After Cao Lie had Ye Xiaoqian spread the word, the next day a crowd gathered outside the county yamen — just as expected. But from morning until midday, not a single person entered.

A stand-in for Cao Lie sat upright in the main hall waiting, while Cao Lie himself had changed into ordinary civilian clothing and stood in the crowd. Ye Xiaoqian stood beside him, periodically glancing around.

Cao Lie’s intention was this: once the news was out, whether it was mabang people or some other faction, they would send someone to survey the county yamen. He would observe from concealment, and if he spotted anyone suspicious, tail them and trace the threads back to the source.

But after half a day of standing there, Cao Lie sensed something was wrong.

Ye Xiaoqian leaned close and murmured: “My lord — at this point, the two of us are the suspicious ones.”

They had retreated to the very back of the crowd, and even so, they kept noticing people glancing back at them.

Cao Lie smiled helplessly. He’d assumed that most of the people gathered outside the county yamen would be ordinary bystanders, that he and Ye Xiaoqian could blend in undetected. After half a day standing there, the awkwardness had become apparent.

Everyone in the crowd outside the county yamen was there to *watch the yamen*. Not one of them was a casual bystander. So Cao Lie and Ye Xiaoqian — the two outsiders — had become the suspicious ones.

Recognizing this wasn’t actually that difficult. No one in the crowd had left in all that time. Ordinary people might be curious enough to come and gawk, but who stands outside a yamen for half the day without leaving?

“Everyone.”

Cao Lie smiled pleasantly: “If there’s nothing to see here, you can disperse.”

Every head in the crowd turned toward him. Cao Lie shrugged, and the crowd turned back — which meant everyone was now facing Cao Lie and Ye Xiaoqian from all sides.

Ye Xiaoqian: “My lord, if you hadn’t said that, they might have kept pretending not to notice.”

Cao Lie: “Things being as they are, might as well speak plainly.”

A burly man stepped forward from the crowd to face Cao Lie. He was nearly a full head taller than Cao Lie and built like a wall — when a man like that looked down at you, it created considerable pressure.

Cao Lie tilted his head back, looking up. The big man looked down. The two locked eyes.

The big man seemed to be trying to overwhelm him through sheer presence. After a moment, Cao Lie said quietly:

“Friend — you should trim your nose hair.”

The man blinked.

Cao Lie smiled amiably: “Are you men from the mabang on Bowang Mountain? If so — why are you keeping watch here?”

The big man bristled: “And who are you? Why are *you* here?”

Cao Lie: “Then we’ll have to talk about who arrived first.”

The big man rumbled: “I was here first. When I got here, I was the only one.”

Cao Lie: “Then you’re right. I’ll yield the spot to you.”

He tugged Ye Xiaoqian’s sleeve: “Let’s go.”

This left the big man thoroughly off-balance.

“Stop right there!”

The big man called out.

Cao Lie turned back: “No need to thank me.”

The big man was clearly the group’s leader. They’d obviously identified Cao Lie and Ye Xiaoqian as suspicious, and now intended to detain them and take them back for questioning. But in broad daylight, right across from the county yamen — forcibly dragging people away would cause trouble.

Apparently reading these thoughts, Cao Lie asked: “Are you trying to figure out what excuse to use to keep us here?”

The big man had a sudden flash of inspiration. “You stepped on my foot! You think you can just walk away?”

Cao Lie walked back to face the big man, reached into his robe, and produced a piece of gold — easily ten taels or more.

He pressed it into the big man’s hand: “I’m sorry.”

This left the big man even more helpless.

He stared at Cao Lie: “Can’t you show a bit more backbone?!”

Cao Lie: “More backbone?”

Big man: “Yeah! You’re a man — can’t you act like one and show some backbone?”

Cao Lie nodded, then shoved the gold into the man’s hand: “Then hold this!”

Big man: “…?”

Cao Lie produced another piece of gold and pressed it into the man’s other hand: “Take this one too!”

Big man: “?!?!”

Cao Lie snorted: “Backbone — you think I don’t have any?”

He grabbed Ye Xiaoqian and walked away.

Ye Xiaoqian had never imagined this would be how they’d make their exit. Just moments before, his mind had been cycling through exactly how a fight might go — how to subdue several people.

What he had never anticipated was this.

They pushed through the crowd and walked without disguise straight into the county yamen’s main hall.

Outside, the big man stood staring down at two large pieces of gold in his hands, unable to settle on any particular emotion.

About two hours later, back up on Bowang Mountain in the Tiger Gang’s stronghold, this big man entered Luo Jiuhong’s study.

The Chief of the mabang’s main lodge — undisputed first among all Shuzhou jianghu, a man whose presence carried authority without any need for anger — looked at the two gold pieces the big man had placed on the table with an expression of genuine puzzlement.

The big man was called Wu Chaoyong. He scratched his hair.

“I didn’t threaten him. He stuffed it into my hands on his own.”

Wu Chaoyong said this, then, afraid the Chief wouldn’t believe him, looked back at the door: “Everyone saw it. I really didn’t do anything.”

Luo Jiuhong: “You didn’t do anything, and he handed you two pieces of gold? Is he just burning through money?”

Wu Chaoyong nodded: “Probably.”

Sitting off to the side, a middle-aged man who looked like a scholar rose, walked to the table, and picked up the two gold pieces to weigh them in his hand.

This man was You Yuren — the mabang’s chief strategist, and one of the old brothers who had followed Luo Jiuhong from the very beginning of their days riding the roads together.

He turned the gold in his hand and said: “If the *qincha*’s attendants can casually, off-the-cuff produce this much gold on the spot…”

He looked at Luo Jiuhong: “Big brother, I don’t find that very believable.”

Wu Chaoyong immediately said: “Master Advisor, I’m not lying.”

You Yuren shot him a glance: “When did I say you were lying? I’m saying — that person might not be a minor figure.”

Luo Jiuhong asked Wu Chaoyong: “Did anyone enter the yamen?”

Wu Chaoyong shook his head: “No one went in. With a hundred and some of us standing there, who’d dare just stroll in.”

You Yuren raised a hand to rub his temple: “When I sent you, what did I tell you? I told you to *watch*, not to block the entrance.”

Wu Chaoyong: “Master Advisor, I wasn’t blocking — I was just standing on the opposite side of the yamen gate. Not blocking at all.”

Luo Jiuhong: “Enough. Go get some rest…”

Wu Chaoyong made a sound of acknowledgment, clasped his fists, and turned to leave — then paused at the door and looked back: “Chief, I really didn’t threaten anyone. I really wasn’t blocking the entrance.”

Luo Jiuhong: “Are you hungry? If you’re hungry, go eat.”

At the word “eat,” Wu Chaoyong’s face immediately brightened: “I am hungry! I’ll go eat then.”

Luo Jiuhong pressed a hand to his temple: “We have eight thousand brothers in this stronghold. If you lined them up from smartest to dullest, Chaoyong would be eight thousand… Why did you pick him?”

You Yuren smiled as he sat back down: “First, because Chaoyong genuinely isn’t very sharp. Second, because Chaoyong is genuinely supremely brave.”

Luo Jiuhong gave him a look.

Luo Jiuhong: “Now tell me honestly — what’s your actual plan? If we don’t clarify things with the Ning Army soon, life isn’t going to get any easier for us.”

You Yuren said: “Big brother… have you considered — what if the people who killed those officials weren’t our mabang at all?”

Luo Jiuhong’s expression changed. “What do you mean? Whether men from my Tiger Gang stronghold went out and killed anyone — do you think I wouldn’t know? Unless I give the order, who among them would have that kind of nerve?”

You Yuren rose, walked to the door, looked outside, then pulled it shut.

“Big brother.”

He looked at Luo Jiuhong: “I’ve said it before — there may well be people among our own ranks who have ill intentions.”

Luo Jiuhong shook his head: “I don’t believe it. These are all my brothers. I don’t believe any of them would go behind my back.”

You Yuren: “Big brother…”

“That’s enough.”

Luo Jiuhong cut him off. He rose: “Second and Third Brother are about to return. I need to go have food and wine prepared. Come join us in a while.”

You Yuren watched Luo Jiuhong’s retreating figure and quietly sighed.

The Chief would never suspect his own brothers. But You Yuren couldn’t help but suspect: somewhere in the Tiger Gang’s stronghold, someone was deliberately stirring up trouble.

Meanwhile, back in the yamen.

Cao Lie sat down. Ye Xiaoqian followed him in quietly, then extended his hand.

Cao Lie: “What do you want?”

Ye Xiaoqian: “A piece of gold to steady my nerves.”

Cao Lie: “…”

He poured a cup of water and drank before saying: “Tell me what you observed today. If you’re right, I’ll give you one.”

Ye Xiaoqian: “Those people are all from the Tiger Gang. But none of them are the ones who killed the General.”

Cao Lie: “Your reasoning?”

Ye Xiaoqian: “No reasoning. Intuition.”

Cao Lie: “Intuition doesn’t earn gold.”

Ye Xiaoqian: “…”

He sighed: “If it were mabang men who did it, what would be the point of deliberately sending someone so dim-witted to keep watch on the yamen?”

Cao Lie smiled.

If the mabang had killed the General, they’d have no real need to post watchers on the yamen. First — every resident in this county owed a debt of gratitude to the mabang; no one would voluntarily walk into the yamen to say anything. Second — if no one was going to speak up anyway, then the mabang sending people to watch the yamen would only be announcing to the yamen: *we have something to hide.*

“They sent people. Said nothing — and yet, in a way, said everything.”

Ye Xiaoqian: “But if it wasn’t Tiger Gang men who did it, who would have the nerve to frame Luo Jiuhong?”

Cao Lie nodded.

In Shuzhou, people would rather offend the authorities than offend the mabang’s chief. If Luo Jiuhong weren’t the most formidably ferocious figure in Shuzhou’s jianghu, how could he hold sway over the outlaws and ruffians of a thousand mountains and rivers?

Ye Xiaoqian: “It wasn’t the mabang who killed anyone. But they sent people here — using this as a way to tell us: someone is playing dirty tricks.”

He looked at Cao Lie: “And whoever is playing these tricks isn’t afraid of Luo Jiuhong.”

Cao Lie asked: “Within a thousand *li* of here — who isn’t afraid of Luo Jiuhong?”

Ye Xiaoqian: “His enemies are afraid of him.”

Cao Lie paused.

He reached into his robe and produced another piece of gold, which he handed to Ye Xiaoqian.

“That line is worth it.”