Li Zhongqian had the chief secretary put away his golden hammers, along with the books his uncle had personally selected and annotated for him.

His uncle had warned him: “Second young master, don’t treat the Great General as your father. See him as a ruler who might sacrifice you and your mother at any moment.”

Since ancient times, rulers have been fickle – nothing is more heartless than an imperial family.

A ruler may betray his officials, but officials cannot betray their ruler.

He observed mourning for the Xie family, secluding himself at home, teaching Yao Ying to read and write, and inviting famous doctors to treat her illness.

Every morning, he would carry her to the corridor, letting her practice walking on the reed mats and velvet rugs laid along the gallery.

Though her body was weak, she was spirited, crawling everywhere. When she saw him staring blankly at his books, she would crawl over to disturb him, wanting him to carry her to see the apricot blossoms blooming outside the corridor.

The flowering trees were lush, clouds and sunset glowing, red petals carpeting the ground before the steps.

She wore her hair in two buns, leaning on the railing, reaching out with chubby hands to catch falling petals, chattering with her maid: “Apricot blossom cake, apricot blossom rice, cold apricot blossom salad, apricot blossom porridge…”

The maids and wet nurse dissolved into giggles.

She turned to look at Li Zhongqian, her eyes bright and round.

Li Zhongqian patted her head, instructing the servants: “Make everything the young lady mentioned.”

The doctor said that at first, every step Yao Ying took felt like needles stabbing her legs.

She was very sensible, persisting in her practice, not complaining of tiredness even when drenched in sweat from the pain.

“Once I’m better, brother won’t have to tire himself carrying me every day.”

After drinking bowl after bowl of bitter medicine, she finally showed some improvement. When she could walk a few steps holding onto furniture, she immediately made a request: “Brother, I want to ride horses!”

Li Zhongqian agreed, carrying her to the stables, and letting her pick out the most beautiful little foal.

Once she recovered, he would take her horseback riding in the western mountains outside the city, gathering lotus at Cloud Dream Lake, watching waves at the promontory. They would rely on each other for survival, with the outside world’s chaos having nothing to do with them anymore.

His ambitious dreams of helping those in danger and stabilizing chaos had long since been extinguished.

He took Yao Ying to various places seeking medical treatment, visiting over a dozen prefectures in two years.

When he was eleven, Li De successfully captured Heyang, and the Wei army gradually pushed toward the central plains.

While Li Zhongqian stayed home caring for Yao Ying, several newly prominent Wei Commandery noble families suddenly sent their legitimate sons to visit him without prior arrangement, bringing gifts specifically for Yao Ying.

He paid them little attention. Li Xuanzhen was already showing his brilliance, and Li De would soon unify the central plains. He and Yao Ying had no support – he wasn’t foolish enough to bring humiliation upon himself by competing with Li Xuanzhen. Whether the noble families flattered and instigated or mocked and humiliated, he didn’t care.

The chief secretary frowned in concern, “Young master… they’re here to look at the seventh young lady!”

Li Zhongqian understood suddenly, chasing them to the ferry crossing and ordering their boats to be scuttled, demanding: “Who sent you here?!”

The sons of these families were terrified and explained their intentions – they really had come to look at the seventh young lady.

Li De had already arranged marriages for several of her elder sisters. Their fathers and uncles were highly valued by Li De, and their family’s sons would certainly marry Li family ladies in the future. Although the seventh young lady was sickly, marriage alliances were for strengthening relationships. Their families’ status was truly not worthy, but they wanted to marry a noble family’s daughter to bring glory to their gates, not caring whether the seventh young lady could be cured or not.

Li Zhongqian flew into a rage. Even if the seventh sister could never walk for her entire life, he would take good care of her. It wasn’t these people’s place to pick and choose about the seventh sister!

The chief secretary sighed: “Young master, the Great General is your father, the leader of the Wei army, and may sit in that high position in the future. Both your and the seventh young lady’s marriages must be decided by him. The Great General has already arranged several marriages to win people’s hearts – the fifth young lady was betrothed while still in swaddling clothes. Young master, our only option now is to look carefully and help choose someone from these families with proper conduct for the seventh young lady…”

They had no choice.

Li Zhongqian’s face turned ashen. He instructed the chief secretary to take good care of Xie Manyuan and Yao Ying while he returned to their ancestral lands to sweep his uncle’s grave and seek help from the clan elders.

He wanted to arrange Yao Ying’s marriage first, having the other party seek the marriage through Li De.

But it ended in discord.

The sons they chose were either from humble branch families, clearly coveting the Xie family’s property, or trembled at the mention of Li Xuanzhen’s name and certainly wouldn’t be able to protect Yao Ying in the future. Even worse, some were born simple-minded.

That family’s matriarch whispered to servants: “Though my eldest son is a bit slow, he’s at least whole. The seventh young lady is a cripple who can’t walk properly, can’t bear children, can’t manage household affairs…”

Li Zhongqian was furious and left the next day. As soon as he arrived home, the chief secretary fell to his knees before him in panic.

The seventh sister was gone.

Xie Manyuan had an episode, and the seventh sister had been sent to Xiangzhou. In his urgency, Li De had abandoned her and the Xie family guards. The news had just arrived.

His little Seven had been left all alone on the battlefield.

The day before he left, he had taught little Seven to recite poems about apricot blossoms, promising to take her horseback riding in the future. She had held his fingers, counting the spirals on his hand, smiling as she tried to make him happy.

Li Zhongqian stood before the corridor, staggering a few steps before rushing into the storeroom to find the pair of golden hammers that had been locked away.

The chief secretary and servants grabbed his legs, trying to stop him from leaving.

“Young master, control your grief!”

The chief secretary wept loudly: “Young master, the one thing the master worried most about before he died was you. He said you must never practice martial arts again!”

“The seventh young lady is already gone. She was only five years old and could barely walk a few steps. Caught among chaotic troops, she must be dead… Young master, you are the mistress’s only flesh and blood left, you cannot come to harm!”

“The seventh young lady was sensible and considerate, always thinking of others. How could she rest in peace if she saw a young master like this?”

Li Zhongqian gripped the golden hammers tightly, pushing aside the servants, his eyes bloodshot.

Without them, what about little Seven?

“Little Seven will be scared, I must go get her.”

He was her brother.

If she was alive, he had to find her and never let her be frightened again.

If she was dead, he still had to bring her home – he couldn’t let her become a wandering ghost.

As for his own life… Li Zhongqian smiled faintly. He had long since stopped caring about life or death.

He rode straight to Xiangzhou. The chief secretary sent people to chase after him, wanting to knock him unconscious and bring him back. He shook off the chief secretary, tied the golden hammers to his back, and galloped a thousand li to find where she had been abandoned, searching battlefield after battlefield.

Finally, he dug her out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Little Seven was still alive.

He knelt before the pile of bodies, holding her blood-covered form tightly, and where she couldn’t see, his tears fell one by one into the pool of blood.

He carried his sister home on his back.

When there was no horse, he walked. When there was no food, he stole and robbed.

He truly understood what it meant to be displaced in chaotic times. He watched living people die under savage blades, brains, intestines, and fresh blood spilling everywhere, no different from slaughtering pigs and cattle.

When chaotic troops passed through, massacring civilians, he carried her as they fled.

Her illness grew worse and worse. Later she couldn’t eat anything. When he called to her, she lay there motionless, without any sign of life.

The refugees fleeing with them all said she was dead, telling him to stop caring for her.

He stayed with Yao Ying, forcing open her mouth, tearing flatbread into pieces to stuff inside, saying through gritted teeth: “Little Seven, hold on, brother will take you home… don’t leave brother behind. Even if you die, brother will carry your bones back.”

Others thought he had gone mad.

He wasn’t mad. He knew she was doing it on purpose – she didn’t want to burden him anymore.

She had been frightened and forced herself to eat, no longer mentioning that he shouldn’t care for her.

Li Zhongqian didn’t want to return to Wei Commandery. He had grown up and could take care of his sister. If they just disappeared from people’s sight, would Li De and Li Xuanzhen leave them alone?

He was too naive.

Trying to survive in chaotic times was too difficult. He needed to get medicine and doctors for Yao Ying. Her body was weak and she suffered every day, only pretending to be well so he wouldn’t worry. They were captured several times. Years of war left corpses of the starved everywhere – women and children were considered the tastiest two-legged sheep.

They stumbled along, suffering many hardships, finally finding a place where they could hide their identities. Soon after, a group of chaotic troops plundered the village. Li De’s subordinate General Qin suddenly arrived and rescued them.

Li Zhongqian gave a self-mocking smile.

Li De had always had people following him and Yao Ying. They had fled for so long but still hadn’t escaped Li De’s grasp.

Li Zhongqian looked down at his hands.

Li De was too powerful, skilled in martial arts, always had guards protecting him, and was wary of him. He could never succeed in assassination.

Resistance was useless.

Competing with Li Xuanzhen for succession – would lead to an even quicker death.

Living in seclusion in Jingnan, keeping a low profile – little Seven would be married off at Li De’s whim.

Living somewhere where no one knew them – they would live day to day uncertain of survival, could die at Li Xuanzhen’s hands at any time, and might be taken hostage by enemies of the Xie and Li families.

They could neither advance nor retreat.

Li Zhongqian asked Li De’s subordinate: “General Qin, if I were to take my own life now, would they spare my mother and sister?”

The reasons were ready-made – he died in the chaos of war, Li De wouldn’t have to face questioning from the Xie family, and Li Xuanzhen wouldn’t bear the name of fratricide.

General Qin was stunned for a moment. “Second young master, you’re overthinking.”

Li Zhongqian gripped the golden hammers tightly. He wasn’t overthinking.

Returning to Wei Commandery, he went directly to see Li De.

“Great General, I come to you as a subject.” He knelt at Li De’s feet. “I will lead troops for you, be loyal to the Wei army, without any other thoughts.”

Li De stared at him for a long while. “And your request?”

“Let me decide Seven’s marriage. You cannot marry her off carelessly to curry favor with your subordinates.”

Li De fell silent.

Li Zhongqian raised his head: “In military campaigns and the struggle for supremacy, one cannot show womanly kindness. Benevolence alone cannot intimidate people’s hearts. My elder brother is the heir and must mind his reputation. I’m different from him – I don’t care about reputation. What’s inconvenient for him to do, I can handle.”

Li Zhongqian’s face was calm.

The chief secretary had told him about an emperor from the previous dynasty who had been bullied and tormented by his brothers in his youth during the struggle for succession, where flesh and blood turned against each other. Later, when he became emperor, he killed all the brothers who threatened his throne except for one – the very brother who had nearly killed him.

He asked the chief secretary: Why did the emperor spare this brother? Was it because the emperor was magnanimous?

The chief secretary shook his head: No, because the emperor’s brother was too stupid.

Li Zhongqian decided to play the role of a simple-minded, hot-tempered fool.

Like the emperor’s brother, stupid enough that everyone saw him as a joke – then his sister would be safe.

He picked up his abandoned martial arts, gathered retainers, and followed Li De on campaigns.

Whoever Li De wanted him to attack, he attacked. When Li De ordered him to massacre a city, he massacred.

Yao Ying urged him: “Brother, let’s find a way to leave.”

Though young, she wasn’t as carefree as she appeared. She took everything to heart, understood their situation, and analyzed the pros and cons with him multiple times, helping devise plans and persuading him to find a way to leave – Li De and Li Xuanzhen wouldn’t spare him.

Li Zhongqian smiled bitterly. Li De wouldn’t allow them to leave, nor would Li Xuanzhen.

He was already trapped in the mire with no escape, only hoping to find her a place to settle soon. Surely Li Xuanzhen wouldn’t go after women who had married out of the family.

At that time, Li Zhongqian hadn’t imagined that Li De would break his promise again – knowing the marriage alliance was Wei Ming’s plot, he still went along with sending Yao Ying as a political bride.

He wanted to tear Li De to pieces.

No matter how great Li De’s achievements were, how many suffering commoners he had saved, no matter the consequences of killing Li De – he had broken his promise, and Li Zhongqian would kill him.

The joys and sorrows of the world meant nothing to him.

…

Yet when the day finally came that he could kill Li De, Li Zhongqian didn’t strike.

For how many nights had he told himself over and over that he would die together with Li De?

Later, he found he no longer wanted to die.

He and Yao Ying were no longer completely at others’ mercy. They had troops and allies, who could live well. There were many ways to kill Li De, such as letting Li Xuanzhen and Li De destroy each other in a father-son struggle.

Why should he sacrifice his life for Li De? Yao Ying would be heartbroken.

Letting Li De die at the hands of his beloved son Li Xuanzhen would bring him more satisfaction than killing the man himself.

The day Li De died, Li Zhongqian was directing servants to pack luggage.

When the news arrived, he glanced at it carelessly, feeling no particular emotion.

He had led the Western Army in charge, escorted displaced people back to their homes, led soldiers to dig irrigation channels, helped people cultivate fields, and even helped a tribe that insisted on making him their leader find hundreds of lost stupid sheep.

Snow-capped peaks stretch across the horizon, endless grasslands, barren deserts, vast gobi, and deep valleys.

…

Once, they rescued a besieged tribe in a weathered ancient city.

He was surprised to find the tribe’s people spoke perfect Central Plains official language.

They were descendants of local garrison troops, and the emperor they spoke of was surnamed Zhu.

The garrison had been ordered to guard the fortress, isolated in foreign territory, cut off from the Central Plains. They had struggled for decades, not knowing the Central Plains had gone through several upheavals and dynastic changes.

The once-vigorous cavalry had grown old but still guarded their banner, trying to break through the blockade and reconnect with the Central Plains.

They often gazed eastward, waiting for imperial reinforcements.

When the older generation died, the next generation carried on their will, continuing to hold firm.

Seeing the Chinese characters on the Western Army’s banner, the city chief wept deeply and took them to meet the surviving garrison soldiers.

Many years ago, the old man had been the youngest scout in the garrison. Later, as others died one by one, he buried his comrades and continued waiting for the day they could return east on their behalf, waiting from youth to middle age, then to old age, until his teeth fell out and his hair turned white, still waiting.

When Yao Ying and Li Zhongqian entered the earthen fortress, a burning light ignited in the clouded eyes of the soldier lying in the hay: “Has reinforcement arrived?”

Yang Qian wanted to explain they weren’t Zhu’s troops, but Yao Ying shook her head at him, walked over, and held the old man’s hand: “We came late.”

The old man struggled to his feet and, supported by his grandson, walked out of the fortress. Looking at the fluttering banners and the dignified Western Army troops, his hunched back slowly straightened. He pushed away his grandson and walked step by step to the high platform.

“Brothers, reinforcements have come!”

Charge with me!

The setting sun was like blood, painting the old man’s white hair with a crimson tinge, as if he were still that handsome youth who had fought alongside his comrades, swearing never to surrender.

Li Zhongqian sat on the fortress wall in his blood-stained battle robes, watching the old man facing east. He uncorked his wineskin to wash the sticky blood from his sword.

The strong wine washed away the bloody smell.

It also gradually washed away the dark clouds that had pressed on his heart for years.

He remembered himself as a youth, full of passion, wanting only to be a great hero like his father and uncle.

Gradually, he had found his place.

He got along well with Yang Qian and the others, and became friends with the barbarian tribes through fighting. The Central Plain’s past grew increasingly distant, to the point where his memory sometimes blurred and he actually couldn’t remember Li De’s face.

Yao Ying had always worried he would rashly try to fight Li De to the death – she deliberately kept him busy with Western Army affairs to distract him.

She had succeeded.

Having seen so much joy and sorrow in the chaotic world, he was no longer the Li Zhongqian of the past.

The desert fortress was dilapidated, with strong winds howling like wild beasts.

Li Zhongqian sheathed his sword and stood up, scanning the people gathering from different corners of the fortress. He thought silently that there was a valley with rich grass and water outside this fortress where they could teach them to grow mulberry and grain.

…

After Li De’s death, Li Xuanzhen wrote an edict and gave it to Li Zhongqian.

He promised not to harm him or Yao Ying.

Li Zhongqian sneered, casually tossing the edict into a corner.

The chief secretary wiped tears while helping pack: “Young master, are we really moving?”

He nodded without hesitation: Yes.

North through Yanmen Pass, west across Lintao. Where are you headed, they ask. To water horses in the moat of the Great Wall.

There was a broader world in his life.

Before leaving Chang’an, Tanmoluojia came to ask him for something.

“What do you want lotus seeds for?”

“To plant in the palace where Ming Yue Nu lives. If they grow and bloom, when she’s homesick, she can look at the lotus leaves and flowers outside her window to ease her longing.”

Li Zhongqian’s mouth twitched – the monk was indeed thoughtful to think of this.

He gave Tanmoluojia the lotus seeds he had brought from Jingnan to Chang’an.

Who knew if they would successfully sprout and bloom?

Several months flew by. In her letter home, she told him that the lotus seeds Tanmoluojia had personally planted had sprouted, growing emerald lotus leaves, though there were no buds yet.

Li Zhongqian put down the letter and snorted lightly – the monk really had skill, even at growing lotus.

He ordered his guards to clean up the residence. Yao Ying would come back to stay for a month in winter. The Western Regions were too cold – places needing repair had to be fixed before winter arrived.

The chief secretary poked his head around the door: “Young master… news from the mistress says Princess Banar has moved to stay at the temple.”

The chief secretary continued: “Princess Banar goes to the temple every day to keep the mistress company. The mistress enjoys her company very much. Last night it got late, so Princess Banar stayed over. This morning the mistress asked Princess Banar to move in with her…”

Li Zhongqian frowned slightly, waved his hand, and said nothing.

He went to the training grounds to review the troops. Busy until afternoon, he returned home sweating profusely, took off his armor with his collar open exposing his muscular chest, glanced at a corner, and said flatly: “Come out.”

With a rustling sound, a woman wearing coral beads and a gauze dress stepped out from behind the screen. She had fine eyebrows and beautiful eyes, black hair, and her gaze lingered on his sweaty chest for a moment before saying: “I asked around – you never married in the Central Plains, nor were you betrothed. Your former concubines didn’t follow you here… Since you’re not married, why can’t you marry me?”

Li Zhongqian poured himself a bowl of wine and took a drink. “Whether I marry or not has nothing to do with you.”

Banar thrust out her chest. “I like you, want to marry you, want to have children with you – of course whether you marry has to do with me!”

“What kind of women do you like? I can learn.”

Li Zhongqian finished his bowl of wine and set it down.

Guards heard the noise and came in, eventually managing to drag Banar out.

“Li Zhongqian, I’ll come back tomorrow!”

The guards standing outside the door couldn’t help but snicker.

Li Zhongqian’s brows furrowed.

What a trouble.

Saving her had been just a simple gesture, but who knew it would cause so many problems?