A caravan of more than a hundred carts stretched along the official road—inevitably drawing attention from a great many people.
A year or two earlier, with rebel forces and displaced mobs everywhere, such a caravan would have been surrounded long ago.
But over this period, Li Chi’s governance of Jizhou had focused on nourishing the people. That policy had brought Jizhou’s populace flooding back.
The roving bandits and refugees who had once been visible everywhere were, in truth, a large part of them, people driven to it by desperation.
Jizhou was distributing land and grain. Few people, given the choice, would prefer a life of wandering hardship over a settled one.
There were no major outlaw bands to encounter—but petty thieves along the road were another matter, and there were plenty of those.
They had their eye on the caravan, tailing it from a distance, watching for an opportunity to strike during rest stops.
What these amateur small-time crooks didn’t know was that this caravan carried two practitioners of legitimate, lineage-trained thieving arts.
Gang Gang and Chen Dawei knew the ways of jianghu petty thieves inside and out. If anything had been stolen out from under them, both men would have felt they’d shamed themselves.
The journey turned into something like a thief-catching competition. By the time they were about three days’ travel from Anyang City, the two of them had caught a combined total of over a hundred and twenty petty thieves.
Most were given a beating and released. Those who proved vicious—discovered in the act and still willing to draw weapons—received no mercy in return. Without needing to ask, one could tell that men of that kind had blood on their hands.
So no matter how many of the dangerous ones were dealt with permanently, none of them were people the world would mourn.
The caravan halted at a place called Shengfang to rest and take stock. Inquiries confirmed that Anyang City was at most three days’ further travel.
So Li Chi’s group had to stop here and sort through everything.
Shengfang County was the southernmost county in Jizhou. Another thirty-odd li beyond its walls and one had technically left Jizhou’s jurisdiction.
Theoretically speaking, that was. In practice this area had long since ceased to fall under Jizhou’s control.
Past Shengfang County heading south, the territory fell under Anyang City’s reach—and for a caravan of their size, three days meant roughly two hundred li.
For light cavalry, two hundred li was not a particularly long distance.
Li Chi had half-expected it, but was still somewhat caught off guard: he had anticipated there would be Yuzhou army agents waiting inside Shengfang County, but not that Ding Shengji himself would come in person.
So the plans for resting and regrouping here were thrown into disarray from the start. With Ding Shengji personally leading a force out to receive them, there was no opportunity to arrange anything.
By rights, Shengfang County’s magistrate was a Jizhou official—but the man was no fool. How far was this from Jizhou? How close was it to Anyang? With two armed forces in the picture, whichever one was nearer was naturally the one to answer to.
The magistrate hosted a welcoming banquet, though he couldn’t quite understand why a general of Ding’s stature had come in person to receive a group of medicine merchants.
But he understood this much: whatever the reason, his job was to wait on them well.
He certainly wasn’t the reason General Ding had made the trip. A man has to know his place—and in turbulent times, a county magistrate had no business putting on airs.
Ding Shengji personally poured a cup of wine for Li Chi, smiled, and said: “I imagine Young Master Li didn’t expect to find me waiting here.”
Li Chi nodded. “That was indeed unexpected. I’d only anticipated that General Ding would have made some arrangements.”
“I came personally because there are three things I need to tell you,” Ding Shengji said.
“Please speak plainly, General,” Li Chi said.
Ding Shengji passed the wine cup to Li Chi, sat down, and before speaking, let out a sigh.
Li Chi knew then that trouble was coming.
“The first is good news. Our General Meng heard that Young Master Li personally escorted the medicines to Anyang, and has arranged to receive Young Master Li at the General’s residence for a meeting.”
Li Chi nodded upon hearing this. He had come to Anyang precisely to gather intelligence—being able to meet Meng Kedi in person would be the best possible outcome.
Anyone else might have felt their heart hammering with fear. But Li Chi’s nerve was, to put it plainly, rather considerable.
“I should certainly pay General Meng a visit,” Li Chi said.
“And the second matter?”
“The second matter,” Ding Shengji said, “is that I also told General Meng about your plans to open a Shen Medical Hall branch in Anyang. General Meng has personally selected a plot of land for you—prime location in Anyang City, excellent feng shui.”
Li Chi rose immediately to offer his thanks.
After a few pleasantries, Li Chi turned to Yu Jiuling and said: “His name is Yu Shuangxing. Barring any accidents, he’ll be the grand steward of Shen Medical Hall’s Anyang branch.”
Yu Jiuling thought: Shuangxing your grandmother… though it did actually sound halfway decent.
He stood and exchanged a few polite words as well.
“Young Master Li has shown sincerity,” Ding Shengji said. “Our General Meng will naturally not treat you poorly in return.”
Then he set down his wine cup—seemingly about to say more, but hesitating.
Li Chi knew what this meant. The first two items had been the appetizers. The third was the main course—and it was almost certainly going to be something hard to swallow.
Hard to swallow not necessarily because it tasted bad, but because it might be very difficult to get down.
“The General needn’t be troubled on my behalf,” Li Chi said. “Once I reach Anyang, I’ll follow Anyang’s customs. If… if the colleagues I may have offended hold a grudge, I’m willing to host a banquet in Anyang and offer my apologies.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Ding Shengji said with a sigh. “They were only following orders.”
Li Chi thought: if this main course is harder to deal with than those people, it won’t just be difficult to swallow—it’ll be a hefty feast.
“Young Master Li,” Ding Shengji said, “might you know who runs the largest medicine trade in Yuzhou?”
“Xingsheng Trading,” Li Chi answered.
Ding Shengji nodded. “Since Young Master Li knows Xingsheng Trading, do you know whose enterprise it is?”
Li Chi shook his head. “I only know the proprietor is presumably surnamed Cao.”
Such things weren’t hard to find out—but the Cao family kept so low a profile that their business affairs were always handled through intermediaries. The Cao family themselves rarely showed their faces in public. After all, they could be considered imperial relatives of a sort.
“If it weren’t the Caos,” Ding Shengji said, “this would be much easier to handle.”
He lowered his voice. “Prince Wu’s consort… is surnamed Cao.”
Something shifted in Li Chi’s mind.
No wonder, he thought. That Du Qingteng—a Yuzhou medicine merchant, bold enough to throw his weight around in Jizhou territory—was backed by a tree that large.
In all of Great Chu today, who didn’t know that Prince Wu stood second only to the Emperor himself?
Beneath the Emperor, no one carried heavier weight than Prince Wu.
One could even say: without Prince Wu, the rebel forces might have long since converged on the imperial capital.
“This…”
“What is the General’s meaning?” Li Chi asked.
“The Cao family has a young lord,” Ding Shengji said, “by the name of Cao Lie. This person… is fiercely protective of his own.”
Li Chi genuinely hadn’t anticipated this. He had truly walked into something significant.
Yet he was still not afraid.
But he couldn’t show that he wasn’t afraid.
With Prince Wu’s standing, the Cao family commanded unchallenged dominance in Yuzhou. Even among Yuzhou’s many powerful old families, not one would dare openly challenge the Caos.
Li Chi nodded slowly. “I understand what the General is telling me, and I thank you for making the trip out here to warn me in advance. If it truly comes to that, I’ll sell the medicines off right here and we’ll turn around and head back from Shengfang County.”
Hearing this, Ding Shengji felt genuinely reassured.
Because this was what a sensible person would think. The senseless version would be: even if the Cao family moves against me, I have nothing to fear.
Li Chi’s standing was what? Nothing more than the head of a medicine hall. In Jizhou, people might give him a few degrees of courtesy—but in Yuzhou, hard confrontation with the Caos?
Then something would definitely be wrong.
This line was one Meng Kedi had sent him to test.
If Li Chi had just responded with “no matter, we’ll manage”—things would have begun to go badly.
Li Chi raised a cup to Ding Shengji, then said with evident regret: “I truly never imagined that Xingsheng Trading had such a connection…”
He shook his head. “Please convey my apologies to General Meng when you return. I’m afraid I really… dare not go.”
Ding Shengji laughed heartily. “Not to worry.”
He drained his cup.
“Have you forgotten? I said just a moment ago—General Meng intends to see you in person.”
Li Chi was taken aback. “But… I absolutely cannot go to Anyang.”
“General Meng has already said he will see you himself—don’t you understand what that means? The young lord is protective, but he’s not unreasonable. General Meng is already working things out on your behalf. Just put your mind at ease.”
Li Chi still shook his head. “It’s not that I mistrust General Ding, nor that I mistrust General Meng—it’s just… that is the family of Prince Wu’s consort.”
Ding Shengji’s doubts faded considerably. He smiled and said, “Just follow my lead. I came to receive you—naturally I’ll look out for you.”
Li Chi seemed to steel himself as though making a hard decision. “All these medicines, I can just give them to General Meng. Let’s head back first thing tomorrow morning.”
Ding Shengji shook his head. “That won’t do. I came under General Meng’s orders—if I return without you, I’ll answer for it to the General.”
Li Chi sighed. “General… I’m still young, with many comfortable years ahead of me. Just let me go back.”
“I’ll give you a guarantee right here,” Ding Shengji said. “If anything happens to you, I’ll answer for it with my life!”
Feigning reluctance, Li Chi ventured to probe further: “And the Cao family’s side… has there been any word?”
“The word is,” Ding Shengji said, “that the young lord also wants to see you in person.”
Li Chi’s expression instantly fell.
Not a trace of artifice showed on his face—and Ding Shengji would never have suspected it, having no idea that Li Chi had once made a living through performance. His range was broad and his craft deep, honed through years of wandering the jianghu at Changmei the Daoist’s side. He had met every kind of person and played every kind of role.
The county magistrate of Shengfang, seated off to the side and unable to get a word in, had been awkwardly holding his forced smile throughout. He noticed that the young man standing opposite had been watching his discomfiture with barely-concealed amusement, and so he snuck a glare in that direction.
I am the county magistrate of this place, he thought indignantly. Playing the fool in front of General Ding and this mysterious guest is one thing. But some minor attendant dares to mock me?
Still, his glare could only be snuck.
General Ding’s attendant was not someone he could afford to antagonize.
And as luck would have it, that one glare was caught.
—
One hour later. The county yamen.
Ding Shengji walked ahead. The moment he stepped into the main hall of the yamen, he moved off to one side.
The young attendant—no older than sixteen or seventeen—strolled with both hands clasped behind his back to the county magistrate’s seat and sat down without ceremony.
That gave the magistrate quite a fright.
Once seated, the young man propped his feet on the table, tilted his chair back and forth, and said with a laugh: “Dull. Dull indeed. You built him up as some rare and brilliant talent, and what do I find? A coward.”
Ding Shengji bowed. “Young Lord, who doesn’t fear death?”
As it turned out, this young man was none other than the Cao family’s legendary little devil.
He hadn’t been in Anyang City at all—he’d been in Yuzhou City. But Meng Kedi, planning to move against Jizhou, hadn’t dared act unilaterally and had sent men to Yuzhou to seek direction. Somehow this little devil got wind of it, made a scene insisting he come to Anyang, and since no one in the Cao family could out-argue him, they simply brought him along.
“I only heard the name Cao family,” Cao Lie said, “and he was too frightened to come to Anyang. This man is just an ordinary creature—nothing interesting.”
He raised a finger and pointed at the magistrate. “At least he has some nerve. He glared at me.”
The magistrate dropped to his knees with a thud.
Cao Lie sighed. “And now you’ve gone boring too. Pull him up.”
Two men went over and hauled the magistrate upright. The poor man’s legs had turned to water—he stood propped between them, trembling.
Cao Lie smiled. “You had a decent glare on you. You two—hold him there and keep glaring at me. Keep it up—if he stops, pull out a whisker; if he glares, let it go. Starting now, he glares for twelve straight hours.”
He looked at the magistrate. “Can you do it?”
The magistrate begged: “Young Lord, please have mercy—how would I dare glare at you? Please show grace, Young Lord.”
Cao Lie shook his head. “That won’t do. Someone—go fetch his family. Beat the men to death and sell off the women.”
The magistrate crashed to his knees again.
“Are you going to glare?” Cao Lie asked.
The magistrate kept kowtowing and pleading. Cao Lie furrowed his brow, then waved his hand. “Throw him out. Absolutely no fun…”
He looked to Ding Shengji. “Truly interesting people are rare in this world. I thought from what you said that this Li Duidui was someone interesting—a man who could say ‘if your heart is in the right place, push back’ ought to be interesting. But today’s meeting turned out to be a wasted trip.”
Ding Shengji knew this young lord’s temperament well enough to know he wouldn’t actually kill anyone. He was just the sort—born to stir the world up. So Ding Shengji said: “Young Lord, he might yet surprise you.”
—
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