The muffled thunder that went off in Cao Lie’s mind sent a shudder through his shoulders — and Luo Jiuhong saw every bit of it.

The old chief had been watching — studying Cao Lie’s face, his eyes, his every movement — searching for any sign of pretense, any sign that Cao Lie was playing a role. He’d been watching since the moment this all began.

But after watching for a long time, Luo Jiuhong could find no crack in the young man’s composure — no false note in the fine details of how he expressed his emotions. If this was an act, it was one executed with frightening precision, down to the smallest flicker.

“My lord.”

Where before he had always addressed him as “Young Master Cao,” Luo Jiuhong now changed his form of address.

“My lord, please accept my condolences.”

Luo Jiuhong moved to Cao Lie’s side and offered a few words of comfort, then suddenly asked, “I understand that Generals Li Pofu and Li Chenzhu are brothers. Perhaps it would be appropriate to ask General Li Chenzhu to come… Although it is cruel — asking a younger brother to identify his elder brother’s remains — I cannot think of a more reliable way.”

Cao Lie turned to Ye Xiaoqian.

Ye Xiaoqian gave him a look that said: *Don’t worry. I’ve told him everything he needs to know. I’ve prepared everything. There’s nothing to worry about.*

Cao Lie still felt uneasy, but since everything was in motion and within the plan, he had to see it through.

He turned to Ye Xiaoqian, his voice carrying a barely perceptible roughness, a barely perceptible tremor.

“Xiaoye… Xiaoye, go and fetch Li Chenzhu. Tell him — tell him to prepare himself. His elder brother died so horribly.”

Ye Xiaoqian thought: *where in the world did this man learn to perform like this?*

He bowed. “Yes, my lord. I’ll go at once.”

The moment Ye Xiaoqian left, Cao Lie grew even more anxious. Li Chenzhu was the one weak point in this whole scheme.

The kind of grief that comes from losing someone who is truly your own blood — if it isn’t real, it is nearly impossible to convincingly fake. And Luo Jiuhong was a seasoned old fox. One young fox — even a precociously shrewd one like Cao Lie — wasn’t enough. Li Chenzhu had to hold up his end.

“My lord.”

Luo Jiuhong moved closer. “My lord, please accept my condolences. I understand.”

Something about those words didn’t sit quite right with Cao Lie.

The two exchanged a few more idle words. Then Cao Lie noticed that Ye Xiaoqian had been gone for a long time.

He was about to send someone to check when a Censorate officer came rushing in, face pale.

“My lord — something has happened.”

The officer clasped his hands and bowed. “General Li Chenzhu… has been killed. The Chief Inspector is already on the scene. The General is dead in the street — hanged at the same post where Master Yu was strung up. The General is hanging there now.”

The sound in Cao Lie’s head was like a muffled thunderclap.

—

The Tiger Gang had eight chiefs in total. Right now the old chief, Second Chief, and Third Chief were in the county town. The Fourth and Fifth Chiefs had been killed one after another. The three chiefs remaining at the main stronghold, upon receiving the news, could not sit still.

Sixth Chief and Seventh Chief both sent messengers to the county town, requesting the old chief’s permission to come and help.

The deaths of two brothers had stirred up a fury that spread through the entire Tiger Gang — and through the whole Horse Gang.

Ye Xiaoqian returned from his circuit through town looking troubled. He’d been out in ordinary clothes, unrecognizable to the townspeople — and not especially concerned about being followed. He knew perfectly well that from the moment they stepped out of the government office, they were being watched from all sides.

But he hadn’t gone out to shake surveillance. He’d gone to listen.

“Young lord.”

He stepped inside and called out — then nearly jumped out of his skin. His face drained white in an instant.

Cao Lie was lying on the floor, motionless, no visible rise and fall in his chest. He looked dead.

Ye Xiaoqian rushed over — and before he could even put a hand beneath Cao Lie’s nose to check for breath, Cao Lie’s eyes flew open.

At the sight of Ye Xiaoqian’s bloodless face, Cao Lie couldn’t help but laugh. “So your idea of beating the grass to flush the snake actually works — you were almost frightened to death yourself.”

Ye Xiaoqian just stared at him, helpless.

If he were allowed to beat Cao Lie, he might have done it then and there.

“Settle down,” Cao Lie said. He fished out from his sleeve a pearl the size of a chicken’s egg and held it out. “Here. For the shock.”

Ye Xiaoqian took the pearl, breathed on it, and polished it on his sleeve.

Cao Lie gave him a sideways look. “You think someone like me carries fake gems?”

Ye Xiaoqian said, “Fair enough.”

“It’s fake,” Cao Lie said.

“…”

“I was actually thinking seriously,” Cao Lie said, “about whether your idea of beating the grass to flush the snake would genuinely work.”

“What do you mean, my lord?”

“With the Tiger Gang losing people one after another — whatever the reason, whoever’s behind it — we’ve been put on the back foot. If Qin Ke had lived, we could have sat back and watched the drama unfold comfortably. But now that Qin Ke is dead…”

He shook his head. “What did you pick up out there?”

“Something — though none of it is good news. The townspeople are all spreading the rumor that the Tiger Gang’s chiefs are being killed one by one because the gang refused to submit to Prince Ning.”

Cao Lie sighed. “I knew this would happen.”

He returned to his desk and sat, pouring himself a cup of tea. “I genuinely underestimated them at first.”

“So did I.”

Initially, Cao Lie had thought the plan was simply to eliminate him and Luo Jiuhong, pit the Horse Gang against the Ning Army, and let them tear each other apart.

But was the Horse Gang’s tens of thousands of men truly that fearsome? Of course not — no matter how fierce and battle-hardened they were, they were nothing before hundreds of thousands of Ning soldiers.

The Horse Gang’s home terrain gave them real advantages, yes — but that was in open war. Not in one-on-one combat.

The Horse Gang’s true importance lay in this: if the Horse Gang refused to submit to Prince Ning, then half of Shu Province’s southwest would not submit either. Too many people here looked to the Horse Gang to set the tone. Not just the outlaws and wanderers of Shu Province’s southwest — even ordinary townsfolk, nearly all of them had received some kindness or protection from the Horse Gang at some point.

And now the rumors in town were multiplying. The people’s resentment toward the Ning forces was growing sharper.

“They planned deeper than we estimated,” Ye Xiaoqian said. “They’re not trying to use the Horse Gang — they’re trying to use the Horse Gang’s *influence*.”

Cao Lie nodded. “If one more person dies… the townspeople will riot. Even without violence, they’ll pressure us into leaving.”

“So the trick you were testing a moment ago — lying still on the floor — that wasn’t just for fun?”

“Of course not.”

He sighed again. “But I’m not so easy to kill.”

Ye Xiaoqian thought about it, then nodded. “That’s true, my lord. Killing you really would be difficult.”

Right now Cao Lie was practically living inside the government office. To get to him, every guard stationed outside would have to die first. And the Horse Gang’s men were watching Cao Lie’s every move too — countless eyes, at all times.

Ye Xiaoqian understood what Cao Lie meant. The pressure was all on the Ning Army’s side. If Cao Lie staged his death, the moment the townspeople heard about it, the story that the Ning soldiers had been killing Horse Gang chiefs would dissolve overnight.

Cao Lie smiled bitterly. “The Horse Gang has lost two chiefs. We lose one person on our side — me — and that would be enough to give them a genuine headache.”

Ye Xiaoqian said wistfully, “Maybe we should lose two.”

Cao Lie’s eyes narrowed. He looked at Ye Xiaoqian, who said with complete sincerity, “They lost two, we lose one. That’s not fair.”

And so Li Pofu died.

Li Pofu’s body was found in the same well where Yang Sixi and Geng Niu had been discovered — pulled back up from the depths. His clothing bore the insignia of the Eagle-Eye General, and there was nothing suspicious about the uniform itself.

The manner of death was almost identical to the Fifth Chief Qin Ke’s: chest punctured by countless stab wounds, the whole torso a ruined, bloodsoaked mess. His face, too, had been destroyed — not by a blade, from the look of the wounds, but by a stone, smashed over and over until nothing of the face remained.

The body was brought to the government office. Cao Lie walked quickly toward the main hall, muttering under his breath as he went: “If I start crying, don’t you dare laugh.”

Ye Xiaoqian followed close behind, equally quiet: “Don’t worry. I can hold it.”

“For them to confirm it’s Li Pofu, they’ll definitely ask for a body identification,” Cao Lie said. “The best person to confirm Li Pofu’s identity is Li Chenzhu. Are you sure you’ve briefed him properly?”

“My lord, I’ve gone over it with Li Chenzhu three or four times. He knows exactly what to do.”

“I’m worried he’ll give it away,” Cao Lie said. “That’s his real elder brother. If he cries wrong or his expression is off somehow, Luo Jiuhong that old fox will see it.”

“My lord, trust me. I’ve arranged everything perfectly.”

Cao Lie stepped to the doorway of the main hall — and his steps slowed, almost unconsciously. He reached out and gripped the door frame.

In that moment, Ye Xiaoqian clearly saw Cao Lie’s body sway slightly, his legs briefly losing their steadiness.

*Extraordinary,* Ye Xiaoqian thought. *Absolute mastery of craft. Not a single flaw.*

Cao Lie steadied himself, then stepped inside. He reached toward the cloth covering the body — then his hand pulled back, hovered — then, as if gathering courage, he whipped the cloth aside.

Ye Xiaoqian was transfixed. The control over each tiny detail was almost hair-raising to witness.

“This — this can’t be General Li.”

Cao Lie’s expression went dark. He immediately looked to Luo Jiuhong. “Even with a Ning Army uniform on the body, a ruined face proves nothing.”

Luo Jiuhong had been watching Cao Lie all along — watching his face, his eyes, every movement and stillness.

Those eyes seemed to carry some kind of penetrating light, trying to see through Cao Lie, to find the pretense beneath.

But after a long, careful study, Luo Jiuhong found nothing. No crack. No false note. Even the finest emotional details were rendered with devastating accuracy.

If it was false, it was more true than the truth itself.

“Young Master Cao, my condolences. Please try to remain composed.” Luo Jiuhong rose and moved to Cao Lie’s side. After a brief word of comfort, he said suddenly, “I hear that General Li Pofu and General Li Chenzhu are brothers. Perhaps it would be best to ask General Li Chenzhu here… Though it is a cruel thing, asking a younger brother to identify his elder brother’s remains — the pain of that, I understand deeply — it does seem to be the most reliable confirmation we can have.”

Cao Lie turned to Ye Xiaoqian.

Ye Xiaoqian gave him a look that said: *You really can stop worrying. I’ve told him what to do. I’ve prepared everything. We’re fine.*

Cao Lie still had some lingering unease, but with everything already in motion, there was nothing to do but continue.

He addressed Ye Xiaoqian, even his voice carrying a faint roughness, a faint tremor.

“Xiaoye… Xiaoye, go and fetch Li Chenzhu. Tell him to prepare himself. His elder brother died so horribly.”

Ye Xiaoqian thought: *where did this man learn to do this?*

He bowed. “My lord. I’ll go immediately.”

After Ye Xiaoqian left, Cao Lie’s unease deepened. Li Chenzhu was still the one weak link.

The grief of losing a true blood relative — if it isn’t real, it’s near impossible to convincingly fake. And they were trying to deceive a seasoned old fox. One precocious young fox wasn’t enough.

“My lord.”

Luo Jiuhong, who had always addressed him as “Young Master Cao,” now switched forms.

“My lord, please accept my condolences.”

Something in those words sat slightly wrong with Cao Lie.

The two exchanged a few idle sentences. Then Cao Lie realized Ye Xiaoqian had been gone a long time.

He was about to send someone to check when a Censorate officer came rushing in, face pale.

“My lord — something has happened.”

He clasped his fists and bowed. “General Li Chenzhu has been killed. The Chief Inspector is already at the scene. The General is dead in the street — hanged at the very pillar where Master Yu was strung up. He’s there now.”

Something went off in Cao Lie’s head like a muffled thunderclap.

—