In a daze, Li Yan was shaken awake. He opened his eyes to see his fourth sister, Li Xiaozhu. His third brother was already gone. His sister's eyes were red and swollen as she looked at him and said, "Fifth Brother, the village chief is here. Father wants you to get up and come over."
Li Yan had barely slept. He had only drifted off into a hazy slumber after the rooster had crowed several times. He sat up and said to his sister, "Fourth Sister, I'll be right there."
Li Xiaozhu didn't move, her eyes filled with reluctance as she watched him.
Li Yan smiled. "Fourth Sister, don't be like that. I'll be back to see you all next New Year. I just don't know if you'll still be at home then."
Li Xiaozhu was taken aback for a moment, then her face flushed red. "You and your glib tongue," she said, before turning and leaving the room.
Watching his sister's retreating back, Li Yan couldn't help but let out a soft sigh. He didn't even believe his own words. Next New Year? It was already late summer, early autumn. Forget about what might happen in six months; he had no idea what his situation would be next year, or the year after that.
After a quick wash, Li Yan went to the front room. Five people were already seated there: his father, mother, third brother, fourth sister, and a robust man in his forties. The man sat in a slightly taller, larger chair. He had a square face, a full beard, and was dressed in a short-sleeved hunter's outfit, which didn't seem out of place in the cool morning air of the mountain village. His muscles were coiled and powerful, and he exuded a certain presence just by sitting there.
Seeing Li Yan enter, he smiled. "Li Yan, you're up a bit late."
Li Yan walked up to the man, bowed, and said, "Uncle Guoxin, good morning!"
The man's name was Li Guoxin, and he was the village chief. Besides farming, he was an excellent hunter who often led the village's able-bodied men to hunt in the outskirts of the mountains. Thanks to him, the village had fared better than others during the two years of locust plagues; at the very least, no one had starved to death.
Li Guoxin looked at Li Yan, then glanced at Li Yan's mother, Li Wei, and Li Xiaozhu before speaking. "Originally, I was planning to go to the county town in two days. Old Man Shan's second son and Li Tian's eldest are going to the town to be a kitchen helper and a blacksmith's apprentice, and they needed me to escort them and provide proof of identity. But last night, Uncle Chang came to my house and told me about Li Yan's situation, so I've decided to leave today."
Li Yan's father was named Li Chang, and the villagers all called him Uncle Chang. Li Guoxin looked at everyone again and continued, "Actually, I mentioned it to Uncle Chang yesterday. Li Yan could also go to the county town to work, just like the others. That's a stable job. But I have to be clear about this: a young man like you has no experience. You'll have to start as an apprentice. Firstly, there's a fee for an apprenticeship. Secondly, an apprentice has to do all sorts of chores and sign a contract. If anything happens during the apprenticeship, the master won't compensate for much. But Uncle Chang still decided to have Li Yan join the army for the rations."
The main issue was, in fact, money. Li Yan's family had very little. Although the apprenticeship fee was only five hundred copper coins, for a family of five whose monthly expenses were around fifty coins, this was nearly a year's worth of spending. They certainly couldn't afford it. The second reason was that apprenticeships were harsh. There was no personal freedom, and an apprentice had no dignity before they completed their training. It was not uncommon for masters to injure or even kill their apprentices.
Uncle Chang glanced at Li Yan and said, "Let's stick to the plan."
Then he smiled at the village chief. "This will be a lot of trouble for Guoxin."
Hearing this, Li Yan's mother, her eyes still red and swollen, hurriedly asked the village chief, "He's leaving today?"
The village chief nodded. "That's right. Although conscription is common these days, someone who came back from the county town yesterday said that Marshal Hong started recruiting yesterday morning. This time, they might be recruiting for the city's Aegis Guard. This type of guard usually protects the families of officials and guards the city's granaries and armories. They generally don't see much action, so the recruitment will probably be over in two or three days."
Li Yan's mother grew anxious. "Ah, there's going to be a war?" Li Xiaozhu also looked worriedly at Li Guoxin.
Hearing his wife's words and seeing his fourth daughter's anxious expression, Uncle Chang slapped the table in front of him in displeasure. "Didn't Guoxin just say? It's the Aegis Guard, they guard the city and watch over homes. There's no fighting. Look at the state of you two."
Li Xiaozhu and her mother glanced timidly at Li Guoxin. After a look at Uncle Chang, Li Guoxin nodded and offered a few words of comfort. Only then did they feel relieved and stop asking questions.
Li Yan, however, had been silent ever since he entered the room and greeted the chief. Seeing his mother and sister like this, a wave of sorrow washed over him. A lump formed in his throat, and his eyes began to turn red. He thought to himself that if he ever made money in the future, he would definitely return home to stay with his parents and family, never to be far away again. He wanted to see their content smiles every day and enjoy the warmth of their happy family.
In reality, while the Aegis Guard didn't usually have to participate in battles, if a war did break out and there was a shortage of troops, it wouldn't matter if you were in the Aegis Guard or not. At the very least, you would be sent to the top of the city walls to defend. The enemy's blades, spears, and arrows didn't have eyes to distinguish between the Aegis Guard and a general; they would just fire indiscriminately. Furthermore, you might even have to go out of the city to meet the enemy, which would mean true close-quarters combat.
However, all things considered, the Aegis Guard was indeed a much better posting than the other units recruited during normal times. Beside him, Li Wei looked at Li Yan with concern. He faintly knew that things were not as simple as the village chief had described.
Li Guoxin noticed Li Yan's silence and asked him, "Do you have any questions?"
Li Yan replied, "Uncle Guoxin has already said that the Aegis Guard is personally recruited by Marshal Hong to guard the granaries and armories, or even to act as guards for officials. That's already a very good and rare post. I will certainly do my best in this position."
Hearing this, Li Guoxin's brow furrowed slightly. He thought that Li Yan had truly believed every word he said. He thought to himself, 'On the road, I'll have to explain things to this boy, lest he truly believe it's a completely risk-free job.'
Li Guoxin then bid a temporary farewell to Li Yan's family. "We'll set off in about a quarter of an hour. This time, it will just be me and the three youngsters. The families can't come to see us off. It's a journey of over two hundred li through the mountains. If each family sends someone, with the luggage, the horse-drawn cart won't be able to go fast, and we won't make it there today."
The village only had two good horses. Pulling a cart with the weight of the four of them, reaching the county town before sunset was already pushing the limits.
Shortly after sunrise, the cart had already left the village, the small settlement receding into the distance behind them. Looking back at the few families still standing at the village entrance, and the weeping women among them, the other two boys on the cart, who were only thirteen or fourteen, began to cry, constantly wiping away their tears.
Li Yan gazed at his crying fourth sister and mother in the crowd, and at his third brother, who was supporting their father with a limp. He remained silent.
From the moment Li Yan got on the cart, his third brother and father hadn't said another word, only forcing themselves to smile. His fourth sister and mother, however, kept tugging at the hem of his mostly new coarse cloth shirt, as if afraid it wasn't straight, crying as they reminded him of all sorts of things, telling him to come back and see them whenever he had time, that there was dry food and salted vegetables in his bundle, and to eat when he was hungry...
Li Yan did not cry. He was merely holding back his tears, waves of bitterness welling up in his heart. He forced a smile and waved to them. "Father, Mother, Third Brother, Fourth Sister, take care. I'll bring back lots of things from the city for you next time. Third Brother, take good care of the family."
"Fifth Brother, I'll remember, I'll remember. Go on, go on..."
"Fourth Sister, when I'm settled, I'll send you some rouge and powder from the city."
"Fifth Brother, I'll wait, sob..."
"Fifth Brother..." With a heart-wrenching cry, Li Yan's mother collapsed into his fourth sister's arms...
The other two families were also wailing, and the sound of sobbing on the cart grew louder. Li Yan could no longer control his tears, letting them stream freely down his face.
The cart finally moved further and further away, away from the place where he had grown up, away from the foot of the Great Green Mountains, away from every familiar blade of grass and every tree. As the cart rounded a corner of the mountain, the village slowly shrank into a small black dot and finally disappeared from view. But the sounds of weeping from the village, carried on the wind, seemed to grow even louder.