All along the road Lu Chonglou walked and watched. During rest stops he sat alone in his carriage writing, and every day that they traveled, he worked. By the time they reached the first major city, he had completed a policy essay on Shu — over ten thousand characters.

But he didn’t rush to hand it to Li Chi, because he felt it wasn’t ready yet.

What he had seen was not all of Shu, and what he had heard was not the full voice of its people.

So he set the essay aside and prepared instead to request an audience with Li Chi — to ask permission to leave the main party with only two or three attendants and travel the region more widely on his own.

He hadn’t yet left his room when he saw Yu Jiuling sauntering over, carrying a rather new-looking food box.

Yu Jiuling set it on the table. “Lifted this for you from the dinner table.”

Lu Chonglou was startled. “Has dinner already been served?”

“It has,” Yu Jiuling said. “Lord Lu is the only one who truly forgets to eat and sleep around here. Unlike me — mine’s all an act.”

He pointed at the food box. “Actually, this was my lord who had me bring it to you. He saw you hadn’t come to eat, and when the others wanted to go fetch you, my lord said not to disturb you. So he sent me with a portion.”

Lu Chonglou felt a warmth in his chest. He began unpacking the food box and asked, “General Yu said just now that your own forgetting-to-eat is an act. How can forgetting to eat be an act?”

Yu Jiuling sat down, poured himself a cup of tea, and said, “Does Lord Lu know my wife is from the Western Regions?”

Lu Chonglou didn’t know. He wasn’t someone who kept up with such things. Outside of official matters, almost nothing held his attention. He nodded, still not understanding what a Western Regions wife had to do with theatrical forgetfulness.

Yu Jiuling said, “Has Lord Lu ever eaten Western Regions food?”

Lu Chonglou shook his head. “To be honest, I’ve barely met anyone from the Western Regions.”

Yu Jiuling sighed. “I have…”

Lu Chonglou thought: of course you have — your wife is from there. That’s hardly remarkable. But from Yu Jiuling’s tone, this was clearly not a boast.

“The taste of it…”

Another sigh. Then Yu Jiuling asked, “Lord Lu, have you ever eaten pig slop?”

Lu Chonglou: “…”

He looked at Yu Jiuling, not daring to ask. He just looked. Yu Jiuling gave a solemn, heavy nod. In that moment, Lu Chonglou’s heart filled with pity.

Yu Jiuling said, “So I’ve always told her cooking is hard on a woman’s hands — she shouldn’t do it. She was delighted, thought I was looking after her, and so she cooks for me even more eagerly than before.”

Lu Chonglou sighed in solidarity.

“So eventually,” Yu Jiuling said, “whenever she says she’s made something, I say I have urgent official business, can’t be held up, food has to wait. My wife goes around telling everyone her husband is a man who forgets to eat and sleep for the sake of his duty.”

He looked at Lu Chonglou. “You don’t know — I’ve never understood why, but the people of the Western Regions turn their food into paste. How to describe it… imagine mixing bran and kitchen scraps and stirring until it’s thick and glutinous. The kind you’d feed to pigs…”

Lu Chonglou interrupted gently: “General, you don’t need to go on.”

Yu Jiuling: “She says it’s clean and hygienic.”

Lu Chonglou: “I’m sure that’s true.”

Yu Jiuling stared at him. After a pause Lu Chonglou added: “But I don’t think I could eat it either.”

He looked at the food Yu Jiuling had brought him and suddenly felt profoundly grateful to be alive.

“Oh,” Yu Jiuling added with a grin. “My lord also told me to tell you — stop hiding what you’ve written. Take it out and let him have a look.”

Lu Chonglou thought: he really does see straight through everyone. But the Shu policy essay still felt unfinished. He hesitated, just starting to speak — when Yu Jiuling continued.

“My lord also said: don’t think about waiting until you’ve traveled more widely to revise it. You’ll have all the time in the world to walk around Shu later.”

And he gave Lu Chonglou a meaningful look.

Lu Chonglou may have been slow at certain things, but he understood that. My lord has already decided to station me in Shu.

It made sense. If he were sent back to Yue Prefecture, the odds were poor. Xu Ji had tried to have him killed once and hadn’t succeeded; someone like Xu Ji never let a thing like that go.

Even if he weren’t sent to Yue but returned to the capital Daxing, Xu Ji’s reach would follow him there.

Lu Chonglou glanced at the food once more and found he no longer had any appetite. He seized the Shu policy essay from his bundle, tucked it under his arm, apologized to Yu Jiuling, and rushed out.

Yu Jiuling looked at the untouched food, thought it a shame to waste it, and sat down to eat.

Wasting food was something Li Chi had never permitted.

After eating, Yu Jiuling had nothing pressing to do. He glanced at Lu Chonglou’s luggage — a small, modest bundle. Probably just two changes of clothing for a man who already held a fourth-rank post.

It made his chest a little tight. Why was it always the good officials who went without?

Li Chi’s party was currently in Cheng Prefecture, one of the major cities of Shu — large enough in population and scale to rank in the top five. The city still looked somewhat rough around the edges; Shen Shanhu’s army had only just pushed through, and the people left in charge were military through and through, with little experience in governance.

Li Chi had taken up residence in the rear courtyard of the Cheng Prefecture administrative yamen, and was sitting in the garden chatting idly with Cao Lie.

Cao Lie hadn’t left Shu yet either. With nothing urgent calling him back to Yu Prefecture, Li Chi intended for him to stay a while longer.

“Shu is full of men of ability,” Li Chi said, pouring tea for Cao Lie. “The people here have strong spirits. Lu Chonglou is a man of great talent — fit to govern a nation — but he hasn’t learned the art of officialdom. Stay on a while longer and help him.”

Cao Lie smiled. “What my lord means is that Lu Chonglou is not as cunning as I am.”

Li Chi: “How many people are more cunning than you?”

Cao Lie: “There is one right in front of me, my lord.”

Li Chi smiled. “Shu has complicated loyalties. Pei Qi is dead, but there are certainly those in Shu who would avenge him — and once I leave, their target will be Lu Chonglou.”

Cao Lie: “So I must protect him and teach him how to navigate people — I’m doing several men’s work…”

Li Chi: “And one more thing. If Shu runs short on funds early on, pay the salaries of all the Shu officials out of your own pocket for the time being…”

Cao Lie stood up. “Is it too late to switch sides?”

Li Chi: “Sit down.”

Cao Lie: “Yes, sir.”

Li Chi said, “We’ll discuss mutiny later. First — the business here in Shu. The region is rich in goods and products. The horse merchant guilds can move goods within Shu, but they can’t get anything beyond its borders. If we could…”

Cao Lie nodded. “I’m in.”

Li Chi smiled wryly. “Still want to commit mutiny?”

Cao Lie: “Let me see the profit margins first. If the business is good enough, I’ll shelve the mutiny.”

Li Chi said, “This is also part of why I’m keeping you in Shu for now. Once you’ve sorted out the trade, find a capable lieutenant to stay on long-term. The horse guild business grows, your overland cargo business grows, and the guild folk settle down.”

Cao Lie: “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. What if the freight trade doesn’t bring in enough to cover your Shu officials’ salaries?”

Li Chi: “Then we’ll dip into your reserves elsewhere.”

Cao Lie: “…”

Li Chi smiled. “Here’s what I’ll offer: Shu silk. I’ve done the numbers — the annual revenue from it is considerable. For the first ten years, all Shu silk trade leaving the region goes to you.”

Cao Lie: “You used to just take and never give. Now you’re giving and taking at the same time. Have you changed your ways?”

Li Chi: “…”

Cao Lie: “Now I’m unsettled.”

Li Chi: “Is that ungrateful or what?”

Cao Lie: “A little. But who’s to blame for it.”

Li Chi rose, walked to the window, and stood looking out. “Getting Shu stable — the agricultural side is manageable, we have enough experience there. So the priority has to be stabilizing commerce. To stabilize commerce, first stabilize the horse guilds…”

He turned to look at Cao Lie. “How about I give you a nominal appointment — Deputy Chief of the Horse Guild?”

Cao Lie sighed. “Now I finally understand where the scheme has been hiding.”

Li Chi laughed. “Too much cleverness brings suffering.”

Cao Lie: “I’m suffering right now…”

The moment Li Chi mentioned the deputy guild post, Cao Lie understood in an instant. Li Chi had just said: to stabilize commerce, first stabilize the guilds. And now a deputy post.

To get the guild to trust an outsider with trade beyond Shu, you needed to tie the guild to Cao Lie’s freight business. Give Cao Lie a nominal guild title. In return, the guild would send someone into Cao Lie’s operation.

Two parties watching each other. Mutual accountability.

Cao Lie looked at Li Chi. “You still need to give me something more.”

Li Chi: “There’s some good news.”

Cao Lie: “What is it?”

Li Chi: “You go to the guild as Deputy Chief — they pay your salary. You don’t have to pay yourself.”

Cao Lie: “Not enough.”

Li Chi: “Why?”

Cao Lie: “Because the guild person they send to my operation — I’d have to pay their wages, right?”

Li Chi: “Isn’t that perfectly natural?”

Cao Lie: “So where’s the good news?”

Li Chi turned and looked at Cao Lie with absolute seriousness. “Think about it carefully. You go to the guild as Deputy Chief, and they pay you — isn’t that good news? Their person comes to you, and you pay them — isn’t that good news for them? Good news for you, good news for them. Two good things. That’s a double blessing.”

Cao Lie: “Thank goodness you didn’t go into business…”

Li Chi smiled. “Let me tell you one more piece of good news.”

Cao Lie: “I don’t want to hear it.”

Li Chi: “You’ll want this one.”

Cao Lie: “…”

Li Chi: “I’ll probably be getting married when I reach Ji Prefecture.”

Cao Lie: “You’re getting married in Ji Prefecture, and you’ve left me here in Shu — I can’t go. And that’s good news for me?!”

Li Chi: “The person can’t come, but a gift can. For me, that’s wonderful — I receive the gift without having to feed you dinner. How good is that? Three blessings at once, when you think about it.”

Cao Lie stood. “I’ll see myself out.”

—