The night passed without incident.

Those who had not spent a night sitting guard on a rooftop perhaps could not quite understand the feeling — in the moment Li Chi came down from the roof, there was something light in his heart.

The people who had slept soundly in the inn through the night were largely unaware that the young man had sat up there the whole time, arms around his saber.

Back in his room, Li Chi set the half-flask of remaining wine on the table. Not that he couldn’t have finished it — he simply hadn’t dared to drink too much while on watch.

He poured water to wash his face, skipped breakfast, and lay down to sleep.

The night before, during their gathering, Li Chi had already said: today no one was to go out into the streets or anywhere else — everyone was to stay in the inn and wait.

So early that morning, the moment Li Chi returned, Master Ye was already up on the rooftop. He had a flask of wine in his hand, sitting cross-legged in meditation, his moon-white long robe drifting in the breeze, looking for all the world like an immortal banished to look down upon the mortal realm from above.

Chen Dawei and Gang Gang, following Li Chi’s instructions, went to speak with the inn owner, offered compensation, and then went room by room asking the other guests to leave, offering compensation there as well.

Knowing a fight might be coming to the inn, the owner’s face had gone thoroughly unpleasant — it was plain that inside he was deeply afraid.

Yu Jiuling clapped the owner on the shoulder and said with a smile:

“If your inn gets destroyed, you should actually be glad. Whatever our head of the family compensates you will be worth more than just one inn.”

The owner blinked at him in bewilderment.

Yu Jiuling smiled. “Trust me — you should hope something gets broken.”

The owner thought it over, then asked: “Will you really pay?”

In times like these, when one encountered bandits and thugs, who actually paid compensation? In this kind of world, sky and earth counted for nothing — whoever had a blade in hand got to call himself the boss.

Yu Jiuling said: “Do we look like the kind of unreasonable thugs you’re thinking of?”

The owner wanted to say yes, but didn’t dare.

He thought to himself: don’t you know what you’ve done? You bought up all the Yuzhou medicine merchants’ carriages, so even if they manage to buy medicinal herbs, they have no way to transport them home.

Yu Jiuling could read the owner’s expression well enough to know what the man was thinking, and he couldn’t be bothered to explain.

The hundred-some personal soldiers they’d brought were divided into two groups — half in the rear courtyard to guard the carriages and medicinal herbs, the other half scattered around the inn’s perimeter, with concealed positions also set up at key points.

Once everything was in order, they waited for whoever was going to come and make trouble to come and make trouble.

Li Chi slept until the afternoon. When he woke, his nose caught a faint scent of meat.

He sniffed at the air, and seemed to be pulled upright by the smell. He sat up, looked around, and then laughed.

It was rare to see Yu Jiuling so well-behaved — like a dutiful little housewife, he was sitting in the room wrapping dumplings.

On the stove sat a pot of water already at a rolling boil, bubbling away.

Li Chi got up. “Do you know what comes after ‘bearing gifts for no reason’?”

Yu Jiuling said: “Bearing gifts for no reason — Yu Jiuling, whose love is truer than gold.”

Li Chi sat down, looked at the plate of already-cooked dumplings on the table, and picked one up to eat.

Yu Jiuling said: “Hot—”

In the brief instant that word left his lips, the dumpling had already bounced around several times in Li Chi’s mouth from the scalding.

“What’s going on?”

Li Chi had finally swallowed the dumpling. He asked Yu Jiuling: “Don’t tell me the kitchen staff here all ran off in fright?”

Yu Jiuling said: “How did you know… and it wasn’t just the cooks and the staff — even the owner took his wife and ran.”

Li Chi laughed to himself, thinking: good that they ran, it’ll keep innocent people from getting caught up in the fighting.

Blades don’t have eyes, and ordinary people have done nothing wrong.

Yu Jiuling said: “All the silver we’ve spent on this trip to gather intelligence on the Yuzhou army — it really does add up to a serious outlay.”

He kept wrapping dumplings as he rattled on at speed: “All these people heading south — the food and lodging and supplies along the way alone came to a big sum. Getting here, buying carriages was another big sum. Then buying that many carriages and the inn on top of that, plus all the other expenses — the money burning through all this has me genuinely pained.”

Li Chi set down his dumpling. “I don’t think I missed anything just now — in what you said, after buying all those carriages, was there something about a building?”

Yu Jiuling sat up straight, looked Li Chi in the eye, and said with great seriousness: “This I can explain…”

Li Chi asked: “Which building?”

Yu Jiuling said: “This… the one we’re staying in.”

Li Chi raised his hand and rubbed his face. He asked: “So the owner and the cooks and staff didn’t actually run off in fright?”

Yu Jiuling nodded, looking rather sheepish. “No, they took the money and bolted happily — practically skipping out the door, not a backward glance, just ran…”

He looked at Li Chi and said quietly: “This is… all that owner’s fault. I said, don’t worry about the inn getting damaged in the fighting — our head of the family would compensate you, and we’d compensate more than the building was worth.”

Li Chi nodded. “That’s true enough.”

Yu Jiuling said: “But he didn’t believe it. He said, what if your people all get killed? Who do I go to for compensation then? And you saying you’ll compensate more than it’s worth — that’s just empty words.”

Yu Jiuling smacked the table. “The nerve of him — our head of the family could bear it, but Yu Jiuling cannot.”

Li Chi laughed. “So you just bought the inn outright?”

Yu Jiuling gave an affirmative. “Bought it… actually, it works out cheaper than if we’d damaged it and then had to compensate double. And we kept the building.”

Li Chi picked up a dumpling, went to wash his hands, then came back: “Move aside. Let me wrap the rest.”

Yu Jiuling looked uncertain. “You’re definitely figuring out how to deal with me.”

Li Chi smiled: “You didn’t do anything wrong — why would I deal with you? The inn is bought, it’s bought. We come here often to purchase medicinal herbs, and having a base here will make things far easier — not just for us, but for Shen Medical Hall’s people when they come too.”

Li Chi said: “And what you said wasn’t wrong either. Damaged it, double the compensation, and the inn’s still theirs. Buy it outright, spend less money, and the inn is ours. By that logic — a sound investment.”

Yu Jiuling ventured: “Are you actually praising me?”

Li Chi said: “I am.”

Yu Jiuling let out a long breath. “Brothers outside — it’s fine, the head of the family didn’t move, you don’t need to hold him back anymore.”

Li Chi let out a burst of laughter.

Chen Dawei and Gang Gang came in from the doorway, chuckling as they sat down.

Li Chi asked: “Is Master Ye still up there?”

Yu Jiuling nodded.

Li Chi looked up. There was a gap in the ceiling — Master Ye had apparently lifted two rooftiles, and a pair of eyes were visible through the opening, still watching.

There was something in that gaze that seemed full of disappointment.

Shortly afterward, Li Chi carried a plate of dumplings up to the rooftop and handed them to Master Ye. “You’re a man of such refined bearing — and here you are lying up there peeping.”

Master Ye said: “It was indeed rather undignified. And you couldn’t even give me something worth watching — you could have at least gotten into a proper fight.”

The two of them sat there looking out at the distance. The sky was overcast, and there was no telling when the rain would come; the wind already carried a suppressed, heavy quality, as though the rain was only a breath away from falling.

Because people were afraid the medicinal herbs would get soaked, the market had emptied out — everyone had retreated inside to shelter from the coming rain.

The market was empty; the streets were empty too.

Master Ye sighed. “Rainy days go better with dumplings.”

Li Chi made a sound of agreement.

Something cool touched the back of his hand — a large raindrop had fallen on it.

He and Master Ye had barely made it back inside before the rain came down in a torrent. Looking out the window, the view was swallowed entirely by a curtain of rain.

Li Chi stood at the window, hands clasped behind his back.

He watched the street outside.

“Everyone back to your positions.”

Li Chi slowly exhaled. “Our friends may be coming early.”

About a quarter-hour later, a mass of dark figures appeared on the street — a group of men in woven rain capes and wide-brimmed bamboo hats, each one carrying a blade.

They walked in silence, the heavy rain beating down on them like the sound of rain on banana leaves.

Water streamed down their hats in long, continuous curtains.

They reached the front of the inn and stopped. Not a person moved further; not a person spoke. They stood silent as a grove of statues that had appeared from nowhere.

Spring rains are not cold, but with these men’s arrival — with the blades cradled in their arms — the spring rain turned abruptly to winter.

They stood outside for perhaps half a quarter-hour, waiting for someone, waiting for orders.

A figure appeared at the rear of the formation. The moment he came, the men standing in the street parted like water opening a channel, letting him through.

He walked to the front of the inn, lifted his head, and looked up at the window.

Rain lashed his face, yet he didn’t even blink.

Li Chi looked at him; he looked at Li Chi.

They had expected an assault — but instead, a moment later, the man in front turned and gave a word of command, and every blade-bearing figure began to withdraw.

They had come without a sound, and they retreated without a sound.

Ding Shengjia walked alone to the inn’s entrance and raised his hand to knock on the door.

Yu Jiuling looked at Li Chi. Li Chi nodded. “Open the door.”

—

Moments later. The sitting room.

Ding Shengjia came inside and took off his bamboo hat, hanging it at random on the coat rack by the door. His rain cape was still dripping, and rather than walk further in, he stayed near the entrance, as though not wanting to wet the inn’s floor.

Li Chi came down from upstairs, gestured toward the table. “Please, sit.”

Ding Shengjia shook his head. “I’ll stay here — I don’t want to make a mess.”

Li Chi said: “It’s no matter.”

Ding Shengjia considered for a moment, then took off his rain cape and hung it on the coat rack as well.

He walked to the table and sat. Even seated, his upper body remained perfectly upright.

“You bought the inn?”

He asked.

Li Chi nodded. “Damaging other people’s property and having to pay for it seemed like unnecessary trouble.”

Ding Shengjia sighed. “Shen Medical Hall truly does not lack for money.”

Li Chi sat down across from Ding Shengjia and poured him a cup of hot tea.

“Why did the general withdraw his men?”

“How did you know I was a general?”

Li Chi glanced toward the coat rack. “Your hat was like an iron helmet; your rain cape, like battle armor.”

Something like appreciation showed in Ding Shengjia’s eyes.

He looked at the hot tea before him without drinking it.

After a moment, he asked Li Chi: “With such sharp perception, you clearly anticipated there would be conflict. Why did you proceed regardless?”

Li Chi countered: “Is the general a Yuzhou man?”

Ding Shengjia nodded. “I am.”

Li Chi said: “I’m a Jizhou man.”

Ding Shengjia said: “So?”

Li Chi said: “So the general shouldn’t need to ask.”

Ding Shengjia asked: “Are you a soldier?”

Li Chi shook his head. “Not exactly.”

Ding Shengjia said: “The defensive preparations inside and outside this inn — the positioning of your people, the formations they hold — these are military formations.”

Li Chi said: “They are soldiers.”

Ding Shengjia frowned. “Soldiers serving a merchant. Shameful.”

Li Chi smiled without replying, simply holding Ding Shengjia’s gaze.

Ding Shengjia frowned again. “I am not in a merchant’s employ.”

Li Chi still said nothing.

After a pause, Ding Shengjia rose. “If I ordered an attack, both sides would suffer.”

Li Chi made a sound of agreement. “You value your soldiers’ lives; I value mine.”

Ding Shengjia said: “My men are all elite veterans. Yours are too. If it came to a fight, many would die.”

Li Chi said: “General, please return.”

Ding Shengjia said: “Return the carriages.”

Li Chi shook his head.

Ding Shengjia said: “Your people hold the advantage here, sheltered by the terrain, with the first-mover advantage. But how could you venture out into the open? On flat ground, your men are no match for mine.”

Li Chi said: “Fifty-fifty.”

Ding Shengjia fell silent for a moment, then looked at the saber cradled in his own arms.

Li Chi immediately understood.

—