On the swing.

Gao Xining looked down at herself, then let out a long sigh.

“Small?”

She asked.

Li Chi tilted his head and looked, then pursed his lips: “You’re asking me this question right now — what am I supposed to say?”

Gao Xining: “Can’t you tell?”

Li Chi said earnestly: “Do you know, in the south there’s a special fruit called durian?”

Gao Xining said: “I’ve heard of it, but never actually seen one.”

Li Chi said: “The Old Zhenren has eaten one before. He told me something — he said that with durian, whether there’s a lot of flesh inside or not is entirely a matter of luck. Sometimes the fruit looks enormous on the outside, but it’s really just all shell, and once you peel the shell away, there’s barely any flesh at all. Other times, it looks small, but once you peel it, there’s a shocking amount of flesh inside.”

He said even more earnestly: “You’re asking me to look at the shell and tell you whether there’s a lot of flesh inside. I’ve never actually seen a durian either.”

Gao Xining shot him a glare.

Then she sighed again.

Speaking as if to herself, she said: “I’ve seen some… where the shell looks very big, but who would have thought that once you peel it away, there’s just as much flesh.”

Li Chi: “Didn’t you just say you’d never seen one before, only heard of it?”

Gao Xining: “What do you know.”

She sat on the swing, swaying back and forth, thinking about the time she’d soaked in the hot springs with Liu Yingyuan and the others. The more she thought about it, the more she felt the heavens were unjust.

She suddenly jumped off the swing, clasped her hands behind her back, and walked away.

Li Chi called after her: “Where are you going?”

Without turning back, Gao Xining said: “I’m going to make myself a shell.”

Li Chi thought to himself — that sort of thing, who is it going to fool? Won’t it just be fooling yourself…

Just then, Liu Yingyuan and Yuan Jiabei came walking hand in hand from afar. Upon noticing Li Chi, both of them flushed red at the same time — for reasons neither could quite explain.

Then Liu Yingyuan asked in a soft, gentle voice: “Have you seen Sister Ning?”

Li Chi pointed toward the front courtyard: “She went to make a shell.”

He hadn’t intended to look at anything in particular — it might have been nothing more than an unintentional glance — but in that moment he understood why Gao Xining had wanted to make herself a shell.

People truly are different from one another.

He had never noticed before, and if Gao Xining hadn’t brought it up just now, he wouldn’t have paid attention. But now that he had noticed…

Seeing the look in his eyes, Liu Yingyuan’s face grew even redder. She quickly hurried away.

In early autumn, the weather was still somewhat warm, and the sight of the girls in their gauze skirts was truly, truly beautiful.

Li Chi had always disliked summer. All things considered, he’d rather endure the cold of winter than the heat of summer.

But now he found himself thinking that perhaps being a little warm wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

Ahem!

Coming to his senses, Li Chi sternly condemned himself. What had gotten into him — he had suddenly become so indecent.

The two girls walked along hand in hand. Yuan Jiabei asked Liu Yingyuan in a very small voice: “Was he looking at you just now?”

Liu Yingyuan’s face grew even redder — a deep, thorough, all-consuming red.

Yuan Jiabei let out a long sigh: “He’s finally grown up.”

Liu Yingyuan had been feeling rather bashful, but upon hearing those words, she burst out laughing.

Yuan Jiabei said as they walked: “Waiting for him to grow up has been such a struggle.”

Liu Yingyuan laughed: “Didn’t Sister Ning say something like that before? She said that fellow has already grown up in body — so why hasn’t he learned to be flirtatious yet?”

Yuan Jiabei said: “Ah… those of us waiting have been going out of our minds.”

Liu Yingyuan: “Aren’t you embarrassed?”

Yuan Jiabei: “What’s there to be embarrassed about… though speaking of which, does he really just not like women?”

Liu Yingyuan said: “Of course not. Look how good he is to Sister Ning — how could he possibly not like women?”

The two looked at each other, and then suddenly fell silent.

After a long moment, Yuan Jiabei asked in a tone that was uncertain yet quite worried: “Do you think he just doesn’t like… bigger ones?”

Ah…

When girls chat among themselves, they are in truth far more mature than men.

If you don’t believe it, go listen to what boys that age talk about. They can spend an entire morning discussing peeing, playing in mud, and farting their way through craters, and in the afternoon they’ll very likely actually go do exactly that — pee, play in mud, and fart their way through craters.

How childish boys can be depends greatly on how many of them there are. Generally, once you get three to five of them together, their childishness becomes completely uncontrollable.

Li Chi sat on the swing Gao Xining had just vacated, swaying himself back and forth, wondering to himself why Gao Xining was so concerned about her figure.

Just then, Yu Jiuling came over carrying a military report and handed it to Li Chi: “A message from Yanzhou.”

Li Chi opened it and read it through, then nodded with a sense of satisfaction.

After Tang Anchen returned to Yanzhou, he had steadily dispatched spies into the Bohai Kingdom, bribing and inciting key ministers there to rebel.

Just over two months ago, Li Xiaowan — who had not long been seated on the throne — was strangled to death in the inner palace by a group of palace maids. He had drunk too much wine and fallen asleep soaking in the bathing pool, and after the palace maids strangled him with their sashes, they bound him to a stone stool and sank him to the bottom of the pool.

The nephew of the former Bohai Queen Dowager — that is, the cousin of Shi Zaixun — a man named Piao Dejiu, rose to become the new king of the Bohai Kingdom with the support of a coalition of Bohai court ministers.

Perhaps because of the cautionary example set by Shi Zaixun, and because the Bohai Kingdom was truly impoverished and weakened — especially after the devastating warfare — leaving the common people destitute, Piao Dejiu sent envoys to Yanzhou to request permission to send a delegation to pay tribute to Prince Ning, expressing his willingness to make peace.

As a gesture of sincerity, Piao Dejiu stated that the Bohai Kingdom was willing to recognize Prince Ning as the master of the Central Plains, and to assist him to the best of their ability.

This stratagem was nothing more than a delaying tactic — anyone could see through it.

But for both parties, it was still a reasonable beginning. With Yanzhou no longer fearing a conflict on that front, Li Chi could focus his attention on heading south.

With Shi Zaixun’s royal lineage wiped out, the Queen Dowager’s clan had become the most prestigious family — utterly unlike the rootless Li Xiaowan. Therefore, Tang Anchen noted in his letter, if anyone wished to incite further defections within the Bohai Kingdom, it would likely prove quite difficult going forward.

After reading through the report, Li Chi asked Yu Jiuling: “Let me ask you something.”

Yu Jiuling said: “Of course, boss. What is it?”

Li Chi lowered his voice and asked in a tone tinged with mild embarrassment: “In your opinion — is bigger better, or smaller?”

Yu Jiuling narrowed his eyes: “I’d say bigger is better. For a man, there’s no laughing it off — in every respect.”

Li Chi blinked: “I meant for women.”

Yu Jiuling: “Oh?”

Li Chi: “Forget it, pretend I never asked.”

Yu Jiuling said: “Boss, you’ve finally grown up…”

Li Chi kicked him flying.

—

Suzhou City.

Tang Pidi had already received news of the events in Jizhou, along with a personal letter sent by Li Chi through a messenger.

He handed the letter to Shen Shanhu: “You can set your mind at ease now.”

After reading it through, Shen Shanhu let out a long, relieved breath, then said with some feeling: “My lord’s good fortune in having you, and your good fortune in having my lord — these are blessings for my lord, blessings for you, and blessings for all the people under heaven.”

Luo Jing was sitting to one side. Upon hearing those words, he burst out laughing: “Putting it that way, it follows quite naturally that the General and my lord should be wed.”

He looked at Shen Shanhu: “A while back you were determined to submit a letter of resignation. Old Tang was right — if you submitted such a letter, you’d only be inviting a scolding. Some things should not be done rashly, but other things absolutely must be done. Why not write a memorial now, and be the very first to formally petition my lord to take the General as his wife?”

Even a woman of Shen Shanhu’s composure found her cheeks flushing ever so slightly at Luo Jing’s words.

Luo Jing said: “For a joking remark, you’re blushing — that’s not like you at all… though speaking of which, when are the two of you getting married?”

Shen Shanhu’s face grew even redder — a genuinely rare sight.

After a moment, Shen Shanhu said: “You start saving up the gift money first. Once you’ve saved enough, we’ll get married.”

Luo Jing said: “If I’ve saved up that much, wouldn’t it be better for me to marry my own wife?”

Shen Shanhu said: “Then why don’t you go find one?”

Luo Jing sat there, his expression thoroughly dejected.

“That year, the boss’s wife — that is, our Tingwei — looked me in the eyes and said in a tone that brooked no argument: ‘General Luo, leave the matter of your marriage entirely in my hands. Trust me.'”

Luo Jing said in a mournful tone: “I was actually rather pleased at the time. Who could have guessed that her ‘trust me’ meant: trust me, hand the matter over to me, and you will absolutely never find a wife.”

Shen Shanhu burst out laughing.

Luo Jing looked toward Tang Pidi and said with the sincere candor that only a true friend could muster: “Let me give you both a piece of honest advice. Your marriage is already nine parts settled — but whatever you do, don’t let Gao Xining act as your matchmaker. If you put it in her hands, the two of you can forget about ever getting married.”

Tang Pidi looked at Shen Shanhu: “Then perhaps, just to be safe, we should handle the wedding ourselves without telling the boss or his wife.”

Shen Shanhu gave a soft huff: “You say it as if it’s that simple?”

She looked into Tang Pidi’s eyes: “Once you say it, you have to mean it. Go on then — which day?”

Luo Jing, who loved nothing more than watching a scene unfold, chimed in: “If you ask me, why look for a good day when today will do just fine?”

Shen Shanhu nodded: “You make a fair point.”

Tang Pidi was startled: “How can we treat this so lightly? If I am to take you as my wife, it must be done properly — announced through proper channels, with drums and gongs…”

Before he could finish, Shen Shanhu grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him toward the inner room, calling back to Luo Jing as she went: “You should head out. Today is a happy occasion for us — don’t feel obligated to stay for dinner.”

Luo Jing roared with laughter, rose to his feet, and departed — and as he left, he even thoughtfully pulled the door shut behind him.

As he walked out of the courtyard, the young general Gao Zhen happened to be on his way in to report on the new recruits, only to be grabbed by the arm by Luo Jing and pulled back out.

Gao Zhen said in bewilderment: “I have something to report to the General. Why are you pulling me away, General Luo?”

Luo Jing said as he walked: “I’m pulling you away for your own good. If you disturb them right now, you’re the one who’ll suffer for it.”

Gao Zhen asked: “What’s going on?”

Luo Jing said: “The General and General Shen are having a fight.”

Gao Zhen was alarmed: “Then we definitely can’t leave — we should go break it up!”

Luo Jing: “I strongly advise you not to.”

Gao Zhen was someone Tang Pidi had personally raised and cultivated. To him, Tang Pidi was like a father and elder brother combined, and his admiration for Tang Pidi went without saying.

The boy was still young, and his character was on the simpler, more earnest side. He only knew that if the General and General Shen were truly having a quarrel, it wouldn’t be right not to intervene.

So he turned and headed back toward the room, walked up to the door — and then stopped, as if rooted to the spot.

Then he turned back around, his expression somewhat awkward.

Luo Jing asked with a grin: “Why didn’t you go intervene?”

Gao Zhen walked with his head tilted up toward the sky: “Never mind, no point going in. They’re already crying — nothing I can say would help.”

Luo Jing asked: “Who’s crying?”

Gao Zhen: “Sounds like… both of them.”

Luo Jing burst into laughter: “If both of them are crying, it really is impossible to intervene. And if they end up crying in each other’s arms, it’ll be even more hopeless.”

Gao Zhen: “Yes, yes, yes… let’s just go, let’s go.”

—