The Xu Household.

When Xu Sheng returned home, he stopped the moment he stepped through the door and spread his arms wide. His wife and a maidservant quickly came over to help him off with his outer robe and long gown.

The stove fire inside the room burned vigorously — it was like a different world from the bitter cold outside.

A maidservant brewed Xu Sheng’s tea, then stepped to the side.

His wife asked urgently, “What did the Military Preparedness General say?”

Xu Sheng waved a hand to signal for the maidservants to leave. Once only he and his wife remained in the room, he shook his head and said, “I truly hadn’t expected it — dealing with a wild little brat isn’t so straightforward after all.”

He sat down and took a small sip of the hot tea.

“That wild brat’s relationship with Xiahou Zuo is genuinely too close. The Military Preparedness General’s side knows this as well, and on top of that, just a few days ago that brat had just come back from Yan Mountain with Prince Yu.”

His wife was taken aback and seemed somewhat displeased.

“The Military Preparedness General’s side has received no small amount of benefits from us — how could they refuse even a small favor like this? When the master drove Tang Pidi away that time, it was effortless.”

Though on the surface these words were criticizing the Military Preparedness General for being unreasonable, in fact they were reproaching her husband for failing to handle the matter — in her view, disposing of some penniless, unknown wild boy of low birth ought to be as simple as raising a hand.

“What do you know.”

Having caught the implication in his wife’s words, Xu Sheng’s expression darkened somewhat.

He looked at his wife and said, “The Military Preparedness General told me several things I hadn’t even known before. First: Xiahou Zuo gave Li Chi command of a group from the Blue Garment Formation — essentially a band of bodyguards and personal guards. Those people from the Blue Garment Formation are all dangerous individuals.”

“Second: Prince Yu genuinely values Li Chi highly — that can be set aside for now. More critically, Prince Wu holds Li Chi’s master in high regard. Prince Wu is a firm believer in divination and fortune-telling, and Li Chi’s master has apparently managed to sway Prince Wu.”

“Third: Some mountain bandits were let into the city due to a lapse in vigilance by the Military Preparedness General’s Office. These bandits caused havoc within the city and killed many people. The Military Preparedness General is consumed with this affair — he has no energy to spare for dealing with Li Chi. And besides, going after Li Chi could easily bring trouble down on himself.”

His wife sighed after hearing all of this. “A wild little boy — how can he have such extraordinary luck?”

Xu Sheng said, “However, the Military Preparedness General did give me a useful reminder… He said that if one wants to bring Li Chi down, there is no need to rush.”

His wife asked curiously, “But didn’t you say before, Master, that the longer we delay, the more likely Li Chi becomes even more valued by Prince Yu, and the harder it will be to act?”

“I was thinking that too, but after the Military Preparedness General’s reminder, I think he has something of a point.”

Xu Sheng looked at his wife and said, “His meaning was: in any case, Qinglin and Li Chi are both still studying at the academy, and graduation is still years away. There will be plenty of opportunities to eliminate him during those years — why court trouble at this particular moment?”

“Most importantly, the Military Preparedness General said that when the time comes for graduation, when Dean Gao recommends talented students — would he truly put Li Chi first? This calls to mind that saying from the world of wanderers: one cannot escape the forces that bind them in this world. No matter how outstanding Li Chi’s results are, when it comes to recommending talent, Dean Gao will put Li Chi further down the list.”

Xu Sheng took another sip of tea and continued, “With the Military Preparedness General’s reminder, I thought of another approach. If there is no need to rush into eliminating someone who is currently in favor, then what is the best method?”

He used the lid of his cup to brush the tea leaves floating on the surface aside.

“That would be to gradually make Prince Yu despise him.”

Xu Sheng said, “I’ll find some method to slowly ruin this person’s reputation, until one day the Prince himself has forgotten this man — and just at the right moment, when the Prince happens to be away from Jizhou City…”

His wife made a sound of agreement. “I’ll follow whatever the Master decides.”

Outside the door, Xu Qinglin had just been about to enter and had heard every one of these words. He stood in silence for a while, then turned and walked away without going in.

Back in his own room, the more Xu Qinglin thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt. If he merely fell short of Li Chi in academic results, his pride could still bear it — but the closeness between Gao Xining and Li Chi was something he found increasingly intolerable the more he thought about it.

This kind of thing shouldn’t be dwelt on — the more one thinks, the more squalid the thoughts become, and the more squalid the thoughts, the more one’s fury burns.

Truth be told, he was not ordinarily a man of such narrow disposition — otherwise, what difference would there be between him and Sun Rugong?

But because of Gao Xining, his jealousy had already begun to twist him into someone unrecognizable.

Having heard his parents just now, the general meaning was that the Military Preparedness General’s Office was not going to help. Without their assistance, his father had no way to pin a crime of colluding with rebel forces on Li Chi.

“Chengcai.”

Xu Qinglin suddenly called out toward the door.

He had four personal attendants who waited on him closely — they also served as his personal guards. All four had the character “cheng” in their names: Chengcai, Chengguo, Chenglin, and Chengxiang.

The four attendants ranged in age by roughly five or six years. The eldest, Chengcai, was already nearly twenty; the youngest, Chengxiang, was three years older than Xu Qinglin.

Hearing his young master’s call, Chengcai quickly pushed the door open and came in, bowing. “Young Master, what are your instructions?”

Xu Qinglin said, “Close the door. I have an important matter to entrust to you.”

Chengcai closed the door and leaned close to Xu Qinglin, bowing. “Young Master, please give your orders.”

Xu Qinglin asked, “Last time I heard you mention that you seem to know someone from the shadow underworld?”

Chengcai immediately lowered his voice. “I do. Young Master — who do you want dealt with?”

“Li Chi.”

Xu Qinglin said, “Go and make contact with someone. That fellow has considerable martial skill — for his age, he is quite a difficult target. It’s best to find some real experts. Keep it clean — don’t implicate me.”

Chengcai asked, “Does the Master… does the Master know about this?”

Xu Qinglin looked at him, and was about to say something sharp, but then he suddenly smiled. “Chengcai, didn’t you once say you wanted to enter government service in the future? I’ll speak to Father on your behalf later — you’ll go to Prince Yu’s residence first, to lay the groundwork for me, so that when I arrive there I’ll have someone to rely on.”

Chengcai’s face immediately lit up with delight. Sharp as he was, he naturally understood what his young master meant.

“I know someone from my hometown who works at the Yiji Hall. Does Young Master know what the Yiji Hall does?”

Xu Qinglin said, “Isn’t it a chess parlor?”

Chengcai’s voice dropped even lower, practically pressed against Xu Qinglin’s ear as he said, “Young Master, nearly every assassin in all of Jizhou City goes to the Yiji Hall to find work. Especially since the rebel forces have been turning everything upside down outside the city walls — their work has become even harder to find. After all, there aren’t many in the city who need their services.”

“Before, killing a person would cost at least several dozen taels of silver at minimum. Now you can hire someone for ten taels of silver, and they’ll do it. For a target that’s harder to deal with, fifty to a hundred taels can hire a decent assassin.”

He spoke in a tone of assured confidence: “Two hundred taels, and you can hire the very best assassin.”

Xu Qinglin stood up, pulled open a drawer, and took out several bank drafts from inside, passing them over. “This is a thousand taels. I don’t care how many people you hire — I want to know as soon as possible that Li Chi is dead.”

Chengcai took the bank drafts and bowed. “Young Master, rest assured. I’ll go see my hometown acquaintance right now.”

The Yiji Hall was indeed a chess parlor.

The residents of Jizhou City all knew it — the several elderly masters within the Yiji Hall had chess skills approaching sagehood.

In times when the rebellion had not yet grown so severe, chess players from all over Dachu would frequently make the journey to challenge the Yiji Hall, but not one had ever won a game there.

About six or seven years ago, Dean Gao had also paid a visit, spending two and a half hours in a leisurely hand-played match against one of the old men inside the Yiji Hall, and in the end still surrendered by placing down his stones in defeat.

Four years ago, a renowned master of chess came from the capital. Upon arriving in Jizhou City, the very first thing he did was visit the Yiji Hall. This man held an illustrious position in the court, so he came in disguise. He was obsessed with chess and was celebrated as Dachu’s foremost chess player — yet even he managed only a draw at the Yiji Hall.

That draw remains, to this day, the only one in the Yiji Hall’s history.

The world only knew that the Yiji Hall housed a few undefeated old chess masters, but none knew that the Yiji Hall was also a terrifying power that effectively controlled all the shadow-world assassins of the entire northern frontier.

Even Lian Gongming, the former Jizhou Prefecture Magistrate, had sought his assassins through the Yiji Hall.

The assassin Yao Wuhen, who had since pledged himself to Prince Yu, was one of the Yiji Hall’s own.

If one were truly to ask what the most ancient professions in this world were, assassin would certainly be counted among them.

Chengcai had a hometown acquaintance who worked as an attendant at the Yiji Hall — a clever young man who had earned considerable esteem, and just one year prior had begun to be initiated into the hall’s assassin business.

He and Chengcai had boasted about this to each other over drinks in private — for this sort of thing, if one doesn’t boast, it’s genuinely hard to keep it bottled up.

Chengcai didn’t dare enter the Yiji Hall itself — he always felt the place looked gloomy and forbidding from the outside. He found his acquaintance Liu Ying and brought him to a tea house to talk.

“This is eight hundred taels in bank drafts.”

Chengcai pushed the drafts across and lowered his voice: “Don’t ask who the client is. These eight hundred taels want someone’s life — is that enough?”

Chengcai smiled and said, “At today’s market rate, eight hundred taels could buy dozens of lives. If it’s a major figure, naturally that’s another matter.”

“Not a major figure — just a student at Four Pages Academy. Studies in the Jia Character Hall. His name is Li Chi.”

“Eight hundred taels is more than enough for that.”

“This person has exceptional martial skill. He’s young, but he’s a difficult target.”

Chengcai said, “You must find real experts — the absolute best. If the job cannot be done in a single decisive strike, this matter could have very far-reaching consequences, and even I could end up in serious trouble.”

Liu Ying nodded. “Two hundred taels can hire a top-tier expert. I’ll get two for you. As for the remaining four hundred taels — I won’t hide it from you — I’ll keep two hundred for myself, and use the other two hundred to find four assistants for those two. Six assassins who still can’t kill a single academy student? What kind of career would that be?”

Chengcai nodded. “I don’t care how much you skim off the top — the job must be done.”

“Relax.”

Liu Ying rose to his feet. “I’ll go make arrangements for you right now.”

Before long, Liu Ying returned to the Yiji Hall. Although he had now gained access to the assassin business, he was still only a junior attendant, and naturally had no way to speak with the upper leadership. So he could only go to his immediate superior — the Yiji Hall’s steward, Wang Deng.

Liu Ying knocked on the door and entered Wang Deng’s room cautiously, with a flattering smile on his face, and placed the six hundred taels in bank drafts on the table.

“Uncle Wang, I just took on a job. A young master from an important family’s household is offering six hundred taels to hire two top-tier assassins and four secondary-tier assassins, to kill a student at Four Pages Academy. The target’s name is Li Chi — around thirteen years old.”

“Oh?”

Wang Deng paused, a little startled. “Six hundred taels to kill an academy student? Is the target a difficult one?”

“Apparently he’s quite skilled in martial arts, and has some connection to Prince Yu’s residence — so the job needs to look like an accident.”

“Understood. You may leave.”

Wang Deng waved his hand dismissively, and Liu Ying immediately bowed out.

Before long, Wang Deng took the bank drafts to the back courtyard, seeking an audience with one of the elder chess masters. He announced himself respectfully at the door, then entered with particular deference.

“Master Yu, a job has come in. Someone is offering four hundred taels to hire one top-tier assassin and several secondary-tier assassins, with the objective of killing a student at Four Pages Academy named Li Chi.”

The old man nodded. “Go to the Dispatch Hall and have them select the personnel. Record the bank drafts in the accounts.”

“Yes.”

Wang Deng bowed deeply, then turned and left.

—