Futile Devices Scans

Zhang San dug through the earth for an entire night.

Just as Zhou Qi had said, the farmers and peasant women in the fortress had all performed corvée labor before. Most of them knew how to tamp earth, build walls, and dig tunnels. Everyone came to help their chief. As they dug deeper, they reinforced the tunnel walls, using wood and stones to support the ceiling.

The others worked in shifts. Some dug, some cut timber and hauled it back, while others cooked and delivered food. Everyone took turns resting.

Only Zhang San refused to stop. Both of his hands were torn open, swollen, and bloody. He wrapped them in strips of cloth and continued digging without pause.

He was afraid that Sisi might be buried beneath the earth, waiting for him to come save him. He treasured every moment and refused to stop, even for an instant.

By dawn of the following day, amid everyone’s cheers, the tunnel was finally opened through.

He immediately threw himself toward the opening and, through the narrow gap, caught sight of Sisi’s back.

But before he could feel any joy, Sisi collapsed unconscious right before his eyes.

The little fool was covered in wounds, burning with fever, dressed only in a bloodstained undergarment, and trapped in a narrow tunnel while dozens of armed guards chased him…

Zhang San used every ounce of his self-control, digging his fingernails into his palms until they bled, before he managed to suppress the urge to kill.

The guards themselves were cowardly. After he injured several of them, they immediately began begging for mercy. Entrusting Sisi to the people from the fortress, he took his appointment papers as Militia Commissioner and dragged the county magistrate out of the rear garden all the way to the county yamen.

Militia Commissioner Zhang officially assumed office and opened court in the county yamen.

⸻

That night, the new constable had first interrogated the assassin and learned nothing. Then Liu Wu had frightened him with a few pointed remarks. Agitated and distracted, he returned home, only to learn before he could rest that the assassin had escaped.

Enraged, he lashed two useless subordinates several times and ordered every yamen runner, on duty or not, to join the search. The entire small town was thrown into turmoil throughout the night.

By dawn, the constable had personally searched every street and alley in town without finding so much as a hair from the assassin’s head. Furious, he returned to the county yamen.

Though it was not yet time for morning attendance, the yamen gates already stood open. Puzzled, he stepped inside and crossed the front courtyard, only to find every yamen runner kneeling beneath the raised platform of the main hall, trembling and not daring to lift their heads.

The magistrate, who normally loved sleeping in and arriving late, was already seated upright in the official chair. He wore his court robes neatly, yet shook like a leaf and looked as pale as death.

—Resting across the magistrate’s shoulder was a filthy, battered iron shovel. It had been used so heavily that the blade was worn blunt, but it would still have no trouble caving in a man’s skull.

The person holding the shovel sat sideways atop the magistrate’s desk. He wore a night-travel outfit covered in dust, making his complexion appear even darker and his tiger-like eyes even gloomier. One hand rested on the shovel while the other casually toyed with a waist token engraved with the words “Militia Commissioner of Ant County, Zhang San.” He repeatedly tossed it high into the air and caught it again.

Hearing the constable enter, he tilted his chin slightly.

Liu Wu, kneeling in the hall, coughed.

Several yamen runners beneath the platform hurriedly scrambled up, forced the constable to his knees, and restrained his struggles.

Lowering his gaze, Zhang San rubbed the token with bloodstained fingers. Murderous intent churned in his dim eyes as he spoke in a hoarse voice.

“I say he gave the order. He says you carried it out. Why don’t the two of you discuss it among yourselves and tell me where I ought to bring this shovel down?”

⸻

After hearing Zhang San’s voice in the tunnel, Li Si felt reassured and promptly passed out.

He slept for an entire day.

He knew nothing of the chaos that erupted in the county yamen, nor how the newly appointed Militia Commissioner Zhang sought justice on his behalf.

During that time, Zhang San sat him up twice to feed him medicinal broth. Everyone else had been driven out, so no one knew exactly how he managed it, but somehow every drop went down without spilling a single one.

Li Si had a strong constitution. He was young and resilient. By evening, his fever had already broken. Having eaten nothing since noon the previous day except several skewers of insects and two bowls of medicine, he was starving and eventually woke from hunger.

It was not yet fully dark. No lamps had been lit in the room, and no one was inside. Zhang San’s voice drifted faintly from outside. He was standing beneath the corridor discussing important matters with Liu Wu. Zhang San sounded calm, while Liu Wu seemed to be repeatedly trying to dissuade him from something.

Li Si climbed down from the bed on his own. His bare upper body was wrapped in medicated bandages. Spotting a teapot on the table, he staggered over, intending to drink some water first.

Unfortunately, he failed to notice the stool beneath his feet. He tripped badly, crashed into the table, and sent both the teapot and cups shattering to the floor.

Crash! Bang! Clatter!

Zhang San and Liu Wu immediately rushed in from outside and hurried over together to help him up. Liu Wu had intended to assist Militia Commissioner Zhang in carrying him back to bed, but Zhang San simply slipped one arm beneath Li Si’s knees and the other beneath his armpits, lifted him by himself, and carried him steadily back to the bed.

Li Si rested his head on Zhang San’s shoulder and, taking advantage of the position, rubbed his face against the hollow of his neck.

Liu Wu: “…”

Am I overthinking this, or are people from the capital always this intimate with their colleagues?

He shook his head. Seeing Zhang San’s completely natural expression and Li Si’s utterly innocent face, he concluded that he was indeed overthinking things.

Zhang San tucked Li Si tightly beneath the blankets and asked, “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere? Do your wounds hurt?”

Li Si’s eyes were still hazy with exhaustion. He stared fixedly at Zhang San and said only one word.

“Hungry.”

Zhang San turned around. “Brother Liu, could I trouble you to tell Sister Wu in the kitchen that he’s awake? After that, go get some rest. We can discuss everything tomorrow.”

Liu Wu lit a lamp for them, answered in agreement, and hurried away.

–

Only the two of them remained in the room.

Li Si struggled to sit up, so Zhang San helped him and let him lean against his shoulder.

“I knew you’d be hungry once you woke up,” Zhang San said. “I had Sister Wu make some porridge. There’s roe deer meat in it. The brothers in the fortress specifically hunted a roe deer in the forest yesterday. They originally planned to roast it for you last night.”

Li Si’s head still felt fuzzy, and he could not think of anything to say. He merely pressed his face against Zhang San’s shoulder, feeling profoundly at ease.

Zhang San’s warm hand stroked his hair as he sighed. “Little fool, you scared me half to death. If you’d gotten hurt like this on a battlefield, I might have been able to accept it. But all you did was crawl through a tunnel. How did you manage to come back covered in injuries?”

Li Si thought back carefully. It seemed he had not really done anything. He had simply emerged from the tunnel and run into Pighead. Just as he was about to beat him up, the magistrate had arrived with a crowd and surrounded him. After taking Pighead hostage and leaving the city, he had fainted.

If he had not saved Pighead, perhaps he would not have been captured or injured.

But shouldn’t Pighead have been saved?

Even if he had another chance, he would still save him.

He thought all of this in his heart, but his head remained too muddled to explain it. Then he heard Zhang San say, “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have pried that stone loose. I shouldn’t have let you go over there by yourself.”

Li Si shook his head vigorously.

If anyone was to blame, it was himself. He should have stayed where he was and waited for Brother Xiao instead of wandering off.

He should never have separated from Brother Xiao.

Now that he was back beside him, his heart felt completely at peace. After this brief separation, he found himself wanting to stay glued to Brother Xiao’s side at all times. He had never experienced such a clingy desire before. Although he had always listened to his second uncle and grandmother and depended on his family, he usually preferred being alone and never constantly clung to them.

The feeling was very strange.

But it made him very happy.

Turning his head, he buried his entire face in Brother Xiao’s shoulder until his cheeks felt warm all over.

Zhang San lightly smacked the back of his head.

“Dense as a rock.”

After receiving the little smack, Li Si felt even more at ease. Listening to Zhang San scold him and ramble on somehow made him happier.

As Zhang San scolded him, he tugged at his ear and rubbed his face. Suddenly, Li Si noticed something wrong. He lifted Zhang San’s hand and carefully examined it.

Zhang San had cleaned his hands and removed the filthy strips of cloth. Countless tiny cracks covered his palms.

—The injuries from digging through earth for an entire day and night.

Li Si stared blankly as he touched those wounds. Tears gradually welled in his eyes.

“It’s just a little injury. What the hell are you crying for?” Even his scolding voice was gentle. “Hold it back for me.”

Li Si pried open Zhang San’s outer robe again, insisting on checking the wound behind his left shoulder. Zhang San refused to let him look and stubbornly said, “It healed ages ago. I can use strength now. Hey, hey, stop pawing at me. How can you be so rude? Are you trying to take advantage of me again…”

⸻

Cook Wu came in carrying a tray. On it were a large bowl of fragrant roe deer congee and a large bowl of roe deer soup noodles. Zhang San was currently tangled up with Li Si, and quickly pulled his loosened robe closed while also pulling Li Si’s bedding back up. Fortunately, Cook Wu was focused on setting out the food and did not glance their way.

Li Si had not smelled proper meat in a very long time and was delighted. He insisted on putting on his outer robe and getting out of bed to eat at the table himself—eating in bed was too slow, and he was afraid of dirtying the bedding.

He buried his face in the bowl of congee and silently slurped it down. After only one mouthful, he caught the aroma of the soup noodles and found them equally tempting. He immediately grabbed his chopsticks, picked up a huge mouthful of noodle strips, and stuffed them into his mouth.

The other two people in the room watched him from the side, unable to stop gentle smiles from appearing on their faces. Anyone who kept a sleek, well-fed little creature at home would wear exactly the same expression while watching it eat seriously beside them.

Li Si ate with his head down at remarkable speed. Zhang San eventually realized something was wrong and stopped him. “Quit eating. If you keep going, you’ll give yourself indigestion. That bowl of soup noodles was actually made for me…”

Li Si gave a small embarrassed hiccup and pushed the half-finished bowl of congee and noodles toward him. Zhang San was not the least bit bothered. He took the chopsticks from Li Si’s hand and quickly finished the rest himself.

Cook Wu returned to the kitchen and brought back another bowl of congee. The two of them shared it, and only then were their stomachs finally full.

Back when Zhang San lived in the earthen fortress, he had already been fond of Cook Wu’s cooking. He said, “Sister Wu, I asked Deputy Magistrate Liu. The county magistrate wasn’t living in the yamen before, so the kitchen never operated. The duty constables all had to fend for their own meals. If you’re willing, how about temporarily becoming the head cook here at the county yamen? Tomorrow, bring your husband over from the fortress as well. He can help with miscellaneous work. The two of you can stay in the rear compound from now on. Pick whichever room you like. I’ll pay you a monthly stipend.”

Cook Wu shook her head repeatedly. “Boss, there’s no need to pay us anything! Letting us stay in such nice rooms, with food and shelter, is already a great kindness. Before, when you killed the bandits, you distributed money to every household. My husband and I still haven’t even spent ours.”

Zhang San did not argue with her. At present, he did not have a single copper coin to his name. He was still borrowing money to pay the physician treating Li Si’s wounds. Anything he said now would be empty words. Once he had money later, he could simply force it into her hands.

Cook Wu was overjoyed. After asking Li Si a few more caring questions, she collected the bowls and dishes and returned to the kitchen.

⸻

The room was once again left with only the two of them, both well fed. Zhang San fetched a basin of water and helped Li Si wash his face. Seeing that a full day of sleep had left his hair disheveled, he carefully avoided the wound on his forehead and tied his hair into an extremely crude, crooked, utterly disastrous topknot.

Li Si stared at his reflection in the water basin, completely stunned by the bird’s nest sitting on his head. On Zhang San, that hairstyle looked carefree and rakish. On Li Si, it looked as though a little horse’s head had exploded into bloom.

Even Zhang San felt embarrassed looking at it and wanted to undo it and try again. Li Si clutched his head and dodged repeatedly. Zhang San was heavy-handed, and during the combing, the comb had ended up covered in strands of hair he had pulled out.

During their tugging and wrestling, Li Si caught sight of the wound on his forehead reflected in the water. Red and swollen, it looked exactly like a raised beast horn.

He suddenly said, “The young master.”

“Hm?” said Zhang San.

“The young master with dragon horns. I’ve seen him.”

Zhang San’s expression immediately turned serious. “Where?”

Li Si stared blankly for a moment before remembering. “At… at your elder sister’s house.”

Zhang San froze.

⸻

Since holding court at the county yamen, Zhang San had been busy the entire day and had not yet found time to think about his elder sister.

Seven days earlier, he and Li Si had escaped Ant County. Constable Liu Wu had found the fire-spouting device on Daoist Ma’s corpse—a specially made fire tube—which proved there had never been any immortal fire magic. Yet the county magistrate flew into a rage from embarrassment and insisted that Liu Wu had failed in his duties by allowing the assassins to escape. He stripped Liu Wu of his position as head constable and gave it to another constable.

The new head constable was inferior to Liu Wu in martial skill, ability, and prestige. Eager to make achievements and win the magistrate’s favor, he had resorted to severe torture against Li Si.

Just as Liu Wu had predicted, the new head constable ended up taking the blame for the county magistrate. The magistrate only claimed he had ordered the capture and interrogation of the assassin. He had never explicitly ordered torture. The severe methods had been the new head constable’s own decision.

Zhang San had wanted to smash the right arm that held the whip, but Liu Wu stopped him. In private, Liu Wu advised him that the head constable’s crimes did not warrant such punishment. Besides, Militia Commissioner Zhang had only just assumed office. He had no troops, no horses, no power, and no popular support. If he chopped off an old constable’s arm immediately upon arrival, it might intimidate people, but it would also fill them with fear and resentment rather than genuine loyalty.

Remembering Chief Commander Wang’s warning to “act cautiously and never impulsively,” Zhang San forcibly swallowed his anger. In the end, he merely gave the head constable thirty lashes, flaying his back open, and then released him.

Commissioner Zhang took over the county yamen, sent the trembling county magistrate home to “rest properly,” claimed the rear compound for himself, settled the unconscious Li Si there, and hired a physician to treat him.

Meanwhile, he and the newly appointed County Commandant Liu Wu discussed the county’s military preparedness, supplies, provisions, and finances.

After working the entire day, he had not even had time to drink water. The only thing he consumed was a few mouthfuls of Li Si’s medicine, which was bitter enough to make him frown while holding it in his mouth. By evening, Li Si had finally awakened, and Zhang San shared half a bowl of soup noodles and half a bowl of millet porridge with him. Only then did he finally have a chance to catch his breath.

And then Li Si mentioned his elder sister.

Throughout the journey from Kuiyuan back to Ant County, Zhang San had thought about her more than once. Before, when he believed he would die in Kuiyuan, he had not dared to see her. Now that he had returned as the militia commissioner, he certainly could see her. Not only could he see her—he could see her every day. Yet now he found himself afraid again.

He did not know the phrase the closer one gets to home, the more timid one becomes. He only felt that he had wronged his elder sister too deeply and carried far too much guilt, leaving him terrified.

⸻

Zhang San was both anxious and fearful, and wanted to visit his elder sister that very night.

But the wind was strong, and light snow had begun to fall. He did not want to take the badly injured Li Si outside, but Li Si insisted on accompanying him. Unable to refuse, Zhang San wrapped him in a tiger-fur cloak and even covered his head with a tiger-fur hat.

Wearing straw rain hats, each carrying a lantern, the two walked through the thin layer of snow toward his elder sister’s home.

At that moment, the family of three was sitting beneath the corridor, warming themselves by the fire while arguing. The elder sister blamed her husband for failing to keep watch and letting the injured young man run away. The husband protested bitterly that the one sharing a room with the young man had been the younger brother. The elder sister retorted that the younger brother was all skin and bones and could never have stopped him, whereas the husband, as the brother-in-law, had not chased after him quickly enough. The husband became even more aggrieved, pointing out that both husband and wife had chased after him together.

The younger brother wanted to stop them from arguing, so he pretended to be fascinated by the snowfall in the courtyard. Unfortunately, the moment the couple noticed the snow, they became even more worried about the injured, feverish young man who seemed to be fleeing from the constables, and their argument only intensified.

Finally, the younger brother shouted, “Sis, brother-in-law, stop arguing! Since you’re both so worried, why don’t we go look for him again? Maybe he’s been hiding all day and collapsed in front of someone’s house tonight!”

The couple froze and both felt he made sense. Ah, as expected of a young master from a wealthy family. He had read so many books and was truly clever.

The three quickly prepared to leave. They lit lanterns, donned straw raincoats and straw hats, and got ready to search through the snow. Before leaving, they even agreed on a story: if they encountered constables searching the streets, they would claim that a newly adopted puppy had gone missing, and that the younger brother was crying and insisting on finding it, which was why the entire family was still out looking at night.

The brother-in-law carried the lantern, the elder sister brought a rope to pretend it was for catching the dog, and the younger brother stood ready to burst into tears and bark at a moment’s notice. United in purpose and full of determination, the family prepared to head out.

⸻

The moment the courtyard gate opened, a giant tiger carrying a lantern stood outside, startling the brother-in-law at the front so badly that he leapt three feet into the air.

“Mother of mercy! Wife, save me! Wife!”

Madam Zhang dragged her embarrassing husband behind her and looked carefully at the tiger. The tiger lifted its hat, revealing a pale, handsome face with a wound on its forehead. It was their missing little dog—no, their missing young man.

Madam Zhang exclaimed happily, “Young sir, we were just about to go look for you! We’ve been worried sick. You—”

The young man blinked and stepped aside, revealing a man hiding behind him.

The man was tall and broad-shouldered, dressed in a black padded jacket. His features were sharp and stern, and at first glance he looked intimidating and unfamiliar. Yet atop his head sat a bird’s-nest topknot that Madam Zhang found extremely familiar. His eyes were lowered, and he did not dare meet her gaze.

Madam Zhang froze.

At that moment, her husband spoke up. “Ah, ah, stop standing around. Hurry inside. It’s freezing out here.”

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