On the day of recruitment, Li Wu personally presided over the proceedings. For every resident of Yutou County who appeared before him, he could reach a verdict on the spot:

“Zhao Ergou, you’ve come to enlist too? What about your old mother — who’ll take care of her? You have money? Money means nothing — once you leave, there’ll be no one at home. Get back and look after your mother!”

Those with elderly parents to care for, only sons, and those too frail to withstand hardship were all turned away from the enlistment queue under Li Wu’s screening.

Li Wu stood at the front to vet the candidates, while Shen Zhuxi stationed herself at the back to record the names of those accepted into the army.

“Caizi… do you have a formal name?” Shen Zhuxi looked up and asked gently.

“Yes — yes, my formal name is Chen Youcai —” The young recruit flushed crimson under Shen Zhuxi’s smile, fidgeting awkwardly with the hem of his clothing.

Shen Zhuxi wrote the characters for Chen Youcai on a sheet of white paper, then asked, “What is your emergency address?”

“What… what emergency address?”

“If something should happen to you while in service, this is the address where we would contact your family and send the bereavement compensation.”

“Do soldiers like us really receive bereavement compensation?” Chen Youcai asked, astonished.

“Originally, there wasn’t any —” Li Wu, sharp-eared as ever, caught those words and called back loudly, “This was proposed by your General’s wife. Every one of you should remember her kindness!”

The soldiers who had already registered responded with a chorus that was positively thunderous — hundreds of voices joined together, deafening enough to make Shen Zhuxi’s cheeks flush pink, prompting her to wave her hands repeatedly in modest deflection.

Those who had come to enlist had already steeled themselves for the possibility of dying on the battlefield.

But bereavement compensation — that was something only those of higher military rank received. Lower-ranking soldiers had it too, in name, but it rarely reached their families’ hands. As for cannon fodder foot soldiers, the matter wasn’t even worth mentioning.

Chen Youcai had come driven by the prospect of a soldier’s pay and the faint possibility of “making something of himself” that Li Wu had spoken of. It had never crossed his mind that if he, a mere foot soldier, died on the battlefield, there would still be compensation to pass on to his loved ones.

Having received his affirmative answer, Chen Youcai hastily recited the addresses of his parents and elder brother. Shen Zhuxi transcribed them in the most legible standard script she could manage, then placed the slip of paper into a rough cloth pouch embroidered with ducks and handed it to the young man.

“You must keep this pouch on your person at all times, and take care to keep it dry. When circumstances permit in the future, we will re-register your information and replace the paper slip with a wooden tag.”

The young man took the pouch and tucked it carefully against his chest, thanking her repeatedly with heartfelt gratitude before stepping away from the long queue.

The next person stepped forward, and Shen Zhuxi continued patiently asking for names and addresses.

Over three days, the Qingfeng Army recruited more than five thousand able-bodied young men.

The county magistrate who had been watching from the sidelines looked positively green — Li Wu had swept away two-thirds of Yutou County’s able-bodied men in one stroke. Who was going to till the farmland come spring?

That evening, the county magistrate lay awake in a side room fretting, while Li Wu sat in the main room grinning ear to ear.

Yutou County was his home base. This batch of men — he intended to cultivate them as his trusted personal soldiers.

On the day the army set out, Li Wu had just finished counting heads and was about to mount up when a string of familiar shouts rang out from the town behind him.

“Wait!”

Inside the carriage, Shen Zhuxi recognized the voices of Sui Rui and Jiu Niang among them, and hurriedly leaned out through the window.

A great crowd of townspeople came rushing over, families in tow.

Sui Rui, dragging her elderly father along, arrived breathlessly at the front.

“We — we talked it over through the night and want to come with you to Xiangzhou. Can — can you take us with you? Can we — all go together?”

The county magistrate counted the neighbors and townsfolk who had followed, and this time it wasn’t just his face that had gone green.

His last coherent thought before he fainted was: Li the Flayer is going to strip Yutou Town down to bare earth!

Li Wu agreed without a second thought. “Fine, but you’ll have to provide your own food and drink.”

“No problem! We’ve brought everything!” Sui Rui declared triumphantly, raising both hands aloft — they were hung with lotus-leaf parcels fragrant with the smell of roasted chicken.

Li Wu cast a glance to the side, and Li Que stepped forward.

“Anyone heading to Xiangzhou, follow me — I’ll take you to the main formation.”

The crowd surged forward at once.

Li Wu turned to look at Hu Yishou, who had walked up to him at that moment. He raised an eyebrow. “Hu sir is coming along to suffer with us?”

“Getting on in years — can’t take hardship like I used to.” Hu Yishou said with self-deprecating humor. He gave the young man at his side a shove forward. “This is my nephew, Shang Yun. He’s heading to Xiangzhou to join his parents. I’d ask the General to look after him on the road.”

Li Wu gave a nod, and the young man was pushed forward accordingly. He shuffled ahead with obvious reluctance, craning his neck to look back, and asked with dogged persistence: “Uncle, really not sending anyone with me? Even a maidservant would do!”

“You’re grown now. You need to learn to look after yourself.” Hu Yishou said, his expression blank.

Once Shang Yun had been absorbed into the Qingfeng Army, Hu Yishou beckoned with a wave of his hand behind him, and four burly men emerged carrying two large chests. The moment the chests hit the ground, their edges sank deep into the earth.

In full view of Li Wu, Hu Yishou opened the wooden chests. Inside were two chests packed neatly to the brim with gold ingots.

“Xiangzhou has long been under the grip of rebel forces. Once the General takes up residence there, everything will need to be rebuilt from scratch. I wonder — might there be a place in Xiangzhou for Hu’s gambling house?”

Hu Yishou had the connections to open a gambling house in Xiangzhou without Li Wu’s involvement whatsoever.

These two chests of gold were nothing more than an early gesture of goodwill — a recognition of Li Wu’s potential.

Two shrewd men exchanged a look. Both understood perfectly.

“Naturally.” Li Wu said with an open laugh. “If I take Xiangzhou, its doors will always be open to you, Hu sir.”

Hu Yishou smiled faintly and bowed in courtesy.

The journey from Yutou County to Xiangzhou could ordinarily be completed in a single day, but with so many people, the pace naturally slowed. That night, the army made camp near the main road to rest. Shen Zhuxi and Li Wu were just settling down to sleep when a commotion suddenly broke out outside the tent.

“I know your General! Your General and I go way back — why aren’t you letting me in?!”

That voice — Shen Zhuxi would recognize it even as a ghost!

She turned to Li Wu with a face drained of color — wasn’t that the voice of Fan Sanniang, Li Wu’s former patroness?

“…Why are you looking at me like that?” Li Wu found her stare unsettling.

“Li Wu! Li Wu!” Outside, Fan Sanniang had been shouting for a while with no response, and now she raised her voice to a bellow. “Li Wu! Do you still care whether I live or die?!”

Li Wu was just getting up when Shen Zhuxi lunged and seized his arm. “Don’t go!”

“Why not?” Li Wu looked at her, utterly baffled, completely at a loss.

“Don’t play dumb with me!” Shen Zhuxi said indignantly. “You’ve already retired from that trade — why are you still going to her?!”

“Fan Sanniang did me a great kindness. I can’t simply ignore her… and besides, what does this have to do with retiring? And when did I play dumb?” Li Wu stared at her, bewildered.

“You —” Shen Zhuxi couldn’t bring herself to name his rather unconventional former occupation. He felt no shame about it — but she was the one who couldn’t bear the embarrassment! A princess of all people, paying a man to be kept by her!

“In any case, you are not allowed to go!” she lost her temper in a rare display, and in her desperation — throwing aside all propriety — she threw her arms around his and clung to it for dear life.

Li Wu looked at the person dangling from his arm — startled, bewildered, and delighted all at once.

“Let me just confirm something…” His expression was deeply conflicted. “Are you… jealous of Fan Sanniang?”

He thought back over all the women who had appeared around him — Jiu Niang, Li Qingman, Wang Shiyong… which one of them wasn’t a more credible threat than Fan Sanniang?

Shen Zhuxi had regarded all of them without batting an eye, yet here she was, turning green with envy over a widow past forty whose charms had long faded?

What in the world was the logic in that?

Was there something wrong with this little fool’s taste, or was there something wrong with her perception of his taste?

Li Wu was quite certain it was the former.

It would also explain why, no matter how many times he had loosened his robe and clothing in front of her, Shen the Little Fool had remained utterly unmoved.

Fan Sanniang was still shouting outside. If she didn’t need his help with something, she wouldn’t have come in the dead of night. Li Wu was enjoying this hard-won display of jealousy from Shen Zhuxi, but Fan Sanniang had once saved his life, and he couldn’t simply leave her standing out there.

Still maintaining his posture — with a person hanging off his arm — he called toward the outside: “Let her in.”

Before long, Fan Sanniang pushed aside the tent flap and walked in.

Seeing Li Wu and Shen Zhuxi already in bed, Fan Sanniang first offered Shen Zhuxi an apology. “Forgive me, Madam Li. I know I shouldn’t be disturbing you at such a late hour, but I truly have some urgent business that requires Li Wu’s help. I hope you’ll allow me to borrow your husband for an hour —”

“No!” Shen Zhuxi cried out in alarm.

Shen Zhuxi had always been easy-going, and Fan Sanniang had always had that impression of her — so the possibility of being refused had simply not occurred to her. She thought for a moment, assuming Shen Zhuxi was worried for Li Wu’s safety, and added reassuringly:

“Don’t worry, we won’t go far — just inside my tent —”

Shen Zhuxi went even paler, and tightened her grip on the arm in her arms. “No!”

Fan Sanniang and Li Wu exchanged a glance, both wearing expressions of identical bewilderment.

“How about this — you come with me,” Li Wu said to Shen Zhuxi. “You can wait outside the tent.”

“No!” Shen Zhuxi shook her head vigorously like a rattle drum.

No matter what Li Wu said, Shen Zhuxi had one answer: no.

Fan Sanniang, reading the situation, suppressed the look of disappointment in her eyes and managed a strained smile. “If it’s inconvenient for Madam Li, then let’s forget it. I’ll think of another way… You two should get some rest…”

Fan Sanniang turned and walked out of the tent.

She had withdrawn of her own accord, yet Shen Zhuxi still felt no satisfaction having kept Li Wu behind.

“Why won’t you let me go?” Li Wu turned and looked at Shen Zhuxi.

“…Go ahead! I won’t stop you anymore!”

Shen Zhuxi flopped down in a sulk and pulled the covers over herself.

“Should I really go?”

“Go!”

“Should I really go?”

“Just go!”

When there was no sound from behind her for quite some time, Shen Zhuxi looked back — and that wretched man had actually gone!

Was he really that eager to ply his former trade?!

Shen Zhuxi yanked the blanket over her head in a fury.

Fine. Whatever. It wasn’t as though they were real husband and wife anyway — why should she care what side jobs he took?

The tent fell into a long silence, the blanket-covered human shape lying perfectly still.

At last, pushed past all endurance, Shen Zhuxi kicked the covers off with one foot. Eyes glistening with tears of frustration, her round almond eyes aggrieved and accusing, she glared at the ceiling —

She had money too, you know!

Every time she let herself imagine what Li Wu might be doing in Fan Sanniang’s tent, Shen Zhuxi’s chest burned with gnawing anxiety and sourness, and her eyes would sting and blur of their own accord.

That wretched Li Wu had just the other day called her his greatest treasure — and now today, the position had been transferred!

“…What kind of ‘greatest treasure’ works like that!”

She fumed aloud, beating her small fists against Li Wu’s pillow, while tears fell one after another.

Any other time, Li Wu would have long since come to wipe her tears — but tonight, that wretched man had gone to wipe Fan Sanniang’s tears instead!

Hadn’t Li Wu come into quite a sum of money now? Why was he still doing odd jobs?

Could this be what the ancients called “one night as husband and wife, a hundred days of devotion”?

Or perhaps — now that the Qingfeng Army had grown in scale, the expenses had grown with it, and he’d had no choice but to return to his old trade?

Poor, helpless, and utterly at a loss, Shen Zhuxi sat on the bed hugging her knees, round eyes wide open, silently weeping.

It was like being set upon a burning pyre — every inch of her skin scorched by the searing pain of jealousy.

That searing pain, after the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, finally burned through the last of Shen Zhuxi’s reason. She gathered up an armful of gold and silver hastily scooped from her jewelry case, and ran headlong toward Fan Sanniang’s tent.