After leaving Huaiyun Ward, Zuo Xingzhou made his way westward along the dark roads.

Midnight had already passed; the night markets on the edges of the city had gradually begun to thin out, with the occasional cart or pedestrian on the main roads, while many of the smaller alleyways had gone quiet. He wound his way silently through several of these alleys — a routine precaution against being followed — with only the occasional dog bark breaking the night’s silence.

Fuzhou was currently under firm control of the court, and intelligence work here wasn’t nearly as difficult as it would be behind enemy lines, but certain fixed procedures were still necessary. Once he’d confirmed no one was tailing him, Zuo Xingzhou made his way to a run-down little courtyard on the west side of the city, opened a concealed side door, roused the old soldier standing guard, gave him specific instructions, and the soldier promptly left. Not long after, inside a room within this small courtyard, Zuo Xingzhou met Zuo Wenxuan, who had come through an underground passage.

The man named Zuo Wenxuan was in his early thirties, wearing a pair of well-worn glasses in the darkness, his eyes narrow, with under-eye bags and dark circles, his long robe stained with a good deal of ink. At first glance, aside from his upright posture, he looked more like a sleep-deprived accountant than anything else. He held a writing brush and a notebook in hand, and after entering the room and closing the door, he made a few more marks in the ledger before setting it down. His narrowed eyes, though, held a clear and sharp expression.

His voice was low and measured but crisp. “Yue Yun said you didn’t show up at the arranged spot, and the family’s a bit worried. You coming to see me now — did something happen?”

“Of course something big happened, Third Brother.” Zuo Xingzhou glanced around warily, his brow furrowed with a complicated expression, and sat down.

“How big?”

“Very big.” Zuo Xingzhou lowered his voice and got straight to the point. “I saw Ning Ji.”

“…Hm?”

Given the demands of intelligence work, Zuo Xingzhou would never approach this place while out in the field unless absolutely necessary. Having stood up Yue Yun and then requested a private meeting through their reserved channel, Zuo Wenxuan had already braced himself for something serious — but upon hearing this particular statement, his expression still visibly shifted into confusion, mixed with a strange sense of bewilderment.

“…What happened?”

“Exactly what I said… I fled to the night market in Silver Bridge Ward like we’d planned, to wait for Yue Yun, and there was a peddler’s stall right next to me. I glanced over, and the stall had a banner planted in it reading ‘Bamboo Records Branch,’ and underneath it was Ning Ji. Third Brother, at the time I was just as confused as you must be right now — how could Second Young Master suddenly show up here…”

In the small hours of the morning, Zuo Xingzhou related the evening’s events as coherently as he could, not withholding anything — first the encounter, then his own shameless insistence on tagging along afterward, and everything he’d learned about the whole saga behind Ning Ji’s departure from home. In the lamplight’s flickering shadows, Zuo Wenxuan occasionally nodded, occasionally reaching out to trim the wick of the oil lamp on the table, until Zuo Xingzhou had finished recounting all the information.

“…Ning Ji is just a troublemaker who fears the world isn’t chaotic enough — there’s not much to say about him personally, but I know full well his identity is not something that can afford to have anything go wrong.” Zuo Xingzhou said.

Zuo Wenxuan, having listened to everything, removed his glasses and rubbed his forehead. Only then did he nod. “You handled it well. This cannot be told to anyone else…” He paused. “Also, regarding this matter, we should each make our own separate written record, and then store those records in places neither of us can find.”

“Hm?”

“This is not a small matter. Going forward, if something happens because of Ning Ji that harms the Huaxia Army’s interests, Zuo Xingzhou, I will testify against you, and you will testify against me.”

“…I understand.” Zuo Xingzhou thought it over, then nodded as well. “But Third Brother, knowing how that kid Ning Ji is, if he’s brazen enough to hang a Bamboo Records Branch banner right there in Silver Bridge Ward, I worry he’ll cause some big problem sooner or later. We’re not the only ones in the city who know him — at that point it won’t just be about whether we kept the secret or not.”

“We’ll deal with that when it happens.” Zuo Wenxuan frowned and waved a hand. “Him, with such a sensitive identity, coming here of all places… what a headache… Xingzhou, you absolutely must keep your mouth shut on this. Even among our own Zuo family, even those who studied in the southwest, not all of them necessarily stand with the southwest. If his identity is exposed, the ambitious schemers working in the shadows will go into an uproar.”

“I understand the stakes.” Zuo Xingzhou rubbed his chin. “But Third Brother, I thought about this on the way over — does His Majesty stand with the southwest? If he learned Ning Ji had come, would he…”

Zuo Wenxuan wiped his glasses, head lowered. “His Majesty holds Master Ning in great respect. If he knew about this, he’d most likely be delighted — might even want to meet him.”

“Then if something goes wrong, at least we can report it upward — His Majesty would surely want to protect his safety.”

“His Majesty would want to protect his safety, but what about everyone else?” Zuo Wenxuan looked up. “Just within the inner circle alone — what would Master Cheng think? What would Li Pin think? What would Master Wenren think? And… what would the Princess Imperial think? Do they all stand with the southwest too? Even within the Zuo family itself — if Uncle Quan found out, would he stand with the southwest? No. It would cause a disaster…”

“Mm, that makes sense.”

“It’s not just sense, it’s common sense.” The lamplight flickered as Zuo Wenxuan tilted his head, still turning the matter over, answering almost absently before frowning. “But… those names, Long Aotian, Sun Wukong — I feel like I’ve heard them somewhere before.”

“I’d heard of them back in the southwest too.”

“No, it’s more like — intelligence that came out of Jiangning last year. They must have caused some kind of incident.”

“Huh?” Zuo Xingzhou opened his mouth, then said in a low voice, “Ning Ji was bragging to me — said he punched Wang Nantuo in Jiangning and kicked Lin Zongwu, said he’d shot Wang Nantuo dead with an arrow, that Lin Zongwu couldn’t touch him. I know General Chen was there at the time… it can’t actually be true, can it? Did he really pull off something that huge?”

“Let me go check, there should be records…” Zuo Wenxuan said, thinking, and stood up. “Wait here, don’t leave.”

“Mm.” Zuo Xingzhou answered, his mood a complicated mess.

…

Zuo Wenxuan left the room and was gone for a long while before finally returning, holding some papers in his hand, his expression having grown considerably grave.

“Ning Ji — did he really say he goes by Sun Wukong now?”

“Mm.”

“And the one with him, calling herself Long Aotian?”

“Yeah, why, what’s wrong?”

After more than two years apart, the little brother he’d once helped blow up outhouses with had become someone unfathomably mysterious, and even Zuo Wenxuan, standing in front of him now, wore an expression too complicated to read. Zuo Xingzhou felt utterly bewildered — and when Zuo Wenxuan tossed the papers onto the table, he leaned in eagerly to look, only to discover they were newspaper clippings with bounty notices attached.

Before long, he found the specific information…

“Sun Wukong… f-four-foot demon of lust?!”

Under the faint stars of the dark night sky, the room below sat wrapped in ink-black shadow, and the two of them, in turns startled, bewildered, confused, and speculating, exchanged a burst of scattered conversation. As professionals, both of them found it hard to organize their own reactions and expressions, but amid the tangle of confusion and helplessness, the two of them couldn’t help but burst out laughing more than once — try as they might to stay serious, there were simply moments they couldn’t hold it back.

“…Four feet, pfft…”

“…Five feet, heh heh…”

“Ha ha, calling himself a demon of lust, and a little runt of one at that—”

Since this kind of meeting had to remain secret, no one else knew what had transpired in this moment.

…

“…As for the bounty on the two of them, it first appeared during last year’s Jiangning Conference — at the time, bounties from various sides all got mixed together, and the two of them, these two ‘demons of lust,’ ended up on the wanted list that way. After the Jiangning Conference, the various factions split apart, and things became a bit clearer — you can see the bounty is still active, mostly from under Shi Baofeng of the Equal Kings faction, offering twelve thousand taels for the two of them. But the wanted notice doesn’t list any specific details of their crimes, which is rather curious.”

“That five-foot demon of lust… could he have done something to Shi Baofeng’s wife?”

“It’s not impossible, I suppose, but Second Young Master’s character doesn’t strike me as capable of something so improper. My guess is that, whatever happened during their time in Jiangning, they earned some deep, bitter grudge with Shi Baofeng — of course, whatever the actual reason is, Second Young Master probably won’t say, and since he won’t say, and won’t change the name either, he’ll just have to carry this reputation himself… If this ever got back to the southwest, it would cause quite a stir, but it’s not urgent right now, so let’s just let it sit.”

“Mm.”

“As for standing up Yue Yun today, there’s genuinely nothing to be done about it now. Once it’s daylight, I’ll arrange another time — you two find an opportunity to put on the show. Word outside has apparently gotten a bit tense — do you have any leads on your end?”

“According to what’s circulating on the streets, Chen Shuangran seems to be planning something big, but from what everyone can tell, it doesn’t look like it’s an assassination attempt against His Majesty.”

“After failing so many times before, they’d have to change tactics eventually.”

“Privately, some people have estimated that the important figures here in Fuzhou right now can be roughly divided into three groups. First, Her Highness the Princess Imperial — we all know His Majesty aligns with the reformist faction, while the Princess Imperial leans toward the conservative old guard. Tensions between the two sides have deepened lately, and it’s really only through the Princess Imperial’s mediation that many of the older officials have been kept calm. Many of His Majesty’s reform measures have only gotten off the ground thanks to her coordination. So there’s word going around that Chen Shuangran might have given up on assassinating His Majesty and instead is planning to kidnap or assassinate the Princess Imperial.”

“That’s not impossible… then, comparing to the Princess Imperial’s case, Master Li Pin’s side is probably not entirely safe either.”

“Exactly. Over the years, Master Li has gathered a large following of young scholars through his influence, and he’s already a core figure of the reformist faction — not to mention he holds publishing control over five newspapers both inside and outside Fuzhou. If Chen Shuangran really could steer the overall situation, removing Li Dexin would also be a smart move.”

“…And the third direction…”

“Us.”

“Well, that’s actually good news, then…”

“For the specific intelligence, we’ll need a bit of luck… Oh right, Third Brother, one more thing.”

“Go on.”

“His Majesty’s choosing consorts — what’s the story with that?”

“That’s a private matter of the palace. Why are you so curious about it?”

“It’s like this — I know a friend in the underworld, a very loyal sort, who was once betrothed to a niece of Huang Bailong, a tea merchant from Putian. Now with word going around about the palace selecting consorts, this Huang Bailong seems to want to send his niece into the palace. Third Brother, do you think that’ll actually happen? What are the standards for this consort selection, anyway?”

“…Money.”

“Huh?”

“…As long as the Huang family is willing to pay, she can go in.”

“—What kind of garbage standard is that!”

“…”

The night was deep and quiet, and in that predawn meeting room, after discussing the matter of Ning Ji, various other work-related matters were exchanged as well.

Zuo Xingzhou then left, and both of them made their own separate records regarding the Ning Ji business.

At dawn, Ning Ji and Qu Longjun woke up in their room, went outside as usual to practice two sets of fists as exercise, and had breakfast at a shop outside Huaiyun Ward. After confirming there was no one tailing him nearby, Ning Ji went to a post station a bit further off and likewise sent out a letter.

The letter was addressed to the nearest secret Huaxia Army outpost, recording that he had run into Zuo Xingzhou and would soon be informing Zuo Wenxuan of the matter as well — noting that if he were to disappear for an extended period, the Huaxia Army would, someday, use this record as the basis for tracing what had happened.

He didn’t intend to move out, after all.

Even though the Huaxia Army had seen defections before — people of Zou Xu’s standing turning traitor — becoming unable to trust anyone at all because of it would genuinely be overly cautious. And while he understood the reasoning behind these procedures and concerns, at this moment Ning Ji still carried an unspent edge of youthful confidence within him. Having fully digested the lessons of the great battle in Jiangning, even if he ran into some dangerous situation, he was confident he wouldn’t be entirely helpless to respond.

The only thing that really required extra worry was the little tramp— no, Little Qu, traveling with him.

Last night, chatting with that dog Zuo Xingzhou, when things had gotten exciting, he’d briefly entertained the idea of joining in on the fun — but the moment he’d gotten back to the courtyard and seen Qu Longjun sitting there with a staff, waiting for him, that impulse had faded. In truth, Zuo Xingzhou had a point — there was no way Chen Shuangran could possibly be Yu Xiaoer. Sure, they might both be tramps, but each probably had her own particular brand of trampiness.

Fuzhou itself was, after all, home turf for their little southeastern court — with Tie Tianying leading a whole pack of hawks and hounds, plus that gang of southwest-trained Zuo family dogs to boot, a few rebels here and there ought to be well within their capacity to handle. He and Little Qu had come here to watch the fun if something happened, and to enjoy the next typhoon if nothing did — so much easier that way, no need to keep getting mixed up in other people’s business, fighting and killing.

If it wasn’t literally forced right in front of him, tramp or villain, he’d let her live.

Having settled this in his mind, the whole world felt lighter, and that day he took Qu Longjun out again to the Three Lanes and Seven Alleys to eat something good, and by evening, he tore down the troublesome “Bamboo Records Branch” banner in the courtyard before driving the cart back out to set up their stall in Silver Bridge Ward.

The night in Silver Bridge Ward was as muggy and humid as ever. Ning Ji stayed by Qu Longjun’s side for a while, dutifully selling goods, before wandering around to eavesdrop on gossip, leaving Qu Longjun disguised as a man to fleece unsuspecting young women on her own. He sat for a while by the main hall of Xiang’s Snack House, sipping a few mouthfuls of chilled iced water, when he spotted a dog of a man slinking through the night market crowd, passing right by his own stall before sitting down at the steamed rice cake vendor’s stall.

Ning Ji shot up, eyes going wide.

—Choosing the same spot twice, are you out of your mind, do you people have any brains at all!

For a moment, he was utterly astonished at the sheer lack of imagination Zuo Xingzhou, Yue Yun, and their whole crowd possessed.

Just then, the shop assistant brought over the ice cream he’d ordered. Ning Ji, cradling the ice cream, walked back toward his own stall, shooting Zuo Xingzhou a look along the way that clearly said: “Get lost, you bastard.”

Zuo Xingzhou, eating his rice cake, pretended not to notice.

Ning Ji returned behind the stall and pulled Qu Longjun inside with him. At the other end of the road, a swaggering, oblivious figure finally appeared, nose in the air, thoroughly full of himself — none other than Yue Yun.

“What’s wrong?” Qu Longjun asked in a low voice, taking the ice cream from him.

Ning Ji said nothing.

Yue Yun walked back and forth twice through the crowd of shoppers, then “suddenly” spotted the “underworld hero” sitting at the rice cake stand.

“HA HA HA HA HA—” His internal energy surging, a massive, booming voice tore through his chest and rolled out over the muggy, sweltering night market. “You had a path to heaven and wouldn’t take it! Hell has no gate and you barged right in! What a coincidence today—”

At the rice cake stand, Zuo Xingzhou smashed down his bowl, spun around, and stood up with a flourish of his hand. “Hmph! Who might you be, good sir? Could it be — you’ve mistaken me for someone else?”

“HA HA HA! Zhou Xing of the Mixed Primordial Axe, stop pretending!” Yue Yun sneered, striding forward. “This young master is Yue Yun! I am the very father you’ve been separated from for years—”

“Fine! In that case, Yue Yun, listen closely — others may fear you, but I do not! All unrelated bystanders, clear out of the way — today I shall settle the score with you and see who is truly the first under heaven in all of Fujian—”

Their exchange, propelled by internal energy, rang out across the night sky, in an instant laying out the whole convoluted backstory of their supposed grudge.

“I’m going to be sick, I’m going to be sick…” Ning Ji, holding his bowl of ice cream in one hand and dragging Qu Longjun with the other, retreated toward the distance. “These bastards are about to fight, let’s get far away, don’t want their blood splattering on us — disgusting.” He was, after all, a peace-loving man these days now.

Out in the night market before them, the two figures crashed together with a series of loud thuds, and after a while, yet another figure came charging in, blade drawn: “Brother Zhou, allow me to lend you a hand!”

Ning Ji and Qu Longjun stood off in the distance, eating their rapidly melting ice cream.

Three fools, locked in a wild scuffle. The surrounding pedestrians shrieked and scattered.