Futile Devices Scans

Li Si’s hand stopped.

Commander Zhang—he had not heard those words in a very long time.

That day, after learning from Administrator Li that the court had ceded the three towns and that Brother Xiao had deceived him, he had walked through the streets in a daze, unable to understand why his chest hurt as though it had been cut open. Was it resentment toward Brother Xiao for lying to him?

But after returning home and finding Grandma injured, he had no time left to “resent” Brother Xiao.

During the month that followed, he hurried back and forth every day, coming and going busily, worrying about news from Kuiyuan, yet unconsciously allowing Brother Xiao’s face to blur inside his heart.

Because every time he thought of Brother Xiao, that heart-carving pain surged up into his chest again, leaving him unable to breathe and trapping him in torment.

Li Si was not good at expressing the gloom and distress in his heart. Ever since separating from Brother Xiao, he had also lost the desire to confide in anyone. Every day, he simply lowered his head and worked. Although he spoke with Grandma and Godmother, their conversations were all mutual concern and reminders. That pain had remained buried deep inside him, suppressed with all his strength, yet one sentence from the Strongman suddenly sent it surging back to the surface…

＊

Li Si’s face went pale, and his fingers tightened even further.

The Strongman let out a string of muffled miserable cries, whining and begging for mercy. After much pleading and coaxing, he finally rescued his poor ear—it had nearly been stretched longer! Now the two sides did not even match!

With a cold face, Li Si demanded that the Strongman take him to see the “Immortal Fire Army.” The Strongman already both respected and feared him, so there was no need for threats at all. He hurriedly agreed to take him that very night, then fled first with both hands protecting his ears.

＊

That night, Li Si followed the Strongman to the Immortal Fire Army’s camp.

He had not expected this hastily recruited force to already number three thousand. Perfected Master Shenxiao had selected a group of Imperial Guard soldiers whose Five Phases belonged to fire—unlike the Commander, who had carefully chosen capable men and strong fighters, Shenxiao cared about nothing except whether they belonged to fire.

Afterward, he gathered another huge group of local ruffians and scoundrels whose phases belonged to fire from among the common people and somehow scraped together three thousand men. The group was a mixture of good and bad, and most of it was bad: petty crooks, swindlers, vicious scoundrels, men both lazy and cowardly. They were perfectly capable when it came to bullying common people, but the instant they encountered an enemy they would scatter like water and be utterly useless.

But what did Perfected Master Shenxiao care? So long as he sat securely in the position of State Preceptor, enjoyed the grand reputation of “protecting the state,” soothed His Majesty’s anxious and unsettled heart, stuffed his own pockets from military pay, immersed himself in his beautiful dream of being an Immortal Master, and muddled through one day after another, that was enough.

Li Si trembled with anger, gripping the hilt of his saber tightly. The Strongman feared that he would draw it and chop off a pig’s head in public—or charge back into the palace and cut down the Immortal Master. His hair practically stood on end as he kept pleading, “Don’t be angry! Don’t be angry!”

Li Si clenched his teeth, closed his eyes, and forced himself to calm down.

What use was anger? What use was impulse? What use was killing the Strongman? If he charged into the palace and cut down that demonic Daoist, how could he possibly escape unharmed? And what kind of trouble would Grandma and Godmother be dragged into?

He remained silent for a long while before telling the Strongman, “For now, pick out the men who can actually be used and put them in the upper army. Train them properly. Put all the lazy and unruly ones in the lower army and keep them under strict control. Do not let them go into the streets to cause trouble or harass the common people.”

The Strongman agreed repeatedly, then asked him for a great deal of advice on training soldiers before seeing him out of the camp with trembling caution.

＊

Li Si had walked barely a hundred paces when he remembered all of Brother Xiao’s words and actions while serving as “Commander Zhang”: the respect and kindness he showed his subordinates and the common people, and the way everyone admired and obeyed him wholeheartedly…

Still wearing a cold expression, Li Si turned around again, frightening the Strongman into another fit of trembling. The Strongman asked ingratiatingly, “Deputy Commander Li, is there something else?”

Li Si’s expression remained cold, but his tone softened. “Strongman, may I ask your honorable surname and given name?”

Indeed, they had known each other for so long, yet the Strongman had never had an opportunity to give his name, and Li Si had never asked.

Flattered beyond measure, the Strongman said, “Oh, no need for anything so respectful, none at all! This lowly one’s name is Zheng Jiu—Zheng with the ear radical, Jiu as in wine.”

Li Si cupped his fists and saluted him seriously. “Brother Zheng, you have done bad things, but you are not a bad person. Commander Zhang also said that you have a conscience…”

Carefully omitting the words “but not much,” he continued seriously, “These soldiers will eventually go into battle and defend the city with you. The safety of the capital will also rest upon all of you. I must trouble you to put real effort into training them.”

Zheng Jiu had been an orphan with no one to discipline him since childhood, drifting through the capital’s streets and spending more than ten years as a thug. Only now, already in his twenties, after receiving two brutal beatings from Li Si and making a trip to the gates of hell, had he finally awakened and turned himself around. Never in his life had anyone spoken such kind words to him. Tears and snot streamed down his face as he repeatedly declared his loyalty. “Rest assured! This lowly one will definitely do everything he can! I’ll train them seriously!”

＊

From that day onward, Li Si became even busier.

Aside from his daily work at the Imperial City Directorate and caring for his family, whenever his rest rotation came around, he also went to the Immortal Fire Army’s camp to help Zheng Jiu train the soldiers. From those three thousand hopeless cases, Zheng Jiu struggled to pick out two thousand for the upper army, dragged the crooked, unsteady lot onto the drill ground, and somehow began training them.

When Tao Shi learned about it, he volunteered to help as well. One after another, other soldiers who had gone to Ant County heard what they were doing and came over on their days off to “meddle in other people’s business.”

Right beneath the noses of His Majesty and the Immortal Master, this group of ordinary soldiers who were neither generals nor commanders secretly took an army that might otherwise have brought disaster to the nation and, little by little, whipped it into something resembling a real fighting force.

＊

Spring gradually grew warmer, and wild grasses flourished throughout the little courtyard Li Si had rented.

Grandma could now speak in complete sentences, and with Li Si supporting her, she could barely get out of bed and walk a little. Li Si had never told her about Second Uncle, but the old woman might have been blind in her eyes, not in her heart. She had long since guessed that her second son would never return. At night, she secretly shed tears, yet during the day she behaved as if nothing had happened, refusing to let her grandson and goddaughter see her sorrow.

The physician instructed Li Si to help Grandma move around every day and let her spend more time in the sun, so Li Si decided to clear away the weeds in the courtyard and make more space.

One pitch-black night, he lit a lantern and crouched in the courtyard pulling weeds. He failed to notice a clump of thorns growing in the corner, and the moment he reached out—

“Ow!”

Hearing him, Madam Yao ran out of the house. “Si’er! What happened?”

“Nothing. A weed pricked me.” Li Si held the lantern over the thorny clump. It was made entirely of green branches covered in sharp thorns, without a single little flower among them. He could not tell what kind of plant it was.

“Godmother, I’ll get the woodcutting knife and chop it down.”

Madam Yao looked more closely and stopped him. “That’s a China rose, also called the Four Seasons Flower. It blooms in spring and in winter too. It’s very hardy.”

Li Si covered the bleeding back of his hand and crouched down to examine the rosebush. It had grown into a dense cluster, covered in sharp thorns and baring its claws like something spoiling for a fight. It certainly looked hardy enough. But it was nearly bare, with only a few scattered little leaves. How could something like this possibly bloom?

Madam Yao said, “Give it some fertilizer. It’ll come alive in a few days.”

So Li Si pulled out all the weeds in the courtyard, leaving only the rosebush with its wildly growing branches, proudly showing off its strength. Following Godmother’s instructions, he crushed dried eggshells into powder. In the mornings before leaving, he watered it; at night, he carried a lantern outside and buried fertilizer around it—and, naturally, was pricked into yelping again and again.

＊

In mid-March, His Majesty finally gathered enough excuses. He declared that the Xiao army had burned, killed, and looted along the road during its withdrawal and had therefore violated the peace agreement first, so the previous promise to cede the three towns no longer counted. In court, he repeatedly proclaimed, “Not one inch of our ancestors’ land may be given to another,” in ringing tones; he issued a new edict to the three towns retracting the previous order and sent several great generals north with troops to reinforce them.

Among them were the venerable Commissioner Zuo, Zuo Shi Dao, and his own younger brother Zuo Shi Zhong, himself also a renowned general.

When Li Si learned of this, he was filled with joy and hope. He thought that now, at last, Kuiyuan would be safe.

＊

However, the court did not relinquish military authority. His Majesty himself and the civil officials of the Privy Council continued commanding the army from afar. Not long after old General Zuo set out, advanced age caused him to fall ill on the road, and he had no choice but to temporarily resign. His younger brother Zuo Shi Zhong replaced him as commander, only to become trapped in an encirclement and die in a brutal battle. The other reinforcement forces also suffered crushing defeats and withdrew.

＊

In May, news of the great defeat reached the court. His Majesty was furious, dismissed one group of officials, and had another group beheaded.

The war situation once again fell into a deadlock.

＊

When Li Si learned the news, it happened to be his rest day, and he was on the drill ground helping Zheng Jiu train soldiers.

Zheng Jiu spoke quietly about the matter and added that His Majesty had appointed Defense Commissioner Li as Pacification Commissioner of Hebei and Hedong, assigning him to take over the command and march north once again to reinforce Kuiyuan. But Defense Commissioner Li was a civil official. In his entire life, he had fought only a single city-defense battle—and even that had lasted merely three days before both sides suspended hostilities and began peace negotiations. How was he supposed to command a great army in open warfare?

The Strongman worried that after sending troops north again and again only to suffer defeat after defeat, Great Xuan would finally enrage the Xiao state into marching south against the capital once more. Then the Immortal Fire Army might truly have to take the field to defend the city.

Li Si no longer worried about whether the Immortal Fire Army could defend the city. He worried only that Perfected Master Shenxiao would command recklessly and lead them into some suicidal demonic absurdity. Even more, he worried about Kuiyuan, already scorched by five months of war, and insignificant little Ant County, which no one at court cared about at all.

The weather in May had already turned hot. The blazing sun hung high, and all the soldiers on the drill ground had been tanned dark. Zheng Jiu, especially, was drenched in sweat.

Li Si himself had tanned somewhat too, yet unlike before, he no longer wore a face covering to hide from the sunlight or other people’s gazes. Beneath the blazing sun, he stood calmly with the soldiers, his heart heavy with worry and his expression colder and sterner than ever, already possessing the authority of a leader.

Two tiny sparrows flew over beneath the bright sun and pecked at bits of spilled horse bran on the ground. Once their bellies were full, they hopped onto a nearby wooden rack and began to play, chasing and jumping after each other.

Li Si tilted his head and watched them. For the first time, he clearly saw that inside the sparrows’ tiny pointed beaks were soft little pink tongues. The two birds chirped and hopped for a while, then stopped, pressed their heads together, rubbed their fluffy little heads against one another, and pecked at each other’s beaks.

One was clearly fluffier and plumper. It pressed the smaller sparrow down and repeatedly caught the other’s little tongue in its beak, gently pecking at it. The smaller sparrow chirped nonstop, yet neither dodged nor resisted. Instead, it affectionately nuzzled upward.

Li Si stared blankly. The cold sternness on his face melted like ice and snow, revealing innocence and bewilderment.

Zheng Jiu asked, “Deputy Commander Li, what are you looking at?”

Li Si answered blankly, “Sparrows… fighting. It’s bullying it…”

Zheng Jiu looked over and burst out laughing. “Hahaha! Deputy Commander Li, that isn’t bullying!” He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Deputy Commander, you aren’t that young anymore. Have you never had anything to do with romance? Even birds know this, and you don’t?”

Li Si turned to look at him blankly. Seeing the teasing smile on his face, he asked in confusion, “What is romance?”

Zheng Jiu pressed two fat fingers together in an obscene imitation of intimacy. “A young gentleman and a young lady in love, being tender with each other! If Deputy Commander wants to know, I can take you to the pleasure lanes tonight and broaden your experience. Even our Emperor Emeritus used to go often. His romantic affairs with the courtesan Li Shi Shi have been written into who knows how many storybooks…”

Zheng Jiu chattered on about the Emperor Emeritus’s long-past romantic escapades, but not a single word entered Li Si’s ears.

He stared blankly at the two sparrows affectionately touching beaks. Beneath the blazing sun, all the blood in his body seemed to catch fire, as though even his bones were burning into powder…

Zheng Jiu chattered for a long while without receiving the slightest response. He lowered his fingers and looked up, only to suck in a startled breath.

—Li Si stood utterly silent, yet tears already covered his face.

＊

Li Si did not finish training the soldiers that day.

He had grown a little, but he was still not mature or strong enough to disguise himself as calmly and naturally as Brother Xiao had back then.

With tears streaming down his face, he once again wandered through the capital’s streets in a daze.

The Xiao army had withdrawn two or three months earlier, and although the capital had been looted nearly empty, it soon recovered its prosperity. Tribute and taxes from the south flowed continuously along the rivers aboard boats large and small, filling the national treasury again. Teahouses and wine shops, entertainment quarters and brothels were once more crowded and noisy, dressing the city again in the illusion of a peaceful and flourishing age.

Li Si walked through those lively streets and alleys in a daze. None of the prosperity or clamor had anything to do with him. All he could think about was that small mountain city, the thick snow in the mountains, the shattered sunlight through the forest, and a pair of hands with their fingers intertwined.

Ever since returning to the capital, every time he thought of Brother Xiao, his chest hurt as though his heart were being cut open. He had once thought he was suffering from some strange illness. He had once thought it was “resentment” toward Brother Xiao for deceiving him…

Only now did he finally understand.

They were husband and wife. They were mutually in love. They were tender and affectionate.

But Brother Xiao had said: Little fool, I’ll bully you one last time.

Brother Xiao clearly loved him too. Clearly he wanted to be tender and affectionate with him, yet he had still deceived him.

So that final tenderness had been Brother Xiao’s farewell.

So Brother Xiao had carved away his heart.

＊

In a trance, Li Si returned home. When he pushed open the courtyard gate, he saw the large clump of green thorns in the corner. That wild rosebush, baring its teeth and claws, had formed a tiny bud at the tip of its highest branch—and on this very day, it had bloomed.

In this prosperous age, the peony was honored: masses of brocade blossoms, heavenly fragrance and national beauty, famous throughout the realm. The wildflower in the corner was not even half the size of a peony, and its faint red could not compare to a peony’s graceful splendor. Li Si had never pruned its branches or trimmed its leaves, simply allowing it to grow however it pleased. It had therefore produced no abundant mass of flowers, only this single tiny bloom.

But that solitary, tenacious, high-spirited little flower faced the faint breeze and bathed in the blazing sunlight, proudly lifting its head toward Li Si and displaying its beauty without restraint.

Li Si stood dazed at the courtyard gate, his eyes red from crying, staring fixedly at it.

He remained there for a very, very long time.

＊

After a long while, Godmother supported Grandma out of the house, intending to let her bask in the courtyard sun. Only then did the two women discover Li Si standing foolishly at the gate. Both were startled by his reddened eyes and hurriedly asked what had happened.

Li Si wiped away the tear stains, ran forward several steps, and helped Godmother support Grandma. He shook his head. “I’m fine. I remembered someone I knew in Kuiyuan. Godmother, stay with Grandma and let her enjoy the sun. I’ll cook.”

Calmly, as though nothing had happened, he lit the fire and cooked, washed clothes and swept, and tidied the house until everything was clean and neat. Then he went out, bought the next month’s medicinal herbs for Grandma, and carried home a basket piled full of charcoal.

That night, after helping Grandma to bed early and giving Godmother several reminders, he left alone for a place he had never visited before.

—Administrator Li’s private residence outside the palace.

He respectfully called upon Administrator Li and begged him to speak a few good words before His Majesty so that, now that the court had money again, the soldiers’ long-overdue reward of three thousand guan could finally be issued.

Administrator Li told him not to worry. He had already been doing everything he could to press the matter, and the money ought to be issued the following month.

Li Si felt relieved. Then he made another request: he wanted an opportunity to meet His Majesty privately and speak to him.

Administrator Li asked in confusion, “Why?”

Li Si lowered his head. “I heard that His Majesty has appointed Defense Commissioner Li as Pacification Commissioner of Hebei and Hedong and ordered him to take over the command and march north again to support Kuiyuan. I want to beg His Majesty to allow me to go with the army.”

Administrator Li said in shock, “Why? Absolutely not! Even the younger Commissioner Zuo suffered a great defeat and died. Right now, the court has neither soldiers nor grain. Defense Commissioner Li has only been framed by the peace-faction ministers, who want to use this chance to force him out of the capital. Once he goes, he is certain to suffer a great defeat too! Whether he lives or dies will be impossible to say!”

Li Si answered, “That is exactly why I should go all the more. I have been to Kuiyuan and Ant County, and I know the situation there. I have a way to contact Kuiyuan City and unite the defenders with the reinforcements, which can help Defense Commissioner Li fight this battle. On the day I returned to the capital, I told His Majesty about the secret passage in Ant County, but at the time His Majesty must have been wholly intent on ceding the three towns and did not want to hear the details. I want to speak to him again now. Even if he still refuses to listen, at the very least let me go with the army so that I can explain everything clearly to Defense Commissioner Li.”

Administrator Li remained silent for a long time, then sighed. “Since you have such resolve and truly care nothing for life or death, I will do everything I can to help you.”