Though he couldn’t quite say why, when Tian Zhanyuan heard the young man in front of him say *you’ve come to exactly the right person*, he had a vague, nagging feeling that the boy’s smile was somehow… off.

He looked more carefully, and then decided he was being paranoid. With his experience and judgment, he could tell at a glance — the smile on that young man’s face was absolutely not forced.

For someone of that age to produce a smile so convincingly sincere, he would have needed at least ten years of hardened experience on the road. And that was simply impossible. What kind of person sets out into the jianghu before they’re barely out of the cradle? — and not just occasionally, but every single day. Otherwise, a boy of fifteen or sixteen could never pull off acting that persuasive. Unless he was a born prodigy.

Li Diudiu’s smile was not only sincere and disarming — it carried a warmth like a spring breeze, the kind that made people instinctively lower their guard.

What Tian Zhanyuan didn’t know was that everything he’d just thought through was correct.

Li Diudiu may not have had a full ten years of experience on the roads, but he was also a born prodigy — so he had both.

Besides, the way he and Changmei had made their living on the road was through performance.

“This trip to the Yanshan region…”

Li Diudiu lowered his voice and spoke with an air of intrigue. “His Highness originally intended to send me. But in the end he chose my older brother instead. My brother and I are about equal in ability, and we’re around the same height — but he’s a few years older than me. And so… the chance to go out and see the world fell to him. What can you do.”

Li Diudiu continued: “Besides my brother, there’s also my brother’s master — who is also my master’s senior martial brother.”

Tian Zhanyuan mentally sorted through the relationships as he listened.

Li Diudiu went on: “As for the person surnamed Chen that you’re asking about — if you tell me roughly how old he is…” The next line — *so I can make something up for you* — almost slipped out. Fortunately he caught it in time.

Tian Zhanyuan had no real interest in anyone named Chen — he’d invented the whole thing. But the truth was that among the close personal guards around the top commander, Yu Chaozong, there was indeed one of their informants. Without that, they could never have pinpointed Yu Chaozong’s location on so vast a mountain range and set the ambush.

Before leaving the Yanshan camp, Tian Zhanyuan had quietly arranged a secret meeting with that informant.

The informant had told him: the people who rescued Yu Chaozong on the mountain that day included two young men — one who looked around fifteen or sixteen, the other who looked in his mid-twenties — and one old Daoist.

They were believed to be from the Jizhou Army’s main camp: either from Military Governor Zeng Ling’s people, or from Prince Yu’s household.

What the informant hadn’t anticipated was that both Li Diudiu and Xiahou Zuo looked older than they were. One was twelve or thirteen but appeared fifteen or sixteen; the other was seventeen or eighteen but appeared to be in his mid-twenties.

Calling them “mature-looking” was perhaps not entirely fair — “early bloomers” was closer to it. Very early, very thoroughly bloomed.

So on this trip to Jizhou, Tian Zhanyuan’s target was people from the Military Governor’s office and from Prince Yu’s household. The orders he’d given his men were to investigate in both of those directions.

He still didn’t know that Li Diudiu and his group had already returned to Jizhou City. He assumed the people who had rescued Yu Chaozong were still in the Jizhou Army’s main camp.

His plan was to identify them in advance and have everything ready in Jizhou City — so that when those people returned from the Yanshan region, he could strike while they were off guard.

He had never imagined that the person he was looking for was standing right in front of him — pocketing his silver, putting every effort into spinning a story, and genuinely hoping to make it a good one, lest the listener feel short-changed.

So Tian Zhanyuan said, “Young master, let’s set the Chen matter aside for a moment. I was just thinking — you brothers are quite remarkable. Still so young, and already trusted members of Prince Yu’s household. Truly admirable. And your master and your brother’s master as well — extraordinary. Would you be willing to tell me more? I hope that’s not too forward.”

Li Diudiu said, “Not at all. Since you’re curious, I’ll tell you.”

He pulled up a chair and sat down, and with a completely earnest expression began: “My brother and I have had our share of hardship, I suppose. Our background was decent enough — we lived comfortably, you might say. But the family later fell on hard times. Our parents passed early, and it was just the two of us, looking after each other.”

Tian Zhanyuan quickly said, “That truly sounds difficult. Just the two of you, so young, looking after each other — you’ve both suffered.”

Li Diudiu said, “It wasn’t too bad. The family had its assets, so even after the decline, we still lived better than most. It’s just that before, when we went out, our father and mother would press a few hundred taels of silver into our hands for spending money. After, there was none of that. A few hundred taels a day was unthinkable. A few hundred taels a month for allowance, and that was it. Imagine — how tough was that?”

Tian Zhanyuan’s jaw twitched. He thought silently: *tough, my foot.*

Li Diudiu said, “And then when my brother and I were out one day, we ran into our master and our senior master. They could tell at a glance that the two of us were born for martial arts — said our bone structure was extraordinary, a once-in-a-century kind of talent.”

Tian Zhanyuan thought: *That kind of line, any street-corner con man could say with a straight face. They just saw two rich kids worth swindling.*

Li Diudiu, apparently oblivious to the expression on the man’s face, continued with a hint of pride, “After that, our senior master took my brother as a student and our master took me. We both worked hard and persevered, and in the end, after our great-uncle put in a good word with His Highness, we joined the household.”

He added: “Our great-uncle is the head of household administration.”

Tian Zhanyuan’s jaw twitched again. *And what does any of that have to do with your perseverance and hard work?*

The more Li Diudiu talked, the more into it he got. He’d already taken the man’s several hundred taels — if the story wasn’t good, he’d be shortchanging the audience.

After a brief pause, he continued: “To be honest, I’m not fully satisfied about my brother being chosen over me. He’s only a few years older — what else does he have on me? But His Highness felt that being older made him more mature and steady, so the Yanshan assignment went to him.”

The story, though without any obvious holes, was starting to lose Tian Zhanyuan’s interest. His real suspicion was that the people who had rescued Yu Chaozong were agents planted in Jizhou by Yu Chaozong himself.

But looking at the situation now — this young man and his brother, with their background — there was no way they were Yu Chaozong’s people. Yu Chaozong couldn’t have bought them.

Li Diudiu glanced at him and caught the flicker of doubt in Tian Zhanyuan’s eyes. In that instant, Li Diudiu immediately reconsidered — was the story not compelling enough?

Another person might have just kept going with the same thread. But Li Diudiu was a prodigy.

Tian Zhanyuan was lost in thought; Li Diudiu pretended to be lost in thought as well. But his mind was spinning rapidly, trying to work out why Tian Zhanyuan suddenly seemed to lose interest.

Then, all at once, it clicked.

He smiled and said, “What’s truly impressive is actually our master and our senior master. Those two came from Xinzhou in the north — skilled fighters both of them. But times are hard, and wandering the jianghu didn’t put food on the table. They were down on their luck.”

Tian Zhanyuan’s eyes lit up again immediately — and Li Diudiu, seeing that shift, knew he’d guessed right.

The man in front of him had come to Jizhou because of what happened to Yu Chaozong on the mountain. Which meant this person was very likely the main villain in the Yanshan camp.

Li Diudiu felt a surge of delight at the realization.

Any normal person would have felt a trace of worry or fear at this point — after all, this involved matters of life and death. But he felt delighted.

Tian Zhanyuan said, “That would explain it. There are many martial arts sects in the Xinzhou region, and quite a few independent wanderers too — all quite formidable.”

*So most likely*, he thought, *the agents Yu Chaozong planted in Jizhou were those two old Daoists.* He’d been too quick to focus on the young boys as the suspects; in hindsight, that was the wrong assumption from the start. A boy of fifteen or sixteen was not well-suited for that role — Yu Chaozong wouldn’t plant someone barely ten years old in Jizhou to serve as his sleeper agent for several years until they were fifteen or sixteen. Too unreliable.

These two old Daoists he’d never heard of — they must have been outside forces Yu Chaozong controlled. Which effectively confirmed that Yu Chaozong had always had his own plans and intentions.

Tian Zhanyuan cursed Yu Chaozong in his mind, somewhere in the range of seventy or eighty times, covering eight generations of ancestors above and generations of descendants below.

In that moment, he felt that betraying Yu Chaozong was really not such a great sin.

He looked at Li Diudiu and said, “Young master, your master and senior master are formidable, and you and your brother are as well. Without all of that, you could hardly have earned such a trusted position in the household… Speaking of which, I still don’t know your honorable name. Would you be willing to share it?”

Li Diudiu said, “There’s nothing secret about it. I’m called Li Diu. My brother is Li Dui. My master’s Daoist name is Changxu. My senior master’s Daoist name is Changran.”

Tian Zhanyuan thought: *Li Diu and Li Dui — what kind of names are those?*

He committed the names to memory, particularly the two old Daoists, Changxu and Changran. Once he had names, waiting for them to return from the Yanshan region and moving against them wouldn’t be difficult.

He genuinely felt he’d come out ahead. A tremendous gain — even though he’d spent several hundred taels of silver, the information had come to him without any effort at all. It felt like fate.

Li Diudiu felt it was fate as well. He certainly didn’t feel he’d come out short.

And so two foxes looked at each other and laughed — both quite openly, both apparently quite satisfied.

“Running into you like this, young master — what a stroke of fortune. I have a few matters to attend to, but I hope we’ll have a chance to speak again.”

Tian Zhanyuan moved to leave, and said with regret, “My wife is unwell, and I should see her back to the inn. Young master — I hope to be in your good graces going forward. With the backing of the Prince’s household, our business here will be much smoother.”

Li Diudiu’s gaze happened to settle on a ring Tian Zhanyuan was wearing — a beautiful piece of jade, a brilliant green. He didn’t know the quality, but one look told him it was worth something.

So he let his eyes linger there deliberately. Tian Zhanyuan understood at once, slipped the ring off his finger, and offered it to Li Diudiu. “I hope for your continued support in future, young master. We’ll be coming to Jizhou often on business, and with the Prince’s household to vouch for us…”

Li Diudiu took the ring and laughed warmly. “Rest assured. You came to the right person, I promise you that. The household’s business affairs were handed off to my great-uncle two years ago, and because he had too much on his hands, he delegated further to our master and senior master. So… you understand.”

Tian Zhanyuan quickly said, “Understood, understood. If we can count on your support in future, young master, my gratitude will show itself in kind.”

Li Diudiu laughed again, and said with great warmth and satisfaction, “You could say we got off to a rough start, but that’s behind us. From now on, whenever you come to Jizhou, bring your business straight to the Prince’s household and ask for us brothers. As long as it’s nothing too major, we’ll make sure things go smoothly for you. Sit back and count your earnings.”

Tian Zhanyuan also laughed heartily, thanking him repeatedly.

Li Diudiu watched Tian Zhanyuan leave, then turned and went back up to the second floor. The moment he walked in, he started rubbing his face.

Yan Qingzhi asked, “You were talking to that ruffian for so long — what on earth did you say?”

Li Diudiu said, “Ugh, my face nearly cramped from all that fake smiling… This was an unexpected windfall.”

He sat down, looked at Yan Qingzhi, and recounted what had happened at Yanshan. Then he said that these people were almost certainly killers from the Yanshan Brigade’s Green-Brow Army — and that seven or eight chances out of ten, they’d come here looking for Li Diudiu and his master.

After hearing this, Changmei Daoren fell into a thoughtful silence without responding.

Yan Qingzhi asked, “Daoist, are you thinking of a countermeasure?”

Changmei made a quiet sound of acknowledgment. “I’m thinking whether there’s still time for me to disavow the master-disciple relationship with Diudiu.”

Yan Qingzhi froze for a moment, then clasped his hands in salute. “Thank you for the reminder.”

Li Diudiu: “…”

He smiled and said, “What fun this is — let’s count it as some pre-New Year entertainment… That fellow might think running into me was fate. I think so too.”

—