Gui Yuanshu had spotted Wei Chiming, and so his first instinct was to hide, and his second was to leave this place immediately.

Had it not been so close to nightfall, he might truly have ordered his group out of the city, content to camp wherever they could for the night.

The sun still lingered reluctantly in the world, yet Gui Yuanshu was already desperate to flee.

In truth, even he could not understand this fear of his — he had no reason to be afraid.

When Prince Wu had nominated him for office, his first instinct had been to seek out his brothers, because in that moment, Gui Yuanshu had genuinely believed that hope had finally arrived.

But his brothers had not reacted as he had hoped. They had shown him only sympathy.

Later, Zheng Shunshun, after listening to Gui Yuanshu recount that chapter of his past, had offered a theory: first, because they likely felt that a leisurely, powerless Dali Temple Chief Justice was no kind of hope at all. Second, perhaps because he had an official post while they were still commoners — following him would seem beneath them.

Gui Yuanshu had stayed silent for a long while after that. But in his heart, he had rejected Zheng Shunshun’s theory.

Those were the brothers from the very beginning of his life. And what comes first is what is truest.

He refused to believe that Wei Chiming and the others were jealous of him. He preferred to believe that Wei Chiming had already given up on his dreams, had decided Dachu was beyond saving, and was in the depths of despair.

Yet when he learned that Wei Chiming and the others had already been given positions of importance by the Emperor, he could not help but confront once more what Zheng Shunshun had said.

Just as he was leaning beneath the window, lost in a daze, Old Sun and Little Gang and the others returned to the inn, though they did not go inside.

“Damn, of all the rotten luck.”

Old Sun had spotted the escort agency’s people, and cursed under his breath.

When the three of them had set out, knowing that the fake escort agency convoy was heading for Daxing City, he had deliberately taken a longer, roundabout route — precisely to avoid encountering them.

As fate would have it, to avoid that very encounter, Gui Yuanshu’s group had taken that same roundabout road.

“Let’s find another place.”

The woman in purple said four words, indifferently, and turned and walked away — without the slightest hesitation.

Old Sun thought nothing of it. After all, they had no luggage at the inn — they had brought nothing when they came.

Just as they paused briefly not far from the inn, behind a tree in the distance, one of Duan Hen’s men was quietly watching.

This man was called Hou Wannian. He had no particular talents otherwise — average in a fight — but his lightness techniques were off the charts.

If at the moment of birth the heavens had already assigned each person their specialty, then when the heavens assigned his, they had simply disregarded almost every other option and given him nothing but talent in lightness techniques.

The world simply had this kind of person: someone you cannot beat in a fight, but whom you equally cannot fight to death.

Hou Wannian was such a person. So was Yu Jiuling.

Before he began following Duan Hen, Hou Wannian had been the most notorious bedroom bandit in Yuezhou. The authorities across Yuezhou had been after him for years and never caught him — simply because he hid too well and fled too fast.

Hou Wannian watched the three figures walking toward the inn, then immediately turned and left. He was not about to take the risk of getting too close.

Shortly after, Hou Wannian returned to Duan Hen’s side and bowed. “Master Duan, I tracked them — Come Yue Inn.”

Duan Hen gave a satisfied nod. “Well done.”

Hou Wannian added a word of warning: “Looking at those three, the young half-grown child is nothing to worry about — no martial foundation, useless. But the man and the woman, they don’t seem weak.”

Duan Hen laughed. “A woman with a fine appearance and strong martial skills — that really is quite rare. Which makes this all the more interesting.”

Hou Wannian inwardly expressed his complete agreement.

People might imagine that those women of the martial world who struck others as heroic and dashing were all ravishing beauties.

In reality, truly so few… just consider a woman who has practiced martial arts from childhood, whose fists have grown thick calluses from beating sandbags every day, whose body is all muscle from training day in and day out…

“Tonight I’ll pay them a visit.”

Duan Hen rose to his feet. “Let’s head back first.”

“Yes!”

The group answered in unison.

On the other side of things.

Little Gang felt a little sorry about it — after all, the room fee had already been paid, and just walking away like that was truly a waste of that money.

Old Sun, seeing his expression, knew exactly what he was thinking. A child raised in hardship, who had watched his father die because there was no money for medicine — to him, wasting even a single copper coin was an unforgivable crime.

“What matters more — lives or money?”

Old Sun asked.

Little Gang thought about it and answered with conviction: “Money.”

Old Sun was just about to scold him, when Little Gang continued: “Without money, there is no life.”

Old Sun recalled Little Gang’s father, and sighed, ruffling Little Gang’s hair. “I wasn’t talking about our lives — I meant the lives of those people. If we run into them again, what if…”

He glanced at the woman in purple walking ahead. Little Gang immediately understood.

What if that sister got vicious again? The fate of those people in the escort agency convoy could be anyone’s guess.

Hitting people is not good, and killing people is naturally worse. And so Little Gang decided: walking away was walking away.

They left before the city gates closed. Darkness had just fallen; Little Gang was a little scared, but on second thought — with that sister and his master here, what was there to be afraid of?

—

Back at the inn.

Zheng Shunshun and the others hadn’t yet returned from their outing. Gui Yuanshu sat alone in his room in a daze. For the better part of an hour, his mind had been cycling again and again through memories of when they were young.

He thought of how, back in the Chongwen Academy, Wei Chiming had looked after all of them. He thought of how, though their lives had been lean and hard in those days, the bond between them had run so deep.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door. Gui Yuanshu stood up — after all, it would be unseemly for a subordinate to find him sitting on the floor. He had his dignity to maintain.

The door had no bolt. It creaked open as someone pushed it. Gui Yuanshu was just about to scold his subordinate for having no manners when he looked up and saw the face he had been afraid to see.

The instant their eyes met, both men’s expressions changed — going equally pale.

“So it really was you.”

When Wei Chiming spoke, even his voice was trembling.

Gui Yuanshu said: “It’s not… it is… Elder Brother.”

Wei Chiming strode forward and pulled Gui Yuanshu into an embrace. “We all thought you were dead. As long as you are alive, that is what matters. As long as you are alive!”

Gui Yuanshu held his arms out to either side, not knowing how to respond.

A moment later, Wei Chiming suddenly stepped back, raised his hand, and slapped Gui Yuanshu across the face. “Since you didn’t die, why haven’t you returned to Daxing City?!”

Gui Yuanshu instinctively covered his face and looked into Wei Chiming’s eyes, long unable to respond.

“As I suspected!”

Wei Chiming’s expression grew darker still. He grabbed Gui Yuanshu by the collar. “There are rumors that you defected and betrayed your nation. None of us believed it for a moment. Now tell me — have you truly joined the rebel forces?!”

Gui Yuanshu suddenly erupted in fury, smacking Wei Chiming’s hand away. “So what if I have?! Kill me then!”

“How dare you!”

Wei Chiming struck Gui Yuanshu across the face again, and that half of Gui Yuanshu’s face swelled up almost immediately.

Footsteps sounded outside the door — Gui Yuanshu’s intelligence guards had heard the noise and come rushing over.

With Wei Chiming’s skill, slipping past the people in the inn would have been effortless. He had only come back on an impulse, unwilling to let it go, wanting to check for himself — he hadn’t actually expected to truly find Gui Yuanshu.

“All of you, stay outside!”

Gui Yuanshu shouted. “He’s a friend.”

“A friend?!”

Wei Chiming fixed him with a furious glare, then roared: “I am not your friend!”

Gui Yuanshu roared back at him: “Then what do you want from me?! The Emperor sent me to Qingzhou as a death sentence. I survived — that’s my luck, not his mercy! Am I supposed to have survived only to go back and die again?!”

Wei Chiming was stunned into silence.

This time it was Gui Yuanshu who grabbed Wei Chiming by the collar. “If I hadn’t died, would the three of you have gotten to wear your purple robes?!”

Wei Chiming opened his mouth, but seemed to lose all his footing in an instant.

Gui Yuanshu let go and walked to one side, sitting down. “Do you think I’m the one at fault? Do you think I never regarded you as brothers? Now that you know the Emperor wanted me dead, let me ask you — would you kill the Emperor for my sake?!”

Wei Chiming’s head snapped up to look at Gui Yuanshu, and he shouted: “You are being utterly outrageous! Even if the Emperor wanted you dead — the ruler commands, the subject must comply! We all swore an oath: to be loyal to Dachu!”

“To hell with that oath!”

The veins on Gui Yuanshu’s forehead were straining as he roared: “Do you know how I survived? Because halfway there, I got the accompanying eunuch drunk enough to talk. He told me the Emperor had him go along so that after granting Gan Daode his princeship, he would have Gan Daode kill me. Those were the Emperor’s own instructions! So I killed that eunuch. I still went to Qingzhou. By that point, I had already decided to become a rebel!”

Wei Chiming was rendered speechless once more.

He did not want to believe it. But looking at Gui Yuanshu’s face, he knew it was true.

He did not want to doubt the Emperor. He did not want to doubt his own brother.

“You… come back with me.”

Wei Chiming walked quickly to stand before Gui Yuanshu and crouched down, taking Gui Yuanshu’s hands in his. “The Emperor trusts us now. When I return, I will plead your case — the Emperor will naturally show leniency, and you can still remain at court. The four of us brothers can stand together and hold up Dachu!”

“Rubbish!”

Gui Yuanshu raged: “When I first took office, I went to find you three with excitement — and what did you say to me then? Now you talk about working together, because this time it’s your three who are officials while I’m the rebel?!”

“That’s not what happened!”

Wei Chiming raised his hand again. Gui Yuanshu thrust his face forward. “Go on, hit me.”

Wei Chiming’s hand froze in midair.

“Elder Brother, you should go.”

Gui Yuanshu said: “I am a rebel. You are a high official. If anyone finds out you met with me, can you still keep your career?”

Wei Chiming felt his face burning. He shook his head. “Back then, we didn’t want to follow you into the work — it wasn’t because you had an official post while we were still commoners, it was because the Emperor had no real intention of using you at the time. He only gave you the post because of Prince Wu’s connection — the Emperor had no choice in it.”

“Enough.”

Gui Yuanshu broke free and stood, pointing at the door. “You can leave now. Don’t make me say anything more unpleasant.”

Wei Chiming also stood, and looked into Gui Yuanshu’s eyes. “Are you truly going to follow the rebel army for the rest of your life? That is a name you will never wash clean, and your children and grandchildren…”

Before he could finish, Gui Yuanshu let out a bellowing roar: “Get out!”

Wei Chiming was stunned.

After a long silence, he gave a helpless nod. “I’ll go… but remember: do not let us meet again. We… each serve our own master.”

Gui Yuanshu shook his head. “You are wrong. This time, I serve myself.”

Wei Chiming looked at him — his own complexion as pale as a ghost.

They remained in silence for a long while. Then Wei Chiming turned and left. At the moment he pulled open the door, the intelligence guard soldiers outside all looked toward him.

Wei Chiming walked through the gathered men. “The next time we meet, it will be to the death.”

“I know!”

Gui Yuanshu shouted. “You don’t need to tell me.”

—