“Yes, I’ll be marrying him.”
Because of that one simple sentence from Hongti, the dinner that followed was an excruciatingly awkward affair, the mood strange throughout.
By the time Zheng Ashuan and the rest of Green Wood Stronghold’s people came in, Ning Yi, Zhu Biao, and several of the Bamboo Trading House stewards and leaders who’d made the trip were already inside. The dining room was fairly spacious, with four tables set. The food had been prepared by the cooks who’d traveled along with the group, though it seemed Ning Yi and the others had lent a hand too. When everyone came in, Ning Yi happened to be setting a plate of eggs down on the table — though by that point, no one was in any mood to be surprised by such a thing.
Greetings were exchanged as simply as mountain folk usually did, with Hongti introducing everyone in turn; once the initial shock had passed, everyone found their seats at the tables, and at Hongti’s raised chopsticks and her words — “Everyone, eat” — the group set to with awkward laughter, expressions all around carrying a certain subtle strangeness.
Separated by nothing but a single curtain, Zheng Ashuan and the others had all heard Hongti’s words — and naturally so had Ning Yi and Zhu Biao. Zhu Biao, at that moment, was busy stuffing a meatball into his mouth, head bowed, wearing the look of a man desperately holding back laughter, wanting to express admiration but unable to find a proper way to say it.
Ning Yi and Hongti sat together in the seats of honor. At a square table like this, split four ways, eight to a table, Ning Yi and Hongti shared a single long bench, facing everyone with perfectly composed expressions. In truth, though Hongti might occasionally seem shy when alone with Ning Yi, in front of others she carried herself openly, with a kind of earnest sincerity. Part of it was the bearing of a true grandmaster; part of it, the authority she’d built up over years in the stronghold; and part of it, simply the sense that this relationship was something she felt no need to hide, something she was, in fact, proud of.
Ning Yi’s arrival in the mountains had, admittedly, caused something of a stir — but as far as she was concerned, introducing the man she loved to her own people, letting them know it plainly, and then letting them share in her happiness afterward, was nothing to be coy about. Even if there was bound to be some suspicion and speculation at first, that was simply something to be worked through regardless.
Coming from the stronghold’s own leader, this attitude left everyone reluctant, for the moment, to voice any objection. And when all eyes turned toward Ning Yi, this young man, said to carry such fearsome renown outside the mountains, showed no particular sign of anything unusual either. Typically, a first meeting like this, over a meal like this, would have involved some show of intimidation or an attempt to win people’s favor — but none of that showed itself at all.
Hongti ate as she talked, telling Ning Yi about each person present, from the various chieftains down to the stronghold’s leaders, deputies, and family members one by one. Ning Yi, for his part, would smile, express admiration, and raise his cup to toast each in turn — but without any particular flattery or courting of favor either. It was only when Fifth Chief Han Jing was introduced that a small hitch arose.
It happened as Ning Yi raised his cup to toast him. Han Jing hesitated for a moment, then said with a smile, “I hear Brother Ning’s quite renowned outside the mountains — your martial skill must be considerable. Perhaps, when you have the time someday, you might offer me some pointers…”
No sooner had he said this than Hongti’s chopsticks came down sharply against her bowl. “Fifth Brother, bringing that up at the dinner table. If your hands are itching, I’ll spar with you myself.” Of the four other chieftains at the stronghold, every one of them was older than her, and she typically addressed them as “Second Uncle,” “Third Brother,” “Fourth Brother,” “Fifth Brother.” She’d dressed up a little specially for today, and now her gaze sharpened, her expression turning frosty. Han Jing gave a faintly bitter smile and cupped his hands. “My apologies. I spoke out of turn.”
“No harm done.” Ning Yi gently patted the back of Hongti’s hand, then turned to Han Jing with a smiling cupped-hand gesture of his own. “I have indeed trained for a few years, it’s true. The martial world’s given me the bandit name ‘Bloody-Handed Butcher,’ though that’s really more reputation than substance — my skill’s nothing much to speak of. But if Fifth Master Han is ever interested, I’d be happy to trade a few pointers someday, and I do hope Fifth Master will go easy on me when the time comes.”
At Ning Yi’s deliberate emphasis on his bandit name, “Bloody-Handed Butcher,” Hongti presumably felt a bit exasperated, but her expression had already softened considerably; she tilted her head and gestured toward the table.
“Speaking of martial skill, the strongest man under Liheng’s command is this young hero here, Zhu Biao. I’ve crossed hands with him myself before — Fifth Brother, if you’re truly interested, you might spar with him instead.”
Zhu Biao, in the middle of eating a chicken leg, stood up in flattered surprise, mouth full of grease. “Oh — Elder Lu, you flatter me too much. That was you giving me pointers. Fifth Master, this humble one is Zhu Biao — the martial world calls me by the bandit name ‘City-Burning Spear.’ If Fifth Master has a moment sometime, I’d be honored to have you show me a thing or two, heh heh…”
“Certainly, certainly…” Han Jing replied.
Hongti raised an eyebrow slightly, smiling. “‘City-Burning Spear’? Where did that name suddenly come from — it does sound rather good.”
Ning Yi smiled, not about to reveal that this nickname had only just been coined by himself, as a favor, on their way up the mountain. Zhu Biao, for his part, was thrilled — he’d spent the past several days going around telling everyone he was now known as “City-Burning Spear” Zhu Biao — and now he laughed. “Ha, honestly I’m not even sure where it came from myself. But I do think it sounds pretty good.”
“Truly, my thanks to all you fine people of the martial world…” Ning Yi murmured with a smile under his breath. Hongti glanced at him, suspecting there was something fishy going on, but continued on with the introductions to the rest of her mountain companions all the same.
And so it went, and by the time the meal was over, no one had really managed to figure out what exactly this outsider had up his sleeve. The meeting and the meal had, in the end, simply been a meeting and a meal. Once dinner ended, everyone left one after another, heads still full of unanswered questions, and Ning Yi and Hongti saw them off at the courtyard gate. By now the sky had gone dark, the rain still falling, faint light glimmering from every household throughout the valley, the lanterns in the rain swaying violently. They led everyone out to disperse, and before long the group vanished into the curtain of rain.
The sound of servants tidying up drifted from the courtyard. Once most people had left, Ning Yi took Hongti’s hand and, gazing out at the valley in the night, found a log to sit on under the eaves at the side of the courtyard. This side backed onto the valley, with a steep slope — or something more like a cliff — dropping off just ahead; far below, where the drop leveled out, a road wound through, along with a cluster of newly built small courtyards. The ground under the eaves was muddy and slick with rain, but this one log against the wall had stayed dry, and the two of them didn’t mind sitting there — far enough from most people’s sight that they could enjoy a quiet moment alone.
Given their temperaments, and the feelings they already shared, discussing marriage now that they’d come up the mountain hadn’t been especially difficult. The day before, when they’d had a moment alone, Ning Yi had simply brought it up directly, and Hongti, whether out of shyness or something else, had ended up agreeing quite naturally in the end. The two of them had already shared a certain degree of physical intimacy — she’d let him hold her hand, given him her heart — and if things went further still, her body, of course, would belong to him too. Now that he’d come up the mountain and spoken the words, there was nothing left to agonize over. In truth, given Hongti’s nature, back at Dulong Ridge a year earlier, when Ning Yi had risked deviation and inner turmoil to pin her down on the bed and even pulled down her trousers, she had, in her heart, already considered herself promised to him. That was precisely why she’d spoken so plainly and openly about it today.
Still… “I was rather surprised you said it so directly,” Ning Yi said with a smile, holding the woman’s hand.
“Did it upset your plans? I thought you’d want to give them some kind of show of force today…”
“Ha, nothing so dramatic. It was just a meeting, that’s all,” Ning Yi said, gazing out at the curtain of rain. “Getting them to trust me is going to be a long process — it’ll take at least a few months of being around them. What good would a show of force do? It would only make them look down on me more. What I’m here for is to help out, that’s all — I’ll make my thinking clear to them going forward too. If they genuinely don’t want to go along with it, there’s no forcing them. Fortunately, you still matter a great deal to them.”
“I should still be able to get them moving, for now,” Hongti said. “But yesterday you mentioned we’d be going to war…”
“Mm, we will be.” Ning Yi fell silent for a moment after saying this. “Like I said yesterday, I didn’t come to Lüliang to bring peace. The Wu Dynasty’s weakness runs too deep to reverse, and the forces to the north are already sharpening their blades — three years, four years, they will come south eventually. Lüliang can defend itself for now, but it’s bound to be drawn into that eventually. Whether we fight or flee when that time comes, if we want the strength to survive it, we need to start training the troops now.”
In the darkness, he laced his fingers through hers, their two hands clasped together. “You spent all that effort running yourself ragged for the stronghold, just to keep the death toll down. Now that things have finally settled, and here I come, asking you all to go fight — it’s a lot to ask, I know. Some people won’t want to. But it really is necessary. The situation to the north is already quite urgent — the Jurchens have already swept across the whole of Liao territory, and they’re about to consolidate their base of power. I’ll explain the reasoning bit by bit, in time…”
Once Ning Yi finished, Hongti fell silent for a moment, then let out a soft, quiet laugh. “Liheng, you underestimate us mountain folk. They may not understand the bigger picture, but they understand simple things well enough. Lüliang can’t survive without strength, without power. You said before that you wanted things kept a bit chaotic out here — it was actually me who didn’t want to fight. As for the others, especially Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother, if it really comes to a real fight, they’d be the happiest of anyone.”
She spoke lightly. “Don’t be fooled by Fifth Brother’s cold shoulder toward you — the training methods you laid out, he’s put them to better use than anyone. Train soldiers well, and if you never get to march them out and blood their blades, he’s the one who’ll be most unhappy about it. We might be able to beat back the rabble around us now, but everyone here has lived through what it was like when the Liao came raiding for plunder. Once the troops are well-trained and have seen real blood, only then might they stand a chance against a real army someday. If you’re asking them to treat you as one of their own right away, that might be beyond me — but if you’re asking them to go out and fight a few battles, they’ll be overjoyed.”
“That’s not so different from having a fine blade and immediately wanting to cut something with it…” Ning Yi said, nodding with a smile, his voice kept low. “Either way, there are just a few things to handle this trip. Sorting out the blast furnace, training the troops for war, and above all, getting everyone used to the elm cannons and landmines we brought along, making the best use of them. Enemies can be found in time — either way, let’s give everyone a good fight to enjoy. I brought two surveyors along, to scout out open-pit coal deposits around Lüliang — places that produce coal, that’s very important… And then there’s the stronghold itself — you’ve all been growing it bigger and bigger, but the management and organization underneath has gotten a bit chaotic, things scattered every which way, efficiency probably suffering for it. That, I can help with.”
Ning Yi thought a moment longer. “And beyond that — the stronghold could stand to expand a bit further. With more people, you could establish a few more outposts. That place you used to live — I’d like to bring it within our reach. As for Fu Duanyun, we can arrange for someone to look after her.”
In the darkness, amid the sound of the rain, Hongti turned her gaze toward him. Ning Yi tilted his head.
“In a person’s life, there are always some regrets. Some of them you’ll think back on years later — things that might have been troublesome, but weren’t truly impossible, and simply weren’t done at the time. Now that I’m here, I can surely find some way to manage it without anyone having to lose out.”
He patted Hongti’s arm.
Hongti said nothing. In the darkness, amid the steady patter of rain, a quiet, peaceful mood settled over them. After a while, Ning Yi said, “And then, of course, there’s the matter of us. It’s about time too.”
Hongti’s grip on his hand tightened slightly. Ning Yi turned to look at her, smiling. “Actually, we’ve known each other for so long now, been through so much together…” He trailed off there, as though meaning to say more, then stopped. After a long moment, he leaned toward her in the darkness and murmured softly, “Close your eyes.”
Hongti saw his face draw near, and then their lips met. She closed her eyes, her heartbeat and breathing growing quick and unsteady. Amid the sound of the rain, the lips pressed against hers were soft, yet touched with a faint dryness. As Ning Yi’s hand settled on her shoulder, then moved up along her neck and to the back of her head, she offered no resistance, only reaching up to gently grasp a fold of cloth at his sleeve. This female warrior of the martial world, who had waded through slaughter with barely an equal to rival her, seemed, for that one moment, as delicate and easily bruised as a flower petal.
After a while, the two of them settled back into sitting close together, side by side, warmth passing clearly between their bodies. Hongti said softly, “Your… tongue…”
“That’s just how it’s done…”
“…” Hongti fell silent, seeming to accept this without further comment.
The two of them sat there for a good while longer; even having weathered every manner of great event together, in the midst of love, a certain intimacy between them was only natural. In the darkness, Ning Yi lost count of how many liberties he took with Hongti, chatting idly with her all the while. After a time, they walked hand in hand under the eaves, and now and then Ning Yi would pull Hongti into an embrace, whether for a moment of tenderness or simply to gaze down at the valley together. As the night drew toward its end and they were about to part, Hongti finally said softly, “And that whole crowd down there — everyone in the stronghold’s on edge. How should we deal with them?”
“Steward He, the Wusheng Army lot?” Ning Yi leaned against the wall, holding her, and shook his head with a wry laugh. “Doing business is about interests — if we’re willing to deal, they’ll have something to negotiate over. If we want nothing from them, we hold all the cards. The Qi family’s interests are down south, the Wusheng Army’s up at Yanmen Pass — are they really going to mobilize a whole army and march all the way over here? If any of them really try something reckless, well, we’re going to war anyway — might as well bury them all in Lüliang Mountain…”
His hand stroked gently along Hongti’s back, feeling the woman leaning against him. After a moment’s thought, he added, “But the time’s about right now. Starting tomorrow, you should receive them, say a few pleasant things, but don’t commit to anything — I’ll settle matters with them privately behind the scenes. Steward He, the Wusheng Army, Tian Hu… oh, and there’s apparently some fellow claiming to be unrivaled across the Central Plains — might need to deal with him separately…”
He leaned in and murmured something into Hongti’s ear. When he finished, Hongti nodded, stepped back a pace, and slipped free of his embrace — but Ning Yi pulled her right back in. “No need to go now, in this rain…”
Beneath the dark eaves, another moment of closeness followed. Then the woman’s figure stepped back, and in a flash, she leapt out into the curtain of rain — launching herself backward, eyes still fixed on Ning Yi, before turning as she landed in the rain and dropping down the steep slope beyond. Ning Yi rushed forward. “Hey… it’s pouring rain out there—” But by then her figure had already used the slope to push off once more, landing farther off still, and then vanished from sight altogether…
The next day, Lou Shuwan and her party finally received an invitation to meet with the Blood Bodhisattva, the visitor from outside the mountains…