Wen Yu looked up, hesitantly accepted it, and asked, “What is this?”

Xiao Li sat down cross-legged across from her and said, “A tribute from Zhao Youcai.”

Wen Yu unwrapped what the silk handkerchief contained and discovered irregular gold and silver fragments pried from unknown objects. She froze slightly, confusion appearing in her eyes.

Xiao Li explained, “I suppose they emphasized this sort of thing in their former bandit den. I originally didn’t want to accept it, but he was practically crying and about to kneel on the ground. Seeing him so panicked, I was afraid that refusing further would attract others’ attention and suspicion. Thinking that we would indeed need silver for the road ahead, I accepted it.”

When he and Wen Yu left Doctor Tao’s home, they had barely any copper coins left on them.

While traveling in the wilderness, they relied entirely on hunting wild game to fill their bellies. Later, when they reached towns, he exchanged the rabbit and sable pelts he’d skinned for some silver, which allowed them to purchase necessities.

However, to intimidate Zhao Youcai’s group earlier, the two had acquired new outfits and bought writing materials, spending all their remaining silver.

Hearing his explanation, Wen Yu smiled faintly with a touch of helplessness. “This person’s mind is quite nimble.”

The sky gradually brightened. Through the tattered straw mat blocking the wind at the entrance, they could already see some gray shadows outside.

The news of porridge distribution and grain allocation had apparently spread completely among the refugees. The clamor outside grew louder, along with the sound of refugees gathered elsewhere rushing over.

“No wonder the Xinzhou Prefect also declared himself king—Pei Song is dead!”

“Tongcheng has even come here to distribute grain and recruit soldiers! The world has become so chaotic, it won’t settle down anytime soon. Since Tongcheng can still distribute grain to us, they definitely don’t lack money or provisions. We might as well follow them and find a way to survive!”

Xiao Li listened to the passing refugees’ discussions. After those footsteps grew distant, he lifted the mat curtain and looked through the gap at those hurried figures under the gray dawn sky, asking Wen Yu, “If you really recruit several hundred or a thousand soldiers here, how do you plan to handle them?”

In Wen Yu’s eyes reflected the gradually dying firelight inside the shelter and the moonlight outside. She said, “You’ve reminded me—I should prepare a banner for Zhao Youcai.”

Xiao Li looked back at her.

—

Several days later, Dingzhou.

Wearing only light clothing, Pei Song sat at the bedside. Below his slightly open collar, gauze bandages wrapped around his shoulder were vaguely visible. His face, slightly pale from illness, combined with his pair of dark hawk-like eyes, made his fierce aura even more pronounced.

After reading the battle report sent from the south, his distinctly boned fingers clenched forcefully, crumpling the letter into a ball of waste paper in his hand.

His anger turned to laughter. “Excellent, truly excellent! Luodu and Fengyang have already fallen into wasteland under the iron hooves of my hundred-thousand-strong army. These creatures south of the Wei River probably don’t know how to write the word ‘death’! Tongcheng also dares to rebel and commit treason—send word to Mengzhou, have Pei Yuan bring me the head of the Tongcheng county magistrate!”

The personal guard standing in the tent immediately went to relay the message.

A colonel below cautiously said, “Commander, the battle situation in Dingzhou remains deadlocked. The bitter cold weather has caused many soldiers in the army to fall ill. Morale is extremely low. With rebel factions proliferating south of the Wei River and no hope of procuring medicinal materials, what should we do?”

Pei Song threw the crumpled battle report at the colonel and shouted coldly, “What are you panicking about? In the past, you all followed me northward from Ezhou, yet we broke through Luodu and conquered Fengyang. Now there are merely some vermin causing trouble—what threat can they pose?”

The paper ball struck the colonel’s helmet and fell to the ground.

The colonel broke out in cold sweat all over and hastily knelt. “Commander, please calm your anger. This subordinate is not bolstering others’ ambitions—it’s just that seeing the soldiers’ low morale and the shortage of medicinal materials in the army, I voiced my concerns.”

Hidden anger showed on Pei Song’s face as he stared at the colonel without speaking.

Chief Clerk Gongsun Chou spoke up at the right moment. “General Li, the lord’s poison wound hasn’t healed. The military physician specifically instructed that he mustn’t overtax himself. I’ll discuss this matter with you later. Please withdraw for now.”

That day when Pei Song was assassinated, he took an arrow while protecting Jiang Yichu. Unexpectedly, the arrow was poisoned. To extract the poison, Pei Song had been bedridden for many days.

The colonel finally realized his words were inappropriate at this juncture. Gongsun Chou’s words were helping him out of the situation. He quickly bowed to both Pei Song and Gongsun Chou. “This subordinate takes his leave.”

After he left the tent, Gongsun Chou said, “General Li has an upright temperament and cares deeply for his subordinate soldiers, which is why he spoke such rash words. I ask the lord not to blame him.”

Pei Song’s large palm pressed against his knee, his complexion ugly. “I’m not angered by those words, but rather by the current situation, which feels much like being constrained in Yongcheng back then, stepping into a quagmire. Those people are scheming well behind the scenes!”

Gongsun Chou said, “This matter is indeed suspicious. The lord was merely assassinated, yet it was spread by rumors that the Pei clan had lost its master. The various major prefectures in the south that the lord had only just subdued before the northern expedition have now become a chaotic mess again. Clearly someone did this deliberately.”

Pei Song laughed coldly. “It’s either Wei Qishan or Hanyang—it can’t be anyone but these two. I previously suspected that the mastermind behind disrupting the rice, grain, and medicine prices south of the Wei River was Hanyang. The guard by her side happens to be named Xiao Li. The portrait drawn by the painter based on the hounds’ rough impression does indeed bear some resemblance to that Xiao Li from Yongzhou. The Zhou family of Yongzhou and Hanyang are definitely connected!”

A fierce look flashed through his eyes. “If not for you insisting on stopping me, I would have had that Zhou family boy flayed alive!”

Gongsun Chou sighed. “My lord, those who achieve great things must never let small impatience ruin great plans. Zhou Suibian deserves to die a thousand deaths, but now is absolutely not the time to kill him. You must know that it was precisely after Yongzhou’s surrender, and after the lord conquered Mengzhou—that hard bone—in one stroke, that the southern situation was stabilized. Now that the situation has been disrupted again, even if the lord punishes him under the charge of the Zhou family harboring remnants of the previous dynasty, it will only frighten the other prefectures that surrendered!”

He turned his head slightly, as if unsure whether those words should be spoken, but ultimately said, “The lord, for the sake of one woman, has placed himself in a dangerous position—this is absolutely unacceptable. Though the former Liang court had deep-rooted ailments and abuses, those people whose lives I urged the lord to spare can each serve as pillars of support. Though their spines are stiff, as long as the lord continues to treat them with courtesy, even if they still cannot be made to submit, it can earn you a good reputation and attract other former Liang ministers to come and pledge allegiance, to be driven by the lord. But the lord has already killed all those people… This is cutting off a path to the worthy!”

Tears appeared in Gongsun Chou’s eyes. “That temptress Jiang is bringing calamity to the lord! The reason the lord has fallen into today’s deadlock is all because of that demon woman. If the lord will heed this subject’s advice, even if you cannot bear to kill that demon woman, at least send her back to Lanxing Terrace!”

He bowed with his head to the ground and did not rise.

Pei Song stared coldly at Gongsun Chou kneeling below. “I killed those old fools because I never intended to recruit them. Treating that group of old fools courteously would only attract former Liang old ministers who are sycophants. Previously, I spared their lives only because you, sir, pleaded for them. But that group of old fools was obstinate and even attempted to assassinate me—how could I not kill them? Fuchai treated Fan Li with courtesy—what was his final fate?”

Hearing this, Gongsun Chou’s eyes filled with desolation. His lips moved, about to continue remonstrating.

But Pei Song continued shouting at him, “Lady Jiang is not a temptress—she is a woman of my Pei family! I, Pei Xuan’an, have not become so incompetent that when killing some old ministers of the previous dynasty, I need to pin the blame on a woman!”

Xuan’an was the courtesy name Gongsun Chou had given him.

Gongsun Chou remained prostrate there and ultimately said nothing more.

Looking at this elder who was both teacher and father figure, Pei Song’s heart also felt uncomfortable. He wrapped himself in an outer robe, picked up his cloak, and left the tent.

The personal guard standing outside the tent, upon seeing him emerge, lowered his head and called, “My lord.”

Pei Song closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the bitterly cold air outside the tent, then called to his attendants, “Bring my horse!”

The personal guard was concerned about his injuries and wanted to offer some advice, but seeing his expression was truly terrible, ultimately did as ordered.

Pei Song rode his horse around the military camp twice. The cold air filled his lungs, and the nameless fury rampaging through his limbs and bones seemed to dissipate somewhat.

Running until his wounds ached, he allowed himself to fall from the horse’s back, lying on his back in the two-finger-thick accumulated snow, gazing at the gray-white sky congealed with frost clouds, slowly thinking through this situation that left him in a dilemma.

He was best at forbearance and rarely experienced such irritability.

Since he began serving under Grand Commandant Ao, he had always been the one laying out the board.

During those years, King Changlian’s faction and the Ao faction fought to the death, never knowing that the one truly pulling strings behind the scenes was him.

But starting with the rise in rice, grain, and medicine prices south of the Wei River, another hand wielding the chess pieces appeared on the Great Liang board.

That person always made their move at the most critical moments, stirring up storms across the entire board.

He was already eighty percent certain that the previous scheme was orchestrated by Hanyang.

He just didn’t know whether she had a hand in this current chaos—after all, turmoil in the south would bring nothing but benefits to both her and Wei Qishan, without any harm.

If it was her… a person who had only just barely escaped death when surrounded by his hounds, with only a guard by her side, yet still able to stir up storms—she would truly be a calamity.

Pei Song grabbed a handful of snow and forcefully squeezed it into an ice ball.

That guard surnamed Xiao by her side also must not be allowed to live.

Not seeing him return for a long time, the personal guard rode over to find him. Seeing him lying in the snow, he dismounted and reported, “My lord, the Wei rebels are challenging us to battle outside the city again!”

Since news of Pei Song’s assassination spread, Dingzhou had been avoiding battle.

The Wei army garrisoned the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, having dealt with foreign tribes for over a decade. They were fierce and skilled in warfare. Such severely cold weather was merely commonplace to them.

Moreover, Wei Qishan’s military tactics were seasoned. Though Pei Song repeatedly produced clever strategies, he had never gained much advantage and could only seek to hold steady.

But with the south in chaos, the balance of this barely maintained deadlock had already been broken.

Pei Song supported himself on his knees and sat up, saying, “Accept the battle.”

Before the next spring snow arrived, the final ownership of Dingzhou should be decided.

—

Xinzhou.

Perhaps because of that rainy night assassination, Wen Yu still didn’t much like rainy days even now.

But the spring rain pattered on for several days. Combined with the city lockdown caused by conscription, their upcoming journey was delayed.

What was gratifying was that prefectures declaring military independence sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain. Seeing the unfavorable turn of events, the Xinzhou Prefect quickly annexed several nearby counties.

But to prevent him from becoming too dominant, other prefectures quickly united and formed a check against Xinzhou.

In the short term, the Xinzhou Prefect had no time to set his sights on Pingzhou.

Wen Yu stood by the inn’s carved wooden window, watching the rain beat against the banana plants outside.

A light sound came from outside the door. Xiao Li, his entire body damp with moisture, pushed the door open. Water dripped from the hem of his robe as he relayed the information he’d gathered. “Xinzhou government troops are searching for people recruiting for Tongcheng, but Zhao Youcai is clever. Those he recruited are mostly refugees. When they hide in the refugee crowds, the soldiers can’t catch them.”

“It’s just that some of his subordinates went to persuade bandits from other mountain strongholds. Those people leaked information to the authorities. Right now, the Xinzhou government probably thinks this recruitment campaign is retaliation by wandering bandits from Qingyun Stronghold.”

Wen Yu said, “No matter. Even if the Xinzhou Prefect’s side sees through the recruitment as a stratagem, since he’s now been held in check, our goal has been achieved.”

As she spoke, she stood and took a clean cotton cloth to hand to Xiao Li. Seeing him dripping water all over, just like that rainy night when he carried her out through the killing, she frowned slightly. “Soaked through? Change your clothes first. I’ll have the waiter bring up a bowl of ginger soup.”

With government troops searching for the “Tongcheng” recruitment leaders, once the rumor of Pei Song’s death spread and his hounds hadn’t pursued this far, the Xinzhou authorities no longer cared whether Wen Yu was here or not.

The remnants of Qingyun Stronghold that Zhao Youcai brought had seen their disguised appearances. To prevent anyone among them from betraying them for the Xinzhou authorities’ substantial reward and identifying them, during these days when soldiers blocked and inspected all major routes out of Xinzhou, Wen Yu and Xiao Li changed back to their former appearances and, posing as a married couple, temporarily stayed at this inn, quietly awaiting their chance to leave the city.

At night, Wen Yu slept on the bed while Xiao Li made a floor pallet.

He looked at the cloth Wen Yu handed him, paused briefly before accepting it with a smile. “I’m not that delicate.”

Wen Yu only looked at him and said, “Once Xinzhou lifts the lockdown, I’ll set out for Pingzhou. If you fall ill, it will delay our journey.”

With those words, she walked toward the door.

Xiao Li rubbed the cloth in his hand. A water droplet slid along his jaw to his neck, then continued down along the faint glimpse of firm muscle lines at his collar, sliding deeper inside. He suddenly said, “The totem on the banner you gave Zhao Youcai for recruitment—does it have some special significance?”

Wen Yu’s steps suddenly halted. She turned back and asked, “Has someone been inquiring about the totem on that banner?”

Xiao Li nodded. “I saw Zhao Youcai today. He said that in the past two days, quite a few martial arts-skilled wanderers among the refugees have been secretly inquiring about that banner.”

He was able to immediately determine the problem lay with the banner’s totem mainly because that totem closely resembled the emblem signature Wen Yu used on her embroidered handkerchiefs before.

Previously, not knowing Wen Yu’s identity, he hadn’t thought much about an emblem on an embroidered handkerchief.

But after Zhao Youcai and his group officially began recruiting soldiers among the refugees, Wen Yu used that emblem on the banner. Now with people secretly inquiring, it was far too much of a coincidence.