Chapter 1

Liao Rizhi, he limped down the road.

Inside the house, Li Wei, who was half-kneeling and supporting his mother, looked at Li Yan with an apologetic expression and said, "Fifth Brother, Third Brother."

"Third Brother, you don't need to say anything. The family will need more of your care from now on," Li Yan gently smiled at his third brother and interrupted, "Maybe I can become a general or something in the future, and then I'll bring all of you to enjoy a better life."

Li Wei looked at him for a long time, then sighed softly. He then looked at their mother, who was still sobbing softly while being patted on the back by their fourth sister, and comforted her, "Maybe the Li family will only have Fifth Brother to bring glory to the ancestors from now on."

In fact, Li Wei and Li Yan had heard their father and the villagers who went to the city to sell wild game meat or furs, or to buy daily necessities, say that their town was a border town. To the south was the Meng Kingdom, and the likelihood of border wars was quite high. In recent years, wars had broken out from time to time. Therefore, the town had been frequently conscripting soldiers. In the past, conscription required each village to write a guarantee, proving the age, identity, and past conduct of the conscripts. Now, as long as the village chief sent them, they could join the army. This was due to the current emperor's emphasis on literature and virtue, which led to a decline in military power, causing neighboring countries to become restless and frequent uprisings. In recent years, not only this direction but other border areas had also seen wars break out. As a result, the central imperial army's deployment could not meet the local defense needs, and local garrisons had to recruit soldiers on the spot to replenish the ranks.

The local people knew that the probability of being sent to war was high, so their enthusiasm for joining the army was not very high. The local defense forces, bound by the emperor's laws emphasizing literature and virtue, could not forcibly conscript soldiers. Therefore, in recent years, those who joined the army would receive a lump sum payment to their families, which was essentially a resettlement fee, to encourage more people to join. This policy did indeed attract many farmers to send their sons to join the army, but this was mostly from poor families, not wealthy merchants or large landowners.

However, these situations were not known by the women in the village. In a world where men were respected and women were subordinate, men rarely discussed these matters with their wives and daughters-in-law. These topics were often used as conversation starters during village head meetings or while working in the fields, especially in their village, which was over two hundred miles from the county town. The village had only about twelve to thirteen households, and it was rare for anyone to join the army. However, Li Wei and Li Yan could hear about these matters while working in the fields or traveling in the mountains with the team.

Then, the room fell silent again. After a long time, the old man Li knocked his pipe on the threshold and said, "I'll go find the village chief. You two rest." He then walked out into the night under the moonlight, and soon his figure disappeared in the early autumn moonlight.

The moonlight filtered through the wooden window frames with broken paper, casting light on the bed. Two old, tattered quilts, exposing cotton in places, covered Li Wei and Li Yan, who were lying back-to-back.

"Fifth Brother, in the army, stay calm when things happen. Endure where you can, don't be too aggressive."

"Um."

After a moment of silence, "If, if there's a war, and if no one is watching, don't rush to the front. Fall back a few steps."

"Um."

Another moment of silence, "At home, you don't need to worry. With the money you send home, I'll take care of Father and Mother. Use your monthly salary to buy more meat for yourself."

"Um. Third Brother, do more of the farm work. Father and Mother are getting old."

"Alright, as long as I'm here, Father and Mother won't go hungry."

"..."

The silence and occasional words continued.

The moonlight was like water, and the night was cool.

In the middle of the night, the door to the main room creaked softly. The brothers stopped talking, and then the low, almost inaudible voices of their father and mother could be heard from the side room. Soon after, the low sobs of their fourth sister and mother could be heard, indicating that their fourth sister had been with their mother all along.

Li Yan still lay facing away from his third brother, staring blankly at the wall in the darkness. The cracks on the wall, illuminated by the hazy moonlight, seemed to be the voices of his family and the memories of the past, spreading from his head to his heart.