Li Diudiu looked down at his foot. The bushy-bearded man immediately broke into a grin and addressed Li Diudiu in a tone of apparently sincere apology. “What’s the matter — did I step on your foot? Terribly sorry about that. I’ve always walked in a straight line and don’t much bother looking at what’s on the ground.”

He paused, then laughed and said, “You might not believe me, but there was a dog in my way once. I stepped right on it and crushed it dead.”

“Old Seven!”

Someone nearby called out: “The boss said not to cause trouble.”

The man called Old Seven made a sound of acknowledgment and shot his companion a look that said *what could possibly happen*, then turned back to Li Diudiu. “Do you need me to compensate you a couple of coins? Looking at that fair skin of yours — I’ve heard there are plenty of men of standing in Jizhou City who have a taste for pretty boys like you. Now that I’ve stepped on your foot, you’re not going to send your patron after me, are you?”

Yan Qingzhi stepped forward. Li Diudiu put out a hand to stop him.

“Oh ho!”

Old Seven looked as though he’d had a fright, and said in a tone of apology, “So your patron is right here, is he? Out for a meal with your husband and your father, I take it? Terribly sorry — take a look at that foot, see if it’s damaged. I’ll pay you back.”

Yan Qingzhi’s expression darkened.

But Li Diudiu laughed — warm and unhurried. “It’s nothing. It was just a foot getting stepped on. My foot’s not worth that much. No need for compensation.”

Old Seven laughed heartily. The man was more than half a head taller than Li Diudiu; he leaned forward and looked down at him. “Then I’ll be on my way.”

Li Diudiu shook his head. “My foot is fine, but you stepped on my shoe. That’s another matter.”

Old Seven paused at those words, and instinctively looked down at the cloth shoes on Li Diudiu’s feet, then laughed again.

“So what you’re saying is — I owe you a new pair of shoes?”

Li Diudiu shook his head again. “No new shoes needed. Just pay me in coin.”

“Ha! I’ll be damned — you really are something.”

Old Seven and his crew were killers to the man — when had any of them ever been afraid of a young boy like Li Diudiu? The truth was that among the rebel forces, not all of them were ordinary commoners who had turned to rebellion out of desperation. A fair number were simply men who loved to bully and brawl.

Even without the rebellion, they would have been local thugs and scoundrels.

Old Seven had enjoyed picking on people from his village days. Big, tall, and far stronger than an ordinary person, he didn’t only pick on those he disliked — he picked on those he liked just as much. When the rebel army arrived in his village, the first thing he did was grab a chopping blade and storm the home of the local wealthy family, killing his way from the front door to the back. Someone later asked whether that family had often mistreated him. Old Seven said no — he simply couldn’t stand that they had money. He barely had enough to eat, so why should they have meat at every meal?

At this moment, Li Diudiu’s demand for shoe compensation gave Old Seven the sense that he was in for some entertainment.

He laughed and cursed — “well that’s an education” — then asked Li Diudiu, “And what are those shoes of yours worth?”

Li Diudiu said, “My shoes are not ordinary shoes. The left one has been passed down through seven generations. The right one through nine. You stepped on the right one, so that’s the more expensive one… Two hundred taels ought to cover it.”

“Trying to con me, are you?”

Old Seven raised that great fan-like hand of his and swung it straight at Li Diudiu’s face.

“I’ll teach you to con me!”

Along with that rush of air came Old Seven’s roar.

With a sharp crack — Li Diudiu, moving with what looked like effortless ease, caught Old Seven’s wrist. Old Seven’s hand met what felt like an invisible wall. Not only did it stop dead, but the wrist felt as though it had simply snapped.

Li Diudiu said, in the same calm tone, “Don’t want to pay? That’s also possible. You stepped on me once, I step on you once, and we call it even.”

He looked back at Changmei Daoren. “Master, is that fair? We haven’t been disrespectful or unreasonable, have we?”

Yan Qingzhi had assumed Changmei Daoren would be afraid of trouble and urge Li Diudiu to stand down. He had already prepared himself to shield the old Daoist if a fight broke out.

But to his surprise, Changmei Daoren nodded and said, “That’s right. No disrespect, nothing unreasonable. And we don’t have to take a loss either. He stepped on you once, you step on him once — perfectly fair.”

It was as if Li Diudiu had received a general’s order. The corners of his mouth curved upward.

Thud!

Li Diudiu brought his foot down on Old Seven’s right foot. The moment it landed, Old Seven’s foot flattened — genuinely flattened — and where Li Diudiu’s foot struck, the stone slab beneath cracked open in two places.

That was solid flagstone.

Li Diudiu looked down at it with an expression that seemed almost regretful.

“Hm? Looks like I ruined your shoe.”

He released his grip on Old Seven’s wrist. Old Seven collapsed to the floor in agony. The shoe on his foot had burst open almost all the way around — a well-made cloth shoe it had been, double-stitched with hemp cord, sturdy enough for long wear. But now nearly every stitch had split, and the flesh seemed on the verge of squeezing out through the split seams.

Li Diudiu reached into his sleeve and tossed a small piece of silver beside Old Seven, then looked down at the man — whose face had contorted with pain — and still spoke in that same warm, unhurried tone. “Your shoes look new. Probably not a seven-generation heirloom. So roughly a tael of silver should do it. You wouldn’t pay me, so I’ll pay you.”

He hadn’t finished speaking before one of Old Seven’s companions could no longer restrain himself and kicked hard at Li Diudiu’s chest. Li Diudiu waited until the foot was nearly at his chest before raising his hand, seizing the man’s ankle, and then wrenching backward in one long, powerful step.

That step was unquestionably far beyond the limit of the man’s splits.

Faintly — very faintly — something like a tearing sound could be heard.

Li Diudiu stepped back and stood there, one hand still holding the man’s ankle. The man’s face had twisted into something much like Old Seven’s.

“Are you trying to compensate me with your shoe?”

Li Diudiu looked at the foot, then shook his head. “Also a new shoe. Doesn’t fetch much — and the size is wrong besides.”

He lifted his hand. “No thank you.”

The man’s body pitched backward and landed on the flagstones, the back of his head striking hard. He went blank on impact.

The innkeeper and staff hurried over to intervene. But Changmei Daoren happened to have a medallion from Prince Yu’s household on him. He unhooked it and held it up. “Mind your own business.”

The mountain bandits who had been moving to intervene all stopped. One of them could read; he kept his voice low. “These three are people from Prince Yu’s household.”

Back in the Yanshan territory, even a prince’s household might have meant little to them — they had no qualms raiding wealthy estates. But this was Jizhou City. People from Prince Yu’s household were not to be trifled with.

“What’s going on?!”

Tian Zhanyuan strolled down the staircase at a leisurely pace, walking with an interesting gait — each step punctuated by a slight pause, the whole manner carrying an air of great consequence.

“A misunderstanding. Just a misunderstanding.”

One of the bandits saw their boss coming down and quickly bowed. “Boss, there was a little collision going down the stairs with these three. Old Seven got roughed up.”

Tian Zhanyuan was just about to say *whoever hit my man isn’t getting out of this easily* — when he caught sight of the household medallion in Changmei Daoren’s hand. The words on his lips were swallowed back.

“Useless!”

Tian Zhanyuan immediately quickened his pace, dropped the deliberate one-step-pause style altogether, and swept his leg in a swift kick right across Old Seven’s face as he came down. Two teeth went flying.

“You bumped into honored guests and you’re not apologizing?!”

A thunderous shout from Tian Zhanyuan.

Old Seven struggled upright, bowing his head over and over in apology, his words slurred and muffled — likely because the teeth that had just been kicked out had made a brief stop on his tongue before departing. Whether that was the teeth’s callousness or the tongue’s failure to hold on, they parted ways all the same.

“Sorry, sorry, I beg your pardon, young master.”

Old Seven spoke with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, stealing sidelong glances at Tian Zhanyuan’s expression all the while.

Tian Zhanyuan leaned toward Li Diudiu and said, “Young master, this was my man’s lack of manners. He’s always been crude — never studied, never learned proper conduct. I apologize on his behalf. I believe I just heard mention of him stepping on and ruining young master’s shoe. I’ll offer compensation.”

Li Diudiu shook his head. “The shoe money can be waived. He stepped on me, I stepped on him — let’s leave it at that.”

As he spoke, he appeared not to be looking at Tian Zhanyuan in particular — but in truth he was watching the man’s hands carefully. The moment Tian Zhanyuan clasped his fists in a greeting, Li Diudiu noticed the calluses at the base of his thumb.

Only someone who had gripped a blade for years upon years could develop calluses like that. But this man didn’t carry himself like a soldier — there wasn’t the slightest trace of military bearing about him. And in the flicker of his gaze, there was cold, vicious cunning.

So that left only one possibility…

The rebel forces closer to Jizhou City had all been swept away by Prince Wu leading the Left Defense Guard’s army. No one would dare come into Jizhou City to stir up trouble — unless they were the Green-Brow Army. When you worked through the options, only the Green-Brow Army had the nerve.

At this moment, with the Green-Brow Army being pressed hard by the Left Defense Guard, they were still bold enough to dispatch people into Jizhou — likely to cause trouble of some kind.

Li Diudiu thought all of this through, but didn’t yet realize these people had come specifically for him.

Tian Zhanyuan smiled and said, “Compensation is still necessary. My man has no manners, but that doesn’t mean I should be without manners as well. I believe I heard young master say two hundred taels? I’ll cover it.”

He produced a sheaf of banknotes from his sleeve, counted out several, and offered them to Li Diudiu. “These are notes redeemable at official Dachu treasury branches. Exactly two hundred taels. Please accept them, young master.”

Li Diudiu didn’t stand on ceremony — he took the notes and turned to pass them to his master. “Master, take these.”

Changmei Daoren showed even less ceremony; he took them and stuffed them straight into his own sleeve.

Tian Zhanyuan said, “On top of this, as a further gesture of apology — allow me to treat you to dinner tonight. I hope young master will do me the honor.”

Li Diudiu said, “I don’t know yet how much we’ll eat or what we’ll order — so there’s no need for you to play host.”

Just as Tian Zhanyuan was about to respond, Li Diudiu said, quite matter-of-factly, “Just cash it out.”

Those words actually left Tian Zhanyuan momentarily speechless. *Is this really someone from Prince Yu’s household? People from the Prince’s household shouldn’t have this kind of manner.*

But he had his own agenda, and he wasn’t short of money. He naturally wasn’t going to refuse. He counted out another hundred taels and offered them to Li Diudiu. “Very well then — here you are.”

Li Diudiu took the notes and passed them to his master again. “Order something.”

Changmei responded cheerfully, “Right then.”

Tian Zhanyuan offered another apology and dismissed his men with a gesture, then turned back to Li Diudiu with a humble manner and chatted with him briefly before saying, “We’ve come down from Xinzhou in the north, traveling on business. My wife has fallen ill and can’t make the journey home, so we plan to spend the New Year here in Jizhou City and see how things go after that.”

He paused, then smiled and said, “When we arrived, we happened to see the imperial army — the Left Defense Guard’s banner, the banner of the Jizhou Military Governor’s office, and faintly, the banner of Prince Yu’s household as well. Young master also appears to be from Prince Yu’s household — I haven’t mistaken that, have I?”

Li Diudiu suddenly smiled. He was beginning to find this man interesting.

So he answered immediately, “You haven’t mistaken it. There were indeed people from our household there. His Highness was also with the army. Is there something you need?”

Tian Zhanyuan quickly said, “Nothing major — it’s just that among the people there, one of them looked like an old friend of mine. We hadn’t seen each other in many years. I remember him from childhood — we used to play together. I only knew his nickname, ‘Second Tiger.’ I never did know his real name.”

Li Diudiu said, “Second Tiger? I haven’t heard that name. What’s his family name?”

Tian Zhanyuan said, “Chen.”

Li Diudiu nodded. “There are several people surnamed Chen. I’m not sure which one you mean. Would you like me to go through the names one by one so you can see if any ring a bell?”

Tian Zhanyuan immediately brightened. “Yes, please! Thank you so much, young master. Please, go ahead.”

Li Diudiu looked down at his hand and rubbed his fingers together — a very deliberate gesture, almost talking to himself. “Off the top of my head, recalling everyone’s name at once — that’s a bit of a challenge.”

Tian Zhanyuan understood immediately. He handed over the banknotes he had on him and lowered his voice. “I’ll be honest with you, young master. I lied just now. That person is a close relative of mine. Years ago, there was a falling out in the family and he left home. If this really is him, I’d like to bring him back to see his parents. After so many years, what can’t be forgiven? Don’t you think, young master?”

Li Diudiu nodded. “You’re absolutely right.”

He looked at the banknotes in his hand and felt that he owed it to them to come up with a really good story.

So he smiled pleasantly and said, “For asking about who from our household went north to the Yanshan region — you’ve come to exactly the right person. There is no one more right than me.”

—