On the return carriage, Tang Pidi glanced at Li Chi — because Li Chi had been sitting at the window in a daze for some time now, not saying a single word.

Li Chi always seemed so bright and full of life, the kind of person who made every day feel like a good one simply by being present. But when he was lost in thought like this, that warmth seemed to suddenly pause, as if held in suspension.

It was in moments like these that those around Li Chi would finally wake up to something: the person who was always bringing others happiness had his own troubles and sorrows too. He simply chose not to let others feel them.

“Are you thinking about those disciples of the Gate of the Hanging Blade?”

Tang Pidi asked.

Li Chi came back to himself. He settled for a moment, then said: “Yes… None of them have had it easy. Just now I suddenly thought — why is it that even with their gate broken down to almost nothing, they still choose to close it? Maybe when that gate is shut, the world inside and the world outside have nothing to do with each other anymore.”

He paused, then went on: “You look at this world — the kind and the ordinary, the ones who in times like these only want to be left alone, to step back, to survive — while the ambitious ones, the ruthless ones, even the brutal ones, seem dressed for a banquet, every one of them brimming with excitement.”

He let out a breath, then smiled: “Fortunately, those ambitious, ruthless, and even brutal people — that also includes us.”

Yu Jiuling started at this, thinking at first that Li Chi was saying they were the same as all the others.

But a moment later he understood: Li Chi meant that fortunately, among those ambitious and ruthless people, there were also people like Li Chi and those around him.

And all at once Yu Jiuling felt something rise in his chest — a sense of responsibility, and a fierce, quiet pride.

Maybe someday he would tell his descendants: *You know what that wretched world used to look like? Your father and a brotherhood of like-minded men were the ones who tore it down.*

Li Chi said: “The more I see things like this, the stronger the impulse grows in me — an impulse to be there myself, with my own hands, to build something new and beautiful.”

Yu Jiuling laughed: “What if it actually works out?”

Tang Pidi said: “If it works out, it’s because I was slacking. If I gave my all, it would be a certainty.”

Yu Jiuling: “Good timing on that bit of swagger.”

Tang Pidi said: “I feel like the delivery still lacked a certain refinement.”

They were still exchanging these words when a figure came running up urgently behind them — it was the Senior Brother of the Gate of the Hanging Blade.

Spotting Li Chi’s carriage just ahead, Jia Ruan put on a burst of speed, surged in front of the carriage, and brought it to a halt with both hands.

Li Chi pushed open the carriage door and looked out, and was genuinely stunned. He had understood Senior Brother’s position — he hadn’t expected him to come after them.

Jia Ruan was wearing a set of clothes that was brand new — not expensive fabric, but a clean fit, dignified, nothing like the bare-chested image from moments ago. He stood in front of the carriage, breathing hard.

Li Chi stepped down from the carriage and walked up to Jia Ruan: “I don’t really want to hear you say you’ve changed your mind.”

Jia Ruan was silent a moment, then said: “After you left, I thought carefully about what you said for a good while. I set aside my pride, bent the knee, and sat down with my junior disciples to talk about what they actually wanted. I’ve been trying to protect them all along, yet I never once asked them what they wanted, or whether the life I wanted was the life they wanted.”

He steadied his breath: “Our martial skills are not poor. Two taels of silver a month, you won’t be getting the worse of that bargain. As to whether those forty-eight taels buy our lives — that I cannot say for certain. But forty-eight taels can give my junior disciples hope. In the first case, forty-eight taels buys too little. But if it’s the second — forty-eight taels is hope.”

Li Chi said nothing.

Forty-eight taels, once it had something to do with hope, was no longer merely silver.

Jia Ruan steadied his breathing and continued: “But I have one request. My martial skill is the best among all my junior disciples. If the time comes when something dangerous needs to be done, please send me first.”

Li Chi suddenly asked: “Are you married?”

Jia Ruan paused, taken aback by the question. He shook his head: “No time for that, and besides — someone like me, I’d rather not bring trouble down on any girl. I thought about it when I was in my twenties, but after a while I stopped thinking about it at all.”

Li Chi said: “If you were married and had children, you would be a wonderful father.”

Jia Ruan laughed: “It’s already like having a hundred-odd sons. I can’t possibly add more. Too exhausting.”

Li Chi laughed too. He thought about saying *I have quite a few sons myself* — but didn’t quite dare, since they didn’t know each other well enough for Jia Ruan to understand what he meant.

Good brothers — everyone treating each other like sons. Perfectly normal.

“If you come with me, there’s only one thing I can promise: for roughly two years, I won’t ask you to take risks. Those who want to marry and start families, marry and start families. After two years, you may leave. I won’t hold anyone back. These brothers of yours — lose even one, and it isn’t complete.”

He smiled: “Forty-eight taels, as agreed — I won’t give a single copper more. I’ll have you sign a two-year contract. When the two years are up, everyone clears off.”

Jia Ruan was left speechless. He stared at Li Chi, at a loss for words, his hands and feet awkward and clumsy as a child’s.

Li Chi turned to Yu Jiuling: “Get me some silver.”

Yu Jiuling hopped down from the carriage and handed Li Chi a coin pouch.

Li Chi weighed it in his hand — maybe thirty or forty taels inside. He passed the pouch to Jia Ruan: “Take this. Go back and treat your junior disciples to a proper meal. Eat some meat.”

Jia Ruan didn’t reach out for it. He was too embarrassed.

He asked: “Just now… just now when you were leaving, why didn’t you give this silver then?”

Li Chi said: “Giving it as I left would have been charity. This is a down payment. It’s your own silver now.”

Jia Ruan drew a long breath. He took the silver and moved to bow deeply in thanks. Li Chi reached out and caught his shoulder, not letting him bend.

“When you think of me as a brother, then bow to me. That kind of bow has nothing to do with dignity.”

Li Chi said this, then gave Jia Ruan’s shoulder a pat. He turned and climbed back into the carriage. He spoke to Jia Ruan through the open door: “Think it over some more — just one night. If you’ve truly decided, wait for us at the north gate at dawn. If you decide not to come, still come to the north gate and tell me so, because I will be waiting.”

Jia Ruan clasped his hands: “I’ll remember!”

The carriage rolled on. Tang Pidi smiled and said: “Our Lord Commander Yu’s name has spread because of the strategies you devised to hold the northern frontier. That reputation is part of why those men chose to follow you.”

Li Chi smiled: “If that’s why they’re coming, they won’t be getting the worse of it — and neither will I.”

Tang Pidi laughed: “That piece of swagger — a notch above mine from earlier. Just a little notch.”

They returned to Yiyuan and spent the night. Early the next morning, they packed up and set out again. Magistrate Zhang and a procession of county yamen officials came to see them off. Li Chi expressed his thanks, and they got in the carriages and departed.

At the north gate, Li Chi had the carriage stop. The Gate of the Hanging Blade disciples were nowhere to be seen.

He had just stepped down from the carriage when a figure emerged from behind a large tree not far off — it was Senior Brother Jia Ruan, with a coin pouch held in both hands. And so Li Chi understood what that meant.

Li Chi smiled — and felt, oddly, a slight relief. He truly couldn’t guarantee that everyone who came with him would come back without harm. Even if his only intention was to have these men guard his medicine warehouses rather than take them to a battlefield, even so, accidents could never be fully ruled out.

Senior Brother Jia Ruan walked over to Li Chi and held out the coin pouch.

“The full amount is inside, untouched. You can count it.”

Li Chi looked at the pouch and smiled, shaking his head: “No need.”

Jia Ruan said: “I went back and talked it through with my junior disciples once more. They felt I was in the wrong. So I’m going with what they say.”

Li Chi made a sound of agreement.

Jia Ruan said: “They all said that accepting the down payment first made us look petty. The men of the Gate of the Hanging Blade aren’t following you just because of the silver. Of course, without the silver we definitely would not be following you.”

He smiled, then raised his hand in a signal.

From behind the tall trees lining both sides of the road, heads began popping out one by one — two rows of them — and every face wore a clean, unguarded smile.

Li Chi said: “Is this your idea of teasing me?”

Jia Ruan laughed: “As long as you’re not docking our pay, anything goes.”

Li Chi pushed the silver back: “This is no longer a down payment. Consider it my fee for hiring you to protect the convoy from here to Yunyin Mountain. Food, drink, and lodging on the road are on me.”

He paused, then smiled: “Though I should warn you — no matter how strange the things you might see along the way, don’t be surprised.”

Jia Ruan asked: “Such as?”

Li Chi said: “Well, you already know I’m a man of the Green Banner Army of Yanshan Camp. I might as well tell you a bit more. I’m the Third Chieftain of the Green Banner Army. But along the road we will likely eat at government expense, sleep at government expense, and if I’m in a good mood, we may also help ourselves to government property. If I’m in a bad mood, we may help ourselves to more.”

Jia Ruan was genuinely taken aback.

Yu Jiuling came over grinning, clapped Jia Ruan on the shoulder: “Senior Brother — I’ll call you that too from now on, since we’re all one family now. There’s something I’ve been holding in for a while and now I can finally say it. Your name is Jia Ruan. I also have two friends — one named Ruan Chen and one named Ruan Mu. Both of them are soft around the clock. Now you’ve arrived, and you’re a negation sentence — *Fake-Soft*…”

Senior Brother Jia Ruan said: “They both want to hit you, don’t they?”

Yu Jiuling nodded: “Yes, but they can never catch me.”

Jia Ruan said: “I had a feeling. Because we’ve only been talking for a few minutes and I’m already thinking about how to hit you.”

Tang Pidi smiled: “That’s all right. Feel free. When we train back home, he’s generally the moving target.”

Yu Jiuling: “…”

When the column set out again, its size had nearly doubled. They had started with a hundred seasoned soldiers, and with the Gate of the Hanging Blade added in, the force now numbered over two hundred — a scale that would make even mounted bandits think twice before causing trouble.

Inside the carriage.

Xiahou Yili asked her mother: “Mother, you’ve been so quiet these past two days. Are you nervous?”

Madam Xiahou nodded: “A little frightened.”

Xiahou Yili said: “But Master is so kind — you don’t need to be afraid. You know what Master is like. She speaks to everyone gently. She wouldn’t scold you.”

Madam Xiahou said: “I’m not afraid she’ll scold me. I’m afraid she’ll be too fond of me to bother.”

Xiahou Yili was left speechless.

—