That day, Tang Pidi finally learned that the so-called White Mountain Army head chief Di Chun’s household steward was not, in fact, called Shan Hu.

Her name was Shanhu — Coral. Her full name was Shen Shanhu.

Many rumors proved false, perhaps fabricated deliberately to create a false impression.

Shanhu was not the steward of Di Chun’s commander’s mansion either. She was Di Chun’s sister-in-law. Her full name was Shen Shanhu.

Di Chun’s wife was named Shen Haizhu. When she married Di Chun, he had not yet been part of the White Mountain Army.

His background was decent — he had once been a garrison soldier. After being wounded, he returned home and established a martial hall in the local area, teaching people the martial arts.

At that time, he had a fair reputation in that small county town, and life had treated him reasonably well.

As the times grew troubled, more and more people sought to learn martial arts, and the martial hall grew larger and larger.

That good life ended the day the White Mountain Army broke through the county walls.

Di Chun had led the martial hall’s disciples in killing countless bandits, yet still could not change the outcome.

At that time he had been the county’s militia instructor, and the local fighters were all trained by his own hand.

When Lao Yi learned that the fighters Di Chun had trained had killed a good number of White Mountain Army soldiers, he intended to have Di Chun torn apart by five horses.

It was right there, at the threshold of death, that Di Chun had shouted: from now on I follow you, and I guarantee I’ll be stronger than any man under your command. Keep me alive, and I’ll help you take all of Yanzhou.

Looking back on it later, Di Chun felt he had experienced a moment of sudden clarity in that instant before death.

After investigating, Lao Yi learned that this man had served as a garrison soldier, possessed considerable ability, and knew how to train troops — and so kept him.

Over the years that followed, Di Chun’s standing within the White Mountain Army climbed ever higher. He won every battle he fought, until his prestige nearly surpassed Lao Yi’s own.

Naturally Lao Yi was displeased, and so he began suppressing Di Chun continuously.

Di Chun’s resentment toward Lao Yi took root from this.

So when Lao Yi’s son later suffered a defeat, Di Chun made no attempt to rescue him, and simply led his own forces back to Yanzhou.

After returning to Yanzhou, Di Chun’s temperament changed again — he became more brutal than before, more vicious.

The White Mountain Army’s leaders who had been left garrisoning Yanzhou were gradually killed off by him, one after another, until he had completely transformed the White Mountain Army into his own.

He then elevated those close to him, making his sworn brother Chen Xiao the second chief and his brother-in-law Shen Dongxia the third.

Most of the time, Di Chun was not actually stationed in the Shelu City commander’s mansion, but rather at the White Mountain Army’s main camp roughly thirty li from Shelu City.

The White Mountain Army had a mountain stronghold on White Mountain outside Shelu City. Di Chun only returned to the city for a few days each month.

Tang Pidi had spent two days drinking several rounds with the guards inside the commander’s mansion, and by now had a reasonably clear picture of the situation.

So Tang Pidi felt that time was running short. If Di Chun did not return to Shelu City within the next few days, the plan would come to nothing.

A new plan would likely be needed.

Di Chun was cunning. He had long arranged for someone to impersonate him, appearing in Shelu City from time to time, creating the impression that he was always there.

Perhaps the defeat at Jizhou had shaken him, because he had grown increasingly suspicious and wary.

After returning to Yanzhou, he had said more than once to his subordinates that the White Mountain Army had provoked someone in Jizhou they should never have touched.

Killing Yanshan Camp’s head chief Yu Chaozong would bring great disaster down upon the White Mountain Army.

He had witnessed that catastrophic defeat firsthand — tens of thousands of troops slaughtered by a force of a few thousand, bodies strewn across the field.

From that point on, he had become ever more cautious, ever more careful, ever less trusting of those around him.

Apart from family, he trusted none of the White Mountain Army’s chiefs either.

Evening.

Tang Pidi returned to his lodgings inside the compound. This place housed many guards; the room where he slept was shared with six other men.

The courtyard housed a hundred and twenty people in total, divided into three rotating shifts.

Being newly arrived, Tang Pidi naturally attracted some hazing.

Though the men who chose to haze him may well have done very little in the way of good deeds in a prior life.

He had just returned from his shift and was crossing the courtyard before reaching his room when the head of this group of guards blocked his way.

This man was called Zhao Qingyu, and the sight of Tang Pidi set him on edge.

Because Shanhu’s female soldiers kept smiling whenever they saw Tang Pidi and would not stop sneaking glances at him.

Zhao Qingyu felt that if he didn’t teach Tang Pidi a lesson, this fellow might get even more insufferable going forward.

Zhao Qingyu stretched out an arm to block Tang Pidi. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Tang Pidi looked at him. “Just got off shift. Going back to my room to rest.”

“Who said you could rest?”

Zhao Qingyu said: “Two of the men on the second shift aren’t feeling well. Go cover for them.”

Tang Pidi said flatly: “No.”

Zhao Qingyu’s face darkened with anger, and he reached out to shove Tang Pidi’s shoulder. “Say that again?”

Tang Pidi didn’t dodge. Just as Zhao Qingyu’s hand was about to land on him, Tang Pidi drove his shoulder forward into it.

Zhao Qingyu immediately cried out in pain — his fingers felt as though they had been broken.

If he had possessed any self-awareness, he would have let things drop there and come to no harm.

But how could he possibly leave it at that?

“You dare raise a hand against me?! I’ve had my eye on you for a long time — I think you’re a spy who came to the commander’s mansion to gather intelligence.”

“Tie him up,” Zhao Qingyu ordered. “Hang him and beat him!”

Zhao Qingyu wasn’t afraid, simply because he had numbers on his side.

Tang Pidi was just a newcomer. Zhao Qingyu was their chief. The guards of course knew whose side to take.

—

Half an hour later. The courtyard.

The courtyard had a stone table and four stone stools.

Tang Pidi was seated there, brewing a pot of tea, sipping it leisurely while watching the clouds and evening glow at the edge of the sky.

Just then, two female soldiers came in from the front courtyard. The moment they stepped inside, they called out: “Where’s Zhao Qingyu?”

Tang Pidi glanced at them briefly and said nothing.

One of the young women noticed that Tang Pidi was sitting alone drinking tea, looking so handsome it scarcely seemed human.

If it had been anyone else who didn’t respond, she would have already snapped at them.

But because it was Tang Pidi, she found herself wondering whether she herself had been too loud just now.

In truth, every age has always judged by appearances.

The young woman walked with noticeably more ladylike grace as she approached Tang Pidi and said softly: “The mistress sent word for some people from this side to come and move some things. Why are you here alone?”

Tang Pidi pointed toward the outhouse in the corner. “They’re in the privy.”

The young woman stared. “All of them are in the privy?”

Tang Pidi nodded. “All of them.”

The seventeen or eighteen year old girl thought to herself: do grown men really like going to the privy in groups? Seventy or eighty of them together?

“We… we can’t very well go to the privy ourselves. Could you call them out for us?”

The young woman said gently: “The mistress is waiting urgently. Please be quick.”

Tang Pidi rose to his feet. “I’ll go move the things myself.”

He said it and left.

The two young women looked at each other, thinking: fine, your face is beautiful, but that proud, standoffish manner of yours is a bit irritating.

The other young woman said: “Forget it. Everyone says he was being bullied by Zhao Qingyu — he probably just doesn’t want to deal with them. I’ll go call them.”

She ran over to the outhouse, was just about to shout, and then startled.

Behind the outhouse, people were groaning and whimpering. She crept carefully around to look, and found the latrine pit packed full of people.

She looked inside the outhouse itself — there were quite a few men in there too, one per pit, standing head-down.

At the front courtyard, Tang Pidi arrived alone. Seeing two horse carts in the yard, he went over to begin unloading them.

Up on the raised terrace, Shen Shanhu was sitting with her tea. When she saw only him coming, her expression shifted with surprise.

“Tang Chi,” Shanhu called out.

Tang Pidi glanced back. He neither bowed nor saluted, merely gave a slight nod.

He saw that the carts were loaded with bolts of cloth, rolled and stacked, and asked: “Where does it go?”

Shanhu’s voice carried a note of irritation. “Why did only you come? Where are Zhao Qingyu and the others? So many guards, and you’re the only one capable of moving?”

Tang Pidi answered: “Yes, I’m the only one capable right now.”

“What happened to them?” Shanhu asked.

“They won’t be available for a while,” Tang Pidi said.

Shanhu frowned slightly. The White Mountain Army’s people called her their Little Mistress — which alone suggested something of her temperament.

She turned and instructed: “Go and check what Zhao Qingyu is up to.”

Two female soldiers immediately moved toward the rear courtyard. They had barely taken a few steps when the two young women from before came running back.

The pair returned with peculiar expressions on their faces, leaned in close to Shanhu, and murmured something in her ear.

Shanhu blinked.

She looked at Tang Pidi and said: “You just said they won’t be available for a while?”

Tang Pidi was unloading bolts of cloth. He didn’t turn around. He answered in an even tone: “Broken bones take seven or eight months to set. Snapped ones take half a year. Then they’ll be able to work again.”

“You alone,” Shanhu said, “beat several dozen of them?”

Tang Pidi said, tone undisturbed: “They said they wanted a fight. They weren’t very good at fighting.”

Shanhu’s eyes brightened.

“Then let’s have a fight.”

She leaped from the raised terrace, and midair, kicked both feet toward Tang Pidi.

Tang Pidi turned, raised his left arm to catch the blow, and those two feet landed squarely on his forearm.

His upper body tilted back slightly; his left arm pushed outward, and Shanhu was forced back.

She turned a clean flip in midair and landed steadily.

After that one exchange, Shanhu’s eyes grew brighter still.

She stepped forward, trading blow after blow, fist after fist at Tang Pidi. With his right hand still unloading the cart, Tang Pidi deflected with his left alone.

In the span of just a few moments, Shanhu had thrown thirty-eight punches; Tang Pidi had blocked all thirty-eight while also unloading four or five more rolls of cloth.

Shanhu retreated two steps. She looked Tang Pidi up and down, then after a long moment called out: “Archers!”

Her personally trained female soldiers immediately closed in, training their bows and crossbows on Tang Pidi.

Tang Pidi let out a quiet sigh.

Shanhu asked: “Who exactly are you, and why did you come here?”

Tang Pidi swept a glance over the archers, then bent down and continued unloading the cloth.

“What I am depends on what use you have for me. Pay me one and a half taels a month, and I’m your guard.”

“Pay me fifty taels, and I’ll handle the guard work alone — you won’t need anyone else.”

“Pay me ten thousand taels a month, plus a suit of iron armor.”

Tang Pidi looked at Shanhu. “And I’ll be your White Mountain Army’s field commander.”

Shanhu stood frozen for a moment, then burst into laughter. “What extraordinary arrogance.”

Tang Pidi sighed inwardly. Li Chi had said: show some restraint. Tang Pidi thought: I have shown restraint.

Shanhu pointed at him. “Who exactly are you? You said your name is Tang Chi — that’s fake too, isn’t it?”

Tang Pidi was silent a moment, then nodded.

“Actually… my name is Xiahou Zuo.”

He looked at Shanhu. “Have you heard that name before?”

Shanhu shook her head slightly. “No. Why would I have heard that name?”

“I thought I was rather well known,” Tang Pidi said.

He said to Shanhu: “I’m from Jizhou. You may not have heard my name, but you should have heard my father’s. He was called Yang Jixing.”

“And who is that?” Shanhu said.

A moment later, she frowned. “Your name is Xiahou Zuo — why does your father have the surname Yang?”

“You probably won’t enjoy hearing it,” Tang Pidi said, “because this is not a pleasant story.”

“If you don’t tell me,” Shanhu said, “I’ll have you shot dead.”

Tang Pidi thought to himself: young lady, you’d best prepare a handkerchief — in a moment you’re going to cry.

He turned to face Shanhu. “If you have the patience to hear this story out, you might want to prepare some wine.”

—