“Then where is Li Wu?!”

The moment she heard from Er’hu of Pingshan Stronghold what had happened in Xuzhou, Shen Zhuxi blurted the question out.

“He took that much money — if I were him, I’d be living it up at the Yihong House right now.” Er’hu spread his hands.

Li Que said coldly, “If you were him, you wouldn’t have made it out of Xuzhou before being cut down by the people hunting you.”

“He does have some ability.” Er’hu acknowledged Li Que’s words with a nod, then shifted his approach. “But that has nothing to do with us. No matter how capable he is, he’s not here right now.”

“What is it you want?” Li Que asked.

“To bring you back to Pingshan Stronghold.” Er’hu said. “To let our father see what his three children have accomplished since coming down the mountain. You may rest assured — for the time being, we have no intention of doing anything to you. As long as you behave yourselves.”

A lackey came in from outside the relay station and called out, “Young Master Da, Young Master Er, Young Master San——” He addressed all three in a single breath before continuing, “The horses and carriage are ready.”

“Excellent——” Da Hu set down his chopsticks, let out two booming laughs, and said, “Bring the guests along — we’re going home!”

Under the aim of more crossbow bolts than they could count, Shen Zhuxi and the others were forced onto a carriage that had been prepared for them. The bandits had no concept of hospitality — before anyone was settled, the carriage lurched forward at full speed.

Shen Zhuxi nearly pitched over inside the carriage and steadied herself on a bench only after Li Que caught her.

She gently pushed the carriage door partway open. Four riders appeared in view — mounted, bowed, and wearing the expressions of fiends.

“……”

She quietly closed the carriage door again.

After roughly the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the carriage turned onto a winding uphill road. Shen Zhuxi was jolted until she felt like vomiting, but her first instinct was to turn to Li Que beside her.

“Are you all right? Would another cushion help?”

“I’m fine, sister-in-law.” Li Que said.

Shen Zhuxi still tucked the soft cushion from behind her own back under Li Que.

“You’re injured — if it jostles the wound, that won’t do.”

“Thank you, sister-in-law.” Li Que lifted the corner of his mouth and smiled.

Outside the window, the beat of hoofbeats was unceasing, and voices drifted in alongside it.

“Little Sibling, is your wound all right? Wouldn’t you like to ride in the carriage for a bit?” Er’hu said, with an underhanded air.

“Second Brother would do better to watch the road ahead — wouldn’t want to fall off your horse and die.” Xiao Hu said.

“And if it weren’t for a certain someone tripping me, would I fall off my horse at all?”

“Unlucky people choke even on cold water. How long Second Brother survives depends entirely on how long his good fortune holds.”

“We’re almost at the stronghold — both of you, keep your mouths shut. Don’t let Father hear any talk of dying——” Da Hu said.

Er’hu said cheerfully, “It’s just the few of us here. As long as Elder Brother doesn’t sneak behind our backs and tell tales the way he did last time, who would ever know what we said down the mountain?”

“Second Brother wrongs me terribly — that last time was unavoidable. As a son, how could I lie to Father? Besides——” Da Hu said. “There are more people here than just us.”

“True. Though the only one who gained the most from the telling was Elder Brother, and any indirect benefits could only have come through him — still, there really are more people here than just us.”

“Xiao Hu, that’s a bit much to say……”

The three of them outside traded veiled barbs with the ease of long practice. Without Shen Zhuxi noticing, the jolting of the carriage gradually slowed, and after a stretch of even road, a long “whoa” rang out, and the carriage eased to a stop.

“Everyone out.”

The carriage door was opened from outside. Da Hu, who had been riding ahead, swung down from his horse.

Before them stood the gateway of a typical mountain stronghold.

Figures patrolled the watchtower above. Cold arrow-tips were primed and ready in the arrow towers. Row upon row of sharpened wooden stakes had been driven deep into the ground, their other ends hung with one or two skulls, the bloodstained points driving up through the hollow eye sockets. The skulls radiated a constant air of death and menace.

Shen Zhuxi had never seen anything like it, but there was no time for panic — Li Que was injured, Li Kun was not the one to take charge of things, and the weight fell to her. Suppressing her fear, she kept her composure and helped Li Que down from the carriage.

Er’hu, catching sight of Li Que being supported by her, turned a grinning look toward Xiao Hu, who was dismounting nearby.

“Little Sibling, your wound is no small thing either — do you want your brother to give you a hand?”

Xiao Hu’s dismount was clearly a struggle, but she smiled sweetly. “Second Brother had better look to his own footing — I’d hate for him to fall and crush you on his way down.”

“By Little Sibling’s build that seems unlikely — it would take at least our friend here’s frame for something like that——” Er’hu glanced at Li Kun, who was walking alongside Xiao Hu. “Standing next to this fine gentleman, Little Sibling looks more and more like a little songbird clinging to a branch……”

“My build may be slight, but I’d still beat Second Brother’s pretty face.” Xiao Hu said without missing a beat. “With Second Brother’s looks, dressed in women’s clothes, you’d make at least the head courtesan of any establishment.”

Of the two of them, Er’hu was the one who cracked first. He snapped the fan shut with a sharp sound, his expression darkening. “Who are you calling neither man nor woman?!”

“When did I say that about you?” Xiao Hu said in genuine surprise. “Elder Brother, come and judge — Second Brother is bullying me again!”

“None of you fight now — what will Father think when you appear before him? Being a good child means being filial……” The heavyset man, who at a glance looked fierce, at a second glance seemed amiable, and at a third glance resembled nothing so much as a scheming black sesame rice ball, put on a convincing show of playing peacemaker.

The way these three siblings — one of whom had an identity that was rather ambiguous — got along was worlds away from the bond between Li Wu and his brothers.

Shen Zhuxi was accustomed to the harmonious and respectful fellowship of Li Wu’s trio. Seeing these three, she felt as though a whole new world had opened up to her.

The party passed through the stronghold gate, and a lackey came jogging over at once.

“Young Master Da, what shall be done with these three?”

“East, south, west — one in each.” Da Hu looked at Shen Zhuxi. “You’re a lady, so you choose first — east, south, or west?”

“I want to stay with my two brothers.” Shen Zhuxi said.

“That won’t do.” Er’hu said immediately. “If the young lady is frightened, I’d be happy to keep her company through the night……”

The lecherous smile had not yet fully formed on Er’hu’s face before a palm connected with it at gale force, sending him flying.

Not only was the one who was hit left dumbstruck — even the bystanders were stunned, Shen Zhuxi herself included.

“Absolutely not! Elder Brother said — the only ones who can share a room with piggy are women and eunuchs!” Li Kun, who had shown little reaction to anything until now, seemed to have triggered some hidden mechanism deep inside him and flipped straight into combat mode, his eyes blazing with fury, his whole presence crackling with killing intent. “You — you’re not eligible right now! Get yourself castrated first! Or else — I’ll beat you to death!”

When others said “beat you to death,” it might be an exaggeration. When Li Kun said it, he never spoke idly.

The trio still apparently hadn’t learned this. So Er’hu had felt perfectly comfortable standing right beside the superhumanly strong Li Kun — and the result was that one wrong word earned him a merciless beating on the spot.

Er’hu, knocked flat by a single blow, stared up at Li Kun in a daze. A streak of blood ran from his nose, and his cheek was swelling at a visible rate.

“This is a problem,” Xiao Hu said with an expression of deep concern. “Second Brother probably won’t be fit to play the head courtesan for quite a while.”

“What are you all standing there for?! Kill him! Kill him for me!”

Da Hu held back Er’hu, who had snapped out of his daze and immediately erupted, and waved off the surrounding lackeys.

“Why are you standing around? Take these people away — one to each courtyard, east south and west, and keep a proper watch——” Da Hu’s manner shifted, and his voice dropped. “If they escape, I’ll have your heads to drink with!”

The lackeys responded with trembling compliance.

Seeing that the three of them were about to be separated, Li Kun clenched his fists and stepped in front of Shen Zhuxi and Li Que in a single stride, unleashing a roar: “Nobody separates us!”

With the earlier slap as a fresh example, not one lackey dared step forward and lay hands on him.

Li Kun stood nine feet tall, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted. When his fury rose, every muscle in his body seemed to knot and expand, and he became even larger than before. For a moment, even Da Hu showed a look of hesitation.

As the standoff continued, Xiao Hu spoke. “Put them all on the south side — one adjacent courtyard each, and post watch.”

The lackeys didn’t move.

Da Hu considered for a moment. “Do as he says.”

The lackeys, as though they had finally been handed a decree, sprang into motion at once.

Being held in adjacent quarters was already better than Shen Zhuxi had hoped for; asking for more was hardly realistic. Li Que seemed to have reached the same conclusion — and once this outcome was secured, he settled in compliantly and let the lackeys push them along.

Bandits had always been rough — especially with men. When Li Que was shoved hard enough to stumble, Shen Zhuxi didn’t even think — she spread both arms like a mother hen and stepped in front of him, fixing the two rude lackeys with a sharp look.

“Don’t push him!”

The authority of someone born to a high station suddenly blazed out of those dark eyes, catching the two unprepared lackeys entirely off guard and leaving them rooted to the spot.

“What’s that temper about, little lady? Men are tough, a shove or two doesn’t cost them any flesh. Our Little Sibling’s back is nearly split open and he’s not saying anything — isn’t that right, Little Sibling?” Er’hu, forgetting his injury before it had even healed, said through a face half-swollen to the size of a pig’s head, his words coming out muffled and lopsided.

“If Second Brother doesn’t want the other side to swell up to match, he’ll keep his mouth shut.” Xiao Hu had no patience for anyone bringing up her back injury and said coldly.

“I’m fine, sister-in-law.” Li Que said quietly.

Shen Zhuxi kept herself between him and the others, watching the surrounding lackeys with watchful eyes.

With her keeping a sharp eye on things, not one person dared shove Li Que again — and with Li Kun standing nearby, nobody dared touch him either.

The three of them were each placed in a separate courtyard. As kidnappers went, Da Hu and his people were relatively civil — they didn’t bind them hand and foot, though Li Que’s and Li Kun’s doors had noticeably larger guard details posted outside compared to Shen Zhuxi’s.

Although Shen Zhuxi had fewer guards, front and rear doors each had three lackeys standing watch — more than enough to make escape impossible, even with wings.

After confining the three of them, the three stronghold siblings disappeared without a trace. Shen Zhuxi had nothing to do but crouch in the corner of her courtyard and eavesdrop on the guards posted outside.

“……Two or three years of fighting, and tonight there will finally be a decision.”

“Who do you think will win — the eldest young master or the second young master?”

“Who knows? The chieftain favors the eldest son of his first wife, but the second young master is the son of the current senior mistress — it’s truly hard to say.”

“It certainly won’t be the third young master.” One said. “His mother died early, he’s thin and slight, and the chieftain doesn’t take to him — he has no chance.”

“Goes without saying — everyone is just waiting to see whether it’s the eldest or the second who comes out on top! Whoever it is, something tells me our days ahead won’t be easy……”

“You’re right……” The voice dropped even lower, barely above a murmur. “The eldest is ruthless and calculating, the second plays favorites — whoever ends up on top, we won’t have it easy.”

The gravity of the subject brought conversation to a halt. For a while, nothing could be heard from outside the courtyard but silence.

The bright crescent moon hung high overhead. Shen Zhuxi’s legs had gone numb from crouching; she shifted into a different position. Her shadow curled small and tight against the ground.

After a long sigh, someone changed the subject. “Those three people the young masters brought back — once tonight is over, they won’t be needed anymore. Wonder what’ll be done with them.”

The conversation had turned to herself. Shen Zhuxi immediately pricked up her ears.

“Exchanged for money, obviously!” The other said without hesitation. “The Xuzhou magistrate posted a ten-thousand-tael gold bounty for their heads — delivering them alive pays even more! Ten thousand taels of gold! I’ve never seen that much gold in my entire life!”

“Nobody on this mountain has.” The first guard muttered. “No wonder the eldest young master told us to keep a close watch on them — turns out they’re worth ten thousand taels of gold……”

A clamor of voices suddenly rose from the east, cutting through the guards’ conversation.

Shen Zhuxi instinctively looked toward the source of the sound. The tall courtyard wall blocked her view — but it could not block out the words that burst from someone’s lips just outside.

“The new stronghold chieftain has been chosen!”