The downfall of Lian Gongming was an enormous shock to the common people of Jizhou City, but the Garrison Commissioner quickly dispatched men to calm the populace and posted notices throughout the city announcing Lian Gongming’s dozens of serious crimes. The notices declared that from this day forward, the Garrison Commissioner’s office would take over all official duties of the Jizhou Prefecture Office.

Furthermore, effective immediately, any person could go to the yamen to report any unlawful conduct by any official under the Jizhou Prefecture—and any informant whose claims proved true would receive a reward.

Li Diudiu arrived at the classroom door first, as usual. The great events outside seemed to have little to do with the academy’s students; life went on as normal, study continued as before.

Yet Li Diudiu noticed that Liu Shengying hadn’t come. That fellow, who was no longer as timid as he’d once been, arrived second every single day, and after growing close to Li Diudiu, had become a cheerful, somewhat simple-hearted presence who would stand beside Li Diudiu waiting for the instructor to arrive every morning—usually with a dopey grin on his face. He always liked to stand at Li Diudiu’s side, even if they said nothing and just stood there.

But today, everyone in the classroom had arrived except for Liu Shengying—even Yan Qingzhi, who habitually cut it close, was already there. Li Diudiu felt an inexplicable unease rise in his chest.

“Li Chi, step outside for a moment.”

Yan Qingzhi, standing at the doorway, called out to Li Diudiu. Li Diudiu hurried over and asked, “What is it, instructor?”

Yan Qingzhi seemed to hesitate, struggling for a moment before finally saying, “Liu Shengying’s family has been implicated in the Lian Gongming case. Fortunately, his family surrendered all their property, so the whole family was spared. But the Garrison Commissioner won’t permit them to remain in Jizhou—his family intends to move to Xinzhou in the northwest. Liu Shengying is waiting for you at the academy gate right now. Whether you go or not is your own decision…”

Before Yan Qingzhi could finish, Li Diudiu had already bolted, rushing toward the academy gate like a gust of wind.

Li Diudiu ran to the main gate without stopping. About ten or so zhang beyond the gate, a horse carriage was parked by the roadside, and Li Diudiu spotted Liu Shengying at once, standing beside the carriage, waving at him.

Li Diudiu rushed over and asked anxiously, “Are you all right?”

Liu Shengying shook his head. “I’m fine. But I have to leave…”

He turned to glance at the carriage. The curtain was drawn back, and Liu Shengying’s father smiled at Li Diudiu first, then said to Liu Shengying, “Be quick—we’re pressed for time.”

Liu Shengying nodded, forced a smile, and drew something from his sleeve, handing it to Li Diudiu.

He smiled and said, “This is a sachet I made myself. I put a blessing charm inside—carry it with you. It might come in handy.”

Li Diudiu felt a pang in his chest. He asked, “Your family has suffered this setback—do you have much money left? I still have some. Take it all.”

He pulled two banknotes from inside his robe and pressed them into Liu Shengying’s hands. These were banknotes Li Diudiu had accumulated and exchanged at a money shop once he’d saved up a round sum—a hundred and fifty taels in total. Not a great amount, but for someone in desperate straits, a hundred and fifty taels could make an enormous difference.

“No, no.”

Liu Shengying kept forcing that smile. He was someone who cried at the slightest thing, yet today he’d been smiling all along.

Liu Shengying said, “My family has money. Besides, we’re going to Xinzhou to stay with relatives—they have a substantial household and can well afford it. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

Li Diudiu wasn’t about to listen to any of that. He grabbed the banknotes and stuffed them into Liu Shengying’s collar. Liu Shengying let out a startled shriek and immediately backed away, flustered as a startled fawn.

That shriek gave Li Diudiu a fright—the sound was shrill enough to pierce an eardrum.

“I…”

Liu Shengying’s face burned crimson. He opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

From inside the carriage, Liu Shengying’s father was silent for a moment, then sighed. “Tell him. The two of you are unlikely to ever meet again, so if you don’t say it now, you’ll never have the chance.”

Liu Shengying’s face was deeply flushed. She raised her hands, untied the cloth binding her hair, lowered her head, and said softly, “The truth is… I’m a girl. My real name is Liu Yingyuan. I wanted to come to the academy to study, so I disguised myself as a boy—my parents love me dearly and indulged me. That day I wanted to invite you to our home and tell you all this, but you wouldn’t come…”

When she finished, she lifted her head. Her eyes were glistening—perhaps with tears, perhaps with something else.

“We probably won’t see each other again. Don’t forget me too quickly. And if you’re certain you’ll forget me—at least give it a month? If a month seems too long, then twenty days? You can’t just forget me in a few days.”

It seemed she didn’t dare say any more, so she turned to leave—but then turned back, smiled again with every ounce of effort she had, and said, “Keep being amazing. Keep being first in the first-character hall. You can definitely do it.”

Li Diudiu stood there in a daze.

Liu Shengying’s father said, “Her mother and I spoiled her too much. She had her heart set on studying at Four Pages Academy—she said why should girls not be allowed to seek proper learning just as boys do. I couldn’t argue with her, so I agreed…”

He cupped his hands from inside the carriage. “Thank you for looking after her all these days. I hope—well, never mind. We should go now. Any more delay and there may be trouble.”

He gestured for Liu Yingyuan to get in. She lowered her head and climbed back into the carriage. The carriage slowly began to move. Li Diudiu stood watching it until it disappeared from view, his mind hollow and blank.

He didn’t know whether he was more stunned that Liu Shengying was actually a girl, or that this incident had implicated her family. Her family had been living well—but now, leaving Jizhou for Xinzhou, to live under a relative’s roof… how could that possibly be comfortable?

Li Diudiu let out a long breath and turned to walk back. His footsteps felt heavy, as though he’d just run dozens of li—weary and without strength.

Back in the classroom, Li Diudiu sat in a daze. In the past, if a student had zoned out like this, Yan Qingzhi would have flared up at them long ago. But today he said nothing throughout.

When midday break arrived, Li Diudiu wandered toward the cafeteria in a haze. He wasn’t really thinking about anything in particular—his mind was just muddled. The reason his feet were carrying him toward the cafeteria was probably because his body had developed its own internal navigation by now.

“Feeling sad?”

Yan Qingzhi fell into step beside him and asked.

Li Diudiu nodded. “Yes. A little.”

Yan Qingzhi said, “Actually… given his family’s connection to Lian Gongming, this could have turned out very badly for them. It was Dean Gao who went to petition the Garrison Commissioner overnight—the dean vouched for them, and also presented the ‘Ascending the Sparrow Terrace’ rubbing you gave him to the Garrison Commissioner. That’s what spared the family from being held accountable. Losing the family property was unavoidable…”

Li Diudiu made a sound of acknowledgment. He didn’t care about the rubbing, but he suddenly remembered—he still had Master Songming’s seal. Wasn’t that thing worth a fortune?

He immediately spun around to go back, but Yan Qingzhi grabbed him.

Yan Qingzhi said gravely, “I know what you’re about to do. You can’t give that to her—giving it to her would harm her. Think about it: in a place where she knows no one, if her family possesses something of immense value, how many people would covet it? Could she actually use that item? She couldn’t bring it out to exchange for money. What would be the point of giving it to her?”

Li Diudiu stood still, feeling only a heavy oppressiveness in his chest.

“There’s one more thing.”

Yan Qingzhi patted Li Diudiu on the shoulder. “Zhang Xiaolin from the second-character hall has also left—didn’t come to the academy, said no goodbyes. But I know he’s gone for certain. His family got caught up in it too, though not as deeply.”

Yan Qingzhi glanced at Li Diudiu and, after a pause, continued, “When you first entered the academy, there were four of you. Now it’s just you… I was just thinking to myself—isn’t life strange? Those other three all came from better backgrounds and had brighter prospects than you, yet they’ve all suddenly tumbled to the bottom…”

Li Diudiu made a sound of acknowledgment, thinking: so Zhang Xiaolin had left too…

“Come on.”

Yan Qingzhi stepped forward, and as he walked he said, “All that has passed should not disturb the heart.”

Li Diudiu took a deep breath, then quickened his pace to catch up with Yan Qingzhi. “Instructor, after class ends this afternoon, I’ll go out and buy some meat. The autumn air is crisp—how about grilling some out in the courtyard?”

Yan Qingzhi smiled, his voice a little softer than usual. “Fine. Don’t only buy meat—buy some vegetables too.”

Li Diudiu said off-handedly, “Why buy vegetables? Can’t we just pull them from your garden, instructor? We’d eat in your courtyard anyway—right there beside the vegetable plot. Whatever we want to eat, we pull it fresh. Fresh and satisfying.”

Unexpectedly, Yan Qingzhi didn’t object. He simply nodded. “That’s true. I forgot.”

Li Diudiu found this slightly unbelievable. “Instructor… haven’t you always said no one is allowed to touch those vegetables?”

Yan Qingzhi said matter-of-factly, “Vegetables are planted to be eaten, aren’t they?”

Li Diudiu asked, “Instructor, you’re not an impostor, are you? You’re usually so tight-fisted…”

Yan Qingzhi tilted his head slightly. Li Diudiu quickened his pace. “I’ll go ask Aunt Wu for a few portions of dumplings first—instructor, do you want to try the main cafeteria? Actually, never mind, you’re probably not used to the food over there…”

“That’s fine.”

Yan Qingzhi stepped forward.

“Let’s go try it.”

Beyond the city gate, on the road, the carriage moved at a hurried pace.

Liu Yingyuan’s father looked at his daughter, whose eyes had gone red, and was silent for a moment. He sighed, carefully organized his thoughts, and said, “It’ll be all right. Our family invested in businesses over in Xinzhou back in the day—we’ve never once gone to collect the dividends over all these years. When we arrive, all those years of accumulated dividends should be more than enough to live comfortably.”

Liu Yingyuan made a sound of acknowledgment. “I understand, Father.”

Silence fell inside the carriage. No one said anything more.

Several li ahead of their carriage, a convoy of four or five vehicles moved along the road. Zhang Xiaolin wasn’t riding in a carriage—he was on horseback. His family hadn’t actually been implicated very deeply; he was simply terrified.

He kept turning to look back in the direction of Jizhou City. The outline of the great city grew steadily blurred in his vision.

“Father.”

Zhang Xiaolin looked at his father, riding alongside him, and asked, “Will we ever come back?”

“We won’t.”

His father said, “We’re going to Daizhou. Our ancestral roots are in Daizhou. When we get back, we’ll live quietly and steadily. There’s no need to ever return to Jizhou. Heaven knows what disasters might unfold here in the future.”

His father also glanced back toward Jizhou City. There was reluctance in his eyes, but he refused to show it.

“The thirteen prefectures of the realm…”

Zhang Xiaolin’s father said, as if speaking to himself.

“Watch—the place where great calamity strikes first will certainly be Jizhou. If our great Dachu falls, it will begin from Jizhou.”

He raised his hand and cracked the horse whip—a sharp, ringing sound, as though releasing something. And the words he had just spoken were an even greater release than that crack of the whip.

—