A gentle breeze, and the bright morning sunlight seemed to open up the whole world; the sounds of busy activity carried from somewhere in the distance. Upon receiving word that Luan Sanlang and the others had secretly arrived at Green Wood Stronghold, Lou Shuwan was in her room, straightening her clothes, and then she stepped outside, taking in the sight of everyone hard at work across the valley that Green Wood Stronghold occupied.
Ditches being dug, roads and buildings under construction, a small threshing yard, vegetable plots and grain fields scattered here and there. The area near the stronghold gate had already been cleared, with some people reinforcing the walls—it did indeed look, by now, like a place preparing for war. Lou Shuwan glanced at it a few times, then walked on ahead.
As for her own sudden, impulsive decision the previous night to see Ning Yi, she had no plan in mind for it. In some sense, all she truly had to hold onto now was the confusion and bewilderment lingering in her mind. Confusion over why Ning Yi and Green Wood Stronghold had made no move to stop her actions; bewilderment… that ran deeper still, tangled up with certain feelings she herself dared not touch too closely. They flickered across her mind at times, yet she could never quite bring herself to dwell on them further.
In her original imagination, they would have met by some chance encounter that made sense given the circumstances. They would have exchanged a brief glance, without much surprise on either side—he would show no remorse, and she would silently declare to him the hatred in her heart, which would amount to a formal declaration of war. Before that, the two sides should already have clashed a few times. Yet the way things had actually unfolded had not followed her imaginings at all. As she made her way to the courtyard where Zhu Biao and the others were staying, wondering where they might take her, the change came sooner than she’d expected—as she approached the courtyard, she saw Zhu Biao and the others at the gate, and… that figure standing in the middle of the courtyard.
The scholar’s back was turned to her, sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard, speaking quietly to a few people beside him, discussing something laid out on the table before them. The sunlight was dazzling; Lou Shuwan drew a breath and walked toward the courtyard gate as normally as she could manage. Zhu Biao and the young man beside him stepped aside to let her through. Lou Shuwan hoped that figure would turn around, but it did not happen right away—instead, a bit of commotion broke out behind her.
“I need to go in too.”
“You can’t go in.”
Zhu Biao blocked Qiu Guyan, who was responsible for protecting Lou Shuwan, and the two exchanged a few quick moves, colliding once before each stepping back a pace.
The figure in the courtyard turned around, said something to the person beside him, and rose from his seat.
That face was somewhat different from the one she remembered—that was because, in truth, it had been far too long since she had last seen this man; at Little Raider’s territory, she had only caught the briefest glimpse of him, and only now could she truly see him clearly. And then it registered—yes, this was indeed Ning Yi. She raised her left hand slightly, signaling to Qiu Guyan behind her to wait outside. In her field of vision, Ning Yi’s expression was calm and gentle; he gestured toward one of the rooms in the courtyard. The sunlight was bright, but the room within looked somewhat dark, even carrying a faint chill. Lou Shuwan looked at that face, and everything she felt came surging up from deep within her heart.
From their first meeting in Hangzhou, when Su Tan’er had brought her husband along and she’d shown them around the city, he had worn that same gentle expression then too. All the joking and pleasant exchanges, gradually learning of his talent and reputation in poetry. Then the conflict and friction on West Lake, the sudden earthquake and the ensuing military disaster, the blood, the fire, the maddening chaos that overturned everything she’d ever known about her own life. His return to Hangzhou, becoming a captive, their meeting again—that had felt, amid all the chaos, like the one warm light she could still hold onto.
And then, on that day, her second brother had seized Su Tan’er—why had he seized Su Tan’er? She had never been able to understand that—he had walked into the Lou household, and with a single encounter, her eldest brother had fallen. The table he’d sent flying, him sitting there before her father, speaking to him. Even then, she still hadn’t fully grasped or accepted the news that her eldest brother was dead—she only stared at the crossbow bolt lodged in his throat. How could her eldest brother be dead? How could he have done such a thing…
But there had been no explanation offered at all, only endless chaos and darkness that followed. That long, painful, difficult, dark road—even now, she sometimes felt that her own survival must have been some kind of illusion…
These feelings and memories surged up from her heart, choking her throat, so that all she could do was stare at him with her eyes—she wasn’t even fully aware she was doing so. Not until they had entered the room did he finally speak to her, his first words something like: “It’s been a long time, Miss Lou. Would you like some tea…”
Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. In the room, Ning Yi looked at this woman staring at him with cold, complicated, hate-filled eyes, and slowly weighed his words.
“As for the matter with the Tiger King, I’d originally meant to have someone else handle it with you, but since you’ve come yourself, perhaps it’s just as well that we talk…”
“You…” A sound escaped her. The bitterness of this past year and more surged through her mind, and she wanted to say, “Do you know what I’ve been through?” but instead, reason made her say: “You… after Hangzhou, you never imagined… that I might still come before you alive again, did you…”
Her voice came out through gritted teeth. Ning Yi looked at her, his expression gentle. “Indeed, it’s something of a surprise… it can’t have been easy for you.”
“Hah.” She opened her mouth, then looked up at the ceiling, blinking, letting her emotions cool. “I’m quite surprised myself,” she said.
Ning Yi poured a cup of tea from the table in the room and brought it over to her—the cup was quite large. He gestured toward a nearby chair. “You can sit down and talk.”
Lou Shuwan took the cup and sat down in the chair, watching Ning Yi’s figure move toward the desk, and gave a cold laugh. Her third sentence was: “I underestimated you.”
“Mm.” Ning Yi answered offhandedly, pouring himself a cup of tea and turning back around. “You mean the business with Little Raider, I take it. I didn’t see you there, but regardless, knowing you’re still alive—I’m genuinely glad, believe it or not… Things over on the Tiger King’s side seem to be going well enough. I already know the intent behind your visit and the terms you’ve come to propose, but the situation here isn’t quite what you think it is. I can give you my answer, and we can settle the matter today.”
Lou Shuwan’s gaze fixed on him coldly. “I’m talking about Green Wood Stronghold.”
“Mm, it seems you’ve already heard about it from others—your side’s involvement came a step too late.”
“I’m talking about that woman called Blood Bodhisattva being your lover.”
Her words came out cold, and even Ning Yi found himself momentarily stunned, before laughing. “So that’s gotten around too. Well, then you understand even better what I meant.”
“Heh.” Lou Shuwan gave a small laugh, holding her teacup, gazing off to one side of the room.
The atmosphere in the room grew quiet at this. Lou Shuwan said nothing further, and Ning Yi, standing before the desk, found himself considering the implications of it all as well. Sunlight streamed in through the window in thin beams, dust dancing in the light; he raised his cup and took a sip. After a moment, Lou Shuwan said, as if suddenly recalling something: “I do wonder—do you even remember the conflict with my family?”
“Mm, I remember.” Ning Yi stood there. “It was your second brother’s fault. Is he well? Still alive?”
“He’s alive. Doing quite well, in fact.”
“Impossible.” Ning Yi shook his head, setting down his cup. “There’s no way. You’re somewhat stronger than him—if you’ve risen, it means he’s fallen. There are ways to read a person; your second brother was, at his core, a coward. He… wouldn’t have been suited to surviving in that kind of chaos.”
Lou Shuwan’s gaze turned back to him, a cold smile on her face. “Good thing I was suited to it, then.”
“…”
Ning Yi glanced at her, saying nothing in response—but that single glance was enough to enrage her further. Lou Shuwan clenched her teeth, her eyes reddening slightly, and suddenly she snatched up her teacup and hurled it at Ning Yi. It struck a cabinet far off to the side with a crash, its trajectory wildly off, shattering into pieces on the floor.
“I’ll kill you eventually! Ning Yi, I will kill you eventually! I’ll strip the skin from your bones! I’ll make you suffer every kind of pain there is! I’ll kill everyone you care about! I’ll make your life worse than death—”
She was nearly sobbing as she screamed this out, and immediately afterward, a burst of chaotic commotion could be heard outside the courtyard—someone shouting “Get out of the way!” and someone else shouting “Don’t do anything rash!” Clearly Zhu Biao and Qiu Guyan had clashed again. Ning Yi glanced back at the shattered porcelain cup on the floor, then walked over and fetched another one, adding tea leaves and pouring in hot water.
“No need to get so worked up. Look, they’re about to start fighting outside.” He set the cup down on the small table beside Lou Shuwan. “Sometimes, when chiefs are negotiating terms, that’s just the rule of the game—best to keep calm about it if you can. I remember once, two men went into negotiations both with genuine goodwill, but their voices got loud, and what was meant as a bit of banter got misread by the underlings outside, who didn’t know any better, and a fight broke out on the spot—someone ended up dead. What should have been a mutually beneficial alliance, with everyone well-fed, ended instead with one man in prison and the other on the run. What a waste, don’t you think? Over at Tian Hu’s place, things like this happen often enough—you should be mindful of the effect it has.”
Having said this, he paused, then added: “Unless, of course, you can actually strip the skin from my bones right here and now.”
Lou Shuwan’s hands clenched into fists, her whole body trembling faintly; she stood there for a long while before recovering herself. She reached for the teacup, but her fingers were scalded by the hot water, making her bite her lip—and in the next instant, she snatched up the cup and hurled it at Ning Yi again. This time, tea splashed everywhere, drenching both her and Ning Yi, while the cup itself flew wide once more, shattering against the wall. Ning Yi shook his head, wiping the water off himself. “Well, I won’t be pouring you any more tea, then. If you keep this up, some matters simply won’t be settled.”
Lou Shuwan drew a breath. “There’s one thing I don’t quite understand.”
“What’s that?”
“Why haven’t you all reacted?”
“Reacted to what?” Ning Yi blinked. “You mean… reacted? We have reacted. Before you arrived, I’d already spoken with He Shuyuan and the others. As for your side, I’d meant to have someone else handle the talks with you…”
“I mean the reaction outside Green Wood Stronghold.”
“Outside the stronghold?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know,” Lou Shuwan said, each word deliberate. “Luan Sanlang, Fang Yiyang, Chen Zhenhai… I know you’re aware of them, don’t pretend otherwise—they’re about to force their way up to Green Wood Stronghold…”
“Oh, them. Yes, I know they’re planning to come up the mountain in the next day or two.” Hearing her bring this up, Ning Yi relaxed his posture, shrugging. “There’s a reaction, all right—maybe it’s… fighting.”
“Fighting?” Lou Shuwan’s gaze bored straight into him. “Do you even understand…”
“I imagine I understand more or less everything I need to… fighting.” Ning Yi nodded.
“Do you understand,” Lou Shuwan said, her tone hardening, “that them forcing their way up the mountain means they want amnesty, want to cooperate, want an alliance with Green Wood Stronghold? Their combined numbers are two or three times Green Wood Stronghold’s own—and Green Wood Stronghold right now is still… still developing. Are you really planning to… fight? Did you incite them into this? What exactly are you people trying to do…”
Ning Yi spread his hands, his gaze having grown calm. “We know all of that. Force cooperation, force a division of power, force us to join them—whatever it is, we won’t accept any of it. Of course, we could accept it too, if they’d join Green Wood Stronghold on our own terms—we’d take them in one at a time. But anyone unwilling to meet our terms, anyone insisting on carving out their own stronghold—we won’t accept that at all. We decided this from the very beginning: if it comes to fighting, then we fight.”
“But Green Wood Stronghold hasn’t even settled itself yet…”
“A fine sword is forged through hardship—without any pressure at all, you’ll never train a truly elite force. That’s true enough. For ordinary people, when the other side pressures you and their demands aren’t unreasonable, there’s certainly room to negotiate, plenty of methods available. But since we already know from the start that no agreement is possible, we can just as well decide not to negotiate at all, and treat it as though talks had already broken down.”
Lou Shuwan’s heart had already begun to sink. She heard Ning Yi continue: “Since they’re bringing troops to force the issue, naturally we have to consider what those troops are actually for. Surely you’ve already thought through what happens if talks break down? Miss Lou, after everything you’ve been through, are you really only thinking in terms of business negotiations and terms? Have you not considered direct confrontation, bloodshed?”
The air around her seemed to thin, and a ringing sound came again in her ears. Having been through so very much, when she’d imagined seeing Ning Yi again, she had pictured herself standing on equal footing with him, matching wits and blows. As for the situation at Green Wood Stronghold, she had run through the calculations countless times already—how to negotiate, how to apply pressure, how to maneuver, bit by bit extracting the best possible terms from Green Wood Stronghold without letting things fall apart entirely, and how the other side might respond in turn. But in this moment, that same sense of vast distance between them suddenly returned—because he had picked up the whole board and smashed it straight into her face.
“You people are… madmen…”
“It’s a mad world we live in, Miss Lou.”
…
The sudden vertigo in her mind lasted only a moment; Lou Shuwan closed her eyes and, once she’d calmed herself, thought of something.
“I understand now. You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”
“What?”
“You did this on purpose! It was the same with Fang La, and it’s the same here now. You deliberately stirred them up, wanting them to fight amongst themselves—once they start fighting, you’ll have solved the court’s Lüliang bandit problem for them!”
Lou Shuwan’s voice began to rise. Ning Yi smiled. “Not a bad theory, but frankly, at this point in time, if I wanted to move against certain people, Lüliang wouldn’t matter much either way—your Tiger King is the real thorn in the court’s side. He’s the one I should really be targeting.”
“You… wherever you go, you sow chaos…”
“That’s all a misunderstanding,” Ning Yi said. “We’ve caught up on plenty of small talk by now—surely you haven’t lost all interest in the Tiger King’s business?”
“You…”
“I’ve already prepared everything for you.” He turned and drew a piece of paper from the desk. “Green Wood Stronghold won’t accept anyone trying to muddy the waters. Since some people are dissatisfied with the current arrangement, we’ll simply kill off everyone who’s dissatisfied. This document is drawn up on the premise that Green Wood Stronghold continues to exist as it is. Your original plan is no longer possible, so I’d suggest accepting this as it stands—the business terms are genuinely favorable, and I believe you’ll find them acceptable. But there’s one thing you should pass along to Tian Hu—of course, you don’t have to, if you’d rather not—tell him: we welcome doing business with him, but if he tries to reach in with his hands, I’ll cut them off.”
Lou Shuwan took the paper, looking at him.
“Regardless of anything else, fighting is about to break out here soon. If you can leave, you should do so as soon as possible. Once you’re gone, feel free to help Luan Sanlang and the others however you like—send troops into Lüliang, or work whatever schemes you want behind the scenes. We welcome the attack, we welcome the scheming too. A group that can truly weather any storm needs to be tested and refined, both from within and without—perhaps that’s something you don’t yet understand.”
Having said this, Lou Shuwan stood there without answering. Ning Yi fell silent for a moment. “As for the feud between us—if you want to kill me, I can fully understand that. But even if it all happened again, I’d still kill your father and your brother the same way. That was their own doing, and in the course of things, sometimes we simply have no other choice. As for you, all I can say is that it came down to fate, and to circumstance. Of course, none of this will ease your hatred, or make you feel any better about it. But as a practical matter, you can’t kill me. You can’t kill me now, and once you’ve risen further within Tian Hu’s ranks, you’ll find you’re even less able to kill me than before. Holding onto this obsession might be one way to keep going, but as the old saying goes, sometimes you have to let go—it might make life a little easier. You can keep these words in mind.”
Lou Shuwan’s body trembled faintly; something surged up from deep within her once more, and she said, coldly, each word deliberate: “You killed my father and brother, and you’re telling me to let go?”
“Which is exactly why I say it’s hard, of course. I tend to go too far in the things I do, but personally, I take no particular pleasure in killing. Back in Hangzhou, you treated me and mine with hospitality, so if it’s at all possible, I’d genuinely rather you keep living. But if you insist on pursuing this to the end, I won’t rule out the possibility that, one day, I might have to kill you.” Lou Shuwan watched as Ning Yi drew out that strangely shaped iron cylinder and pointed it at her, its black muzzle aimed her way, behind it Ning Yi’s cold, inhuman gaze. “Remember this? It’s what killed your father.”
“I. Will. Remember.” Lou Shuwan felt she could no longer control the trembling of her own body. Having said this, she turned and left, hatred surging up within her, and even the light of day seemed to dim by half.
This meeting had begun in a way she had never anticipated, and ended, as she had somehow expected, filled with hatred—yet inside, she felt only an indescribable emptiness. She knew there was still much she could do—informing Luan Sanlang and the others of Green Wood Stronghold’s resolve, for instance—but she also feared that this was information the other side had deliberately let slip, so that in the negotiations, Luan Sanlang and the rest would find themselves at an immediate disadvantage. Visions of war kept surfacing in her mind, over and over, though she wasn’t afraid of that itself—it was Ning Yi’s words that had suddenly made her feel, after all, that she was still only a woman, and that no matter how much scheming and calculation she had mastered, she still fell far, far short of that world of iron-hearted, ruthless men.
By that afternoon, she still had not left her room.
Meanwhile, on the other side, gossip about the relationship between Lou Shuwan and Ning Yi—sparked by that strange encounter that morning—had quietly begun spreading through Bamboo Records’ ranks. Everyone was discussing just what kind of relationship this beautiful woman had with the boss; though they were supposedly enemies, it somehow seemed a bit like they might be lovers as well.
Zhu Biao, speaking to everyone with an air of great authority, said: “People with grudges against our boss? There’s no shortage of those. One or two more like her, that’s nothing strange.” Then he added: “Brother Ning’s the type who wouldn’t know the first thing about chasing women—maybe it’s a case of love turning to hate, who knows…”
As this gossip made its rounds, Ning Yi occasionally caught wind of it himself, finding it both amusing and rather exasperating. Amid all this, the negotiations with the various parties who’d come into the mountains had already wrapped up, and what remained now was the matter of the coming battle. As for wartime mobilization, Hongti had already worked it out with several of the stronghold chiefs a couple of days earlier. Surprisingly, when it came to the necessity of war, men like Zheng Ashuan and Cao Qianyong—not to mention the fourth chief Peng Yue and the fifth chief Han Jing—all showed far more enthusiasm for it than Hongti herself.
Over these past two years, Green Wood Stronghold had grown increasingly prosperous, investing heavily in training its troops as well—yet, for the sake of business, the actual killing they’d done in the surrounding area had all been rather small-scale affairs; toward the larger strongholds, they’d generally chosen a policy of tolerance and cooperation. Zheng Ashuan and Cao Qianyong, as old hands of Green Wood Stronghold, took this more in stride, but Peng Yue and Han Jing, who had each carved out their own foundations before joining Green Wood, found this style of training troops to the death while keeping everything hidden away utterly at odds with their own sensibilities—practically as sinful, to their minds, as wasting good grain.
With this particular phase of concerns apparently having passed, that very afternoon, someone spotted He Shuyuan hurrying down the mountain with his attendants in tow. Before long, someone came up the mountain to find Ning Yi and inform him of something. Ning Yi, who at the time had been sitting in the courtyard mulling something over, looked down toward the base of the mountain and suddenly frowned.
The same news reached Lou Shuwan’s side at around the same time, and she too stepped out of her room. And at that very moment, a voice suddenly boomed up from the foot of the mountain!
“…The Great Radiance Cult, Cult Leader Lin Zongwu, leading his disciples and protectors…”
The valley occupied by Green Wood Stronghold was quite vast, and with so many people about, even during the day, it was hard for a shout from the base of the mountain to reach all the way up. But this voice came suddenly, deep and resonant, spreading across the entire valley in an instant, so that everyone heard its echo reverberating through the air.
…
“…The Great Radiance Cult, Cult Leader Lin Zongwu, leading his disciples and protectors, comes to pay respects to Mount Lüliang! Blood Bodhisattva—”
…
“You must be joking…” came a murmured whisper…
…
A voice of welcome soon carried down from above—it was the woman who spent every day at his side. From the mountain, she called out: “Please, let the honored guest come in.” Her voice rang out, echoing through the empty valley.
…
“Ha ha.” Down in the courtyard below, Lou Shuwan couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
…
Ning Yi snapped his fingers and called over the person nearest to him: “Yuwen Feidu, gather the men and get all the cannons ready.”
As he spoke, he turned and started walking up the mountain.
What in the world has come charging out of the woodwork this time…