Lu Chonglou was brought by Mister Yan and the High Dean to Yibin Garden. When he learned the High Dean’s identity, his heart had already been trembling slightly — now arriving at Yibin Garden itself, he grew even more nervous.

Who would have thought that one bit of business tonight would finally give his little tavern — which had gone months without a single customer — some income at last, only to set off such a grand commotion?

To say he was not nervous would be a lie — for the person he was about to meet was none other than Ning Wang, whom he had always held in deep admiration.

His palms were sweating, and as he walked he kept wiping them on his clothes, but it seemed as though they could not be fully dried.

Mister Yan and the High Dean, like two men who had found a treasure, were delighted, and brought Lu Chonglou directly before Li Chi.

The two of them had Lu Chonglou explain his ideas to Li Chi in detail. When Li Chi finished listening, his face carried an expression that seemed to say: where did these two dig up such a gem?

“Mister.”

Li Chi looked at Mister Yan and said: “The matters proposed by Mister Lu — I entrust them to you to oversee. The High Dean must not be overworked, so Mister will have to put in extra effort.”

He then looked at Lu Chonglou: “As for the new currency — it will require coordination and planning between Mister Yan and the officials in the rear. At the earliest it will be half a year before there are results, and once it is ready to be minted, the earliest would be a year.”

He took Lu Chonglou’s hand: “But matters of governing the people can begin at once. Please, Mister Lu, bear with me and act temporarily as an inspector for the Jiangnan provinces. In matters of governing the people, Mister Lu may exercise his own judgment.”

Lu Chonglou was thunderstruck — he had never imagined that Ning Wang would entrust him with such weighty responsibility.

This position of inspector for the Jiangnan provinces had no real precedent to speak of, so there was no easy way to say what rank it carried.

But in terms of real authority, it was vast beyond measure. Every territory the Ning army conquered was his to inspect, and every matter of civil administration was his to involve himself in.

Those local officials with their formal ranks, no matter how senior, would have to listen to him.

“Your servant dares not accept so great a charge — I would be willing to serve as attendant to the High Dean and Mister Yan, and assist the two gentlemen in their work.”

Mister Yan helped Lu Chonglou to his feet: “My lord has said you may — and thus you may. Declining is not what you should do. Doing the work well — that is the right path.”

Lu Chonglou looked at Li Chi, and Li Chi smiled: “I am an extremely lazy person. Having finally encountered someone like you who can handle governing affairs on my behalf, how could I not use you? The more you do, the more I can slack off — so it is for my own laziness that I employ people. Your declining is useless — I use people in order to slack off more.”

Lu Chonglou had no choice but to bow again in salute. Li Chi helped him up: “I have heard that your household’s aged wine has a rich and mellow flavor — I’d like to try some.”

Standing to one side, Yu Jiuling heard this, and the corner of his mouth curved slightly upward. He then turned and slipped out the door.

Lu Chonglou quickly said: “But…”

Li Chi smiled: “But there are only turnip peelings, isn’t that right?”

He took Lu Chonglou’s hand and walked out with long strides: “Mister told me your pickled turnip peelings are a delicacy of the human world — of course I must try them.”

Lu Chonglou was pulled along by Li Chi’s brisk stride, and before he knew it his eyes had grown moist — his emotions were truly beyond calming.

Everyone returned to that tiny little tavern. Li Chi had Lu Chonglou bring out all the aged wine he had stored away, and Lu Chonglou gave a start, saying there were still several tens of crocks of wine — they might not be able to finish it all.

Before the words had fully left his mouth, Xiahou Zhuo was already lifting the curtain and stepping through the door: “I heard there was aged wine worth drinking?”

He set down some cooked food on the table: “I don’t know if these rather commonplace cuts of cooked meat can measure up.”

Li Chi said: “The meat measures up. You — not necessarily. Out you go.”

Xiahou Zhuo said: “You want me to leave after I’ve smelled the wine? Unwillingly drunk wine is even sweeter — into my mouth it shall go.”

He sat himself down with a thud: “Come on then, open me a crock.”

He had barely sat down when Tantai Yajing and Yu Jiuling entered together — one carrying some cooked dishes, the other some dried fruits and pastries.

“I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight — someone must be secretly drinking behind our backs.”

Tantai Yajing sat down: “I smelled the wine in my dreams and here I am.”

Li Chi pointed at Yu Jiuling: “You explain — you say you came in your dreams, so why did Ninth Sister come with you? And from where did he rise in his dreams?”

Yu Jiuling said: “I take turns — never playing favorites. Last night I slept with Xiahou, tonight I sleep with Tantai, and tomorrow…”

He looked at Lu Chonglou and smiled: “Is Mister Lu free tomorrow?”

This question left Lu Chonglou completely stumped — he had a belly full of talent and learning, but had no idea how to respond to such shameless words.

Seeing that Lu Chonglou actually showed a hint of shyness, Yu Jiuling burst out laughing: “Mister Lu must get used to us quickly — otherwise what will you do in the future?”

Li Chi smiled: “The one who just sat down is Xiahou Zhuo. This one is Tantai Yajing. That one there… is not important.”

Yu Jiuling: “Hey!”

Li Chi smiled: “He is my Cavalry Camp General, Yu Jiuling.”

Lu Chonglou quickly rose to salute, but Xiahou Zhuo pressed him back down: “What’s all this formality — we haven’t stood on ceremony with you, so don’t stand on ceremony with us.”

While they were talking, Zhuang Wudi, Gao Zhen, and Cheng Wujie entered together. The moment Zhuang Wudi was through the door he sniffed the air.

“Good wine.”

He sat down and stretched out his hand: “Bowl.”

Li Chi smiled: “They all came bearing wine and food. Big Brother Zhuang, you came empty-handed.”

Zhuang Wudi: “I’m stingy.”

Then he pointed at Cheng Wujie and Gao Zhen, who were equally empty-handed: “Same for them.”

Everyone burst out laughing, and then they saw Zhuang Wudi pull out a packet of silver from his breast and set it on the table: “I’m stingy about food, not about wine — the cost of the wine is on me.”

Lu Chonglou quickly said: “There is no need for payment…”

Zhuang Wudi looked at him: “Sit down.”

Lu Chonglou was startled by the way Zhuang Wudi looked at him, and everyone burst out laughing again.

Cheng Wujie said: “Flattering my lord — how can we let Big Brother Zhuang take all the credit? Treating my lord to wine, flattering my lord — we should all share in it. I’ll take my share.”

He also untied his coin pouch: “Count me in.”

Gao Zhen placed his coin pouch down: “I have never been one to fall behind — you won’t shake me off.”

And then Lu Chonglou suddenly understood: this was not really about coming to drink at all. These people had come to give him money.

Knowing that his life was straitened, and that he had only just joined — only just taken up his position — but could not yet draw a salary, they had all come.

Mister Yan said: “Just accept it all. You are to take up an official post and travel on inspection tours — with no money in your pocket, you will lack some measure of confidence. This money is all payment for your wine — it is your own household’s savings. And I” — he pointed at himself — “my role, too, is to give you the backbone to stand straight. Under Ning Wang’s governance, I have your back, and no one will be able to make me waver.”

Lu Chonglou was profoundly moved, and bowed in salute: “Mister — I will surely remember this. And please let Ning Wang rest easy as well: I know what I must do.”

Li Chi laughed: “Big Brother Zhuang, close your mouth and drink.”

Zhuang Wudi: “Close my mouth and drink?”

Lu Chonglou looked at all these great figures and suddenly could hold himself together no more — he burst into tears with a cry.

Zhuang Wudi looked at this scholar who wept and could not stop, and let out a sigh: “There are very few people these days who can still be moved to tears by us.”

Li Chi smiled: “Big Brother Zhuang — close your mouth. Drink.”

Zhuang Wudi: “Close my mouth, drink?”

Lu Chonglou had never in the least imagined it — the people in his tiny little tavern grew more and more numerous, and even Gao Xining arrived.

Several tens of crocks of aged wine — and yet Ning Wang and his people drank them completely dry in only half a night.

As the company took their leave and departed, there were several tens of empty wine crocks scattered across the floor of his home, and several tens of coin pouches heaped on the table.

After Li Chi and the others had left, Mister Yan patted Lu Chonglou on the shoulder: “What Ning Wang has given you — accept it boldly, and do not overthink it. Out there in the field, you will encounter countless temptations. What others give you — that is what you must be wary of.”

Now Lu Chonglou truly understood Ning Wang and Mister Yan’s profound care, and quickly bowed: “Please, Mister, be at ease — and please let Ning Wang be at ease as well. I know what I must do.”

Mister Yan said: “My lord places great hopes in you. If the minting of new currency and the purchasing of official grain succeed, it will be a tremendous merit. When my lord advances you out of turn in the future, he will have the standing to do so.”

He pointed at the coin pouches, and then pointed at himself: “These, and I — are both the backbone my lord gives you. You accomplish the work well, and that becomes the backbone for my lord to promote you. The coin money’s purpose is to make you stand tall; my purpose is also to make you stand tall. Under Ning Wang’s rule, I will be your backing, and no one will be able to make me give way.”

Lu Chonglou was overwhelmed with gratitude and bowed deeply: “Mister — I will surely remember.”

When Li Chi and the others returned to Yibin Garden, Li Chi looked at Xiahou Zhuo’s flushed cheeks and smiled: “Seems last night with Ninth Sister went quite well.”

Yu Jiuling said: “Not well at all — before Xiahou fell asleep he warned me that if he heard me snoring, he would kick me out.”

He looked deeply aggrieved: “But who would have thought — not only did he snore, he also ground his teeth, and he passed wind, and in the middle of the night he mounted me…”

Li Chi: “Mounted you?”

Yu Jiuling: “…”

Tantai Yajing raised a hand to wipe his forehead: “That was close, that was close.”

Before long, Mister Yan returned, and everyone discussed together the remarkably detailed twenty-four articles on governing the people that Lu Chonglou had proposed — the more they talked, the more they felt this man was a true talent.

“By the way.”

Mister Yan said: “Xu Ji could be transferred from Jizhou — in matters of governing the people, there are few with more experience than him.”

Li Chi frowned slightly. Mister Yan saw Li Chi’s reaction and asked: “You do not wish him to come?”

Li Chi shook his head: “It is of no consequence. Mister is right — in governing the people, no one has more experience than Xu Ji. He oversaw both Yuzhou and Jizhou and had real accomplishments in both. It would be good to transfer him here.”

Mister Yan said: “If you feel it is not fitting, then we could transfer Mister Lian instead — others would not be able to hold their own among Jiangnan’s many scholars either.”

Li Chi said: “Still, let us transfer Xu Ji. Mister may write on my behalf — let Mister Lian take over as Military Commissioner of Jizhou, and oversee Jizhou’s affairs. The main priority remains getting Changan City properly rebuilt.”

Mister Yan nodded: “Very well.”

Xiahou Zhuo looked at Li Chi — in Li Chi’s eyes he caught a fleeting trace of something complicated.

Once everyone had left, Xiahou Zhuo asked Li Chi: “Do you think Xu Ji is someone who cannot be trusted with heavy responsibility over the long term?”

Li Chi said: “Not that — Xu Ji can be trusted with heavy responsibility. But not for too long… Mister Yan said to transfer him here, and he is right. I cannot let my own view of Xu Ji interfere with Mister Yan’s arrangements. For governing the people in Jiangnan, having Xu Ji here would make the work twice as effective with half the effort.”

Xiahou Zhuo said: “Then just see how things go. Bring him first, and if later he shows some wrongdoing, reassign him elsewhere.”

Li Chi shook his head slightly: “Xu Ji… it is not a question of reassigning him somewhere else — it is a question of…”

He paused there.

That time in Yuzhou, when Xu Ji had turned a blind eye to the rebellion — had it truly only been to exploit the incident for merit and reward? The people in Yang Xuanji’s camp — had they truly only made contact with the officials under Xu Ji’s governance, and never with Xu Ji himself?

Yet Xu Ji had later rendered great merit: with ten thousand civilian laborers, he had bluffed the great brigands of Qingzhou into retreat and preserved Jizhou against collapse.

Jizhou’s prosperity today also owed something to Xu Ji’s efforts. Moreover, Xu Ji’s talent was something few could match.

Li Chi let out a soft sigh. Xiahou Zhuo, seeing this, smiled: “If you’re worried this man cannot be trusted over the long term, just stop using him later — why make it so complicated?”

Li Chi sat in silence for a moment, then said: “Xu Ji’s trouble may not be confined to the short run of ‘later.'”

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