Annoyed, Zhenya retreated to her hut, brushing off Jianyu’s request—though deep down, she suspected there was truth in Húlí’s teasing. 

As night deepened and the spring air sharpened, the brothers returned to their campfire. The flames burned low, bronzing their faces. The camp grew quiet; only the sigh of wind through the pines and the distant croak of frogs broke the stillness. 

“What’s with the goats, runt?” Húlí asked, lowering himself to the ground. He unsheathed a small dagger from his waistband and handed it to Jianyu. “Probably not for smoking… right?” 

Jianyu nodded and set to sharpening the dagger, the rhythmic scrape of steel on stone blending into the night chorus. The sound lulled him into quiet thought; in his mind, fences rose and goats grazed in lush green fields within their boundaries. 

Meat, milk, leather… he mused, always searching for new ways to secure the camp’s future. 

A low, gravelly chuckle drifted from the darkness behind him, breaking the steel’s song. 

“A real man steals his goats…” 

The voice rolled out of the shadows like thunder from a cave. Neither brother flinched. 

“Some fool said real men earned theirs,” Jianyu quipped. 

Húlí snorted. “Earned!?” 

From the treeline emerged Hei’an, Jianyu’s second brother—known among them as the Night Raider. Taller than Jianyu, though leaner, his presence carried the same quiet threat as Húlí’s blade. 

“So,” Hei’an said, flashing a white grin and rolling his shoulders as if shaking off the day, “you, me, and a few of the young ones go for a midnight ride? I’m tired of dried meat.” 

Jianyu’s lips twitched, betraying a smile. 

“You just want to show off to the recruits again.” 

“Of course I do,” Hei’an said easily. “But I also want fresh goat. The fat merchant in Anle Cun just came home with twice the livestock he had last year. The famine’s barely touched him… feels like an invitation to me.” 

As the famine pressed on, Shan Hu forbade the clan brothers from raiding small homes in farm villages, limiting their targets to wealthy estates and merchant caravans—and killing only when necessary. 

For many, raiding was more than plunder; it was the thrill of hearing women scream and seeing men cower as the gates fell. Shan Hu knew he couldn’t hold that hunger back forever without inviting conflict within the camp. But any man caught breaking the rule would be cursed with the misfortune of facing one of the three brothers. If the crime was grave enough, he would face the mountain of a man himself. 

“Fine,” Jianyu said, his grin fully exposed. “But no killing. We take what we need—nothing more.” 

The air between them hummed with devious mischief. Jianyu sheathed the blade and tossed it back to Húlí, rising so his shadow stretched long across the firelight. 

Hei’an’s catlike grin widened. “You’re starting to sound like Ba.” 

The brothers clasped wrists—a gesture balanced between affection and rivalry. For a heartbeat, famine and politics and all the world’s uncertainty faded, leaving only the warmth of fire and the promise of the raid. 

Even raiders have a moral code… 

— ✦ — 

Next Episode — Marked by a Beast
Beneath firelight and laughter, envy coils in the dark.
A single spark… and the brotherhood may never be the same...