The new year arrived quietly—without swords, without orders, without blood.
On Zhengdan—New Year's Day—no one was expected to report for duty.
Public Security County wore celebration the way soldiers wore armor: everywhere, all at once.
Locals lined up at the wine shops early, filling jars with peppered cypress wine before heading off to ancestral rites. This year, however, the city had a complication—
Fifty thousand newcomers.
Even today, west of the city, laborers were still raising houses. It was New Year's Day, yes—but wages were paid in full, so no one complained.
The sudden population boom had reduced the county's two wine shops to permanent bottlenecks. Every time Ma Su passed by over the last few days, he'd see the owners grinning ear to ear.
They looked like Zhang Fei after a victory.
Which, Ma Su thought, was saying something.
Yesterday, his fourth brother Ma Liang had already taken leave to return to Yicheng. Ma Su, however, had only arrived in Public Security a month ago. He chose to stay.
He wanted to see this new city.
At the street corner, vendors were already hawking peach soup and jiaoyatang—hard candy meant to "seal the teeth" for the year.
Ma Su remembered his brother mentioning that the Strategist had two children.
He stopped.
"How much for the candy?"
"Five cash for half a jin, nine for a full jin. How much does the young lord want?"
The vendor lifted the lid, revealing slabs of amber-brown candy.
"Cooked fresh last night."
Ma Su considered it.
"Two jin… no, two and a half."
He counted out twenty-three bronze coins and took the bundle.
The vendor brightened instantly.
"Anything else? Peach soup? A ready-made Five-Spice Tray?"
Ma Su shook his head.
The vendor closed the sale with a grin.
"May you rise ever higher."
Ma Su nodded politely.
"And may your profits multiply."
He first stopped by the Strategist's residence—but it was empty. Even the gatekeeper had gone out to celebrate.
After a moment's thought, Ma Su turned toward the county office instead.
As expected, he hadn't even crossed the threshold before Zhang Fei's voice thundered out:
"Strategist! Why do you drink like a scholar even on New Year's?!"
The main hall was thick with steam and laughter. A bronze cauldron sat over roaring firewood, lamb bubbling inside. White meat surfaced and sank like drifting clouds.
Every seat was taken.
"Youchang!" Liu Bei called out, cheeks flushed.
"Come, come! Take a seat—no need to be shy!"
Ma Su bowed deeply.
"May my lord live in peace for ten thousand years. Treasure your health for the sake of the realm."
Liu Bei laughed and pulled him upright, pressing a cup of wine and a stamped New Year's charm into his hands.
"Enough ceremony—drink!"
The wine burned pleasantly.
For a brief moment, Ma Su felt himself blend into the room.
He'd attended Zhengdan banquets in Yicheng before—cold affairs, stiff smiles, everyone measuring everyone else.
This was different.
He slipped over to Zhuge Liang, placed the candy beside him, and explained.
"Thoughtful," Zhuge Liang said with a smile, lifting a lacquered cup marked May you eat well.
Ma Su glanced sideways.
Lady Huang sat beside the Strategist, holding a matching cup—hers inscribed May you drink well.
Ah.
I'm interrupting, he realized.
He excused himself quickly.
Looking around, Ma Su suddenly noticed something—
Everyone had a spouse beside them.
Everyone except him.
And—at the very end of the table—a lone unfamiliar figure.
A newcomer?
Curious, Ma Su approached.
"I am Ma Su, styled Youchang, currently serving as an aide to the Strategist. And you are?"
"Jiang Wan, styled Gongyan," the man replied sleepily, returning the bow.
"Clerk under the General of the Left."
A clerk?
Ma Su blinked.
Low rank—and yet seated here?
Interesting.
Jiang Wan himself was just as confused. He'd been perfectly content coasting as a clerk when suddenly he was summoned to a "small gathering."
Then the lord and the Strategist had both toasted him personally.
It felt… ominous.
The idle days, he suspected, were numbered.
With Jiang Wan for company, Ma Su relaxed.
And the more they talked, the more alarmed Ma Su became.
Handsome and brilliant?
If Ma Su hadn't read military texts obsessively, he'd have embarrassed himself within minutes.
Jiang Wan, meanwhile, studied Ma Su's barely-there beard with equal amazement.
"Just crowned—and already this sharp on strategy?"
"As expected of the Strategist's man."
The two fell into animated discussion.
At the head of the table, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang exchanged smiles.
Liu Bei took another drink, then found himself staring at the peach soup.
Lady Gan noticed instantly.
"Husband," she murmured,
"the well connects to the river. Tonight, shall we bring peppered wine to the riverbank and offer it to Sister Mi?"
Liu Bei clasped her hand tightly.
"Yes."
Zhang Fei opened his mouth—only to freeze as Xiahou Lady twisted his waist.
He yelped silently.
"Yide?" Liu Bei asked.
"Are you unwell?"
Feeling the grip still digging into his side, Zhang Fei boomed:
"I just wanted to wish Big Brother eternal peace!"
The hall erupted.
Cups rose everywhere.
"May you eat well, live long, and guard the realm!"
Liu Bei laughed and raised his cup.
"The Dipper turns back to Yin. Another year begins.
This year—together—we advance our great cause!"
The banquet ended before midday.
Ma Su left reluctantly—still regretting that he hadn't dared ask for lamb from the cauldron.
As he departed, he glanced once more at the side hall now used by Zhuge Liang.
Locked.
He'd heard the rumors.
To be summoned there meant entry into the core.
Liu, Guan, Zhang, Zhao, Zhuge.
Then Jian Yong and Mi Zhu.
When would it be his turn?
Touching his chin, Ma Su discovered a new problem.
Ambition.
The Jiang–Huai refugees, fresh from crossing Tianzhu Mountain, didn't care that it was New Year's Day.
They wanted work.
By noon, under a great willow west of the city, thirty or forty men had gathered before Ma Su.
"Are you craftsmen?" he called.
"My family's been blacksmiths for generations!"
"I'm a papermaker! Been waiting since you posted the notice!"
"Woodworker here—no lies!"
Stop calling me young lord, Ma Su fumed inwardly.
Then an idea struck.
"Good," he said aloud.
"Follow me. We're going to the river."
The group shuffled along, noisy and undisciplined.
At the riverbank, Ma Su pointed at the water.
"All right," he said brightly.
"Everyone—jump in."
The New Year had only just begun.