Under the spring sun, many shadows waited quietly, neither fearing heat nor sun.
Coin-plaster sneered, “Are you deaf? So what if he took your silver? He didn’t repay the debt—he ran away. Abandoning his real sister, taking his wife, before dawn today, he ran off.”
“That’s none of my concern.” Mo Zi shook her head. “I only know that Young Master Lin has one thousand eight hundred taels of silver in hand, so he has the ability to repay the debt. Since he has the ability to repay, Lin Zhen Niang doesn’t need to settle the debt. Now that he’s run away, he wants to renege on the debt—this has nothing whatsoever to do with having ability or not. Instead of chasing the person who can repay the money, you come here to bully a penniless weak woman. So if you let him escape, it’s your own incompetence.”
Coin-plaster was dumbfounded, making clicking sounds in his throat but unable to spit out a single word.
Afraid he still didn’t understand, Mo Zi kindly explained again, “Young Master Lin has the ability to repay the debt but doesn’t repay it, versus Young Master Lin having no ability to repay the debt so Miss Lin settles it—these are fundamentally completely different things. Conclusion: since he has the ability, the prerequisite for Miss Lin settling the debt doesn’t exist. Do you want me to say it even more simply? It means, before the deadline arrives, if Young Master Lin can’t obtain money no matter what, that’s called having no ability to repay the debt. In that situation, even if you barged into my home to drag someone away to settle the debt, I wouldn’t make a sound. Let me give you an analogy—a leopard is hungry and eyes two sheep. One is clearly fat and large, runs slowly too, but the leopard is stupid and loses it in the chase, so it can only turn back to eat the thin, meatless one. Is that possible?”
Coin-plaster had already understood Mo Zi’s meaning earlier, but the other party was absolutely right—he had no way to refute it. Hearing Mo Zi’s analogy, his triangular eyes finally brightened, thinking this kid was doomed. He said, “It’s possible. Why wouldn’t it be? Can’t eat the big one, of course eat the small one.”
“Right, it’s not just possible, it’s certain. But that’s a beast, doesn’t understand written documents, can’t make an agreement saying ‘if I can’t eat the big one, I won’t eat the small one either.’ Is your Ninth Master human or beast? You keep talking about written documents—aren’t I also speaking according to the written documents up there? To put it differently, if back then your Ninth Master hadn’t split hairs, but directly had Young Master Lin write ‘if a certain Lin doesn’t repay the money, then someone will settle the debt,’ even if there were ten sisters, I’d have nothing to say. What ‘no ability’? Clearly has the ability.” Mo Zi had both cursed them as beasts and won the argument.
The crowd burst into loud laughter with shouts of approval. Who could have thought that just that one phrase “if a certain Lin has no ability to repay the debt,” evaluating those three words “no ability,” could be so easily overturned by this unremarkable-looking young gentleman before them, reversing Lin Zhen Niang’s originally tragic fate?
“You… you…” Coin-plaster couldn’t lecture Mo Zi by moving forward, and moving backward, apart from the people he brought, there wasn’t half a voice of support. His face flushed red, grinding his teeth. “You’ve got guts, kid—leave a name, report your background. We brothers will find you later to reason with you.”
Cen Er, afraid of bringing future trouble to Mo Zi, wanted to quickly say he was a nameless nobody.
Mo Zi pulled him back. Since she dared step forward to save someone, she wasn’t afraid of people coming to her door. Moreover, Wangqiu Tower was here—the monk could run but not the temple, so it also avoided implicating the innocent.
“This humble one is just a small servant. No great name—people call me Brother Mo. You just go back and report to the Ninth Master. If the dignified Leopard Gang’s leading figure insists every word I said today was wrong and secretly causes me trouble, that’s also unnecessary. So many people witnessed it—if something happens to me, it’ll ruin the Leopard Gang’s righteous name. If the Ninth Master is displeased, openly and honorably come teach me a lesson—at least you’ll earn praise for being upright and forthright.” Open spears are easy to dodge, hidden arrows hard to guard against. She laid out her words clearly—if that Ninth Master was still a respectable figure, he wouldn’t disregard his reputation to deal with her.
“Fine, rest assured, I’ll report every word to the Ninth Master. Kid, we’ll meet again.” Coin-plaster stared fixedly at Mo Zi as if to memorize her face, then with a whistle, without another glance at Lin Zhen Niang, he led those gang members away.
Seeing the matter resolved, the crowd finally dispersed. Several among them with some insight cupped their fists toward Mo Zi, expressing admiration and telling her to take care.
Mo Zi smiled and nodded as they passed. Being reborn in a time period when people’s hearts were still simple was another kind of pleasure.
“Brother Mo, let’s go inside to talk.” Seeing the area outside the main gate finally calm, Cen Er breathed a sigh of relief but also worried the matter probably wasn’t finished.
Stinky Fish saw through it and laughed heartily, patting Cen Er’s shoulder. “No need to worry. If that guy wasn’t faking and really is under Xu Jiu of the Leopard Gang, he shouldn’t do anything unprincipled. Xu Jiu is considered an upright gentleman in the martial world.”
Cen Er’s mouth twitched, looking down at the aggrieved Zhen Niang and the little maid whose tears hadn’t yet dried. “Like this, and still a gentleman?”
“The Leopard Gang is the foremost gang in North China. Though not heroic and righteous, they’re also not an utterly evil bunch. The old Leopard Gang leader has no sons. Now that he’s getting on in years, he’s handed the gang’s affairs to his two most trusted disciples—Huo Ba and Xu Jiu, both outstanding figures among their peers. Huo Ba’s biggest fault is his fondness for women, and Xu Jiu…” Stinky Fish tried to search for an appropriate word to describe him.
“Xu Jiu’s biggest fault is fondness for men?” Mo Zi loved hearing about martial world affairs.
Pfft—Fat Shrimp burst out laughing.
Stinky Fish shouted, “Brother, if you’re going to spout nonsense, do it elsewhere.” Then waving repeatedly at Mo Zi, “No, no, that Xu Jiu is absolutely a normal man.”
This made everyone laugh, even Zhen Niang who had been abandoned by her family. Then, those closing doors closed them, those fastening bolts fastened them, and the group walked into the garden.
No one noticed that not far from the Lin Mansion, under a large tree, a black-canopied carriage had stopped. After things calmed down, two identically-looking boys emerged from the carriage.
One was Bai Liang, one was Qian Liang.
“Young master, that elder brother was so impressive and mighty.” Blue-clothed Bai Liang raised his little whip with two clicking sounds.
“Young master, she offended the Leopard Gang. That Xu Jiu will definitely come looking for her.” Green-clothed Qian Liang reached out to lift the cloth curtain, frowning.
“You’re worrying needlessly. I see that even if the emperor came, she wouldn’t be afraid.” Beautiful appearance, pleasant voice. The golden young master, covered in pearls and jewels, glittering with gold, reclined sideways in the carriage and waved his hand. Those five perfect fingers were this time covered with gemstone rings. “Lower the curtain, the bright sun is hurting my eyes. Now, as you wished, we’ve watched the excitement—hurry back to the estate, I still have a pile of things to do.”
Qian Liang obediently lowered the cloth curtain.
Jin Yin listened inside as Bai Liang and Qian Liang discussed the scene just now, propping up his chin, fingers lightly tapping his face, murmuring to himself in an extremely soft voice, “Brother Mo… Mo Zi… Same name? Same person?”
After speaking, his phoenix eyes couldn’t help but smile—it was radiant and brilliant, indescribably beautiful. But if one looked carefully, in the depths of those varying shades of eyes was a trace of deep emerald green, making the seemingly clear gaze suddenly mysterious.
The carriage moved slowly along, as if following its master’s current mood, clip-clop, clip-clop, entering a secluded small road. The sunlight blazed fiercely, as if by doing so, the early cicadas would come welcome summer, singing “cicada, cicada,” revealing all secrets.
“Brother Mo, what should we do now?” Cen Er hadn’t expected such big trouble on the very first day of moving in. He wasn’t blaming Mo Zi though—actually, when he found the guards, he’d already planned to help. Compared to the fierce conflict he’d anticipated, having the matter conclude this way was already quite civilized. However, for those people, losing face might be even harder to bear than a fight.
The three Fish, Shrimp, and Snake brothers led the guards to continue moving. In the Lin Mansion’s main hall remained Mo Zi, Zan Jin, and Zhen Niang with her servant.
“Since Stinky Fish says the Leopard Gang isn’t bad, when people come to the door, everyone can sit down and talk things through clearly. Why would a grand gang bully a weak woman? Anyway, if I’m not here, you arrange a date with them—I’ll find a way to come out and meet them.” Mo Zi had a soldier’s courage and wasn’t the least bit afraid of any gang or faction in the marketplace.
Speaking plainly, it was somewhat like modern industry guild organizations—pulling together people from several related industries, mostly laborers, into various gangs with certain internal gang rules and external industry rules. Those who ran boats also had gangs, collectively called the boat gang, but each river had different boat gangs with varying scales. Among them, the five major boat gangs almost covered Great Zhou’s most important waterways and formed friendly alliances. Mo Zi’s small smuggling boat gang didn’t even register in their eyes, so they’d never had dealings.
“Don’t worry about this matter. If they come to the door, we have plenty of people too—why would you need to step forward? I mean—” Cen Er pointed at Lin Zhen Niang sitting to the side and cleared his throat.
Mo Zi suddenly understood and nodded to show she knew.
“Miss Lin?” They should first care about where this person would go.
Lin Zhen Niang raised her head. Her expression was much softer. Though grief was still visible, she was at least calm. Standing up, she suddenly dropped to her knees before Mo Zi.
Mo Zi hurried to help her up. “Miss Lin need not kneel to me.” The ancient people’s habit of kneeling at the drop of a hat made her very uncomfortable.
But Lin Zhen Niang refused to rise, stubbornly kneeling. “If not for Brother Mo’s help, I’m afraid Zhen Niang could only preserve her purity through death. Zhen Niang doesn’t know how to thank you and can only perform the full ceremony to Brother Mo.” Her hands went to touch the ground.
Mo Zi’s strength was quite good and wouldn’t let Zhen Niang prostrate completely. “Miss Lin, even if it weren’t me today, I believe others would have stepped forward to help. In this world, there are originally more good people than bad. However, there’s something I don’t know whether I should say or not?” Having said this, she’d already helped Zhen Niang up.
Zhen Niang was originally a young lady raised in the inner chambers and naturally couldn’t match Mo Zi’s strength. “Brother Mo, please speak.”
“If the young lady were truly unfortunate enough to enter the world of flowers and willows, you still shouldn’t have thoughts of ending your life. Your body, skin, and hair are received from your parents. Your parents passed away—if they saw you not cherishing your own life like this, even their spirits in heaven would be uneasy. Your brother and sister-in-law abandoned you—that’s their inhumanity. If you abandon yourself, you let them shift the blame. If one’s nature is noble, how can dust be feared? Even if all people look down on you because of it, as long as you don’t look down on yourself, that’s already enough.” Mo Zi actually didn’t know if she could save someone completely.
However, life is the most beautiful gift heaven bestows on people—never easily speak of abandoning it.