The Lu residence was still the Lu residence, cleaned spotlessly inside and out.

Lu Da led everyone to the flower hall, then returned to his room to change clothes before going to the kitchen to light a fire and boil water.

When the water boiled, he made tea.

After serving a cup to Yan Sanhe, he turned and walked out.

What, no eyes for the rest of us?

Huang Qi hurried to serve tea to everyone, delivering the first cup to his own master.

But Pei Xiao, taking the tea, first passed it to Li Buyan.

Li Buyan glanced at him, then accepted it graciously: “Thank you.”

Pei Xiao: “For that day’s life-saving grace.”

Li Buyan raised the tea cup: “Just this?”

Pei Xiao: “Whatever else you want, just say it.”

Li Buyan smiled slightly and took a gentle sip: “This is good enough.”

Pei Xiao’s eyes dimmed.

Soon, Lu Da came in carrying a sewing basket, sat down on the bamboo couch, crossed his legs, and began threading a needle.

In the basket was the black clothing he’d just removed. The garment was torn in several places—he needed to mend it.

Yan Sanhe wasn’t in a rush to speak, just watched him sew.

Father disliked being disturbed while working. He had once been Father’s shadow guard, and likely would have learned some of Father’s ways.

Li Buyan, however, was dying of anxiety. She secretly kicked Xie Zhifei: Third Master, urge him on!

Xie Zhifei slowly sipped his tea, his gaze on Yan Sanhe, completely ignoring her.

When the last stitch was sewn, Lu Da bit off the thread and looked up: “Lord Lu lived frugally his whole life. He could never bear to throw away worn clothes…”

“Lu Da, can you not talk about Lord Lu and get to the point?”

Li Buyan was frantic: “My heart’s been hanging all this way. I beg you, give me some relief. Why did protecting Yan Sanhe require killing those who knew about it?”

Lu Da didn’t look at her. His gaze fixed only on Yan Sanhe, using his eyes to ask once more: Are you sure you want me to speak?

Yan Sanhe gave a slight nod.

“After I began following Lord Lu, I changed my name to Lu Da. When I followed him, I was called Ma He.”

Who he was—everyone understood in their hearts.

What he did following him—everyone also understood in their hearts.

“I was three years old when kidnappers abducted me from home and sold me to a couple who couldn’t bear sons.”

The woman in that family was surnamed Ma, and the man had married into her family.

Ma He was the name they gave him.

The first year, they treated him very well. He even had a maid attending to him.

The second year, the woman had an affair with another man, became pregnant, and gave birth to a son. He lost favor.

The man he called Father had been cuckolded but didn’t dare speak against the woman, so he vented his anger on him—either beating or cursing him.

The woman, having her own biological son, couldn’t be bothered with his life or death and just let the man have his way.

One day, the man called him over and asked if he wanted to return to being a young master.

He did.

He dreamed of it.

The man gave him a small porcelain bottle and told him to pour what was inside into his brother’s drinking water.

He said that as long as he did this, he could become a young master again and never have to be beaten or cursed again.

He was only six years old then. Something felt vaguely wrong in his heart, so he asked: What’s in this porcelain bottle?

The man said it was a laxative, to make that little beast suffer.

He believed it. He’d also been beaten enough, so while the servants weren’t paying attention, he poured the powder from the porcelain bottle into the water.

After his brother drank it, blood flowed from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

Only then did he realize the porcelain bottle didn’t contain any laxative—it was deadly poison.

Killing requires paying with one’s life. Terrified, he took advantage of the chaos in the residence to secretly flee, running over ten li in one breath, cold and hungry, and collapsed in the wilderness.

When he woke again, he was in a horse cart with eight or nine children about his age curled up inside.

Some of these children were dressed in rags, others quite presentably with clean faces and hands—clearly children from good families.

He thought: What’s happening? Are kidnappers now even abducting children from wealthy households? What kind of family will they sell him to this time?

The horse cart stopped in front of a residence with very, very high walls.

Someone waited at the residence gate—unremarkable in appearance, but with exceptionally bright eyes.

He said he was called Instructor Liu, responsible for training them, and said once through that gate, they’d be fed and sheltered, but nothing else… life or death wasn’t his concern.

He was starving. Hearing he could eat his fill and have shelter, without a second thought he was about to step inside.

Suddenly his right hand was grabbed.

Turning back, he discovered it was the cleanest-faced, most presentably dressed child among the group.

“Think it through before entering. You might lose your life if you’re not careful.”

At that moment, the scruffiest one in the group came over, eyes rolling around, curled his lip and said:

“If I don’t go in, I’ll starve to death anyway. Better let me be a well-fed ghost first.”

“These two were my lifelong good brothers. The presentable one was called Xiao Ze, the scruffy one called Zhang Tianxing.”

Lu Da: “Xiao Ze came from a great clan, but unfortunately he was from a branch line, and moreover an unfavored concubine-born son. His father sent him.

His father was shrewd, wanting to gamble small for big gains. If successful, wealth and glory would all be his.

Zhang Tianxing was a little beggar, with neither father nor mother, mixing daily among a bunch of beggars, only seeking not to go hungry and having a place to sleep at night.”

Yan Sanhe’s heart stirred.

Xiao Ze—this was the person who always stayed by Father’s side, following him, never separated by life or death.

Then what about Zhang Tianxing?

Was he the one who brought her from the Crown Prince’s residence to the Zheng family?

“On the third day after entering the high walls, I learned that Instructor Liu was teaching us to kill. Half a month later I understood that the words ‘you might lose your life’ were also true.”

He watched as a child, while running, suddenly fell stiffly and never got up again.

Here you truly could be a well-fed ghost. No one despised your appetite—they only despised if you didn’t eat enough.

But this was also hell. Day after day of training, fighting, striking. Every ten days or half a month, a child’s corpse would be carried out.

Instructor Liu’s most frequent saying was: Only by enduring the bitterest hardships can one become superior to others. If you want to get ahead, to gain a noble’s favor, you must fight for your life.

He didn’t want to be superior to others, much less fight for his life. He only wanted not to be beaten.

He wanted to escape.

But where could he escape to?

For the first month, everyone slept in one room, squeezed onto a communal bed.

After a month, they began dividing into separate quarters.

By coincidence, the three of them were assigned to one room.

Xiao Ze was the oldest, most steady, and trained most diligently.

He ranked second, spoke least, had the smallest courage.

Zhang Tianxing talked most, had the liveliest temperament, like a little monkey who couldn’t stay still for a moment.

One night, Zhang Tianxing lay in bed and suddenly said:

“You two are both older than me. I’ll call you senior brothers. From now on if anyone bullies me, you have to stand up for me.”

Xiao Ze turned over: “Those who leave this place will only bully others—no one dares bully you.”

Zhang Tianxing chuckled.

“I mean, let’s three of us become sworn brothers. That way when fighting, no one will dare bully us. Ma He, what do you think?”