The memorial garden at Beishan Pass was filled with heroes.

The garments these heroes had once worn were not all the same. The first bodies laid to rest in the garden were many of them Chu border army soldiers; later came brothers from Yanshan Camp; then brothers from the civilian volunteer fighters; then later still, brothers from the Ning Army’s fighting troops.

Li Chi had men make every effort to track down the names of all the fallen, so that every grave would have a headstone bearing a name.

No matter how many years might pass, when future visitors came to Beishan Pass memorial garden, they would still be able to see the names and home regions of these heroes.

“In the future, when I have children — when they are old enough to understand — I’ll bring them here to see this.”

Li Chi sat at the entrance of the memorial garden, raising his wine flask toward the inside of the garden.

He took a drink and then said, “And in the future when my children have children of their own — when those grandchildren are old enough to understand — they too must be brought here to see this, passed down from one generation to the next.”

Xiahou Zuo nodded, and also raised his wine flask toward the garden.

Just then, they saw two men walking out from inside the garden, walking side by side, speaking quietly about something.

When they reached the entrance and noticed Li Chi and Xiahou Zuo drinking wine beside it, the two men quickly bowed in salute.

“We pay our respects to the Ning King and to the Grand General.”

Li Chi recognized them. The older of the two was around twenty years old. He had seen him on the walls before — the one who had been shouting “My daughter, wait for me to come home!” while cutting down enemies. He wasn’t the most formidable fighter, and had taken his share of wounds, but his luck seemed genuinely remarkable. He had gone up onto the walls twice, and continued to take part in the resistance throughout — and to have survived was nothing short of the favor of heaven.

“I remember you.”

Li Chi smiled. “You told me your family name is Su?”

The young man quickly replied, “Yes, Ning King — this humble commoner’s family name is Su. My name is Su Lue, and this is my younger brother. His name is Su Tao.”

Li Chi looked at the younger one. “I remember you too. You have no martial arts training, but your reflexes are extraordinarily fast, and you were born with no small natural strength. Later you practiced blade work with the border army and surpassed your instructor in no time.”

The boy, not yet seventeen, immediately flushed red. “To think the Ning King would know of this too.”

Li Chi asked, “Were you two just in the garden burning paper offerings for your brothers?”

Su Lue replied, “Yes — we are about to head home, and before leaving, we wanted to send a little money to our brothers one last time.”

Li Chi nodded. “You should head home. You’ve been here seven or eight months — your family must be desperately anxious.”

Su Lue was quiet for a moment, then suddenly dropped to his knees in a full bow once more.

“This humble commoner has an immodest request. My younger brother wishes to stay behind and enlist. I tried to talk him out of it for many days, but he simply refuses to go back. His mind is made up. I know I cannot move him, so I have no choice but to let him follow his own path. I ask only that the Ning King might watch over him.”

Li Chi reached out and helped him to his feet. “If he wishes to enlist, he can come and serve in my personal guard for now. Rest easy — I will take good care of him.”

At this, young Su Tao burst with excitement. He dropped to one knee with a thud. “Thank you, my lord!”

Li Chi reached out and pulled him up as well. “I don’t have that much kneeling and bowing in my camp. From now on, when you see me — or the Grand General — a military salute is sufficient.”

Su Tao quickly nodded. “Understood. This subordinate will remember.”

The young man was bright and spirited to look at, and Li Chi took quite a liking to him.

He had noticed the boy before — always eager to learn. When there was no fighting to be done, he would pull people aside and ask them to teach him martial arts.

A child from a poor family had no money to hire a martial arts instructor. Strictly speaking, at sixteen he was quite late to begin training. Yet the boy’s talent was genuinely extraordinary — his progress was rapid beyond belief.

Just a few days ago, Li Chi had watched him practice his blade work, and the skill already carried the bearing of a true practitioner.

Su Lue packed his things and headed home. In his heart he too harbored the ambition to enlist — but between two brothers, one had to return to look after the family. Their parents were still alive, Su Lue had a wife and children, and once he went back, he would be the pillar of the household.

Li Chi instructed Yu Jiuling to give Su Lue a generous sum of silver to take with him, and also presented him with a set of the unit commander’s military uniform.

Su Tao saw his elder brother off, and did not return until an entire day later, when he went straight into Li Chi’s personal guard unit.

The young man had an open and cheerful nature and was genuine at heart, and so he fit in quickly.

Li Chi and his men stayed on at Beishan Pass for another month, guarding through the rest of the first month. When it became clear that the Black Wu forces were not going to come again, Li Chi deployed a portion of his troops to remain behind and led the rest back toward Jizhou.

After resting in Jizhou for a period, they would need to head back to Yuzhou.

The Central Plains was truly vast. The journey from Beishan Pass to Jizhou would take quite some time; from Jizhou to Yuzhou would take even longer.

By the time Li Chi and his men returned to Yuzhou, it would likely already be early summer.

On the road back to Jizhou, the three old men sat inside a carriage and resumed their bickering. The three of them went back and forth, giving no quarter, yet none could definitively gain the upper hand.

“Next time, if you can’t be certain your calculations are accurate, don’t announce them in advance.”

The old Daoist Changmei shot a sidelong glance at Old Zhenren Zhang. “This past year, I’ve been so frightened I ended up making more trips to the latrine than usual.”

Old Zhenren Zhang said, “Hmph — and who was it that came begging me to do the calculation? That would be you!”

Gao Yuanzhang sipped his tea serenely and said, “This time I must side with Old Zhenren. You did indeed go and beg him to do the reading — to change your story now would not be proper conduct.”

Changmei glared at him. “And who was it that begged me, and then went to beg Old Zhenren Zhang?”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “Something that happened so long ago — how would I know who asked whom for what?”

Old Zhenren Zhang heard this and immediately objected. “Gao Yuanzhang, you are a great Confucian scholar of this age — how can you conduct yourself this way? What kind of principle is it to act on something and then refuse to acknowledge it?”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “But I was siding with you just now.”

Old Zhenren Zhang said, “That does seem to be true.”

He looked toward Changmei. “Gao Yuanzhang’s character speaks for itself — if he says there was no such thing, then there was no such thing. I trust Gao Yuanzhang.”

Gao Yuanzhang also looked toward Changmei. “You see how Old Zhenren speaks — so wishy-washy, and yet the implication seems to be that he is mocking your character. Personally, were it me, I would not be able to let that pass.”

Changmei said, “You couldn’t let it pass, and neither can I.”

He looked at Old Zhenren Zhang. “You cantankerous old man.”

Old Zhenren Zhang said, “Bah — and your mouth is utterly foul. Are you not a cantankerous old man yourself?”

The two of them went back and forth, trading sharp words, escalating with every exchange.

All three of them were the type who thought: I acknowledge you have some ability, but don’t think you can defeat me easily.

The two of them bickered on and on, while Gao Yuanzhang raised his teacup, sipped his tea, sipped his tea, sipped his tea — appearing perfectly serene and unbothered, though not entirely convincingly.

In the other carriage.

Li Chi looked toward Gao Xining. “Go and find those three old men in a little while and tell them you’ve thought it through and are willing to agree to what they proposed.”

Gao Xining’s face flushed red. “Why should I be the one to go? Why don’t you go yourself? Something this… this embarrassing — and you’re sending a girl to say it?”

Li Chi said, “They were lobbying you, not me. If I went to say it, wouldn’t that expose the fact that you had already given them away?”

Gao Xining thought it over — that did seem to be the logic of it.

She asked, “Is there any roundabout way to say it?”

Li Chi thought carefully for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, “In a little while, take some food over to those three old men, and then give each of them a big red envelope — just call it pocket money.”

Gao Xining said, “Pocket money? You’re actually giving them pocket money?!”

Li Chi said, “Mind your expression — that’s rather unflattering.”

Gao Xining said, “Hmm?”

Li Chi said, “If I weren’t doing this for the sake of our great matter, would I be willing to hand out red envelopes? Do you think my expression is any better?”

Gao Xining burst out laughing despite herself.

A short while later, Gao Xining genuinely did carry three fat red envelopes and a food hamper into the carriage of those three old men.

The moment she stepped in and the old men spotted the food hamper, all three of them smiled. All that bickering had made them hungry — and here came a meal right on cue.

Then when they watched Gao Xining produce the red envelopes, the three old men exchanged a glance, then all said in unison: “Get out!”

Gao Xining said, “This… what does this mean?”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “Do I not know you? I raised you myself. You — voluntarily taking out red envelopes… something like this is absolutely something I cannot give you any opening for.”

Daoist Changmei said with great solemnity, “Your grandfather knows you; I know that Li Diudiu fellow — for you to take out three red envelopes unprompted is already quite the feat. To get him to agree… that must mean there is a great trap being laid.”

Old Zhenren Zhang thought it over, then extended his hand. “Give me mine, take the other two back — they won’t fall for it.”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “Does that mean you’re willing to fall for it?”

Old Zhenren Zhang said, “The main thing is — the two of them can’t be trapped by those two anyway.”

He took the red envelope and tucked it into his robes, then asked, “Go ahead then. I’ve been bought over — you can tell me now.”

Gao Xining began to squirm with awkwardness. The moment Gao Yuanzhang saw her squirming, he became even more uneasy — his rough-and-ready granddaughter squirming with embarrassment meant that whatever she was about to say was going to be difficult to handle.

“This is… well…”

Gao Xining took a deep breath, raised her head with determination, and said boldly, “A while back, the three of you told me you wanted me to persuade Li Chi to go ahead and have the wedding ceremony first…”

The moment the three old men heard this, they understood at once.

Gao Yuanzhang and Daoist Changmei exchanged a glance, and simultaneously reached out and took their red envelopes back.

Daoist Changmei opened his and looked inside as he spoke. “I thought it was something serious. What is there to be embarrassed about with this? We already decided on this back when we first brought it up with you.”

Gao Xining’s face lit up with hope.

Gao Yuanzhang also opened his red envelope and looked inside — his expression suggested the amount within was not entirely to his satisfaction.

He gave a little cough. “This matter — even if you hadn’t come to us, we were going to come to you. Look at us — we’re all one family. There’s no need for red envelopes.”

Daoist Changmei nodded. “Exactly — we are all family. No need to be so formal.”

He looked at Gao Yuanzhang. “You say it.”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “You are Chi’s master — you speak.”

Daoist Changmei sat up straight and looked at Gao Xining with seriousness. “Your grandfather is right — even if you hadn’t come to us, we would have come to you. But when we discussed this with you before, it was because we were worried about the northern frontier situation… and so that agreement — now that the battle is over, it naturally no longer counts.”

Seeing the joy on Gao Xining’s face gradually dim, he quickly added one more line. “Of course, this is your grandfather’s position — not mine. I am merely conveying his thoughts.”

Gao Xining asked, “Then what does Master think?”

Daoist Changmei said gravely, “I think exactly the same as your grandfather.”

Gao Xining: “??????”

Old Zhenren Zhang sighed. “This matter started because of me — I cannot make things difficult for two young people. Here is what I propose…”

Old Zhenren Zhang looked at Gao Xining and said, “By the proper rules, you give me one more red envelope, and I will break this impasse for you.”

Gao Xining’s eyes went wide in an instant. “Really?”

Old Zhenren Zhang nodded. “I am a Zhenren of Dragon Tiger Mountain — how could I tell lies to a child?”

Gao Xining produced another silver ingot and placed it in Old Zhenren Zhang’s hand. “Please, Zhenren — break the impasse.”

Old Zhenren Zhang put the silver away safely, then settled cross-legged into a proper seated position and began to murmur under his breath.

A moment later, he looked toward Gao Xining, and Gao Xining asked anxiously, “Has the impasse been broken?”

Old Zhenren Zhang spread his hands wide. “Ah — a failure. However… I would like to try one more time.”

Gao Xining turned around and walked right out.

—