Yan Qingzhi looked at Li Diudiu and said, “You should still let Xiahou know about this. He has the Qingyi Ranks to rely on in Changshi City. There shouldn’t be too many men among those bandits from the Yanshan camp, and the Qingyi Ranks are more than capable of handling them — you don’t need to put yourself in danger.”

Li Diudiu made a sound of agreement. He’d tell Xiahou Zuo, of course — but hadn’t yet decided when.

If he told Xiahou Zuo now, the Qingyi Ranks could have those bandits flushed from their inn by tonight.

But Li Diudiu felt that would take all the fun out of it. Not that fun was the most important thing — what mattered more was that he felt there was still more silver to be squeezed from that villain bandit boss.

He turned to his master and asked, “Master, do you remember that wealthy household we met on the road before we reached Yongqing County? The family that was moving to Jizhou?”

Changmei Daoren nodded. “That’s not so long ago — barely a year. How could I forget? We’d been hungry for two days at that point. We came across that wealthy family and read a fortune for the head of the household, and got a few pieces of flatbread out of it.”

Li Diudiu said, “That’s the one. You were doing fortune reading and face reading for the head of the household — and when you got to palm reading, there was a jade ring on his finger. You looked at it for a long time.”

Had Li Diudiu not brought it up, Changmei Daoren would have long forgotten this.

Li Diudiu continued: “Afterward, when the household had gone on their way, I asked you — Master, do you want a ring like that? You said yes, that once you’d earned some honest money you’d buy one for me.”

Li Diudiu produced the jade ring he’d just obtained from Tian Zhanyuan and held it out to his master. “And now — through the honest craft you taught me — I’ve obtained one.”

Changmei Daoren laughed a slightly awkward laugh and glanced at Yan Qingzhi. “Pardon us. Pardon us.”

Yan Qingzhi raised his teacup and took a sip to hide the laughter he really couldn’t suppress. Think about it — what Li Diudiu said wasn’t exactly wrong. His master had said *once you’ve earned some honest money, buy me one* — and Li Diudiu was saying *this is the honest craft you taught me*. The craft itself wasn’t the same as buying one, after all. What did it have to do with buying anything?

“Hm?”

Changmei Daoren took the ring and looked at it — and then his expression shifted slightly.

“This… is the very ring that man was wearing.”

He examined it carefully and then made his determination with certainty.

“I remember clearly — there’s a very fine hairline crack right here. The location matches too.”

Changmei Daoren gazed at the ring and let out a quiet sigh. “It seems I misread things. I told him at the time that if he arrived in Jizhou safely, his household would meet with good fortune. And it turns out they ran into bandits before they even reached Jizhou.”

Li Diudiu and Yan Qingzhi exchanged a look. They, too, fell silent.

In this turbulent world, fate was uncertain.

Perhaps sensing that the mood had grown a little heavy, Changmei Daoren quickly changed the subject. He held up the ring and said, “Diudiu — do you remember what I taught you? Why is a ring called a ‘ring of restraint’?”

Li Diudiu answered: “In the Zhou Dynasty, rings were originally worn by consorts in the imperial palace. When a consort was unavailable for the Emperor’s favor, she would wear one on her hand so that others could tell at a glance. After the empire that defeated Zhou took hold, they had no such custom or rule for their own consorts, and simply found the rings beautiful — so gradually rings became ornamental, and by the time of Dachu, they had naturally been passed down as a form of decoration.”

Changmei Daoren nodded with satisfaction. “I’ll hold onto it for now. When you take a wife someday, I’ll give it as a betrothal gift to her.”

Li Diudiu said, “This is a style made for a man to wear.”

Changmei Daoren said with perfect seriousness, “Given your character, one has to be flexible about these things. Man, woman — a wife is a wife.”

Li Diudiu: “…”

Only after Changmei Daoren said it did he remember that Teacher Yan was present. He felt embarrassed, thinking he should say something — and in a completely involuntary moment, held the ring out toward Yan Qingzhi.

“Teacher — would you like this?”

Yan Qingzhi recoiled in alarm, waving his hands emphatically. “Daoist, that’s… a bit much.”

Li Diudiu burst out laughing. Seeing that Changmei Daoren still hadn’t caught on, he said with a grin, “You just said you’d give that ring to my future wife as a gift, and now you’re turning around and offering it to Teacher Yan. So that settles it — you’ve arranged my marriage for me?”

Teacher Yan coughed several times and quickly steered the conversation elsewhere. “Actually, the significance of the ring has one more layer. Originally, it wasn’t about consorts being unavailable for the Emperor’s favor at all. It was a mark of punishment — a consort who had committed a transgression would wear one on her finger, and the inner palace would know not to arrange for the Emperor to see her.”

Li Diudiu said, “None of that matters right now. What matters is — is this one worth anything?”

Yan Qingzhi took the ring and examined it carefully. “This is a fine piece. Worth several hundred taels at least. The style and condition look as though it’s not new…”

Li Diudiu said, “If it’s not new, then it can’t be worth that much.”

Yan Qingzhi gave him a sideways look. “These markings and this style — this looks like it’s from the Zhou period. Worth money? What do you think?”

Li Diudiu thought about it and saw the logic. Rare objects were worth more the older they were — just as when he’d stepped on his opponent’s new shoe earlier, it wasn’t worth anything, while his own seven-generation-heirloom shoe was priceless.

He’d known this all along. How had he managed to forget?

The three of them finished their meal at the restaurant and prepared to head home. But Li Diudiu knew there were almost certainly eyes on them in the shadows, so the three of them deliberately wandered in a roundabout way for quite some time, made a point of passing by Prince Yu’s household compound, and only then wound their way back home by a circuitous route.

Inside, Li Diudiu brewed tea for his master and Teacher Yan, then sat on the doorstep, chewing on his thumbnail and thinking through how to deal with this situation.

Those bandits were ruthless killers. And they had come here specifically to kill. If things weren’t resolved soon, once they had a fix on the location, there could be dozens of violent men turning up at the door one of these nights.

The real danger was that it was harder to guard against hidden threats than open ones. Who knew what method those men might use?

“I’ll go find Xiahou Zuo and let him know.”

Li Diudiu stood up. “Master, Teacher Yan — don’t go out. That bandit boss mentioned earlier that they’re staying in a nearby inn. If you go out and run into them, that’s not good.”

Changmei Daoren nodded. “Be careful yourself. Don’t go off and take risks on your own. Once you’ve found Xiahou Zuo, if you feel uneasy, don’t come back to sleep here tonight.”

Li Diudiu laughed. “Master is worried I’ll have eyes on me and lead trouble back here?”

Changmei Daoren said, “I’m worried you’ll have eyes on you and come back and implicate us.”

Li Diudiu gave him a thumbs up. “Brilliant.”

Teacher Yan shook his head with a wry smile. He still didn’t know quite what to make of Li Diudiu and Changmei Daoren.

Li Diudiu headed inside. “I’m going to change.”

A short while later, he came back out — dressed in his night-ops outfit, his white-teeth ghost mask in place.

Li Diudiu came out and asked Teacher Yan, “Teacher, what do you think of this getup? Does it strike fear into the heart?”

Teacher Yan turned around and got a fright — his shoulders actually shuddered. Then he let out a sigh. “Maybe tomorrow I’ll go buy a bolt of black cloth so you can have another outfit made. It’s the dead of winter, and you’ve gone out in three-quarter-length pants. Looks a bit… lacking.”

Li Diudiu looked down at his trouser legs. Hm… the pants did seem to have gotten short again.

He laughed and said, “It’s fine, I’m not cold. I’ve got a thin padded layer underneath.”

Teacher Yan said, “I don’t think you’ve understood what I mean. What I mean is — the combination of short pants and padded inner layer is genuinely hard on the eyes. It doesn’t match the intended spirit of a night-ops outfit.”

Li Diudiu laughed awkwardly. Fortunately the mask hid his expression.

Li Diudiu said his farewells to his master and Teacher Yan and slipped out over the back wall. He hadn’t actually planned to go find Xiahou Zuo — he wanted to do a little scouting himself first. There were six or seven inns in the vicinity, large and small, but only two of them were big enough to accommodate a caravan of that size. Finding those people wouldn’t be difficult.

He moved along the base of the walls, keeping himself in shadow as much as possible. The bandits might have lookouts posted, and there were also the city patrol officers making their rounds — best to avoid unnecessary complications.

He moved along the wall of the main street for a stretch, and ahead he spotted two lanterns approaching. He knew it was the patrol officers, and immediately drew back — but at that moment there was nowhere to hide. He had no choice but to trust that those two had poor eyesight.

He pressed himself flat against the wall and watched the two lanterns sway toward him, then pressed his back against the wall even more firmly.

The two patrol officers came along with their lanterns, chatting idly as they walked. By the look of them, they were plenty frightened themselves, keeping to the center of the street and giving wide berth to the shadows along both sides.

One of the officers, mid-walk, suddenly gave a violent start. He grabbed his companion by the arm and pointed in Li Diudiu’s direction. “What… what is that thing?!”

His companion jumped at the sudden fright and looked where he was pointing — and saw a row of big white teeth floating there in the dark.

One look, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. It felt as though every pore on his body was standing to attention.

“It’s… it’s him again!”

The officer yelped in alarm, nearly dropping his lantern.

At those three words — *it’s him again* — Li Diudiu couldn’t help sighing inwardly. *What a coincidence…* The last time he’d climbed out over the academy wall, the first people he’d run into were these exact two.

“A — a — a — a night-demon…”

The two officers were retreating step by step in terror. Li Diudiu could only raise a hand and wave it — which sent them both stumbling to their knees.

“Don’t be afraid.”

Li Diudiu said in a low voice, “I’m only out on business. I’m not here for either of you. Your time has not come. Besides, I don’t take small assignments. One or two deaths — not my concern. I deal only in thirty or more.”

The two men let out a yelp and turned and fled.

*Fortunate*, Li Diudiu thought, *that I’m standing in shadow. Those two didn’t notice the padded pants under the night outfit. Otherwise it would have blown the whole disguise. Who’s ever seen a ghost in three-quarter pants over padded long underwear.*

He watched them run off and thought: *better to keep clear of them too* — if they caught a better look and the cover was blown, he’d have to knock them out, and that was more trouble than it was worth.

He decided to move along the rooftops to avoid contact. One burst of effort and he was up the courtyard wall; another and he was on the roof, running along the ridgeline.

The two patrol officers hadn’t gotten far when one of them, for some reason, glanced back — and saw the big-white-teeth apparition drifting up onto a courtyard wall, then drifting up onto a rooftop, and then fading away in the faint moonlight.

Li Diudiu had no time to worry about whether those two had soaked through their trousers. People these days were deeply superstitious about spirits — if the two of them were too frightened to do anything, all the better. One less complication.

He ran in a straight line to a spot not far from a particular inn and crouched flat on the roof to look it over. One glance told him — people were moving back and forth in the inn’s rear courtyard. *That’s the one.*

People pacing in an armed rear courtyard in the dead of night — they could only be those men.

—