As music played in the courtyard, Elder Yueli stretched her arms and smiled wearily at Wuyi, who stood with his back to the fire, playing his flute. She turned to another elder and ordered a cask of wine to be opened.
Baijian put a warrior at the door to the cellars and another at the barracks. He and Yun Ming whispered for a moment in the darkness beyond the fire, and Yun Ming doubled the watch and forced some unwilling warriors onto the walls where the farmers could see them. When Yun Ming looked down, Baijian was dancing with the seamstress' daughter.
Feiru and a few other elders hauled a great cauldron of meat soup to the door of the dormitory. Cheering archers and farmers hauled it together into the firelight. Yinhai Hu appeared with wine jugs and handed them to the first men he saw. They toasted him, and the jugs passed around, warriors to farmer, and farmer to warriors , until they were empty.
