The evening sun cast a fading glow on the pink buds of a lonely peach tree. The thick buds had nearly burst during the day, although when the light retreated the buds did the same, waiting yet another day to blossom. Under the tree lay a person, his small and delicate stature contrasted with the long but simple sword resting on his chest. Beams of soft light sifted through the branches, gently reaching the young man as he opened his eyes. Stretching his body, he realized he had slumbered a good while longer than he intended. It didn't matter though, because he had all the time in the world. No one knew where he was or where he was going. At last, he was free to do whatever he wished for. 

With a much-needed yawn, Xu Min reached for his straw hat. It was made of black reeds to better absorb the rays of the relentless sun. This late in the evening, a hat wasn't necessary, but he put it on anyway, mostly out of habit but also to hide his bald head. 

In his right hand, he held his constant companion, a sword inherited from his father. It was ingrained in him never to let go of the blade. Even when he was slumbering, he refused to release it. His father had insisted on teaching him martial arts from the moment he could walk. It had been a hard school, with nagging about footwork and posture. Now Xu Min was grateful for his father's efforts. It had saved his life more than once.

When Xu Min was nine years old, his mother died, and his father had succumbed to periods of destructive gambling and drinking. This resulted in a substantial debt to the local gambling house.

Even though Xu Min was very young, he dedicated himself to taking care of his father and supported him in his misery by working in the fields and taking every other job he was able to get. He was far from the only child in his village who had experienced a similar fate.

After a few years his father was killed by mountain bandits when they raided the village, and Xu Min was devastated. The lord who owned the gambling establishment demanded that Xu Min would pay the debt in his father’s place, otherwise he would never be allowed to leave the village where he grew up.

It had taken Xu Min ten years of hard work in the fields to settle his father's debt. Now when he had left the village, his only regret was that he couldn’t visit his parent's resting place as often in the future. 

With his last breaths his father had warned him of wandering the Jianghu, claiming rather cryptically there were dangers he regretted not telling Xu Min about. He also had Xu Min swear to never let his hair grow out, because it would be life-threatening if he did. 

Xu Min’s curiosity about the world was too strong to obey his father, and it felt impossible to stay in the village after all the sad things that had happened there. But he had sworn to never grow his hair long, and that was a promise he intended to keep, even if he didn't understand his fathers motives.

Xu Min planned to go to the capital city of Gungzhan to look for work. He needed a buffer before embarking on his adventure in the Jianghu. Yongzen had been blessed for many years with good harvests and few floods. Unluckily, this wealth never reached his old home village near the Shanling Mountains on the Xiandu border. Instead, the village was relentlessly raided by gangs of mounted robbers who had little regard for human life. It was during such an attack his father was killed, and at his young age, Xu Min failed to defend him. This failure was the worst mistake of his life, and he would probably never forgive himself. 

The dusty road lay deserted as the evening deepened. Xu Min preferred travelling by night for that very reason; he didn't like having a lot of people around him. People were curious, and Xu Min had no desire to answer anyone's questions. 

Having been on the road for many days, Xu Min was closing in on the capital. His old shoes had paid the price, becoming too worn out to be comfortable. He had patched them up with braided reeds, ensuring they held together a few more li. The blisters were harder to deal with, leaving his feet in worse condition than his shoes.

He passed a stream and seized the opportunity to fill up his water bag. The fresh and cold water was tempting, so he took the rags off his feet and stepped into the shallow stream. The water provided a much-needed cooling effect to his sore feet. He crouched forward and cupped his hands in the water. As he splashed the water over his cheeks and his neck, he remembered a tradition he and his father used to have. After intense labour or a demanding martial arts session, they went to the river that ran through the village common, bathing and splashing water at each other like crazy. 

Xu Min remembered how the silver medallion around his father's neck reflected the sunbeams, and created patterns on the water's surface, and they chased those patterns. His parents always used to say that necklace was the only family possession not for sale. When his father passed away, Xu Min searched everywhere for the medallion but never found it. Those times, playing in the water with his father was his favourite childhood memory. 

Comfortably refreshed, he continued along the road. It was getting dusky, but the darkness didn’t affect him. He was sure-footed in most circumstances and kept walking at a brisk pace, ignoring the pain in his feet. A bit further down the road, he heard a rattling noise that grew in intensity, and sounded very much like a carriage approaching. Xu Min assessed the number of horses to three or four, and after thinking his situation over, he quickly hid in some bushes beside the road and quietly settled himself to wait. It was always safer to be cautious, meeting an unknown group of people alone in the dark wasn't very wise. He didn't want to get into trouble before he even reached the capital. 

A few minutes passed before a carriage, flanked by two mounted guards, slowly approached. The carriage looked like it belonged to a noble family with two well-cared-for horses and its thick turquoise side curtains. As it got closer, Xu Min could make out the character Qing on the side of the carriage. The Qing family was successful merchants well known all over Yongzen. They owned many fashion and beauty shops. In recent years they had expanded their business and were currently responsible for supplying Yongzen's army with horses. It was a lucrative contract, well demonstrated by the luxurious carriage. 

As the entourage passed in front of him, Xu Min heard the guards talking.

"If I didn't already have a good job, I would try for it. It requires a brave man, of course, but I'm certain I could do it,” one guard remarked.

The second guard hummed something indistinct, and the first one kept on talking. 

"I know Ru Huan, who is in charge of recruitment, so I already have a foot in the door, but..."

Their voices faded away before Xu Min could hear more details. He memorized the name they mentioned for future reference, waited a moment, and then crawled out of the bushes. A little unhappy with the dirt on his clothes, his brows furrowed as he dusted himself off, and then he fished a small twig out of his hair. Next, he continued walking along the dark road toward the capital.

****

Gungzhan lay in the middle of a vast plain at the junction of two rivers. From one of the rivers, previous generations had built a canal that connected Gungzhan to its southern neighbours. The plains were an odd place to build a large city, and the ancient trading post was probably never intended to become the capital of a kingdom. Around the city, the water had been diverted to form a broad moat followed by a seven-meter-high stone wall. Even though Gungzhan was geographically unprotected, it still had good defenses for being situated in the middle of the plain. 

Xu Min had never stayed in the city before, but he had heard his parents talk about how lively the streets could be. By the time he arrived, it was lunchtime, and he could tell because every open-air restaurant was filled with guests, and many people were moving through the narrow streets. Both hungry and thirsty, Xu Min decided to look for a place to eat first. He found an empty seat at a stall that served dumplings. The restaurant seemed reasonably clean, and he was too starved to care. He usually was picky about such things, but after his long and tiresome journey, he had other priorities. 

When he had clenched his thirst and eaten at least ten dumplings, he searched for an affordable place to live. He wasn't in a hurry, strolling along the street, taking in all the impressions of a large city. He heard the sound of rattling carts and the shouts of street vendors. Spices and sour slushy water mixed to develop a unique smell he hadn't experienced elsewhere. 

Some of the major streets were paved, but most were made of rammed earth, creating a layer of dust on everything along the back roads. He realized why the more prominent streets were so crowded; everyone was trying to avoid the dust. These back streets instead seemed to be a haven for various dubious characters with straw hats and swords, such as himself, he thought grimly. 

He asked one of the men for guidance on lodgings, and after examining some of the suggestions, he settled on a semi-expensive inn relatively close to the main street leading to the palace. 

He was in desperate need of a bath but it cost a lot to have water brought to the room and he had seen people bathing in the river outside the North City wall, so he got a clean change of clothes and headed out of the city. 

It was a hot afternoon, so he wasn't the only one who had come up with the idea. He followed the river westward until he came to a grove of trees. Here he could swim in peace, and the trees were perfect for hanging clothes to dry. He let out his waist-long hair and cleansed it thoroughly. He scrubbed his soiled clothes and hung them on some tree branches, then he lay down comfortably in the sun and took a blade of grass to chew on while he waited for his clothes to dry.

Xu Min awoke to the sound of laughter and tightened his grip on the sword, his straw hat still covering his face. Through its sparse weave, he observed three approaching silhouettes. Judging from their movements and noise level, they were drunk. He kept still and waited to see what they had in mind. 

"What do we have here? A tiny half-naked boy-fighter?" 

One of the men gave him a shove on the shoulder with his foot. Xu Min didn't move; with some luck, they would soon tire and move on. 

All three men stood around him, and one leaned over and accidentally spilled wine on Zu Min's face. 

"Are you stealing my wine, you fool?"

By now, Xu Min's patience was wearing thin, but he held his ground with his jaw set.

"Maybe he's dead? I wonder if he has any money?"

The third of the men leaned forward and was about to put his hand inside Xu Min's tunic when the straw hat suddenly flew into the air, followed by a swirling sword scabbard that caught the men by surprise and gave two of them a blow on each chin. Xu Min finished his spin, landed smoothly on his feet, and assumed a fighting stance with his scabbard angled before him.

The three men, now recovered from the shock, drew their swords and attacked almost simultaneously. Xu Min parried the first blow with his scabbard and dodged the second. He refused to pull his father's sword for these drunks. The third man stumbled and fell to the ground, too drunk to do any damage. With a smooth jump over the fallen man, Xu Min countered and pushed the other two back. They were an easy match for him, especially since they were drunk. It didn't take long for the men to have had enough, and Xu Min backed away so that they could retrieve their comrade. With the passed-out man between them, they hurried away along the riverbank.