Chapter 3

Just after the new moon, a slender crescent moon, fine as a curtain hook, hung in the pitch-black night sky. Apart from the dim pole star, no other stars were visible.

The earth was as dark as ink, with only the two torches made of reed at the entrance of the manor casting a patch of orange light. In the shadows by the gate, two soldiers holding spears could be vaguely seen, occasionally stamping their feet due to the cold. Their shadows flickered, resembling ghosts.

However, in the darkness, a nimble figure was approaching the wall at an incredible speed. The person darted into the shadows beside the gate, slightly poking his head out to glance at the guards. His upper body briefly appeared at the outer edge of the torchlight.

This was a young man in his early twenties, with a face as smooth as jade, eyes like bright stars, a straight nose, and slightly thick lips. He had a faint mustache. He wore a brown headband, a small bamboo cap, and a plain black-edged robe. The robe's hem was tucked into a leather belt at his waist, and the wide sleeves were rolled up, revealing his snow-white forearms. One hand was empty, while the other tightly gripped a four-foot-long iron sword.

From a distance, the two soldiers seemed dazed, as if they might nod off at any moment. The young man knew this was his chance, so he pulled his head back and discreetly waved his empty hand behind him.

The night was silent, with only the occasional "crack" from the torches. The young man waved his hand, then leaned against the wall, waiting for a while, but no companion appeared. He grew impatient and waved again, but still, nothing happened.

With no other choice, the young man bent his body and carefully stepped away from the wall, silently leaping to a large locust tree about ten paces away. The moonlight briefly brightened, then dimmed again. In that moment of brightness, two figures, one tall and one short, could be vaguely seen behind the tree.

"Why didn't you come when I waved?" The young man's voice, deliberately lowered, was thick with anger.

"Master," the taller one said with a bitter laugh, "We were so far away, and it was so dark. How could we see your signal?"

"What about you, Afei? Aren't you known for your keen eyesight, able to see a sparrow's tail feather from ten paces away?"

The shorter one immediately complained, "That's during the day, Master. I eat like a pig every day, so I must have night blindness."

"What night blindness?"

"He can't see at night," the taller one explained, then changed the subject, "Master, are you really going to scout at night? Afei's night blindness makes his archery useless, and there are no fewer than five hundred county soldiers inside and outside the manor. Just the two of us..."

"When our lord and his family are in trouble, how can we not help?" The young man clenched his teeth. "Follow me, and Afei will stay here to provide support."

The two companions quickly disappeared into the darkness. Afei, the one they called "Afei," was also a young man, about the same height as the one with the headband and cap, but with a much younger face, no mustache, and disheveled hair. He wore a coarse linen short coat, a pair of split-crotch pants, and straw shoes. He carried a large cloth bag on his left shoulder, a quiver of arrows at his waist, a bow in his left hand, and leaned against the locust tree, peering out cautiously—yet he could see nothing but the hazy circle of light at the manor gate.

"Damn their ancestors!" Afei cursed in his heart. "Every day it's just rough rice and pickled vegetables, and not even enough to fill me up. Now you want me to risk my life in the dark... You're asking for it, but why drag me into it? I'm your servant, not your bodyguard!"

He couldn't help but raise his right hand to touch the bag on his shoulder, and a highly irresponsible thought flashed through his mind: "I should just run... How can I provide support in this darkness? I can't see anything. There should be money in this bag... But if this family doesn't fall, where can I run as an escaped slave?"

As he was struggling with this internal conflict, a loud gong sounded from the manor, and the lights suddenly turned on, even illuminating Afei hiding behind the tree. He shuddered in fear, almost falling to the ground. "Damn, we've been discovered!"

Suddenly, another thought flashed through his mind: "No, how could all the lights turn on at once? It's an ambush, definitely an ambush!" He turned to run, but before he could take a step, he heard heavy footsteps behind him. His arm was grabbed by a hand like an iron clamp. Afei was terrified and blurted out, "Don't grab me, I'm just passing by to buy soy sauce..." Before he could finish, the person holding him said a single word, "Go," and with a strong force, dragged him into the darkness.

The word "Go" was so familiar, clearly from his companion, and Afei finally calmed down. He didn't care about the darkness, the mud, the stones, the thorns, or the roots. Stumbling, he used his companion's strength to run as fast as he could. The gongs and shouts behind them gradually faded into silence.

Just as the sounds faded, the companion who was holding his arm stumbled and lunged forward, face first, with a thud, and didn't move again. Afei was pulled down, scraping his face and hands, and his bow flew out of his hand, landing somewhere in the darkness.

After rolling on the ground for a while, he finally freed himself from his companion's grip and got up, panting heavily. When he tried to push his companion, his hands came away warm and wet, and he could smell a faint metallic scent. "Damn, this is blood... whose blood?"

He pushed his companion several times, harder each time, and the companion finally let out a faint groan. Afei exhaled deeply, his limbs weak, and finally sat down on the ground.

"A-Afei..." The companion's voice was extremely weak. "Are you okay...?"

"Y-Yes, it was an ambush, right?" Afei's teeth chattered. "I'm fine, M-Master..."

"There was an ambush... Master and the lord have been... sigh..." The companion sighed deeply, then turned over, groaned in pain, and grabbed Afei's arm. "Our only option is to go to the North Sea to find the elder, to avenge the lord and his son... Do you know the way? Find a boat from the coast of Suicheng... go... go..."

His voice grew weaker and finally fell silent. The hand that had grabbed Afei's arm slowly loosened and fell to the ground. Afei sat on the ground, in complete darkness, breathing heavily, not daring to move. After a long time, he finally gathered the courage to reach out and touch his companion's face, placing his palm over the nose—no breath. He then felt along the mouth, chin, and neck, pressing his fingers for a long time—

"Dead? Damn, he's really dead... So now it's just me, all alone again..."

He slowly bent his knees and knelt before his companion's body. Suddenly, he leaned forward, his head thudding to the ground, and his arms slowly folded, his hands cradling the back of his head. He wanted to shout but didn't dare, not knowing how far away the pursuers were. He just kept muttering, "Damn this cruel sky, are you done playing with me? What should I do... Where can I go... To the North Sea? A thousand miles away, and I have to cross the sea? Can anyone survive the sea these days... But they did come from the sea back then..."

"North Sea!" A bold idea suddenly flashed through his mind. He straightened up, reached for the bag on his shoulder, and muttered, "Damn sky, give me some light!" As he cursed, he untied the bag and reached inside—

"Ah, this is a change of clothes, and... damn, there's a cap... This hard and cold thing, is it money? Ah, this is the letter... I need to read what's written in it."

In the distance, the sound of a gong seemed to come again, but he wasn't sure if it was real or just his imagination. Afei didn't dare to stay, so he quickly retied the bag, put it on his back, and crawled a few steps to pick up his bow. He stood up, squinting in the darkness, and tried to identify the position of the pole star, then headed in the opposite direction, stumbling and limping toward the distance.

He set off in the middle of the night and didn't stop until the first light of dawn, when he finally heard the sound of rushing water. "It must be the Lie River... the Da Tong River. Theoretically, the pursuers shouldn't be able to find me here." As he relaxed, he felt his bones and muscles ache, and his face and hands stung with pain.

He leaned against a large tree and sat down, took off the bag, and pulled out the crucial letter—two wooden tablets. In the dim morning light, Afei untied the rope binding the tablets, unfolded them, and read them carefully and softly:

"Respectfully to my elder brother: It has been seventeen years since I left our hometown with Lord Wu..."

The letter was short, less than two hundred characters, and Afei quickly finished reading it. He exhaled deeply, "Very good, very good. Nothing important is said, and there's no other token besides this letter." He looked up, gazing at the red, rising sun through the gaps in the mountains, "Damn sky, you've given me a chance, even though the future is uncertain..."

He didn't know where the strength came from, but he suddenly jumped up, shook out the bag, and took out all the clothes inside. He took off his coarse linen coat, put on a silk robe, threw away his straw shoes, and put on cloud-patterned shoes. He tied his disheveled hair into a topknot, put on a small cap, and inserted a pin, then laughed, pounding his chest—

"Ha ha ha, from today on, I am no longer a barbarian from the East, no longer a slave to a noble family, no longer a commoner, but a scholar, a member of the ruling class! Even if it's a lower-level one... Ah, cough, cough, cough..."

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