“Heh heh — Diao’er grew again……”

Li Kun pressed his palm against the tree trunk with great satisfaction and measured the mark.

“Second Brother, this isn’t the same tree you measured before — the change in height has nothing to do with you.” Li Que said, his arm resting on the carriage window where it caught a patch of afternoon sunlight.

He urged the long-delayed Li Kun along. “Stop dawdling — get it done. We still have a journey ahead——”

“I know, I know, I’m coming!” Li Kun said impatiently.

He picked up the stone in his hand and, at a height level with his forehead, drew a long, thick vertical line.

“Well-behaved Diao’er……”

Then a second line, shorter and thinner.

“Fastidious piggy piggy……”

Then a third, tall and lean.

“Nagging Que’er……”

He sighed, and drew the last line.

“When will we ever get to eat Elder Brother’s noodles again……”

Having marked four vertical lines of different widths and heights, he climbed back into the driver’s seat, took up the reins, and drove on.

The carriage jolted, and Shen Zhuxi, who had nearly drifted off to sleep, jolted awake. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the half-finished finger-painted flying phoenix pattern she had been tracing on the tea table with water-dampened fingertips — in that brief moment of dozing, it had nearly disappeared entirely. The misshapen remnant of the phoenix still lingered on the table, looking rather more like a noisily quacking duck.

“……I wonder how Li Wu is getting on.” Shen Zhuxi couldn’t help saying.

“Elder Brother is clever and steady — he’ll be fine.” Li Que said. “He might even arrive at Yutou County before us.”

“I hope so.” Shen Zhuxi said with a smile. “It’s been so long since I’ve been back to Yutou Township — I wonder how everyone there is doing.”

Li Kun, sitting outside the carriage, caught the thread of their conversation and added one remark of his own: “Wonder how the taro cakes are doing……”

The three of them chatted in a leisurely, meandering way, and Shen Zhuxi’s memory of Yutou Township grew more and more vivid.

It was strange, she thought — the capital no longer felt like home to her, while Yutou Township — where you could accidentally step in cow dung without even trying — had somehow become the place that did.

Just thinking of Yutou Township, she could barely keep herself from sprouting wings and flying back this instant.

“I see the official cap! We’re here!” Li Kun suddenly cried out in delight.

Shen Zhuxi looked out the window. What Li Kun called the “official cap” was the distinctive roofline of the government relay station — and indeed, at a glance, it bore a striking resemblance to the official headgear worn by court officials of the Great Yan Dynasty.

The carriage drew gradually to a stop before the relay station. Li Kun helped the injured Li Que down from the carriage, and Shen Zhuxi carried her own luggage and stepped down using the mounting step.

The three of them walked into the quiet relay station. The main hall was entirely empty — only eight or nine square tables with matching benches, all covered in a thin layer of dust, as though they hadn’t been tended to in some time. Near the staircase in the corner of the wall, there was a small side table bearing a government-kiln flower vase with a faded glaze, holding a bunch of dried yellow chrysanthemums.

A young man in the dress of a waiter came rushing out from the rear courtyard in a flustered hurry, his cloth-wrapped hair bun still askew.

“Are the three honored guests here to stop for a meal or to stay the night?”

“To stay the night.” Li Que spoke before Li Kun could open his mouth. “I’ve sustained an injury that needs tending. Please bring a basin of clean water first.”

The waiter bobbed his head obsequiously. “Of course, I’ll bring it right away — but first let me show you to the rooms upstairs.”

“I’m not feeling well. I’d appreciate it if you could bring the water first.” Li Que persisted.

Li Que’s unusual behavior put Shen Zhuxi on alert as well. She kept her manner casual while her attention sharpened to a point, and she let her gaze drift — as if by chance — toward the staircase landing on the upper floor, where the view was blocked.

“……All right then, please wait a moment, honored guest — I’ll fetch the water immediately.” The waiter turned and walked back through the doorway to the rear courtyard.

The moment the curtain fell back into place, Li Que’s expression changed entirely.

“Move — now.”

Shen Zhuxi had already been braced for it. She followed the command the instant it came, pulling Li Que along as she moved back toward the entrance. Li Kun, who had no idea what was happening, fell in step with them and turned around as well.

The three of them walked quickly out of the relay station — only to find a large brown horse collapsed on the ground, blood pooling around it.

“Li Juan!” Shen Zhuxi cried out in anguish.

If Li Que hadn’t grabbed her, she would have run straight to Li Juan the Fifth, whose only sign of life was the faint, barely perceptible rise and fall of his abdomen.

Her Li Juan the Fifth!

Heaven was blind!

What grudge could there be, what enmity — come at her if you must, so why always strike at innocent Li Juan?

“What’s the rush, honored guests? Your water is ready — why have you left the room and come out here?”

The “waiter” from before strolled out from the main hall with a cheerful smile.

From behind the carriage. From the rooftops. From the upper-floor windows. Countless faces appeared, each one armed with swords, spears, or longbows.

They fixed their eyes on the three of them with predatory intent, weapons primed and ready, waiting only for the command.

“Why aren’t you inside yet? I haven’t even made my entrance!” A heavyset man with a face full of rough lines, wielding a kitchen cleaver and dressed as a cook, walked out from the main hall, voice booming. “I told you from the start — you take the cook, I take the waiter. You never listened. Look at this now — they haven’t even made it to the second floor, and the whole thing is blown.”

“Since when does a waiter sprint around at your size? If Elder Brother played the waiter, the prey would have been frightened off before even crossing the threshold!” The one dressed as a waiter shot back glibly. “And besides, I rather think they fled because the people Elder Brother had stationed upstairs were making too much noise!”

Whoosh——

A long arrow split the air and pinned itself into the ground three inches in front of Li Que’s feet.

“……If you don’t want to die, I’d advise against making any clever moves.”

“Xiao Hu!” Shen Zhuxi caught sight of the figure framed in the upper-floor window and couldn’t help crying out.

Xiao Hu looked completely transformed.

The dress borrowed from Shen Zhuxi was gone. The lotus-petal jade hairpin Shen Zhuxi had given her was nowhere to be seen. In their place — a fine brocade archer’s-sleeve ensemble and a black formal crown. From head to toe, Xiao Hu was the very picture of a young man.

Had Shen Zhuxi not seen what lay beneath those clothes herself, she would have been entirely fooled.

“……It really is you.” Li Que fixed his gaze on Xiao Hu, who stood there with a longbow in hand, and a layer of frost settled over his expression once more. The hand that had reached beneath his clothing for the crossbow ultimately stilled.

“All right, all right — if we keep bickering amongst ourselves here, someone else might end up benefiting. A duck in hand isn’t worth losing — who would we go crying to then?” The heavyset man said. “Bring them inside — all of them!”

“Yes sir!”

Two men — one stocky, one lean — turned and walked back into the relay station. Shen Zhuxi and the others were shoved and jostled by the fully armed rank-and-file men into the main hall as well.

“Guests are guests — please, sit.” The heavyset man settled into his seat first with the ease of a host, then waved an expansive hand toward the seats across from him, indicating that Shen Zhuxi and the others should sit.

The lean one sat down as well and said, “Sit, sit, sit — why stand when you can sit? Wouldn’t you agree?” He looked at Shen Zhuxi with a glib, ingratiating smile. “Pretty little lady——”

Li Que’s expression darkened in an instant. He stepped directly in front of Shen Zhuxi.

“Watch your mouth.”

“Oh, that gave me such a fright.” The lean one said with exaggerated mockery. “Brother here really does have a way with the ladies — still playing protector when he’s limping around like that?”

“You’d do well not to treat his words as nothing——” Xiao Hu, who was as expressionless as ever, came down the staircase. She still bore the pallor of someone who had lost a great deal of blood. “Or you won’t even know how you died.”

“The little one has learned to look out for his brother — that’s not easy.” The lean one laughed, half-genuine, half-taunting. “I thought you’d be perfectly happy if Second Brother choked on a sip of water.”

Shen Zhuxi looked at Xiao Hu in surprise.

She was dressed in men’s clothing, her throat now showing the subtle ridge of a man’s throat. From every angle, she read entirely as a young man — and yet Shen Zhuxi knew with certainty that she was a woman.

Xiao Hu avoided her gaze, her expression cool.

“If you actually could choke to death on a sip of water, that wouldn’t be so bad,” she said.

“Second Brother won’t die just yet. Unlike you, Little Tiger — look at that pale little face of yours. You don’t look like you’ll last out the year.”

Just as the two of them looked set to quarrel, the heavyset man cut in. “Er’hu, Xiao Hu — both of you, ease up. We’re brothers, blood and bone though the bones may be broken — what grudge is so great that one of us must die? Besides——” His tone remained mild, as though he were merely smoothing things over, yet the gaze he cast held the unmistakable weight of a warning. “We have guests. Don’t make a spectacle for outsiders to laugh at.”

The lean man called Er’hu reined himself in somewhat and turned to look at Li Que, who was clearly the one among the three who made decisions.

“There’s no need to be tense. Not only do we have no intention of taking your lives — we’re actually here to save them.”

Li Que let out a cold laugh. “Then I am most grateful. I hope that one day, I’ll have the chance to save yours in return.”

“Oh, none of that ‘repay the favor’ business is necessary——” Da Hu appeared entirely oblivious to the mockery, his face the picture of simple-minded goodwill as he waved a hand.

“I’m no good with words — I’ll leave the explaining to you, Second Brother.” Da Hu stepped up onto a bench and propped his arm on his knee, then called toward the rear courtyard, “Bring the food out — and remember, no extras in mine! I want to eat too!”

“Since Little Sibling is better acquainted with them, why not let me handle the explanations?” Er’hu said, with a pointed air.

Xiao Hu — or Xiao Hu, as she was called here — settled herself naturally at the table beside them. She sat on the table itself, boots planted on the bench, and in both bearing and posture she carried the unrestrained, roguish ease of a young man.

Had Shen Zhuxi not seen her undressed with her own eyes, she would have been entirely taken in.

“If I open my mouth, they’ll probably be furious.” Xiao Hu said.

“Then I’ll speak.” Er’hu unhooked a folding fan from his waist, opened it with theatrical flair and fanned himself for a moment, then finally said, “Are you aware that somewhere within Yingzhou there is a bandit stronghold called Dinghai?”

Li Que glanced at Xiao Hu and said flatly, “We are.”

“What you certainly don’t know is that Dinghai is not the largest stronghold in Yingzhou. There is another called Pingshan Stronghold that stands as its equal.” Er’hu snapped his fan shut with a crisp crack. “We are people of Pingshan Stronghold.”

“A century ago, Pingshan and Dinghai were one. Then a disagreement arose — the second-in-command of Pingshan broke away to establish his own stronghold, and that became today’s Dinghai.” Er’hu continued. “The current chieftain of Dinghai is the son of the great-uncle’s cousin of the present chieftain of Pingshan’s grandfather’s——”

By the time Er’hu had finished untangling the precise relationship between the two chieftains, a full table of dishes had been set before Da Hu.

“……That’s the kind of relationship it is — not quite close, not quite distant.” Er’hu said. “To make this matter clear, I have to start with an arranged marriage from three years ago——”

Just as it seemed he was about to lay out still more preamble, Xiao Hu, who was sitting on the table, cut him off.

“Half a year ago, the chieftain of Pingshan Stronghold took an arrow to the heart during a fierce battle — shot by someone from Dinghai. He has been gravely ill and unable to recover, and the physician says he may not survive the month.” Xiao Hu said, her words direct. “The chieftain has made it known: whoever deals Dinghai the heaviest blow becomes the next chieftain of Pingshan Stronghold.”

“What is your relationship to the chieftain of Pingshan Stronghold?” Shen Zhuxi couldn’t help asking.

“Allow me to answer that one——” Er’hu made eyes at Shen Zhuxi and stroked the fan back and forth across his palm. “The chieftain of Pingshan Stronghold has dozens of children, but only three sons. We three — are the only three with the right to become the next chieftain.”

Shen Zhuxi and Li Que’s gazes moved as one to Xiao Hu, who sat in silence nearby.

Li Kun, as he had been this whole time, floated on the periphery — his eyes hadn’t left Da Hu since the food arrived.

“Can you eat all that yourself?”

Da Hu blinked, then caught on: “What kind of hosts are we? Someone get the guests some chopsticks and bowls!”

A lackey quickly brought a bowl and chopsticks and set them in front of Li Kun.

Li Kun shifted restlessly in his seat, his right hand itching to move.

“Eat up, brother!” Da Hu bellowed.

The moment Li Kun’s hand started to move, it met Li Que’s cold stare and retreated at once.

“……I won’t eat……” he said, reluctant, his eyes fixed on the braised pork belly in the center of the table, “I’ll just look……just look……”

“What a waste — that meat smells amazing!” Da Hu picked up a glistening, fatty chunk of braised pork, put it in his mouth, and chewed with great gusto. Li Kun stared without blinking, his throat bobbing up and down, practically visibly drooling.

“You want us to deal damage to Dinghai — so why kidnap us?” Li Que asked.

“Because Dinghai just accepted a major commission. If they pull it off, they’ll have the resources to recruit more men and bring a force here to take us out.”

“What commission?”

“The magistrate of Xuzhou, Wang Wenzhong, has posted a ten-thousand-tael bounty for your heads.”

“Ten thousand taels is enough to mobilize all of you?” Li Que said.

“Ten thousand taels of silver, of course, wouldn’t be.” Er’hu opened his fan again with a deliberate air. “What Wang Wenzhong is offering,” he said meaningfully, “is ten thousand taels of gold.”

After Er’hu spoke, the main hall fell so silent you could have heard a pin drop.

Even the worldly Shen Zhuxi was struck dumb.

Ten thousand taels of gold?

In the Great Yan Dynasty, even a first-rank official drew an annual salary of no more than one hundred and eighty taels of silver. What could Wang Wenzhong possibly want badly enough to post a bounty of ten thousand taels of gold for their lives?

Had they gone and desecrated the Wang family’s ancestral grave before setting out?

“You didn’t know?” Er’hu studied the expressions of the three of them, and genuine surprise crossed his face.

“……Know what?” Li Que asked.

“Your beloved Elder Brother took Wang Wenzhong’s legitimate daughter’s dowry, left behind a declaration of grievances, and ran.”