Changmei the Daoren’s understanding of “never stir up unnecessary trouble” meant exactly what it said: if you can avoid causing trouble, avoid it; if someone brings trouble to you, run if you can run, fold if you can fold. This was Changmei’s philosophy of getting by in the world.
Put more plainly, his preferred creature was the tortoise — quiet and comfortable when all was well, head tucked safely into its shell when things went wrong. As long as you could outlast the moment, a tortoise could survive a thousand years and a turtle ten thousand.
Heaven only knew how a worldview like that had produced someone like Li Diudiu.
Li Diudiu’s version of “never stir up unnecessary trouble” was to simply resolve whatever came up — no accumulation, no delay, and therefore nothing left to pile up.
The twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month. The Xu Family residence.
Xu Qinglin and his mother both looked at Gao Liang, who stood before them slightly hunched, still trembling faintly.
“You’re certain that Li Chi left the city with you? That he was with you the whole time, never separated?”
Gao Liang nodded emphatically: “Absolutely certain. He never left the carriage from start to finish. I had been entrusted with an important task — how could I afford anything less than total vigilance?”
Madam Xu nodded slowly, concluding that this must indeed have been an accident.
The man called Li Chi and the instructor named Yan Qingzhi had left Jizhou City together, and Xiahou Zuo had never left home the whole time — so her husband’s death could only be an accident.
“You may go,” Madam Xu said, then turned to look at Xu Qinglin. He gave a slight nod, indicating he understood what to do.
Gao Liang was just reaching the doorway when a household attendant came rushing in from outside, voice lowered: “Madam — the officer from the Military Preparedness Army at the city gates who we have an arrangement with has sent word: Li Chi and the others have returned. Same carriage, same three people — Li Chi, Yan Qingzhi, and the driver, all three back together.”
Madam Xu’s expression changed dramatically.
She had sent half the skilled fighters in the household, and somehow a child had come back without a scratch? How could someone so young be this impossible to kill?
“He… he came back?”
Gao Liang’s face went pale. “What now, Madam? I was watching with my own eyes — they must have been surrounded. As for why they didn’t die… Madam, they must have figured out that I and those assassins were working together. Madam?”
Madam Xu breathed deeply to steady herself. After a moment of silence she said: “This Li Chi — clearly we’ve badly underestimated him. So young, and with martial skill this formidable — no wonder Prince Yu values him so highly. Mr. Gao, go rest in the rear courtyard for now. Don’t leave the estate for the time being. As long as you don’t go out, they can’t find you — and if they want to hold someone accountable for this, the blame will fall on Director Gao, not you. What do you have to fear?”
Gao Liang thought it over and found he had no better option. He offered his thanks, bowed, and backed out of the room.
“Mother,” said Xu Qinglin. “How many people in the estate know Gao Liang came here?”
“Quite a few of the household know he’s here, but no one knows he’s Master Yuming’s disciple.”
Xu Qinglin said: “What if… we found a way to have the authorities arrest Li Chi and his master on charges of colluding with rebel remnants?”
Madam Xu stared at him, then automatically looked toward her son: “Linr, that’s not a bad idea in principle, but there’s no way to actually do it. If Gao Liang were arrested, wouldn’t he implicate us first?”
She thought for a moment and continued: “And besides, a scheme like that would inevitably drag Director Gao into it. A treason charge — even Director Gao couldn’t weather that.”
Xu Qinglin said: “If handled carefully enough, we could exert influence to ensure Director Gao’s family emerges unscathed — first pull them into the net, then pull them back out…”
Madam Xu’s expression shifted. She nodded. “That way Director Gao would be deeply indebted to our family.”
“And then I could go forward with the betrothal…” Xu Qinglin continued.
“Qinglin!”
Madam Xu’s eyes suddenly widened and she looked at him with barely contained anger: “Your father has only just died. You must observe three years of mourning… At a time like this, how could you — how could you even have such thoughts?”
Xu Qinglin only now caught himself and jolted back to his senses. He immediately bowed low: “Your son spoke out of turn. Please forgive me, Mother.”
—
Meanwhile, at Li Diudiu’s home.
The three returning travelers had picked up quite a few new year’s goods on the way back. The courtyard was already hung with red lanterns — the whole place already had a distinct air of the coming festival.
Yu Jiuling smiled: “Now that the Xu Family has problems of their own, they probably won’t have the heart to scheme anything further for a while. We can have a proper, peaceful New Year.”
Yan Qingzhi had originally been a teacher with no desires beyond his books — yet now he found himself drawn into Li Diudiu’s affairs. Li Diudiu felt genuinely guilty about this and tried his best to keep Yan Qingzhi from getting pulled in any deeper.
So he caught Yu Jiuling’s eye and gave him a quick look, then said with a smile: “This year’s New Year is looking a lot livelier. Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve — how about we each make our best dish?”
He glanced at Mr. Yan, who smiled and said: “That’s not much of a challenge. Mine will be better than yours at the very least.”
Li Diudiu then looked toward Zhuang Wudi. Zhuang Wudi said: “Not cooking.”
Li Diudiu: “…”
Zhuang Wudi paused for a beat, then said: “Bigger things.”
The sudden non-sequitur of “bigger things” left everyone mildly baffled — they’d been talking about cooking, and now somehow they’d arrived at matters of importance.
Zhuang Wudi paused again, then said: “Claim territory.”
Li Diudiu now understood what Zhuang Wudi meant. The city was roiling with hidden currents — since Yiji Hall had been wiped out, a large gap had opened up in the city’s underworld, and if they could take over even a portion of what Yiji Hall used to run, there was real potential in that.
But Li Diudiu shook his head. “The business of collecting money to kill people — I won’t do that.”
Zhuang Wudi looked at him: “Predators eating predators.”
Li Diudiu blinked.
Mr. Yan had finally worked out what was being said. He looked at Li Diudiu: “What Zhuang Wudi means is: Yiji Hall is gone, so there are plenty of eyes on what it leaves behind — the underworld’s players will be scrambling to carve it up. We’ll be the mantis.”
Yu Jiuling looked around at everyone, then pointed to himself: “Our mantis crew is a little short on numbers.”
He sighed: “One old man, one schoolteacher, two fighters, one runner…”
Li Diudiu said: “Seven or eight parts of Yiji Hall’s territory will probably be absorbed by the Azure Formation. What other power in this city would dare stand against the Azure Formation?”
After the fall of the former Prefectural Administrator Lian Gongming’s faction, the Azure Formation had come to dominate the city’s underworld unchallenged.
Zhuang Wudi said: “Swallow the small ones.”
Classic thinking from a mountain bandit — because he was, in fact, a mountain bandit.
Mr. Yan said: “We’re on the back foot at every turn right now. We genuinely need to accumulate strength, because only with enough strength can we resist, and only with enough strength do we have any bargaining power. So I actually agree with Zhuang Wudi — swallow the small ones.”
He looked at Zhuang Wudi: “He is genuinely formidable.”
Li Diudiu couldn’t help it — he pulled Mr. Yan aside and said: “Teacher, this will drag you in deeper. You’re at the Academy…”
Yan Qingzhi let out a slow sigh and said: “Before, I’d had no exposure to the world outside the Academy — I told myself that nothing and no one had anything to do with me. But now that I’ve been exposed to it, I see clearly that the Academy is no paradise. Li Chi, you want to do something that matters — I’ll help you do it. The sacred texts can’t save this world. Then let martial skill save it.”
He looked at Li Chi and continued: “Though in truth, martial skill can’t save it either. No single swordsman can, no matter how great. First you must secure your footing, then move forward step by step. If you want to be a hero of the age, you must make your choices — and as your teacher, I too must make mine.”
Li Diudiu hadn’t fully understood Yan Qingzhi’s thinking, and felt he shouldn’t be putting his teacher in this position.
But how could he have known what had shifted in Yan Qingzhi’s heart over these past weeks and months? What Yan Qingzhi had wanted was a life free of worldly entanglement — teaching, tending a garden, light and easy. But then he had come to realize: wasn’t Li Chi doing exactly that, trying to live free from worldly entanglement? And yet it was utterly meaningless, because the world came to entangle him anyway.
In a time of peace and prosperity, a man like Yan Qingzhi would never have had such thoughts. But times were different now.
Yan Qingzhi said: “If Prince Yu truly harbors great ambitions one day, Jizhou will become the target of all eyes, and the great majority of people in this city will be swept along by whatever current comes. I no longer want to be one of those who simply drift with the current.”
Li Diudiu nodded: “I’ll follow your lead, Teacher.”
Yan Qingzhi smiled and said: “Call it a gamble on my part. You went to Tangxian and saved Master Yuming. Just now you devised the scheme that killed Xu Sheng. No ordinary thirteen-year-old could do either of those things. You’re no ordinary person — you’re a prodigy. I’m betting you’ll grow into an even greater one.”
There was one more thing Yan Qingzhi left unsaid, because he felt it was still too early.
The founding Emperor of Great Chu had raised his banner in rebellion at twenty-six, and established the dynasty at thirty-three — the youngest hero ever recorded in the annals of history.
Li Diudiu was only thirteen — exactly half the founding Emperor’s age at the start.
“Let’s split up and have a look around. It’s not New Year’s Eve until tomorrow.”
Yu Jiuling spoke up from the side with a smile: “We’ll scout out which players in Jizhou City are small enough to swallow — and figure out how to swallow them…”
He glanced around the group and sighed again: “But honestly, is there anyone smaller than us? We’re five people total, acting like we’re something grand.”
Zhuang Wudi said: “It’s enough.”
Yu Jiuling: “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go… let’s walk out that door like men who shake the world.”
Those self-important underworld figures in Jizhou City could never have imagined that in this small courtyard, five people were sitting around discussing how to swallow them whole.
If they had known, they probably would have laughed.
And yet it was genuinely no laughing matter.
What was rather ironic, though, was this: by all rights, weren’t these five supposed to be decent, law-abiding people?
Yu Jiuling the chatterbox and Zhuang Wudi the silent one formed their impromptu duo and headed out to gather intelligence on the underworld. Changmei the Daoren, Mr. Yan, and Li Diudiu settled down in the courtyard.
Mr. Yan looked at Li Diudiu and said: “I didn’t say something earlier… I think the Xu Family won’t let this go so easily. Even without evidence linking you to any of this, people like them don’t need evidence to act. That’s just how they are.”
Li Diudiu made a sound of agreement: “I know.”
He looked at Mr. Yan, paused for a moment, then said: “If they were going to let it go, we’d never see Gao Liang again. If they’re not going to let it go, Gao Liang will give himself away again soon enough.”
Mr. Yan thought it through and understood.
He thought to himself: Li Chi really is a prodigy.
He smiled and said: “Now that we’re officially a shadowy organization, every gang worth its salt has a name with some flair and presence — the Azure Formation, the Golden Feather Tower, the Little Qiao House, the Lingyan Hall… Shouldn’t we come up with something refined of our own?”
Changmei the Daoren thought for a moment and said: “Look at the shadowy powers in this city — their names all have a certain literary elegance. The Azure Formation, the Golden Feather Tower, the Little Qiao House, the Lingyan Hall… We should find something dignified too.”
Mr. Yan said: “We’re different from them — we intend to act with honor. So what about calling ourselves the Five Heroes?”
“Hand,” Li Diudiu suddenly said.
Mr. Yan blinked: “What?”
Li Diudiu raised his hand and turned it over, back and forth: “Hand.”
—