Qiao Yishan quickly set aside his thoughts about whether Shi Ting liked men, and said with gravity: “Brother Shi, after I return to Dagu Mountain, going back and forth will be inconvenient. I have someone called Qing Yuan who is my trusted aide — I will have him come here to serve as a liaison between us.”

The two talked a little while longer, and then Qiao Yishan left with quick strides.

After he was gone, Shi Ting returned to the room. Yan Qing was still nestled deep in the covers and showed no sign of wanting to get up — she had been thoroughly exhausted the night before.

Shi Ting tucked the blanket around her and sat at the bedside, watching her quietly.

“Has Qiao Yishan left?” Yan Qing hadn’t been sleeping deeply — she was just too tired to move. Sensing him sitting at the bedside, she poked her head out from under the covers.

Seeing her with her hair in messy tangles, bleary-eyed with sleep, Shi Ting couldn’t help smiling. “I’ll go get some water.”

Yan Qing loosely tidied her hair, then lay face-down on the pillow with half-closed eyes as she watched Shi Ting go outside to fetch water, carry it back in, and set it on the washstand.

He dampened a cloth towel, then helped her sit up and wiped her face inch by inch while she squinted contentedly and enjoyed being tended to.

“We’ll stay here for now and wait for Qiao Yishan’s news. Once he has things arranged on his end, he’ll send someone to let us know.”

Shi Ting wrung out the towel and reached for the comb. “Shall I do your hair?”

“No need.” Yan Qing quickly waved him off. “I’ll do it myself.”

Shi Ting didn’t really know how to comb hair. Even though she would end up wearing her hat afterward anyway, she wasn’t willing to let her scalp suffer in the meantime.

Once both of them had finished washing up, they went out together.

This peony garden house was only meant for enjoying the scenery, and besides a few side chambers, there wasn’t even a kitchen.

Fortunately, the street outside was lively, with shops lining both sides and vendors setting up stalls everywhere.

First thing in the morning, there were stalls selling deep-fried crullers and soybean pudding and fried cake, stalls selling noodles with braised sauce, stalls selling small wontons, stalls selling dumplings — all manner of aromas filled the not-very-wide street to the brim.

Shi Ting and Yan Qing sat down at a stall selling fried crullers and slowly ate their order of crullers and soybean pudding.

“Word is the government troops launched a surprise night attack yesterday and were badly routed again.” At the next table, two men in coarse clothing were chatting.

The taller, thinner one stuffed a mouthful of cruller in: “Don’t let those fine weapons of theirs fool you — Dagu Mountain is a natural fortress. One man holding that pass can stop ten thousand. Any army charging up blindly like that is just walking into a trap!”

“Who knows how long this war will drag on. The government troops are camped around Shuanghe Town — every bite they eat and every piece of clothing they wear costs money. If they run out of supplies, they’ll probably start taking from the people.”

“And what’s the difference from bandits then?”

“What difference? No difference.” The speaker drank down a large bowl of soybean pudding with satisfaction.

Yan Qing bit into her cruller and glanced at Shi Ting.

Shi Ting was holding a spoon but not bringing it to his mouth, lost in thought.

Indeed. Once real fighting broke out, what difference was there between the government troops and bandits? In the end, it was the common people who suffered. But this war could not be stopped — he too had imagined a day when the land would be pacified, when the country would be at peace. He just didn’t know how far away that day still was.

“Eat.” Yan Qing knew what he was thinking about, and so held the fried cruller up to his mouth and blinked at him. “You only need to do what falls within your duty. As for the rest — don’t think so much.”

“Mm.” Shi Ting smiled slightly and opened his mouth to take a bite of the cruller.

Best to eat quickly and get fueled up — there was real business to attend to that night.

After finishing breakfast, the two of them strolled along the street. Because this place was the closest to Dagu Mountain, standing on the street one could see the mountain peaks rising in the distance.

Dagu Mountain had a strategically commanding terrain — it was the only passage from the Qian Pass mining area to the outside world. Coal mined there had to pass through this route before it could be loaded onto trains and transported to all parts of the country.

The government wanted to suppress the bandits precisely to ensure the safe passage of mineral resources.

Yet the Dagu Mountain bandits were too fierce, and the government troops had suffered defeat after defeat, which was naturally an ordeal for them.

Liu Qingnian entered the tent to find wounded soldiers inside wailing one after another.

“Commander.” A wounded soldier saw him and struggled to rise.

Liu Qingnian quickly stepped forward and held him down. “You are injured — rest and recover.”

He made a round of the tent, comforting each person in turn, then gave a final instruction to the medical personnel to tend to everyone carefully before stepping outside.

Liu Qingnian’s expression was dark as he looked toward the distant mountain and let out a heavy sigh.

“Commander.” His adjutant Hu Hai stepped forward. “Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Everyone knew that Liu Qingnian treated his soldiers like his own children. With such heavy casualties on this expedition, Liu Qingnian’s heart must be in great pain.

“How can I not be hard on myself? Look at how many men died, how many are wounded — listen to those cries of agony. They are grinding away at my heart.” Liu Qingnian’s eyes clouded with a mist of grief.

“Commander, the Young Master has come.”

A young man in military uniform came running over in a few quick strides — this was Liu Qingnian’s son, Liu Junyuan. He had followed Liu Qingnian into battle at fifteen, and by now was already a platoon commander.

Liu Qingnian’s expression softened when he saw his son. “What is it?”

“Our scouts have received intelligence. A gang of Dagu Mountain bandits is coming down the mountain tonight at midnight via the north mountain road. We can set up an ambush on the road and launch a surprise attack. Word is there’s a bandit leader in that group — if we can capture him, it won’t be for nothing that we’ve lost so many brothers.”

“Is this intelligence reliable?” Liu Qingnian, who had fought on the battlefield for so many years, followed a single principle in all things: caution. Especially with recent casualties so heavy, he was genuinely frightened.

“Father, rest assured — this intelligence is absolutely reliable.”

“Very well. Go make the arrangements. I’m putting you in charge of this. Remember — be careful in all things.”

Liu Qingnian sighed. “Meng Xiangyang is pushing us to the breaking point.”

Liu Junyuan was surprised to hear this and quickly asked: “Father, what does this have to do with Minister Meng? He gave you orders to lead troops into battle — that is simply a command. How can it be called pushing you to the breaking point?”

“The Meng family has grown increasingly prominent and overbearing, gradually showing no regard even for the Grand Marshal. Why have we come here to suppress bandits? Why are we here cleaning up this mess that nobody else wanted to touch? It’s because Meng Xiangyang’s arrogance offended the Grand Marshal, and the Grand Marshal assigned this task to him — but he simply tossed this hot potato straight to us, sending my men to pay the price in blood for his mistakes.”

Liu Qingnian thought of his soldiers and was overcome with anguish. His resentment toward Meng Xiangyang deepened further.

He had long been dissatisfied with Meng Xiangyang’s way of doing things. Over the years, he had grown increasingly brazen by virtue of his military power, but the master of Bei Di was the Grand Marshal — not the Meng family. Did they actually want to rebel?

Liu Junyuan seemed to perceive Liu Qingnian’s underlying concerns, and said: “Father, Minister Meng would never rebel. But he is the elder maternal uncle of Young Master Shi the First and Young Master Shi the Second. No matter which one of them he helps put in power, he will be the National Uncle — second only to one man above ten thousand.”

Liu Qingnian looked at his son, his eyes full of admiration and fatherly warmth. “In your view, between the First and the Second Young Masters of the Shi family — which of them would make a better young marshal?”

But Liu Junyuan shook his head: “I have more admiration for Seventh Young Master Shi.”

“Oh?” Liu Qingnian was somewhat surprised. “Tell me why.”

Liu Junyuan said: “Though Young Masters Shi the First and Second have indeed distinguished themselves, they have had the Meng family’s backing behind everything they do, making it smooth sailing. But Seventh Young Master Shi has no help from his mother’s family — he has relied entirely on his own efforts. Setting aside everything else, just look at Shun Cheng’s public security and rule of law, at how the people there live in peace and prosperity. I’ve heard that even military governors from other territories have sent people to Shun Cheng to study its methods of legal governance and management. That era of national stability and flourishing is something Seventh Young Master Shi built with his own hands.”

Liu Qingnian nodded. He had long known this Seventh Young Master was no ordinary man. In the past, word on the street had been that he was overlooked and neglected, but in Liu Qingnian’s eyes, that was not the case.

The Grand Marshal seemed to place more trust in this youngest son than in the others.

“But what does it matter how capable he is?” Liu Qingnian sighed. “Without power or influence in his hands — what waves could he make? Sooner or later he’ll be crushed by his two elder brothers.”

“What one doesn’t have, one can go out and fight for.” Liu Junyuan had considerable admiration for Shi Ting. “How can a wolf be without ambition?”

“Enough of this. Hurry and go deploy the plan for tonight. This time we must capture that bandit chief — otherwise the morale of the troops will crumble.”

Win once after losing over and over, and before long they would lose without even fighting. He had led soldiers for so many years — could he not understand that much?

Tonight’s battle had to be won. There was no other option.

Night fell. Dagu Mountain loomed dark and black, with only a sliver of pale moonlight illuminating it.

On all sides of Dagu Mountain, sturdy walls had been erected — especially solid ones. The only entrance was through a front gate flanked on all sides by sheer cliffs and fitted with numerous traps. Breaking in was no easy feat.

At that moment, a hole suddenly opened in the rear of Dagu Mountain. Concealed by a canopy of green foliage, there was, astonishingly, a hidden gate here.

The hidden gate was pulled open a crack, and a head poked out from inside. A pair of watchful eyes scanned in all directions — finding nothing out of the ordinary, the figure spoke back over his shoulder: “Second Chief, no one here.”

With those words, from inside emerged a man in his thirties, jowly and greasy-faced.

This man was picking his teeth, savoring the memory with great relish. “That little woman was something else. I’ve been wanting her for a long time.”

The rule on Dagu Mountain was that no women were kept on the mountain, though one could take a wife — just not bring her up. They said women had too much yin energy and would ruin the feng shui of Dagu Mountain.

The one who had come out through the hidden gate was one of the Gu’an Gang’s chiefs: Wang Hailin.

This Wang Hailin had no real ability — his only talent was a sharp tongue that blew and blustered about anything. His current position had been obtained entirely through his quick mouth and his shamelessness.

Earlier that morning, Wang Hailin had received word that a girl named Liu from Shuanghe Town was missing him and had sent over a pearl earring to ask when he was coming down the mountain.

Hearing that his sweetheart was pining for him, Wang Hailin was immediately unable to sit still. His trusted aide had tried to talk him out of it at length, but Wang Hailin didn’t listen to a word of it — his head was filled entirely with thoughts of that Miss Liu’s soft, fragrant warmth, and imagining her delicate, demure little voice only made him feel like a fire was burning under him.

“Second Chief, you just stirred up trouble a couple of days ago. It’s not appropriate for you to be appearing in Shuanghe Town right now.” The aide still pressed him with earnest counsel.

What Wang Hailin had done a couple of days ago — the aide hadn’t been there, but he knew it all perfectly well. He hadn’t expected Wang Hailin to be so impulsive and bold. At the time, it had frightened him into a cold sweat.

* * *

Eighth Brother: Hey Seventh, it seems Qiao Chief has misunderstood something.

Seventh Brother: Misunderstood what?

Eighth Brother: Men and men…

Seventh Brother: (rolls eyes) You and I are absolutely impossible!!!

Eighth Brother: …