The two young men faced each other, eyes meeting. Li Diudiu noticed the other person kept looking at the clothes on his body, a complex expression in his eyes — nostalgic, unreconciled, and something of a release.

In that moment, Li Diudiu felt something strange: why was he able to read emotions so intricate from someone else’s gaze?

And in that same moment, Tang Pidi, looking at the young man across from him, saw a flicker of something in his eyes — a recognition that he understood. He thought it was his own imagination, and looked more carefully.

He didn’t know this young man — they were meeting for the first time. So why did it feel like they had known each other before? Strange. Very strange.

“Nice clothes.”

Tang Pidi smiled, said those words, and turned to face the carriage he had come from — reaching up to help his father climb down.

“Thank you…”

Li Diudiu replied, but found the other person had not looked at him again at all — helping that elderly man who appeared to have difficulty moving down from the carriage, with a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties following behind to support the elder from the back.

Though the old man looked haggard and seemed to have some disability, when he stepped down and glanced over at Li Diudiu, Li Diudiu felt at once that this was surely a remarkable person.

Sometimes feelings are simply that strange.

“Master.”

Gu Wei Shan supported Tang Shen as he descended from the carriage and said quietly: “This is the old establishment Only Drink Wine that Master has spoken of for so many years — but today, forgive this disciple’s boldness, Master is not permitted to drink.”

Tang Shen laughed: “A drink is still in order — one cup, how about that?”

Tang Pidi said: “Just one cup then — Father, you said it yourself. If you drink more, what happens?”

Tang Shen said: “If I drink more than one, you may do with me as you see fit. From today until we return to Daizhou, I will listen to you — your senior brother here can be our witness.”

Gu Wei Shan laughed: “Very well — I will bear witness today. Master is a gentleman of his word. He cannot go back on it.”

Li Diudiu watched the three of them talking and laughing as they entered Only Drink Wine, standing there in a daze, not quite sure what had come over him.

Xiahou Zuo looked at Li Diudiu’s expression, then glanced at the young man who had gone into the tavern, and could not help but sigh: “So you’re inclined that way.”

Yan Qingzhi gave a quiet sigh: “Tang Pidi.”

Xiahou Zuo was startled: “The Tang Pidi who was expelled from the academy?”

Yan Qingzhi made a sound of confirmation: “He was not my disciple, but I still recognized him. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him — he already looks almost grown, and when you work out his age, he is actually about the same as Li Chi.”

Xiahou Zuo looked at Li Diudiu and said: “Look at him, then look at yourself — eat more at the next meal!”

Yan Qingzhi: “…”

Li Diudiu thought to himself: no wonder he was staring at my academy robes like that — he had once been a disciple of the Four Page Academy himself, and had been top of the First-Character Hall.

“So that’s a senior classmate — but wasn’t he caught up in some rebel case?”

Li Diudiu murmured to himself.

Xiahou Zuo and Yan Qingzhi had both missed that point. The two of them exchanged a glance, both feeling that this was no ordinary matter.

If it were a rebel case, a person should never have been released.

“It’s none of our business.”

Xiahou Zuo shrugged: “We’re here to drink.”

He looked up at the characters on the signboard and said: “Just drink wine.”

A play on words.

The four of them went into the tavern as well. Xiahou Zuo, for all that he was not always flush, had never thought of money as anything much — he immediately asked for the best private room, only to be told by the waiter that the best private room had just been taken.

“Any room will do then.”

Xiahou Zuo asked: “Is your Burning Blade really as good as they say?”

The young waiter said proudly: “In all of Tang County, no one has better Burning Blade than us. In all of Jizhou, no one has better Burning Blade than us.”

Xiahou Zuo smiled: “But I haven’t heard of anyone else in Tang County who sells Burning Blade. And I haven’t heard of anyone in Jizhou who sells it either.”

The waiter said: “Right — we’re the only ones… so no one can do it better…”

Xiahou Zuo: “Brilliant!”

He laughed and said: “Bring two jugs of wine first, then describe your specialty dishes — let me see what’s worth eating.”

The waiter said: “The young master, by his accent, must be from Jizhou? Not far from here — so you’ve probably heard a thing or two about Tang County’s specialties. Take this one, for instance: thin-cased sausage, one of Tang County’s local products. Have you had it?”

Xiahou Zuo shook his head: “Never had it.”

The waiter said: “Then there’s no point trying it — it’s not good.”

Xiahou Zuo: “…”

Yan Qingzhi asked curiously: “Then why are you recommending it?”

The waiter said: “Teacher, how could you say such a thing — I earn my wages doing this…”

Xiahou Zuo said: “I just happen to have no shortage of people around me at the moment. If I needed someone, I’d take you on — even just to hear you talk.”

The waiter said with complete seriousness: “Many thanks for your generosity, young master. Talk is fine — as for play, let’s not go there…”

Xiahou Zuo burst out laughing: “What is your name?”

The waiter said: “In answer to the young master — this one is called Yu Jiuling.”

Xiahou Zuo laughed and lowered his voice to ask: “I’m very curious — someone as good at talking as you, as full of bluster as you — have there been people who wanted to beat you up over it?”

Yu Jiuling said: “How could there be… there haven’t been any. I know I can be glib, cheap with my words, offensive — but I can’t control it. I tried going a whole day without speaking once. Worse than three days without food.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “Well, you seem perfectly fine to me. So people who want to beat you up can’t be that many.”

“Plenty.”

Yu Jiuling said: “I seem fine because I can take a beating.”

Xiahou Zuo looked this person over — the look of someone sixteen or seventeen, slight and small, only about a head taller than Li Diudiu, coming up perhaps to Xiahou Zuo’s ear, probably weighing less than eighty jin.

“A build like yours, and you can take a beating?”

“Don’t believe me? Try.”

Yu Jiuling said: “Young master, if you want to try, I promise I won’t hold it against you.”

Xiahou Zuo shook his head: “Never mind — I’m here to drink, not to fight. Besides, you’re such an interesting person. Why would I hit you for no reason?”

Yu Jiuling sighed: “Why does no one believe me?”

He looked at Li Diudiu: “Young master, why not you try?”

Li Diudiu said: “I won’t either. If I get a taste for it and don’t have money to hire you, it’ll leave me miserable.”

Yu Jiuling heard that and immediately said: “No problem — young master is from Jizhou. If you get a taste for it, I’ll go to Jizhou twice a month. I have good legs and I travel fast — not to brag, but I can make a Jizhou round trip in a single day. Get beaten and come straight back — won’t delay anything.”

He had barely finished when the shop owner’s voice came from behind him: “Talking nonsense again!”

Yu Jiuling retracted his neck, gave a grin, and said: “Let’s order food first.”

Xiahou Zuo found him amusing and said: “We won’t bother ordering individually. Four people — you arrange it, whatever you see fit, just lead us to a room.”

Yu Jiuling asked: “First let me ask, young masters — big appetites?”

Xiahou Zuo said: “I have about half a Diudiu’s appetite…”

He pointed at Li Diudiu: “He has about one Diudiu’s appetite. The other two together don’t add up to half a Diudiu’s appetite.”

Yu Jiuling said: “That’s not much.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “That’s because you don’t understand… Order for ten people.”

Yu Jiuling paused, but nodded: “Understood — leave it to me.”

He went up first to get the room ready. Xiahou Zuo turned to ask the shop owner curiously: “With a mouth that runs like that, always boasting, and you clearly find it exasperating — why don’t you rein him in?”

The owner said: “Young master — his mouth does run, but he hasn’t been bluffing. Last time, two men went at him. By the time those two had tired themselves out, he was still fine. He just kept dodging without hitting back, and neither of those strong men landed a single punch on him. They ended up gasping from exhaustion. And his leg strength is also the real thing — saying he can make a round trip to Jizhou in a day, over two hundred li — that’s not a bluff.”

Xiahou Zuo was taken aback. He looked at Yan Qingzhi. Yan Qingzhi was equally astonished.

“Now there is a talent,” Xiahou Zuo said.

The owner said: “Young master, that’s a generous way to put it. Who knows where he came from — he doesn’t say himself. It was seven or eight years ago. By the time he reached Tang County, his parents had died of illness. He had no one, and no support in Tang County — he got by begging, competing with stray dogs for scraps. That quick running must have developed during that time.

“He didn’t have a coin to his name then. I took pity on the child and spent some money to buy two simple coffins to bury his parents. He didn’t ask me to take him in — he spent the days begging on the street, and at night he’d sleep at my shop doorway. One night a thief broke into the shop. This child fought with the man — came out with his face covered in blood. From that day on, I kept him on as a waiter.”

Xiahou Zuo asked: “Then… if I wanted to take him with me and give him a future, would you be willing?”

The owner was startled and shook his head: “Young master is joking. Aside from a glib tongue and fast legs, he has no other assets. What would young master want him for? Today you find him amusing and take him away; tomorrow you find him not amusing and abandon him — he would certainly have no face to come back and see me, and who knows what would become of him. Even if I can’t give him much here, at least there’s three meals a day…”

Xiahou Zuo nodded: “I understand — I was only saying it. I can still carry some weight in Jizhou. Owner, you might have a word with him later. Next year I am heading to the northern frontier to serve in the military — and I’ll be recruiting personal soldiers anyway. I can see he has some ability…”

He looked at Li Diudiu at that point. Li Diudiu said: “Don’t look at me — you’re already of age. Make your own decisions.”

Xiahou Zuo: “Get lost…”

He looked at the owner and said: “Just mention it to him — whether he goes or not is between the two of you to work out.”

With that, he and Li Diudiu and the others went upstairs. When they reached the staircase, they saw Yu Jiuling standing there watching them, an unreadable expression on his face.

“Young master — you weren’t joking?”

Yu Jiuling asked.

He had heard everything Xiahou Zuo and the owner had said just now.

Xiahou Zuo said: “A man of character does not go back on his word. Since I said it, I mean it.”

Yu Jiuling nodded hard and said: “I’ll go!”

“Hmm?”

Xiahou Zuo was startled: “You… don’t think that following me to the northern frontier for military service will be easy or glamorous. The frontier is a place of constant fighting…”

He hadn’t even finished when Yu Jiuling cut him off. His eyes had gone slightly red. He bit his lip and then said: “My father was once a low-ranking officer in the border army. In time, he accumulated merits and was granted the rank of fifth-rank general. Young master must know — a military post of fifth rank earns the right to bring family to the front. So my father took leave to return home and bring me and my mother…”

He let out a long breath and forced a small smile. “But fate was unkind. My father and mother caught a chill on the road and didn’t make it — leaving only me…”

Yan Qingzhi said: “In a situation like yours, the court will have provisions, and the military as well. Have you ever sought an explanation?”

Yu Jiuling gave a bitter smile: “Teacher, never mind that I have no one to press for an explanation — even if I did, do you think that money would ever find its way into my hands? In our Dachu…”

The owner called out from below: “Jiuling!”

Yu Jiuling immediately fell quiet: “Yes, yes, owner — I know, I know. Things one shouldn’t say, don’t go saying…”

Xiahou Zuo was silent for a moment, then said: “Let’s go in and have our wine first. We’ll be staying in town tonight, and setting out for Yuntu Mountain early tomorrow. We should be back in about five or six days. I’ll come look for you again when we return. If your mind is made up, come with me.”

Yu Jiuling looked down at the owner below — whose eyes had gone slightly red — and after a moment, nodded. “Very well then. I’ll wait for the young master to return.”