That was precisely what worried He Lingchuan.
Sun Fuling rinsed the river snails in the water, took out a pair of shears, and snipped off their tail ends one by one. "Instead of worrying all day, why not just get rid of him sooner?"
"My thoughts exactly." In the beginning, Fu Shanlie had led the Xiji puppet troops in a guerrilla war against He Lingchuan, hoping to wear Yuheng City down to its last drop of oil. Now the tables had turned. It was He Lingchuan who was playing the waiting game, intending to eradicate all of Fu Shanlie's lackeys and claws so Yuheng City could wipe out the remnants at minimal cost. After all, time was on his side.
Both men had ample reason for their approaches, but He Lingchuan now decided to hasten the process.
A sprawling bamboo grove stood nearby.
Seeing that no one was paying attention, He Lingchuan whisked Master Sun into the dense bamboo.
Brilliant sunlight filtered through layers of leaves, leaving only a dapple of color. Held tight in his embrace, her back pressed against the firm bamboo stalks, Master Sun had barely caught sight of that speck of light before He Lingchuan blocked it out entirely.
This man was as thick as a wall, as hard as stone, and no longer something she could casually push away.
Then he stole the very breath from her mouth.
This bright, refreshing spring day suddenly grew scorching and clinging.
Sun Fuling's face flushed red as the morning clouds at dawn. She closed her eyes, as if even the faint dapples of light in the bamboo grove had become too piercing to bear.
Taking advantage of her dazed, swooning state, He Lingchuan quietly lifted her and turned her around.
In his arms, she weighed scarcely more than a blade of grass.
That subtle shift brought Sun Fuling back to her senses. Opening her eyes, she asked in surprise, "What are you doing?"
"Going home." Why should they bother keeping company with a whole horde of children? "It isn't often I have an afternoon free of military affairs. Why don't we go have fun on our own?"
Sun Fuling blinked. "Isn't being out here an outing already?"
"My ears are practically deafened. You call this an outing?" He Lingchuan chuckled. "A new shop just opened in the city that features illusion mazes. Haven't you been wanting to try one?"
In the Yuan capital or Lingxu City, illusion mazes were nothing new. But here in Yuheng City, such entertainment facilities had only begun arriving from the outside world after the Longchuan trade route was opened.
Sun Fuling spat playfully at him. "Today is a spring outing, and that makes it work!"
"There are other teachers out there. The kids won't get lost, and they can amuse themselves just fine without you." Master Sun squirmed in his embrace a few times, and He Lingchuan instantly locked his arms tighter.
*Keep squirming, do it a few more times!*
Laughing, she thumped his shoulder. "Stop messing around. Put me down!"
Just then, the pitter-patter of hurried, short footsteps sounded outside.
Both He Lingchuan and Master Sun heard it.
One of the children had likely wandered over.
"Xiao Pang, it's Xiao Pang coming." Sun Fuling tried to push him away and step out, but He Lingchuan seized this final moment, pressing her against a thick cluster of bamboo to steal one more kiss.
"Master Sun! Commander!" Xiao Pang called as he stepped into the bamboo grove.
Coming straight out of the bright sun, the grove seemed rather dark, and it took a moment for Xiao Pang's eyes to adjust before he dared walk further. Wow, it was completely empty—hardly looked like anyone was here at all. Er Ya had said Master Sun and the Commander had gone into the bamboo grove; could she have tricked him? But the fish basket had been left by the bank, and it seemed to be Master Sun's.
Plucking up his courage, Xiao Pang crept forward over a hundred paces, calling out twice more.
Four feet away, the bamboo suddenly rustled, making him jump with a shiver. But right after, two figures emerged from behind the dense stalks, and the commander's leisurely voice drifted over:
"Xiao Pang, what is it?"
Xiao Pang looked closely. The commander was walking toward him with a beaming smile, while Master Sun lagged a couple of paces behind.
"What were you doing in here?" Xiao Pang asked. He had shouted for ages without any reply from either of them.
He Lingchuan stretched out his hand, offering him a few dark, mud-caked items. "Just dug up some bamboo shoots to make soup with."
No earth-borne delicacy surpassed bamboo shoots, and no river delicacy surpassed fresh fish. How could a spring picnic do without such treats?
"We threw the bait four times, but we can't seem to catch any more fish!" Xiao Pang carefully accepted the shoots, his complaints completely forgotten. "Also, Master Liu and the others are back! They picked a ton of mushrooms. Good thing—thank goodness we have quite a few fish in our baskets too!"
Sun Fuling stepped forward and took Xiao Pang's hand, leading him back toward the stream. "Alright, let's head back to cook."
She brushed aside a stray lock of hair at her temple and shot He Lingchuan a meaningful glare.
A tacit understanding hung between them.
Emerging from the bamboo grove, a deafening clamor struck their ears. He Lingchuan saw about fifty waist-high figures milling about the creek, and he couldn't help rubbing his temples.
Over fifty little terrors. Good grief.
The other two teachers had returned with their wild-green foraging army, and now the adults were busy sorting through the mountain delicacies gathered by the children. The wild greens were simple enough, but quite a few poisonous mushrooms had been mixed in with the edible fungi. The teachers picked out the toxic varieties, explained the dangers and identification methods, and passed them around for the children to examine.
Educating through play was one of the main purposes of a spring outing.
Meanwhile, the kitchen workers from Yuheng Academy began cleaning the river catch and prepping dishes and soup. The children had hauled in plenty of pale chub using the temporary stone weir; once scaled and cleaned, they would be battered and tossed into the hot oil. There were also several larger fish that, after being seared to lock in the flavor, would be stewed together with clams, sweet bamboo shoots, and mushrooms. The resulting broth was a milky white, releasing a tantalizing, rich aroma. As for the small river shrimp and tiny crabs, they were tossed into a pot with mustard greens to be steamed with rice.
The cooks hadn't expected the children to bring back such a bountiful harvest. Having originally prepared ingredients for a good number of hot dishes, they now found their hands completely full.
He Lingchuan didn't dare go near the mob of children. Seeing two teachers who had just caught four or five bamboo rats, he simply drew his dagger and went over to slaughter them.
With the commander of Yuheng City personally lending a hand, the kitchen staff bowed and scraped, treating him with utmost politeness.
Only one woman kept staring directly at him while washing fish. Another worker nudged her elbow, whispering, "Auntie Wang, don't stare at the commander like that! It's rude!"
Had the companion said nothing, it might have passed, but hearing that, Auntie Wang set down her bucket and strode right over. Her companion tried to grab her, but she shook the hand off.
Moments later, she was standing right in front of He Lingchuan. "Commander He!"
Not yet fifty, she was thin and frail, her posture slightly stooped; standing, she was barely taller than He Lingchuan was while seated.
"Auntie Wang?"
Auntie Wang froze, taken aback that he called her by name on the spot. She didn't know He Lingchuan possessed exceptional hearing, capable of catching nearly everything the kitchen staff had been whispering. Gathering her wits, she swallowed hard. "May I ask you something?"
He Lingchuan could see she had summoned every ounce of courage to approach him, so he answered gently, "Please, go ahead."
"Just how long do you plan to wait before taking down Longchuan?"
He Lingchuan raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask, Auntie Wang?"
"My eldest son was a city guard patrolman. Last year, he was ambushed by river bandits on the Longchuan trade route and lost his life." Auntie Wang's skin was weathered and rough, making her expression look wooden. "Then later, you granted amnesty to the Longchuan river bandits and gave them a whole lot of money."
Strings of words like those carried sheer resentment. He Lingchuan stood up at once. "That is called a road toll. While collecting it, they are also responsible for maintaining security along the trade route. Yuheng City offered them amnesty precisely to avoid needless fighting, so that no more fine soldiers would have to sacrifice their lives clearing out bandits."
After years of perpetual war, the people of Panlong City and Yuheng City had paid a terrible price.
In the words of General Nan Ke, which household didn't have warriors who had fallen in battle?
Auntie Wang didn't understand all that grand reasoning, but she knew one thing: "I heard there are no more obstacles left in Longchuan. Why don't you hurry up and crush those puppet troops?"
That question was tinged with bitter emotion.
"No obstacles left in Longchuan? Who told you that?"
"Well..." Auntie Wang faltered. "Everyone in the city is saying so! They say we could have wiped out the bandits long ago."
He Lingchuan smiled faintly. "Bring the person who said that to me, and we'll confront him face to face. I'm quite curious to know what kind of strategic blueprint he has that lets him make such a prediction."
Auntie Wang certainly couldn't produce that person. Deciding not to tangle with him over that, she returned to her original grievance: "Then when are you going to attack Longchuan?"
"Why are you in such a rush, Auntie Wang?"
"My eldest was killed by the Xiji puppet troops, and now my younger boy clamors all day about enlisting to avenge his brother!" Auntie Wang's face hardened into a scowl. "I don't want him joining the army! I just want to ask you, Commander, when will you make the murderers who killed my son pay the price?!"
"Those puppet troops are our biggest obstacle," He Lingchuan said with an even, mild tone. "They are backed by several powerful factions, every single one stronger than Yuheng City. If not for those puppet troops, we would have taken Longchuan last year. To deal with them, I would rather spend more time and more money if it means fewer lives are lost. Every patrol soldier is precious to Yuheng City. Doesn't Yuheng City have an old saying? 'Better for money to die than for men to die.'"
To a commoner like Auntie Wang, he couldn't speak of grand strategies or military policies; those were too broad. He had to lower his vantage point and speak in words she could grasp best.
Those last two sentences left Auntie Wang sputtering, at a loss for words.
She still felt blocked up inside, but she didn't know what else to say.
The cook behind her hurried forward and dragged her back. "We're so sorry, Commander. She just likes to let her mind run wild and talk nonsense."
He Lingchuan said solemnly, "There is no need to fret, Auntie Wang. Your son's vengeance will be answered very soon."
Auntie Wang said nothing and was pulled away.
While others were still pondering how soon "very soon" meant, the commander had already grabbed a plump bamboo rat and lopped off its head with a single blade strike.
Over the past six months, murmurs of discontent against him had been growing louder in Yuheng City. People said he was using the commoners' money to support river bandits, that he was slacking off to drag out his achievements. He Lingchuan's prescription for curing the Longchuan bandit plague was a prolonged, slow-acting process, but it yielded minimal aftereffects and losses, using institutional power to squeeze the Xiji puppet troops out of Longchuan.
This kind of appeasing method had rarely been used by Panlong City in the past, so criticism among soldiers and civilians ran high.
*Our propaganda work really hasn't been done well enough,* He Lingchuan sighed to the sky.
Even so, the time to draw the net was nearly at hand.
He handed the dressed bamboo rats back to the cooks and found that the river fish were also prepped and ready for the pot. The stream stone carp he and Master Sun had caught were among them. Feeling uneasy, he went over and sliced one open; sure enough, its belly was packed with roe.
Fish roe was usually considered a delicacy, and the cleaning cooks would discard the guts while keeping the roe.
"You can't keep this. The roe of stream stone carp is poisonous."
Hearing that, Auntie Wang hurried over and sorted through the pile, turning up six or seven more stream stone carp. A quick check revealed that nearly half of them contained roe.
They swiftly removed the eggs.
Shortly after, the hot dishes were done and brought out one by one. Having bustled about for half the day, He Lingchuan was finally able to sit down for a meal.
Just as he squeezed in next to Master Sun and popped a small fried fish into his mouth, the urgent clatter of hoofbeats sounded from not far away.
Another rider came galloping through the peach orchard, trampling fallen blossoms as he sped straight for the stream.
He Lingchuan had arrived in the exact same manner earlier. Master Sun pointed her chopsticks and laughed. "Looks like your afternoon won't be so leisurely after all."
The newcomer was a messenger from the City Guard Office. One look at his demeanor, and He Lingchuan knew there was urgent military intelligence.
Chapter 1028