Sun Hongye fell silent.

He Lingchuan went on, “It’s been three days. I don’t think General Ke is going to send for you.”

From the time Sun Hongye was injured at the foot of Luming Garden to now, more than two days had passed, and Ke Jihai had not sent a single man to ask after him.

Clearly, Grand General Ke did not spare a thought for a nobody in plain clothes.

He Lingchuan did not mind being the second choice. “Look at the situation across the realm. If a man wants to make his name, he either goes west or he goes north.”

Sun Hongye studied him for a long moment. “Young Master, your character doesn’t match the rumors.”

“Rumors are smoke and shadows. If you believe them, that’s on you.” He Lingchuan stood. “Just answer me, are you coming or not?”

“I am!” Sun Hongye’s answer this time was crisp. He bowed long to He Lingchuan. “My lord, from this day on, I, Sun Hongye, will follow at your side and do my utmost to serve you.”

“Good, good!” Delighted, He Lingchuan helped him up. “At last, I have my first staff adviser!”

Fixer Liu, standing behind him, handed over a bundle that he had prepared in advance. He Lingchuan waved a hand and said, “There’s no time to waste. Go change right away.”

Sun Hongye went inside and opened the bundle. Inside were three brand-new sets of clothes, a pair of heavy boots, and several ingots of silver and gold totaling fifty taels.

His employer was generous indeed. He had not even earned his keep yet, and the money was already in hand.

When Sun Hongye stepped back out in fresh clothes and new boots, He Lingchuan clapped. “See? Clothes make the man. Here, throw on this cloak and take a turn down the street, you’ll have half the young ladies in town trailing you to Xia Province.”

The cloak was silk-embroidered on the outside, lined with soft gray squirrel fur. It was clearly something that came at no cheap price. Sun Hongye understood the point of the lavish gesture and accepted it without fuss. After that, he climbed into the carriage with his new master.

* * *

Back at the inn, He Lingchuan learned that an unexpected guest had come calling on He Chunhua.

It was Zhu Xiyan and his granddaughter, Zhu Xiu’er. They had come to bid farewell.

While Zhu Xiyan chatted warmly with He Chunhua and his wife, Zhu Xiu’er came over to He Lingchuan and handed him a safety charm. She then said, “I embroidered this myself. I added imperially-bestowed Dilong incense[1]. It’s colorless and scentless, but wear it on your person, and mosquitoes and venomous snakes won’t dare come near. The efficacy lasts sixteen or seventeen months. I’ve brought one for each of you brothers. I wish you a smooth and safe journey.”

Great, no more fretting about bites out in the wild. Grinning, He Lingchuan took it and fastened it at his belt on the spot, praising her delicate handiwork to the skies.

Only in front of him did Zhu Xiu’er smile so openly, defenses down.

He glanced toward Zhu Xiyan in the distance. “How have things been at the Zhu Family these past days?”

“After so long away, a few ripples were inevitable.” Zhu Xiu’er brushed a hand over her temple. “But Grandfather spoils me more than ever. With him here, I have nothing to fear.”

“In a few days, he even wants to pick out a marriage for me.”

He Lingchuan took a careful look at her. She seemed radiant now, finally showing the vitality and brightness a young woman in her early twenties should have.

The memories of Immortal Spirit Lake seemed to have been buried.

She said to him with grave earnestness, “The He Family has given me a new life, but you were the one who truly saved it. If there’s ever a day I can be of assistance, you must give me that chance.”

He Lingchuan nodded.

At that moment, He Chunhua strolled over, greeted Zhu Xiu’er with a smile, then said with a lowered voice, “Someone in the Zhu Family has been digging into your past, trying to learn what really happened after you were kidnapped and silenced. They’ve even come poking around among my men.”

Zhu Xiu’er’s smile did not waver. “Lord He, you wouldn’t happen to know who that person is, would you?”

He Chunhua softly supplied a name.

“As expected.” Zhu Xiu’er gave a light laugh. “I’ve also dug up a clue. The traffickers who took me back then didn’t pick their targets at random.”

A glint of cold flashed in her fine eyes.

Seven or eight years of torment, such an experience either turns a person into a sheep or a wolf.

He Chunhua nodded. “We have to be on our way. Be careful.”

Zhu Xiu’er bowed respectfully and said, “Thank you, Lord He. I will.”

He Lingchuan thought to himself, From now on, it won’t be Zhu Xiu’er who needs to be careful.

Farewells said and gifts exchanged, Zhu Xiu’er took leave of the He Family and helped Zhu Xiyan into the carriage.

She smiled and waved to the He brothers, then lowered the curtain. The carriage rolled forward.

He Chunhua turned to his wife and sons. “We should be going as well.”

The luggage was packed, and the carriages were ready. Now, all that was left was actually to get on the road.

As Madame Ying and He Yue went to board, He Chunhua asked He Lingchuan, “That youth you brought into the inn, he wouldn’t happen to be the Hé Family’s study companion, would he?”

He Lingchuan grinned. “He’s got talent, and I plan to hit the books a bit more in the future. He’s my study companion now.”

He Chunhua blinked. “He’s coming with us?”

“Yes. I’ll cover his pay.” Hiring one more person was nothing; he was sure his father would not object. A young lord of his station looked underdressed without seven or eight attendants at his side.

“You’ve already hired a monkey,” He Chunhua said dryly. “Add a full-grown man, and the costs won’t be small.”

“All my retainers are in Heishui City. I’ve got no one handy.” He Lingchuan put on his most shameless face. “So, could you talk to Mother and help me squeeze a little more out of my monthly allowance?”

“…”

“Considering I nearly died the night before last, and I’m still bandaged up?”

A vein bulged on He Chunhua’s head.

If not for his eldest, how would the whole family have survived Dong Rui’s ambush? If not for his eldest, how would this trip to Shihuan have led to an audience before the King?

Come to think of it, since the Sun Fuping affair, this son of his had changed a great deal. He was no longer idle; he was diligent in martial training and now actually wanted to study in earnest.

He stared straight at He Lingchuan, eyes complicated. Only when the latter began to fidget under the scrutiny did he finally say, “Fine.”

He Lingchuan hurried to switch topics. “By the way, how’s the recruitment edict working out?”

“Quite well. It’s only been posted for three days, and already more than three hundred sixty people have come to interview. It seems the disappointed and unrecognized are as numerous as carp crossing the river.” He and Mozhe Jingxuan had barely found time to eat or change clothes. “After testing them, I kept nineteen. They’ll march north with the Coordinating Army and serve as provincial staff to help me manage military and civil affairs.”

“Nineteen? That many?” He Lingchuan was surprised. “I thought Father had exacting standards.”

“It’s better to have extra to remove rather than be lacking later on,” He Chunhua said, giving his son’s shoulder a pat. “For now, we can only hear what they say. In time, we’ll see how they govern and watch how they act.”

For the moment, all hiring was on paper. Only when they reached the province and put hands to real work would it become clear who was talent and who was dead weight.

“Broad nets aside, I’ve also sent people to look into their backgrounds,” He Chunhua added with a smile. “By the time we reach Dunyu, those reports should be waiting.”

* * *

A mild breeze, a gentle sun, fields of gold.

On the Chipa Plateau, the “autumn tiger” had finally padded off—the lingering heat was gone, and a cool wind ran through the fields.

It was the busy season. Yet in a vast expanse of sorghum, not a single figure moved. At the moment, only the tall stalks swayed in the wind.

Soon, there was a rustle from the fields, and the sorghum thrashed violently, the disturbance rolling closer and closer.

A figure burst out, seeming almost to skim the ground, though in truth his flying steps were gouging up great clods of earth.

He had to be fast, because with a crashing swish, a hulking shape also erupted from the sorghum, hot on his heels.

It was a massive brown bear, one that was at least twice the typical size of its kind. If it stood upright, it would stand at about 5 meters, and a single one of its paws was as big as a millstone.

Its coat was sleek as oil, and when it ran, the ground trembled. Waves rippled across its hide as it moved, a sign of sheer bulk. But now two feathered arrows and a long spear jutted from its back and rump, and several throwing javelins were wedged in its shoulder. Blood streamed down its fur to patter on the ground.

Pain had only stoked its fury. Now, it was out to kill the human ahead.

Bears did not love long chases, but for short bursts, they could outrun a horse. This was especially the case for this massive brute. Each one of its strides covered the ground of four or five human steps.

The unlucky man in front was thin and small but ran like an antelope, agile enough to slip out from under the bear’s paw by razor-thin margins.

Good thing he knew how to dodge and weave. If he had run in a straight line, the brown bear would have had him already.

Even so, he was living on a knife’s edge.

Whenever the bear drew close, it swept a paw to snatch him; those gray claws, more than seventeen centimeters long, were ready to open him from throat to belly.

If the paw swipe missed, the beast would rake its forelimb back, and the skinny fellow would feel a gust of wind whip up out of nowhere and yank him backwards.

This brown bear actually had an innate talent for calling wind.

The thin man dodged another killing swipe and yelled, “Shoot already! I can’t hold out for much longer!”

No sooner had he called out than two arrows hissed out of the trees, one thudding into the bear’s waist, the other into its ribs.

The brown bear roared with pain but refused to yield, mind fixed on the prey before it. With a savage lunge, it surged forward. With one cross-body sweep of its forepaw, it finally managed to land a strike on the skinny man.

He flew like a kicked ball and slammed into a great tree before he stopped. A flicker of yellow flashed at his waist as a protective talisman shattered.

Dazed and seeing stars, he heard his companions shout “Watch out!” and, blinking his vision clear, saw the bear already upon him. At the distance between them, he could almost smell the blood-reek jetting from its throat.

There was no time to run. Without thinking, he rolled and scrambled up the tree.

The bear snapped at empty air, becoming further maddened. In its rage, it, too, hitched its massive hindquarters up the trunk after him, froth dribbling from its jaws, yellow tinged with green.

The tree was a giant, bearing a trunk five or six people could barely encircle, branches sprawling in tangled coils. The bear barreled upward, heedless, jamming its head through branches and snapping however many it had to.

Under such conditions, the lighter climber had the advantage. And so, the skinny man rose faster.

Someone below bellowed something like, “Don’t go any higher!”

However, the skinny man was not about to listen to that warning, at least not with a gaping, bloody maw only about a meter and a half below and closing in on him.

He had barely formed the thought when his hands suddenly felt light. There was a sharp crack—

The branch he had used for leverage snapped.

Damn!

He dropped in free fall, snatching at two more branches to slow himself, but both splintered.

That’s it. I’m dead.

Directly beneath, the brown bear opened its mouth wide, ready for this meal to drop straight into its mouth.

But just then, from a slant below, a changdao came whistling in and bit deep into the bear’s jowl.

1. Dilong (狄龙) seems to just be a name ☜