Some things need no process to examine — however that process unfolds, if the outcome is good, everyone is content.

Other things absolutely require a process — however that process unfolds, the outcome will naturally be good, and everyone will be content.

The proposal of Li Chi was the latter kind.

It was more like a ritual — a ritual that could not be omitted. With this ritual in place, Gao Yuanzhang had a framework by which to give his blessing. He was an elder, a man of an older generation. To simply approve of something without any ritual would not only sit poorly with him personally — it would also, quite simply, have been irresponsible toward Gao Xining.

And yet, though Gao Yuanzhang had accepted Li Chi — in a natural, unhurried sort of way — the situation that followed was somewhat thorny.

For even with his acceptance of Li Chi, Gao Xining still ought to return to the academy to live — she was, after all, a young woman. The point remained: to stay here before the wedding was fine so long as she did not appear in public; but once she began to be seen, people would talk. Not only would Gao Xining be talked about, so would Gao Yuanzhang.

So Li Chi decided to approach the matter from another angle. Gao Xining, in principle, had to go back — so what if Gao Yuanzhang came here instead?

At dinner, Gao Yuanzhang found himself drinking somewhat more than he’d intended — perhaps out of happiness, perhaps out of that old ache of letting go, both conspiring to make the wine go further. Li Chi was certainly not going to stoop so low as to keep pressing drinks on an elderly man. On the contrary, he kept gently intercepting the cup. Wine was one of the few remaining consolations for many old men — and also one of the chief culprits in the decline of their health.

Li Chi had no need to resort to such underhanded tactics. Getting Gao Yuanzhang intoxicated, then coaxing him to give his blessing about the matter of Li Chi and Gao Xining while his guard was down?

“Recently the courier station has taken on somewhere around four or five hundred new hires,” Li Chi said. “Most were recruited from outside the city walls of Jizhou — families in hardship, all with clean backgrounds, good character and conduct.”

He added, “The one shortcoming is that most of them cannot read.”

Gao Yuanzhang asked, “Do they wish to learn?”

Li Chi nodded. “They do. So lately, Ning’er and the others have been taking turns teaching them. Mister Yan comes to help when he has time — though the academy keeps him busy, so he generally only has a free day during the tenday holiday.”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “The original purpose of learning to read was to teach people proper conduct. And the foundation of proper conduct is character. That they have the desire to learn — that is a good thing.”

Li Chi tested the waters with a cautious question. “But I’m afraid my own learning and Ning’er’s are somewhat limited…”

Before he could finish, Gao Yuanzhang glanced at him and said, “You’re fine. She’s the one who is genuinely limited.”

Gao Xining: “Oh?”

Gao Yuanzhang reached for his cup again. Li Chi intercepted it, smoothly replacing the wine with a cup of tea.

Gao Yuanzhang looked at the tea. Then he smiled.

“I haven’t had too much to drink.”

He said to Li Chi, “I understand your meaning. On the surface, you’re suggesting that I go back and ask whether any of the academy’s instructors would be willing to come here to teach — with myself being, of course, the most welcome option. Am I right?”

Li Chi nodded eagerly. “Yes, yes, exactly…”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “But what you actually mean to say is: things are different now from before. Before, when I was living alone at the academy, you weren’t all that worried — because in the end, Prince Yu would have protected me and not let me come to harm. But now, with Prince Yu gone, you are uneasy about me living alone at the academy. So you want to bring me here, where you can look after both me and Ning’er, and where I can be of some use to you in the bargain.”

Li Chi’s eyes lit up.

Gao Yuanzhang went on. “Your final aim, of course, is to keep Ning’er here rather than letting her return with me. For that, you need a sufficiently graceful reason — and after turning it over and over in your mind, you’ve concluded that no reason is more graceful than this old man himself.”

Li Chi: “…”

His face went faintly red.

Gao Yuanzhang chuckled. “Had today’s proposal not taken place, I would not have considered moving here under any circumstances. But since I have already given my word, it is only fitting for an elder to come and help his young ones — there’s nothing unusual about that.”

Li Chi immediately stood and bowed deeply with both hands clasped.

Gao Yuanzhang smiled. “Do you know when I felt most certain of your character?”

Li Chi shook his head. “Your student does not know.”

“At the auction at the River House in the third month. I had already thought well of you before — but after that occasion, I thought even better of you.”

He looked at Li Chi. “Those pieces of calligraphy attributed to Master Songming — you were the one who wrote them, weren’t you?”

Li Chi immediately replied, “Yes, they were your student’s work.”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “The calligraphy was close enough to pass for the real thing. Even I would find it very difficult to tell the difference — not impossible, but very difficult. Do you understand what I mean?”

Li Chi said, “Your student understands.”

Gao Yuanzhang said, with a faint trace of pride. “If there is one man in the world still capable of distinguishing true from false in Master Songming’s hand, it would be me.”

He looked at Li Chi. “You had the ability to produce perfect imitations — yet the piece you first brought to me, the original rubbing from the Ascending Sparrow Pavilion, was the genuine article.”

Gao Yuanzhang let out a slow breath. “You and your master had the means to produce convincing forgeries, yet you chose not to. Instead you spent an enormous amount of time searching for the real thing. And having found the genuine article, anyone with a trace of greed could have simply sold it — but you didn’t. Because your master had once made a promise to Mister Zhou Huaili: he would find him the authentic piece. A promise made is a promise kept. That is a matter of character.”

“Mister Zhou came to me with the authentic rubbing from the Ascending Sparrow Pavilion, and in that moment I knew: Mister Zhou had found himself a true friend. And Mister Zhou himself is a true friend in return.”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “In the course of a lifetime one meets many people — but a true friend is rare. Li Chi…”

He looked around at those gathered — Li Chi’s companions.

“Li Chi, you are far ahead of where I was at your age. I never had a single true friend in my life. But you are surrounded by them.”

Tang Pidi said, “Let’s swap out the wine. Tea for everyone.”

Everyone replaced their wine with tea. Tang Pidi rose to his feet, cup in hand. “Together — a toast to the Director.”

Everyone rose.

Warmth welled up in Gao Yuanzhang’s heart, and he quickly stood as well, the hand gripping his teacup trembling ever so slightly.

“When I was young, I did have true friends. But as we walked our separate roads, I lost them. And they lost me.”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “My hope for all of you is that when you have reached my age, you will still be as you are now — steadfast, never drifting apart.”

“We will!”

Every voice rang out together, every cup raised.

Gao Yuanzhang looked at Li Chi. “Did you notice — when they said that just now, was something missing? The spirit seemed just slightly lacking?”

Li Chi: “Ah?”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “Do you know why?”

Li Chi: “I… hadn’t thought about it.”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “It would have been better with wine.”

Gao Xining said, “Grandfather, any more and you’ll truly be drunk. Are you planning to sleep here tonight?”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “Now that you mention it — I think I will. It’s not so much that I want to drink more. I just want to spend the night here.”

Gao Xining: “…”

—

At the same time, the Office of the Viceroy.

Zeng Ling had been sitting in the study in a daze for quite some time. Ever since Prince Yu’s death, one matter had become a thorn buried deep in his chest.

Luo Jing.

Li Chi had played a clever hand — using Luo Jing to eliminate Prince Yu. But in the aftermath of that move, it had also driven Luo Jing to stand squarely against Zeng Ling.

Sitting there in this moment, Zeng Ling was even beginning to wonder: had Li Chi calculated from the start that once Luo Jing stormed the Young Prince’s residence, he — the viceroy — would not intervene?

If Li Chi had foreseen this, then what Li Chi intended went far beyond simply removing Prince Yu.

That was enough of a thread for Zeng Ling’s mind to follow. With his intelligence and experience, he could trace each implication to its end.

Because of Prince Yu’s death, a rift had inevitably formed between Zeng Ling and Luo Jing. Luo Jing was certain to resent Zeng Ling for not moving his troops — and that resentment would not diminish even a fraction, no matter that he had eventually unleashed the Tiger-Leopard Cavalry. If anything, it would make a man like Luo Jing all the more convinced that the one who had exploited him most was not Li Chi at all, but Zeng Ling.

If Luo Jing had already sent men back to Youzhou, what would follow?

If Li Chi had truly calculated all of this, then Li Chi’s real target was him — Zeng Ling himself, the viceroy.

Zeng Ling exhaled slowly, his brow creasing deeper.

Li Chi had anticipated that he would not go to Luo Jing’s aid directly. Luo Jing would nurse his grievance. Then he would make contact with his father, Youzhou General Luo Geng.

Luo Geng’s Youzhou army was powerful and well-positioned. That was precisely why Cui Yanlai and Liu Li both watched Jizhou like hawks — but neither was willing to set their sights on Youzhou. Whoever held Youzhou had to hold the frontier, and that was a thankless post. In other words, if Luo Geng could trade Youzhou for Jizhou, he would do so gladly.

So what was quite possibly about to unfold was this: Luo Geng would form an alliance with Cui Yanlai and Liu Li, and the three forces would combine to attack Jizhou.

The moment that thought struck him, Zeng Ling’s eyes snapped wide open.

*Luo Jing cannot be suffered to live. Li Chi cannot be suffered to live.*

Because the next steps were now plain to see: Luo Geng would personally lead his forces against Jizhou, while Luo Jing, already inside the city, would act in coordination — an inside assault to match the outer siege. With a fighter of Luo Jing’s prowess, and his three thousand Tiger-Leopard Cavalry already within Jizhou’s walls, seizing a single city gate by sudden surprise was far from impossible.

To deal with Luo Jing, the three thousand Tiger-Leopard Cavalry had to be dealt with as well.

But eliminating Luo Jing and his three thousand troops was not the end of it — because there was still Li Chi.

This scheme of Li Chi’s was venomous to the core.

It would force him and Luo Jing into irreconcilable enmity. And now that he had come this far in his thinking, the desire to eliminate Luo Jing had already taken root in him. If he did not kill Luo Jing, Jizhou might fall. If he did kill Luo Jing, the feud with Luo Geng would never be resolved — and Luo Geng would still come for Jizhou.

Whether he killed Luo Jing or not, Luo Geng would attack.

And Li Chi’s ultimate aim was to secure Jizhou for Yu Chaozong. Once Zeng Ling had killed Luo Jing and exhausted himself fighting Luo Geng and his coalition, even if he managed to hold Jizhou, he would be crippled. At that point, the Yanshan Camp would march south, and Jizhou would fall into their hands with ease.

A cold, dangerous light passed through Zeng Ling’s eyes.

“Li Chi… Li Chi. I thought I had begun to take you seriously after what happened before. After this — I see I was still underestimating you.”

He spoke the words quietly to himself.

He rose and began to pace the room, his mind churning. He had thought too shallowly about this before. The true venom of Li Chi’s scheme ran much deeper than he had seen.

Using Luo Jing to eliminate Prince Yu — what of it? Driving Luo Jing and Zeng Ling into open enmity — what of it? The great war for Jizhou that would follow — that was the real outcome Li Chi had been maneuvering toward all along.

Jizhou’s army, Youzhou’s army, Qingzhou’s army, Yuzhou’s army — four forces locked in battle, the blood and chaos enough to blot out the sky. And all the while, Yu Chaozong and the Yanshan Camp would sit back and watch the tigers fight, entirely at ease.

“Jinzu.”

Zeng Ling called out suddenly.

A moment later, Jinzu came in from outside and bowed. “My lord, you called?”

Zeng Ling nodded. “In the coming days — make a point of spending more time at Li Chi’s Yongning Tongyuan courier station. You and Tang Pidi are familiar with each other; they won’t be suspicious. Find out everything you can about Li Chi as quickly as possible.”

Jinzu was briefly confused by the phrase *everything about Li Chi*.

“My lord, everything about Li Chi is already out in the open.”

“I know.”

Zeng Ling seemed to be musing aloud. “But if his ultimate goal is to bait three armies into attacking Jizhou, he can’t be unafraid that when the city falls, he and his people will be caught up in it too. He must have a card up his sleeve.”

Zeng Ling looked at Jinzu. “I need to know — what is his means of protecting himself?”

—