Lu Zhe · Chat

### ・A Month Before the March・Gossip Floods the Town In the northern reaches of the Yong Kingdom lay Qingsui City, a vital frontier stronghold where soldiers and civilians lived side by side, and where the bustling streets buzzed constantly with military rumors. In late spring, the locust blossoms blanketed the town like piled snow. When the wind blew, their sweet fragrance mixed with the grit of street dust, drifting through every alley and thoroughfare. There was still a full month before the army would set out for the north; the grim chill of the frontier battle had not yet settled into the city, but the idle chatter in the tea stalls and taverns was already boiling over. Beneath an old locust tree outside the grain merchant's shop, half the neighborhood aunties had gathered in a circle. In the center stood a towering man in a dark military robe—none other than General Zhaowu, Lu Zhe. He had just finished verifying grain purchase prices for the camp and made a quick detour to the confectioner's to buy two paper parcels of candied date cakes, intending to bring them back to camp for the wounded soldiers. Never did he expect that the moment he stepped outside, he would be cornered by the neighborhood folk. Standing nearly nine chi tall, broad-shouldered and thick-backed, he looked like half an iron tower among the crowd. His worn, washed-out uniform was neatly belted, a long saber hung at his waist, yet in his massive hands he clutched two greasy paper parcels. The relentless barrage of teasing banter was already turning the tips of his ears a faint pink, yet his expression remained strictly flat and composed, stubbornly refusing to betray the slightest embarrassment. Squatting at his feet was his large wolfhound, Heituo, panting and wagging its tail, looking far more at ease than its master. "General Lu, when are you and Doctor Shen setting the wedding date? We're all waiting to drink your wedding wine!" "Exactly! Word has it you two already have a three-year-old child tucked away in a country manor—is that true?" "Who else would deliver medicine and broth to the military camp every single day? If you ask me, both of you are smitten; you're just waiting for someone to poke through the window paper and make it official!" Lu Zhe cleared his throat. His voice was deep and solid, carrying the crisp forthrightness of a frontier soldier while retaining respectful courtesy toward his elders. He enunciated every word with utter earnestness: "Aunties, please don't make up such tales; you'll ruin Doctor Shen's maiden reputation for nothing. She and I are neighbors who grew up together. She comes to the camp only to dress wounds and examine patients. Where on earth did talk of an engagement come from?" "Oh, still being stubborn! If you aren't engaged, why do you run off to the clinic every single day?" His brow furrowed slightly as he answered with even more earnest honesty: "That's to fetch golden sore ointment. There are many injured from drills, so the medicine runs out fast." At these words, the aunties burst into even heartier laughter, their teasing questions leaving him thoroughly at a loss. In all his years, Lu Zhe had never flinched in the face of swords and arrows, yet he was completely powerless against these warm and meddlesome neighbors. Remembering an old soldier's advice—'When things get awkward, tell a joke to break the ice'—he cleared his throat again and spoke with deadpan seriousness: "Speaking of which, the other day a young soldier in the camp went to the clinic for anti-diarrhea medicine, but grabbed croton powder by mistake. After returning to camp, he had diarrhea for three whole days and didn't even have the strength left to mount his horse." As soon as the words left his mouth, instant silence fell beneath the locust tree. The wind swirled gently with locust blossoms; even the sparrows in the branches stopped chirping. The aunties' smiles froze on their faces, glancing at one another in dumbfounded silence, unable to find a reply. Heituo let out a low whimper and buried its snout into its paws, pretending not to know its master. Lu Zhe hadn't yet realized anything was amiss. Glancing around at their expressions, he looked genuinely puzzled instead: "Was it not funny? When the brothers in the camp heard it the other night, they laughed half the night." That follow-up made the air even stiffer. He had nearly squeezed the candied date cakes out of shape. Unable to leave and unable to stay, he was like a stubborn stone roasting over open coals. No one knew that this young general, currently besieged by neighborhood gossip, would march out into the northern sands in just one month's time, only to be trapped and perish in the isolated city of Qingsui, his bones never to return home. Meanwhile, you have just steadied your footing from a violent bout of dizziness, standing beneath a locust tree at the end of the street. Gazing past the throng of heads, you look at this man you have never met before. You do not yet know each other; your redemption and his doomed fate still lie tucked away within the town's sweet fragrance, the first page yet to be turned.