Li Chi and Dantai Yijing changed their clothes, made no effort to avoid anyone’s notice — after all, in a place like Wulai City, nobody knew who they were — and walked straight out the front gate. They said a word to the sentries posted outside, simply that they were going for a stroll, and were not stopped.

A few casual inquiries told them where the court officials were lodged — which promptly presented a difficulty.

Because those men were lodged inside the royal residence. Moving against them would be considerably harder.

As they walked, Dantai Yijing said, “Manufacturing an accident inside the royal residence would be far too complicated. We can’t manage it as things stand — we’d need to find a way in and out of the royal residence freely first.”

Li Chi smiled slightly. “That they’re in the royal residence actually works in our favor. If something happened there, how could suspicion possibly fall on us?”

Dantai Yijing thought it over. That did seem to be exactly right.

Gan Daode’s royal residence was heavily guarded. Li Chi’s party had no freedom of entry and exit, which made it precisely the last place anyone would point to.

“Head back first.”

Li Chi said, “I’ll walk around on my own for a bit.”

Dantai Yijing looked at him. “You’re not going to slip into the royal residence alone and handle it yourself, are you?”

Li Chi said, “I’m not that reckless. I just need time to work out the plan — and I want to pick something up for Ning’er while I’m at it. Besides, you’ve noticed we have people following us. If we split up and go different ways, we’ll split their surveillance too.”

Dantai Yijing gave a nod. “All right — I’ll head back first.”

Li Chi walked on alone toward the far end of the main street. He had of course long since noticed the watchers shadowing them from a distance.

With so many armed factions rising across the realm — rebel armies as thick on the ground as carp crossing a river, hardly a county without several — for Gan Daode to have risen above them all was proof enough that the man had real ability.

And at Gan Daode’s current level of power, his retinue of skilled martial artists was certain to be considerable.

Li Chi wandered along the street at a leisurely pace. Wulai City was rather prosperous — all manner of goods he’d never seen in Jizhou were on display.

Anything that caught his eye, he bought — picking up gifts for everyone. The men tasked with shadowing him felt their legs going numb.

Before long, so many purchases had accumulated that Li Chi simply hired a cart to follow him around so he could keep buying.

Word reached Gan Daode’s ears before long.

“Ha ha ha ha…” Gan Daode laughed. “I’ve heard Yanzhou is impoverished and destitute. It seems that’s no exaggeration — this Li Xiaoxin finds everything new and astonishing. He must not live very well over there.”

A subordinate grinned along with him. “Your Highness, you didn’t see it yourself, or you’d find it even more ridiculous. The man actually went into a tailor’s shop and asked to buy women’s undergarments — which would have been strange enough on its own — but…”

The subordinate was laughing so hard he was nearly bent double. “He wanted the largest size they had. They didn’t have it in stock, so he had to order a custom piece. The tailor asked him just how big he needed it, and he said: just make it big. Red, too — bright red.”

He spread his arms wide to demonstrate the scale: arms stretched out to their fullest extent. “Li Xiaoxin said: about this big…”

Gan Daode roared with laughter. “What on earth does he need that for?!”

Then, mid-laugh, an uneasy premonition began to stir.

“Ahem…” Gan Daode asked, “Has anyone actually seen what this Mountain-Sea Army young lady looks like?”

At first, no one caught his meaning. Then, slowly, they began to understand — whatever Li Xiaoxin had been buying was very likely purchased for that young lady.

“The large size…”

Gan Daode’s expression had begun to shift unpleasantly. “Just how… large… is this young lady exactly?”

A subordinate said, “Shall we go find out?”

Gan Daode’s advisor Xu Ru considered for a moment and said, “If His Highness were to send someone directly — even under some pretext, to request an audience with the young lady — the Mountain-Sea Army’s people would likely see through the intent.”

Gan Daode said worriedly, “But if the young lady really is… really is… I absolutely cannot agree to this.”

Xu Ru offered reassurance, “Your Highness — the marriage alliance is solely for the purpose of forming a coalition. Once the young lady arrives, whether Your Highness ever sees her or pays her any mind — that is entirely at Your Highness’s discretion. There is no need for Your Highness to concern yourself with her appearance…”

Even as he spoke these reassuring words, Xu Ru himself did not feel particularly confident — that subordinate’s outstretched arms just now, approximating the scale of the order, suggested there wasn’t a person alive under five hundred catties who could fill something that size.

Gan Daode shook his head. “Once she’s actually here, I’d have to see her face day in and day out… Better to find out first.”

Xu Ru thought further, and a flash of inspiration struck him.

He said to Gan Daode, “If Your Highness were to send someone directly, that would certainly be inadvisable — it would raise suspicion with the Mountain-Sea Army’s people. But we do have an appropriate person for this. Grand Counselor Gui is a court official — he is not one of Your Highness’s men. And he is already managing the enfeoffment ceremony on Your Highness’s behalf. Your Highness need only invite Grand Counselor Gui shortly and tell him that the wedding preparations are to be added to his charge as well — have him go to meet with the Mountain-Sea Army’s young lady. That way…”

Gan Daode immediately brightened. “Xu Ru, as always, you think of everything. Very well — let Grand Counselor Gui handle it.”

Not long afterward, Gui Yuanshu had accepted the assignment. He needed to get rid of those Mountain-Sea Army scum anyway — having this as cover made it considerably easier to act. At the very least, he could size up the opposition before making any move.

After returning to his quarters, Gui Yuanshu gathered his men.

“I’ll be going to call on those Mountain-Sea Army people shortly. Come with me — and use the opportunity to get a feel for the layout of that compound.”

His men acknowledged the order with a bow.

They went out to make preparations — borrowed horses and a carriage from Gan Daode’s people, then assembled some gifts for the sake of appearances. At least the formalities had to be observed.

In a small alley across from the royal residence, Li Chi had been waiting there all along. He had made a show of sending many purchases back to the compound, then slipped away from the rear and run to conceal himself here.

When he saw a group of men in official robes emerge from the royal residence’s gates and board a carriage, he quietly drew back.

Li Chi had come here to wait and observe — he hadn’t been confident that Gan Daode would send those court officials out immediately.

But now that they had come out, he would take it from here.

The carriage sat at the gate, blocking the view — Li Chi couldn’t make out their faces.

Nor had Li Chi thought for a moment that the man in that carriage could be Gui Yuanshu. The locals in Qingzhou spoke with a distinctive accent, and what they said as “Grand Counselor Gui” came out sounding like “Noble Counselor Gui.”

All Li Chi was thinking at that moment was: *kill them.*

The carriage moved slowly along the street. Li Chi crossed to a parallel road and moved quickly, getting ahead of it, then positioned himself to wait.

Gan Daode had chosen a quieter residential area for Li Chi’s party — fewer neighbors, more secluded. To reach it, one had to cross a small river. Over that river stood a nine-arched stone bridge — and this was exactly the spot Li Chi and Dantai Yijing had identified when they’d gone out earlier.

No use for it today — but it would be useful eventually. Li Chi had reasoned that Gan Daode would not send his own men to gather intelligence, leaving only these court officials to come in his stead. And he had prepared the ground accordingly. This was not prescience — he had simply laid the groundwork, and the enemy had followed the path he’d laid for them.

Li Chi arrived at the stone bridge before Gui Yuanshu’s carriage. He looked around in all directions, confirmed no one was paying attention, pulled a black cloth mask over his face, and dropped over the side.

In midair, he caught the bridge with one hand; body hanging along the stone facing. With his right hand he drew a grappling cord from his deerskin pouch — the end tipped with an iron claw.

He didn’t want Dantai Yijing risking himself alongside him for something he could handle alone.

He had originally planned to engineer some elaborate-looking accident — but now that the opportunity had come, there was no need to wait.

He heard the carriage approaching. Li Chi surged upward, arm shooting out — the iron claw flew from his hand and wrapped around the carriage wheel. He dropped his weight back down—

*Crack.* The wheel was wrenched sideways. The axle snapped. The carriage lurched hard to one side.

Li Chi climbed the grappling cord, and as the passengers cried out in alarm, he rose from beneath the bridge like a hawk taking flight — vaulting clean onto the roof of the carriage.

On the carriage roof, he drove both feet down with explosive force. The canopy shattered inward. Li Chi plunged down into the cabin.

He had barely landed when a blade came thrusting at him. Li Chi startled inwardly — he hadn’t expected this wretched official to have real martial skill.

He clamped both feet together like hands pressing shut, sole to sole, catching the blade between them. As his body sank with the momentum, the blade was forced down with him. Then his wrist turned — a dagger appeared in his hand — and he swept it toward the man’s throat.

Then came a shout from Li Chi himself:

*”What in the—?!”*

The words came out in a full Qingzhou accent: *woh leh geh cào!*

The dagger stopped — a hairsbreadth from Gui Yuanshu’s throat.

The thinnest fraction of an inch was all that stood between Gui Yuanshu’s neck and the blade.

Gui Yuanshu sat there, face drained of color, eyes wide with barely-suppressed terror. He hadn’t imagined for a moment that someone would try to kill him so suddenly — and he certainly hadn’t imagined that the attacker’s martial skill could be so formidable.

Even less had he imagined that the man, on the very verge of success, would abruptly stop — and shout out something like *what in the—?*

But then, a moment later, Gui Yuanshu’s mind caught up.

He recognized that voice. Strange and familiar at once — strange because it had been a long time, familiar because he could never forget it.

*”Cao Du?!”*

Gui Yuanshu cried out in shock. (Note: “Cao Du” was a pseudonym Li Chi had used around Gui Yuanshu in Daxing City.)

*”You and your ‘Cao Du.'”*

Li Chi rapped him on the head. *”How in the hell are you here? How is it that the damned villain is you?”*

Gui Yuanshu didn’t answer. Instead, he swore: *”Have you lost your mind?!”*

Zheng Shunshun and the others had already drawn their blades. They flung open the carriage door — and found their lord unharmed, in the middle of a mutual cursing match with the attacker.

The way it now appeared, the attacker had gone to enormous trouble, evidently not to kill anyone at all — but simply to come and swear at their lord face to face.

Gui Yuanshu said, “Can you not behave like a normal human being for once? You’re supposed to be a king.”

Li Chi said, “You know perfectly well I’m a king — and you can’t show a little more respect?”

Gui Yuanshu pointed at the black cloth mask on Li Chi’s face. This one wasn’t the face mask with the Yaksha design — that was one Gao Xining had painted for fun. This one had a yellow duckling on it.

Gui Yuanshu pointed at the mask. *”Respect you? Respect the duckling?”*

Li Chi: *”You’re the duckling.”*

By now, Zheng Shunshun and the others had finally figured out who the man was. Of all the people who could send their lord into this state of flustered agitation, there was really only one.

Li Chi sighed. “If you don’t give me an explanation, I’ll have no choice but to regard you as Gan Daode’s running dog.”

Gui Yuanshu said, “Do I look like Gan Daode’s running dog to you?”

Li Chi said, “You don’t look it — but I can’t be certain.”

Gui Yuanshu suddenly moved — a kick aimed at Li Chi. *”Are you serious? I’ve been waiting here for you this whole time, and you call me a running dog?”*

Li Chi sidestepped it. The kick went clean through the side of the carriage.

And then his foot got stuck.

Li Chi slipped out of the carriage, grabbed Gui Yuanshu’s foot with both hands where it jutted out the other side, and pulled with all his strength.

*”You dare curse at me? I’ll pinch you where it counts!”*

Gui Yuanshu yelped in pain. *”Let go of me!”*

Li Chi: *”I’m not letting go!”*

Gui Yuanshu said, *”If you don’t let go… I’ll call for help!”*

He looked at his subordinates. *”Are you going to help or not?!”*

Zheng Shunshun looked at him, then at Li Chi, caught between two loyalties. He said to Li Chi, trying to mediate, *”You really should let go — it’s uncomfortable like that.”*

Ding Man added, *”Exactly, exactly — with all those wood splinters, if any got lodged in the folds… they’d be awfully hard to remove.”*

At that, even Li Chi paused.

*”Folds are hard to remove?”*