Did you see our family’s young master or not?
Once war broke out, all kinds of people started to stir, trying to take advantage amidst the chaos. On the mountain roads, there were highway bandits robbing travellers, on the rivers were pirates stopping boats, and from time to time, groups of ruthless thieves would raid villages at the mountain’s base, burning, killing, and plundering—committing every imaginable crime, to the point that these acts were even more bestial than the rebel troops marching northward.
Wei He led a squad of light cavalry, chased after a group of fierce bandits all night, finally beheaded their leader beneath his horse, settled the refugees, aided the village, and just as he was returning to camp, a beggar—who knows whence he sprang—ran up and knelt before Wei He’s horse, refusing to move unless Wei He brought him back to camp.
A subordinate officer came to take a look and whispered, “He’s just a madman, and has been lingering around here for days. Whenever a military officer passes, he rushes up like this, saying… he’s looking for someone. General Wei, perhaps you’d best just shoo him aside.”
Wei He: “…”
Min Xuefei and the other commanders were pondering military strategy around the sand table in the tent, while Lian Zhi sat at his leisure drinking tea from a small porcelain cup. Three or four young eunuchs circled about: one massaged his legs, another kneaded his shoulders, and another fanned him. It looked less like an expedition and more like a springtime outing. The whole scene angered the generals, who kept giving Min Xuefei hints to get rid of this troublemaker.
Just as they were discussing where to set an ambush, Wei He lifted the tent flap and came in, tossing a bloody head inside, terrifying the eunuchs who scattered with shouts. The head rolled to Lian Zhi’s feet. He calmly lifted his foot and kicked it back, displeased: “What bad luck.”
Min Xuefei glanced affectionately at Lian Zhi’s foot, “Superintendent Lian says it’s bad luck—why don’t you throw it out?”
Wei He booted the head from the tent as if kicking a ball, then reported on the bandit suppression, and finally mentioned the mad beggar: “The fellow’s insane, kneeling in front of my horse! I threw him away, and he ran back again, and chased after our horse troop, refusing to leave. He even tied himself to a horse’s leg, saying he was looking for someone. I had no choice but… to bring him back.”
Min Xuefei stepped outside the tent and, from afar, saw the so-called mad beggar pulling at his grimy hair, clutching at the hands of the guards at the camp gate. With brows raised, Min Xuefei walked closer to have a look, with Wei He following behind, grumbling the whole way about how reckless the beggar was, blocking the horses and nearly being kicked to death.
As they got closer, Wei He mused, “He says his name is Su, Su, Su…”
Min Xuefei: “Su Ting.”
“Yes, that’s it!” Wei He clapped his hands, then paused, “Wait… General, you know him?”
Su Ting suddenly raised his head and, seeing Min Xuefei, looked as if he’d just met a long-lost acquaintance, eyes brimming with tears, all but throwing himself forward to sob. Fortunately, Min Xuefei stepped aside; otherwise, his snowy white robes would have been stained.
“Master Min! You’re here!” Su Ting wiped his eyes anxiously, “Have you seen our young master?”
Min Xuefei, seeing the genuine emotion in his tears, couldn’t help but feel sympathetic as well. He shook his head and sighed, “I have not. How is it that you are here?”
Su Ting, never doubting him, became all the more sorrowful at the words: “Our young master left for Chunan and hasn’t been heard from since. Jin Youting, too, was searched by the Imperial clan. I sneaked out through a dog hole… Now the young lord has been imprisoned, and our young master is missing. With the land in chaos, how can I answer the young lord in the future!”
“I knew this would happen. If I’d fought to the death back then, I never would have let young master leave for Chunan! And now, they say our young master was seen being taken away by soldiers, but no one knows whose troops they were…” The more he spoke, the more anxious he became, frightening himself nearly to death, “Could it be the rebels?! Our young master is delicate—if captured by rebels, he’ll surely be tortured. What should I do?”
“It’s all my fault! I never should have let the young master go off alone. Before leaving, he told me to look after the house, but now Jin Youting is lost, the Sanyu Tower is lost, and worst of all, I’ve lost the young master too! This is a disaster. If the young lord hears of it, he’ll surely cough up blood in anger!” Su Ting slapped himself several times, “I’m useless, useless!”
“…” Min Xuefei watched, afraid the recriminations would drive him to suicide, and quickly ordered Wei He, “Take him to a side tent. Tell the men I’ve caught his little loyal servant.”
“What are you doing!” Su Ting was lifted by hands and feet, startled into rambling, “Master Min! What are you doing! Military law forbids killing medics! Don’t do this—at least let me stay to treat your wounded! I can treat injuries! Master Min! General Min!”
Ji Hong was reading in the tent when, all at once, a black heap was thrown inside, which rolled and unfurled into a person.
Su Ting scrambled to his feet, about to storm out and protest, when he suddenly caught a familiar scent—the incense that Jin Youting always burned at home. In a rush, he looked up and saw the man sitting on the small couch. He froze, then, seeing the iron chain around the man’s ankle, immediately felt a wave of sorrow and fell at his feet in apology: “Young lord! Su Ting has failed you! Su Ting is useless!”
Ji Hong: “…”
Su Ting wept, “Jin Youting has been searched, Sanyu Tower sealed, and now, even the young master’s whereabouts are unknown. I searched all the way from Chunan, but there’s been no word at all—I’m afraid the rebels have taken him!”
Ji Hong opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, his brows faintly furrowed.
But Su Ting took this as a sign of guilt and distress, hastily knocking his head on the ground: “My life belongs to the young master and to you, young lord! Even if I must enter fire or blade, I’ll charge into the rebel camp to save him!”
Ji Hong struggled, “…No need.”
Su Ting immediately pledged, “If I can’t save the young master, may I die without burial!”
Someone lifted the tent flap and entered, “…Su Ting?”
Su Ting, overcome with misery, cried, “I even hear the young master calling me—he must be suffering terribly in the rebels’ hands, waiting for us to save him! Young master, you wait, I’ll find a way into the rebels’ camp and get you out…” He turned his head and saw a pair of small brocade boots. Looking up the pant leg, Su Ting was stunned.
Yu Jinnian was carrying a tray of food and asked, puzzled, “What are you doing here? And looking like this—ignoring me calling you, saying you’re off to save someone… Why are you crying?”
He set down the tray and tried to wipe Su Ting’s face, but instead got caught up in Su Ting’s wild sobbing hug.
He glanced at Ji Hong, who could only shake his head helplessly.
The culprit, General Min, was meanwhile drinking tea in the main tent.
By day, Yu Jinnian worked as a military doctor in the wounded barracks, also in charge of training a few new imperial physicians—all children of respected families, with ancestral lines in the imperial medical bureau. Their scholarly background was sufficient, but practical experience lacking, especially on the battlefield. Soldiers here seldom suffered minor ailments; it was mostly bleeding wounds from blades, everything blood-soaked.
Fortunately, the armies had not yet clashed with Yan Chang’s forces, or there would have been even more casualties.
That afternoon, when Yu Jinnian finished his duties in the wounded barracks, he finally had time to check on Ji Hong. By chance, while fetching water with the wounded, he discovered a patch of wild sweet potato vines growing on a nearby slope, and after digging them up, found several plump roots.
The army lacked refined foodstuffs, but one had to make do—he could not let Ji Hong starve. So he dug them all up, steamed them in a pot, mashed them into paste, and made Yuyan Cake. The ancients once said, “Slice several pieces of jade, steep them in a hundred-flower fragrance,” which was praise for the fresh delicacy of Yuyan Cake.
Yu Jinnian was bringing the steamed Yuyan Cake back when he ran into Su Ting, who’d been tricked by Min Xuefei, wailing about rescuing him from the rebels.
He didn’t know how Su Ting had survived these days, ending up so filthy, and even if the Sanyu Tower was sealed, it hardly seemed he needed to fall to such a state. Hungry, Su Ting wolfed down the entire tray of Yuyan Cake intended for Ji Hong, and gulped down a bellyful of cold water before recounting his journey.
It turned out the outside world had descended into chaos, with bandits every few miles. No sooner had Su Ting arrived at Chunan than he was robbed clean, and Yu Jinnian’s group had already moved out. Making his way south, he was nearly captured by bandits several times, nearly killed more than once, and thus drifted among the refugees, asking about Yu Jinnian’s whereabouts. Only after much hardship did he reach this place, where a peasant’s family told him they had seen Yu Jinnian with some soldiers. That was how he caught Wei He’s horse and took his chance.
Who would have thought his luck would bring him straight into Min Xuefei’s camp?
Yu Jinnian fetched another tray of Yuyan Cake, this time reserved for Ji Hong, and asked someone to heat two coarse cakes, filling them with side dishes, finally stuffing the “mad beggar” Su Ting full.
With the outside world so dangerous, and the Sanyu Tower in the capital shuttered, it was impossible to send Su Ting back. Otherwise, someone as frail as Su Ting might not survive the journey.
Luckily, the wounded barracks needed help, and his arrival was timely.
…
As expected, Yan Chang’s Yue army marched under the banner of “saving the nation from peril.”
Just after floods and plague had passed, with people displaced, wild bones lying in heaps—he needed only show slight grace to easily win the fame of a virtuous prince, making the slow arrival of relief from the court seem inadequate. The rebels overran Shanzhou, Fengzhou, Lingchang and other places, winning most battles, their morale soaring. Now they gathered at Ju River to set camp, their numbers vast, each tent lit by a small campfire so that Ju River’s waters glowed red as if burning.
The court issued three edicts: one for a self-accusation by the Emperor, one for the investigation of the Ji family, and one to placate the disaster-stricken people. None made the Yue troops withdraw. Yan Chang declared that unless the Emperor awoke and ordered the extermination of the traitorous Ji family, he would march north to depose the king.
Expected as it was, it still angered the Emperor so much that he suffered a fit in court and smashed his inkstone.
When there was no more pretense and enmity was laid bare, all that remained was civil war.
Yu Xu, hair loose, sprawled at his feet, obediently cradling a pear. With no knife in hand and disliking pear skins, he could only roll it in his palms and mutter, “Determined to destroy the Ji family—who knows if it’s for the country or for himself…”
Yan Chang put down his brush. “What I want, I always get.”
Yu Xu crawled up his leg, entreating, “What about me? If you get him, will you let me go?”
Yan Chang glanced down at the youth at his feet, pushed the little tray on the couch aside, flipped the youth over, tore off the garment he’d just put on, and regardless of the bruises already marring his skin and wrists, clamped his hand around Yu Xu’s neck and forced himself brutally on him: “In this prince’s tent, without my permission, who allowed you to speak?”
The yellow pear rolled off, hitting the table.
Yu Xu fell silent, eyes brimming with tears from the pain. When finished, he wordlessly dressed, wrapped himself in his robe, stepped off the couch barefoot, bent to pick up the now-bruised pear, then turned and asked, “Can I borrow a knife to peel this…”
“Get out.”
“…” Yu Xu stuffed the pear in his chest and quietly left the tent.
Outside, soldiers clustered around the campfire, passing around a little flask of tasteless spirits. Seeing him come out, they turned to gawk; the camp was all burly men, rarely seeing someone so delicate in expensive silk, looking more like a girl.
The tent was thin-walled; every sound inside was easily heard. They looked at him like a courtesan at a brothel, not a shred of respect, some even whistling and asking, “Five coppers for a feel of your thigh?”
Yu Xu knew this was no favor. Yan Chang, though he had him day and night, lavishing food and clothing, did not truly let him hold favor. True favor looked like Yu Jinnian’s—cherished by Young Heir Ji, doted on, protected in his very heart, never suffering even in the rain. Not like him, driven out at night for the whole camp to laugh at.
But what did he know? Yu Jinnian’s relationship wasn’t petting either—it was true feeling, life-and-death commitment, “what in the world is love?”
At heart, though, he only wanted someone to dote on him like that.
The soldiers harassed him regularly, knowing Yan Chang would not defend him. In the past, Yu Xu would curse back viciously, threatening to gouge out eyeballs and tongues. But tonight, barefoot, he walked over and instead asked if the five coppers would buy him a peeled pear.
The men, stunned, soon dragged him together into an empty tent in the shadows.
…
“Hurry up, or someone will see!”
“So what if they do? Brothers won’t tell—who dares? Him? Bah, this slut’s fair and soft!”
“Like tofu—smooth as anything! I can say I’ve slept with a noblewoman.”
“Over your dead body, it’s a guy, just so you know!”
Yu Xu got up and, searching among the straw, looked for his lost pear. The tent was pitch dark, and his hands only found loose coins. Muttering curses, he heard rustling and a hesitant voice: “Are… are you looking for this?”
Yu Xu turned and saw a lowly soldier holding out the round pear, “What, you want five coppers too?” He lay back. “Fine, but you have to peel my pear. I want to eat it.”
The soldier hesitated, then edged closer, only to jump away in fear after almost sitting on Yu Xu’s sleeve, explaining frantically, “I have a friend, much more skilled—he’s a platoon leader now. I’m just on corpse duty… He told me there’d be fun here, so I came… I see you a lot! You’re always in the prince’s tent, reading at night, singing…” When Yu Xu rolled his eyes, he fell silent, then whispered, “You’re beautiful, like the yellow birds on the tree by my home.”
“Are you stupid?” Yu Xu kicked him to the ground, “I don’t have time for birds by your door! Either pay five coppers to show me your bird, or get out!”
The soldier tore open a hidden seam in his underclothes, pulled out five copper coins, and gave them to Yu Xu, then sat so close he could gaze his fill, before removing his shoes and socks.
From his socks, he produced a gold-and-silver-inlaid dagger adorned with pearls.
With it, he began to peel the pear, chatting: “My dagger’s a trophy from some corrupt official’s house! Gold stacked to the rafters!” He exaggerated, arms wide to indicate the size of the stacks and the brightness of the pearls, eyes sparkling. “Don’t tell anyone—I kept it for myself. Someday, after the war, I’ll use it to get a wife as pretty as you. If not for the draft, I’d be learning storytelling now.”
“…” Yu Xu ignored him, and the soldier just kept talking and peeling.
Eventually, the story and the pear were both finished. He wiped the knife, stowed it in his boot, then, as Yu Xu gnawed on the sweet fruit, said quietly, “You shouldn’t do this. If the prince finds out, you’ll die! If you need money, take mine—but don’t come here again.”
For once, someone honored a promise and peeled him a pear. Yu Xu took a bite—the sweet juice filled his mouth. “Sweet?”
The soldier grinned, “If you’re unhappy, come to the little gray tent in the northeast corner; I’ll tell you stories. My name’s Yuan Gui.”
Yu Xu thought he must really be a fool—he spent five coins and did nothing. Eating the last bite, he tossed the core, ignored the coins on the floor, and left with only Yuan Gui’s five coins in his fist.
Outside, more soldiers lurking for “fun” stared in disappointment. Yu Xu spat curses: “What are you looking at! Get lost—all of you! Or I’ll have you down on the front lines as meat shields tomorrow! Lose your arms, your wives will cuddle the dogs for comfort—now scram!”
The disappointed men scattered.
Yu Xu looked back as the soldier followed him out. He cursed, “Idiot! You scram too!”