Chapter Three: The Bold Xu Gan

When Xu Le entered, the old master closed his eyes again.

The child tending the medicine stove stood up and greeted him, “Young Lord Le!”

This child was Han Yue’s younger brother. Their mother, Han, had been widowed early and raised her two children alone. Xu Le waved his hand, “Little Six, go find your brother. I’ll stay here.”

Han Xiao Liu nearly cheered and bounded out the door, pausing in the doorway to ask, “Will you take me along this time, Young Lord?”

Xu Le snorted, “Grow a few more years first!”

Han Xiao Liu grumbled, “I’m not much worse than my brother! I can draw an eight-bushel bow on horseback, one and a half stones on foot! Whether it’s sword and shield or long spear, Young Lord, test me however you like!”

The old patriarch, eyes still shut, spoke coldly, “You’re still far off.”

Han Xiao Liu dared to be cheeky with Xu Le, but when the old master spoke, he shrank like a mouse before a cat, stuck out his tongue at Xu Le, and darted out.

The old master remained with eyes closed, “I shouldn’t have taught you all these skills. One by one, you can’t sit still in the village. If the old man hadn’t collapsed from a stroke, would you even have come back?”

Xu Gan spoke with a slurred, faltering voice, missing words—the aftermath of his stroke—yet his tone retained undiminished authority. Especially when he opened his eyes, their sharp brilliance revealed a man nothing like an ordinary village elder.

Since last year, great battles had erupted throughout Mayi County—either to reinforce Yanmen or to join forces with the Hedong army against the southern advance of the Turks. Xu Gan, founder of the Xu family’s village, had managed everything with painstaking care. But age finally caught up with him, and he was struck down by a sudden stroke.

Remembering the moment his grandfather collapsed, Xu Le still felt a lingering fear.

To Xu Le, his grandfather was the towering pillar behind him, nurturing him from childhood in both learning and martial arts, always shielding him from danger.

Whenever Xu Le wanted to help, his grandfather insisted he was still young, urging him to wait until he married and only take up family matters after the old man’s eyes closed forever.

Even during his rebellious years, when Xu Le mingled with the chivalrous youths of Hedong and earned his title as Young Lord Le, it was thanks to his grandfather’s wealth that he made friends and the skills his grandfather taught that won him respect.

Xu Le was not a particularly obedient child; perhaps it was the Xu family bloodline, a natural sharpness of character. He had his own opinions from his early teens and felt stifled by being confined to the small world of Shenwu County. His grandfather’s meticulous care sometimes left him breathless.

But when his grandfather fell, Xu Le realized that for eighteen years, the old man had done everything to carve out a safe haven for him.

The world outside was ever-changing, and there would be plenty of time to see it. For now, the most urgent thing was to care for his grandfather and support the family through these tumultuous times.

Last year, Xu Le was still scheming with a band of chivalrous youths to slip away from his grandfather’s watch and join the army somewhere, hoping to forge a name for himself in this chaotic age. Wasn’t Liu Wuzhou, too, once a local youth, who joined the campaign against Goguryeo, returned as an Eagle-Strike Captain of Heng’an, and established his own command?

But after his grandfather’s collapse, Xu Le had not left the Xu village for nearly half a year, focusing solely on managing family affairs. The rebellious spirit of the chivalrous youths faded, rivalries and bravado nearly vanished, and many friends drifted away.

The old master chided him, but Xu Le paid no heed. He walked to the corridor, took down the medicine pot, poured it into a bowl, and set it aside to cool before smiling at Xu Gan, “Have I not behaved well these past months? I’ve worried myself sick for this family.”

Xu Gan snorted, “Now you know how hard it is! All that reckless spending before—wasn’t it the old man propping you up?”

After venting, Xu Gan lowered his voice, “Is it really that bad?”

Xu Le shook his head, “It is. The coffers are empty. The county lists our village as middle households, and our Xu family as upper household. I sent word through the registrar, but he said no one can defy the governor’s orders. This year, the village’s tax exemption totals about thirty strings of coins. Even after closing the county’s shops, we can only recover twelve or thirteen strings, and the village can barely scrape together five or six. If we can’t pay, we must serve labor. The registrar even sent word: he knows my name and says now is the time to join the army—perhaps I could make a name under Governor Wang.”

Xu Gan fell silent, then suddenly said, “The emperor of the Great Dynasty has fled south, and everyone is plotting their own course. Isn’t Wang Renqiong trying to carve a share out of this chaos? These scions of noble families are all rotten!”

Xu Le spread his hands, “Now there’s only the trade route left. We buy horses from the northern Dadan tribe, convert all shop funds into grain and salt from Jiechi, and deliver the horses to Shanyang for settlement.”

Xu Gan said nothing. In peaceful times, this trade route was fraught with hardship. When the Xu family village was first founded, the old master himself had taken this route. Though profits were rich, life and death often hung by a thread. And now, the Turkic army pressed north of Mayi, repeatedly raiding south, breaking Yanmen, and clashing with the armies of Mayi and Hedong!

Xu Le laughed, “Should I enlist as an Eagle-Soldier in Mayi? If I show off even a fraction of the skills you taught me, I’ll make a name for myself as Young Lord Le. If I show a bit more, perhaps Wang Renqiong will look at me differently—does his family have a daughter? If so, I could become his son-in-law and you wouldn’t have to worry about my marriage.”

Xu Gan glared, “Don’t you dare! I didn’t raise you to be a lackey for noble families!”

Xu Le took the cooled medicine and fed it to Xu Gan, smiling to reassure him, “All right, all right. My ears have calluses from hearing this since childhood. Better to be a villager than a noble family’s lackey.”

Xu Gan sipped the medicine in small gulps, sizing up his grandson.

A nineteen-year-old with the sharp, handsome features typical of the Xu family. His father was once the same—many turned to look at him in Chang’an.

Compared to his father, Xu Le carried a sunlit smile, able to turn rivals into friends with a single gesture.

He himself was old, unable to protect him anymore, unable to shield this beloved grandson from harm…

The road ahead belonged to Xu Le, in this world growing chaotic once more…

After finishing the medicine, Xu Gan threw back the felt blanket and tried to sit up. Xu Le hurried forward to help, watching as his once-famous grandfather struggled to straighten his half-paralyzed body. Xu Le felt a pang in his heart but forced himself to hold back, joking, “I know you’re an old hand who knows the route and have ties with the Dadan tribe, but I really can’t take you along. It’s just too much to manage…”

Xu Gan glared, “The old man wants you to take care of him!”

Once he was settled, Xu Gan gazed steadily at Xu Le. After a long silence, he finally spoke, “You’re leaving tomorrow?”

Xu Le nodded, “I’ve chosen eight men. Han Yue and I will lead. Twenty pack animals are ready—sixteen loaded with grain, four with salt. If we don’t leave tomorrow, even fodder costs will eat us up.”

Xu Gan could do nothing about his grandson’s carefree attitude. He had always been stern and unyielding, growing only more so with age. His son, now gone, had always been methodical. He couldn’t fathom how his grandson turned out so different.

Yet Xu Gan knew that beneath Xu Le’s easygoing manner lay a razor-sharp core. When it mattered, Xu Le could punch through the heavens.

He wondered how much longer he could restrain this only bloodline, sharp as a sword and eager to plunge into the chaos.

Xu Gan spoke slowly, “I’m old and can’t look after you much longer. The world is about to descend into turmoil, and you must face it… If you depart tomorrow, so be it. But remember two things.”

Xu Le’s smile faded; he bowed his hands, “Grandfather, I’m listening.”

Xu Gan’s voice was iron, “The ancestors of the Xu family followed General Zuotie north in his chariot. Unable to return south, they settled in the north, eventually reaching Mayi. For centuries, as the Hu tribes ravaged the Central Plains, the Xu family protected the village, never aiding the Hu in their crimes. When Western Wei established the Eight Pillar States and Han Chinese gained power, our ancestors finally joined the army to restore the Han dynasty. Though we live quietly in the countryside now, this ancestral injunction has never been forgotten! To collude with foreign tribes is not the way of Xu family descendants!”

Xu Le bowed solemnly. Though he respected his grandfather’s injunction, he felt a slight skepticism. Following the general north—who knew when that was? Settling in the north was simply becoming subjects there. Western Wei’s Eight Pillars were mostly Han, but the Yuwen family was foreign—did their ancestor foresee Emperor Kaihuang would one day establish the great Sui dynasty?

Still, Xu Le had never favored foreign tribes. The Turks pressed north of Mayi, raiding south year after year, even besieging the emperor at Yanmen. In the borderlands, the pain of Turkic slaughter was everywhere. Xu Le was not one to endure bullying.

The Turks had slaughtered the Han people—such blood feud could not go unavenged. But his grandfather had to let him leave Shenwu so that he might one day drive out the Turks and make his mark.

A nineteen-year-old, skilled and ambitious in these troubled times—how could he not yearn for the glory of champion and wolf-tamer?

Let it wait for the future. First, settle the family affairs, let the old master live out his days in peace, free of worries. This world needs heroes to set things right—why not Xu Le?

Xu Gan’s voice grew deep, “The second thing is my counsel to you: never, for your entire life, become a lackey for noble families!”