was brought out, Shen Zhuxi took one look at it and lost what little appetite she had. Wan, faded vegetable leaves were stirred into a pale, washed-out white porridge that not only held not a trace of fragrant congee smell, but even carried a faint odor of raw water.

She steeled herself and ate several spoonfuls, but her stomach genuinely revolted, and she had no choice but to set down her spoon.

Compared to Li Wu’s cooking, to put it plainly, this was fit only for pigs.

Shen Zhuxi was already sick with worry over Li Wu, and now looking at the vegetable congee and thinking of the delicious food Li Wu cooked every day only made her anxiety worse.

She thought she had hidden it fairly well, but the Li Que sitting across from her smiled.

“Sister-in-law, if Big Brother could see you right now, he would feel that everything was worth it.”

“…What do you mean, see what?” Shen Zhuxi asked blankly.

“The way you’re worrying about him.” Li Que said. “Actually… I have always felt that you and Big Brother don’t quite seem like a married couple. The way you two are with each other day to day is more like friends — more like Big Brother’s one-sided attachment. But right now, I believe it.”

“You believe what?”

“That you are not entirely without feeling for Big Brother.”

“I am not…” Shen Zhuxi’s face suddenly flushed red. She could neither deny it nor admit it.

“It would be good if Sister-in-law could recognize her own heart sooner.” Li Que said with a smile. “You two are the ones directly involved, yet you’re the ones who aren’t in a hurry — everyone on the outside watching feels anxious on your behalf.”

Shen Zhuxi was about to reply when Li Kun suddenly leapt to his feet.

“He’s here! He’s here!”

Shen Zhuxi instantly forgot everything Li Que had just said, and rose from the bench along with the others, turning around with urgency to look.

That figure with the unhurried, slightly arrogant stride — who else could it be but Li Wu?

“Big Brother!” Li Que was the last to stand, visibly relieved.

Li Kun fidgeted awkwardly and dared not speak. Li Wu shot him a glance and, with an air of impatience, fished out a feathered shuttlecock and flung it at him.

“Take it! From now on, that shuttlecock is your big brother!”

“You… you are still my Big Brother…” Li Kun said quietly.

“Big Brother… who are they?” Li Que lowered his voice, eyeing the two constables in official uniforms who had walked in behind Li Wu.

“Here to help us move our things. Don’t worry about them.” Li Wu said, entirely at ease, as he sat down at the square table and drained Shen Zhuxi’s teacup in one go. “We’re changing course to Xiangzhou. Our belongings from Yutou County have already been sent ahead.”

“Xiangzhou?” Li Que’s expression grew grave. “But Huang Jinguang was…”

“The Xiangzhou Deputy Prefect said Huang Jinguang was guilty of many crimes, and this time I more or less did the people a service by removing him. He has invited me to fill the vacancy left by Huang Jinguang — food, drink, silver, and a large courtyard all provided.” Li Wu turned to Shen Zhuxi. “Haven’t you been pining for your Sui Niang? Once we get to Xiangzhou and settle in Xiangyang, you’ll be able to see your Sui Niang every day.”

This… Shen Zhuxi’s expression was dubious.

Being able to see Sui Rui every day was naturally wonderful, but she could not shake the feeling that something about this whole affair was odd. As the saying goes, even when beating a dog you should consider its master — Li Wu had moved against Huang Jinguang; could it really be that the Xiangzhou Prefect bore no anger over it whatsoever?

“You don’t want to see your Sui Niang?” Li Wu asked.

“Of course I want to, but…”

“Then it’s decided.” Li Wu settled the matter with one word.

Seeing that he had already made up his mind, Shen Zhuxi swallowed the doubts in her heart.

Li Kun and Li Que had no objections either. Li Kun glanced at the faces of the two brothers and said cautiously, “…Can I eat meat now?”

Li Wu looked with disdain at the three unfinished bowls of vegetable congee on the table and said, “Eat what? Let’s get moving to Xiangyang and eat a proper feast!”

The three were of one mind on this, and with a Shen Zhuxi who simply went wherever the current took her, the four of them got back into the carriage and set off at full speed for Xiangyang.

When the moon had climbed high among the branches, the gates of Xiangyang appeared at the far end of the main road. Shen Zhuxi was just beginning to worry they might not be let in, when the two constables who had been riding alongside them said something to the gate guards, and the gates were soon opened wide. Li Wu’s party entered the city with utter swagger.

Once inside the city, the two constables immediately rode ahead to lead the way, bringing them to a two-courtyard siheyuan residence.

Li Wu was first to jump down from the carriage. This time he did remember Shen Zhuxi was still inside, and turned to help her down. Li Kun on the other side simply jumped straight down, and the carriage lurched sharply.

Shen Zhuxi had grown used to the small courtyard on the outskirts of Yutou Town; catching her first glimpse of the two-courtyard siheyuan before her, she could not quite come back to her senses.

Li Wu had already assumed the bearing of a master of the house, heading inside first with a leisurely, confident stride — the manner of someone who had already lived there for ten years.

Li Que, thoughtful as ever, said, “Sister-in-law, go ahead inside with Big Brother. I’ll stay and watch them unload everything.”

Shen Zhuxi thanked him and hurried to catch up with Li Wu.

Li Wu strolled with his hands behind his back, surveying his newly acquired property from one side to the other like a landowner doing an inspection tour of his estate, and even went so far as to remark, “A bit cramped, a bit run-down… but it’ll do.”

Shen Zhuxi: “?”

Had he forgotten where he slept last night?

When the two of them walked into the back courtyard, Shen Zhuxi was delighted to find that there was a neglected garden — though the flower beds were overgrown with weeds, the rockery and landscaping showed some taste, and if the flower beds were restored, it would be a refined and elegant courtyard.

Li Wu noticed the delight on Shen Zhuxi’s face. He looked at her expression, then looked at the flower bed she was focused on, and made an earnest attempt to share her enthusiasm.

He cleared his throat, waited until Shen Zhuxi’s gaze fell on him, then looked at the flower bed and said, “This spot is good — big and open. Were you thinking of putting in a chicken pen here, or a pig pen?”

Shen Zhuxi stared at him in horror.

“If you ask me, a duck pen would be the best.” Li Wu said. “Ducks are useful through and through — you can eat duck meat, sleep under duck down, and duck droppings can even—”

“I don’t want any kind of pen!” Shen Zhuxi cut him off hastily.

Having him — one great honking duck — quacking away in the house was already more than enough!

“…A duck pen would be nice.” Li Wu looked crestfallen.

Shen Zhuxi: Not nice in the slightest!!

After the four of them had settled into the siheyuan, before long, deliveries of fresh vegetables, fruit, and meat began to arrive. Watching these constables in their official uniforms file one after another into the courtyard carrying things, Shen Zhuxi could not help but be taken aback: Li the Windbag was being treated far too well here. No wonder he had been dead-set on coming to Xiangyang.

Li Wu went personally into the kitchen, and six dishes plus a soup were on the table in no time. After suffering through the ordeal of the vegetable congee, Shen Zhuxi tasted this meal and thought Li Wu’s culinary skills were on a par with the imperial kitchen chefs.

After the meal, which was more of a late supper than an evening meal, Shen Zhuxi was about to help carry the bowls and chopsticks back into the kitchen when Li Que smilingly took over her task and told her to go back to her room to organize her things and get to bed early.

Shen Zhuxi was talked into it and turned to go back to the main room.

Li Que brought the bowls and chopsticks into the kitchen, where Li Wu was washing the pot.

“Big Brother, let me do that.” Li Que said.

“It’s fine — from tomorrow there will be servants assigned to us. Maids, cooks, general help… everything.”

“Spies?” Li Que said at once.

“Let them be.” Li Wu said.

Li Que paused, then asked, “Big Brother, are we really pledging allegiance to the Xiangzhou Prefect?”

“It doesn’t matter whose table you eat from, as long as you eat.” Li Wu curled his lips in a smile. “Besides, having a temporary patron to lean on beats fighting alone. And in the end, it won’t be me who comes out at a loss.”

“With the situation still unclear, going out and being on our own without knowing what to do — getting aboard the Xiangzhou ship for now is not a bad move.” Li Que said. “When I was in Heping County, I heard that this autumn the rainfall has been sparse all across the region. Grain prices have already risen sharply. Big Brother… this is not a good sign.”

“I heard of this in Shangzhou as well.” Li Wu said.

Both men fell silent, and the air around them grew heavy.

After a long pause, Li Wu spoke again. “First thing tomorrow morning, you go back to Yutou Town and recruit fifteen or twenty reliable hands to come help me. I’ll take Li Kun and go gather up Huang Jinguang’s former subordinates.”

“Big Brother, what exactly does the Prefect want you to do?”

“Whatever Huang Jinguang did before, I carry on doing.”

“What was Huang Jinguang doing before?”

“Feeding off whoever was in power.”