~~~

“You!”

As soon as he leaves the courthouse, Liu Jin is yelled at by Chu Jiayue, the daughter of City Lord Chu. The young woman angrily stomps her way to him. There are numerous servants trailing behind her, carrying clothing, jewelry, and other luxurious goods.

“Why is it you again?” She asks, one finger raised and pointed

Soft laughter reaches his ears.

“Oh, Sister Chu. If we knew, our lives would be so much simpler. Best as I can tell, he was born under a bad star. Some people are cursed to suffer such fates.”

Liu Jin glares at Lu Mei as she walks up to them. Unlike the angry young woman, Lu Mei wears a casual, almost amused, smirk.

“You know this man, Sister Mei?” Chu Jiayue asks, making Liu Jin raise an eyebrow, not just at the use of Lu Mei’s name but at how at ease the daughter of the City Lord seems to be in her presence.

Lu Mei has been hard at work, it seems.

“We are both disciples of the Eternal Flame Clan. It is natural for us to know each other,” Lu Mei points out. She walks over to Liu Jin and grabs hold of his arm. “But yes, we are close. I understand your first meeting was not the best-”

“Not the best?! He made a spectacle out of me!” Chu Jiayue shouts, angrily shaking her finger at Liu Jin.

“Technically, you made a spectacle out of yourself, Young Miss. I merely joined the performance, and not even out of my own volition,” Liu Jin points out.

For some reason, that just makes her glare harder at him.

“Don’t tease her, Jin,” Lu Mei chides, though he can tell she finds it funny too.

“My apologies,” he says more seriously. “I truly did not mean to insult the Young Miss. It was a difficult situation, and I tried to handle it as best I could. I could no more defy Young Master’s orders than the Young Miss could stop herself from standing up for Rumbling Thunder City.”

Not that Liu Jin doesn’t stand by his initial statement, but he does not need City Lord Chu’s daughter angry at him. If an apology can somewhat mend fences between them, he will gladly do it.

Indeed, it seems to work. Chu Jiayue’s glare softens but, alas, only for a moment.

“Never mind that!” She snaps at him even though she obviously minds it. “What is this I hear about you starting a fight with our soldiers?”

One of her servants told her about it. Lu Mei transmits through her Qi. He was there when her father received the news and rushed to let her know.

In other words, Yuan Tao hadn’t been the one to tell her. Not directly, at least.

“Peace, sister,” Lu Mei says. “I am sure there is more to this story than what we know, though this may not be the best place to discuss it.”

She finishes with a pointed glance at their surroundings. The sight of multiple servants standing outside the courthouse has not failed to draw a crowd. As the people realize the daughter of the City Lord is in front of them, they start pointing and whispering.

Chu Jiayue grimaces.

“You are right. Let us take this someplace else.”

Lu Mei smiles. “Wonderful. Shall we continue this at your house? I do believe you promised me some good tea.”

~~~

“...That’s what happened,” Liu Jin says, finishing his story. They have moved the conversation to City Lord Chu’s house, his gardens, to be precise. There is a stone table and chairs for people to relax while surrounded by flowers of all colors.

“I see.” Chu Jiayue is no longer glaring at him but looking down at her lap. The look on her face is dark and contemplative. Her tea has gone cold. “It seems you have seen something unsightly. As the daughter of the City Lord, I apologize for the behavior of our soldiers. It was inexcusable.”

Liu Jin blinks as she bows her head to him. He had expected her to deny what he saw and argue against him fiercely, not to immediately accept his words as truth.

“Please, do not look so surprised,” she says as she lifts her gaze. “I love this city. That does not mean I am blind to any flaws it might have.”

“Something like this has happened before,” Lu Mei guesses.

“It has,” Chu Jiayue admits. She quickly adds, “Do not get the wrong idea! Our soldiers are not brutes that terrify the populace. Not here, and not in the outer territories.”

And how would she know that? Liu Jin thinks the question but doesn’t voice it. That would just cause her to become defensive.

“Those soldiers returned from defending the border territories just a few days before your delegation arrived,” Chu Jiayue continues. “They have had several encounters with Murong Bang’s men over the past few months. What you saw was the result of that.”

She pauses to take a sip of her now cold tea.

“You must think this is a poor excuse but understand that fighting Murong Bang’s army will rattle even the stoutest of hearts. What you saw wouldn’t have happened if those men had been fighting General He’s armies on the eastern front. He is a powerful foe, but we can trust his men to act like men.”

Her teacup trembles lightly as she sets it down.

“Murong Bang is not a man, and neither are those under him. They do not wage war. They spread carnage. I have seen it once. An entire town gone. Wiped to the last. Men and women. Young and elderly. None were spared. It wasn’t even an important town. They held no riches or powerful fighters. No strategic secrets. They just attacked it to hurt us. To show us they could.”

Her voice breaks towards the end. Her hands tremble as she holds onto her robes. Her knuckles have gone white.

Neither Liu Jin nor Lu Mei says anything.

“The men who fight Murong Bang return harrowed from the experience. I do not dare to imagine what horrors they saw,” she says, her voice now more under control. “Incidents like the one you saw… They are not common, but they are far from unheard of. I will not excuse their actions. I just ask you to understand them.”

She meets his eyes as she says that, as if awaiting his judgment.

“I thank you for telling me, Young Miss of Rumbling Thunder City,” Liu Jin says. “Yet I must express some confusion. Yesterday, you were against us moving against Murong Bang. Today, you tell me why he must be stopped.”

Red inflames her cheeks.

“It is not that simple!” She snaps at him. “Yes, I’d love to see Murong Bang dead and his armies wiped out! I would be ecstatic if our soldiers no longer had to stand between that madman and us! …but that requires stepping further into his territory! I am not speaking of his lands but of the carnage he loves! That is where he thrives. Even putting aside what General He would do, it is inevitable for the war to spill further into our territory. It would not just be the border territories that suffer.”

She shivers

“Your Young Master was right yesterday. We are already at war. We have been at war since the beginning.” She looks at the flowers. “I know this peace is a fake one, yet I wanted to preserve it all the same because I am not sure if a real one is possible.”

The status quo created by the Three Heavenly Generals is one in which Rumbling Thunder City and many other cities like it can flourish. All the people Liu Jin has seen today can live their lives as though there wasn’t any war. It is why they can sit surrounded by beautiful flowers and be amused by watching trials.

But it is a lie.

No matter how much they laugh, it won’t erase all the misery and death in the border territories. It would be easy to call Chu Jiayue’s position cowardly, but there is logic to what she says. Trying to achieve real peace sounds like a noble goal, but they risk losing everything by doing so.

“Little Miss, I won’t give you false platitudes. I do not enjoy them. You are right to be worried, and you are right to fear for your people.” Liu Jin says. “All the same, I did not come here to fail.”

~~~

“She is not working for Yuan Tao,” Lu Mei tells him later that day. “She is far too honest to be capable of subterfuge and not dumb enough to be easily used.”

The sun has set, and the two are in a room provided to them by City Lord Chu. Liu Jin has placed several talismans on the walls, door, and windows to ensure they won’t be eavesdropped on.

It is a pity. The view of the gardens is quite lovely.

“I sensed as much, but I am still surprised to hear you vouch for her,” Liu Jin says. “You are not the trusting type.”

“One of my many great qualities. Unlike you, I understand when a woman is being two-faced. Women are two-faced to me all the time. After all, I am the sort of woman other women hate.”

Liu Jin blinks.

“Why do you say that as a boast?”

Lu Mei shrugs. “Why should I not boast about being beautiful, talented, and generally magnificent?”

“You are all those things,” Liu Jin admits. Lu Mei smiles and kisses him on the cheek.

“And don’t you forget it. Regardless, I spent the whole day with the City Lord’s daughter before you interrupted us.”

“My apologies for that.”

“As if you could help being yourself. The point I am trying to make is that I sensed not a shred of envy or falsehood in the City Lord’s daughter for the entire day. She is a rare genuine person. I can safely say she was not working with Yuan Tao, and she does not seem to have been in contact with him. Her outburst was entirely her own.”

“And today?”

“There is a chance Yuan Tao could have arranged for that servant to go to her, but I doubt it. She served no purpose to his goals. Let’s call it a happy accident.”

Liu Jin raises an eyebrow. “Happy?”

“You mended fences with her today, didn’t you?” Lu Mei points out. “Better to have the daughter of the City Lord on your side than against it. You can use her social standing to gain access to members of General Nie’s inner circle.”

General Nie’s Inner Circle.

Liu Jin hums in thought. Lei Kong had told him as much as he could about the Storm Dragon Empire. Most of that knowledge is years out of date and largely focused on the lands governed by Murong Bang. Still, combined with the information collected by the Eternal Flame Clan through its dealings with General Dan, it had been enough to give Liu Jin a working backbone of the hierarchy under General Nie Dan.

Rumbling Thunder City might be the brightest jewel under General Dan, but it is not the only one. There are numerous other cities, towns, and garrisons and numerous City Lords and army officials who rule over them, some far more notorious than others. Two names, in particular, stand out above the rest.

In the north, City Lord Lai, a man who holds the title of Duke. He rules Stone River City, but his influence spreads over the whole western region.

In the south, Colonel Peng, one of the strongest fighters under General Dan, a grizzled veteran who leads the army’s efforts on the southern border and holds much influence across the southern settlements.

“Interesting,” Liu Jin says, leaning back. “Knowing them couldn’t hurt.”

“Aren’t you glad you have me on your side?”

“Always,” Liu Jin says. His mind is already reviewing the best way to use what he has learned today.

However, that can wait a little more. Liu Jin stands up and offers his hand to Lu Mei.

“I know it is a little late, but since I interrupted your fun today, would you like to walk around the gardens with me?”

She takes his hand and smiles.

“I’d love to.”

~~~

“I thank you for coming here today,” Mud says.

It is the fifth day of their stay in Rumbling Thunder City, yet it is the first time Liu Jin has been able to see Mud since the meeting with General Dan during the first night. That is how long the negotiations have been going on. Even Liu Jin has had to deal with some of it.

Yesterday, he spent half a day arguing with the commander of the city guard over how their forces would be implemented into the watch schedule. Finding the right balance shouldn’t have taken so many hours, but it did. If Liu Jin tried to help too much, the commander took it as an insult to the city guard, and if he had the disciples help too little, it looked like they weren’t pulling their weight.

It had been very tedious. The only positives to come out of it are that Liu Jin placed disciples he trusted in the city guard, and he now has the watch schedule memorized.

“It was no trouble at all, Senior Brother Mud,” Liu Jin replies.

“Truly?” Mud asks, tilting his head to the side. “I was sure your girlfriend would be angry at me for taking you away. No doubt, she’d have preferred to be in my place.”

Mud and Liu Jin are traveling along one of the city’s waterways in a small boat. The waterways are arranged so that one can travel up and down the city by boat. Some channels even take scenic routes, passing through the best-looking mansions and parks. That is the route Liu Jin and Mud are taking today. Despite being out in the open, Liu Jin can detect nothing they say will be overheard.

“You have little need to worry about that,” Liu Jin says. “We have had plenty of time to ourselves. She was going to spend some time with the City Lord’s daughter today.”

He is halfway sure Fan Bingbing would be joining them as well, though he is not exactly sure how that would end. Lu Mei and Fan Bingbing are not exactly the best of friends.

“Ah, yes. I heard you had made contact with the City Lord’s daughter. Wise. Noteworthy due to how your first meeting went.”

“Things happened. We were able to talk,” Liu Jin says.

“I also heard about that,” Mud says. “It seems you had quite a bit of fun.”

“On the contrary, I caused trouble for you,” Liu Jin says. “I can not imagine how that unsettled the negotiations.”

“If a few rowdy soldiers were enough to undermine it all, then this alliance was never much to speak of,” Mud says, waving his hand dismissively. “It all proceeds as planned. Perhaps better than expected.”

Liu Jin frowns. “We are heading out then.”

Mud nods. “General Nie wants us to help bolster his forces on the frontlines while he gathers his armies. A ploy to test our resolve, no doubt, yet we are not in a position to refuse.”

“You want me to go,” Liu Jin guesses. Mud nods.

“I do. I have spoken to the Young Master about it. Though he is not exactly happy, you are the one most suited to be in charge.”

When exactly did he gain the qualifications for that?

“I will do as you command. How long do I have?”

“At least two weeks. Perhaps more. There will be a banquet before that. City Lord Chu seems to love them and wants to invite important people to this one.”

“It sounds like negotiations have gone exceedingly well then. Senior Brother Mud should be proud of himself.”

“Should I?”

Liu Jin blinks. The usually blank Mud looks uncharacteristically bothered.

“Senior Brother?”

“Do you think this becomes me?” Mud asks. “Negotiation. Compromise. Acting as a steward of the Eternal Flame Clan. I have tried my hand at it, and I seem to be successful. Yet this way of acting does not feel like myself.

Liu Jin stays silent. Unsure of how to reply.

“My master told me I might find myself here, and I have been looking for myself in the role given to me.” He looks at him with unblinking, unmoving eyes. “You knew me before coming here, and you have seen how I have acted here. What do you think?”

“I think your question goes beyond the scope of whatever I have that passes for wisdom, Senior Brother.”

“Perhaps,” Mud admits, nodding. “Nevertheless, I ask it.”

“In that case, I think...” Liu Jin frowns. What does he think? What can he think when he still knows and understands so little? “I think if finding oneself was as easy as trying something new for a few days, people wouldn’t find it so difficult.”

“I see. How long does it usually take then?”

“Perhaps a lifetime?”

“A lifetime. How sad.”

~~~