Wang Daqiu couldn't remember how he escaped from the Japanese Pirates, as he had been held in the arms of his father's aide throughout the entire journey on the escape boat. Gunshots and arrows whizzed past his ears—some were hit by arrows, others fell into the river.
The aide, struck by multiple arrows, collapsed in the cabin, pinning Wang Daqiu beneath him. With his dying breath, he urged the boy not to make a sound.
Wang Daqiu was obedient. His father had told him not to cry, or the bad men would find him, so he didn't cry.
The aide told him not to make a sound, and though he was so frightened he wet his pants, he remained completely silent.
Later, the Japanese Pirates assumed everyone on the escape boat was dead. Wang Daqiu, being small and silent, went unnoticed. They had intended to overturn the boat to destroy evidence, but their leader on the rear pirate ship ordered them to hurry and loot the official ship before it sank. Thus, they abandoned the small boat, letting it drift on the river.
After drifting for an unknown length of time, the boat was pushed ashore. Wang Daqiu crawled out of the cabin and encountered a passerby, pleading for help. The passerby, however, was no good. Seeing the child dressed in fine fur clothing, he grew malicious and followed Wang Daqiu to the shore to search the boat for more valuables. But the small boat had already been washed away by the river again.
The passerby deceived Wang Daqiu, claiming he would report to the authorities in the city, and instead abducted him, selling him to human traffickers.
The traffickers, noticing his handsome appearance and good bone structure, sold him to an opera troupe. Wang Daqiu initially wanted to escape, but upon hearing the troupe was heading to the capital to perform, he decided to bide his time there.
New members of the troupe were subjected to beatings, scoldings, and brainwashing to make them forget their pasts and believe the troupe was their only family.
Having been deceived and sold by the passerby, Wang Daqiu learned his lesson and stayed cautious. He lied, saying he had been kidnapped and no longer remembered his family, and expressed willingness to stay with the troupe.
Had Wang Daqiu revealed his true background, both the traffickers and the troupe would likely have killed him to avoid trouble.
Enduring the hardships of travel and menial tasks in the troupe at such a young age, Wang Daqiu suffered greatly. Nearing the capital, he contracted a severe cold, with a swollen throat so painful he could barely drink water. His voice grew hoarse, rendering him unable to speak. The troupe leader, seeing his voice was ruined at such a young age, decided to resell him. Wang Daqiu secretly fled, becoming a vagrant and entering the city with a group of beggars.
He had left the capital too young to remember his home's exact location, but Wang Commander had always reminded him not to forget his roots: the Wang family lived in Tianshui Lane, West Diagonal Street, North City Drum Tower.
Though his hoarse voice prevented him from speaking, he had begun his education and could write a few characters. Using charcoal, he wrote "Tianshui Lane" on his arm and asked kind-looking passersby for directions home. Along the way, he encountered the Northern City Military Command rounding up vagrants.
Just as he found himself cornered, he spotted a familiar face—the female neighbor next door. His father had told him she was his sister-in-law and had even taught him how to write the character for "sister-in-law."
Fortunately, his sister-in-law recognized him.
Wang Daqiu could hold on no longer. His vision darkened, and he collapsed. Wei Caiwei touched the child's body—it was burning with fever. She quickly borrowed a horse from the Northern City Military Command and brought Wang Daqiu home.
Wang Residence.
The main kitchen had prepared a table of the banquet dishes intended for the wedding day, offering them to Commander Mu and the groom, Wang Daxia, to sample.This was already the fifth tasting session. The chef thought to himself, if the young master nitpicks again, I'm quitting. The wedding date is approaching, yet the menu isn't finalized and ingredients aren't fully procured—even a deity would find this difficult.
Wang Daxia took a bite of the lion's head meatball. "Hmm, not bad, but a bit bland. Our guests are mostly military officers who practice martial arts daily and prefer stronger flavors. Add more salt to this one."
He then picked up some dried shrimp tossed with tender cucumber. "The taste is just right, but greenhouse-grown cucumbers these days are more expensive than bird's nest or shark fin. We need to prepare at least a hundred tables for the banquet, and the gift money we've collected isn't even enough to cover a hundred plates of cucumber. We'd be losing heavily. Replace this cold dish with something cheaper."
The chef suggested, "How about shredded kelp instead?"
Wang Daxia shook his head. "No, that seems too shabby."
The chef said, "Then let's stir-fry some yellow chives. They're grown in warmed cellar greenhouses—also an expensive dish, but not as costly as cucumber."
Wang Daxia still refused: "No, chives have too strong a smell. With doors and windows closed in winter and heated floors burning, the steam would make the whole room reek of chives. How awkward would that be?"
Hearing this, the chef was so angry he wanted to take off his apron. Commander Mu finally spoke up, "I think we don't need to change it—just proceed as planned. The lion's head's saltiness is perfect. If we make it too salty, guests will get thirsty and drink more tea or wine. Is tea free? Is ten-year-aged Huadiao wine free? How can you miscalculate like this, child?"
"And this shrimp and cucumber dish. Since cucumber is too expensive, halve the amount and mix in some shiny jellyfish. It'll look good, taste delicious, and appear dignified when served."
He added, "Counting the days, your father should be returning home soon. If he sees you haven't even finalized the wedding banquet arrangements, wouldn't he criticize you for incompetence again?"
Wang Commander was his golden hoop spell—Wang Daxia immediately agreed.
With the banquet settled, Wang Daxia went to inspect the bridal chamber decorations. They would live separately at their new home by Shichahai after marriage, but for the first three days before the wedding, they'd stay at the Wang residence.
Although they would only occupy this room for three nights—and he and Wei Caiwei had already experienced their "wedding night" half a year earlier, knowing each other's bodies intimately—they still pursued perfection in ceremony.
The housekeeper came running in a panic, having even lost one shoe in his haste, "Terrible... terrible! The... the young master—"
Before he could finish, Wei Caiwei rode her horse straight into the backyard, carrying a little beggar—filthy everywhere except his face—into Wang Daxia's bedroom.
The moment he saw that familiar face, Commander Mu's mind buzzed, sensing grave danger.
Wei Caiwei dissolved a ready-made pill, but no matter how she tried, she couldn't get him to swallow it. Only when she pressed down Wang Daqiu's tongue with chopsticks and saw his swollen, festering throat did she understand why.
Wang Daqiu had a high fever that wouldn't break, was unconscious and in critical condition, with no one by his side. It was easy to guess that Wang Commander had met with misfortune.
Wang Daxia immediately mounted his horse and rushed to the Five Armies Commandery to find Grand Commander Zhu Xizhong.
Zhu Xizhong promptly dispatched people to investigate along the route. "Your father requested two months of leave to return to Jiangxi after spring began, and I approved it. If an official ship disappeared, local authorities couldn't possibly have no information. First, go back and take care of your younger brother. Once he wakes up, we'll know what happened."Wang Daxia was frantic with worry. Instead of going home, he thought, "I don't understand medicine—waiting at home would be useless. I should do something to try and salvage the situation." He went straight to the Imperial Guard Office to find Lu Ying.
Lu Ying had approved his marriage leave, exempting him from duty until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month while still paying his salary. Seeing Wang Daxia appear at the office in a distraught state, her first reaction was: "Has the bride disappeared? Who’s behind it?"
"It’s not her—it’s my father..." Wang Daxia explained how his younger brother had appeared on the streets disguised as a beggar. "...Father doted on this youngest son, raising him like a treasure. The time he spent with Daqiu over the years far exceeded the eighteen years he spent with me. He would never abandon his younger son—something must have happened to him."
Lu Ying had never seen Wang Daxia so panicked and helpless before.
Although Wang Daxia often complained that his father was biased, suspicious, and rigid—constantly finding reasons to suppress him, publicly humiliating him, and even occasionally putting on a "public parenting show" in the northern part of the city, chasing him with a whip—Wang Daxia had never truly resented his father. Nor had he ever imagined his father would leave him forever.
Seeing his younger brother Wang Daqiu’s pitiful state, it seemed likely their father was in grave danger.
In front of his fiancée Wei Caiwei, Wang Daxia tried hard to act like a steady, unshakable man, as if nothing could break him.
But before his superior Lu Ying, all his strong pretenses instantly crumbled, revealing only a boy terrified of losing his father.
Father promised to attend my wedding. I’ve prepared for half a year—could he really not make it?
Wang Daxia couldn’t accept this outcome.
In front of Zhu Xizhong, he had to maintain the composure expected of the eldest legitimate son. No matter how panicked he felt inside, he had to appear as the pillar of the Wang family, not letting outsiders look down on him.
Only in front of Lu Ying did Wang Daxia dare to reveal all his weaknesses, like a snail without its shell, trembling in a storm.
She forcibly seated him in a chair and poured him a cup of hot tea. "I’ve lost my father too—I understand how you feel. When the sky falls, any words of comfort are empty, and you probably don’t want to hear them right now, so I won’t say any. I’ll do everything I can to help you find your father and the others. A large official ship can’t just vanish without a trace—we’ll find something."
The tea was scalding, but Wang Daxia drank it all in one gulp without even feeling the heat. His entire body felt numb; he didn’t even feel like crying.
Lu Ying immediately gathered her trusted subordinates and explained the situation with Wang Daxia’s father and brother. Everyone pooled their ideas, vowing, "We’ll skip the New Year celebrations if we have to—we must find Uncle Wang and the others."
Especially Hundred-Household Commander Wu, who had also lost his father—three years ago, when his father Masked Wu’s body was fished out of the moat and delivered to his home, he had worn the exact same expression as Wang Daxia did now.
Hundred-Household Commander Wu said, "I’ll take some brothers to Jiangxi immediately and investigate from the source. Any news will be rushed to the capital by express courier."
Hundred-Household Commander Wu set off on the spot.
Seeing his comrades sacrifice their New Year to help him, warmth surged in Wang Daxia’s heart.
Back at the Wang residence, Wang Daqiu’s high fever persisted. Due to his swollen throat, he vomited most of the medicine he was given, making treatment extremely difficult.Commander Mu went to the Wang family ancestral hall to offer incense to the ancestors, praying for Wang Commander to overcome danger and for Wang Daqiu to recover soon.
Three days later, Wang Daqiu's throat had improved enough to swallow some liquid food, but he remained delirious from fever, especially at night when he would cry out for his parents in terror.
Before their father could be found, Wang Daxia sent for his younger brother's birth mother Chen Shi to care for him.
Perhaps due to the bond between mother and child, after Chen Shi took over, Wang Daqiu became much calmer at night. Whenever her son screamed with eyes closed and hands flailing, she would hold him in her arms, stroking his back as she had when patting his back to burp him as a child, humming lullabies from his early years.
An urgent letter arrived from Jiangxi stating that after Wang Commander boarded the ship in Nanchang, aside from a small band of Japanese Pirates attempting to attack Jiujiang County but being repelled, everything had been peaceful. There were no other major incidents reported, and no news of any accident involving Wang Commander's large official ship.
The letter also praised Wang Commander's three years of diligent military training, which had improved the combat effectiveness of the garrison troops enough to withstand the Japanese Pirates' attack.
Otherwise, the Japanese Pirates would likely have breached Jiujiang County, just as they had done three years earlier when roaming Jiangxi - when merely seven Japanese Pirates could capture an entire county town, looting at will before departing.
On the day the letter arrived, Wang Daqiu's fever finally broke. Though his voice remained hoarse, he could barely express himself and recounted the events of that day.
When Wang Daxia heard his brother describe how the ship was sinking, with limited lifeboats, and how their father had voluntarily been the first to remain on the official ship, his heart sank into an abyss, falling endlessly: facing such vicious Japanese Pirates, there was no possibility of his father surviving.
Author's Note: This chapter's title references Game of Thrones, where the music of "The Rains of Castamere" turns a lively wedding instantly into a massacre.
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