Translator: Ink Hub

Editor: Yoog

“Where is he?”

“Inside. Brother Han is currently giving him a piece of his mind.”

“Scolding him? What happened?”

Luo Yu stood at the door and peered inside. Xiao Shaoyou gave a bitter smile.

“Ever since his father died, Gongshu Bai has been completely demoralized. He spends his days drowning his sorrows in wine, and his blacksmith shop has fallen into ruin. Brother Han didn’t know any of this until now, and he’s furious at the boy’s lack of ambition. When he refused to come, Brother Han simply tied him up and dragged him here.”

“A blacksmithing genius turned into a hopeless drunk?”

Luo Yu’s brow furrowed slightly. “He wouldn’t just fall apart for no reason. Is there more to the story?”

“Because his father died at the hands of the Qiang.”

Xiao Shaoyou fell silent. Gongshu Bai shared a similar fate to his own, and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of pity.

Luo Yu let out a soft sigh and looked into the room. “Let’s see how it goes first. If it really doesn’t work out, we’ll find a way to recruit other blacksmiths.”

Inside, a young man sat slumped on the floor. He reeked of alcohol and was clearly intoxicated. Despite his name being Gongshu Bai—meaning “white”—his skin was as dark as charcoal. He mumbled incoherently.

“Uncle Han, just let me go. I only want to stay in my shop. I’m not going to forge iron for you, and I’m certainly not staying in this desolate wasteland of a city to craft armor and weapons for those personal troops. I refuse to associate with them.”

“This isn’t about whether you want to forge iron or not!”

Han Shuo was fuming, scolding the youth as if he were his own son.

“Your father and I were best friends. I watched you grow up. Now that he’s gone, it’s my duty to look after you. I’ve been at the border for years and rarely made it home, and I never expected you to turn into this! Drink, drink, drink—that’s all you know! Look at yourself! Do you even look like a human being anymore?”

“What’s wrong with drinking? It’s not against the law.”

Gongshu Bai lifted a wine gourd from his waist and took a swig, acting completely indifferent. “You drink, my father drank… we’re all two peas in a pod.”

“You little brat, you dare talk back to me!”

Han Shuo was nearly breathless with rage. “I’ve sent you so much silver over the years, hoping you’d run that blacksmith shop well. Where is the money? Don’t tell me you spent it all on wine! Your father left you a thriving business, and look what you’ve done to it! You’re just sitting around waiting to die!”

Han Shuo ranted for a long time, his spit flying around. When he had first seen that blacksmith shop covered in cobwebs and thick dust, he had nearly exploded with fury.

“Forging iron… Heh. My father forged iron his whole life, and what good did it do?”

Gongshu Bai struggled to his feet, his face flushed red.

“When the Qiang soldiers came, he still died! I watched it happen right next to him! That Qiang soldier didn’t even look at him; he just slashed his chest open like he was gutting a dog. That was a living, breathing human being! Later, I realized… I saw through it all. Ancestral skills, the spirit of craftsmanship—it’s all dog shit. We people of Longxi have worthless lives anyway. We’ll all die at the hands of the Qiang sooner or later. I might as well enjoy myself while I’m still alive!”

He glared at Han Shuo. “You lead troops at the border, constantly talking about protecting the country, but who have you ‘border army’ troops actually protected? Where were you when my father was being slaughtered by those Qiang bastards? Time and again, the Qiang bandits cross the border to pillage and massacre the people. Where are you? Where are the border guards? You say I’m just waiting to die, but aren’t you the same?”

Tears shimmered in Gongshu Bai’s eyes as he finally spat out the words he had kept buried for years.

“You bastard!”

Pa!

Whether out of rage or shame, Han Shuo delivered a sharp slap. Five bright red finger marks quickly appeared on Gongshu Bai’s dark cheek.

“Go ahead, hit me! Kill me!”

Gongshu Bai’s eyes were bloodshot. “At least if I die by your hand, I’ll have a whole corpse left. It’s better than dying like a dog to the Qiang!”

“You little… I’ll…”

“Stop!”

Just as Han Shuo was about to deliver another blow, Luo Yu stepped in and stopped him. “Let me talk to him.”

Han Shuo suppressed his impulse and turned his head away.

Having escaped further physical pain, Gongshu Bai frowned.

“So, you’re Uncle Han’s boss? The so-called city lord of Cangqi? You’re awfully young. But I’m telling you now, give up. To be honest, whether it’s the imperial army or personal troops, I have no respect for you soldiers. I actually loathe you. If Uncle Han wasn’t here, I’d be cursing you to your face. You want me to help you forge weapons? In your dreams!”

Luo Yu finally understood where Gongshu Bai’s hostility came from.

His father had died at the hands of the Qiang, so he hated the Qiang. But he also hated the border army that was supposed to protect the frontier. He hated their incompetence, their cowardice, their corruption…

He likely wasn’t the only one in Longxi who felt this way.

“My name is Luo Yu. I mean you no ill will. I sympathize with your father’s passing, but the dead cannot be brought back. Please accept my condolences.”

“Luo Yu? Why does that name sound familiar?”

Gongshu Bai looked confused, then his expression shifted to shock.

“You… you’re that young centurion who killed Wanyan Chang and held Yunyang Pass? You’re the ones who did that?”

Han Shuo hadn’t mentioned a word of this, so the revelation was a massive shock. In Gongshu Bai’s eyes, that was the only victory the border army had managed in years—at least they had finally done something right.

“I am sincerely inviting you to Cangqi to lend me your strength,” Luo Yu said calmly. “I have three sentences for you. After you hear them, you can stay or leave as you wish. No one will force you.”

The room fell into a heavy silence. Gongshu Bai’s eyes flickered. He wanted to see what Luo Yu had to say.

“First sentence. Brother Han told me your family is a lineage of master craftsmen. You aren’t just skilled in smelting and forging; you understand mechanics and complex structures. You are a genius in this field, and your father’s greatest wish was for you to carry on the ancestral craft. Do you think your father’s spirit in heaven wants to watch you live this muddled, pointless existence until your family’s legacy is lost forever?”

Gongshu Bai remained silent. He didn’t speak, but the anger on his face had faded significantly.

“Second sentence. Your father isn’t the only one who died at the hands of the Qiang bastards. I saw too many civilians die at Yunyang Pass. Children without mothers or fathers sitting in pools of blood, crying. If we’re talking about tragedy, there are countless people more miserable than you! But what about them? They still have to grit their teeth and keep living. I believe that if you are a true son of Longxi, you should be thinking about how to protect your home. You should be doing something, not sitting here wasting away and blaming the heavens. Others might be powerless, only able to pray that the Qiang blades don’t fall on them. But you, Gongshu Bai, have the power to do something. Your forging skills can provide my soldiers with superior armor and weapons.”

Luo Yu leaned in slightly. “With those, they can kill the enemy on the battlefield. They can avenge your father and the thousands of civilians who were slaughtered. They can protect the people of the three provinces from the Qiang. Of course, Cangqi City only has three hundred soldiers right now. You might think I’m just talking big, but I can tell you this: every single soldier under my command has killed Qiang bandits. The Qiang soldiers who have died at our hands number in the hundreds. We dare to fight the battles others are afraid of. We will protect the people others refuse to protect!”

The room was deathly silent. Not just Gongshu Bai, but even Xiao Shaoyou and Han Shuo were moved. The great battle at Yunyang Pass had transformed this unit; at the very least, they now carried the weight of the common people in their hearts.

“Third sentence.”

Luo Yu held up two fingers.

“If you choose to follow us, I guarantee that I will lead my brothers to resist the Qiang and defend our home. I will never allow them to massacre our people at will. There are only two possible endings for us: either we win or we lose. If we lose, everyone in Cangqi City, including us, will die together. We will die fighting to protect our home! So, you need to think carefully. Are you afraid?”

Having finished his piece, Luo Yu turned to walk toward the door.

Gongshu Bai’s heart trembled. He subconsciously blurted out a question.

“And if we win?”

“Don’t you and your father both love to drink?”

Luo Yu stopped at the doorway and turned back, looking Gongshu Bai straight in the eye.

“If we win, we’ll go to your father’s grave together and offer him a cup of celebratory wine.”

With that final word, the three of them turned and left, leaving Gongshu Bai standing there dazed.

It took a long time before he snapped out of it. He pumped his fist in the air and shouted toward the hallway.

“Uncle Han! Send some brothers to move all the tools from my shop! How am I supposed to forge anything without my gear?”

Translator’s Note: Luo Yu really knows how to work a room, doesn’t he? That “Three Sentences” speech was pure fire. He didn’t just appeal to Gongshu Bai’s ego; he went straight for the trauma and the legacy. And that final line about the celebratory wine at the grave? Talk about an emotional gut punch. It’s interesting to see the deep-seated resentment the common folk have for the border army—it makes Luo Yu’s mission to build something different feel much more urgent. Do you think Gongshu Bai is going to be the key to turning Cangqi into a fortress, or is his drinking problem going to cause trouble down the line? Drop a comment and let me know!

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