Lan Zili stood outside the crowd, craning his neck as he watched that convoy of luxurious carriages arrive in splendor and depart in splendor.

Everyone in the crowd wondered — who was that? How could anyone have such dignity and grandeur?

The people around him were envious, their expressions carrying undisguised awe, all of which proved to Lan Zili that this was someone from a circle of power and wealth.

Although no one had actually seen the young master’s face clearly inside that carriage, if you asked around, everyone claimed they’d seen him clearly and knew exactly who he was.

Some people even swore up and down, naming several names and several great households, insisting they’d glimpsed him at some wealthy gathering more than once, only they’d been too embarrassed by their own low status to approach.

Someone else, wearing a face full of disdain, exposed the lie, pointing toward the direction of the Daliang Palace and saying firmly: “Everything you just said is nonsense. Whose family could it possibly be? Think about it and you’ll know.”

And so, as Lan Zili wove through the crowd, he became more and more certain that this young master must have deep ties to the imperial family. Judging by the scale of that honor guard, he had to be at minimum an Imperial Prince, or a clan descendant closely related to the imperial bloodline by blood.

In all his years, Lan Zili had seen wealth in Ziye, and heard of countless kinds of wealth, but he had never before come this close to true wealth as he had today.

He even imagined — if one day he himself had such a carriage and horses, what kind of a stir would that make back home in Ziye?

Seeing him so envious, the hanger-on named Wang Dengke came sauntering over smugly, and said to him with his nose in the air: “Brother Lan, did you see that? I didn’t lie to you, did I?”

Lan Zili’s expression turned solemn, and he immediately thanked him with great sincerity, bowing very low — but even as he bent, he kept glancing in the opposite direction from the crowd, terrified that one careless moment would cause him to lose sight of that crucial person.

Once he’d finished thanking him, he straightened up and stuffed a small pouch into Wang Dengke’s arms: “Listen to what you’re saying, Brother Wang — of course I trust you. I won’t hide it from you, I even asked around the streets myself, and even the beggars on the lower streets, when they mentioned Brother Wang, had nothing but praise. Not a single person said a bad word.”

Wang Dengke accepted the payment, tucked it into his robe, and said with a delighted expression: “Ah, it’s just my reputation in the jianghu, nothing more. You and I are brothers — why go to such expense? Brother Lan, let me offer my apologies for today — you can see this weather is truly unpleasant. Why don’t the two of us brothers make another appointment another day?”

Before he’d even finished speaking, Lan Zili grabbed hold of him, and with a face full of reluctance, pressed a pouch made of lambskin into his hands.

Wang Dengke was startled. He lowered his head and opened it, and pulled out from inside an old deed of contract, its color gone yellow with age. The deed was quite large, its edges still stained with old government-office ink. Just from the few lines visible at the edge, he understood — this was a deed to an old storefront on Yandu’s East Street?

Oh! What an unexpected windfall — he never would have guessed the Lan family had such hidden substance.

Wang Dengke was stunned, but his hands moved deftly all the same, folding the deed neatly and tucking it into the lambskin pouch, which he pushed into his robe.

He said with a laugh: “This — what is the meaning of this? Brother Lan is being far too generous. One shouldn’t accept reward without merit. Brother Lan, you’re, you’re being too righteous about this.”

Time was pressing, so Lan Zili didn’t bother with pleasantries. He simply dragged him toward the city, saying as they walked: “Brother Wang, though you and I have only known each other a short time, it feels like we’ve been old friends from the start. Brother Wang also knows my family has fallen on hard times, and my pockets are quite thin. But — this humble brother has no way back now. Today, no matter what, I must ask one more favor of Brother Wang…”

Lan Zili’s mind was racing. The two of them jogged along together, his tall wooden clogs splashing the mud at the west gate everywhere, drawing endless curses from passersby.

After chasing for a while longer, Lan Zili spotted that Chief Eunuch Qian, moving slowly, looking this way and that, seemingly unsure what he was doing.

His heart eased somewhat. He pulled Wang Dengke into a corner, and with eyes burning red as though there were coals lit inside them, he looked at him and said: “In a moment — please, Brother Wang, help me one more time!!”

Wang Dengke gave a rascal’s grin, every bit the slick, oily character of Yandu. He shook Lan Zili off and said: “Brother Lan, if you’ve got some foolish notion in your head, don’t drag me into it! How much have I even earned off you? I’d advise you to give up on this — think about it, this is Yandu. What am I, and what are you?”

His eyes rolled, and without the least reluctance he pulled the lambskin pouch back out of his robe, meaning to return it to Lan Zili, saying: “Brother Lan, you may see me living comfortably every day, but what do I rely on for that?”

He pointed to his own face and said: “I rely on this glib, silver tongue of mine, I rely on these eyes of mine that know how to read a person’s face better than anyone. Forget one storefront — give me an entire street, and I still wouldn’t provoke trouble I shouldn’t provoke on your behalf.”

Lan Zili pressed down on his hand, half pleading, half trying to persuade him: “Could Brother Wang really live like this his whole life? I won’t hide it from you — when my Lan family’s ancestors were at their most prosperous, they sat before the Son of Heaven’s very hall, struck bells and dined from ranked cauldrons. My family’s granaries held ten years’ worth of grain we couldn’t finish eating, we had hundreds upon thousands of cattle and horses, we once had a thousand retainers guarding our estate, and beyond that, storefronts in Yandu and a thousand qing of fine farmland back home…”

Wang Dengke, however, said disdainfully: “And so what? Among the notable families of Yandu, who doesn’t have some ancestor who was more or less the same? If there hadn’t been some passable ancestor like that, who would even be living in this wretched place…”

He hadn’t even finished his sentence when he was stunned to see the man before him lift the hem of his robe and drop straight to his knees in the mud.

These past few days, though Wang Dengke had often taken advantage of hanging around this fellow, deep down he’d understood that this man saw him as nothing more than an idle scoundrel, someone to pass the time with.

Lan Zili had guilt in his heart and urgency on his face. His head kept darting toward the street — seeing that Eunuch Qian hadn’t gone far yet, he turned back and said hurriedly: “Time waits for no one, Brother Wang. During my time here in Yandu, I’ve heard a certain legendary tale.”

Why bring this up now?

Wang Dengke blinked: “Huh?”

Lan Zili said: “Does Brother Wang know of a Marquis of the City Gate named Chen Dasheng?”

Wang Dengke choked on his own spit. He steadied himself against the wall and asked: “You — you — what are you bringing him up for?”

Lan Zili remained kneeling, yet made no attempt to hide his envy, his face showing open disdain as he said: “That Marquis of the City Gate was nothing more than a bonded slave, yet he took the palace’s Chief Eunuch, She Qingling, as his adoptive father, and from that moment his entire household leapt like a carp through the dragon gate into wealth and glory. Now he even dares address the imperial family’s own children as brothers.

Brother Wang… this path to advancement is right before you, one step away. If you dare take that step, everything after, just leave it entirely to me. Give me some time to arrange things, and in no more than a few years…”

Fearing Wang Dengke wouldn’t go along with it, he quickly amended: “No, no — at most two years, and I’ll help Brother Wang transform his entire family’s fortunes! Wealth and glory for the whole household, from then on.”

These words were rather grand, and they frightened Wang Dengke enough that his liver trembled. He gasped for breath for a good while before saying: “Then — then what exactly do you want to do? You, you explain it in detail, I’ll — I’ll consider it…”

As he said this, Wang Dengke turned his face toward the wall and twisted his features dramatically several times.

Seeing that Wang Dengke had taken the bait, Lan Zili immediately sprang up, and began explaining it all in detail…

Meanwhile, that legendary Chief Eunuch Qian was wandering through the rain wearing a bamboo hat, hands clasped behind his back.

Walking and walking, he came to the Flower Brocade Tower in the West Market. He’d barely stepped a few paces into the perfumed depths when he heard quite the commotion.

Seven or eight courtesans, all dressed prettily and good-looking, were leaning against the second-floor railing of the flower tower, loudly cursing at the Autumn Moon Tower across the way.

“Yan Lanxin! Come out here! You’re worth about as much as a bone hairpin — three cents at most, that’s how cheap your bones are, you’ve thrown out all propriety! This is a shameless breach of the trade rules between establishments across the street from each other. Selling fans in December — that’s the kind of shady business you’re running! You set off fireworks over your own manure pit at the Autumn Moon Tower, and out crawls this kind of trash to show its face? If you want to sell, go somewhere far away — what skill is there in stealing customers?”

Once the fight started, the crowd of onlookers on the street didn’t care that it was raining — they came swarming over, all craning their necks to watch the excitement.

Well, the people who lingered around such an old red-light street weren’t exactly upstanding folk to begin with.

The Autumn Moon Tower kept its doors and windows shut tight, not making a sound, while the Flower Brocade Tower cursed more and more filthily.

Chief Eunuch Qian clicked his tongue and sighed: “Ah! What kind of people used to live on this street, and what sort of trash lives here now? In the old days, there were refined women of taste, accomplished in zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. And now? How did it come to this?”

You’d think — for an old eunuch, how is he so familiar with all this? Fortunately, this grumbling of his went unheard by Lan Zili.

Just as he was sighing, he suddenly heard the wooden door on the second floor of the Autumn Moon Tower open, and out came a woman dressed in a peach-red gown, hair disheveled, her face flushed with spring color, strikingly beautiful.

This, presumably, was the Yan Lanxin in question. She walked to the railing without a trace of fear, leaning against it languidly and seductively, covering half her face with a fan, giving the rain-soaked onlookers below a coquettish smile.

A beauty was indeed a beauty — an uproar rose from below, which only made the other side angrier still.

“Yan Lanxin, you may have plenty of patrons, but up and down this street, ask anyone and they’ll tell you Young Master Wu is our Caizhou’s patron. Just wait until we report this to the house manager, then you can wait for your household to be shut down!”

The woman called Yan Lanxin, knowing she was in the wrong, called back into the building: “You dead man, you’ve ruined me! Get out here quickly and explain to Mama Tang and all the sisters — this was all your doing, forcing yourself on me. I’ve been wronged to death here.”

Before she’d even finished, a shameless laugh came from inside, and someone said carelessly, teasingly: “I’m not going out there — going out there is asking to die. Does this young master have enough flesh to go around for all of you to fight over? Why are you saying so much to them? It’s not like I’m marrying her or taking her as a concubine — I dallied with one girl, and now I have to keep my chastity for her?”

These words were disgusting, and the crowd below burst into laughter.

Yan Lanxin’s face turned bitter: “You heartless wretch, you’ve made things hard for me. If you didn’t care for her, why did you ever dally with her in the first place? Our rules here are what they are — if you don’t like it, if you want to cause trouble, then just stay away. Why bully me instead? Now I’m caught in the middle, unable to face anyone! This is a disgrace between our two establishments, right across from each other!”

As she finished speaking, out from the building came a young master, barely dressed, wearing nothing but a single layer of gauze in full view of everyone.

This fellow, utterly unconcerned, wasn’t ashamed at all. He wrapped his arm around Yan Lanxin and shouted across at the other side: “Zhou’er, don’t be angry! You knew from the start what kind of reputation I have — sooner or later I’ll come to a bad end! Everyone on this street knows it — aside from having a bit of stinking money, this young master is truly no good person!

Whatever it is you want, I don’t understand it — anyway, I’ve got nothing… But if you’re going to blame Yan’er for this, that’s pointless. We’re neighbors across the street, sisters all — there’s no need to ruin our good relations over an outsider like me.”

From across the way came out a soft, sweetly pretty young girl. She must have cried hard the night before, for her eyes were swollen. She came out holding a handkerchief, looking at this dissolute man and crying.

This scoundrel finally seemed a bit embarrassed. He leaned against the railing with a sheepish grin and said: “Sweetheart, just wait a few days for me. I’m bored staying over here, and sooner or later I’ll go back to your side! Hey, hey, hey, don’t cry now?

How about this — as long as you dry your tears today, this young master will let you and the sisters go spend as much as you like at the gold shop on Sixth Market Street. Whatever catches your eye, just take it! Tell the shopkeeper to put it on my household’s account later — happy now? Your dignity’s restored, I’d say…”

At the gold shop on Sixth Market Street, even a single casual hairpin cost twenty or thirty strings of cash.

The onlookers on the street, hearing that this patron was shameless yet generous with his money, and surrounded by such beauties fighting over him besides, couldn’t help but grow jealous, and inevitably some began muttering unkind things, provoking public anger.

The young master surnamed Wu, helpless, and having drawn plenty of attention to himself in the West Market over this affair, leaned over the second floor and shouted down at his own servant boy.

Once the servant appeared, he tossed down a copper token from upstairs, cursing: “You’re quick enough now, aren’t you? Last night when you saw me go into the wrong room, why didn’t you say something?”

The weeping Caizhou, hearing this, pursed her lips, glanced at Lanxin, and Lanxin winked back at her. It was all just a performance — their fuss was really just for Wu Xiu’s sake, to let him show off his glory.

The servant boy took the token and asked with a grin: “How much should I exchange for, young master?”

The young master cursed back with a laugh: “You blind fool, you still need to ask me? Of course it’s for your two young mistresses — a basketful each!”

The sky hadn’t even gone dark yet, the red lanterns hadn’t even been hung, and already the girls’ patron had sent them a whole basketful of gleaming copper coins to toss around and play with.

Chief Eunuch Qian, being on in years, didn’t dare go closer when he saw the commotion, and tried to slip away through the crowd. He’d finally made it to a higher spot when some careless fool crashed into him from behind, sending him sprawling flat on his face — quite a hard fall.

The girls up in the tower laughed prettily, tossing handfuls of coins, and the onlookers below rushed forward, trampling Chief Eunuch Qian so he couldn’t even get back up.

Just as he was about to cry for help, he heard someone cursing loudly in his ear: “Broad daylight, and such disorder! Truly outrageous! Can’t you see there’s an old man here? Oh no, oh no… someone stepped on him!”

The dazed Chief Eunuch Qian was helped up by someone, and before he could even react, Lan Zili had hoisted him onto his back.

Lan Zili carried Chief Eunuch Qian on his back and dashed off, shouting as he ran: “Make way, make way! There’s an old man hurt here, make way…”

Chief Eunuch Qian lay sprawled on Lan Zili’s back, staring in shock as he caught sight of Wang Dengke by the roadside. He silently wondered — wasn’t the plan to lead him back to that place, to reel him in step by step?

Wang Dengke, tossing the lambskin pouch, gave him an odd look and waved, even making a farewell gesture, thinking: serves you right! Told you to take the shortcut, and you, a eunuch, decided to walk through the red-light district instead? Ah! It’s just that our Marquis is so devoted — the man wants you to be his father!

The commotion in the red-light district became a joke on the lips of Yandu’s idle young aristocrats. As for Wu Xiu, once he had money, he threw himself into debauchery — and strangely enough, those who’d once looked down on him and shunned him now seemed to hold a trace of envy for him.

Who doesn’t want to spend money lavishly? Who doesn’t want to be surrounded by a crowd of women fighting over him, cherished as though he were their one true love?

Even knowing it was all fake — so what?

Setting aside Wu Xiu and Lan Zili for the moment — as for Guan Si’er and Hu Yougui, having coordinated with their subordinate scouts to put on quite the grand show, and having successfully set someone up as the fall guy before leaving, they didn’t head into the flower market. Instead they rode their carriage straight through the city, moving further and further from Yandu.

They’d originally meant to head for the outskirts, and since they had nothing else to do, planned to swing by Sangouzi to buy some good wine to store at home — not a bad idea at all.

Only, after traveling out some ten li or so, suddenly a troop of knights on black horses in silver armor came upon them. A hundred or so of them came rushing over and, without a word, surrounded them completely.

Why on earth was this happening?

Guan Si’er and Hu Yougui exchanged glances, and Hu Yougui called out in a low voice to those outside: “Don’t act rashly, lest you ruin our lord’s affairs!”

Having said this, he stood up inside the carriage, and with a practiced motion opened a hidden compartment beneath the seat. Guan Si’er, without a second thought, climbed straight in and hid.

Outside, someone shouted: “Don’t try anything! Who goes there? Do you know who sits inside this carriage…”

Well, that question never got finished, because the speaker was yanked down off his horse and knocked out cold with one clean punch to the back of the neck.

Next, the men disguised as a noble household’s servants naturally weren’t willing to be surrounded without a fight, and put up some resistance, but within moments they were thoroughly subdued by soldiers fresh off the battlefield.

Hu Yougui’s mind was in chaos, utterly unable to make sense of things, until a soldier lifted the gauze curtain with a horsewhip and looked in at him.

He froze stiff.

He looked at the person before him, saying nothing, showing no agitation — in short, in that person’s eyes, he looked every bit the sweet, adorable little thing, utterly endearing.

This was also a female soldier. Seeing him like this, she smiled, and coaxed him gently: “Little young master~ don’t be afraid, we’re not bad people!”

Outside, someone immediately laughed, and this woman quickly dropped the carriage curtain and cursed outward: “Cut that dog-like nonsense of yours right now — this is our future mistress of the house! If you frighten him, our young general will beat you all to death tomorrow!”

Having said that, she lifted the curtain again, poking in a face wearing a ferocious beast mask, and coaxed gently once more: “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, see? I already cursed them out. Really, we’re not bad people, truly!”

Hu Yougui thought to himself: damn it! Like hell I’d believe you — this is the Yuwen family, isn’t it. This wasn’t the first time he’d crossed paths with them.

In his life he’d suffered four great humiliations, and one of them had happened at Boyi Pass, that day when the gongs sounded to withdraw troops, the Tan family army’s supplies had once again run short, and the leader at the time had been Quanzi Ge.

Quanzi Ge was cleverer than the eldest brother — he’d say, if we’ve got nothing to eat, let’s just go steal some. Whereas if the eldest brother were the leader, he’d say, wait here, I’ll go steal it for you all.

In any case, thieves were thieves either way.

As it happened, the Yuwen family’s supply camp was pitched not far from the Tan family army’s, and he’d thought at the time, might as well steal once and go big.

But he never expected the Yuwen family to be so unconventional, assigning a whole troop of fierce women to escort their supplies.

Ask around — what household’s camp dares bring women along? But the Yuwen family had a history spanning generations of guarding the pass, and there’d been a period when all the men had died and widows had taken command instead. Their family didn’t taboo this, and after one or two hundred years, others had simply gotten used to it.

Those women mixed in among the men were naturally on high alert to begin with — perhaps they were used to being raided — and the moment he went in, he’d bungled it, and gotten chased down and beaten by several hundred women.

That night, truly, gongs and drums filled the sky, chasing him running madly through the entire camp, until finally they caught him and strung him up in a tree.

No matter how he tried to explain himself afterward, they didn’t believe he’d come to steal food — insisting instead that he’d come to steal a woman?

Ugh! Let all the gods in heaven bear witness! He’d sworn on eight generations of his ancestors that every woman in there had a face black as coal, waists thicker than his own mother’s pickle vat back home — was he out of his mind, or blind, to go steal a fierce shrew like that?

Hmph! If he hadn’t been Lao Dao, Tan Er wouldn’t have come in person to apologize. In the end, he’d taken a beating with a whip among a crowd of fierce women, and when he got back he’d been beaten with a board besides — limping for nearly three months, unable to walk properly.

He’d never forget that name — Yuwen Xiaoqiao. Go to hell with “Xiaoqiao” — a fist that could kill an old ox with one punch, and you call that “delicate”? Whipped him over thirty times, and he’d held that grudge ever since.

His mind racing with wild thoughts, Hu Yougui heard the voice outside say again: “Little young master, don’t be afraid, we mean no harm, truly. See, we’ve got a little carriage all ready for you — why don’t you come out?”

Damn it, he wasn’t coming out!

Hu Yougui didn’t move an inch, steady as a mountain.

The carriage curtain was thrown open again.

Outside, rain poured down, and to his dismay, his scouts had been stacked into two piles — men in one pile, women in the other.

The lead fierce woman dismounted, raised a gleaming broadsword, and threatened him with a laugh: “Little young master, don’t be afraid — but if you won’t come out, I’ll kill them, hack them to pieces, how disgusting would that be…”

Hu Yougui glanced toward the direction of the city gate, worried this would ruin their leader’s grand plan.

But she misunderstood entirely.

She held the blade in one hand, and extended the other toward him, saying: “Come, come, let me help you down. Little young master, don’t be afraid — no one’s coming to save you, come, be good and come with us, there’s something wonderful waiting for you, hehe, something truly wonderful!”

What kind of wonderful, your mother’s — was he going, or not going?

Or how about they just fight it out?

Being so close to the West Gate, with the ten-li pavilion right ahead, Hu Yougui didn’t dare act rashly, and grew so angry his face turned paler and paler.

The one holding the blade, seeing him look so affecting, pressed a hand to her chest and sighed: “No wonder our general fell for him — truly, it’s just as they say! Even heroes since ancient times find it hard to get past the beauty pass! Enough, enough!”

Get past your ancestors!

The two of them stared at each other in silence for a while, and as another gust of bleak, cold rain blew past, Hu Yougui instinctively felt the chill — gauze robes, after all, weren’t as warm as cloth ones.

He shrank back a little, and this woman immediately coaxed with a smile: “Oh? Is the little young master cold? Someone, bring the general’s cloak for the young master to wear, so he doesn’t catch a chill later, that way…”

She looked Hu Yougui over, so delicate and tender, and said with certainty: “The young master is just so pitiable — if he takes one dose of medicine, our general’s heart would break to pieces!!”

Hu Yougui frowned inwardly, thinking, go to hell — I’m no invalid, no need for your heart to break over me.

A soldier eagerly brought over a flame-red cloak and handed it into the carriage.

However, our Brother Hu Yougui had long since been trained by his sister-in-law into a clean freak who loved bathing. No matter how exhausted his work left him, he always bathed, and always changed into a clean loincloth.

White, too!

That familiar, nauseating stench of blood mixed with sweat and salty odor wafted over… how long had it been since he’d smelled that? How long had it been since he’d smelled that?

Right — the border troops had caused chaos at Boyi Pass, and Yandu’s reinforcements hadn’t arrived in time, so it was that uncouth Yuwen family who’d held the defense alone for half a month, and once reinforcements arrived, that madwoman had led troops in pursuit all the way into the enemy’s home base.

This time, this group coming from Boyi Pass — probably meant His Majesty intended to make greater use of the Yuwen army, and to reassign the border garrison generals, drawing his trusted generals closer to his side.

Looking at that flame-colored cloak, Hu Yougui remembered himself strung up in that tree, eyes swollen and bruised, stomach empty with hunger, watching her approach step by step with a whip in hand, lifting his chin and asking: “Confess honestly, who did you come to steal?”

What had he said back then? Oh right, your mother…

He hadn’t even gotten the word “mother” out before the whip came down on him.

The cloak drew nearer and nearer. Hu Yougui had even put on some delicate perfume before going out today, which only made this cloak feel all the more like a burial shroud by contrast.

He covered his nose and tried to dodge, and this fierce woman laughed even more merrily: “Oh dear, oh dear, our mistake. Little young master, just bear with it a little, and come back with us properly. We promise you — once we’re back, silks and fine fabrics are yours to wear as you please, our general’s private treasury is yours to do with as you like! Now… it’s getting late, so come down, won’t you? If you don’t come down, then…”

She held herself back for a moment, thinking that this was Yandu after all, and this was also the man their general — now twenty-six years old — had wanted to marry the moment she’d laid eyes on him, so she held back.

And so, putting on an act, she raised the blade and said: “I’ll, I’ll really hit you now… okay?”

Hu Yougui let out a long breath, and slowly stood up. Bracing himself against the edge of the open carriage, he stepped out little by little, and stretched out his foot meaning to climb down, only to find no one had brought him his wooden clogs.

He looked left and right, meaning to find someone to fetch his shoes, only to see his own well-trained scouts, each pretending to have fainted, while a few whose acting wasn’t quite up to par had their faces twisted trying not to laugh.

The dignified Chief of the Long Blade Guard, a proper Marquis of the City Gate, being carried off like some adorable little pet?

Fearing these scoundrels would burst out laughing and blow their cover, Hu Yougui stretched out a pair of snow-white feet to step into the mud — but since he was playing the delicate little pet, with such tender feet, that fierce woman shouted out loud again.

“Wait, wait, everyone come here quickly, come on, that— clear the path for him, if his feet get even a little scratched, our general will beat you all when we get back…”

And so the soldiers all jumped down from their horses, taking off their flame-red cloaks from the front lines and laying them down on the road for Hu Yougui to walk on.

These were the cloaks of soldiers just returned from the front — and Hu Yougui, who himself came from such a background, could never bring himself to step on them.

He jumped straight down from the carriage, and without the slightest hesitation stepped his bare feet right into the mud, walking unhurriedly toward that small covered carriage sheltered on all sides from the wind. Before he could even climb up himself, someone lifted him from behind, setting him down inside as carefully as if he were fine porcelain, and even stuffed a piece of fruit into his hand.

The carriage slowly began to move, and he heard that fierce woman say: “All of you, go back and tell your household’s lord and lady that your young master has been chosen by our general! We’re from the household of Yuwen Chongde, Great General guarding Boyi Pass. Our young general is deeply favored by His Majesty — she is Daliang’s foremost female general, Yuwen Xiaoqiao.

Whatever your family background, it’s more than good enough for our household. And our general — oh, and she’s as beautiful as an immortal from heaven, wild geese would drop right out of the sky at the sight of her… yes, they’d all drop right down! She could knock down a whole flock in one go!

Our general is also tender-hearted, and has her own salary — she doesn’t need to eat your family’s food or wear your family’s clothes, she takes care of herself entirely!

And as for our lord and lady, the ten storerooms of dowry the young masters have prepared — I’m not exaggerating — just our general’s fertile fields at Boyi Pass alone amount to three thousand mu! As long as your young master behaves himself, coaxes us nicely, heh, keeps us happy, then it’ll be nothing but good food and good living from here on out…”

In that moment, amid the bleak wind and cold rain, utterly desolate, Hu Yougui wished with all his heart that he could simply die.