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come.
    When I appear in the hall Eldest Son is taking breakfast.
    ‘Father!’ he cries. ‘You look. . .’
    Indeed I do. For the first time since his wedding I wear the uniform of a man on the Emperor’s Golden List, the vermilion girdle and tortoise-shell chest plate, the hat of black silk hung with four jade pendants. My cheeks are shaven and flecked with blood from the razor. On my feet, high-soled shoes, curling at the front. I am gratified by the impression my uniform makes. This bodes well. The outward and the inward in harmony with each other.
    ‘Does Honoured Father require me to send for wine?’
    he asks, timidly.
    Perhaps he thinks I have dressed so splendidly in a drunken humour. His offer is certainly tempting.
    ‘No, send for the headman and command the servants to prepare a fine breakfast.’
    I sit on Father’s chair, hands tucked in my sleeves.
    Half an hour later, Wudi arrives. He is as surprised as my son to see me. For a moment his resentful stare softens, but only for a moment.
    ‘Ah, Wudi. Be seated.’
    He obediently takes his place on the mat. Eldest Son hovers uncertainly beside him.
    ‘I have concluded,’ I say. ‘That the troops we expect may arrive today.’
    They watch me through narrowed eyes. I hate my confusion. Wine might make me bold, but if I started, who knows when I would stop?
    ‘Are the watchmen at the head of the valley as I directed?’ I demand.
    Wudi nods.
    ‘They understand their orders?’
    ‘Yes, Lord,’ he intones.
    ‘Good. I have commanded that an awning be placed near the entrance to the village square. That way I shall be the first the soldiers meet. Then I shall welcome their officers.’
    They watch me sullenly.
    ‘Ensure the chair I am sitting on is taken down to the awning,’ I say. ‘Tell Lame Fui to set aside five jars and a dozen decent cups. Tell him I will pay.’
    I turn to Eldest Son.
    ‘You shall remain in Three-Step-House. At the first sign of fighting, you are to leave the valley and join your wife.
    I say this before Wudi, as my witness. It is my command.
    You are my sole heir and your safety is worth more to me than senseless heroics. Is that understood?’
    ‘Yes, Father.’
    I can sense them both quickening. For all my anxiety, I feel a flush of excitement.
    ‘Wudi,’ I continue. ‘There is another matter on which I have given much thought.’
    He stiffens.
    ‘I refer to the loss of your son. Whatever happens I am determined he shall be remembered well. For that reason I have decided you should be allowed to construct a small family shrine on the outer perimeter of our ancestral shrine. Let your son’s bones be placed within sight of my own, and my father’s. By this means his soul shall mingle with his betters.’
    Wudi looks at me calculatingly.
    ‘Does Lord Yun Cai mean within the perimeter or outside its limits?’ he asks.
    ‘I mean, separate but adjoining. An intelligent man like you is well aware of the significance of this.’
    A look of puzzled satisfaction crosses his weather-beaten face. He bows deeply.
    ‘My son’s spirit will rejoice to hear these words,’ he says. ‘We are honoured.’
    So his family should be. One could imagine marriage growing from such proximity. Certainly he owns enough land to make his granddaughters worthy of my youngest grandson. In addition, Wudi possesses several farms in unexpected places, all of them fertile, as well as a water-mill and tannery.
    ‘First we must survive the coming days and weeks,’ I say, lest his imagination run away with him. We have a saying in Wei: a dream at morning is forgotten by evening.
    ‘Wudi, instruct the people to go about their business as usual. And Eldest Son, draw up an inventory of grain supplies in the village and their value, in case we need to bribe the soldiers. Now I must descend to the village square.
    Only Wudi shall accompany me.’
    So I take my place beneath the awning. Children and women gawp at me until I glare at them angrily. Flies