Early the next morning, Shen Zhuxi’s door was pounded with a heavy knock.

“Get out here!” the guard called from outside.

Shen Zhuxi, who had only slept half the night before rising to wait, tidied herself up, tucking the gold hairpin more firmly into her hair knot, and walked out of the room with a composed air she had to work to maintain.

Two armed guards stood in the courtyard, watching her with sharp, threatening eyes. There were three more outside the gate. Once she was marched out of the confined small courtyard under the escort of the two guards on either side, Li Que and Li Kun also emerged from the neighboring courtyard door under guard.

Li Que was injured, and Pingshan Stronghold had not neglected to add muscle-weakening powder to his food besides. As for the completely uninjured Li Kun — he had been knocked unconscious with a bowl of knockout drug and had slept for two days straight. Even this morning, after being roused by others, he was still bleary-eyed, stifling yawn after yawn.

A carriage was waiting at the gate, and Xiao Hu stood in front of it, dressed in a bamboo-green archer’s robe, with the dashing bearing of a spirited young man.

“Bind their hands for me,” Xiao Hu said. “Tie them tight — they’re worth their weight in gold, so don’t let any of them bolt before the exchange.”

The guards all acknowledged the order.

Shen Zhuxi suppressed her discomfort and let a guard wrap rough hemp rope around her wrists.

“Clumsy fool — the way you’re tying that, I could break free in less than half an incense stick’s time! Get out of the way!”

Xiao Hu snatched the rope from the guard’s hands, shoved him aside with a kick, and bound the rope around her wrists with swift, practiced movements.

Xiao Hu’s movements looked rough, and the binding appeared tight, but only Shen Zhuxi knew — it only looked that way.

She cooperated, putting on an expression of pain and frowning as if it genuinely hurt. Even Li Kun was taken in, and the drowsiness immediately vanished from his face, replaced by sudden furious alarm. “Don’t bully Piggy!”

Before Li Kun could lose his temper, Xiao Hu sensibly released Shen Zhuxi’s hands.

“All right, everyone get in the carriage! No funny business!”

Once the three of them had boarded one after another, the carriage rocked, and Xiao Hu leapt in as well.

“Stop standing around — the rest of you, get back to your posts!”

“Third Young Master, won’t there be trouble with just you handling the escort?” someone asked.

“You think I’m not up to it?” Xiao Hu feigned outrage. “You think I have no men of my own?”

“No, no… this one would never dare underestimate the Third Young Master…” The guard hurried to apologize, and no one questioned her again about escorting the hostages alone.

The carriage rolled toward the stronghold’s main gate, the same way they had originally come in.

Through the carriage window, Shen Zhuxi watched the exchanging glances of the guards gradually recede behind them.

“Are we really escaping this easily?” she couldn’t help saying.

“Save those words for when we’re through the stronghold gate.” The wariness on Li Que’s face did not lessen.

Li Kun yawned.

Since being reunited with Shen Zhuxi, the last trace of vigilance in him had completely vanished.

“I want to sleep…” Li Kun rubbed the moisture from the corners of his eyes, with a faintly aggrieved expression. “The sky hasn’t even brightened yet — where are we going…”

Shen Zhuxi soothed him, “Bear with it a little longer. Once we’re safe, you can sleep all you want.”

The carriage swayed back and forth as it slowly made its way forward.

Li Kun’s head was drooping lower and lower — just as he was about to bump it against the carriage window, the carriage halted once again.

Shen Zhuxi heard Xiao Hu outside the carriage conversing with the guards posted at the stronghold gate.

“Where is the Third Young Master headed? And who’s inside the carriage?”

“The stronghold master has sent me to exchange the hostages for a ransom. The ones inside are the hostages we brought back last time.”

“Please allow this one to have a look inside.”

A moment later, the carriage door opened.

The guard swept his gaze over the interior of the carriage and said, puzzled, “Just the Third Young Master alone for the escort?”

“Of course not,” Xiao Hu replied with an unruffled expression. “My people are waiting below the mountain to meet up with me.”

The guard had no reason to doubt this. He released his hand from the door handle, stepped back, and said, “In that case, then —”

“Wait!”

The promising situation was suddenly shattered by this uninvited intruder.

Er Hu, snapping open his folding fan, descended from a sedan chair borne by four men with a cold smile on his lips. The swelling Li Kun had left on his face with a slap was still visible. His attempt at an air of elegant ease under these circumstances only made him look all the more absurd.

“Where is little brother slipping off to without a word, I wonder?”

Shen Zhuxi’s heart clenched with dread, yet Xiao Hu’s expression remained unchanged. She said without the slightest trace of panic, “I am acting under the stronghold master’s orders to escort these three to Xuzhou in exchange for a ransom.”

“The stronghold master is already unconscious. Whose orders are you acting on?”

“Naturally, the orders given before the stronghold master lost consciousness,” Xiao Hu said. “I assumed that since Second Brother has ears everywhere, he would have already known that after the stronghold master chose his young master, he met privately with me once more.”

“I’ve never once heard the stronghold master mention anything about sending you to exchange hostages for a ransom.”

“Since it was a private meeting, is it so strange that Second Brother hadn’t heard? Or does the stronghold master typically send multiple people on the same task?”

“The stronghold master wants you alone to escort three people? Does he think you have three heads and six arms?”

“Who said I was going alone? How does Second Brother know the stronghold master hasn’t assigned me men at an outpost outside the stronghold?”

“Father assigned you men?!” Er Hu’s expression shifted at once.

“For that, you can wait until Father wakes up and ask him yourself,” Xiao Hu said.

For every question Er Hu raised, Xiao Hu had a composed and fitting answer.

Seeing that Er Hu was momentarily left with no new line of attack, Xiao Hu gave a leisurely bow of her hands. “Since Second Brother has nothing further, your little brother will be on his way. Once the ransom is collected, the stronghold master may be so pleased that he’ll recover right then and there.”

“Stop them!” Er Hu’s voice rang out sharply. The guards at the stronghold gate did not dare lay hands directly on Xiao Hu, so they could only link themselves into a line, arms spread wide, blocking the only way out.

“What does Second Brother mean by this? Defying the stronghold master’s orders?” Xiao Hu’s expression darkened.

“Don’t be hasty, little brother —” Er Hu snapped open his fan, smiling. “Second Brother has already found a way to wake the stronghold master, so you needn’t make such a long journey just to collect a ransom.”

“What method do you have?”

Da Hu’s voice came out of nowhere. Everyone turned to look, and there he was, leading seven or eight of his personal attendants advancing from the direction of the main courtyard. His expression was displeased, and his gaze moved between Er Hu and Xiao Hu with suspicion and wariness.

“Here comes Elder Brother —” Er Hu waved his fan with a smile. “Little Brother was just saying how Elder Brother has ears everywhere. I can see now that he truly deserves the compliment — we’ve barely exchanged a few words here, and Elder Brother has already descended upon us from out of thin air. Now that is what I call having ears everywhere!”

The stronghold master’s condition being critical meant that Da Hu was, without question, the next master. The thin veneer of affable warmth he had been wearing disappeared entirely, and his face — already broad with heavy flesh — looked all the more menacing now that wariness had settled into it.

“Second Brother’s tongue really is something else. No wonder the stronghold master is always talked around by you. I merely heard there was a commotion at the gate and hurried over — you make it sound as though I’m something else entirely. We are brothers by blood, all three of us. Why give outsiders a show?”

“Elder Brother is right to correct me. It is Second Brother who is being petty.” Er Hu said the words without conviction and gave a perfunctory bow of his hands, then said, “Little Brother and I only exchanged a few words — calling it a commotion would be a stretch. Elder Brother, you be the judge — when Little Brother wants to take three people worth ten thousand taels of gold away all by himself, isn’t it only right that I ask a few questions on behalf of everyone in this stronghold?”

Er Hu was taking deliberate aim, with every word insinuating that Xiao Hu intended to pocket the ransom for herself.

With Da Hu now in the mix, the situation became even more unpredictable — and clearly, getting out of the stronghold would be harder than ever.

Shen Zhuxi couldn’t help glancing at Li Que inside the carriage. He leaned indifferently against the carriage wall, watching the spectacle as though it had nothing to do with him and he wasn’t the least bit anxious about failing to get out. As for Li Kun beside him — he had simply stretched out on the bench and fallen fast asleep.

“Is what Second Brother said true? You were going to collect the ransom alone?” Da Hu looked toward Xiao Hu, his gaze carrying a weight of intimidation.

“Please allow this one to explain, Young Master,” Xiao Hu said, bowing with great respect. “I am acting under the stronghold master’s orders to bring these three to Xuzhou in exchange for the ransom. If Elder Brother is not certain of this, he may summon Caitou to be questioned — before the stronghold master lost consciousness, he did indeed give me these instructions. Moreover, I have a few men of my own below the mountain who can more than adequately escort the carriage. This is nothing like what Second Brother described.”

Being addressed as “Young Master” greatly pleased Da Hu. His expression softened, and he said, “Little brother has always been steady and reliable. Of course I trust you. It is only that the stronghold master is now unconscious, and the physicians say his condition is grave and he may not pull through. Should the worst happen while little brother is away, you would be too far to reach in time. Best to wait a few more days —”

“I just heard Second Brother say he has a way to wake the stronghold master,” Xiao Hu said with a sardonic smile. “Elder Brother might as well ask Second Brother what miraculous remedy he has found.”

“You can wake the stronghold master?” More than surprise, Da Hu’s expression looked something closer to alarm, but he quickly masked the reluctance on his face and, with the manner of a devoted and earnest son, pressed on urgently. “If you can wake the stronghold master, why didn’t you say so sooner?! Second Brother, at a moment like this, you can’t let any grievance between us delay the stronghold master’s recovery!”

All three siblings, every word concealing a hidden barb, each scrambling to trip up the other — they were the very image of scheming consorts in an inner palace.

So engrossed was Shen Zhuxi that she had entirely forgotten to worry about whether or not they could leave. She had become genuinely captivated, and not only captivated — she even found herself feeling a strange sense of familiarity.

Da Hu’s sanctimonious performance in particular bore a striking resemblance to Consort Shu’s tactics.

“No offense to Elder Brother — I came here today precisely to receive this ‘miraculous remedy.’ Before I have seen it in person, Second Brother did not dare to recommend it to Elder Brother rashly.”

“You found a physician?” Da Hu asked.

“Not exactly a physician, but close enough.” Er Hu said, “There is a Sichuan monk of great spiritual attainment who has been traveling the world and is currently passing through the foot of Pingshan. My men happened to learn of him. This person possesses remarkable powers, said to be able to commune with heaven and earth. They say there are people in Sichuan he has brought back from the very brink of death —”

Da Hu cut him off with a cold laugh. “Second Brother, do you mean to say this ‘great master’ can also pluck things out of a cauldron of boiling oil with his bare hands?”

“Elder Brother!” Er Hu said, affronted. “What kind of fool do you take me for?! Do you really think I can be tricked by that sort of trick?! If you don’t believe me, nothing I say will matter — why not wait until the great monk arrives and question him yourself?”

Da Hu asked, “Where is this monk you speak of?”

Before his words had even faded, the sound of jangling rings filled the air from outside the stronghold gate.

And a familiar, halting Mandarin rang out with unmistakable conviction:

“This monk is here!”

The other person Shen Zhuxi instinctively associated with that voice made her crane her neck to look toward the gate.

There, outside the main gate of the stronghold, appeared Niuwang — dressed in monk’s robes, gripping a staff, his shaved head marked with nine rings of ordination scars.

He looked, no matter which way you looked at him, like a lawless monk of the roughest sort. But he was unmistakably the Sichuan man Niuwang who had wept bitterly alongside Shen Zhuxi, pouring out his grievances against the heartless Zhang Sheng!

Niuwang was visibly impatient, and his tone was rough and surly. “You mountain bandits have no manners! You kidnapped this monk against his will, and this monk is very unhappy! Say what you have to say and say it fast, then let this monk be on his way!”

He gave his staff a forceful thrust downward, and the nine rings chimed and clattered.

Shen Zhuxi’s eyes landed on the duck-head ornament at the tip of the staff, and every last trace of unease vanished from her heart at once!

The duck had arrived — could Li Wu be far behind?