After listening to Li Diudiu’s question, Auntie Wu clearly didn’t want to answer. She really wanted to just turn around and walk away. But she genuinely liked this child — he was naturally handsome, with fine features, and lately he’d eaten a little more and filled out slightly, making him look even more pleasant than when they’d first met.

Most importantly, Li Diudiu’s eyes seemed to speak all on their own. Others had bright flecks of light in their dark irises too, those same two or three points of light — but Li Diudiu’s eyes, the more you looked at them, the more they resembled stars: clear and penetrating.

“Young Master Li.”

Auntie Wu said hesitantly, “It’s not that I won’t tell you — it’s that anything about that person isn’t something people in the academy dare to just bring up freely. Just remember to stay away from him. That’s all you need to know.”

With that, she turned and retreated to the back kitchen, as though she hadn’t dared say a word more.

“Stay away from him again.”

Li Diudiu muttered to himself — and the more he heard it, the more curious he became.

Just then, Xiahou Zuo came strolling in from outside, a folding fan tucked slantwise into his collar, looking thoroughly rakish and casual.

“Auntie Wu.”

Xiahou Zuo called toward the kitchen. “One portion of dumplings.”

Auntie Wu jumped at the sound, then rushed out to attend to him. “Yes, yes, of course — right away, Young Master Xiahou. What filling would you like?”

Xiahou Zuo pointed at Li Diudiu. “Whatever he was having before.”

Li Diudiu said, “But you don’t like them. Last time you spat one out.”

Xiahou Zuo glanced at Li Diudiu sideways. “Does that concern you?”

Li Diudiu was at a loss for words.

Xiahou Zuo sat down, leaning back in his chair. He swung both legs up onto the table. Li Diudiu said, “That’s a table people eat at.”

Xiahou Zuo asked, “So?”

Li Diudiu said, “So put your feet down.”

Xiahou Zuo had no intention of listening to Li Diudiu. He grinned and asked, “I heard you went around asking how much a house costs yesterday?”

Li Diudiu was startled — how did this man know everything? Who had told him?

“I just found out just now. My junior apprentice sister asked me to apologize on her behalf.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “She was held back by the Dean, which is why she couldn’t come back. Don’t blame her.”

Li Diudiu nodded. “It’s nothing.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “Forget about buying a house. First — you can’t earn that much money. Second — even if you could, no one would sell to you. In Jizhou city right now, the most valuable thing there is is a house. Outsiders are breaking down the doors trying to get in. There are plenty of people richer than you, but those who’ve actually managed to buy a house are few and far between.”

Li Diudiu said, “Thank you.”

“Thank you?”

Xiahou Zuo let out a mocking laugh. “You really think you can set up property in Jizhou city?”

Li Diudiu didn’t answer. He turned back and called to Auntie Wu, “Auntie Wu, four portions of dumplings, please.”

Xiahou Zuo frowned. “You eat these every single day. Don’t you get tired of them?”

Li Diudiu borrowed his tone and said back, “Does that concern you?”

Xiahou Zuo seemed to find this interesting. Inside all of Four Pages Academy, there were very few people who dared say those three words to his face. Li Diudiu’s complete ignorance of the situation, the way he spoke without the faintest hint of calculation — Xiahou Zuo found it rather amusing.

Li Diudiu, while waiting for Auntie Wu to bring the dumplings, asked curiously, “Senior Brother — why are you helping me? Pity?”

Xiahou Zuo laughed. “What else? If it’s not pity, what — do you think I actually like you? I do whatever I feel like. Pitying a person is no different to me than pitying a stray cat or dog.”

Li Diudiu was quiet for a moment. “Still, thank you.”

Xiahou Zuo made a dismissive sound. “Same as before — no need. I took your money.”

Li Diudiu said, “You don’t need the money.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “No, I don’t. For you, buying a house worth around two hundred taels of silver would be like scaling the heavens. For me, two hundred taels isn’t even enough for one month’s spending money. Envious?”

Li Diudiu suddenly recalled the column of mounted soldiers he and his master had encountered on the road to Jizhou. The officer leading them had seemed far more imposing than Xiahou Zuo — a man by the name of Luo Jing, said to be the youngest top martial artist on Dachu’s northern frontier.

That day his master had also asked him the same question: envious?

Li Diudiu’s answer at the time had been: yes.

But now, hearing Xiahou Zuo ask the same thing, he suddenly realized he didn’t feel even the slightest envy. So he shook his head.

Xiahou Zuo asked, “Not envious? Truly or falsely?”

Li Diudiu said, “Truly.”

“Why not?”

“Because there’s nothing to be envious about.”

Li Diudiu saw the dumplings arrive, and a smile crept to the corner of his mouth. Seeing that expression, Xiahou Zuo couldn’t help but sigh with a touch of pity. “Right — someone like you, a single meal of dumplings can make you smile. That’s your contentment. You’re not envious of me because you can’t even see clearly what my life looks like.”

Li Diudiu ate and said, “The dumplings will get sticky soon. Eat quickly.”

Xiahou Zuo felt Li Diudiu was a plank of wood — you could chip at him all day and not get through.

“Let me ask you something.”

He looked Li Diudiu in the eye and asked, “How many people have told you to stay away from me?”

Li Diudiu didn’t answer — just kept eating his dumplings.

Xiahou Zuo, for some reason he couldn’t name, suddenly felt a surge of anger at the sight of him. He swung his palm wide, sweeping everything off the table. Dishes clattered across the floor in a cascade of noise. Everyone in the dining hall jolted with fright.

“To hell with the food!”

Xiahou Zuo shot to his feet, reached out and seized Li Diudiu by the collar. The strength in his arm was extraordinary — he lifted Li Diudiu clean off the ground with one hand. Li Diudiu’s feet left the floor, suspended in mid-air.

“Tell me. How many people have told you to stay away from me?”

Xiahou Zuo asked again. Li Diudiu looked at his eyes — something red had crept into them. He didn’t understand why Xiahou Zuo had become so agitated so suddenly, but he still didn’t want to answer. The ones who’d said it were Teacher Yan Qingzhi and Auntie Wu — neither of whom Li Diudiu was willing to name.

Everyone in the hall was watching. Auntie Wu had gone pale as a sheet. She opened her mouth as if to speak, then ultimately swallowed the words back down.

The more Li Diudiu refused to speak, the more Xiahou Zuo’s expression shifted into something twisted and violent. At one particular moment, Li Diudiu even caught the flash of something murderous in Xiahou Zuo’s eyes — killing intent, surely. And in that same moment, Li Diudiu had already thought of at least three ways to break free.

A moment later, the murderous light in Xiahou Zuo’s eyes gradually faded. There was even a flicker of remorse that came and went in an instant.

He set Li Diudiu back down and called toward the kitchen, “Four more portions of dumplings.”

Li Diudiu quietly exhaled in relief. In that moment just now, he’d nearly lost control and acted — because he’d sensed the threat. His master had said: when martial skill reaches its peak, it becomes the art of killing. Do not use the art of killing lightly, except in a matter of life and death.

After a long while, Xiahou Zuo looked at Li Diudiu and asked, “Do you want to understand me?”

Li Diudiu nodded. “I do.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “Eat. When you’re done, come with me.”

The dumplings on the table had all been swept to the floor. Seeing Xiahou Zuo had calmed, Auntie Wu hurried to clean up the mess. A short while later, four portions of dumplings arrived. Xiahou Zuo picked up his chopsticks and ate.

“Those are mine,” Li Diudiu said earnestly. “Four portions — mine. Yours is one portion.”

Xiahou Zuo didn’t stop. He ate with great mouthfuls, and ate exactly twenty dumplings — no more, no less. When he finished he set down his chopsticks. “I forgot to ask for my own portion.”

A seventeen or eighteen-year-old young man eating one portion of dumplings left him quite full. Li Diudiu ate three portions and felt he hadn’t had enough.

“Let’s go.”

Xiahou Zuo didn’t wait to see whether he’d eaten his fill. He stood and headed out. Li Diudiu hurried after him, looking back at Auntie Wu with an apologetic smile. Auntie Wu’s eyes were full of concern — Li Diudiu could read what that look meant. Auntie Wu’s eyes were saying: stay away from him.

“You have about half a quarter-hour before you need to be in class. Let’s use that time to let you get to know me a little.”

Xiahou Zuo walked and talked. Ahead, several academy students came toward them. He gave a wave, and those students clearly tensed — but they didn’t dare not come. Heads bowed, they trotted over and all bowed at once.

“Senior Brother.”

They all called out in unison, deeply deferential.

“Could you mess with me if you wanted to?” Xiahou Zuo asked.

Those students shook their heads like rattles.

Xiahou Zuo asked again, “Could your families mess with me if they wanted to?”

The students shook their heads even faster.

Xiahou Zuo gave a satisfied nod. “Get lost.”

At that, those academy students scattered with the relief of men released from a sentence.

Xiahou Zuo put his hands behind his head and strolled forward at a leisurely pace, talking as he went. “This academy is supposed to be a place for reading the words of the sages — but I have no interest in reading any sage’s words. Whoever threw me in here finds me an eyesore. Maybe they were hoping that with my temper, I’d go around stirring up trouble and eventually run into someone tough enough to take me out for good. Unfortunately for them, no one quite dares to kill me.”

Li Diudiu didn’t quite follow.

“I’m a bastard.”

Xiahou Zuo stopped in his tracks, turned to look at Li Diudiu, and said, “You think being an orphan is pitiful? Ha!”

He burst out laughing — laughter that distorted his face — but there wasn’t a trace of joy in it. It was the kind of laughter that made the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

Xiahou Zuo kept walking. More academy students came from ahead. Xiahou Zuo beckoned, and like the ones before them, they came trembling to stand before him and bow.

“Go buy me some peach shortbread and almond biscuits from Li’s shop and bring them to my residence.”

One command, and those students immediately bent and scraped and ran to obey.

“That’s what I am.”

Xiahou Zuo glanced at Li Diudiu. “Now get lost too.”

Li Diudiu let out a sigh. “Do you sometimes feel sorry for yourself too?”

Xiahou Zuo glared at him. “Me, sorry for myself? I have more money than I can spend — what would I have to feel sorry about? You’re the pathetic one… With one word, I could have someone go to any length to arrange a house — not spend a single copper — but I won’t help you, because what I’m capable of has nothing to do with you.”

Li Diudiu nodded. “I know.”

Xiahou Zuo blinked, then looked at Li Diudiu and asked, “Still not envious?”

Li Diudiu gave a sound of agreement. “Not envious.”

Xiahou Zuo studied him for a long while, then burst out laughing again. “You really are one hell of a strange creature… If anyone ever gives you trouble from now on, you can come find me. You can tell people you’re my junior.”

“No.”

Li Diudiu said with complete sincerity, “No one can bully me. Not unless I allow it.”

This time Xiahou Zuo laughed until tears came to his eyes. He clapped Li Diudiu on the shoulder. “I believe you.”

Li Diudiu said with the gravity of someone twice his age, “You should believe me.”

Then he turned and walked away.

“I have to get to class. The key is with me — if I don’t go, Teacher will scold me.”

Xiahou Zuo watched the boy disappear into the distance and couldn’t help shaking his head quietly to himself. “Why is it that I feel like this fellow is happier than I am? I have everything. He has nothing.”

—