“I know only that Xiangzhou has been recovered. I do not know the particulars.” Fu Xuanmiao said.

Fu Ruzhi gestured for him to sit across from him.

After Fu Xuanmiao sat down, a maidservant came in just at that moment carrying a tea tray, and set a cup of steaming, fragrant tea before each of them on the low table.

“Early this morning, a report came in from my informant embedded within the Zhenchuan Army. The Xiangzhou uprising was successful, and Xiangzhou has returned to Zhenchuan Army jurisdiction. The previous Prefect of Xiangzhou was killed. The current Prefect of Xiangzhou is the leader of an uprising force called the Qingfeng Army.”

“Li Qia’s military report made no mention of a change in Xiangzhou’s prefect,” Fu Xuanmiao said.

“That is precisely the issue.” Fu Ruzhi tapped the table twice with two fingers, his expression grave, deep furrows carved between his brows. “By proper procedure, Li Qia should have sent the official seal and documents of Xiangzhou back to the imperial court, then waited for the court to issue a new appointment. Yet Li Qia bypassed this step entirely and directly appointed a prefect for an entire province on his own authority. So — is Xiangzhou the imperial court’s Xiangzhou, or the Zhenchuan Military Commissioner’s Xiangzhou?”

Fu Xuanmiao was unsurprised. He said evenly: “Li Qia’s contempt for the law and his arrogance have not been matters of a single day.”

“I have already submitted my petition for an audience. In this matter, you need not bring it up before His Majesty again.” Fu Ruzhi said earnestly. “Our Fu family is already the target of scrutiny these days. We must guard against slander from petty men.”

“Father’s guidance is right.”

“Great Yan has now recovered nearly half its territory. His Majesty is eager to launch a general offensive and reclaim the capital region. Several military commissioners have sent word back — except for Chunyu An, who has found excuses to delay yet again — the commissioners bordering the capital region have all agreed to mount a coordinated counterattack.” Fu Ruzhi spoke with measured gravity. “Your father has already sent messages to these commissioners. They will all extend some measure of courtesy to you, out of consideration for His Majesty and myself. However, regarding the Zhenchuan Army — Li Qia is proud and difficult by nature. You will need to put in more effort there.”

Fu Xuanmiao immediately rose from his seat, bowing deeply and holding the bow.

“…Chan Yu is unfilial. It has been a burden on Father to trouble himself on my behalf.”

Fu Ruzhi’s expression warmed with gratification, and he personally reached out to help him rise.

“You and I are father and son. There is no need for such formality.”

He glanced at the light outside and rose from the couch. “It grows late. Your father still has an audience with His Majesty. A little later, let us dine together.”

Fu Xuanmiao had just stepped forward when Fu Ruzhi held out a hand.

“No need to see me out. It’s cold outside.” Fu Ruzhi gave Fu Xuanmiao a pat on the shoulder. “Attend to your work.”

Fu Xuanmiao stood motionless for a long moment after Fu Ruzhi departed, then returned to his original seat.

A current of cold wind drifted through the open window. The sky outside was empty — even the drifting wisps of cloud had hidden themselves away.

Fu Xuanmiao gazed out the window, yet it seemed as though he saw nothing, thought nothing. His eyes — like the sky outside — were empty and hollow.

“…Xi’er.”

A whispered murmur, swallowed up by the cold, silent wind.

“Young Master — Yang Liu requests to be received.” A maidservant’s voice came from outside the door.

Indifference settled back over his face like a seal. Fu Xuanmiao rose and walked to his writing desk.

“Send her in.”

Autumn wind swept into the study. The ginkgo leaves on the bamboo couch stirred and scattered.

Yang Liu stepped hurriedly into the study. Her gaze swept briefly over the fallen fragments of gold on the floor. She paused a step, cast a glance at the maidservant by the door, and then continued on toward the desk where Fu Xuanmiao stood.

The maidservant moved soundlessly into the room and knelt to gather the scattered leaves from the floor by hand.

Yang Liu reached the desk, sank into a curtsy toward Fu Xuanmiao, and said softly: “Yang Liu pays her respects to the Young Master.”

Fu Xuanmiao gestured for her to rise.

“You have just made the long journey back from Shangzhou. You may rest this evening. There is no need to rush your report.”

“The Young Master toils far more in mind and spirit than Yang Liu does in body. How could Yang Liu dare to slacken?” Yang Liu said slowly. “As long as I can be of even the smallest use to the Young Master, no fatigue is too much to bear.”

“Were there any gains from the trip to Shangzhou?” Fu Xuanmiao asked.

“Li Qia is indeed as arrogant as rumor has it — not only does he make unilateral decisions on military and political affairs with his own authority, blinded by his own judgments, he also fancies himself a loyal and righteous man, and harbors clear hostility toward the Fu family.”

“In your estimation, can Li Qia be brought to heel?”

Yang Liu shook her head. “Even if it were possible… water wears down stone — it is not the work of a single day.”

Fu Xuanmiao said nothing. Yang Liu drew a letter from her robes and said, “When Yang Liu was leaving the Military Commissioner’s residence, she encountered a courier arriving with letters. One of these letters was signed by someone calling himself the Lord of Xiangzhou. Yang Liu thought it might be of use to the Young Master, so she copied it out.”

“Bring it here.”

With Fu Xuanmiao’s approval given, Yang Liu finally stepped forward with the letter.

She had been carrying it on her person, so naturally it carried a faint trace of Yang Liu’s distinctive fragrance. Fu Xuanmiao’s brow creased, almost imperceptibly.

“Read it aloud to me.”

Yang Liu did not notice his minute change in expression. With a pleased look, she said, “Yes!”

She opened the letter carefully and read aloud what she had long since memorized.

The letter itself was not long — the language was crisp and direct, citing multiple classical sources throughout in a manner that was persuasive and well-reasoned.

After she finished reading the single page, Fu Xuanmiao murmured thoughtfully to himself: “…Quoting both the New History of the Tang and the Book of the Later Han — this uprising leader seems to have read quite widely.”

Yang Liu’s expression shifted.

“What is it?” Fu Xuanmiao said.

“The content of the draft shows the hand of an extensively learned person — but the handwriting is…” Yang Liu thought of the cramped, scraggly characters, and chose a relatively diplomatic way to put it, “…inferior even to a child who has just entered the schoolroom.”

“The one who composed the letter and the one who wrote it out are clearly not the same person,” Fu Xuanmiao said after a pause. “Though I cannot fathom why they would go to the extra trouble.”

Fu Xuanmiao’s puzzlement was Yang Liu’s puzzlement as well. But the handwriting was not the letter’s main point, and neither of them lingered on it.

Yang Liu drew out two sheets of paper pressed beneath the letter and unfolded them flat on the desk before Fu Xuanmiao.

Two portraits — nearly identical — came into view before his eyes.

One was a wanted notice that had been posted and circulated throughout the territory under the Wuying Army’s jurisdiction. The other was a small portrait attached to an official document, included for the purpose of identifying the bearer.

“Lord of Xiangzhou, Li Zhuzong…”

Fu Xuanmiao read aloud the characters written at the edge of the small portrait.

On the other — the wanted notice — the words read: “guilty of the most heinous crimes” and “Zhen Ya.”

Yang Liu watched his face with eager anticipation.

Now he understood why she had thought this letter would be useful to him.

The Prefect of Xiangzhou newly appointed by Li Qia turned out to be none other than the very same man that Chunyu An had been exerting every effort to track down and execute — the one who had ambushed a military supply convoy. If Chunyu An were to learn of this, even if he himself could hold back, could his closest subordinates — the men who had lost their own young general — hold back?

Yang Liu said with confident assurance: “If the Young Master were to reveal this matter to Chunyu An or Han Fengnian, the Wuying Army and Zhenchuan Army would naturally come into conflict… and when two clams fight, it is the fisherman who profits. The Young Master would need only to wait and reap the rewards.”

She had assumed this would be a great achievement — that even if it could not make the Young Master smile, at the very least it would earn her a few words of praise. To her surprise, Fu Xuanmiao’s expression remained calm and entirely unmoved.

The confidence on Yang Liu’s face wavered. She looked at Fu Xuanmiao with apprehension and ventured carefully: “…Has Yang Liu overstepped?”

“Letting the Wuying Army and the Zhenchuan Army grind each other down is certainly one approach to checking regional military power. However…” Fu Xuanmiao raised his eyes to look at Yang Liu and said evenly: “It is too slow.”

“…The Young Master intends to?”

“I want to completely resolve the problem of the Zhenchuan Army’s unchecked power within a single month.”

Yang Liu’s face changed.

To subjugate an army as vast as the Zhenchuan forces within a month — had this come from anyone else, Yang Liu would have dismissed it as the ravings of a dreamer. But these words came from Fu Xuanmiao’s mouth.

Yang Liu felt only reverence.

There was nothing in the world the Young Master could not accomplish. Every difficulty seemed to dissolve before him as though it were nothing at all.

He was a god — and she was merely a mortal kneeling at his feet.

“Yang Liu has overstepped and wasted the Young Master’s time. I beg the Young Master’s punishment…” Yang Liu said, her face full of shame.

“You acted with good intentions on my behalf. Why would I punish you for that?” Fu Xuanmiao said. “Tomorrow at first light, I depart for Junzhou. Do you wish to come with me?”

“Yang Liu is willing!”

“Are you not going to ask what you’d be coming along to do?”

“Whatever the Young Master asks Yang Liu to do — Yang Liu will do gladly and without reservation.”

Yang Liu gazed at him with rapt devotion.

No matter how completely and unconditionally she offered herself, the expression on Fu Xuanmiao’s face in her presence remained as cool and remote as ice.

The rare occasion when a faint smile touched the corner of his lips was already the greatest reward she could hope for.

“This journey to Junzhou is because the Great Yan counteroffensive is imminent, and I am needed to take command in the field and coordinate the allied forces,” Fu Xuanmiao said. “Your task, in addition to cultivating relations with the military commissioners and gathering intelligence from all sides, is also to investigate the background of this newly appointed Prefect of Xiangzhou on my behalf.”

“Yang Liu will not disappoint the Young Master!”

“…Go and rest. Conserve your strength for an early departure tomorrow.”

Yang Liu took this as the Young Master’s expression of concern for her, and left with a grateful face. After she was gone, Fu Xuanmiao picked up the two portraits from the desk.

Zhen Ya…

Li Zhuzong…

Different assumed names. The same style.

A brief exchange of glances in the Jinda Pavilion — more than a year ago now — surfaced anew from the depths of memory.

Those sharp, alert eyes were still vivid in his mind.

A man of no name… still nameless, having even cast aside his own name.

Fu Xuanmiao’s lips curved into a cold, contemptuous look. He dropped both portraits into the wastepaper basket.

……

“Li Zhuzong…”

The Military Commissioner of Shu’an, Chen Yu, pursed his thin, dry lips and laughed coldly:

“Military Commissioner Li’s command is truly filled with remarkable talent — even the names they choose are so distinctive.”

Junzhou had been selected as the gathering place for the allied forces. The Prefect of Junzhou, unable to hold his own ground before the assembled grandees, had yielded up his own government compound, and had not even managed to secure a side courtyard — he had taken his entire household to a neglected little courtyard tucked away in a corner of the compound.

What had once been a spacious reception hall now felt cramped, filled as it was by several military commissioners of considerable standing seated around the long table, along with their trusted subordinates.

The site for the military council was the Junzhou prefectural compound, and everyone had by tacit agreement arrived in battle dress. Before each person sat a cup of tea and a plate of refreshments — and yet, by equally tacit agreement, everyone had left theirs untouched.

Everyone except one.

The tea in front of Li Wu — steeped with Huangshan Maofeng leaves — had already been drained, and he tossed the last piece of red date pastry from his plate into his mouth. He turned toward Chen Yu with crumb-dusted hands and a broad, easygoing gesture of courtesy:

“Many thanks to Commissioner Chen for the compliment — my son thinks so too!”

Chen Yu’s expression darkened. His long face, already none too pleasant, now looked ready to graze the floor.

“Are you calling me old?”

Li Qia sat not far from Li Wu. Hearing this, he merely lowered his head and raised his teacup, using the motion of drinking to conceal the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“A misunderstanding! How would I dare insult you, Commissioner — a man of your years?”

“Your years” — the most ordinary of phrases, yet coming from Li Wu’s mouth, it had a way of making people feel distinctly uncomfortable.

Chen Yu stiffened his expression. “Li Prefect just said he’s not long been married — how can he already have a son?”

“Oh, he’ll come — in one, two, three, four, five years…” Li Wu said. “More or less around then.”

Chen Yu’s expression darkened with fury, and he was just about to snap back when Li Qia, who had been watching the whole exchange from the sidelines, spoke up:

“Commissioner Chen, please don’t take offense. The Prefect Li comes from a common background — he speaks plainly and without guile. If there has been any offense, I ask the Commissioner to overlook it and not lower himself to argue with him.”

He set down his teacup — which he had not touched — and looked up at Chen Yu with a faint, inscrutable smile, the mockery in his gaze visible only to the two of them.

Chen Yu took stock of the other commissioners around the table. Some stared at the ceiling; others had their eyes closed. There were many who were not pleased with Li Qia’s bid to take sole command from the outset — but when the moment came to speak up, not a single one stepped forward.

Chen Yu was not foolish enough to hurl an egg against a stone. He directed a heavy grunt at Li Wu and closed his eyes without another word.

The military council, convened from the first crowing of the rooster, dragged on until the stars came out — and produced nothing of value from start to finish.

When the session broke up, Li Qia rose from the long table and declared in a hospitable tone: “Everyone has come from far away. This evening I am hosting a banquet in the Muzi Garden to welcome you all. I hope no one will refuse.”

Those who were on poor terms with Li Qia made their excuses and left. Those unwilling to offend him, and the members of the Zhenchuan Army, remained.

A banquet, of course, could not go without beauties. Li Qia had engaged the finest courtesans and dancing girls from Junzhou’s entertainment quarters, distributing them one to a guest at the feast.

Some, heart already wandering, sat with a beauty on their arm as they drank.

Some, tender-hearted, had the beauty seated decorously beside them.

Only Li Wu put a full two people’s distance between himself and the beauty assigned to him. When she poured wine and leaned in toward him, soft and boneless as flowing water:

Li Wu said: “Touch me and it’s ten thousand taels. Just so we’re clear — are you paying in cash, or would you like to put it on account?”