“Cost nothing?”

Lai Yihu looked at the two corpses on the ground, then looked back at the Mohe chieftain.

It took him a moment to settle his composure — while those jianghu figures who had been raging and shouting hadn’t actually dared to do anything.

Their masters lay dead on the floor. In the outside world, they might already have surged forward in a mob. But this was the General’s compound, and so they didn’t dare.

The Mohe chieftain turned to look at the screaming jianghu figures. His calm gaze swept over the Ruyi Sect people, then swept over the Iron Shock Sect people.

That indifference was the deepest kind of contempt.

He pointed at the corpses on the ground. “They annoyed me, so they died. If you annoy me, you die too.”

The men had restrained themselves before out of concern for causing trouble in Lai Yihu’s presence — but at those words, they truly could not hold back. Who among them had no red blood in their veins?

“Everyone shut your mouths!” Lai Yihu suddenly bellowed.

The disciples surging forward immediately stopped.

Armored soldiers closed in from outside, bows already drawn and aimed.

Lai Yihu rose, walked over to the two corpses, looked them over, and after a moment of contemplation said, “Matches in the jianghu are not without accidents.”

He turned to Guo Ruren and instructed, “Give each sect five hundred taels of silver in condolence money. Carry the bodies out and find a place to bury them.”

Guo Ruren quickly acknowledged, and instructed the disciples of the two dead men to carry their respective masters’ bodies outside.

Lai Yihu said, “This was just an accident — nothing to make a great fuss over. All of you, I’m keeping you on. From now on, you work in my compound.”

Guo Ruren said, “Won’t you thank the General?”

With their masters’ bodies barely cold, expecting them to put on smiles at this moment was asking a great deal — people had their closer and more distant bonds, and however you looked at it, those had been their masters.

Some turned and simply walked out, preferring to leave the General’s service rather than stay a moment longer.

Others bowed.

Those who left, left. Those who remained carried the bodies outside.

Lai Yihu looked at the Mohe chieftain and said with a smile, “Very good. Quite capable.”

The Mohe chieftain remained expressionless, hand extended. “Deposit.”

“A deposit?” Lai Yihu laughed. “Am I really so stingy? Guo Ruren — go fetch three thousand taels of silver.”

Guo Ruren immediately ran out, and before long returned with men carrying a wooden chest.

The chest was opened. Inside gleamed silver, bright as moonlight — the kind that seemed to have a magnetism all its own, impossible to look away from.

Lai Yihu smiled and said, “I’m not giving you a deposit. I’m giving you the full amount right now… In exchange, help me go kill Anyang’s Fourth-Rank General Ding Shengjia.”

The Mohe chieftain nodded and said a single word: “Fine.”

He pointed at the chest, and two Mohe warriors stepped forward and lifted it.

“Wait a moment.”

Guo Ruren leaned close to Lai Yihu and lowered his voice. “If we kill Ding Shengjia now, it will arouse Meng Kedi’s suspicions.”

Lai Yihu was taken aback. “Why?”

Guo Ruren said, “If Ding Shengjia had first brought men to break into the General’s compound, killing him afterward would be one thing — Meng Kedi couldn’t say a word. But if Ding Shengjia turns up dead at home, Meng Kedi will certainly suspect you ordered the killing.”

Lai Yihu said, “Meng Kedi wants Ding Shengjia dead — he’d be glad if I killed him.”

“You’re right, General, but the timing is wrong.”

Guo Ruren said, “If we kill Ding Shengjia now, we expose the capabilities of these men. Once Meng Kedi sees that these jianghu figures can kill Ding Shengjia, he’ll surely want to take them all for himself.”

He leaned close to Lai Yihu’s ear, his voice dropping very low. “Ding Shengjia has no military authority now — he poses no real threat. General, you can’t let your dislike of Ding Shengjia interfere with more important matters. We should deal with Meng Kedi first, then deal with Ding Shengjia.”

Lai Yihu turned the matter over carefully in his mind. Guo Ruren’s words did have a point. If Ding Shengjia were killed, and Meng Kedi saw that these jianghu figures were truly capable, he might well take them away.

Lai Yihu nodded. “You’ve thought this through carefully — no wonder my great-uncle had you accompany me.”

He exhaled slowly and said, “Take these men back and get them settled… Come back afterward, and you and I will discuss the matter of removing Meng Kedi.”

“Yes, sir.”

Guo Ruren acknowledged and promptly led all the jianghu figures and the Mohe warriors out together.

To ensure secrecy, he ordered that no one was to leave the General’s compound. The disciples who had left the main hall earlier were also stopped and detained.

And to prevent the various groups from coming to blows, he arranged the others in the rear courtyard and the Mohe warriors in the front courtyard.

When he returned, Lai Yihu laughed the moment he saw him.

“Great-uncle said you have a meticulous mind and get things done — that’s why he had you come with me. Looking at you now, I’d say great-uncle really does know how to read people.”

He gestured to the seat beside him. “Come, sit down and talk.”

Guo Ruren quickly bowed. “I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare — I’ll stand and listen to the General’s instructions. How could I presume to sit with the General?”

Lai Yihu didn’t press. However much he might praise Guo Ruren, in his eyes, Guo Ruren was still just a servant.

“What are your thoughts?” he asked Guo Ruren. “Meng Kedi is a strong fighter, and by nature deeply suspicious — killing him won’t be easy.”

He paused, then sneered. “And the man is heartless and without loyalty. He could kick Ding Shengjia aside without a second thought — so don’t expect him to truly trust me either.”

Guo Ruren said, “It’s actually not so difficult — it’s a matter of reading his mind.”

He smiled and said, “Just now I was still thinking whether there was some way to kill two birds with one stone. What the General just mentioned reminded me — Meng Kedi is deeply suspicious…”

He turned to Lai Yihu and said, “Tomorrow, General, invite Meng Kedi for drinks. As if letting it slip by accident, mention that most of the guards and escorts in your compound were old acquaintances of Ding Shengjia — or at the very least, were on unusually close terms with him. If Ding Shengjia were to harbor some ill intention toward General Meng…”

He looked at Lai Yihu. “Hearing something like that, Meng Kedi wouldn’t be sleeping soundly anymore.”

Lai Yihu laughed out loud. “What a waste, a man like you stuck as a servant. If you could hold office, there’s no telling how many people you’d have ruined.”

He rose from his seat. “Why wait until tomorrow? I’ll go find him for drinks tonight.”

With a great laugh, he strode out.

No one understood Lai Yihu’s hunger for power more clearly than Guo Ruren.

This Lai Yihu was not, at bottom, a man of great ability. In the beginning he had gone to his great-uncle Lai Yong’er, hoping to get himself a General’s post in the Imperial Guards.

But Lai Yong’er knew his nephew’s measure all too well.

In the capital, riding on Lai Yong’er’s coattails, Lai Yihu had always done as he pleased. The man was especially lecherous — whenever he set his eyes on some woman, whether daughter or wife, he would invariably find a way to get at her.

If you actually let him serve in the Imperial Guards, there was no telling what outrageous things he might do in the very palace grounds.

So Lai Yong’er had sent him to Anyang, intending for him to keep his head down and accumulate some credentials, then come back to the capital and be arranged a post at the Ministry of War.

As luck would have it, Lai Yong’er had offered him a few words of encouragement just before his departure.

Lai Yong’er had told him: the Emperor sending you to Anyang is a mark of trust in our Lai family. Once there, you must not act recklessly — hold to your proper duties. If the Emperor sees that you are loyal, he may well make you a marquis or great general.

That last line, especially, had set a fire roaring inside Lai Yihu.

Once he arrived in Anyang, Lai Yihu also discovered that the place was truly a land of rich fortune.

Serving as General here, one could easily clear several hundred thousand taels of silver in a year — and that was just the visible income. If you counted what the Anyang army raked in by disguising themselves as river bandits, it could reach over a million taels in a year.

That much silver — who wouldn’t covet it?

And the city was a strategic throat connecting north and south. Whoever held Anyang had both sides watching his face. Lean toward the north, and the south would tremble. Lean toward the south, and the north would grow uneasy.

Because Guo Ruren understood Lai Yihu so thoroughly, he devoted himself without reservation to serving him.

That night, in the General’s compound, Meng Kedi had drunk a cup too many and was in the midst of berating people.

Whenever he was ready to berate someone, the first name on his lips was invariably Li Chi. After exhausting himself on Li Chi, he moved on to Ding Shengjia, going back and forth between the two — until even Lai Yihu grew weary of listening.

But he still had to play along and curse alongside him.

“General.” Lai Yihu feigned heavy drunkenness and swayed slightly. “Although I haven’t been in Anyang long, I’m confident — when it comes to loyalty to the General, no one can surpass me.”

He suddenly lurched to his feet and said loudly, “I, Lai Yihu, regard the General as an elder. Can that Ding Shengjia say the same?”

With that, Lai Yihu dropped to both knees with a thud. “I wish to take the General as my sworn father — to follow him before and behind, and die in his service if need be. Could Ding Shengjia ever have that kind of heart?!”

Meng Kedi appeared to have had a great deal to drink, yet at that moment his eyes flickered faintly bright.

He reached out to help Lai Yihu up — but deliberately misjudged the distance several times.

Meng Kedi said, “Why do you do this? How could I become your sworn father?”

Lai Yihu said, “Why not? I respect the General — I look on you as both teacher and father. These are my true words.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha…” Meng Kedi laughed heartily. “Get up — if you truly took me as your sworn father, wouldn’t that put me in the same generation as the Duke of Bao?”

Lai Yihu said, “What of it? Even my great-uncle says that among the great generals of this age, General Meng stands first. My great-uncle sent me here precisely to learn from the General.”

Meng Kedi thought to himself: your great-uncle probably kneeled before the late Emperor in exactly this way, crying out to be his son.

Then it struck him — wouldn’t that make him on the same level as the Emperor?

The thought delighted him further.

“Sworn Father!” Lai Yihu knelt and kowtowed. “Please accept your son’s bow!”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Meng Kedi thought: the moment you call me sworn father, it’ll drive your great-uncle half to death with fury — so let’s drive him half to death.

He helped Lai Yihu to his feet and said, “From this day on, you are my sworn son, and I will treat you as my own flesh and blood.”

Lai Yihu was beside himself with joy. He thudded back to his knees and kowtowed repeatedly. “Thank you, General — no, no — thank you, Sworn Father!”

The two of them drank on for a good while longer, and Lai Yihu appeared increasingly drunk.

He took Meng Kedi’s hand and said, “I’ve never liked that Ding Shengjia. Sworn Father, you don’t know what he’s said behind your back — take what he’s said about me, for instance.”

“He told others that General Meng was only promoting Lai Yihu because of Lai Yihu’s great-uncle’s influence — but I won’t stand for that. I won’t stand for it, and even Meng Kedi doesn’t dare go against me, so he had to hold back Lai Yihu.” He pointed to himself. “He actually said that about me.”

Meng Kedi narrowed his eyes. “He was that brazen?”

Lai Yihu said, “That’s nothing. Just take today — he actually tried to bring troops to kill me. He even said he’d kill Lai Yihu first, then kill Meng Kedi, and Anyang City would be his.”

Meng Kedi said coldly, “He thinks he’s capable of that?”

Lai Yihu was so drunk he could barely stay in his seat. He stood up and immediately sat back down on the floor.

Slurring his words, he said, “Well, you can’t be entirely sure — he said that General Meng’s own guards and escorts in the compound, every last one of them, were his men.”

Meng Kedi’s brow creased.

He laughed out loud. “You’re drunk and talking nonsense — I don’t believe a word of it. I’ve treated him very well.”

Lai Yihu said, “Then let’s confront him to his face — I’m not afraid.”

Meng Kedi said, “Fine — let’s confront him to his face.”

Lai Yihu said, “If he dares not come, he’s afraid because his conscience is guilty.”

Meng Kedi said, “If he dares not come… he certainly ought to be afraid.”

—