Shen Zhuxi could not remember a thing about how she had made it home the night before.

All she knew was that she woke to full daylight, with an insufferable rooster somewhere crowing tirelessly, so disruptive she could not drift back off to sleep.

The aftereffects of the wine still clung to her. After waking, Shen Zhuxi sat in a daze on the bed and did not move.

Li Wu walked in carrying a kettle of water. He saw her sitting blankly on the bed and frowned. “Why are you just sitting there?”

“I’m… in quiet contemplation…” Shen Zhuxi said weakly.

“I thought you’d passed into the next life.” Li Wu said. “If you’re still in this one, stop sitting there like a post — get up and wash, can’t you smell the wine on yourself?”

Shen Zhuxi then realized she was still wearing yesterday’s clothes. She lifted her sleeve and gave it a sniff, wrinkling her nose.

Wine-soaked was putting it mildly. She smelled like a braised drunk chicken.

She vaguely remembered yesterday’s great triumph at mahjong and winning a string of copper coins from Zhu Niang — where were her coins? Shen Zhuxi patted all over herself in search of the string.

“On the table outside!” Li Wu said irritably.

Shen Zhuxi finally looked up at him. “…What happened yesterday? Wasn’t I playing cards at Zhou Sao’s? How did I get back?”

“You don’t remember?”

Shen Zhuxi shook her head.

“Nothing at all?”

Shen Zhuxi continued to shake her head blankly. For some reason, the furrow between Li Wu’s brows deepened and deepened.

“Then never mind about it!”

He set the kettle down on the table with a thud, turned with a dark expression, and walked out.

Shen Zhuxi had done nothing and received a face full of his foul mood, which she felt was entirely unreasonable and rude at this hour of the morning.

She consoled herself that a sensible woman did not bicker with men, and dragged her splitting-headache body out of bed. Bringing her change of clothes into the bathing room, she undressed and suddenly noticed that this new skirt, worn only once, had several grayish patches on it.

Front and back both — it looked as though she had rolled around in the sand in it.

Shen Zhuxi had no memory of falling while she was sober, so there was only one possible explanation: Li Wu had taken advantage of her drunken state to throw her around in the dirt.

That would also explain why her whole body ached.

The more Shen Zhuxi thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. The image of a grinning Li Wu dragging her back and forth through the sand while she was insensible grew more and more vivid in her mind. This wretch had wronged her last night and still had the nerve to come and be foul-tempered at her this morning!

Shen Zhuxi quickly bathed and changed into clean clothes, then picked up the dirty skirt and set off to confront Li Wu.

The moment she stepped out of the back courtyard, she saw Li Wu crouched beneath the osmanthus tree, sharpening a kitchen knife. His sleeves were rolled up, his expression was blank, and the blade scraped over the flat whetstone with a steady rasping sound, flashing cold light along its edge. Shen Zhuxi stopped dead in her tracks.

“What are you standing there for? Food’s on the table. I’ve already eaten.” Li Wu said without looking up. “Put your dirty clothes in the wooden bucket.”

“…Oh.”

Shen Zhuxi replied meekly and went back to the courtyard, dropping the dirty clothes into the wooden bucket. Inside were already a few items to be washed — dimly she recognized them as the clothes Li Wu had worn out yesterday. He was not a fastidious man, and it was unusual for him to change after only a single day’s wear. Curious, Shen Zhuxi crouched down and carefully pinched up his clothes with thumb and forefinger.

Strange — his clothes were stained too, and even more noticeably than hers.

If she could claim to have rolled around in the sand, then these clothes of Li Wu’s, with their clearly identifiable footprints, had obviously been kicked around. Looking at the familiar size, Shen Zhuxi felt a twinge of guilt:

Since it appeared to have been a mutual altercation, she would let the matter rest. She would be the bigger person and forget the whole affair.

She set the clothes back down, rinsed her hands carefully, and returned to the main hall to eat the morning meal Li Wu had prepared. On the wooden table sat a bowl of plain congee with a few small side dishes. Shen Zhuxi’s appetite was surprisingly good today — she finished the entire bowl of congee.

She carried the bowl and dishes back to the kitchen, and when she came out again, Li Wu was still in the courtyard sharpening the knife. Shen Zhuxi was about to head into the inner room when he suddenly spoke: “Do you have a gold hairpin?”

“I have one with a lotus petal design.” Shen Zhuxi said.

“Bring it here.”

Shen Zhuxi did not know what he intended, but she obediently retrieved the gold hairpin she kept beside the bronze mirror.

“This is my only gold hairpin — what do you need it for?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

Li Wu took the hairpin and held the pointed tip against the whetstone. He poured a handful of water over it and began sharpening it anew.

“Sharpening the tip a little — to leave with you for self-defense.” Li Wu said.

“You might as well give me a small knife then.”

“A small knife? With that feeble strength of yours, it’d just end up as a weapon handed over to whoever comes at you.” Li Wu said dismissively.

Shen Zhuxi muttered a quiet protest: “In the palace, I was actually considered to have above-average strength…”

“What palace — you mean in a dream?”

Li Wu sharpened the hairpin in a few strokes, then held it up in the sunlight to examine it. Under the light, the sharpened tip gleamed gold. He studied the hairpin while Shen Zhuxi studied the drifting phoenix embroidery on his right arm.

Three lifelike drifting phoenixes danced along the lines of his taut muscle, disappearing into the rolled-up sleeve. With each movement of his arm as he examined the hairpin, the phoenixes on his forearm shifted and changed. Shen Zhuxi watched, transfixed, as one watches a shadow puppet show.

“There. Too sharp and you’ll hurt yourself — this is just right.”

Li Wu dried the hairpin on his palm and tucked it casually into Shen Zhuxi’s hair.

Shen Zhuxi hastily pulled her gaze back and said, with an air of offhandedness: “Who made the embroidery on you?”

“A swindling old Daoist.” Li Wu’s face darkened and he said through gritted teeth: “If I ever run into him again, I’ll skin him alive.”

Shen Zhuxi was startled: “Whatever for?”

The embroidery on Li Wu was masterful — clearly an exceptional piece of work. Why was he furious about it?

“He owed me fifty taels of wine money and said he’d pay it back with embroidery, calling himself some kind of world-renowned embroidery master — what a load of rubbish! That thing he stitched on me is outrageous!” Li Wu grew more and more incensed, rage rising from his gut, as he seized the newly sharpened kitchen knife: “If I see him again, I swear I’ll twist off his—”

Li Wu glanced aside and caught the flash of alarm in Shen Zhuxi’s eyes.

“…Whisk.”

He only meant his whisk. Shen Zhuxi let out a quiet breath of relief.

“It’s not as bad as you’re making it sound…” she ventured hesitantly, her gaze settling on the drifting phoenix embroidery on his right arm. No matter how she looked at it, this was a splendid, vibrant piece of work — why would Li Wu dismiss it as worthless? Did the world of embroidery follow a different standard of appreciation entirely?

“What I wanted was a drifting duck design — that old swindler obviously couldn’t embroider ducks, so he took the easy way out and changed it to drifting phoenixes. And then he told me the swelling would go down and it would look like ducks, and ran off — am I not supposed to settle this with him?” Li Wu said with a dark expression.

A drifting duck design? Shen Zhuxi tried to picture it and fell silent.

“Phoenixes are something only you women like — look at your phoenix coronets, your phoenix hairpins… what business does he have putting that on a full-grown man?”

“Actually, the feng is the male of the species, and the huang is the female. A phoenix on a man is quite fitting…” Shen Zhuxi left one thought unspoken: besides, a swarm of drifting phoenixes was far more becoming than a swarm of drifting ducks!

If he had ducks stitched all over him, that would truly have been something to contend with.

Li Wu, however, did not see it that way. He stared with displeasure at the drifting phoenix embroidery on his arm and said: “If it weren’t for the fifty taels of silver I think of every time I look at it, I’d have washed this thing off long ago.”

Not wanting him to destroy so fine a piece of work, Shen Zhuxi could not help urging him: “If you were to find another embroidery artist, they might well not know how to do ducks either. And besides — the drifting phoenix embroidery you have now is genuinely skilled work. It would be a terrible waste to wash it away.”

“You think it looks good?” Li Wu looked up.

Shen Zhuxi felt awkward coming right out and admiring the embroidery on a man’s body, but if she were too oblique about it, she was afraid Li Wu might act on impulse and actually wash the phoenixes off. Embroidering ducks would be one thing, but to let this finished masterpiece vanish from the world — she truly could not bear it.

“…Mm.” She averted her eyes and gave a vague sound of assent.

That faint and modest compliment was still caught by Li Wu. An invisible tail of his promptly shot straight up.

He looked at the embroidery on his arm with an entirely different expression from before and said, the corners of his mouth lifting: “…Of course it looks good — it’s on me, isn’t it.”

Shen Zhuxi: “…”

Where did his confidence come from?

“I have some time this morning — teach me a few more characters. After lunch, I need to go out for a bit. You just got over your drinking yesterday, so stay home and rest today — don’t go anywhere.” Li Wu said.

“Where are you going?” Shen Zhuxi asked idly.

“The county constables need to escort something to the prefectural seat. The roads aren’t safe right now, and the county magistrate wants me to accompany them on the trip. If we make good time, I should be back by evening.”

Shen Zhuxi acknowledged this, though those words — the roads aren’t safe — left her slightly uneasy. She paused a moment, then added:

“Be careful on the road.”

Li Wu smiled with quiet satisfaction, and his large hand pressed gently down on the top of her head.

“What could happen to me? You foolish thing — wait for me to come back with something good to eat.”

…

Shortly after the midday meal, Li Kun and Li Que came to the gate of the courtyard and called for him.

“Have you both eaten?” Li Wu asked as he stepped out.

“We ate at my place.” Li Que said with a smile. “Second Brother kept talking about it, so I made offal just for him.”

“…It was awful.” Li Kun muttered.

“Be grateful you had something — complain again and next time you can gnaw on raw sweet potato.” Li Que said pleasantly.

Li Kun sealed his lips together with a put-upon expression.

Li Wu latched the bamboo gate and set off toward the county magistrate’s office with his two brothers. Two incense sticks’ worth of time later, the three of them arrived at the main gate of Yutou County’s government office. More than twenty men in official runners’ uniforms were waiting outside the gate, and box after box of goods was being carried out from the building in a continuous stream.

The county magistrate, dressed in his seventh-rank official robes and standing with his belly jutting out like a woman seven months along, planted himself squarely in the center of the main gate and said with great authority:

“…Everyone keep your eyes sharp on the road! If this cargo is seized, your heads won’t be enough to answer for it!”

To avoid blocking the work of the carriers, Li Wu and his brothers stepped back to a corner of the wall outside the office.

Li Que watched with wide eyes and said: “This is quite the procession — what exactly is it that we’re being asked to escort this time?”

Li Wu crouched on the ground with nothing particular to do. He absently plucked a blade of grass and stuck it between his teeth.

“Several hundred sets of regulation armor and blades, spears, and bows.” He said, his voice a little muffled.

“Military equipment?” Li Que’s expression turned immediately serious. “Is fighting about to break out in Jinzhou?”

Li Wu, who made his rounds everywhere and had dealings with officials and wealthy merchants throughout the area, knew more inside information than most. He shook his head and said: “It’s being sent to the honored guest staying at Jindai Pavilion. It’s not just our county — military stores throughout all of Jinzhou are being stripped for him.”

“He’s still staying at Jindai Pavilion?”

Li Que said in surprise:

“All this time and not even a whisper of news has come out — who in the world is this person?”

When the constables had checked that all the crates were properly sealed, the county magistrate gave a nod. With several low grunts from the laborers, the heavy wooden boxes were hoisted off the ground.

The magistrate’s made-up air of stern authority fell upon Li Wu and the two men beside him:

“Li Wu, stay sharp on the road — absolutely no carelessness.”

Li Wu spat out the blade of grass from between his teeth and rose to his feet with unhurried ease.

“We’ll see when we get there.”