Xiahou Zuo looked at Li Diudiu’s expression and wished he could give him a loving slap across the face—with the force that would make stars light up behind his eyes.

“That thing is a gyrfalcon. Young as it is, it’s still quite rare. First, it’s difficult to catch; second, it’s difficult to raise; third, it’s difficult to train. An unbroken gyrfalcon sold to one of those idle young lords in the capital who keep hawks and dogs for sport would fetch at least a thousand taels at minimum—and a fine specimen could go for even more.”

Xiahou Zuo sighed: “And you want to eat it?”

Li Diudiu sighed back: “I wasn’t going to eat it now—I’d keep it first, obviously.”

Xiahou Zuo looked at him. He sensed there was more to this, and sure enough, Li Diudiu continued.

“Right now it doesn’t have much meat on it. I’d fatten it up first—get it plump and round like a big fat duck, waddling around all smug, too heavy to fly…” He burst out laughing. “Too heavy to fly! A fat chubby falcon! And then I’d braise it.”

Li Diudiu caught a look at Xiahou Zuo’s expression and fell silent.

“I’m just joking.”

Li Diudiu shrugged. “Something that expensive—could you really eat it?”

Xiahou Zuo asked with complete seriousness: “If that fellow had actually sold you the young falcon for one tael, would you have really eaten it?”

Li Diudiu said: “Of course not—didn’t I just say I’d fatten it up first? Otherwise, what a waste of that one tael.”

Xiahou Zuo pressed his hand to his chest and looked over at Changmei the Daoren. Changmei shook his head repeatedly: “He was like this after entering Four Pages Academy. He wasn’t like this before.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “It definitely wasn’t my influence on him—though he did manage to increase my appetite considerably. It wasn’t Teacher Yan who taught him this either… that leaves only Gao Xining.”

Changmei the Daoren only found the name vaguely familiar and didn’t know who Gao Xining was. Li Diudiu naturally wasn’t about to bring up a young woman to his master casually, and since Li Diudiu said nothing, no one else would tell Changmei the Daoren either.

“Who is this Gao Xining, some rotten child?”

Changmei the Daoren looked at Xiahou Zuo and said: “Don’t let him lead Diudiu down the wrong path.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “Mm, Gao Xining is Headmaster Gao’s granddaughter.”

Changmei the Daoren thought for a moment, then rapped Li Diudiu on the head and said: “Headmaster Gao’s own granddaughter personally instructed you, and you still couldn’t learn anything decent? Are you worthy of her effort?”

Li Diudiu said: “Master, mind your expression.”

Changmei the Daoren said: “I’m practicing. In case Headmaster Gao ever brings this up in the future, I want the sequence down so the next time I hit you it goes smoothly.”

Li Diudiu looked at Changmei the Daoren, then at Xiahou Zuo.

“You two are more like master and disciple than he and I are.”

Li Diudiu turned and walked away. “I’m going. I’m heartbroken.”

Changmei the Daoren turned to Xiahou Zuo and lowered his voice: “Are Diudiu and Headmaster Gao’s granddaughter rather close? If so, help me keep an eye on things and pull them apart a little. They’re not the same kind of people… In the end it would only add to his troubles.”

Xiahou Zuo was not pleased. He looked at Changmei the Daoren and asked: “Are you saying Li Chi isn’t good enough for Gao Xining? I’d say it’s Gao Xining who might not be good enough for Li Chi.”

Changmei the Daoren opened his mouth, and finally let out a long sigh. “It’s all my fault. Diudiu’s too. You were perfectly sensible before—now you’ve gone simple as well.”

Xiahou Zuo: “…”

Li Diudiu had assumed they’d simply find an inn to stay at, but Prince Yu’s people had arranged everything in advance. The day before, someone from Prince Yu’s estate had come to call on Qianlie County’s county magistrate, deputy magistrate, and chief clerk.

A son of Prince Yu had come calling—the entire county office went into a state of nervous tension and worked through the night to tidy up one of the magistrate’s private courtyards in the town. They didn’t dare say outright that the magistrate himself didn’t live there, but the implication was nudged toward Xiahou Zuo: the magistrate had specially vacated this place for him.

Within the county, the magistrate had five or six such properties. None of them actually sat empty—they were his arrangements for keeping favored concubines. This particular yard was not small; it had been housing the magistrate’s most cherished concubine, and was in fact considerably larger than the magistrate’s own official residence. His official home had to stay within the rules, but this property? He had no such concerns.

After entering the courtyard, Changmei the Daoren looked around in all four directions and decided the place had poor feng shui.

“This property has a problematic layout.”

Changmei the Daoren muttered to himself as he walked. “If a man lived here alone it wouldn’t matter much, but if the mistress of the house has no husband regularly in residence and a woman lives here alone—trouble will follow in most cases.”

Xiahou Zuo thought to himself: Diudiu’s master really does have some depth to him. Curious, he asked: “What kind of trouble?”

Changmei the Daoren lowered his voice: “A woman living alone year-round, with the master of the house—ahem, I didn’t say anything, forget I spoke—the husband visiting only occasionally… the biggest problem is that the husband’s head is going to be rather green.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “And what does that have to do with feng shui!”

Changmei the Daoren gave an embarrassed smile. “Force of habit. Opening line. Occupational reflex.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “I actually thought you’d seen through heaven’s secrets and noticed something genuinely wrong.”

Changmei the Daoren said: “The mystical and the profound are things I didn’t touch on—you young people don’t put much stock in my methods anyway. But since you’ve raised it, I’ll say a few words… The layout of this courtyard does harm the male head of household. I’m not cursing the magistrate—I genuinely believe this man may face misfortune this year.”

Li Diudiu said: “Please don’t spread such superstitious notions. Could you say something sensible for once?”

His master gave him a sidelong glance. “You’ve gotten above yourself. When you were wandering the jianghu with me, you pushed this kind of thing far harder than I ever did.”

Li Diudiu looked up at the bright moon—which had not yet risen.

He smiled: “I’m hungry. On the way here I made a point of looking, and there are quite a few restaurants in this Qianlie County town. Several of them even had signs out saying they carry all manner of birds and beasts. Let’s set out now.”

Xiahou Zuo looked at Changmei the Daoren again. The Daoren wore the same expression of wronged innocence and said to Xiahou Zuo: “This too… is something that happened after he entered Four Pages Academy. Back when he was with me, he was so easy to feed.”

Xiahou Zuo considered for a moment and said: “Very well, I bear some responsibility for this as well.”

The three of them walked along chatting, making their way down the main street. Li Diudiu’s attention was fixed entirely on the restaurants and eateries lining both sides, though most had thin business and few customers.

“Can’t we just pick any place?”

Xiahou Zuo said: “What are you being picky about? You don’t know any of them.”

Li Diudiu said: “I want to find one that locals are actually eating at.”

Xiahou Zuo was about to reply when the door of a physician’s hall on the roadside opened, and several people emerged, talking with the doctor as they left.

As those people turned after stepping outside, they spotted Li Diudiu’s group—and all of them froze for a moment. One instinctively reached for his waist, but no one among them was carrying a weapon.

That movement did not escape Li Diudiu’s eyes. He pulled Changmei the Daoren behind him in one motion and reached for his own waist as well—only to find he too had no weapon.

“Don’t move!”

The tallest man among them quickly called out: “Young brother, no need to be alarmed. I only came here to have a wound treated.”

Of all the places to run into him—here was the Great Bandit King of Yanshan Camp: Yu Chaozong.

Yu Chaozong offered an apologetic smile. “We startled you. My injuries were rather serious, so I came to find a doctor.”

Li Diudiu narrowed his eyes slightly. A sentence nearly escaped his lips—but he held it back.

A rebel force as large as Yanshan Camp would naturally have their own doctor. And with Yu Chaozong having escaped the ambush and fled to safety, the fact that he didn’t return to Yanshan Camp but instead appeared here in Qianlie County was telling enough—there must be serious internal trouble within Yanshan Camp.

The sentence Li Diudiu had nearly blurted out was… *Does your camp’s doctor have problems too?*

But he didn’t say it aloud.

“Young brother.”

Yu Chaozong clasped his hands in a formal greeting. “I never had a chance to properly thank you last time. The debt of saving my life—”

Li Diudiu waved him off. “There’s no debt of saving your life. I was trying to capture you for credit, except the rock I threw went wide. Then I tried to shoot you down with the crossbow, but that missed too.”

Yu Chaozong immediately understood, and nodded. “I see.”

He was quiet for a moment, then said: “Young brother appears to come from a distinguished background and presumably has no need of help from people like us. But if you ever find yourself in difficulty, come to Yanshan Camp and find me. As long as I draw breath, I won’t leave you without help.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “We never saw you. You never saw us. Go. Nothing more need be said.”

Yu Chaozong gave a quiet sound of assent, clasped his hands toward Xiahou Zuo and Changmei the Daoren as well, then led his companions away.

Li Diudiu looked at Xiahou Zuo: “Let’s go too. Something feels off.”

Xiahou Zuo agreed, and felt the same unease.

A figure like Yu Chaozong had no good reason to take the risk of coming out to find a physician’s hall in town rather than seeking treatment at his mountain stronghold. His appearance here was far from ordinary.

On the other side of town, Yu Chaozong led his people into a restaurant. The proprietor, upon seeing Yu Chaozong enter, instructed the attendants to board up the front door.

No sooner had Yu Chaozong stepped inside than the people already there all surged forward. The second-in-command, Bi Datong, thudded to his knees and pressed his forehead against the floor.

“Brother, punish me as you see fit. I let you suffer these injuries—and so many brothers died for nothing. I have no face left to go on living.”

The third-in-command, Zhou Daoshou, gave a cold snort from behind Yu Chaozong: “If you have no face to live, you can die on your own. Chasing him all the way here to apologize wasn’t necessary.”

Bi Datong lifted his head and said loudly: “A real man owns his mistakes. I came here to apologize to my brother face to face.”

Zhou Daoshou made to speak again, but Yu Chaozong stopped him with a gesture. He went over and helped Bi Datong to his feet, saying: “Hasn’t the matter already been thoroughly investigated? The men were yours, but you knew nothing of what they planned. I don’t blame you.”

Bi Datong said: “If I had been able to keep them in check, none of this would have happened. Brother, I can’t be absolved of responsibility.”

Yu Chaozong raised his hand like a blade and lightly drew it across Bi Datong’s shoulder, then smiled: “Done. We’re even.”

Bi Datong’s face went pale. He dropped to his knees again.

“Brother, punish me. Kill me.”

Yu Chaozong said: “We are sworn brothers—sworn brothers live and die together. If you die, wouldn’t I have to go with you? I have no wish to die, so you cannot die either.”

Zhou Daoshou was beside himself: “Brother, is this matter just going to end like this?!”

Yu Chaozong said: “Yes. What’s past is past.”

Bi Datong rose to his feet: “Bring that animal Guan Shanling out here!”

Several men carried out a blood-soaked figure, dragging him into the main hall and throwing him to the floor. Zhou Daoshou looked him over—the man had been beaten nearly beyond recognition. All four limbs were broken, his mouth had been split open. He could barely be identified as Guan Shanling, and something about this clearly wasn’t right.

“You broke all four of his limbs and destroyed his mouth.”

Zhou Daoshou looked coldly at Bi Datong: “Deliberate, wasn’t it.”

Bi Datong hurried to explain: “Third brother, how can you think that of me? It was his subordinates who learned the truth and couldn’t contain their fury—things got out of hand. They really did lay it on too hard, but I knew nothing of it. When I found him, he was already like this.”

Zhou Daoshou gave a cold smile: “Quite the story.”

Yu Chaozong said: “This matter ends here. Guan Shanling betrayed his brothers—that cannot be forgiven. As for the others… let it go.”

“I’ll do it!”

Bi Datong reached back and drew his saber in a single motion, bringing it down and splitting Guan Shanling’s head open.

“You animal! You dared raise your hand against our brother?! How could I let you live?!”

A second blow—his saber severed Guan Shanling’s neck. The cleaved head fell to the floor, and the gash across the top of his skull gaped open like a bloody mouth, grinning.

Mocking.

—