[Water Margin] Hu Sanniang with her delicate hands - Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The night was as black as ink, and all was silent. Only the cold wind of early winter howled through the bare branches, making a mournful sound like the weeping of lonely spirits.

Hù Sānniáng was clad in a tight-fitting black night suit, her dark hair completely tucked inside a cloth cap, making her seem to melt into the thick darkness. Trailing behind her were twelve similarly dressed, capable manor guards, whom she had secretly observed and repeatedly selected over the past few days. They had clean family backgrounds, steady temperaments, and were fiercely loyal to the Hù Family Village. Leading them was a distant cousin named Hù Chéng, a taciturn man with astonishing arm strength who was particularly skilled at setting up mechanisms.

The group moved like civet cats in the dark night, silently slipping out through a small corner gate in the village wall and merging into the vast, deep mixed-wood forest outside the manor.

The forest was even darker than the outside. The moonlight was fragmented by the layers of branches, barely allowing them to see. Beneath their feet were thick, soft layers of fallen leaves. Every step had to be taken with extreme caution to avoid making a sound. The air was filled with the cold, damp scent of decaying branches, dead leaves, and soil.

“Here,” Hù Sānniáng stopped by a slightly narrow game trail, lowering her voice and pointing to a seemingly flat patch of fallen leaves ahead. “Dig a pit about five feet deep and three feet wide. The bottom should be lined with sharpened bamboo stakes pointing up. Cover the top with thin wooden supports and camouflage it with fallen leaves.”

Hù Chéng nodded silently, gave a hand signal, and immediately two guards stepped forward. They began digging with short spades wrapped in cloth, their movements quick and professional. The soil was carefully piled to the side, ready for backfilling.

Hù Sānniáng walked to the other side, pointing to a thick aerial root hanging from a crooked old locust tree: “Here, one foot above the ground, set a tripwire, using oil-soaked ox-hide rope; it’s hard to spot and tough to break. Connect both ends of the rope to a mechanism that will trigger a warning bell hung on the tree.” She personally demonstrated, tying a small copper bell with a thin thread to a hidden branch, the thread cleverly connected to the tripwire.

The guards held their breath, watching their usually delicate Mistress skillfully setting these viciously effective mechanisms, their eyes filled with astonishment and respect. She seemed to know every blade of grass and tree in this forest, her judgment frighteningly accurate on where to set an ambush and where to sneak.

“Mistress Sānniáng, how… how do you know all this?” A younger guard couldn’t help but whisper, his voice carrying disbelief.

Hù Sānniáng’s hands continued their work, carefully burying an iron caltrop in the soft soil beneath the leaves. She didn’t look up, her voice calm and steady: “I read it in books. The Essentials of the Military Arts and Records of City Defense—they all have such records. It doesn’t hurt to read more books in peacetime.”

She downplayed the fragmented knowledge Lín Xiǎo had absorbed in the modern world from military forums, historical documentaries, and even online novels, attributing it to military books that women of this era were not supposed to touch. No one dared to question her; only belief remained.

Moonlight occasionally pierced through the gaps in the branches, illuminating her focused profile. Those jade hands moved among the cold iron tools and coarse ropes, steady and precise, as if they were naturally meant to wield instruments of war. Fine sweat beaded on her temples, which she carelessly wiped away with the back of her hand, leaving a faint streak of mud on her cheek.

She wasn’t just setting traps; she was weaving an invisible net, a safety net attempting to catch the Hù Family Village’s impending downfall. Every pitfall, every tripwire, every iron caltrop was infused with her determination to fight fate.

The setup was only preliminarily completed when the eastern sky began to turn a fish-belly white. A warning and obstruction belt, composed of pitfalls, tripwires, iron caltrops, and bells, stretching about half a li deep, silently lay across the heart of the dense woods, like a lurking venomous snake.

“If any part of tonight’s work is revealed,” Hù Sānniáng’s gaze swept over the tired but bright-eyed guards, her voice cold and stern, “it will be treated as collusion with the enemy, and the penalty will extend to your families.”

The guards’ hearts chilled. They all whispered in unison: “We swear loyalty to Mistress Sānniáng even unto death!”

In the morning, after breakfast, Hù Tàigōng summoned Hù Sānniáng to his study. His brow was slightly furrowed, and he was twirling a letter in his hand.

“Sānniáng, the Zhù Family Village has sent another letter,” Hù Tàigōng handed the letter to her, his tone troubled. “That boy, Zhù Biāo, his words are earnest, again mentioning the previous gifts he sent, saying your firm refusal to accept them made him very uneasy. The letter also says that to show the solidarity of the three villages, he intends to personally visit in a few days to… to discuss the details of the joint drills with you.”

Hù Sānniáng unfolded the letter and quickly scanned it. Zhù Biāo’s writing was fluid enough, but between the lines, there was a sense of presumptuous familiarity, a certainty of possession, which tainted what should have been a serious military discussion with a hint of a private arrangement.

Her inner sneer deepened, but her face remained impassive. She gently placed the letter back on the desk: “Father, joint drills are necessary, of course. However, for Young Master Zhù Biāo to personally come and discuss them with your daughter—is that not improper by the rules of decorum? The Three Villages Alliance is a major affair between masters and instructors. How can I, a mere woman, overstep my bounds and privately discuss such military matters with Young Master Zhù Biāo?”

With just a few sentences, she exposed Zhù Biāo’s personal motives, elevating the issue to the level of “propriety” and “military secrecy.”

Hù Tàigōng was taken aback. He was not a fool; he had simply been blinded by the grand cause of the alliance and Zhù Biāo’s superficial enthusiasm, failing to think deeply. Now that his daughter had pointed it out, and re-read the tone of the letter, his expression turned sour.

“This Zhù Biāo… is indeed a bit reckless,” Hù Tàigōng pondered. “However, with the Liangshan bandits menacing us, the alliance is crucial. It is also inconvenient to completely dismiss him…”

“Father,” Hù Sānniáng interrupted him, her eyes clear, her tone carrying an undeniable sharpness, “Precisely because Liangshan is powerful, our Hù Family Village must become stronger independently, not rely on the intentions of others, especially… those with ulterior motives. An alliance is for mutual benefit, not submission. Our Hù Family Village has high walls, ample grain, and loyal guards. As long as we respond correctly, we do not necessarily fear those Liangshan ruffians! Why should we lower ourselves to accommodate such frivolous behavior?”

She paused, her voice softening, but becoming heavier: “Daughter has recently read extensively in military and historical texts and knows that a fortress is most easily breached from within. If a small slight causes the alliance to falter, it is a disaster; but if constant accommodation causes people to look down on our Hù Family Village, thinking we can be manipulated at will, or even… harboring thoughts of annexation—that is the real catastrophe! Zhù Biāo can use the pretext of discussing military affairs to harass me today; could he not use the pretext of the alliance to attempt annexation tomorrow?”

These words struck Hù Tàigōng like a heavy hammer. He abruptly looked up at his daughter. In the candlelight, his daughter’s figure was still slender, but her straight spine, her calm, almost cold gaze, made him feel a sense of unfamiliarity, and… an inexpressible shock.

He suddenly realized that his daughter, he didn’t know when, was no longer the delicate girl who needed his protection. Her insight, her decisiveness, her… killing aura, had far surpassed his imagination.

“You…” Hù Tàigōng’s throat moved. His voice was a little dry: “What you say is not without reason. But… the trees desire calm, but the wind will not cease. Liangshan is, after all, a major concern.”

“Daughter understands,” Hù Sānniáng lowered her eyes, concealing the coldness toward the “known” fate in their depths. “Therefore, we must prepare early, being outwardly tight and inwardly relaxed, both allied and self-secure. Father, in the forest outside the village, Daughter has already ordered loyal men, according to military texts, to secretly lay down some warning mechanisms. This matter is top secret. Other than Father, Daughter, and the guards involved, no one knows. I hope Father will keep it confidential for now, and not mention it even to the elders, to prevent loose lips.”

Hù Tàigōng was completely stunned. He had never imagined his daughter not only saw far but acted with such decisiveness and secrecy! He opened his mouth, wanting to ask how she knew such things, wanting to scold her for acting without permission, but in the end, all words turned into a long sigh.

“Very well, very well… You… go ahead and do it. Caution is paramount in all things.” He waved his hand, as if he had aged several years in an instant, and yet, also felt a slight relief. Perhaps, in this turbulent world, having such a daughter was the good fortune of the Hù Family Village.

Hù Sānniáng left the study, looking up at the gray sky. The cold wind swept through the courtyard, blowing the few stray hairs on her forehead.

Convincing her father was just the first step. The real test had yet to arrive.

She tightened her robe, feeling the cold touch of the sharp-edged iron caltrop she had brought back from the forest.

The killing array was set; the mental defense was built.

Now, she only waited for the storm that was sure to come.