The master and disciple who had originally been heading north gradually changed direction, turning toward the northwest and the county town of Qianlie. This shift left the dozen or so people tailing them from a distance feeling rather confused.
Qijue Blade Sect disciple Guo Lin glanced at his senior brother Chen Songzan, then rode up to ask: “It doesn’t look like they’re heading to Yanshan anymore. Should we still make our move or not?”
Chen Songzan was equally puzzled. After leaving the military camp, those two had ridden straight north—by any reckoning, they were heading to Yanshan. But just as they were nearly at the foot of the mountain, they’d suddenly turned west, catching everyone off guard.
“If we go any further, we won’t be able to stay hidden. They’ll probably spot us.”
Another Qijue Blade Sect disciple, Wang Gan, said: “Before, we had the forest to cover us and could go undetected, but ahead it’s open flatland. Even at a distance of several li, we’d be visible.”
Chen Songzan knew this, of course, but he couldn’t simply turn back. He had no choice but to keep following.
“Let’s see how things develop first. At the very least, they haven’t spotted us yet.”
Chen Songzan said: “In a little while, when we reach that open stretch, we’ll ride past them. There’s only one main road along this highway—as long as they’re still on it, they can’t shake us.”
Up ahead, Li Diudiu was riding his horse with unbridled excitement. He loved this feeling of galloping freely across the land. The wind howled past his ears, making him feel as though nothing in the world was more intoxicating than speed.
“Master!”
Li Diudiu shouted as he rode: “Faster! What’s wrong with going faster!”
Changmei Daoren urged his horse along behind, his old back bouncing so hard it felt ready to snap.
“What’s so great about going fast!”
Changmei Daoren shouted back: “When you’re older, you’ll understand—going fast isn’t good. Not one bit good.”
Li Diudiu sensed there was some other meaning hidden in those words. He slowed his horse down a little and rode alongside Changmei Daoren. They were headed to Qianlie County anyway, not Yanshan Camp, and the distance was barely twenty-some li—no need to hurry.
Seeing that his master’s face did look rather pained, Li Diudiu rode alongside him for a stretch, then let his horse slow to a complete walk along the main road.
Once they were walking, the people behind them had no way to manage. If the two in front were strolling leisurely along, and they immediately slowed to a stroll as well, wouldn’t that be an obvious giveaway?
So the dozen or so people behind had no choice but to steel themselves and charge forward, riding straight past Li Diudiu and his master.
More than a dozen warhorses thundering by—the cloud of dust they kicked up was immense. Li Diudiu and Changmei Daoren, caught in their wake, were left choking and gasping.
“How utterly thoughtless, riding like that!”
Changmei Daoren waved his hand while speaking.
Li Diudiu laughed: “They were probably following us. Once we slowed down, they didn’t dare slow down with us.”
Changmei Daoren said: “If these people intended to strike directly, this stretch—with no village ahead and no inn behind—would be a fine place to do it. Yet they didn’t. Which means whoever sent them didn’t give the order to kill us outright.”
Li Diudiu gave a sound of agreement. His left hand held the reins while his right hand kept a constant grip on the repeating crossbow hanging at his right side. Just now, at the slightest suspicious movement from those people, he would have drawn it.
Changmei Daoren watched the riders disappear into the distance ahead, then turned to Li Diudiu: “Who do you think sent them?”
“Prince Yu, most likely.”
“Say prince without the title—be proper, address him as ‘him.'”
“Last time weren’t you using chickens as the example?”
“Still applies.”
Changmei said: “I think it’s Prince Yu as well.”
These two were never what anyone would call refined folk—typical civility had nothing to do with either of them. Before arriving in Jizhou, they’d been even rougher around the edges than they were now. Even with Li Diudiu having studied at the Four Pages Academy for the better part of a year, his bones were still soaked through with the spirit of the jianghu.
There was no helping it. Raised in the jianghu—that kind of spirit doesn’t come off so easily.
Changmei said: “It seems Prince Yu has already learned that you rescued Yu Chaozong, but doesn’t yet know why you rescued him.”
“Mm.”
Li Diudiu said: “So he didn’t order us killed outright. He’s having us followed and watched. He probably thinks we’re going to Yanshan to deliver a message to Yu Chaozong.”
Changmei suddenly realized something, and looked at Li Diudiu: “So… Prince Yu told Xiahou Zuo about the Green Brow Army on purpose—because he knew full well that Xiahou Zuo would tell you, and he wanted to use that to gauge your reaction?”
Li Diudiu said: “Maybe…”
The two of them had already covered more than half the distance in one stretch. Now only about ten li remained, and even walking without any hurry at all, they’d reach Qianlie County before long. So Li Diudiu simply decided to stop rushing and amble the rest of the way.
Once they slowed down, they discovered that the scenery along the road had its own charms. Although it was the depths of winter, the northern mountain landscape was never beautiful in a delicate way—it was rugged. The stark barrenness of winter and the rough mountain ridges together created a scene of vast grandeur.
The south was full of mountains, especially in Shuzhou, where ten thousand mountains stretched without end, a landscape entirely unlike the Yanshan in the north.
As Li Diudiu put it… he’d heard that the southern mountains stayed green all four seasons. Just thinking about it made them seem somehow less interesting, because those mountains had never known what it felt like to be bare.
Changmei Daoren instinctively raised a hand to touch the top of his own head and felt that Li Diudiu was insulting him.
He wasn’t bald, but his hair was a cause for concern.
“Diu’er, do you understand—if you get entangled with the Green Brow Army again this time, things may become impossible to untangle going forward. I’ve said it before: Yu Chaozong is a man who takes loyalty seriously, and he takes it too seriously. You saved his life, and sooner or later he’ll come looking to repay that debt. And now with this on top of that…”
Changmei Daoren looked at Li Diudiu and said reproachfully: “I, as your master, pulled you out of the jianghu with my own hands…”
He paused, feeling the phrasing wasn’t quite right.
“And now you’ve gone and thrown yourself straight back into it.”
Changmei glared at Li Diudiu: “You’ve chosen this road yourself.”
“Master.”
Li Diudiu said: “When you found me, you knew full well that handling the bodies of those who’d died of plague could very well get you infected too—could get you killed. Yet you still did it.”
“That’s from long ago—let’s set that aside for now. Just take Yongqing County: your stomach was hollow from hunger, yet you still insisted on burying those corpses, some of which had already begun to rot—you risked catching a terrible sickness, yet you still did it.”
He looked at Changmei and said: “Master, I’ve watched you my whole life. You’re actually terrified of death—you dodge and avoid it whenever you can. But whenever something had to be done, you never left a single thing undone.”
Changmei Daoren let out a long sigh.
Then something felt off. He asked angrily: “What do you mean, you’ve watched me your whole life?”
Li Diudiu said: “Just roughly that meaning—don’t dig into it.”
Changmei Daoren said: “This stubborn old jianghu foolishness of mine—don’t you learn it.”
Li Diudiu gave a noncommittal “oh,” dismissive to the point of showing not the slightest respect.
Seeing him like that, Changmei Daoren couldn’t help feeling a twinge of self-reproach. He had never been the kind of person who could stand aside from what wasn’t his concern, and so he had always wanted to shape Li Diudiu into exactly that kind of person.
Being a little more selfish—perhaps that would make for a better life.
And yet, why was there also just a tiny, tiny flicker of pride?
“Isn’t there a part of you that feels… defeated?”
Li Diudiu asked with a cheeky grin: “Everything you tried to teach me, everything you wanted to change about me—I haven’t managed any of it… This isn’t me stirring up trouble, though. If this were my disciple, I wouldn’t be able to hold back—I’d go straight over and shower him with praise, not stingy with a single word, just saying whatever came to mind.”
Changmei Daoren burst out laughing, laughing until tears streamed from his eyes.
Li Diudiu sighed: “Then go ahead and praise me.”
Changmei Daoren struggled for a long moment and finally squeezed out three words.
“Just like me.”
Li Diudiu: “Pfft…”
Neither of them was in any hurry, and by the time they arrived at Qianlie County at a leisurely stroll, they found the inspection at the city gates far stricter than before. The people now running things inside the county were from Prince Yu’s residence. Coming here was about as risky as going to Yanshan—fraught with danger no matter how you looked at it.
When they reached the gate, Li Diudiu and Changmei Daoren produced their Prince Yu’s residence tablets, and the guards immediately relaxed their expressions. Without making any trouble at all, they waved the two through.
But Li Diudiu and Changmei Daoren were people who had made their living reading faces and eyes in the jianghu. A single glance told them what the guards’ eyes were saying.
It was the look of: *So they really did come.* And: *So these are the two.*
“I have the feeling we’ve walked straight into a trap.”
Changmei looked at Li Diudiu and said: “If you and I end our days here, we probably won’t even get a proper coffin. They’ll wrap us in a straw mat and toss us in the mass grave outside the city…”
Just as he finished speaking, several people came hurrying up from behind. The one leading them appeared to be in his thirties, dressed in the official uniform of a constable captain.
He came to a stop before Li Diudiu and Changmei Daoren, clasped his hands in greeting, and said: “You must be Daoist Changmei and Young Master Li Chi?”
Li Diudiu nodded: “That’s us. And you are?”
“I’m also from the Prince’s residence—my name is Liu Que. I’m currently serving as acting constable captain of Qianlie County on the Prince’s orders. I was making my rounds at the city gate just now when my men told me the two of you had arrived. I came specially to ask—is there something you need here? Anything I can help with?”
In the alley behind him, Chen Songzan and the others were hiding, using Liu Que to probe them rather than making a direct approach themselves.
“Well…”
Changmei Daoren let the word hang and looked at Li Diudiu, his expression saying: *This lie—why don’t you be the one to tell it? You’re the mastermind, after all.*
Li Diudiu said: “This is… a little hard to bring up.”
Liu Que smiled: “We’re all from the Prince’s residence—we’re like brothers here. Whatever it is, just say it. If I can help, I’ll do my best.”
Li Diudiu jumped down from his horse, walked up to Liu Que, and in a voice so low it was barely audible, said something to him. Liu Que’s expression shifted from surprise to something increasingly vivid, and he kept stealing glances at Changmei Daoren—the light that flashed in his eyes made the old Daoist feel a cold chill run down his spine.
When Li Diudiu finished speaking, Liu Que burst into loud laughter and kept saying he’d take care of it. Changmei Daoren grew increasingly bewildered, but had a nagging feeling that nothing good could have come out of Li Diudiu’s mouth.
Shortly after, Liu Que had someone lead them along and said he had other matters to attend to, then left. Two constables walked ahead to guide them, whispering to each other as they went—a manner that made Changmei more and more uneasy.
But with those two constables right there, he couldn’t very well ask Li Diudiu what he’d said to Liu Que—that would blow their cover. He had no choice but to swallow his curiosity and follow along.
After about a quarter of an hour, the two constables stopped in front of a certain building. One of them turned to Li Chi and said: “Young Master Li, this is the finest establishment in all of Qianlie County. Tested and proven excellent.”
Li Diudiu clasped his hands: “Many thanks!”
Then he took out two pieces of broken silver and held them out. The two men repeatedly refused, then went off still grinning.
Changmei Daoren raised his head to look at the signboard above the entrance—and felt a cold chill run down his back.
Spring River Pavilion.
Li Diudiu had said it before: any establishment with the word “water” in its name was invariably… not entirely wholesome.
—