Labor service in the border commandery was heavy—reinforcing city walls, watchtowers, and roads. Especially after the outbreak of hostilities, the labor became even more demanding. It seemed as if walls, watchtowers, and roads everywhere were damaged, and local authorities wished the laborers could work day and night without rest.
However, because of the war, labor was frequently interrupted. Ever since the beacon fire alarm sounded in the afternoon and they returned to the watchtower, they hadn’t gone out again until dusk.
Standing at the highest point, one could see distant firelight. The cold wind faintly carried sounds of combat, but soon both the firelight and sounds of fighting disappeared.
Shortly after, the signal came that the alarm was lifted.
“Those damned Xi Liang bandits,” the garrison chief cursed angrily, then sighed with feeling. “Still, the men of Great Xia are mighty and formidable.”
Turning his head to see the laborers crouching not far away, he grew irritated again. Now it was dark. Although the alarm had been lifted, for safety they couldn’t light torches to work—
“You criminals hurry up and get lost,” the garrison chief cursed in annoyance.
The laborers scattered in all directions. Being cursed at was nothing—today they essentially hadn’t worked, which was the happiest thing possible. However, since the garrison chief was unhappy, they still had to suffer some torment. For instance, tonight’s meal that should have included some meat and vegetable soup became thin gruel instead.
“The entire Yunzhong Commandery is fighting bravely against the enemy. The soldiers are sacrificing their lives. You guilty people should be grateful just to be alive with food to eat,” the garrison chief cursed furiously.
His attendants shouted praise: “The garrison chief is mighty!”
“That old bastard,” a clan brother muttered in a low voice, holding his watery-clear gruel. “What’s so mighty about showing off authority to us? If he has guts, let him go kill the enemy.”
Liang Qiang jabbed him with his elbow, using his eyes to signal him not to say more, then looked around vigilantly. The laborers were all criminals—all kinds of criminals—
If they were reported for another crime, they could truly die here with no one knowing.
His brother stopped talking and drank his thin gruel. However, when they returned to their quarters, there was a pleasant surprise—Second Master Liang had returned.
Not everyone did hard labor. The young and strong did labor service, while the Liang family masters did other work, such as sweeping and cleaning official residences.
Second Master Liang hadn’t just returned—he’d also brought two roasted chickens. In the small earthen house, one could hear the sound of saliva dripping.
“Father, did Uncle give these?” Liang Qiang asked. He didn’t even glance at the tempting roasted chickens, only asked urgently: “Does he have a way to get us out?”
When Liang Siqing was convicted, it implicated his entire family. But after Liang Siqing was exiled and sent away, he hadn’t suffered doing hard labor or being ordered around. This wasn’t because Liang Siqing’s reputation still held weight, but rather because upon arriving at the border commandery, Liang Siqing had sent his daughter to a local elderly gentry to secure shelter living in the city.
A brother whose saliva was dripping also nodded, looking at the roasted chicken and saying: “Right, right, have Uncle find a few more families. Our family also has younger sisters we can send to people.”
Liang Qiang glanced at the corner where his mother held his little sister. The child was drowsy and cold, having fallen into a deep sleep. Even the aroma of the roasted chicken couldn’t wake her, though the child’s mouth moved from time to time, as if eating something delicious in her dreams.
“By the time little sister grows up, we’ll all have died of exhaustion,” he said in a heavy voice, looking at his father. “Father, if he can’t send away daughters, Uncle won’t care about us anymore?”
Second Master Liang hurried to say: “He’ll care, he’ll care. Your uncle asked his son-in-law for help. I no longer have to sweep—I’ve become a clerk.”
A clerk—that meant becoming a scholar again.
The brother who had been drooling earlier clapped his hands happily: “Wonderful! Father has escaped. When little sister grows up in the future and makes a good marriage, our family can shake off hard labor.”
Second Master Liang nodded with a smile. After being convicted, daughters were more useful than sons. Sons with criminal status couldn’t form connections with powerful families, but daughters could—marrying in as replacement wives or concubines, hidden in the inner quarters where no one knew, yet with plenty of benefits.
Now the only pity was that they’d taken too few concubines and had too few daughters.
He called to the young men: “This is what the masters from the county gave me.”
Actually, today the county masters had intended to reward the soldiers, but the soldiers hadn’t come. The food couldn’t be wasted, so he had brazenly pushed forward, and when the county magistrate saw him, he gave him two roasted chickens.
In this frontier town, the roasted chickens were crudely made, but for young men who hadn’t seen meat in months, they were delicacies. They all surged forward, tearing at them with their hands and teeth.
Liang Qiang didn’t push forward. Instead, he walked out and returned to his own freezing little room, taking out a tattered government notice from under his pillow.
It announced the late emperor’s death, the new emperor’s accession, and the investiture of the new empress.
A woman of the Chu clan, Chu Zhao.
Liang Qiang’s gaze slid across this line of text.
The notice said the Chu woman was brave and intelligent, wielding a blade and riding a horse to protect the Imperial Grand Prince.
He seemed able to see that girl charging through the dark night, just as she had faced the scholars stirred up by the Third Prince, neither retreating nor avoiding—
Actually, his memories of this girl weren’t many. Probably just watching the commotion from the wine shop when that girl suddenly looked at him and said: “Young Master Liang Qiang is not afraid of hardship. Dismounted, he can wield a brush to write; mounted, he can wield a blade and shoot arrows—”
In that moment, that girl became clear in his eyes, clearer and clearer, until—
The Imperial Grand Prince of Xie clan bloodline became emperor, and the Chu woman who was friendly with the Xie clan became empress.
How wonderful—being friendly with the Xie clan was truly wonderful.
Being friendly with the Xie clan, one could rise rapidly and soar to great heights. Opposing the Xie clan meant conviction, disgrace, exile, wandering, and plunging into a mire of mud and deep pools.
The tattered notice was crumpled in his hand, becoming even more fragmented.
A knocking sound suddenly rang on the broken door. The young man inside started and turned around.
“A’Qiang,” came his father’s voice from outside.
Why had Father come over?
Liang Qiang hurried to open the door and saw Second Master Liang standing outside, still carrying the smoky aroma of roasted chicken.
“What’s wrong, Father?” Liang Qiang asked somewhat nervously.
Second Master Liang’s expression was somewhat hesitant: “There’s a matter. I can’t make up my mind, so I’m discussing it with you.”
Liang Qiang quickly asked: “Father, please speak.”
Second Master Liang said softly: “I encountered an old acquaintance. He has considerable power in Yunzhong Commandery now and is willing to give me a position.”
At this point, he looked at Liang Qiang.