Li Chi had taken over the entirety of the Cui family’s former medicinal trade, but medicinal materials were not an inexhaustible resource. So before his departure for Yun Yin Mountain, he had already dispatched people to continue purchasing. Had the journey not been so long and the roads so treacherous, he would have kept the company in regular contact with the mountain — the quality and variety of medicines there were genuinely excellent.
Fortunately, medicinal materials were not in short supply in Jizhou, and sourcing them was not difficult. Li Chi was also recently considering expanding the size of the procurement caravans.
Shen Medical Hall had its own purchasing teams and its own medicinal fields — but the sheer volume of materials needed across its many branches was enormous, and self-supply alone was often insufficient.
After meeting Gao Xining, Shen Ruzhan had thought of another approach: Li Chi’s carriage company could dispatch teams to supply raw materials to the Shen Medical Hall branches across various counties and prefectures.
With the Shen Medical Hall and Li Chi working in tandem, a very large portion of the medicinal trade within Jizhou could be comprehensively covered.
The one overseeing purchases to the south at this moment was none other than Ruan Chen — one of the five centurion-commanders of the carriage company.
As for names, the brothers had discussed it between themselves. Ruan Mu said Ruan Chen was pitiful — he was the kind to be useless first thing in the morning. Ruan Chen countered that Ruan Mu was the pitiful one — that particular thing was basically useless during the day, so by the time evening came and it was needed, it still wouldn’t be working. Neither of them had any clear grounds for these mutual taunts.
Several hundred li south of Jizhou was a place called Dongbai, a major source of medicinal herbs where the Cui family’s purchasing agents had also often come.
Ruan Chen had noticed the two chubby little Daoist priests from the moment Peng Shiqii fell to the ground — he’d been about to go help when he realized within a few steps that something was off. The two of them had the worst acting he had ever seen, and it made him want to laugh.
As far as he could tell, they were two cheap little street hustlers. But what he saw next changed his view of them entirely.
After completely failing to swindle anyone, they actually turned around and helped someone. These two utterly hopeless little fraudsters — they were born to be Yongning Tongyuan material.
Ruan Chen decided to give it a try. Li Chi had said the company was always looking to recruit, but not without some standard.
The ideal type: one who seemed not-stupid but was actually a bit dim; who looked like a swindler but was also rather inept; dim-witted and bumbling, but genuinely warm-hearted.
This… was someone born to join Yongning Tongyuan. In Mister Li’s words, these two people were a perfect cultural fit for the company.
—
On the carriage.
Ruan Chen passed each of them a small bundle. “Inside is some scattered silver — consider it an advance on your wages for this journey. There are also rations.”
Zhang Yuxu stared at Ruan Chen in disbelief. After a good while he couldn’t help asking, “But sir, aren’t you worried that the two of us will take the silver and simply disappear?”
Peng Shiqii chimed in, “Right — if we run, won’t you have lost out badly?”
Ruan Chen said with perfect seriousness, “Our proprietor has said: if you believe someone is trustworthy, but then over a small sum of money you discover they can’t be trusted — losing some silver isn’t so terrible.”
Peng Shiqii didn’t follow. “Why not?”
Ruan Chen explained, “The proprietor says: if a small amount of money reveals whether a person can be trusted, then whether it reveals them as someone worth confiding in, or someone you can’t work alongside — you’ve gained something either way. Because money has shown you a person’s nature. The money doesn’t matter; the person’s nature does.”
Peng Shiqii thought it over and said, “Then your proprietor must be a person of great virtue and wisdom — you couldn’t say such things without many years of experience.”
Ruan Chen replied, “He… is indeed a person of great virtue and wisdom.”
Then Ruan Chen fell silent and sighed. He felt that in saying this about Li Chi, he was doing a great disservice to the phrase “virtue and wisdom.”
Ever since Li Chi had decided to incorporate the flowing-cloud formation drills into everyone’s mandatory daily training, every single person had concluded that the proprietor was doing it on purpose — specifically to ensure that no one in Yongning Tongyuan remained fully intact. Intact below the belt.
Every day, people filed into the flowing-cloud formation drills and filed out again — hands cupped where it counted. And Li Chi sat there grinning like a wolf.
After hearing Ruan Chen say “virtue and wisdom,” Peng Shiqii had already formed a mental image: a tall, slender elder, with a kind and amiable smile, benevolent eyes, the air of a sage — perhaps even a touch of celestial grace.
Zhang Yuxu said with feeling, “As they say, Jizhou has no shortage of heroes. I used to think that a man like the legendary Green-Browed Heavenly King Yu Chaozong was one of a kind. I had no idea your proprietor would be the same caliber of person.”
Ruan Chen’s eyes shifted slightly at those words. He wondered if these two were on their way to join Yu Chaozong’s side.
If so, that would be a kind of fate all its own.
“Are you both from Daoist backgrounds?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Peng Shiqii. “I’m from the Quanzhen lineage of the Zhongnan Mountain Daoist school. He’s from the Zhengyi lineage of the Longhu Mountain Daoist school.”
Ruan Chen nodded, and thought for a moment about what school the Changmei Daoist belonged to. He had never actually heard it mentioned.
“Our carriage company also has a Daoist of great virtue and wisdom.”
He said this while internally pleading: please don’t let lightning strike me, please don’t let lightning strike me, please don’t let lightning strike me.
But his face remained full of reverence as he continued, “Changmei Daoist — from his youth he has traveled the rivers and lakes, bringing relief to the world, doing good all his life. He is an upright man, a man worthy of respect. You’ll see for yourselves once you reach Jizhou.”
At that point he gave up and thought: fine, if lightning comes, let it come — I can’t believe I said that with a straight face; I probably deserve it.
And Peng Shiqii immediately swapped out the image he had formed for the proprietor and replaced it with the figure of Changmei Daoist instead.
He thought to himself: what a remarkable carriage company — two such virtuous and sagely figures under one roof.
—
Five days later. North of Jizhou, at Dafang Town.
Qitian looked around. Everyone in the courtyard had been dealt with. Six or seven bodies lay on the ground without a trace of life remaining.
He gave an order: “Clear out the courtyard. Some more may come back — we’ll wait here and kill them as they return, one by one.”
“Yes!”
His men all answered in unison and began moving the bodies into the house.
Zhang Chao was utterly awed by the martial skill of Qitian’s six companions. The six of them had moved like thunder — so fast it defied belief.
Barely after he and his own people had exchanged two words, the gate had opened from inside and Qitian stepped calmly out, saying in an offhand tone: they’re all dealt with.
“Senior.”
Zhang Chao, thoroughly deferential in the presence of Qitian and the others, bowed his head. “Once this is all cleaned up, I’ll find a way to lure the person our employer wants killed to this place.”
Qitian gave a dismissive grunt. “Why go through such trouble? We’re killing one person. Even if we went straight into Jizhou to do it, could we not manage it?”
Zhang Chao didn’t dare be careless. He knew well that Li Chi had capable people around him, and that if this attempt failed, there could be serious repercussions. So he urged a few words of caution.
Qitian didn’t insist — either way, once this was done, they were leaving for Longhu Mountain. How they did it made little difference.
“Go handle your affairs.”
Qitian waved a hand. “We’ll stay in this courtyard.”
Then he turned and went back inside, exchanged a glance with the other five, and they shut the gate behind them. They didn’t let any of Zhang Chao’s people in. Zhang Chao swore under his breath and walked away.
Inside the courtyard, Qitian told the others, “We handle Lady Sun’s business as we promised. But we also have our own business to attend to.”
He turned to his second junior brother, Chedi, and said, “You and Little Sister Quenan slip quietly into Jizhou City. Look around for a good target. When you’ve found one and we’re ready to leave, we’ll make a move.”
Chedi nodded, looked at his junior sister Quenan, and said, “Let’s go. Out the back — don’t let Lady Sun’s people see us.”
—
Late that half-day, inside Jizhou City.
Chedi’s eyes were not enough for everything they tried to take in. Back in the northern borderlands he had never seen a major city. He had seen some large towns on the way here and thought that was all there was to it. Then he entered Jizhou and realized those earlier places were nothing in comparison — the gap was enormous.
Jizhou currently had only three gates open. To avoid being spotted by Lady Sun’s people, they had deliberately not used the north gate, entering through the west instead.
Chedi stared at the wooden towers rising one after another, at the well-dressed people moving back and forth through the streets, and for a moment he was dazed.
Quenan looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six, her features passable, though years in the north had given her a darker complexion — rougher compared to the women of the central plains. She watched the women in long gowns pass by and gave a series of cold sniffs.
“This place looks like paradise,” Chedi murmured.
“I’ve heard,” he continued, “that with enough money in a big city like Jizhou, you can live like an emperor.”
Quenan shot him a look. She knew perfectly well what her second senior brother meant by “living like an emperor.”
“Business first,” she said, displeased.
Just then, a caravan also passed in through the west gate. The soldiers on guard seemed well acquainted with the caravan’s people — no inspection at all, just a few cheerful words, and they waved the whole convoy through.
Chedi looked more carefully and noticed that the carts all had two flags: one bearing the characters Yongning Tongyuan, the other bearing Shen Medical Hall.
He grabbed a passing pedestrian and asked, “What’s this Yongning Tongyuan and Shen Medical Hall?”
The pedestrian was startled and snapped back, “And what are you?”
Chedi applied a slight pressure with his hand. The man winced with pain and quickly said, “Yongning Tongyuan is a carriage company — the largest in Jizhou. Shen Medical Hall is a clinic — also the largest in Jizhou.”
Chedi released him and shoved him aside, then turned to Quenan. “A medical hall doing good business must be sitting on money.”
Quenan nodded. “Let’s follow and see.”
—
On the carriage, Peng Shiqii quietly tugged at Zhang Yuxu’s sleeve and lowered his voice: “Look over there — a woman with an exotic, striking look about her.”
Zhang Yuxu looked toward Quenan. Just as he did, Quenan looked over. For a brief moment, their eyes met.
Then Zhang Yuxu went livid. He swore and made to jump off the carriage. Peng Shiqii grabbed him: “What are you doing? You look at someone exotic-looking and then curse her out?”
Zhang Yuxu said, “Exotic look? She cursed me! I glanced at her once and she started in — I have never in my life heard anyone snap ‘what are you looking at, your mother’ at someone with that kind of fluency — exotic? She can take her exotic somewhere else!”
Peng Shiqii instinctively glanced over, only to find the woman still glaring in their direction. The moment she saw Peng Shiqii look, she mouthed three words beginning with a grass-character.
Peng Shiqii was furious too, and went to leap off the carriage as well. Those three words, she’d spat them out more smoothly than any central plains speaker could have managed.