With no pursuers behind them, Zhang San and Li Si hurried down the official road. Before long, they reached the stretch blocked by debris from the landslide.
The sky was beginning to brighten. A gentle morning breeze stirred, the sunlight was faint, and sparse birdsong drifted from the nearby woods. In these freezing days at year’s end, amid war and wandering, the moment held a rare peace.
They found a large rock among the rubble and sat down to rest.
Li Si laid the saber he had carried all night across his knees and gently wiped the remaining blood from it with his sleeve, intending to clean it before returning it to the sheath. His emotions always lagged behind events. Throughout the escape he had been tense and exhilarated and had noticed nothing strange. Now that everything had quieted, the hand wiping the blade began to tremble slightly.
Zhang San suddenly pressed down on his wrist. “First time killing someone?”
Li Si lowered his eyes to the saber and nodded.
Zhang San took the weapon from him, wiped the blood clean against his own trouser leg, and helped slide it back into the sheath. “Don’t think too much. That demon Daoist deserved to die. Just treat it as killing a pig or dog.”
Can a person really be treated like a pig or dog?
Li Si did not understand.
He felt no exhilaration from taking revenge. Quite the opposite. He had killed Daoist Ma because of his second uncle’s death, and now that Daoist Ma was dead, it somehow felt as though his second uncle’s death had been brought to its conclusion too.
There were no more debts of gratitude or hatred tying uncle and nephew together.
Their fate in this life had ended.
Li Si’s chest tightened painfully, but no tears came. He simply sat there in silence, waiting for this unfamiliar, unbearable feeling to pass.
After a while, his stomach suddenly began to growl.
Li Si was young and became hungry easily. He had also fought hard during the night, and the little food he had eaten the evening before had been nowhere near enough. His appetite, at least, was perfectly honest: grief did not stop him from filling his stomach.
So he sat up properly and pulled the two steamed buns he had hidden during the night from inside his padded coat.
The fierce fighting had flattened them both.
He did not mind.
He still remembered how delicious the meat filling had been and treasured the buns as he began eating one. Then he hesitated over whether to give the other to Zhang San.
It was so good that he was a little reluctant.
Zhang San sat carelessly beside him, one arm folded across his chest and the other propping up his cheek, his head tilted as he watched Li Si eat.
Li Si eventually held one steamed bun out to him.
Zhang San reached to take it.
His hand paused in midair for a moment.
Then he pushed the bun back into Li Si’s palm.
“You eat it.”
Zhang San was not the sort to deny himself merely to save face. And with a simple child like Li Si, he had no interest in disguising or prettifying his feelings. The corner of his mouth pulled into something that was almost, but not quite, a smile.
“If I eat another one, I’m afraid I’ll cry in front of you too.”
Li Si had no idea what he meant.
He quietly chewed, staring at Zhang San with clear, confused eyes.
“Is it good?” Zhang San asked.
Li Si nodded.
“Madam Zhang is my elder sister,” Zhang San said. “She made those buns.”
Li Si kept looking at him, an obedient listener.
Naturally, he did not stop chewing.
“There were three of us siblings. Our parents died very early. Elder Sister was strong, and after they died, she worked as a helper at a butcher’s stall to raise Second Brother and me. She often brought scraps home and made steamed buns for us.”
Li Si blinked.
He could imagine the sort of childhood Zhang San had lived—poor, but delicious.
“Eight years ago, Grand Preceptor Tong was the Military Governor of Hedong. That old traitor was ordered to lead troops against the Western Xia Kingdom, but he suffered a disastrous defeat and lost tens of thousands of soldiers. Afterward, he came to Kuiyuan to recruit more men. In Ant County, he forcibly conscripted several hundred able-bodied men. Second Brother and I were both taken. I had just turned fifteen. Second Brother was nineteen, the same age as you…”
Li Si put the second steamed bun into his mouth and took small, careful bites.
Zhang San continued, “He died in battle the next year.”
A mouthful of bun lodged in Li Si’s throat.
His eyes widened.
Zhang San patted his back several times. He was speaking of life and death, yet Li Si’s stunned expression still managed to make him laugh, even if the smile remained only half-formed.
He untied his water gourd and pushed it into Li Si’s hands.
Li Si awkwardly took a drink and waited with the bun in his fingers.
“I can’t read. In eight years, I never sent a single letter home. Elder Sister probably thought I was dead too. And now I’ve deserted my unit without permission. You know Great Xuan’s military law: deserters are executed on the spot, and their families can be implicated too. The tattoo on my face is so obvious that without you, I couldn’t even have entered Ant County. That Chief Constable might have cut me down at the gate, and I could have dragged Elder Sister into it too. That’s why I had no choice but to wait for an opportunity at the earthen fortress instead of entering recklessly…”
Zhang San lowered his eyes.
They had gone faintly red.
Only after taking a long time to steady himself did he continue. “Even after following you into the city, all I could do was look at her once before heading straight for Kuiyuan. Whether I live or die from here is uncertain. Why let her know and give her one more thing to grieve over?”
Li Si suddenly pushed the water gourd back into Zhang San’s hands as though it were a warm bed-warming flask.
Zhang San rubbed the gourd between both palms.
His emotions did begin to settle.
After a while, he asked, “Do you know why I have to go to Kuiyuan?”
Li Si looked at him and waited.
“For all these years, I’ve followed that old traitor Tong from one battlefield to another. We fought the Western Xia Kingdom in the west, the Northern Lang Kingdom in the north, and went south to suppress Fan La’s rebellion. The old traitor lost battle after battle. Veteran soldiers around me died in wave after wave, and new recruits came in wave after wave. He’s an expert at deceiving the court, always dressing disastrous defeats up as glorious victories. I heard he has powerful backing in court, so no one dared complain about him to His Majesty, and somehow he climbed all the way up to Grand Preceptor. He can’t command troops worth a damn, and he’s greedy and corrupt. His subordinates followed his example, embezzling military funds, padding the rolls and pocketing soldiers’ pay, and abusing the men under them. I’ve always had a hard temper, and his trusted people never liked me. I fought for four years and earned plenty of merit, but I was still only an ordinary soldier.”
“There’s a general surnamed Wang who is now Deputy Commander-General of Hedong Circuit. Four years ago, he took command of my unit. Chief Commander Wang was nothing like that old traitor Tong. He was brave, upright, and a genuinely good commander. Only after he took notice of me did I finally rise to Unit Commander.”
“This time, when the Xiao army marched south, the old traitor formed the Shengjie Army. Chief Commander Wang and I were both in it. Later, when Tong tried to flee with the army, Chief Commander Wang volunteered to stay behind and defend Kuiyuan. He kept three thousand Shengjie troops with him.”
“But I couldn’t stay. The old traitor saw that I was useful in a fight and transferred me into his personal guard. I refused to follow him while he fled, so along the way I found a chance to leave the army and come back on my own.”
Zhang San picked up a branch and cleared a small patch among the rubble with his foot. He sketched the shape of Great Xuan on the ground, showing Li Si the long, narrow Fen River Plain and the terrain around Kuiyuan.
“Over the years, Chief Commander Wang taught me how to lead troops, how to read military maps, and how to understand the wider situation under heaven. He told me Kuiyuan is the prefectural seat of Hedong Circuit and the throat of the entire circuit. As long as Kuiyuan holds, even if the Xiao army bypasses the city and continues south, all their grain and supplies still have to pass before Kuiyuan. The defenders can raid and harass those lines from behind, keeping the Xiao rear unstable and preventing them from driving south with impunity.”
“If Kuiyuan falls, a small county like Ant County can’t possibly protect itself. Every prefecture in Hedong will be in danger. The eastern and western Xiao armies will also be able to converge on the capital, putting all of Great Xuan in danger of destruction.”
“That’s why I had to come back. I have to follow Chief Commander Wang and hold Kuiyuan. Only then can Hedong be protected. Only then can Ant County and Elder Sister be protected…”
When Zhang San finished, he raised his eyes and found Li Si holding half a steamed bun, staring fixedly at him.
Zhang San smiled and nudged the bun toward his mouth. “Hurry up and eat. Matters of the state and the realm probably aren’t something a Little Fool like you can understand.”
Li Si put the cold bun back into his mouth.
He remembered Second Uncle rambling over wine at that little tavern in the capital, and the anxiety and grief that had filled him then.
At the time, Li Si truly had not understood.
He had known only that the sweets were fragrant and sweet.
Even now, he could not say that he fully understood. Yet his emotions surged in response to Zhang San’s words.
Something seemed to blaze inside his chest like a fierce fire.
The feeling was completely unfamiliar.
So Li Si said nothing. He simply ate and sat with the unfamiliar feeling.
Zhang San stroked the top of his head and tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear.
Li Si did not even notice.
Only when Zhang San pulled open his lapel to examine the wound on his left shoulder did Li Si spring up like a startled horse. “You touched me again!”
“I’m looking at your injury! Besides, you ate three buns from my family. I can’t even touch you?”
Li Si could not out-argue him and had no idea what eating buns had to do with being touched.
After a struggle, Zhang San forcibly dragged him back, exposed his shoulder, and inspected the wound.
“Just a flesh wound. Nothing serious.”
He pulled a small bottle from his waistband and poured some wound powder over it.
A fierce burning pain flared.
Li Si’s eyes flew wide as he stared straight at Zhang San.
Zhang San closed his lapel and said briskly, “Done. Let’s go!”
——
The sky was fully bright by the time they once again struggled over the rockslide debris and stepped onto the official road down the mountain.
On one side lay deep mountain forest. On the other was a sheer drop along the mountainside, offering a clear view of the river plain below. As they walked, they looked toward Kuiyuan standing in the distance.
“Once we get down the mountain and cross the river, it’s another twenty li,” Zhang San said. “There are villages along the way. Everyone’s already evacuated, but the houses are still standing, so we can use them to hide from Xiao scouts. By the time we reach the Xiao camps, it should be dark. Then we’ll find a way around them.”
Li Si nodded, almost completely obedient to Zhang San now.
As they walked, Zhang San said, “Don’t you think something’s strange? Was one secret letter really worth sending fifty people? The Xiao army has the city surrounded this tightly. The more people you bring, the easier it is to get spotted.”
Li Si thought about it.
That did seem true.
With only the two of them, they could easily disappear behind a broken wall or ruined house.
Fifty people would have been impossible to conceal.
Zhang San reasoned, “There must be something else in that letter that requires capable manpower. Little colt, after you deliver it, you may still have to come back and find those soldiers.”
Li Si listened to his reasoning and more or less agreed.
Then he rolled up his sleeve and punched Zhang San in the shoulder.
“Big tiger!”
Zhang San laughed loudly. “Then what do you want me to call you? Xiao Si? Si’er? Fourth Baby?”
Li Si did not answer.
He did not know either.
Both his parents had died when he was young, and Grandma and Second Uncle had always pitied and doted on him. One called him “good grandson,” the other “good nephew.” Even when Second Uncle was furious, the worst he did was curse him as a “good-for-nothing grandson.” Neither of them normally called him directly by name.
Li Si had no idea what would suit him.
Zhang San laughed. “We Hedong people like reduplicating words. That little token of yours becomes a token-token, bugs in the fields become bug-bugs… so I’ll call you Sisi.”
Li Si immediately replied, “Sansan.”
“Hahahaha! What nonsense are you calling me? I’m four years older than you! My courtesy name is Xiao. Chief Commander Wang gave it to me. He said it’s the xiao of a tiger roaring through the mountains. Call me Brother Xiao.”
Li Si had no courtesy name yet.
He would only come of age the following year. Second Uncle had always talked about finding a fortune-teller then and spending money to have an auspicious courtesy name calculated for him.
Thinking of Second Uncle, Li Si lowered his eyes again.
“What’s wrong? Don’t want to call me that?”
Li Si shook his head.
“Brother Xiao.”
Zhang San looked immensely pleased. “Aiya, Sisi is so good.”
Brother Xiao took good Sisi down the mountain until they approached the Fen River.
Ant County and the plain to the east were separated by the broad river. There had originally been a stone bridge across it. After the Xiao army marched south, the Ant County magistrate feared they might cross the river, so he ordered men down the mountain to destroy the bridge.
That was also one reason the Xiao army had gone so long without discovering Ant County.
However, the stone piers remained beneath the water where the bridge had once stood, and fragments of the broken bridge were submerged around them. Someone familiar with the route could still cross by stepping from one submerged support to the next.
Zhang San studied the ice for a while. He removed his long boots and hung them over his shoulder, leaving on only his cloth socks for traction, then rolled his trousers up to his thighs.
“The bridge piers are underneath. I’ll go in first and feel for them.”
He carefully stepped onto the ice.
The thin surface could barely bear his weight, going creak, creak beneath his feet as cracks spread outward like spiderwebs.
After a dozen or so steps, one foot suddenly plunged downward.
The ice broke into a large hole, and both his legs sank into the river almost to the thighs. He bent over and braced his upper body on the remaining ice.
“Brother Xiao!” Li Si shouted from behind.
Zhang San waved to show he was fine. Supporting himself with both arms, he felt his foot settle onto one of the stone piers below. He drew his saber and used the scabbard to break open more of the ice, then slowly stepped forward again.
“Take off your shoes and get in the water! Follow me!”
Li Si stepped onto the ice and tested his weight.
This time, he did not obey.
Instead, he retreated several meters, bent low to gather power, then suddenly launched himself forward.
Zhang San looked back in alarm. “What are you doing? You’ll fall through!”
Li Si’s feet touched the ice.
His body shot forward like an arrow.
The thin ice broke apart in pieces behind him, but the spreading fractures could not catch up with his racing feet. After dozens of successive leaps, only a few breaths had passed before he reached the opposite bank.
He was moving too quickly to stop and ran another dozen meters before wheeling his little horse head around and coming back to stand at the riverbank, breathing slightly hard as he looked toward Zhang San.
Zhang San was still waist-deep in icy water on the other side, staring at him in disbelief.
“Hurry over! The water’s cold!” Li Si shouted.
“You think I don’t know it’s cold?! You think I can go any faster?! What kind of flying monster are you? Why don’t you just fly straight into Kuiyuan?!”
Li Si had no idea why Zhang San was angry.
He obediently crouched on the bank and waited while Zhang San slowly smashed through the ice and felt his way across the submerged piers.
By the time Li Si pulled him ashore, Zhang San had been in the freezing water for quite some time, and his lips had turned purple.
Li Si stripped off his own outer coat and wrapped Zhang San in it. Then he tore a strip of cloth from his inner shirt, removed Zhang San’s icy wet socks, dried the water from his legs, put his dry boots back on, lowered his trouser legs, and tucked them snugly into the boots.
Zhang San sat on a rock by the river and shamelessly enjoyed being waited on, teasing him all the while.
“Little flying horse!”
Li Si answered immediately this time. “Big water bug!”
“Hahaha! Put your own coat back on! I’m not cold!”
The two tussled at the riverbank, pulling the coat back and forth and shoving each other around. In the end, they squeezed together inside Li Si’s outer coat, shoulder against shoulder like two little animals huddling for warmth, and sat on the rock to rest.
Zhang San slowly ate some dry rations and drank a little water.
Gradually, color returned to his face.
The northern air was dry and the sun strong. Before long, the cloth socks they had spread out were dry again.
Zhang San put them on.
Once he had recovered his strength, he draped Li Si’s outer coat back over him and held Li Si’s bow case and quiver while he properly dressed.
Li Si was halfway through tying his belt when he suddenly froze and sharply scanned the surroundings.
Zhang San followed his gaze. “What is it?”
“There’s a sound.”
Both dropped to the ground and pressed their ears against the earth.
Then they rose together and looked upstream along the Fen River.
About one li to the west, two figures were galloping toward them along the riverbank. Across the open plain, they looked like cavalrymen.
Assuming they were Xiao patrol scouts, Zhang San and Li Si immediately dragged each other behind a large rock.
Li Si took the longbow from his back and pulled a white ox-bone thumb ring from his waistband, slipping it over his right thumb before leaning out from behind the rock and drawing the bow.
Elio’s Notes: An archery thumb ring protects the thumb from the bowstring when drawing and releasing a bow.
“Don’t alert them yet,” Zhang San said, pressing down on his arm. “If we can stay hidden, stay hidden.”
Li Si narrowed his eyes and studied the approaching riders.
After a while, he relaxed the draw and lowered his bow.
“They’re not Xiao soldiers.”
“Huh?” Zhang San climbed onto the rock and looked for himself.
The two riders truly did not look like Xiao troops.
But the Xiao army was extremely mixed. It included Xiao soldiers, foreign mercenaries, surrendered troops from the Northern Lang Kingdom after its destruction, and even surrendered Xuan soldiers.
There was no easy way to know whether the newcomers were friends or enemies.
“Don’t kill them,” Zhang San said. “Catch them and ask.”