Jin Si’s backing was precisely Chen Er.

Jin Si’s grandparents, because of their advanced age, had been released to retire in peace. Jin Si’s family purchased a small residence in the northern district to settle the elderly. Once, on her way to visit her grandparents, Jin Si encountered street thugs blocking her sedan chair, and Chen Er stepped forward to resolve the situation.

Afterward, Jin Si acknowledged Chen Er as her adoptive father and introduced her biological father to Chen Er. From then on, the two families maintained close contact. Jin Si’s father was a steward in charge of purchasing for the Xiao mansion and often gave Chen Er business, while Chen Er secretly helped his adopted daughter solve troubles—both sides benefited.

Being specially favored by Xiao San, and having an adoptive father who devised strategies and provided manpower resources, Jin Si’s position in the inner residence rose steadily. Naturally, she didn’t even regard the legitimate wife from a wealthy family with respect. In dealing with the second Madame Xiao San, she employed Chen Er’s power. What began as mere women’s squabbling, when hidden jianghu forces were involved acting outside normal rules and catching people off guard, even a powerful natal family couldn’t be of use.

It was precisely this disparity in power that made Jin Si increasingly confident she could obtain the legitimate wife’s position, and increasingly ruthless in her methods.

This was probably something Xiao San could never have imagined—the true reason for Jin Si’s unbridled arrogance.

When Mei Shan came to deliver the news, Mo Zi was at Hongyu Cove receiving cargo ships from Boss Wei from Yajiang. With the silver notes in hand, six thousand taels deposited, she was in quite a good mood.

“Brother Mo, Mei Shan asks on behalf of Master Jiu—how should Chen Er be eliminated?” Mei Shan asked very directly.

Only three people were in the room. Zan Jin was an internal martial arts expert—if someone outside were eavesdropping, it wouldn’t escape his ears. Moreover, this was Mo Zi’s territory, this room was Hongyu’s power center—people who weren’t trusted simply couldn’t get close.

“What Master Jiu worries about most is losing people’s hearts.” Mo Zi had discussed this matter with Yuan Cheng, so this was a ruthless plan they had jointly devised. “Chen Er is now holding his forces in reserve—what he fears is also losing hearts.”

Mei Shan sighed. “Exactly so. Master Jiu’s position as gang leader is unstable, and the elders seem to favor Chen Er more. He wants to act but cannot act hastily.”

“Then let him act first.” Mo Zi toyed with a ship model. “Whoever acts first loses hearts first.”

“Make Chen Er act first?” Mei Shan shook his head. “He’s always been cautious—caution makes ten thousand years of sailing. He’s been a peaceful good person for so many years; everyone in the gang says he’s honest. Even if Master Jiu wants to eliminate him, he can’t find fault.”

“Those who are cautious for ten thousand years become suspicious of every shadow and see enemies in every tree. For such people, attacking the heart is best. Master Jiu has married a new wife—women’s family members should frequently visit each other. With the year-end approaching, burning incense and worshipping Buddha for peace—women going to the nunnery for purification is the most sincere gesture. If there’s time to spare, why not have Master Jiu’s wife invite all the families’ women for a trip, staying for a few days?” The ship model was a Great Zhou patrol boat, equivalent to a modern reconnaissance vessel—Mo Zi wanted to modify it.

Mei Shan thought Mo Zi wanted to use Chen Er’s wife and children as hostages. “Using family as hostages loses hearts even more—that won’t work.”

Mo Zi exclaimed, “Who said to use them as hostages? I mean really going to burn incense. Master Mei treats me as too ruthless—after all, I am a woman.”

“Then… what does burning incense have to do with Chen Er making a move?” Mei Shan was puzzled.

“The women are truly burning incense, but Chen Er won’t necessarily think so. If he hears no news, if people he sends to investigate can’t discover anything, what will he think? If, in his view, Master Jiu has made a move, what will he do? If, after he rises up, he cries hoarsely that Master Jiu has captured his wife and children and he wants revenge, but everyone discovers that Chen Er’s family is intact, eating and playing at home—could a simple ‘misunderstanding’ stop the gong calling for retreat? Chen Er’s ambition will be obvious to all gang members, and hearts will no longer favor him. At such a moment, if Master Jiu seizes it, it will be legitimate and justified. Along with those elders and Huo Ba’s former followers, they can all be dealt with together.”

When Chen Er falls, won’t the caged canary Jin Si only be able to stay in her cage—how could she stir up trouble? She wanted to see.

Mei Shan exclaimed, “Wonderful! When actually using this plan, Brother Mo must help plan everything comprehensively. Although Mei Shan has read books for several years, my scheming is far inferior to Brother Mo’s.”

“I dare not claim so. Whether burning incense or something else, as long as Chen Er is made to believe Master Jiu means him harm, forcing him to lose patience. Isn’t he cautious? Using his own methods against him—that’s all. Caution isn’t a flaw, but excessive caution is. Before Xu Jiu became gang leader, this Chen Er never made a peep. After someone became gang leader, he only engaged in petty schemes—clearly excessively cautious. If I had elders, Huo Ba’s former subordinates, and the old gang leader’s trusted followers all vigorously supporting me, I probably would have started fighting long ago.”

“Since he’s waiting, let’s set up the most perfect trap and invite him to enter.”

Mei Shan took his leave.

On the twentieth day of the twelfth month, the women’s family members of the Leopard Gang’s three leaders and elders went into the mountains to the nunnery for purification. Chen Er and others sensed an opportunity to act and secretly sent people to the nunnery to investigate. From the third day onward, the women’s family members mysteriously disappeared. Chen Er held his forces in reserve and waited another two days. Thinking Xu Jiu had truly made a move, he led four halls’ forces to storm the main headquarters, accusing Xu Jiu and Leng Liu of the primary crime of kidnapping his wife and daughter with intent to eliminate brother comrades, forcing Xu Jiu to surrender the gang leader position.

Events proceeded as Mo Zi had suggested. When gang members learned that Chen Er and the others’ family members were perfectly safe at home, and with public opinion fanned from Xu Jiu’s side, they suddenly realized Chen Er’s uprising was a self-directed conspiracy and turned to support Xu Jiu one after another. With his own and Leng Liu’s four halls’ elite forces, plus a team of one hundred brave men who rushed from Weiyang, Xu Jiu reversed the situation, captured Chen Er and the elders, and executed them according to gang rules with extreme punishment. It was said that kind of extreme punishment left one barely alive even if not dead.

After this incident, the Leopard Gang underwent a major internal purge, with all eight hall masters replaced by Xu Jiu and Leng Liu’s trusted confidants.

All people originally employed by Chen Er and the others were expelled from the gang. The rules were also changed—recruitment of gang members was no longer limited to Yuling and Nande people, laying a good foundation for the rapid surge in Leopard Gang numbers in the future.

Among jianghu chroniclers similar to Bai Xiaosheng, this battle was recorded as “Dispatching the Leopard to Beat the Turtle.” Xu Jiu, as an orphan who had nothing, had risen within the boat gang to become a legend that the new generation talked about with relish and reverence.

On the same day Chen Er was finished, a masked person came to Sisi Nest carrying a Leopard Hall waist token to deliver a letter from Chen Er to Jin Si. The letter asked whether the trap she had set for Madame Xiao San some time ago had been effective, and whether he needed to have someone simply kill her directly. Jin Si wrote back saying it had already worked—Madame Xiao San had lost the trust and favor of the mistresses and was also a merchant’s daughter, so eliminating her should wait a while to avoid arousing Third Master’s and the old woman’s suspicions.

The masked person took the letter and left, but entered Pure Spring Pavilion and threw it in front of Xiao San, who was reading. When Xiao San looked at it, he flew into a rage. He took the letter to confront Jin Si face-to-face. Jin Si made all kinds of cunning excuses, prostrating herself on the ground crying injustice. Xiao San ordered guards to search Sisi Nest thoroughly and discovered another letter from Chen Er to Jin Si. Jin Si finally broke down, screaming wildly how something burned could possibly still exist, then cursed viciously that Qiu Sanniang had framed her.

This alarmed the Old Madam and the Princess Consort, who came personally to inquire. Two letters—one written in Jin Si’s own hand with questions and answers, even mentioning how they coveted the daughter-in-law’s dowry, which she could exploit. These words enraged the two women, who immediately enacted family law. Mo Zi was a dowry maid and was beaten relatively restrainedly. Jin Si was a household-born slave who had made the self-proclaimed clever Old Madam fall for a trick—how could the beating be merciful? A solid one hundred strokes of the rod.

How could Jin Si’s body, born from hardship and pampered afterward, endure such a harsh beating? Even with her stubborn nature, by the fiftieth stroke she still cried out in confession. She confessed to the adoptive father-daughter relationship with Chen Er of the Leopard Gang, confessed to her schemes against Qiu Sanniang. Probably beaten into confusion, she even confessed how she had dealt with the previous Third Mistress.

But her confession didn’t quell anyone’s anger—only increased it. The rods didn’t stop; fifty more were added. Because this was no longer a small matter of jealous squabbling, but rather a slave putting her wild ambitions into practice at any cost.

Xiao San had originally wanted to ask his grandmother and mother to be merciful, but he could no longer open his mouth. He had thought she used petty cleverness, employing only what he had taught her, but unexpectedly she had long since surpassed the master—she actually had dealings with jianghu people and used them as her tools. Watching her curse his grandmother and mother on the ground, cursing Sanniang, he painfully discovered that the Jin Si in his heart who would be happy and satisfied just to have him like her had completely ceased to exist.

The additional fifty strokes were not completed. Because Jin Si was already barely breathing, and because Qiu Sanniang had arrived. Qiu Sanniang hadn’t come to plead for Jin Si, but Jin Si’s screaming caused her to frown—this gesture made everyone mistakenly believe she couldn’t bear it.

Therefore, the Old Madam said to forget it and summoned Jin Si’s father and mother to take the half-dead person back home.

But the matter didn’t end there. Not many days later, Young Master Xiao reported to officials that Jin Si’s father and mother had kept false accounts and embezzled purchasing funds. After the authorities tried the case and determined guilt, the family of three were made official slaves and exiled to the frontier, never to return.

Jin Si’s godmother and those maids and servants who had helped her were, after being punished according to family rules, all sold off.

Jin Si’s pair of children, though they carried Xiao family blood, were feared by the Old Madam to have inherited Jin Si’s madness. She refused to let them remain in the Prince’s mansion and instead sent them away to live alone at a remote small farm.

The plaque of Sisi Nest was removed, and from then on, no one dared mention that a very prominent concubine had once lived there.

On the night Jin Si was driven from the mansion, Qiu Sanniang went over the adjacent wall to see Mo Zi and found her extremely focused on whittling a piece of wood.

“She harmed you and you were beaten twenty strokes, so you return her one hundred strokes. How is it—feeling refreshed?”

“Who would be so ruthless as to order one hundred strokes? The Old Madam, right?” Mo Zi guessed correctly on the first try.

“I’ve figured it out—this Old Madam Xiao worships Buddha to cultivate her body and character. If she didn’t worship the Bodhisattva or wear Buddhist beads, even I might get beaten. Ruthless old woman!” Qiu Sanniang looked at the scenery outside the window.

“Sanniang, that’s your husband’s grandmother.” She should verbally show respect.

Qiu Sanniang snorted coldly. “She’s my husband’s, not mine, so does that mean she can covet my silver? A few days after you left, she actually came up with this trick, saying the public funds have a deficit and all the households of Jingfang Garden must contribute silver to fill it—my share is ten thousand taels.”

“She knows you sold the shipyard, so she simply changed the excuse.” Mo Zi also acknowledged the old lady’s shrewdness, though unfortunately she encountered the even shrewder Qiu Sanniang. “If she’s having each household contribute, just ask Xiao San for it. He’s the most favored grandson and holds an official position—can’t they squeeze out ten thousand taels?”

“Him—he’s not the master in charge of accounts. Do you think I didn’t ask? He answered me with one sentence: if you’re short of silver, just withdraw it from the accounting office—he has absolutely no idea how much money he has.” Qiu Sanniang pouted.

Mo Zi said nothing. This couple’s affairs—formerly she couldn’t avoid them due to her restricted status, but now she didn’t want to participate with opinions.

“Mo Zi, you’ve become ruthless.” Qiu Sanniang glanced sideways at her. “In taking revenge on Jin Si, and also toward me.”

“That last half sentence isn’t right. I helped you deal with Jin Si—how did that become me being ruthless to you?” Mo Zi set down the small knife and wood piece, her eyes bright and clear.

“If you were helping me deal with her, why not give even a hint beforehand?” Qiu Sanniang smiled with narrowed eyes. “From start to finish, everything was under your control—helping me was just incidental. If Xiao Yi hadn’t run to report, I would have slept through tonight knowing nothing like a fool.”

“How wonderful—clearing you of suspicion of framing. What did you run there for? Surely not to plead for someone?” Mo Zi propped her chin, biting her little finger.

“I went to watch the show. Through a twist of fate, she was spared half of fifty strokes. You don’t know how vexed I felt.” Qiu Sanniang sighed and complained.

“You’re even more ruthless than me. Honestly, with Xiao San there and a pair of children, I thought that after teaching her a lesson, they would thereafter give her the cold treatment, or sell her, or send her home.” The truly ruthless ones were the Xiao family mistresses.

But since she had chosen to expose the truth of the matter, whatever the result would be was not within her concern, because whatever result it was, Jin Si had brought it upon herself.

“She cursed the Old Madam and my mother-in-law like mad. Though she also cursed me to worthlessness, I don’t care—but those two couldn’t not care. That she wasn’t beaten to death on the spot shows she still had some luck.” Qiu Sanniang leaned against the window frame. “When things reached that point, she also threw caution to the wind, seeking only satisfaction.”

Mo Zi shrugged, not wanting to continue discussing people and matters that had already passed. “The ten thousand taels—will you give it or not?”

“I don’t want to give it. Making me lose so much, and still expecting me to contribute money? How could there be such a good deal? I plan to have Sanlang say there’s no money, though he probably won’t be in the mood these days.” Jin Si and he had shared feelings—Qiu Sanniang was very clear about this in her heart, but she wouldn’t hold it against him.

“Give it.” Mo Zi said instead. “Ten thousand taels, plus the matter Jin Si exposed—if used well, you can move out and establish a separate residence right after New Year. If they refuse, hint at divorce—given your substantial dowry, the old lady will have no choice but to grant your wish.”

After hearing this, Qiu Sanniang raised her head after a long moment. “Mm—I need to think this through thoroughly.”

Mo Zi left it at that and shooed her away. “It’s so late—isn’t your husband looking for you?”

Qiu Sanniang walked out. “He’ll definitely spend tonight in his library pavilion.”

Mo Zi suddenly remembered something. “Sanniang, that Water Purification Pearl—do you want to find a buyer?”

Qiu Sanniang turned back around. Clearly she had long kept this in mind and didn’t hesitate. “Two hundred thousand taels?”

“I can make the connection.” Mo Zi extended one finger. “Ten thousand taels commission.”

“You also want ten thousand taels?” Qiu Sanniang lowered her eyes, calculating mentally. Easy to calculate—she’d profit enormously. “Fine. I’ll give it to you—that makes me more willing than giving it to the old woman.”

Qiu Sanniang left.

Mo Zi grabbed a cloak, and just as she walked out the door, a shadow appeared behind her.

“Hey, when it gets dark, sleep—don’t run around.” Ding Gou was still in the domestication process.

Mo Zi ignored him and continued walking as before.