When the first light of dawn illuminated the watchtower drums of the Yingtian Gate, the one hundred and eight drum towers spread across the wards sounded in succession, their rolling thunder like the first spring thunder of the Awakening of Insects, calling awake the sleeping Eastern Capital. The distant bells of the temples intertwined with curling wisps of morning smoke to welcome the rising sun. The gates of all one hundred and three wards and the nine great city gates opened in sequence from south to north, welcoming merchant caravans from every corner of the world as they poured into this vast and magnificent city.

Jin Ruo drove the carriage, munching on a fresh-bought steamed bun with every sign of contentment, one eye still stealing glances at the golden-brown, fragrant sesame flatbreads on a foreign merchant’s stall. The pot of thick noodle soup bubbled and steamed, the fire in the clay stove blazing brightly, painting a warm flush across the faces of the diners at the table.

The carriage wheels rolled through the tinkling of camel bells. A patchy-humped camel brushed past the carriage, and one of them stretched its neck and poked its woolly face up to the window. Hua Yitang hurriedly flapped his fan at it wildly; the camel snorted with displeasure and ambled on.

Fangke sneezed in his sleep, his head tilted to one side against the corner of the carriage, sleeping in a very uncomfortable position, his face growing paler and the shadows under his eyes deeper, arms wrapped tightly around his large wooden box like a child with no sense of security.

Lin Sui’an: “Fang-xiong’s constitution is really too delicate — probably can’t handle all-nighters.”

Hua Yitang: “No matter. A few months of ginseng soup, chicken broth, and soft-shell turtle soup will fatten him up.”

“We ought to prepare some for Investigating Censor Ling as well — from the look on Deputy Chief Justice Zhang’s face, Ling-langjun may not even have a meal to eat when he gets back.”

“Not just the Court of Judicial Review — the Jingzhao Prefecture and the Jinwu Guards will likely be losing sleep over their meals for the next several days as well,” Hua Yitang said with his fan, with an air of regret. “How pitiful indeed.”

Lin Sui’an felt a dark mark forming on her face. “You still have time to gloat? Now that Jiang Dongyi is behind bars, the grudge between the Taiyuan Jiang family and the Hua family runs good and deep.”

“Not just the Hua family — the Ling family, both Bai families, and the Su family have all made enemies of the Taiyuan Jiang family too. That is five of the Seven Clans that Taiyuan Jiang has now offended. Enough to give the Jiang family patriarch a considerable headache.” Hua Yitang played with the copper key. “Besides, we still have this.”

Lin Sui’an rubbed her chin. “What do you suppose is actually written in that scroll book?”

“Whatever it is, it must be a great handle on the Taiyuan Jiang family. With this in our possession, they won’t dare make a move against us lightly.”

“And you’re not afraid they’ll be desperate enough to lash out?”

Hua Yitang smiled. “Our Hua family was built on commerce. Naturally, something this valuable calls for finding the right buyer and selling it for a good profit.”

Lin Sui’an perked up at once. “Sell it to whom?”

“Did you notice that one clan was absent from the banquet last night?”

Lin Sui’an quietly counted in her head — last night’s banquet had had only five surnames and six clans. “No one from the Ganzhou Jiang Family.”

“If there is any clan within the Five Surnames and Seven Clans that can rival the Taiyuan Jiang family toe to toe, it would be the Ganzhou Jiang Family. These two have been at each other’s throats for several hundred years, old and new grudges piled up beyond all reckoning — stack them up and you’d have a wall taller than the Southern City Gate of the Eastern Capital. Selling to them would be the most fitting choice.”

What an elegant scheme — stirring up trouble by redirecting the water. A true black-hearted merchant, through and through.

Lin Sui’an: “What a pity — we don’t know where Shan Yuanming hid the scroll book.”

Hua Yitang put the copper key away. “No rush, we’ll find it in time — ah!”

He suddenly sucked in a sharp breath, eyes wide, staring at the space to Lin Sui’an’s right. Lin Sui’an’s scalp prickled and she turned to look — Fangke, without anyone noticing, had opened his eyes, his jet-black, lightless pupils staring fixedly at the two of them.

They were finished! He had almost certainly heard all of their loud scheming.

Now they had to explain how they knew about the scroll book’s existence.

Lin Sui’an hastily sent Hua Yitang an urgent look: Didn’t you say quick wit and bluster was the number-one skill of a wastrel? Here’s your chance to show what you’re made of! Go, Hua the Fourth!

The hand fanning Hua Yitang’s fan stiffened slightly. But his smile remained fixed without a crack. “Fang-xiong, you —”

But at that very moment, Fangke slowly closed his eyes again, muttered something that sounded like “so noisy,” tilted his head, and went back to sleep.

The two of them: “…”

Hua Yitang leaned forward and carefully fanned a little air at Fangke.

Fangke: “Zzzz —”

Hua Yitang: “Dreaming with his eyes open?”

Lin Sui’an scratched her head. “…”

“Welcome back, Fourth Young Master!”

“Pig-person! Home, tea!”

Mu Xia and Yita’s voices rang out from beyond the carriage. Lin Sui’an and Hua Yitang exchanged a glance and laughed, pushing open the carriage doors at the same moment. Outside, dazzling sunlight traced a golden outline around both their silhouettes.

Fangke, snoring away, cracked open his eyelids. The two radiant silhouettes were reflected in his jet-black pupils, and two points of light appeared within them.

Worn out from the entire night, the group ate a brief early meal and each retired to their own rooms to sleep. Lin Sui’an slept for three full hours, and when she woke, the wei hour had already passed. She sat up in bed for a while in a daze, her head still a little foggy, then slipped on her shoes and socks, picked up Qian Jing, and wandered aimlessly out the door.

The garden Hua Yitang had arranged for her was named “Misty Jade,” and it was planted with tens of thousands of green bamboo stalks. Wherever the eye fell, a sea of green. Mist rose like smoke. When the wind passed, bamboo leaves cascaded like rainfall, rustling and whispering, and the cool, damp fragrance unique to bamboo groves drifted past her face. A single bamboo leaf swept the sheath of Qian Jing and made a soft “zing.”

Lin Sui’an stopped walking. She felt Qian Jing’s call, and found herself a little amused. Could it be that Qian Jing also felt that in a setting like this, not practicing the blade and showing off a little would be a tremendous waste of the scenery?

Very well. While the muscle memory was still fresh, she should review last night’s battle.

Qian Jing slowly left its sheath. Sunlight, dappled and scattered, fell on the jade-green blade, softening Qian Jing’s color somewhat, as though it were gradually shedding that viper-like sheen. Lin Sui’an flicked her wrist and sent the blade gliding forward — Qian Jing let out a long, low ring, harmonizing with the wind and the sunlight. The vibration of the blade traveled from the tips of her fingers through her wrist, forearm, upper arm, muscles, veins, and arrived at her heart. Lin Sui’an began to move, very slowly, feeling with great care the changes in her muscles with each swing of Qian Jing, striving to connect the muscle memory with the brain’s response.

This body was clearly not suited to such a measured, deliberate way of practicing. Its speed would unconsciously increase. Lin Sui’an slowed herself down again and again, trying over and over with unflagging patience, resisting the body’s natural instincts — it consumed more mental energy than she had imagined. After only half the time it would take to drink a cup of tea, she was already drenched in sweat.

She had made no small number of discoveries from last night’s battle.

This was the first time she had suppressed the bloodthirsty killing intent before it could take control of her body. Thinking back to her previous experiences of losing control, she had begun to feel her way toward certain patterns.

The loss of control seemed to be connected to her state of mind.

That time at the Yangdu Prefecture — it was because she had been enraged by Prefect Zhou’s false accusations.

When she had fought Dong Xiao, it was because she could not overpower a stronger opponent and sensed she was going to lose.

Last night was the same — she had been temporarily at a disadvantage and felt anxious —

So, the true underlying cause of her loss of control was: anger and fear.

Anger toward the enemy.

Fear of death and defeat.

To resist these negative feelings, the bloodthirsty killing intent would take over the body, helping her consciousness to escape — Lin Sui’an suddenly accelerated. Qian Jing’s blade wind cleaved through the drifting bamboo leaves and shattered the sweat droplets flying through the air, splitting through ten thousand rays of golden light.

The bloodthirsty killing intent was, in fact, this body’s self-protective mechanism.

In other words — it was a byproduct of her own cowardice and avoidance.

Lin Sui’an began to laugh aloud. As her blade moved faster and faster, her laughter grew louder and louder. The jade-green blade wind whipped up a sky full of bamboo leaves, like a cyclone in furious rotation, like a sea of green in surging, crashing waves. Countless bamboo leaves were struck to pieces by the blade’s edge. The flooding sunlight transformed into ten thousand scattered fireflies pouring into Qian Jing’s blade edge, flowing into her eyes.

Then, suddenly, the blade trembled violently and locked still. Wind passed, silence returned. Leaves fell without a trace. A single shaft of golden sunlight fell on the top of her head, and the feeling was warm, pleasantly so. Lin Sui’an drew a deep breath, opened her palm, and felt the temperature of the sunlight. Then she slowly curled her fingers shut, gripping that fistful of golden sunlight, and felt her body and mind fill with ease and clarity.

This must be what they meant by “sudden enlightenment,” Lin Sui’an thought. It was truly unexpected — that she, a half-baked transmigrant, had the virtue or the fortune to experience such a remarkable sensation.

“You — you you you — have you had a qi deviation?…”

Thirty steps away, Jin Ruo stood covered in bamboo debris, half a piece of osmanthus cake in his hand, the top of the cake blanketed in dust, his eyes practically rolling out of their sockets.

Lin Sui’an sheathed Qian Jing. “Quite the opposite — in the battle last night, I gained certain insights, and I have glimpsed a fundamental truth of martial arts!”

Jin Ruo: “What?!”

Lin Sui’an: “True martial cultivation is, in the end, the cultivation of the mind.”

In plain terms: every person’s greatest enemy is only themselves.

This is the simplest road in the world, and also the hardest.

“If you are willing to take me as your master, I will teach you,” Lin Sui’an said. “What do you say?”

Jin Ruo was dumbstruck. The piece of osmanthus cake in his hand was in that awkward position of neither being eaten nor put down. He hesitated for a good while, then quietly tucked it back into his breast pocket, cleared his throat, and said: “Ahem, about that — Ding Kun has come.”

Ding Kun — the tenth elder of the Eastern Capital’s Qingmen. Oh, excellent — true to Qingmen’s form, their intelligence was always first-rate. Word of her defeating the Golden Feather Guards had no doubt reached them, and they had come to pay their respects.

“Perfect timing. Let’s go meet him.” Lin Sui’an smiled.

Jin Ruo shifted his gaze away, looking somewhat uncomfortable. His earlobes had gone a little red.

Very good. Lin Sui’an thought. She had a feeling she would be able to rope in this apprentice before long.

Before she even stepped into the “Oriole-Song Water Pavilion,” she heard Hua Yitang’s booming voice from a distance:

“The Jiang Dongyi of Taiyuan Commandery truly lived up to his name as the Tiger — eyes like copper bells, fists the size of melons — wherever he went, dust and wind rose in his wake, a harrowing, soul-tearing spectacle! And at that very moment, Lin Niangzi burst free from the encirclement — with one divine kick, she sent her foot squarely into Jiang Dongyi’s backside. This kick, appearing utterly unremarkable, was in truth profoundly extraordinary, a peerless technique recorded in the Ten Purity collection, known as ‘Breaking Stillness.’ With a single move, she brought Jiang Dongyi down, and the victory was complete!”

Jin Ruo: “…”

Lin Sui’an: “…”

This wastrel was making things up without even a draft to work from! This was mortifying!

Lin Sui’an turned to make a quick getaway — but Elder Ding happened to have very sharp eyes, and at that exact moment he spotted her. He immediately stood, cupped his fists, and called out at full volume: “The tenth elder of the Eastern Capital’s Qingmen, Ding Kun, pays his respects to Lin Niangzi, mistress of Qian Jing!”

Lin Sui’an stiffened, turned back around, forced a dry laugh, and cupped her fists. “Elder Ding, no need for formalities. Please sit.”

Hua Yitang dragged over a cushion and patted it, smiling as he invited Lin Sui’an to sit down. Lin Sui’an’s temple throbbed. She lowered her voice. “You are really too over the top!”

Hua Yitang blinked his large eyes. “You really do me a great injustice. Every single word and sentence I said was witnessed by my own eyes — there was not the slightest drop of embellishment.”

Lin Sui’an opened her mouth and found she could not refute this, because, to speak plainly, Hua Yitang’s account did, in fact, correspond to the objective truth.

Elder Ding sat with great unease. Each time Mu Xia and Yita placed a dish of snacks on his table, his backside squirmed as if a cactus had sprouted from the cushion. Mu Xia and Yita — whether deliberately or not — ended up stacking over twenty platters of fresh fruits and confections on his table; the platters were inlaid with gold and gems, and in the sunlight they gleamed in a magnificent, eye-searing splendor.

Elder Ding’s gaze swept back and forth over the table, his lips moving rapidly and quietly.

Lin Sui’an puzzled. “What is he doing?”

Jin Ruo: “He’s probably calculating the cost of all this food.”

Hua Yitang: “No need to calculate — one glance tells you everything. Sixteen guan and fifty-three wen in total.”

At these words, Lin Sui’an, Jin Ruo, and Elder Ding all inhaled sharply at the same time.

Jin Ruo immediately pulled out the dust-covered osmanthus cake from his breast pocket, blew it off, and crammed it into his mouth.

To top it all off, Mu Xia delivered a closing remark:

“We were unprepared — the food is rather plain. Please accept our apologies, Elder Ding.”

Yita: “Make do with what there is, then.”

Lin Sui’an had figured it out — these people were doing it deliberately, deliberately showing off their wealth!

Elder Ding went through several rounds of internal fortification before finally summoning the courage to ask in a solemn voice: “Lin Niangzi, did you truly subdue the Tiger of Taiyuan Commandery with a single move — ‘Breaking Stillness’?”

Lin Sui’an weighed the question and decided honesty was the best course. “No.”

Elder Ding had just let out half a sigh of relief when Lin Sui’an added the second half of the sentence: “I simply kicked him at random. There was no particular technique involved.”

Elder Ding inhaled two sharp breaths.

“I only used ‘Breaking Stillness’ when fighting Jiang Chen last night,” Lin Sui’an summarized. “Jiang Chen’s skill was rather better.”

Elder Ding’s face went white. “The Jiang Chen Lin Niangzi speaks of — could it be the same Jiang Chen who once challenged ten masters of the Crane Immortal Sect in single combat and walked away whole?!”

Lin Sui’an blinked and asked Jin Ruo: “What Crane Immortal Sect?”

Jin Ruo: “A small sect — not important.”

Lin Sui’an understood. Most likely cannon fodder. She thought for a moment, then added: “The Jiang Chen from last night used twin blades — I’m not sure whether he is the person Elder Ding speaks of.”

Elder Ding: “Was his peerless technique the Twin Dragons Emerging from the Sea?!”

Lin Sui’an nodded.

Elder Ding sucked in the third sharp breath. Lin Sui’an was genuinely worried his lungs might explode. Then she heard him say in a strained, suspended voice: “How many exchanges did you make with him using ‘Breaking Stillness’?”

Lin Sui’an was confused. “Breaking Stillness” was a technique of predicting the opponent’s prediction — a single use was enough. The way Elder Ding had phrased the question suggested it could perhaps be used to predict several moves ahead. That meant the Eastern Capital Qingmen’s remaining volume of the Ten Purity collection must contain more.

With that thought, Lin Sui’an decided she should be a little humble, both to set the stage for borrowing the Eastern Capital Qingmen’s copy of the Ten Purity collection later, and because it was simply true: “My aptitude is insufficient. For now, I can only manage a single application of Breaking Stillness.”

Elder Ding stopped breathing. His jaw dropped.

Hua Yitang fanned the flames with relish: “Oh dear, I must have been frightened witless last night and misremembered. It wasn’t Jiang Dongyi that Lin Sui’an brought down with a single move of Breaking Stillness — it was Jiang Chen. Please don’t hold it against me, Elder Ding.”

“Not at all, of course not.” Elder Ding mopped the cold sweat from his brow with his sleeve and drew from his breast pocket an envelope. “The Eastern Capital Qingmen wishes to discuss with the Yangdu Hua family the establishment of a cooperative alliance. This is an invitation written personally by our Great Elder Shen Xun.”

The invitation from the Eastern Capital Qingmen was more ordinary than Lin Sui’an had imagined: both envelope and paper were of the kind found everywhere, without even a special mark or seal. The only distinctive thing was the calligraphy — bold, forceful, and uninhibited.

【Three days hence, at the wei hour and three quarters, upon the Yunshui River — we invite you to meet and discuss a great matter together.】

Signed with a single character: “Shen.”

Elder Ding watched Hua Yitang and Lin Sui’an’s expressions with great tension. “How do the two of you find this?”

Lin Sui’an and Hua Yitang exchanged a subtle glance without a word.

Hua Yitang: Look at this handwriting and this tone — arrogance beyond measure, insufferable!

Lin Sui’an: Exactly right — time to cut this gang’s haughtiness down to size!

Jin Ruo was about to break: “Can the two of you stop having secret conversations with your eyes?!”

Hua Yitang smiled brilliantly. “This suits us perfectly! Three days from now, we will be there as promised, without fail!”

After seeing Elder Ding off, Yita immediately carried over a tea kettle, gazing at Lin Sui’an with eager eyes. “Pig-person, this is the alertness tea you ordered yesterday. Taste it.”

Lin Sui’an caught a whiff of it from a distance, and it hit her hard enough to nearly blacken both eyes. In a daze she seemed to hear a string of crows going “caw caw caw” overhead. She steadied herself, resolved to save her own life, and said: “Has Yita ever heard of brewing tea?”

Yita furrowed her brow. “Hm?”

Hua Yitang: “You mean the loose tea from Shan Yuanming’s room?”

“Yes yes, that — loose tea,” Lin Sui’an said quickly. “Shall we try some of that instead?”

Yita’s face darkened. “Loose tea is the most inferior kind — how could it pass Pig-person’s lips!”

Lin Sui’an was taken aback. “Is that so?”

Mu Xia: “Loose tea refers to the inferior scraps of broken leaves from tea that failed to be pressed into a cake. When brewed, it is tasteless as water — practically pig fodder. Most of it is thrown away as waste. In recent years, some unscrupulous merchants have started selling these tea scraps to poor scholars who wish to affect an air of refinement, even inventing the elegant name ‘loose tea’ to fool them. A particularly malicious practice. Some aristocratic scions even use loose tea to mock such scholars, saying something about trying to paint a tiger and ending up with a dog instead…”

Lin Sui’an was greatly struck. She thought it over and finally asked: “What they mean is — poor people are not worthy of drinking tea?”

At these words, everyone was silent.

After a long pause, Mu Xia said: “Brewing and drinking tea has always been an elegant pursuit — those from humble households truly cannot afford it.”

Yita: “Tea cakes and tea sets cost a lot of money.”

Jin Ruo: “If you ask me, something this awful-tasting, this complicated to prepare, and this expensive — you might as well just drink plain hot water.”

Hua Yitang fanned his folding fan slowly, gaze fixed intently on Lin Sui’an, his eyes growing deeper and deeper, and he gave a slow, deliberate nod. “What Lin Sui’an says is quite right.”

Jin Ruo, Mu Xia, Jin Ruo: “What?”

“Are poor people not worthy of drinking tea?” Hua Yitang’s expression was more serious than Lin Sui’an had ever seen it. “On what grounds?”

For a moment, the entire water pavilion fell quiet — until Fangke’s voice broke the silence. “A visitor.”

Everyone snapped out of their reverie. Fangke, yawning, settled in beside Yita and began drinking tea. The person who had entered the water pavilion with him was, surprisingly, Bai Ruyi.

“A rare guest indeed.” Hua Yitang stood to welcome him. “Bai the Thirteenth coming to our Hua family’s private garden — what an honor!”

Bai Ruyi performed a flawless, unhurried bow to each person present in sequence, then said: “I have come today especially to thank Lin Niangzi.”

“Please don’t mention it.” Lin Sui’an hastily deflected.

Bai Ruyi lowered his eyes. “Lin Niangzi’s great kindness in saving my life cannot be repaid in any —”

“I understand, I understand,” Lin Sui’an quickly interrupted. She had been through this scene too many times before. The last time, it had been Ming Shu — the same endless preamble and elaborate build-up, which had ended in a grand misunderstanding, only to turn out that he simply wanted to give money as a thank-you gift. This time she had learned her lesson: clean and decisive, she grabbed Hua Yitang and steered him to the side. Hua Yitang, clearly also recalling the same incident, made a couple of hmph sounds before, to his credit, not getting in the way.

Ming Shu was only Ling Zhiyan’s subordinate, and he had been able to produce a full guan of money as a gift. Bai Ruyi was at least one of the Five Surnames and Seven Clans — at minimum he ought to be able to produce ten guan. Lin Sui’an thought with pleasant anticipation, her expression matching the mood. “Bai the Thirteenth, just speak plainly!”

Bai Ruyi drew a deep breath. “Bai the Thirteenth is willing to marry into the Lin household to repay Lin Niangzi’s great kindness!”

Wind drifted across the lake surface. Ripples of light shimmered like scattered gold. Everyone seemed not to have understood what Bai Ruyi had said, and stared blankly at him.

“Pfft —” Fangke spat out his tea.

I estimate I’ll be locked out of updating for at least two more weeks — heavens above! I can’t go out for walks, I can’t order delivery, no crayfish either! Even writing feels pointless, I’m in tears!