Mo Lili held out the jug. Yu Jiuling showed no sign of fear at all — he sat up and took it.

He twisted open the stopper, raised it to his lips, and gulped down several long mouthfuls, then let out a breath. With those few swallows inside him, some color began returning to his face.

“I genuinely apologize.”

Mo Lili glanced at Yu Jiuling’s legs. “My subordinates showed poor judgment — they had no business hitting that hard. I offer their apologies on their behalf.”

Yu Jiuling set the jug aside. “Why are you apologizing for them? They’ll apologize to my face themselves soon enough. And another thing — is there food? I’m hungry.”

Mo Lili turned immediately. “Bring food for General Yu.”

“Meat,” Yu Jiuling added.

“With meat!” Mo Lili echoed.

Yu Jiuling looked down at his freshly set legs. The pain didn’t make him frown — what made him frown was that he still hadn’t worked out what these people wanted.

“General Yu, this truly was a matter of necessity.”

Mo Lili saw him looking at his legs and offered a further explanation. “General Yu’s lightness technique — we had heard of it. My subordinates just had the chance to witness it firsthand. They told me: to bring the General back, it took over three hundred men, and only succeeded because the General happened to be traveling alone. If you’d been with your unit, no amount of men would have been enough to stop you.”

Yu Jiuling could still manage a smile — but behind it was regret.

If only he hadn’t been in such a hurry. If only he hadn’t thought the column was moving too slowly and set off alone toward Mount Tai. He wouldn’t have walked into their trap.

The boss had reminded him so many times: the realm is not yet secured, enemies are still at large — be careful, and then more careful still.

But he’d fallen back into that same old bad habit. Impatience turned to rashness, and he handed the enemy exactly the opening they needed.

If he’d traveled with the unit to Mount Tai, they might have dared to commit several hundred men to grab him — but several thousand? Not a chance.

He’d made it easy for them himself.

“Thank you for the compliment,” Yu Jiuling said. “Fast legs are about all I have to offer, really.”

“Already more than enough,” Mo Lili said. “Three companies, over three hundred men, giving chase and cutting off every exit — and we still took casualties. The General’s skill is remarkable.”

“Spare the flattery,” Yu Jiuling said. “Tell me why you’ve brought me here. You keep saying ‘invited,’ but being ‘invited’ here involved breaking my legs. What’s next — break my neck?”

Mo Lili said, “General Yu can rest easy. As long as you make no attempt to escape, I give you my word of your safety. We brought you here for one reason only: to exchange you with the King of Ning for Emperor Chu, Yang Jing.”

“Ah…”

Yu Jiuling understood.

He studied Mo Lili. “You’re surprisingly candid about it. Not afraid I’ll kill myself?”

Mo Lili said, “Using General Yu’s life to trade for Yang Jing’s — the General already gets the worse end of that bargain. To die over it on top of that would make it worse still.”

Yu Jiuling actually laughed. “You’re the first enemy I’ve met who’s this polite. And you know how to talk.”

Mo Lili said, “You’re an adversary, yes, but as long as I can avoid harming the General, I won’t. Enemies can settle things face to face, in the open — not by picking off one or two people in the shadows. That’s small-minded, and it accomplishes nothing great.”

Yu Jiuling grinned and pointed at his own legs. “You call this settling things in the open?”

Mo Lili said, “No — this is how we arranged the opportunity to settle things in the open. My apologies for the inconvenience to General Yu.”

Yu Jiuling thought for a moment. “Working for Han Feibao? No… Han Feibao’s been chased ragged by Old Tang. You wouldn’t be going to this much trouble over Yang Jing for his sake.”

Mo Lili said, “We’re from Shuzhou.”

Yu Jiuling made a sound like “ah, I see” — though in truth he hadn’t the faintest idea what that meant.

He was racking his brain: who was left in Shuzhou? Yang Xuanji was dead, Han Feibao was nearly done for — there was no one.

Mo Lili said, “General Yu need only rest and recover. Whatever you want to eat, whatever you need — even a woman, if that’s what you want — we can arrange it. Until we receive the King of Ning’s reply, we will give you no trouble whatsoever.”

Yu Jiuling nodded. “Right then. Let’s eat.”

Mo Lili smiled. “The General is a sensible man.”

*My foot I am,* Yu Jiuling thought. *If I were sensible, I wouldn’t have gotten myself caught, would I? Right now I’m a man under someone else’s roof, getting bullied even by the dogs.*

He didn’t want to die. He knew he couldn’t die. If he died, the boss would erupt with thunder and fury — and he’d certainly avenge him, might even slaughter every enemy in Shuzhou.

But how could he die? As long as he lived, there was still a chance to turn things around.

The boss had told him: if you ever end up in a situation like this, don’t think about anything else. Just stay alive. Leave the rest to him.

Mo Lili watched Yu Jiuling — no resistance whatsoever, not even letting the pain affect his appetite, polishing off enough food for two men with evident gusto. Mo Lili exhaled a quiet sigh of relief.

After eating his fill, Yu Jiuling lay down. Mo Lili rose and said, “Then I’ll leave the General to rest. I apologize for the discomfort. I’ll send word to the King of Ning as quickly as I can.”

“Wait,” said Yu Jiuling.

“Is there a message you want me to pass along to the King of Ning?”

“Bring me a pillow,” said Yu Jiuling. “And a blanket. New ones.”

Mo Lili stared at him for a long moment, then nodded. “I’ll have someone bring them shortly.”

Outside, Flag Officer Jin Jinjin stepped forward. “Sir — are we really sending this man back alive?”

“Of course,” Mo Lili said. “I’ve said it before — as long as our opponents do as agreed, we don’t break the rules. Because the opponent is the King of Ning. You break faith with him, he’ll break faith right back — worse.”

He walked and talked: “Have the horses and carriages ready to move him soon. This location is too close to the main road. There’s too much risk of a military inspection.”

He stopped. “Map.”

A subordinate immediately unfolded a map before him. Mo Lili studied it, then pressed a finger down on a spot. “Move him here.”

The location was to the southeast of Jingzhou, close to the great river — the same place where Han Feibao had once crossed north into Jingzhou. The southern bank was already Liangzhou territory.

He didn’t dare keep Yu Jiuling anywhere near Daxing City. The King of Ning, Li Chi, frightened him too much.

He needed the great river as a barrier against the Ning army, and the complex terrain of Liangzhou to shake off any pursuers.

He planned to make the exchange with the King of Ning at the riverbank. If Li Chi truly came himself, Mo Lili reckoned he had a seventy or eighty percent chance of getting away.

“Move out immediately. Don’t delay. Remember — anyone who lets their guard slip and ruins this will find no mercy from me.”

“Yes, sir!”

Jin Jinjin and the others answered at once.

Several days later, Mo Lili returned to Daxing City. Even then he didn’t rush through the gates — he climbed down from his horse first and walked around to loosen his limbs.

Once some feeling had returned to his body, he gave the order. “Go — straight to the Ning soldiers at the gate. Tell them: Yu Jiuling is in our hands.”

The instruction gave his subordinates a fright. Walking straight up to the enemy like that — what was coming was obvious enough. Yet they didn’t dare disobey. Steeling themselves, they approached the gate.

Not long after, the sound of whistles rang out from the gatehouse. A large contingent of Ning soldiers came running from the gate, surrounding Mo Lili and his group completely in moments.

Half an hour later, Mo Lili and his men were bound and delivered to the former Yu family mansion.

Li Chi stood waiting in the courtyard. He simply stood there — and yet somehow seemed to radiate a cold that was invisible but unmistakable.

The moment Mo Lili was marched in through the gate, he felt that cold — as if it had threaded itself into every pore all at once, and then shot straight for his heart.

He drew a slow breath. He hadn’t expected to feel nervous.

Li Chi waited until Mo Lili was brought before him. Before Mo Lili could speak, he said three words.

“Say it directly.”

Mo Lili didn’t hesitate. He stated his purpose plainly.

After hearing him out, Li Chi asked, “Is Yu Jiuling injured?”

Mo Lili answered, “He is… his legs were broken. I apologized to General Yu and made clear it was a matter of necessity, that we truly had no choice but to—”

Before he could finish, Li Chi turned and gave an order. “Bring Yang Jing.”

Shortly after, the two Magistrate Bureau Qianban officers Fang Xidao and Yu Hongyi escorted Yang Jing over.

Yang Jing was visibly terrified. His face had nearly no color, and his eyes kept darting about.

“The King of Ning asked for me — is something urgent?”

Yang Jing forced the words out.

Li Chi pointed at Mo Lili. “This man has taken Yu Jiuling. He wants to trade Yu Jiuling for you.”

“I had nothing to do with it,” Yang Jing said immediately. “I swear, Your Highness, this has nothing to do with me, I didn’t know anything about—”

Before he finished, Li Chi said, “Doesn’t matter.”

Yang Jing went still.

Li Chi looked at Yang Jing’s legs. “Break them.”

Yu Hongyi and Fang Xidao stood on either side of Yang Jing. At those two words, both of them kicked simultaneously — against the joint, the wrong way. Two sharp *cracks*, and both of Yang Jing’s legs snapped at once.

Li Chi looked at Mo Lili. “You want to trade? I’ll trade with you. You’re offering me Yu Jiuling with broken legs — I’ll give you Yang Jing with broken legs.”

The color had drained from Mo Lili’s face. He had felt the King of Ning’s fury up close. Right now, that cold had spread through his entire body — every pore contracting.

Yang Jing’s screams of agony seemed not to reach him at all. All he could hear was a different sound, ringing in his ears.

Li Chi walked toward Mo Lili. His voice, when he spoke, was still even. “You should not have touched him.”

“When I arrived, General Yu had already been—”

Mo Lili couldn’t finish. Li Chi had already turned away. “Break all their legs too.”

“Move!”

The magistrate soldiers closed in on all sides. In moments, the courtyard filled with howling.

Li Chi, a few steps away now, stopped and turned back to look at Mo Lili, who had crumpled to the ground.

“When you make the exchange, bring every person who injured Yu Jiuling before me. I want every single one of them. I hope you remember this.”

—