The journey back to Jizhou City passed without incident. They had fully expected some small commotion to ambush them along the way, and even deliberately traveled slowly, yet no one caught up with them—Xiahou Zuo kept saying it was dull.

He had thought that Wang Xinglun would go crying to his uncle at the county office, and that a man so accustomed to throwing his weight around locally would surely bring a gang of lackeys to chase them down.

Yet the entire way back to Jizhou City passed in complete peace, and Xiahou Zuo felt cheated.

He had been hoping for a second fight—not getting one felt like a loss.

For an ordinary person, the matter would have ended there. But when had Xiahou Zuo ever been an ordinary person?

He said to Li Diudiu, “If you put this in terms of the battlefield, it means you must take every enemy seriously—even an enemy so weak you could wipe them out with a casual flick of your fingers. Never show mercy.”

Li Diudiu was taken aback when he heard this. It seemed unreasonable somehow, and yet somehow it made complete sense.

“If your enemy has one hundred thousand troops and you exhaust every strategy to defeat them, you don’t just treat it as if nothing happened afterward. Defeat the enemy—then don’t give the enemy a chance to turn defeat into victory. So if you’re going to win, you must win completely and thoroughly.”

Xiahou Zuo continued, “If your enemy is just a handful of people—those few are still there to take your life, which makes them still your enemy. Treat them the same way.”

Li Diudiu asked, “But if the enemy is so weak, why bother?”

Xiahou Zuo looked at Li Diudiu as if he were an idiot. “Let me give you an analogy. You lead tens of thousands of troops against an enemy force of one hundred thousand. You defeat them. To have no worries at your back, you order all prisoners executed. Does that seem excessive to you?”

Li Diudiu shook his head. “Not excessive.”

Xiahou Zuo continued, “Three people come to kill you. You could slaughter tens of thousands of prisoners, yet you think killing these three is excessive—isn’t that stupid?”

Without waiting for Li Diudiu to speak, Xiahou Zuo said, “And if you were about to say those three aren’t worth the trouble—then you’re even more stupid.”

Xiahou Zuo patted Li Diudiu on the shoulder. “Think the logic over yourself. I have business to take care of now.”

In less than half a shichen, Xiahou Zuo was already inside the Circuit Intendant’s official office. In less than another half shichen, a cavalry unit of several hundred men thundered out of the Circuit Intendant’s office at full gallop.

Meanwhile, Li Diudiu settled Wang Heita’s wife and children into an inn, and then went to look for a house to negotiate a price on—this had been Wang Heita’s dying wish, and Li Diudiu felt that if you were going to handle something, you ought to handle it all the way through.

Fortunately, his master was just as much of a softhearted fool as he was. His master had previously had his eye on a house and had nearly paid a deposit on it—when he heard Li Diudiu recount the whole situation, he decided to help Wang Heita’s wife purchase that house instead.

With silver on hand, one speaks with confidence. The small courtyard—just three main rooms with one and a half side rooms on each flank—was purchased at the high price of three hundred taels.

After buying the house, the elderly Daoist Changmei looked utterly bereft. Of all the days he had spent in Jizhou City, this had been the most suitable house he had found.

When he’d first wanted to buy it, the asking price was two hundred taels. But times were bad, and Jizhou City, being such a large and sturdy city, had property rising in value—in less than a month the price had climbed to three hundred taels.

The reason the purchase went smoothly was precisely because the house was too small, too modest for wealthy officials to bother with. They couldn’t be bothered—but Changmei could.

With Ye Zhangzhu working as a go-between, things at the Jizhou Prefecture office went much more smoothly. Lian Gongming was currently being kept in check, and with people from Prince Yu’s household personally coming to register such a small property, continuing to obstruct the matter would have made Lian Gongming look like a fool.

Three days, and everything was smoothly settled. For those three days, Li Diudiu had no part in any of it—not because he didn’t want to be involved, but because he couldn’t.

On the first day back at the Four Pages Academy, Yan Qingzhi had him stand outside the classroom as punishment for two shichen.

The second day, he continued standing outside, though he was allowed to stand close enough to the doorway to hear the lessons. The third day was the same.

On the fourth day, Li Diudiu rose early after breakfast and dutifully took his post at the classroom door. The previous night, Xiahou Zuo had told him everything was settled—Madame Wang and her two children had moved into the small courtyard. Li Diudiu felt relief wash over him, and a lightness settled in his chest. If he had to keep standing outside, so be it.

Behind the flower bed, Gao Xining was crouched down, sneaking glances at Li Diudiu. She wondered—this was already the fourth day, was Teacher Yan really not planning to let him back in?

Standing for an entire day was exhausting just to think about. Her grandfather had made her stand as punishment before, and after less than one shichen her legs had ached unbearably. This was already Li Diudiu’s fourth day.

Teacher Yan was genuinely ruthless.

In her quiet standoff with Gao Yuanzhang, she had emerged with something of a victory. That evening after Li Diudiu had brought her food, Gao Yuanzhang had relented the very next day—she was his own granddaughter, and if something truly happened to her, his heart would shatter.

So Gao Yuanzhang decided to let Gao Xining go outside—but with two conditions: first, she was not to leave the Academy grounds; second, she was not to go see Li Chi.

Gao Xining thought: every concession from the enemy is the beginning of our great leap forward. She agreed to both conditions without hesitation.

It wasn’t that she truly dared to openly defy her grandfather’s wishes—so she couldn’t go looking for Li Diudiu openly, and had to sneak glances from a distance.

Watching Li Diudiu standing at the classroom doorway of his own accord, Gao Xining thought: this won’t do. He was already a bit slow—if he stood here too long and cut off his circulation, what if he got even slower?

Then who would ever want him?

In that moment, the light of wisdom blazed to life within Gao Xining. Some circuit in that brain of hers that defied all known wiring lit up like a sky full of stars.

The moment she hit on a plan, she ran straight back to find her grandfather Gao Yuanzhang. After much coaxing and pleading, claiming she was utterly bored and stifled and desperate to buy some nice things to eat, Gao Yuanzhang caved before long and had the family’s maidservant accompany Gao Xining out to the market.

The customs of Dachu weren’t so rigid. During the Zhou period, girls weren’t supposed to go out to the streets freely—doing so was considered a disgrace to public morality.

This maidservant had a pleasant name: Ruoling. She wasn’t exactly ugly, just undeniably plump, and rather tall as well.

About as tall as Xiahou Zuo, and probably twice his weight—when she walked, the mountain seemed to sway. For all her formidable bearing, she had a remarkable talent for cooking, which was likely the main reason Gao Yuanzhang had kept her on in the first place.

When Gao Xining and Ruoling walked together, the average sturdy man would veer away while they were still at a distance.

What was even more remarkable was that, despite being so powerfully built, Ruoling had the softest, most delicate voice—ten times more gentle than Gao Xining’s. If you closed your eyes and only listened, you’d have no idea—unmistakably the voice of a soft, sweet, demure young woman.

“Miss, where are we going?”

Ruoling asked as they walked.

“To the Yunzhai Teahouse.”

Gao Xining walked with her hands behind her back, her ponytail swishing left and right again.

Ruoling asked, “Are we going to drink tea and listen to music?”

Gao Xining shook her head. “We’re going to recruit an army.”

Ruoling didn’t understand, wondering what kind of army could possibly be found at the Yunzhai Teahouse.

An hour later she understood perfectly—especially after watching Madame Sun, arms flailing, standing at the Academy gate and shouting at the top of her lungs. Ruoling thought: Madame Sun is far more formidable than herself. Madame Sun was truly like a great general seizing the enemy commander’s head in the thick of ten thousand soldiers.

“If this Academy does not allow Young Master Li to return to class, we will block this gate and refuse to leave!”

Madame Sun turned and rallied the group behind her.

“That’s right!”

A group of young women cheered in response, like soldiers raising battle flags.

There were only a few dozen of them, yet the waves of sound they produced rose and fell without end, carrying the force of several hundred.

Had it been a group of men, the Academy’s guards would have dispersed them long ago—but these were women, and they couldn’t very well lay hands on them. Touch one and she’d accuse you of assault, wouldn’t she?

And besides—did the Four Pages Academy care about its reputation or not?

“Stand up for Young Master Li!”

Madame Sun led the chanting, waving her arms. More and more bystanders gathered to watch.

Gao Xining was hiding just inside the Academy gate watching all this, feeling a quiet surge of satisfaction. She knew exactly where her grandfather’s soft spot was—the reputation of the Four Pages Academy was the one thing he absolutely would not allow to be damaged.

Sure enough, before long the Academy dispatched a teacher to go out and negotiate with Madame Sun’s group, explaining that Li Chi had already returned to class. Madame Sun declared she had to go in and see Li Chi for herself before she would leave. With no other option, the Academy staff let Madame Sun inside.

Ruoling asked Gao Xining curiously, “Miss, how did you convince them to come?”

Gao Xining lowered her voice and said, “I just told them that Li Chi hadn’t come to the Yunzhai Teahouse because he was being punished by the Academy—and that if they didn’t help, Li Chi might never be able to leave the Academy gates again.”

Gao Xining gave a quiet, satisfied laugh. “Li Chi is practically the star attraction of the Yunzhai Teahouse at this point—so many wives and daughters of officials love listening to him play and tell stories……but Madame Sun seems a bit too enthusiastic. Something about that seems a little off……”

She stopped laughing at that thought. Why did she feel vaguely sour about it?

—

The Academy. Yan Qingzhi’s study.

Yan Qingzhi glared at Li Diudiu. Li Diudiu kept his head down, not daring to meet his gaze.

“Quite impressive now, are we?”

Yan Qingzhi said, “You had the audacity to incite a mob of women to come and threaten the Academy?”

Li Diudiu said, “Teacher, I’ve been wronged……”

Yan Qingzhi said, “I know it wasn’t you who went to find them—it must have been Gao Xining. But why can’t I put her account on your tab?”

Li Diudiu thought it over and said, “Then put it on my tab……”

Yan Qingzhi: “You actually accepted that!”

Li Diudiu said, “What she did was for my sake. Even if I think it was a bit childish, I’ll take responsibility for the fault.”

Yan Qingzhi had just opened his mouth to say something when he heard Madame Sun calling out from outside. Not wanting to deal with a woman, he gave a wave of his hand. “Go out and handle it yourself!”

Li Diudiu answered and went out. He found Madame Sun searching anxiously, and the moment she spotted Li Chi, her face lit up with brilliant, sunlit joy.

“Young Master Li, you haven’t come to the teahouse in days.”

Madame Sun noticed Li Diudiu had sweat on his forehead and took out a fragrant handkerchief to wipe it for him. Li Diudiu awkwardly stepped back two paces and said, “Madame, I’m perfectly fine—I violated some Academy rules, so there’s been a light punishment. Please go back, Madame—tomorrow I’ll come to the teahouse to thank you in person, and to apologize to the patrons.”

Madame Sun said, “As long as you’re all right. Oh, and there’s something I need to tell you—if it weren’t for this news, I might not have come today.”

Li Diudiu asked, “What is it? You look quite happy.”

“Happy? Of course I’m happy.”

Madame Sun smiled and said, “My husband and I have been married nearly twenty years and never had any children—but, wouldn’t you know it, right after you started coming to our teahouse, I got pregnant!”

Li Diudiu was so startled he stumbled back a step, waving his hands frantically. “Please don’t say things like that.”

Madame Sun said, “I don’t care—this is all the good fortune you brought. From now on, if anyone is unkind to you, I’ll make their life difficult.”

Li Diudiu said, “I’ve only been at the Yunzhai for a little over a month—so…… this really has nothing to do with me.”

Madame Sun said, “What do you mean nothing to do with you? Without you, would I have gotten pregnant? Twenty years without a child before you came, and then I was with child the moment you arrived—how can you say it isn’t a blessing you brought?”

Li Diudiu felt a buzzing in his head. The color drained from his face.

Madame Sun said, “I’m telling you the good news, and also letting you know—whether you agree or not—when the baby is born, you’ll be its godfather.”

Li Diudiu’s expression: ?????!!!!

Madame Sun said, “You’re fine, so I won’t disturb you further. Study hard—little one’s godfather.”

Li Diudiu: “……”

—