The very next morning, word had already spread throughout the academy: Sun Biehe and the others had been stuffed into burlap sacks and beaten senseless. Sun Biehe in particular had been left with a swollen, bruised face — and had soiled himself in the process.

What made it even more humiliating was that they had been lined up in a row and left at the academy’s front gates. Though they had been placed there in the dead of night, the incident had stirred nearly every instructor in the academy — and even the headmaster himself had been roused from sleep.

Word had it that the Jizhou authorities had also been alerted, though the headmaster had quietly suppressed the matter. But there was no question that this would cause a tremendous stir. Sun Biehe’s family held considerable influence — they were among the notable clans in Jizhou City — and the other boys came from families of similar standing.

What had been lost was not merely the dignity of those few individuals, but the face of their entire families.

Li Diudiu walked into the dining hall as though none of it had anything to do with him, intending simply to have breakfast. He was surprised to find Xiahou Zuo already seated at his usual spot, clearly having timed his arrival precisely. The dumplings were already on the table, still steaming.

Li Diudiu shook his head with a rueful smile. “I didn’t think you’d be this much of a gossip.”

Xiahou Zuo leaned forward and asked in a low voice, “Satisfying?”

Li Diudiu tilted his head. “I thought it would be. But now I feel… nothing, really.”

Xiahou Zuo asked curiously, “Why not satisfying?”

“Probably because I didn’t get to fight back out in the open,” Li Diudiu said. “So it doesn’t feel like much.”

Xiahou Zuo couldn’t help but laugh. “You fool… There’s not much open and above board in this world. Sun Biehe is so much older than you and even he didn’t dare confront you directly — he resorted to those underhanded, filthy tactics. You gave him a taste of his own medicine. There’s nothing shameful about that.”

“Still,” Li Diudiu said, “I feel like something’s missing.”

He looked at Xiahou Zuo. “Is there really that little room in this world for doing things openly and honorably?”

“Of course there isn’t,” Xiahou Zuo answered plainly. He met Li Diudiu’s eyes and said with sincerity, “The person who ambushed me not long ago used exactly the same methods as the ones who came after you. If I had to guess, it was my own useless brothers — older and younger — who put Sun Biehe up to it. But I never fought back in the open either. You want to know why?”

Li Diudiu shook his head. “I don’t.”

“Because a petty creature like Sun Biehe ambushing me once is something he’d gloat about for the rest of his life — like he’d accomplished something grand. But I don’t even have him in my eyes. Beating him would be easy, but pointless. So instead I went home.”

Li Diudiu looked at him. “And beat your brothers?”

Xiahou Zuo nodded. “Same method as yours — drugged them first, then burlap sacks over their heads, and a good thrashing. They knew perfectly well who did it, just as Sun Biehe knows perfectly well it was you. Relatively speaking, what we did was already quite forthright.”

Li Diudiu considered this, then asked, “What about a person who always conducts himself with complete integrity? Someone who, no matter what scheming is thrown at him, faces it all in the open — and defeats every opponent that way?”

Xiahou Zuo thought for a moment. “That… would be a saint.”

“A saint?”

Li Diudiu fell into a long silence.

“Eat your dumplings.”

Xiahou Zuo picked up his chopsticks. “I never used to understand what was so good about them. Lately I can’t get enough. Strange, isn’t it?”

Li Diudiu smiled. “You are who you spend time with.”

Xiahou Zuo shook his head. “Spending time with the virtuous doesn’t necessarily make you virtuous. Spending time with a pig will definitely make you gluttonous, lazy, and content to eat your way through life.”

“Mm,” Li Diudiu said. “That’s aimed at me.”

Xiahou Zuo looked at him seriously. “You have real ability — enough to take revenge on your own. Have you given any thought to what you actually want? Are you really going to spend years in this academy, accomplish nothing, pass the preliminary civil exams, and spend your life writing letters for people?”

“I’m only eleven,” Li Diudiu said plainly.

“There were men who became chief ministers at twelve. You think eleven is still young?”

“Then you tell me your plans first,” Li Diudiu said.

“I told you before — I’m going to the northern frontier. The border army.”

“The border army?” Li Diudiu asked, curious. “What makes it different?”

Xiahou Zuo let out a long breath, his gaze distant and full of longing. “The sharpest force in the world — the border army. The most unyielding — the border army. The most magnificent — the border army. It’s not enough to just put on a uniform and call yourself a soldier. The border army — that’s where true soldiers are.”

He ate as he spoke. “You know, every soldier in Dachu wears a peony on their uniform. It’s the national flower. The Imperial Guards wear gold peonies. The regional garrison troops wear silver. But the border army — their peonies are red. Blood red.”

He paused a moment before adding quietly, “Dyed in blood.”

When Xiahou Zuo finished his portion, he looked over to see Li Diudiu already working through his third serving. He sighed. “Can you not eat quite so much?”

Li Diudiu shook his head. “I can cut back on anything else. Not food.”

“Aren’t you afraid of Sun Biehe’s revenge?” Xiahou Zuo asked. “Even if you beat his brains in, he still knows it was you. That man is cruel and vindictive.”

“I already have a brilliant plan,” Li Diudiu said.

Xiahou Zuo leaned in with interest. “Oh? Tell me.”

Li Diudiu suddenly sat bolt upright and said in a startled voice, “What?! You beat all of them? With a sack over their heads?!”

Xiahou Zuo stared. “What the—”

Li Diudiu shrugged. “Nobody’s listening.”

Xiahou Zuo glanced around the hall and realized that the few students who had been eating earlier had quietly slipped away — probably not wanting to be seen sitting near the two of them, in case anyone drew the wrong conclusion.

“Watch yourself,” Xiahou Zuo said, rising to leave. “If things get to be too much, you can come find me — but you should understand what that means. The moment you ask for help, you’re one step below me. You’ll become my little errand-runner, doing whatever I say, because you’ll owe me.”

Li Diudiu nodded. “Understood. Keep dreaming.”

Xiahou Zuo burst out laughing. “I do love you, you little rascal — small as you are, with more nerve than anyone twice your size.”

Li Diudiu clicked his tongue.

Xiahou Zuo wasn’t actually worried that Li Diudiu would go around telling people he was the one who had beaten Sun Biehe and the others. Even without Li Diudiu saying a word, plenty of people were already speculating about whether it had been him. He had carried this kind of suspicion before and was used to it.

It often happened that when Sun Biehe’s type bullied a quieter student, the story would somehow twist until Xiahou Zuo was said to have been behind it. Xiahou Zuo never bothered defending himself. His usual approach was: if Sun Biehe was going to slander him, he’d simply go beat Sun Biehe.

When class time came around, Li Diudiu had just finished sweeping the classroom when Sun Rugong entered, his expression dark and stormy. He fixed Li Diudiu with a hard stare, making no effort to hide his hostility this time.

“It was you,” Sun Rugong said.

“It was you,” Li Diudiu replied.

Sun Rugong snorted. “We’re even, then. We’ll see what comes next.”

“Next is too far away,” Li Diudiu said. “Let’s settle it now.”

He reached out to grab Sun Rugong’s collar — and to his genuine surprise, Sun Rugong caught his wrist and twisted sharply. Li Diudiu’s eyes went wide. He had not expected someone like Sun Rugong to be any good at fighting.

In the instant Sun Rugong tried to lock him down, Li Diudiu wrenched his wrist back free, stepped forward, and slammed his shoulder into Sun Rugong’s chest. Sun Rugong flew backward and knocked over two desks.

“What is going on here!”

Yan Qingzhi stepped through the doorway, his face dark as storm clouds, his voice sharp with reproach. Sun Rugong scrambled to his feet at once and pointed at Li Diudiu. “Teacher, you saw it — Li Diudiu attacked me without provocation! Please follow the academy’s rules and expel him!”

Yan Qingzhi looked at Sun Rugong, and a flash of revulsion crossed his eyes. The boy was not even grown yet, and already his heart was this vicious. What kind of scheming person would he become in adulthood?

“Both of you, sit down!”

Yan Qingzhi shot Li Diudiu a look.

Sun Rugong’s expression shifted immediately and he grew agitated. “Teacher isn’t going to punish him? He attacked someone without cause — doesn’t Teacher care about the academy’s rules?”

Yan Qingzhi turned toward him. “Are you lecturing me about the academy’s rules?”

Sun Rugong opened his mouth to respond, then caught himself and realized he had overstepped. He bent forward in a quick bow. “This student was wrong. I spoke out of anger just now — Teacher handled the matter correctly. This student will abide by Teacher’s guidance…”

“Then sit down,” Yan Qingzhi said.

“Yes, sir!”

Sun Rugong quickly returned to his seat, his face drained of color. Zhang Xiaolin, standing at the doorway, watched Sun Rugong — and for reasons he might not have been able to articulate, he did not step in to help his friend this time.

Zhang Xiaolin was the type who could be easily manipulated. Sun Rugong had seen his straightforward nature and cultivated the friendship precisely because of it — he’d only ever wanted to use Zhang Xiaolin to help drive both him and Li Diudiu out of the academy.

Stranger still, Zhang Xiaolin did not go to sit beside Sun Rugong this time. He dropped himself down next to Liu Shengying instead, giving Liu Shengying quite a fright.

When afternoon dismissal came, Sun Rugong grew increasingly uneasy. He hurried to catch up with Zhang Xiaolin and grabbed his arm. “What was that earlier? Why didn’t you help me?”

Zhang Xiaolin frowned and turned around. “You think I should have?”

“Li Chi beat me because of you,” Sun Rugong said, “and you just stood there doing nothing. Is our friendship over?”

Zhang Xiaolin suddenly smiled and asked, “Do you remember where Li Chi hit me?”

“What are you getting at?!” Sun Rugong snapped.

Zhang Xiaolin threw a punch squarely into Sun Rugong’s face — a heavy, solid blow that sent Sun Rugong crashing down onto the ground.

“You want to use me again?” Zhang Xiaolin said furiously. “I must have been out of my mind to trust you. You’ve been stringing me along the whole time — using me and Li Chi to fight so Teacher would expel both of us, leaving you to enter the advanced class ranked first. Sun Rugong, you’re nothing but a dog.”

His family’s standing was roughly equal to the Sun family’s, and his parents had already warned him to keep his distance from Sun Rugong. If Sun Rugong tried to use him again, he needn’t hold back — his father had put it plainly enough: if things come to a head, just beat him. Our family isn’t afraid of theirs.

Back in the classroom, Li Diudiu was sweeping when Gao Xining strolled in with her hands clasped behind her back. She was grinning before she even spoke.

Li Diudiu turned around. “Oh?”

Gao Xining huffed. “What kind of attitude is that? You could at least greet your elder sister.”

“You’re not my elder sister.”

Li Diudiu turned back to his sweeping.

Gao Xining perched on a desk, swinging her legs. “Zhang Xiaolin just beat up Sun Rugong.”

“Why?” Li Diudiu asked.

“Because I told him that Sun Rugong had been using him all along. He’s so furious he’d like to tear Sun Rugong apart.”

Li Diudiu turned to face her. “And why did you do that?”

Gao Xining blinked. “Why? Don’t you know why?”

“Was it for me?”

Gao Xining spun around and stormed toward the door. “How can anyone be this dense?!”

—