The military council went on for an entire night without stopping, and it was not until dawn broke on the following day, with the eastern sky beginning to lighten, that the assembled civil and military officials filed out of the tent one by one, each with their own expression.
With command of the military having shifted so abruptly, everyone was in a hurry to go confer and plan countermeasures. Only Li Wu and his two brothers crouched outside the army cooks’ tent.
The three of them each held a military post and could be considered men of some standing — yet they still sat there like common soldiers, each with a bowl of hot noodle soup, eating their meal right on the roadside.
“Que, what was that about earlier?” Li Wu asked, too preoccupied with his noodles to eat, looking with concern at Li Que, who had behaved strangely since Fu Xuanmiao’s appearance. “Do you have some prior connection to the number one scoundrel?”
Li Que hunched over his bowl of noodles, slurping away with a vigor that was very much in the style of Li Kun. With his mouth stuffed full of noodles, he mumbled indistinctly, as if famished for a full day:
“Eldest brother, you didn’t just meet me yesterday — when have I ever had the chance to know a high-born young master from a family like that?”
What he said was quite reasonable — yet Li Wu had known him for so many years. Could he not tell the difference between truth and a lie?
He was unwilling to tell him, so Li Wu was unwilling to force the issue.
“…Just know that whatever happens, your eldest brother will carry it with you.”
Li Que stopped wolfing down his noodles and stared blankly at Li Wu.
Li Wu said what he had to say and went right back to eating his noodles at great speed, without looking at Li Que, and without pressing for any answer.
Li Que lowered his head and looked at the broth in the bowl. The steam gradually blurred his vision. He blinked hard, then looked up again, his face arranged back into its usual carefree grin. He said lightly, as if joking: “Eldest brother, rest easy. If the sky falls down, even if eldest brother doesn’t want me to, I’ll be the first one to dive under your shoulders to give you a hand!”
“Administrator Li! So you’re here!”
An urgent voice rang out.
Li Wu looked up to see a figure who looked like a Zhenchuan forces soldier come rushing over with hurried steps.
“Everyone is in the Commissioner’s tent — they’re all waiting for you. Come quickly!”
Li Wu swore under his breath, slurped up several large mouthfuls of noodles in rapid succession, pushed the rest of his bowl toward Li Kun, wiped his mouth carelessly, and followed the soldier away with long strides.
Li Kun moved like a whirlwind — in a few roaring gulps he sucked down Li Wu’s leftover noodles along with the broth as if his throat were a bottomless pit.
With both bowls emptied, he cast a longing look at the bowl still in Li Que’s hands.
“Not eating?”
After Li Wu left, Li Que had stopped altogether and had not touched his chopsticks again.
“…Second brother can have it.” He pushed the bowl over.
Li Kun picked up the bowl and drank the broth. As he gulped it down, he mumbled through the sound:
“Going to war again… scavenging time again…”
“Indeed — second brother gets to eat pig offal again,” Li Que responded without really listening.
“Not eating pig offal — saving up money I am…”
Li Que glanced at him. “What is second brother saving money for?”
Li Kun let out a chuckle. “Not… not telling you…”
He waited for Li Que to press him further, but Li Que simply turned his head back without the slightest curiosity. Li Kun looked crestfallen.
“You ask me, ask me what I’m saving money for…”
“Second brother, finish eating and go get some sleep,” Li Que said, and stood up.
“Where are you going?” Li Kun said in a panic. “Wait for me…”
He bent his head hastily to eat, and by the time he looked up, not even Li Que’s shadow could be seen.
“Gone… gone again…” Li Kun sat there hugging his empty bowl, looking with a forlorn expression in the direction where Li Que had disappeared. “Never takes Diao’er along to play…”
An ant was circling a single drop of broth that had dripped onto the ground. Li Kun took out his grievances on it with a fierce puff of breath and watched it vanish instantly without a trace.
Now even the ant wouldn’t play with him.
…Diao’er misses Piggy.
He heaved a heavy sigh and trudged despondently into the cooks’ tent, his empty bowl in hand.
…
Inside the Zhenchuan forces’ main tent, the atmosphere was heavy with tension.
Li Qia sat on the sole couch in the tent, his brow deeply furrowed, his serious gaze sweeping over the assembled men.
“Let everyone say what they think.”
The prefecture officials and commanders under the Zhenchuan forces all occupied their own armchairs. They were already bound to Li Qia by a common fate — rise and fall together. Li Qia’s expression was grim, and theirs fared no better.
“…Could Fu Xuanmiao be sending our main forces to clash head-on with the Liao central army in order to drain our strength while he watches from the sidelines?” The Xiaxhou Prefect opened with a look of deep concern.
“That the Zhenchuan forces, as the main strength of this coalition, would be the ones to face the Liao central army — that I fully anticipated.” Li Qia said. “If this battle is lost, the pretender Liao will inevitably push further south with greater force. When that happens, the prefectures under our jurisdiction will be the first to bear the brunt. Rather than attempt a defense under those conditions, it is better to act now, while the Imperial Court can still call this coalition together, to combine the strength of the other forces and wipe out the pretender Liao in one decisive blow.”
The Junzhou Prefect immediately raised his hands in a reverent salute. “Worthy indeed of a general from a family of warriors a hundred years strong! In these days when Great Yan falters, treacherous officials hold sway, and local officials each do as they please, the Commissioner’s loyalty to His Majesty and the Imperial Court is all the more precious and rare!”
Hearing this, Li Qia allowed a trace of a satisfied smile.
“Once I destroy the pretender Liao and personally escort His Majesty back to the capital, His Majesty will know full well who are the loyal ministers, and who are the great villains in the guise of loyal men.”
Li Wu had come to his current position by an unconventional path. He held a seat in this tent solely because he had a prefecture to his name. The properly appointed prefecture officials looked down on him, and the commanders of established military lineages wanted nothing to do with him. He sat apart in a corner, removed from the others, privately calculating how to profit from the coming offensive — when unexpectedly, the topic shifted to him.
“Administrator Li, are you listening?” Li Qia said with displeasure.
“Listening clearly,” Li Wu said, and lowered his crossed legs.
“Tomorrow at sunset, I will lead the main force to launch a full offensive. Of all the gentlemen here, you are the only one with actual combat experience. You will therefore take command of a small unit and advance to Hujiao Gorge to provide covering support for the Fu family forces coming from behind.”
Every eye in the tent fell on Li Wu.
For the task of providing covering support to the incoming forces, Fu Xuanmiao had specifically named Li Qia’s most trusted commanders during the military council. Li Qia was now substituting in someone else at the last moment — was it not because he suspected some trickery?
His trusted commanders needed to stay close to him. Those who didn’t matter could go ahead and test the waters — or die doing it.
Li Wu gave a cold inward laugh, cupped his hands, and said: “Li Zhuzong awaits your orders.”
“Fu Xuanmiao made a point of requesting someone to cover the incoming forces — he likely has some scheme in mind. You would do well to be on your guard during this mission,” Li Qia said. “Fu Xuanmiao — for all that he appears open and unimpeachable, he is in truth cunning and treacherous. If you are taken in by his outward appearance, you won’t even know how you died.”
Half of what was said, Li Wu was glad to hear. The other half, he was not.
He repeated the half he liked, embellishing it generously: “The Commissioner is absolutely right. The very first time I laid eyes on this man, I could tell he was treacherous and scheming to the bone!”
“I know you have been going back and forth between here and Xiangyang these past few days. With the full offensive tomorrow, you had better not go back to Xiangyang today.” When Li Qia had finished, he looked at the assembled men. “Gentlemen, please all go and rest. First thing tomorrow morning, we shall hold one more brief council.”
Another damned council. Li Wu nearly let the curses burst from his mouth.
Not being allowed to go home and hold his wife was bad enough — and now these meetings, endless and insufferable, went on and on without stopping!
After the meeting was dismissed, Li Qia made a point of keeping Li Wu behind. He said: “You should be on guard against Fu Xuanmiao learning your true identity.”
Li Wu’s heart gave a startled lurch. He instinctively thought Li Qia had learned something, and his hand nearly moved of its own accord toward the dagger at his waist — but then Li Qia continued:
“If Fu Xuanmiao discovers that you are the man the Wuying forces have placed under a warrant, he will certainly pass that information to them and set us at odds with each other.”
Li Wu breathed out in relief.
“Commissioner, rest easy. I am Li Zhuzong — nothing more and nothing less.”
The words were not particularly pleasant to hear, but Li Qia did not think too carefully about them. He said: “I will do what I can to shield you from exposure. But if he sends men to your Xiangzhou…”
Li Qia let the sentence hang deliberately, waiting for Li Wu’s position to be declared.
Li Wu understood immediately, and said at once: “I will make sure those in Xiangzhou keep their mouths shut.”
Li Qia gave a nod and waved his hand to dismiss Li Wu.
Not long after Li Wu stepped out of the tent, another figure lifted the tent flap and walked in — none other than the Junzhou Prefect, who had appeared to have left some time ago!
The Junzhou Prefect walked to stand before Li Qia. He stole a glance at Li Qia and then quickly dropped his gaze again. “Li Wu has always been a liability within the Zhenchuan forces. Even if it doesn’t come out through Fu Xuanmiao, someone else will expose it eventually. Does the Commissioner truly intend to protect his life?”
“He came to me bringing a whole city with him — if I do nothing at all, won’t that chill the hearts of others?” Li Qia said with a casual air. “Fu Xuanmiao wants to oppose me and is looking for every means to eliminate me, is he not? Then I’ll offer him something to eliminate. I only hope… he won’t disappoint me.”
The Junzhou Prefect felt the full force of that like a sudden clarity breaking through clouds. He cupped his hands and said: “The Commissioner’s strategy is masterful — Xiangzhou can be recovered without a single drop of blood! And after that, the Commissioner…” He looked at Li Qia’s expression with careful attention. “Whom does the Commissioner have in mind to take charge of Xiangzhou?”
Li Qia, hearing what was behind the question, said: “Xiangzhou and Junzhou share a border. Until the Emperor appoints a new Prefect, you can oversee Xiangzhou on my behalf.”
“Yes!” The Junzhou Prefect swept aside his robe and dropped to his knees, his voice shaking with excitement. “This subordinate will absolutely not fail the Commissioner’s trust!”
At the same moment, in another tent, Li Wu was relaying Li Qia’s orders to his two younger brothers.
“…We can’t go back?” Li Kun said with a look of dejection.
“What Li Qia has arranged is clearly meant to push us to the margins,” Li Que said with a frown. “Eldest brother needs to plan a countermove without delay.”
“A frog in late autumn — it won’t be jumping much longer,” Li Wu said. “Let him do as he likes. I have no interest in making a show of myself in front of that pack of useless dead weight.”
Li Que watched him walk to the table and begin wielding his writing brush in bold, sweeping strokes, and couldn’t help asking: “…What is eldest brother doing?”
“Writing a letter home!” Li Wu said. “That foolish woman of mine at home can’t eat properly without me there to keep her company. I have to write and put her mind at ease as soon as possible…”
Li Que hesitated for a moment, then asked: “About Fu Xuanmiao’s arrival — should we…”
Li Wu said without a moment’s pause: “No.”
“Is eldest brother afraid sister-in-law will run away?”
Li Wu would absolutely never admit to such a thing.
“Don’t make me laugh — afraid? Me?” He put on an air of offended dignity. “Your sister-in-law’s heart is full of me right now. Where would she find room to think about anyone else? This business with the number one scoundrel — no need to upset her with it.”
“Achoo!”
Shen Zhuxi sneezed so hard her whole body shook.
“My lady! Have you caught a chill?” One sneeze brought Diniang dropping her handwork and rushing over.
“It’s nothing… my nose suddenly itched. Someone is probably saying bad things about me.” Shen Zhuxi said with suspicion.
“It must be that wretched little concubine Wang talking behind my lady’s back!” Diniang rolled up her sleeves, her face burning with righteous indignation. “And what is that Commissioner Li thinking — if he hadn’t rescued her, she would have died, and wouldn’t that have been much tidier!”
“Not tidy at all!” Shen Zhuxi said in alarm. “That’s our lake!”
“Ah… my lady is right,” Diniang said, coming to herself, and added regretfully: “It would have been so much better if she’d jumped into someone else’s lake.”
“Word is Li Qia’s wife is a formidable woman. This is really Wang Shiyong’s own doing,” Shen Zhuxi sighed. “If she hadn’t become so obsessively fixated, how could she have sunk from being a Prefect’s daughter to a man’s concubine…”
“She deserves it!” Diniang said with feeling.
The two of them were still talking when a young male servant came hurrying from outside, holding a letter sealed with a wax imprint.
“My lady, the master has sent a letter!”
Diniang immediately stepped forward to take it and came jogging back to set it in front of Shen Zhuxi.
Li Wu went back and forth between the Bailling Plains and Xiangyang every day, so this was the first time he had sent a letter. Puzzled, Shen Zhuxi took the letter and sat down at the writing table.
She took the celadon jade fish-shaped letter knife from the brush holder and carefully worked it along the wax seal of the envelope.
“Oh—”
The sharp and slender blade passed across the tip of her finger without warning. Pain shot through Shen Zhuxi’s finger, and her hand jerked back by reflex. The letter knife clattered to the floor, and the jade handle shattered into countless fine silver-thread cracks.
“My lady! You’re bleeding!”
Shen Zhuxi hadn’t yet collected herself before Diniang had already cried out.
A mistress drawing blood was no small matter. Diniang turned and hurried off in search of medicine and bandaging cloth, leaving Shen Zhuxi to stare blankly at the pad of her own finger.
Drop after drop of crimson blood fell onto the letter Li Wu had sent, spreading like pools of blood blossoming open on the page.
A powerful sense of unease rose up in her chest.
“My lady, come here quickly — let me stop the bleeding!”
Diniang came running back with the medicine box. She set it on the writing table, pulled Shen Zhuxi’s injured hand toward her, and turned her so they were facing each other.
“Luckily the wound isn’t large — but it’s a bit deep… What kind of useless knife is this, as sharp as my fish-gutting cleaver?! And my lady — how do you manage to be so distracted while handling a blade? Getting yourself cut open just opening a letter — when Master Li gets back, he won’t just skin me alive, will he?!”
Diniang bandaged the wound while chattering on without pause.
Not a single word of Diniang’s chatter reached Shen Zhuxi’s ears. A nameless, inexplicable unease pressed down on her heart, making her frown as she gazed out the window.
Outside the eaves, everything remained calm and undisturbed.
Across the blue sky drifted wisps of cloud that looked like scattered cotton, and at the far edge of the sky, a mass of rolling dark clouds was closing in.
Diniang followed her gaze out the window and sighed:
“The weather is about to change. Lucky I don’t have any laundry hanging out.”
Shen Zhuxi seemed not to hear a word, yet those words echoed and re-echoed through her heart.
The weather is changing.
I Married A Peasant – Chapter 175
The military council went on for an entire night without stopping, and it was not until dawn broke on the following day, with the eastern sky beginning to lighten, that the assembled civil and military officials filed out of the tent one by one, each with their own expression.
With command of the military having shifted so abruptly, everyone was in a hurry to go confer and plan countermeasures. Only Li Wu and his two brothers crouched outside the army cooks’ tent.
The three of them each held a military post and could be considered men of some standing — yet they still sat there like common soldiers, each with a bowl of hot noodle soup, eating their meal right on the roadside.
“Que, what was that about earlier?” Li Wu asked, too preoccupied with his noodles to eat, looking with concern at Li Que, who had behaved strangely since Fu Xuanmiao’s appearance. “Do you have some prior connection to the number one scoundrel?”
Li Que hunched over his bowl of noodles, slurping away with a vigor that was very much in the style of Li Kun. With his mouth stuffed full of noodles, he mumbled indistinctly, as if famished for a full day:
“Eldest brother, you didn’t just meet me yesterday — when have I ever had the chance to know a high-born young master from a family like that?”
What he said was quite reasonable — yet Li Wu had known him for so many years. Could he not tell the difference between truth and a lie?
He was unwilling to tell him, so Li Wu was unwilling to force the issue.
“…Just know that whatever happens, your eldest brother will carry it with you.”
Li Que stopped wolfing down his noodles and stared blankly at Li Wu.
Li Wu said what he had to say and went right back to eating his noodles at great speed, without looking at Li Que, and without pressing for any answer.
Li Que lowered his head and looked at the broth in the bowl. The steam gradually blurred his vision. He blinked hard, then looked up again, his face arranged back into its usual carefree grin. He said lightly, as if joking: “Eldest brother, rest easy. If the sky falls down, even if eldest brother doesn’t want me to, I’ll be the first one to dive under your shoulders to give you a hand!”
“Administrator Li! So you’re here!”
An urgent voice rang out.
Li Wu looked up to see a figure who looked like a Zhenchuan forces soldier come rushing over with hurried steps.
“Everyone is in the Commissioner’s tent — they’re all waiting for you. Come quickly!”
Li Wu swore under his breath, slurped up several large mouthfuls of noodles in rapid succession, pushed the rest of his bowl toward Li Kun, wiped his mouth carelessly, and followed the soldier away with long strides.
Li Kun moved like a whirlwind — in a few roaring gulps he sucked down Li Wu’s leftover noodles along with the broth as if his throat were a bottomless pit.
With both bowls emptied, he cast a longing look at the bowl still in Li Que’s hands.
“Not eating?”
After Li Wu left, Li Que had stopped altogether and had not touched his chopsticks again.
“…Second brother can have it.” He pushed the bowl over.
Li Kun picked up the bowl and drank the broth. As he gulped it down, he mumbled through the sound:
“Going to war again… scavenging time again…”
“Indeed — second brother gets to eat pig offal again,” Li Que responded without really listening.
“Not eating pig offal — saving up money I am…”
Li Que glanced at him. “What is second brother saving money for?”
Li Kun let out a chuckle. “Not… not telling you…”
He waited for Li Que to press him further, but Li Que simply turned his head back without the slightest curiosity. Li Kun looked crestfallen.
“You ask me, ask me what I’m saving money for…”
“Second brother, finish eating and go get some sleep,” Li Que said, and stood up.
“Where are you going?” Li Kun said in a panic. “Wait for me…”
He bent his head hastily to eat, and by the time he looked up, not even Li Que’s shadow could be seen.
“Gone… gone again…” Li Kun sat there hugging his empty bowl, looking with a forlorn expression in the direction where Li Que had disappeared. “Never takes Diao’er along to play…”
An ant was circling a single drop of broth that had dripped onto the ground. Li Kun took out his grievances on it with a fierce puff of breath and watched it vanish instantly without a trace.
Now even the ant wouldn’t play with him.
…Diao’er misses Piggy.
He heaved a heavy sigh and trudged despondently into the cooks’ tent, his empty bowl in hand.
…
Inside the Zhenchuan forces’ main tent, the atmosphere was heavy with tension.
Li Qia sat on the sole couch in the tent, his brow deeply furrowed, his serious gaze sweeping over the assembled men.
“Let everyone say what they think.”
The prefecture officials and commanders under the Zhenchuan forces all occupied their own armchairs. They were already bound to Li Qia by a common fate — rise and fall together. Li Qia’s expression was grim, and theirs fared no better.
“…Could Fu Xuanmiao be sending our main forces to clash head-on with the Liao central army in order to drain our strength while he watches from the sidelines?” The Xiaxhou Prefect opened with a look of deep concern.
“That the Zhenchuan forces, as the main strength of this coalition, would be the ones to face the Liao central army — that I fully anticipated.” Li Qia said. “If this battle is lost, the pretender Liao will inevitably push further south with greater force. When that happens, the prefectures under our jurisdiction will be the first to bear the brunt. Rather than attempt a defense under those conditions, it is better to act now, while the Imperial Court can still call this coalition together, to combine the strength of the other forces and wipe out the pretender Liao in one decisive blow.”
The Junzhou Prefect immediately raised his hands in a reverent salute. “Worthy indeed of a general from a family of warriors a hundred years strong! In these days when Great Yan falters, treacherous officials hold sway, and local officials each do as they please, the Commissioner’s loyalty to His Majesty and the Imperial Court is all the more precious and rare!”
Hearing this, Li Qia allowed a trace of a satisfied smile.
“Once I destroy the pretender Liao and personally escort His Majesty back to the capital, His Majesty will know full well who are the loyal ministers, and who are the great villains in the guise of loyal men.”
Li Wu had come to his current position by an unconventional path. He held a seat in this tent solely because he had a prefecture to his name. The properly appointed prefecture officials looked down on him, and the commanders of established military lineages wanted nothing to do with him. He sat apart in a corner, removed from the others, privately calculating how to profit from the coming offensive — when unexpectedly, the topic shifted to him.
“Administrator Li, are you listening?” Li Qia said with displeasure.
“Listening clearly,” Li Wu said, and lowered his crossed legs.
“Tomorrow at sunset, I will lead the main force to launch a full offensive. Of all the gentlemen here, you are the only one with actual combat experience. You will therefore take command of a small unit and advance to Hujiao Gorge to provide covering support for the Fu family forces coming from behind.”
Every eye in the tent fell on Li Wu.
For the task of providing covering support to the incoming forces, Fu Xuanmiao had specifically named Li Qia’s most trusted commanders during the military council. Li Qia was now substituting in someone else at the last moment — was it not because he suspected some trickery?
His trusted commanders needed to stay close to him. Those who didn’t matter could go ahead and test the waters — or die doing it.
Li Wu gave a cold inward laugh, cupped his hands, and said: “Li Zhuzong awaits your orders.”
“Fu Xuanmiao made a point of requesting someone to cover the incoming forces — he likely has some scheme in mind. You would do well to be on your guard during this mission,” Li Qia said. “Fu Xuanmiao — for all that he appears open and unimpeachable, he is in truth cunning and treacherous. If you are taken in by his outward appearance, you won’t even know how you died.”
Half of what was said, Li Wu was glad to hear. The other half, he was not.
He repeated the half he liked, embellishing it generously: “The Commissioner is absolutely right. The very first time I laid eyes on this man, I could tell he was treacherous and scheming to the bone!”
“I know you have been going back and forth between here and Xiangyang these past few days. With the full offensive tomorrow, you had better not go back to Xiangyang today.” When Li Qia had finished, he looked at the assembled men. “Gentlemen, please all go and rest. First thing tomorrow morning, we shall hold one more brief council.”
Another damned council. Li Wu nearly let the curses burst from his mouth.
Not being allowed to go home and hold his wife was bad enough — and now these meetings, endless and insufferable, went on and on without stopping!
After the meeting was dismissed, Li Qia made a point of keeping Li Wu behind. He said: “You should be on guard against Fu Xuanmiao learning your true identity.”
Li Wu’s heart gave a startled lurch. He instinctively thought Li Qia had learned something, and his hand nearly moved of its own accord toward the dagger at his waist — but then Li Qia continued:
“If Fu Xuanmiao discovers that you are the man the Wuying forces have placed under a warrant, he will certainly pass that information to them and set us at odds with each other.”
Li Wu breathed out in relief.
“Commissioner, rest easy. I am Li Zhuzong — nothing more and nothing less.”
The words were not particularly pleasant to hear, but Li Qia did not think too carefully about them. He said: “I will do what I can to shield you from exposure. But if he sends men to your Xiangzhou…”
Li Qia let the sentence hang deliberately, waiting for Li Wu’s position to be declared.
Li Wu understood immediately, and said at once: “I will make sure those in Xiangzhou keep their mouths shut.”
Li Qia gave a nod and waved his hand to dismiss Li Wu.
Not long after Li Wu stepped out of the tent, another figure lifted the tent flap and walked in — none other than the Junzhou Prefect, who had appeared to have left some time ago!
The Junzhou Prefect walked to stand before Li Qia. He stole a glance at Li Qia and then quickly dropped his gaze again. “Li Wu has always been a liability within the Zhenchuan forces. Even if it doesn’t come out through Fu Xuanmiao, someone else will expose it eventually. Does the Commissioner truly intend to protect his life?”
“He came to me bringing a whole city with him — if I do nothing at all, won’t that chill the hearts of others?” Li Qia said with a casual air. “Fu Xuanmiao wants to oppose me and is looking for every means to eliminate me, is he not? Then I’ll offer him something to eliminate. I only hope… he won’t disappoint me.”
The Junzhou Prefect felt the full force of that like a sudden clarity breaking through clouds. He cupped his hands and said: “The Commissioner’s strategy is masterful — Xiangzhou can be recovered without a single drop of blood! And after that, the Commissioner…” He looked at Li Qia’s expression with careful attention. “Whom does the Commissioner have in mind to take charge of Xiangzhou?”
Li Qia, hearing what was behind the question, said: “Xiangzhou and Junzhou share a border. Until the Emperor appoints a new Prefect, you can oversee Xiangzhou on my behalf.”
“Yes!” The Junzhou Prefect swept aside his robe and dropped to his knees, his voice shaking with excitement. “This subordinate will absolutely not fail the Commissioner’s trust!”
At the same moment, in another tent, Li Wu was relaying Li Qia’s orders to his two younger brothers.
“…We can’t go back?” Li Kun said with a look of dejection.
“What Li Qia has arranged is clearly meant to push us to the margins,” Li Que said with a frown. “Eldest brother needs to plan a countermove without delay.”
“A frog in late autumn — it won’t be jumping much longer,” Li Wu said. “Let him do as he likes. I have no interest in making a show of myself in front of that pack of useless dead weight.”
Li Que watched him walk to the table and begin wielding his writing brush in bold, sweeping strokes, and couldn’t help asking: “…What is eldest brother doing?”
“Writing a letter home!” Li Wu said. “That foolish woman of mine at home can’t eat properly without me there to keep her company. I have to write and put her mind at ease as soon as possible…”
Li Que hesitated for a moment, then asked: “About Fu Xuanmiao’s arrival — should we…”
Li Wu said without a moment’s pause: “No.”
“Is eldest brother afraid sister-in-law will run away?”
Li Wu would absolutely never admit to such a thing.
“Don’t make me laugh — afraid? Me?” He put on an air of offended dignity. “Your sister-in-law’s heart is full of me right now. Where would she find room to think about anyone else? This business with the number one scoundrel — no need to upset her with it.”
“Achoo!”
Shen Zhuxi sneezed so hard her whole body shook.
“My lady! Have you caught a chill?” One sneeze brought Diniang dropping her handwork and rushing over.
“It’s nothing… my nose suddenly itched. Someone is probably saying bad things about me.” Shen Zhuxi said with suspicion.
“It must be that wretched little concubine Wang talking behind my lady’s back!” Diniang rolled up her sleeves, her face burning with righteous indignation. “And what is that Commissioner Li thinking — if he hadn’t rescued her, she would have died, and wouldn’t that have been much tidier!”
“Not tidy at all!” Shen Zhuxi said in alarm. “That’s our lake!”
“Ah… my lady is right,” Diniang said, coming to herself, and added regretfully: “It would have been so much better if she’d jumped into someone else’s lake.”
“Word is Li Qia’s wife is a formidable woman. This is really Wang Shiyong’s own doing,” Shen Zhuxi sighed. “If she hadn’t become so obsessively fixated, how could she have sunk from being a Prefect’s daughter to a man’s concubine…”
“She deserves it!” Diniang said with feeling.
The two of them were still talking when a young male servant came hurrying from outside, holding a letter sealed with a wax imprint.
“My lady, the master has sent a letter!”
Diniang immediately stepped forward to take it and came jogging back to set it in front of Shen Zhuxi.
Li Wu went back and forth between the Bailling Plains and Xiangyang every day, so this was the first time he had sent a letter. Puzzled, Shen Zhuxi took the letter and sat down at the writing table.
She took the celadon jade fish-shaped letter knife from the brush holder and carefully worked it along the wax seal of the envelope.
“Oh—”
The sharp and slender blade passed across the tip of her finger without warning. Pain shot through Shen Zhuxi’s finger, and her hand jerked back by reflex. The letter knife clattered to the floor, and the jade handle shattered into countless fine silver-thread cracks.
“My lady! You’re bleeding!”
Shen Zhuxi hadn’t yet collected herself before Diniang had already cried out.
A mistress drawing blood was no small matter. Diniang turned and hurried off in search of medicine and bandaging cloth, leaving Shen Zhuxi to stare blankly at the pad of her own finger.
Drop after drop of crimson blood fell onto the letter Li Wu had sent, spreading like pools of blood blossoming open on the page.
A powerful sense of unease rose up in her chest.
“My lady, come here quickly — let me stop the bleeding!”
Diniang came running back with the medicine box. She set it on the writing table, pulled Shen Zhuxi’s injured hand toward her, and turned her so they were facing each other.
“Luckily the wound isn’t large — but it’s a bit deep… What kind of useless knife is this, as sharp as my fish-gutting cleaver?! And my lady — how do you manage to be so distracted while handling a blade? Getting yourself cut open just opening a letter — when Master Li gets back, he won’t just skin me alive, will he?!”
Diniang bandaged the wound while chattering on without pause.
Not a single word of Diniang’s chatter reached Shen Zhuxi’s ears. A nameless, inexplicable unease pressed down on her heart, making her frown as she gazed out the window.
Outside the eaves, everything remained calm and undisturbed.
Across the blue sky drifted wisps of cloud that looked like scattered cotton, and at the far edge of the sky, a mass of rolling dark clouds was closing in.
Diniang followed her gaze out the window and sighed:
“The weather is about to change. Lucky I don’t have any laundry hanging out.”
Shen Zhuxi seemed not to hear a word, yet those words echoed and re-echoed through her heart.
The weather is changing.