Gui Yuanshu looked at the two men and couldn’t help falling briefly into a daze. He had guessed their backgrounds must be something out of the ordinary — but he truly hadn’t expected them to be Tingwei Army.

“Three things.”

Gui Yuanshu found a place to sit, and looked at Dong Dongdong and Qi Qiangqi. “First — prove your identities. Second — state your purpose. Third — I haven’t decided yet.”

He made an inviting gesture: “Speak.”

Dong Dongdong raised a hand in a gesture that roughly conveyed: don’t make any sudden moves, I mean no harm — and also: don’t be alarmed, this is all completely normal.

And then he took off his trousers.

His Tingwei Army identification token was tied to the inside of his thigh. It was, admittedly, a reasonably well-concealed spot.

Which was why Gui Yuanshu had decided not to accept it for inspection. He looked toward Zhang Youdong: “You check it.”

Zhang Youdong: “This…”

His first thought was: won’t that be uncomfortable?

Distasteful as it was, it still had to be checked.

A Tingwei Army identity token in iron could not be counterfeited. For one thing, the overwhelming majority of people in the world had never seen what such a token looked like; for another, not one token was identical to another — even tokens of the same rank differed.

The designer and overseer of these tokens was none other than Changmei the Daoist, who had spent his whole life wandering the rivers and lakes, and whose craftsmanship in this art had helped Li Diudiu accumulate no small amount of wealth…

The first thing Gui Yuanshu had needed to master upon arriving in Jizhou was naturally how to orient himself within his own position — the official robes and court caps of Prince Ning’s officials at every level, their titles, the battle gear and helmets of every military rank, and the various types of identification tokens.

These were all things that a Commander of the Intelligence Guard Army must thoroughly know, otherwise the incompetence would be extraordinary.

Zhang Youdong accepted the token, inspected it, and confirmed it was genuine — each Hundredth Officer’s iron token bore a unique serial number drawn from a particular book that Master Li had left to Li Chi.

“It’s real.”

Zhang Youdong passed the token to Gui Yuanshu, meaning: my lord, you’d better inspect it yourself to be sure.

Gui Yuanshu said: “I know that from the Hundredth Officer grade upward, the casting and forging of Tingwei Army tokens uses a special process — a particular material worked in during the smelting and hammering that gives the token a unique scent.”

He looked toward Zhang Youdong: “Smell it again, and confirm.”

Zhang Youdong’s eyes went wide.

“My lord.” Dong Dongdong bowed forward: “Our identities are beyond question. It’s your other questions, my lord, that we find difficult to answer.”

Gui Yuanshu asked: “Which ones are difficult?”

Dong Dongdong said: “Both of them, really. We carry a confidential assignment and may not disclose it to anyone — we ask for the lord’s understanding.”

“Understand? Not possible.”

Gui Yuanshu said: “I act on Prince Ning’s orders. You act on Prince Ning’s orders. But you’ve managed to act your way right to my doorstep. If I weren’t showing some restraint, you’d both be tied up and beaten before any questions were asked — but since I’m choosing to show restraint… if you won’t tell me, get out.”

Dong Dongdong pointed at Yin Xinping: “We can go — but this man, we need to take with us.”

Gui Yuanshu said: “Do I seem easy to push around?”

Dong Dongdong immediately bowed: “This subordinate would never dare — this subordinate…”

Gui Yuanshu rose and walked slowly over to stand before Dong Dongdong. Looking him in the eyes, he said: “I don’t care who sent you to shadow me. When you go back, tell them: if this happens again, I don’t care about any assignment — I’ll go straight before Prince Ning and ask him to his face whether he trusts me so little he needs someone watching my every move.”

“That’s not it!”

Dong Dongdong hastily explained: “This truly is a misunderstanding — it’s because of this case…”

Gui Yuanshu said: “Go. Don’t make me lose my patience.”

Dong Dongdong still wanted to say more. Qi Qiangqi pulled at his back, then bowed and said: “This subordinate erred first — this subordinate will take his leave and explain to the lord another time.”

Dong Dongdong let out a breath, bowed as well, and the two of them turned and departed.

After they’d gone, Zhang Youdong said: “Those two are actually rather interesting.”

Gui Yuanshu smiled: “Good men. Coming here wasn’t their fault. As for whose fault it is — I’ll ask about that later.”

He turned and looked at Yin Xinping: “I’ll give you half a quarter-hour to think clearly. I don’t give face to Tingwei Army people — do you think I’d give you face?”

Yin Xinping’s face was white as a sheet of paper, his body still trembling, for Yin Chang’s severed and blood-soaked head had been tossed right beside his feet.

After Dong Dongdong and Qi Qiangqi left, they both knew this matter had grown complicated — possibly complicated far beyond the scope of their own authority.

And so they had no choice but to go back and report. Who could have known what further chaos that Lord Gui would manage to stir up.

The two of them conferred, reminded themselves they still had other tasks — namely, a stop at Maoyang County — and since they were already so close, they might as well head there and get things done.

They rode toward Maoyang County. About twenty-odd li from the city, there was a patch of forest, not very large.

At the edge of the forest, both men noticed something wrong. There were clearly disordered hoofprints, and in some places, stains of blood.

They dismounted, moved cautiously into the forest, and had not gone far before they found bodies covering the ground.

All Maoyang County people — wearing the uniforms of garrison troops and constables. A rough count suggested at least four or five hundred dead.

“The men who were sent in pursuit earlier?”

Qi Qiangqi looked toward Dong Dongdong.

Dong Dongdong nodded: “Must be.”

While hiding in the gully, they’d been puzzled by Maoyang County’s failure to send anyone after them.

It turned out pursuers had been sent — they’d simply been intercepted and killed en route.

The two men exchanged a look, both of them thoroughly bewildered.

—

One and a half double-hours back in time. The gates of Maoyang County.

Xu Ji’s procession had finally arrived, and this settled Yin Xin’an’s nerves somewhat.

Although the Intelligence Guard Army’s inexplicable appearance had abducted his younger brother Yin Xinping, in terms of the family’s grand scheme, Xu Ji mattered ten thousand times more than Yin Xinping.

So long as Xu Ji was secured, within three days a force of ten thousand could be assembled — and within half a month that force could reach Fengzhou and seize the city.

Even if those Intelligence Guard soldiers had come to investigate, they would still need to return to Jizhou and report to Prince Ning — a round trip that would take no less than three months.

And even if Prince Ning acted decisively to mobilize a great army immediately, assembling troops took time, and a great army couldn’t travel lightly — that would add another month or so. So that was four months in total.

For the Yin family, they still had time enough.

“Brother Xu!”

At the city gate, Yin Xin’an strode forward and clasped his hands toward the carriage: “Brother Xu has finally arrived. Forgive me for not coming out to meet you — please do not hold it against me.”

Inside the carriage, Xu Ji didn’t even step down. His voice came out cool and indifferent: “Brother Yin, I’ve been running a fever since I fell into the water the day before yesterday — I can’t abide the wind, and I’m chilled to the bone. Let me forgo the formality of getting out. If Brother Yin would kindly show me to my lodgings, I’d like to go straight there and rest.”

Yin Xin’an’s expression shifted. This Xu Ji was outrageous.

He had anticipated Xu Ji might put on some airs out of spite for not being met further from the city — but he hadn’t anticipated the airs would be quite this extreme.

The man wouldn’t even get out of the carriage!

Still, Xu Ji’s carriage hadn’t entered the city yet, and causing a scene here wasn’t appropriate. So he swallowed his fury and said: “Brother Xu… then let’s go inside first. I’ve already arranged lodgings, and I’ll send for the physician right away to come attend to you.”

“Much obliged to Brother Yin.”

Xu Ji’s reply came from inside the carriage — still that same cool, detached voice.

Yin Xin’an glanced back, signaling to the men concealed inside the city to be ready.

Xu Ji had brought only a hundred-odd bodyguards. However formidable they were, what difference could it make — the men lying in ambush within the city outnumbered Xu Ji’s party by ten or twenty times.

“Brother Yin.”

Xu Ji suddenly spoke again from inside the carriage: “Why don’t you step in and ride with me? We haven’t seen each other for so long, and I have quite a bit to say.”

Yin Xin’an smiled: “Let me go ahead and make sure everything’s ready for you. Since you can’t be exposed to the wind, I won’t open the carriage door to climb in.”

Xu Ji said: “Have we really grown this distant?”

Yin Xin’an thought it over. Acting now, with a direct move, would still have a good chance of success. Xu Ji’s invitation to ride together probably meant there was some worry in his heart.

Had Xu Ji already noticed something wasn’t right?

At this thought, Yin Xin’an immediately began to fall back, raising his hand and pointing toward Xu Ji’s carriage.

He didn’t want to waste any more time.

“Brother Yin, before I came here I made a stop in Dengzhou first. You’re my classmate and senior brother, a few years older than me — when we were at the academy I looked up to you enormously, and I always told myself that in the years ahead I would visit you more. Only things never went as planned… I thought to myself, all these years have passed and I’ve never once paid my respects to your father, which is rather remiss of me. So…”

The words cut off abruptly.

Yin Xin’an’s face had gone pale.

From inside the carriage came an aged voice: “An’er… I’m in the carriage.”

Yin Xin’an immediately raised his hand, and the archers lying in ambush all around immediately drew back their nocked arrows.

“Father.”

Yin Xin’an’s voice carried a reddish tinge at the edges: “Why… why are you here?”

From inside the carriage, the old man sighed: “It’s… it’s that Lord Xu was overly enthusiastic. Came calling without warning and rather insistently invited me along.”

Yin Xin’an understood in an instant: Xu Ji had sent men to abduct his father.

“Father…”

Yin Xin’an said, his eyes reddening: “Forgive your son’s lack of filial piety.”

He swept his hand: “Seize them all — kill any who resist!”

The men in ambush immediately surged forward, and arrows swung back to aim.

“Ah…”

From inside the carriage came a sigh: “Even a tiger won’t eat its own cubs — and you’d abandon your own father.”

The carriage window opened, and from inside, a hand extended and pointed.

The direction pointed was toward Yin Xin’an’s side. Yin Xin’an instinctively turned to look — and saw that the county office in that direction had just caught fire.

In that one instant, the rear door of the carriage burst open, and several silhouettes swept out.

It was two people leading two others in a charge — evidently two of them knew no martial arts, or possessed only the most ordinary skill.

All four, after clearing the carriage, leapt directly onto warhorses. The full procession of about a hundred wheeled around and immediately fled.

Yin Xin’an erupted in fury.

First one group had appeared, seized Yin Xinping, and fled without looking back — now another group had appeared, failed to catch him off guard, and also fled without looking back.

What disgusting creatures!

“After them!”

At Yin Xin’an’s command, he had a warhorse brought around and personally led his men in pursuit.

The fleeing group had clearly prepared carefully — the riders carried no heavy loads, not even armor, precisely so they could move faster in flight.

In his fury, Yin Xin’an threw caution aside. He had more than enough men in the city; even if he ran the horses to death in the chase, he had to bring Xu Ji down.

Two lines charged one after another along the main road, speeding into the distance.

Somewhere out of sight, Dong Dongdong and Qi Qiangqi lay hidden, watching — equally blank-faced.

“What act of this play is this now?”

Dong Dongdong murmured to himself.

Qi Qiangqi said: “This isn’t our people’s style. Tingwei Army people don’t operate like this.”

Dong Dongdong said: “But if not our people, then who?”

—