Shen Zhuxi remained in place, waiting.

She was afraid that if she took a single step, the dream would end. She was afraid that if she moved, the person who came for her would not be Li Wu.

Below the city wall, voices clamored and surged — everyone talking at once about the Zhen Chuan Army that had descended upon them like soldiers from the heavens.

They had approached in silence through the southern gate, where the Liao army’s blockade was weakest. Before the Liao army could receive word of their presence, they had wiped out the enemy forces there and charged from the southern gate straight into the Liao main force besieging the western gate.

The false emperor had been confident he could take Xiangyang before Li Wu returned, so the army he had brought consisted primarily of siege troops.

Slow-moving infantry, caught against the Zhen Chuan Army’s expertise in mounted archery and close combat, were like sheep stumbling into a wolf pack — completely unable to fight back, left only to be slaughtered. Their cumbersome siege equipment, so formidable during a siege, was utterly useless against swift and nimble cavalry.

The Liao army, which had been so brazen and aggressive, broke and collapsed completely in morale after being charged through a few times by Li Wu at the head of the Zhen Chuan Army. In the confusion, a horn sounding retreat rang out from within the Liao ranks.

A thunderous cheer erupted on the walls of Xiangyang. Everyone was celebrating this narrow escape from the very jaws of death.

There were men who had clenched their teeth through it all — who had not made a sound even when their arms were broken — who now could not stop themselves from bowing their heads and weeping.

Every single person had tears in their eyes.

Tiang rushed into the tower and found Shen Zhuxi standing against the wall in the corner.

“Madam, what are you doing here?” Tiang looked her over with deep concern. “Are you injured?!”

Shen Zhuxi shook her head.

“Madam? Why won’t you speak?” Tiang said anxiously.

Shen Zhuxi wanted to open her mouth, but her lips felt sealed as though glued shut. She could only squeeze Tiang’s arm with her hand, reassuring her not to worry.

Her heart was pounding.

She knew — this was not yet the moment to celebrate.

Li Wu had led his forces into the Liao main camp. Would he be wounded? Could he kill the false emperor and eliminate the threat once and for all?

Could this sudden, startling victory truly not be a dream?

Shen Zhuxi felt the ground sway beneath her feet, her head spinning in waves from the extreme alternation of grief and joy.

Was everything before her eyes really not a hallucination?

Tiang tried to pull her out of the arrow tower, but she shook her head and stood exactly where she was, refusing to budge.

The light gradually faded.

The evening crows circled home, and the curtain of night slowly unfurled against the backdrop of their long, mournful calls. The setting sun sank below the horizon, and the city walls and the forest beyond were wrapped in shadow.

Torches were lit on the city wall. Still, Shen Zhuxi did not move.

She stared fixedly at the quiet sky in the distance — until hoofbeats slowly grew closer, drawing nearer to the wall.

Shen Zhuxi dared not stir. She watched without blinking as a silhouette gradually emerged from the boundary between light and darkness.

Li Wu rode at the head, holding something aloft — something round, its shape indistinct in the dimness.

The dusky, amber light of a sky suspended between day and night wrapped around his tall figure like the silhouette of a solitary pine, still and stern. As he rode out of the shadows beneath that darkening sky, a solemn and imposing army slowly materialized behind him.

When Li Wu rode into the radius of the city wall’s torchlight, Shen Zhuxi’s whole body jolted — she nearly doubted her own eyes!

What Li Wu held in his hand was the severed head of the false emperor of Great Liao, gold crown still atop it!

When the Zhen Chuan Army had earlier pursued the retreating Liao forces, the city had erupted in a thunderous cheer. But when Li Wu returned to Xiangyang bearing the false emperor’s head, the citizens of Xiangyang gathered both inside and outside the city gates fell utterly, completely silent.

Countless gazes, mingling awe and reverence, followed Li Wu as he moved.

Fang Tingzhi, disheveled and breathless, came hurrying over, threw back his official robe, and was the first to bow in a deep formal salute. The citizens followed his lead, falling to their knees in a great wave.

Amid the surging crowd, Li Wu dismounted, and carrying the head, ascended the city wall.

The battlements were deserted — except for Shen Zhuxi, still standing in exactly the same spot, staring at him like someone struck senseless.

Li Wu had just moved to stride toward her when he suddenly remembered the blood-soaked object in his hand. He hesitated and stopped, hiding it behind his back.

He stood in the moonlight and looked at Shen Zhuxi where she stood in the shadow of the arrow tower.

“I have a gift for you… just wait a moment.”

Li Wu looked around, then picked up a dirty scrap of cloth from the ground, wrapped the dead-eyed head thoroughly inside it — and only then turned to walk toward Shen Zhuxi.

The moment he turned around, Shen Zhuxi flung herself into his arms.

Li Wu stepped back one pace and caught her with one arm around her waist, the other hand carefully keeping the dirty cloth-wrapped bundle away from her body.

She did not say a single word.

Li Wu felt the trembling coming from the person in his arms and gently patted her back, saying:

“…You did well — far better than I could ever have imagined.”

Shen Zhuxi bit her lip, straining with every effort to hold back the torrent of tears threatening to break through.

“It’s alright to cry. You’ve already been so brave.” Li Wu said softly. “Shen Zhuxi… I am proud of you.”

He drew her right hand away from where it had been wrapped around his waist, and there in the soft, hazy veil of moonlight, he pressed his lips to those five bloodstained fingertips.

“It’s dirty…” Shen Zhuxi said, uneasy.

Li Wu caught that retreating, shrinking hand and, without leaving room for argument, kissed from the fingertips to the palm, then folded her fingers closed around the last kiss left behind.

He raised his head and looked directly into her eyes.

“These are the cleanest hands I have ever seen.”

He said:

“If your father the Emperor and your mother the Consort could see this… they would surely be proud of you too.”

“The false emperor has been executed?!”

Bai Rongling, who had been sitting in his cell weaving grasshoppers out of straw, jerked upright in shock, threw down the oddly-shaped, limbless straw grasshopper in his hand, struggled up from the straw mat, and stared wide-eyed as he rushed to the cell door.

“What are you joking about? Even Fu Xuanmiao couldn’t get a trace of the false emperor — are you telling me your prefect managed to execute him? What kind of daydream are you people having in broad daylight?”

“Our commander brought the false emperor’s head back himself — could that possibly be fake?” One of the jailers sitting at the wooden table chatting tossed him a contemptuous look. “That Fu Xuanmiao, when all is said and done, is just a pampered young master. He simply doesn’t have the experience our commander does — first time out, and our commander already had the false emperor’s head.”

The other jailer sighed with feeling. “After this battle, our commander’s name will spread from one end of the land to the other. The way I see it, a promotion and a title aren’t far off!”

“I wonder how His Majesty will reward our commander?” the first jailer said, looking pleased with himself. “If our commander gets to eat well and drink well, maybe those of us under him might get a share of the scraps too.”

“Who cares what you’re eating — when exactly are you going to let me out?!” Bai Rongling kicked furiously at the bars, beside himself with rage. “Do you have any idea how much silver I’ve lost being locked up in here for days and nights on end?!”

“…That man’s gone mad again.” The jailer shook his head and picked up a chopstickful of side dishes to pop into his mouth.

No matter how much Bai Rongling shouted, neither of the two jailers paid him the slightest attention.

Bai Rongling’s throat went dry and his insults gave out, so he had no choice but to pick up his straw grasshopper and start weaving again.

“You’re all grasshoppers at the end of autumn — just wait until this young master gets out, and see how I deal with you…”

The old beggar in the neighboring cell looked at him with sympathetic eyes. “At such a young age, how could you…”

“Shut your mouth!” Bai Rongling snapped.

“Bring Tian Shujiong out — the prefect wishes to see him.”

The gate at the entrance to the prefecture’s prison swung open, and a minor official in court robes walked in.

The two jailers who had been eating their side dishes hurriedly stood and bowed. One of them pulled out a clanking ring of keys and walked toward Bai Rongling’s cell.

Bai Rongling pressed himself against the door, slapping it eagerly:

“Did you hear that?! Your prefect is personally receiving me! This young master is not someone to trifle with — hurry up and open this door!”

After strutting and directing the jailer to open the cell, Bai Rongling pinched his robes tightly closed to conceal his bare backside and waddled out with a swaggering step.

The minor official escorted him to the study of the Li household. Ignoring his demands to be allowed to change his clothes and wash, he firmly shoved him into the study.

Bai Rongling had barely opened his mouth to complain before the exquisite spread of fragrant dishes on the table in front of him captured every bit of his attention.

He heard the loud sound of his own swallowing.

“Cousin-in-law, have a seat.” Li Wu said from where he sat at the table.

Bai Rongling looked around the study warily and with suspicion, then said, “Where is my cousin?”

“She hasn’t slept in days — she’s gone to sleep.” Li Wu patted the only wooden stool beside him. “Sit. Standing around talking is so stiff and formal.”

“Don’t try to get familiar with this young master. It won’t work!”

Even so, Bai Rongling’s feet carried him toward the wooden stool. He sat down before the table and, mouth watering, reached out to pick up the chopsticks in front of him — only for a sharp crack to sound as Li Wu’s chopsticks came down squarely on top of his.

Bai Rongling strained with all the strength he had, and still could not pull his own chopsticks out from under Li Wu’s.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Bai Rongling’s face twisted with fury.

“Did I say you could eat?” Li Wu said.

“Didn’t you just tell me to sit?!”

“I told you to sit. I didn’t tell you to eat my food.”

Li Wu raised his chopsticks, picked up a piece of red-braised pork, and moved it at an unhurried pace past Bai Rongling’s unblinking, fixed gaze before slowly placing it in his own mouth and chewing.

“Mmm — truly delicious.” Li Wu’s expression was one of deep satisfaction.

Bai Rongling stared at him, his throat visibly bobbing.

“Cousin-in-law, answer my question honestly, and this whole plate is yours.”

Li Wu pushed the red-braised pork in front of him — the glistening, translucent fat trembling in its coating of orange-red sauce, making Bai Rongling’s struggling inner resolve tremble right along with it.

“…What do you want to ask?”

Bai Rongling had assumed the questions would concern the Bai Family. He was not prepared for Li Wu to look him dead in the eyes and ask:

“Is Du Yanlong still alive?”

Bai Rongling was caught off guard.

He was tempted to brush the question aside, but Li Wu’s gaze was like a blade hanging over his head, sending thin threads of cold creeping down his spine.

He had a feeling that his answer would determine whether he walked out of this room on his own two feet — or was carried out.

“Are you talking about that one-eyed pawnshop owner?” Bai Rongling said reluctantly. “He’s in the cellar of the Yue Lai Inn in the eastern part of the city. I instructed the staff to bring him food once a day — he should still be alive.”

“How did you find Shen Zhuxi?”

“How dare you ask me that?!” Bai Rongling suddenly erupted in anger. “What have you done to my cousin?! How did you reduce her to selling the hairpins and earrings she wore on the day she was married off?!”

Li Wu was silent for a moment:

“…That was my fault.”

“You know it’s your fault! You’re nowhere near worthy of my cousin!” Bai Rongling seized on this and pushed further, looking supremely smug. “These were gifts from our Bai family to the imperial house. Recognizing them in the black market is easy enough — the moment one of my shop managers spotted them about to be carried out of Great Yan by a trading caravan, he intercepted them immediately. Let me tell you — our Bai family has eyes and ears spread across the entire land. The news of my disappearance will soon reach my family elders. If you don’t want trouble, you’d better hurry up and let me take my cousin home. Do that, and I might even cover for you…”

“Threatening me?” Li Wu showed his teeth in a grin. “Go ahead.”

That grin made Bai Rongling — who had been the one issuing threats just a moment ago — suddenly feel as though he were the one in danger. He said warily, “What are you planning to do?”

“Nothing at all.” Li Wu said. “You still remember the drug you slipped me at the pleasure house, don’t you? Actually, I should thank you for that — if not for you, I don’t know when I ever would have gotten the chance to enjoy that. Before I get into any trouble, I’ll make sure to write a letter to Fu Xuanmiao, letting him know of your contribution, so he can properly repay you the favor in the future.”

Bai Rongling’s face went white. “That — that has nothing to do with me?!”

“No need to explain yourself to me. If I end up in trouble —” Li Wu said, “you can explain it to Fu Xuanmiao.”

Bai Rongling, as though seized by the throat, could not force out a single word despite staring wide-eyed.

“…Eat,” Li Wu said, releasing his hand from the plate of red-braised pork.

But Bai Rongling did not pick up his chopsticks. He fixed his eyes on Li Wu and said:

“Let my cousin come home with me, and I’ll give you silver beyond your wildest imagination.”

“No.”

“Whatever military supplies you want, my Bai family will provide them.”

“Not needed.”

“I’ll send you a hundred beauties from Yangzhou on top of it!”

“Not interested.”

Li Wu was unmoved by any of it — negotiations were going nowhere at all.

Bai Rongling slumped in defeat:

“What would it take for you to let my cousin go?”

Li Wu raised an eyebrow and said with idle indifference:

“Only when I’m dead. Otherwise, don’t even think about it.”