The Soldier

There was a well in the village, and the earthen building also had a stove. Once the pot was set up, it could be used. Here, at last, they could eat a comfortable hot meal.

Taking a sip of the wild vegetable soup and a bite of the coarse grain steamed bun, a profoundly comfortable Li Huowang felt as if the blisters on his lips had shrunk considerably.

Swallowing the food in his mouth, Li Huowang looked up at Gao Zhijian, who had stood watch the previous night, and asked, “No one came poking around last night, right?”

“N-no… no… no one. Not a-a-a single person.”

Li Huowang glanced again at Mantou, who was crouching under the table without any sign of abnormality. His thoughts drifted back to the strange wedding feast from the night before.

Even if there was nothing wrong for now, he still felt that there was something off in that man’s eyes. At some point, he seemed to have started to vaguely discern the meaning in other people’s gazes.

That man’s look was definitely not that of a kind curiosity. It was a kind of wariness and caution.

“We’ll rest here today and set out again tomorrow morning. Dogwa, go into the village this afternoon and gather some dry rations. We’re running low on main staples in the cart. Gao Zhijian and Chun Xiaoman, go with him. Don’t let your guard down.”

“Sure, you can leave these little matters to your Cao Cao, boss.”

After another glance at Bai Lingmiao, who was whispering with Chun Xiaoman, Li Huowang said no more and buried his head in his food.

That afternoon, taking advantage of the rare free time, Li Huowang once again took out the True Sutra of the Fire Vestments and began to practice.

However, he still had no good method for gathering pity within his heart.

Just as he was barely managing to condense the cluster of white wax, he suddenly sensed someone outside watching the place where he was staying.

Li Huowang quickly put away the True Sutra of the Fire Vestments and opened the window. He saw the village guardian from the night before, sniffling, standing outside with a foolish grin on his face.

“Him? Can I get something out of him?”

A sudden inspiration struck Li Huowang. He swiftly descended the stairs, grabbed a few of the coarse grain steamed buns meant for the evening meal from the kitchen, and walked toward the village guardian.

Li Huowang held up a steamed bun and shook it in front of the man. The man’s eyes locked onto it unblinkingly.

“I’ll ask you something. If you can answer, this steamed bun is yours. How about that?”

“Good~!!” The dull-witted village guardian immediately nodded.

“What’s your name?”

“Don’t… don’t know it. My ma says my name is… is Xing.”

“Excellent. Here’s your steamed bun.”

Seeing that talking could actually get him a steamed bun, the village guardian named Xing beamed with joy until a snot bubble formed at his nose.

“One more question, all right? At the feast yesterday, that man who was beating the gong, who is he? What does he do?”

“Hou… Hou the Second. He’s a soldier. The First Hou got married, so he came back.”

“A soldier?! That guy is a soldier of the Later Shu?” So that meant he was someone from the official side?

In all his time in this world, aside from the grunt soldiers guarding the border, he had never come into contact with anyone on the official side.

Li Huowang felt a certain confusion about this. Faced with this mad world and the unexplainable evil spirits, how exactly did the people on the official side maintain order and deal with trouble?

Faced with this question, the simpleton fell silent, staring longingly at the steamed bun in Li Huowang’s hand.

As soon as he received the bun, his chatterbox opened up again. “I don’t know what kind of soldier he is. He’s just a soldier. He’s got a really, really big iron spear. I can’t lift it. It’s way too heavy.”

His brow slightly furrowed, Li Huowang looked down the path, squinting into the distance at the stone lions in front of the Hou family home. “So where is he now?”

“He left. The First Hou got married, so he went away.”

Hearing that the man had left, Li Huowang felt a little more at ease. No matter who that guy was, as long as he wasn’t some random evil spirit.

Besides, he probably wouldn’t cross paths with him again. And if his guess was correct, the current authority figures should be tearing their hair out trying to figure out why decay had disappeared.

Just then, Li Huowang half-turned his body as an aged voice came from behind him. “Silly boy, moochin’ off someone else’s grub, are ya?”

Li Huowang recognized the newcomer. He was the groom’s father from the night before. The man still wore his watermelon-cap and silk clothes. “Greetings, Elder.”

“Oh, you’ve come to our place for the feast, Daoist, no need to be so polite with me. That’ll just make things distant.”

As the two of them chatted, the village guardian, seeing there were no more steamed buns, waddled away with his pigeon-toed gait.

Watching his grubby back, Li Huowang asked the old man beside him, “Elder, they say this village guardian can ward off disasters. Is that really true? Has he ever helped ward off disasters for you all before?”

Though it was just something Gao Zhijian had mentioned, in this world, anything was possible.

“Hah, what disaster, what warding off? If there’s real trouble, can a half-wit like him really stop it? A couple of years back when the drought came, he didn’t eat any less himself.

“It’s just some saying the village uses so a simpleton with no family doesn’t starve to death. Anyone with eyes can see that.”

“Your village is benevolent, Elder.”

“Nothin’ benevolent about it. It’s a rule handed down from the ancestors. A single village can only support one fool. Any more than that, and we wouldn’t have enough grain. Say, Daoist, are you fellas deliverin’ that escort gonna pass through Ji City?”

Hearing the other party’s sudden turn in conversation, Li Huowang was caught off guard. So he hadn’t just run into him by chance on a stroll. He had come specifically to find him.

“My eldest daughter lives there too. Could you take a message for her? Nothin’ important, just tell her that her little brother’s taken a wife, and their household is about to get another mouth to feed. How much silver would that be?”

“You are too polite, Elder. Having been a guest at your family feast, I am a guest in your house. To deliver a message for one’s host, there is no need for silver.”

Hearing Li Huowang’s words, the old man didn’t insist and told him the location of his daughter’s house.

After noting it down, Li Huowang suddenly remembered something. “Earlier, didn’t you mention that your second son happened to be leaving? Why not have him deliver the message? He’s on horseback—he’s much faster than our escort cart.”

“The second boy is returnin’ to camp. How could he go to his sister’s place? He can’t go. He had to beg for a long time just to get these two days of leave. Ah, I wonder if there’s gonna be another war.”

“Elder, what is your son’s position in the camp? Is he a high-ranking officer?”

Li Huowang’s question clearly struck a chord with the old man. His voice grew louder as he preened with pride.

“Nothin’ to sneeze at! He serves as a short-sword in the camp.”

“Short-sword? What’s that?”

“Eh~! Don’t you get it? Well, truth be told, I didn’t get it either at first. The second boy told me. He says this ‘short-sword’ is the bodyguard for the big general.”

“You know that saying from the book-bags, ‘short-swords clash’? That’s when two generals meet on the battlefield.

“Just think about it, could a fellow who stands beside a big general be a small official?”

“Take a look at our big house, my ox-cart, and the two stone lions at our gate. All that was bought with my son’s money.”