Spending money to ransom someone — Da Hu was entirely unwilling.

But if the ransom was not paid, and Er’hu came back de-rooted, he would be at Da Hu’s throat in a fight to the bitter end.

If, however, money was paid to have the matter cut off at the root once and for all — that was the only choice that truly served Da Hu’s personal interests.

The mastermind had long since figured out that Da Hu had only one road to take.

……He had run into someone in the same line of work.

Da Hu hurriedly contacted the informant Pingshan Stronghold had embedded inside Dinghai Stronghold, asking whether any of this was connected to them. The answer came back as a flat no — Dinghai Stronghold was still fuming over having their bounty snatched away by an interloper and knew nothing at all of what had befallen Pingshan Stronghold’s Er’hu.

If it was not Dinghai Stronghold, then what insignificant troublemaker had come to harass a colleague?

Da Hu mustered his men and searched every place he could think of — though of course, he did not forget to quietly instruct his most trusted subordinates: should anyone be found, not a single person was to be left alive.

And yet the search returned empty-handed.

“Young master… it’s nearly the hour of the Sheep.”

A small henchman walked into the Assembly Hall and carefully observed Da Hu’s expression as he sat in the chair.

The tea in the open cup on the side table had long since gone cold. Da Hu sat with deeply furrowed brows and said nothing, until at last he finally spoke:

“…Go to the treasury and draw the funds.”

“Young master wishes to pay the ransom?” The answer was so unexpected that the henchman blurted it out.

“Of course I’ll pay it.” Da Hu said. “Er’hu may be a foolish one, but he is still my own flesh and blood. How could I stand by and let him die?”

“Young master is truly righteous and honourable!” the small henchman quickly echoed.

“Go to the treasury and draw ten thousand silver taels. Pack it in a wooden chest and have it ready for the exchange.”

“Ten thousand taels?” The small henchman was struck speechless.

Da Hu’s face wore a look of upright conviction, his stance firm. “Whether the sum is large or small is beside the point — what matters to me is my brother’s safety!”

The small henchman was shaken to his core by the display of virtue, and the moment he stepped out of the Assembly Hall, he immediately shared the young master’s “righteous and honourable act” with the first henchman he encountered.

Word spread from one to ten, and ten to a hundred. By the time the wooden chest filled with ten thousand silver taels was placed outside the Assembly Hall gates, word of Da Hu’s willingness to pay a great ransom to save his brother — setting all past grievances aside — had spread throughout the entire stronghold.

Everyone regarded Da Hu with new respect for his unexpected conduct. For those of the jianghu, was brotherhood and loyalty not held above all else? If Da Hu could show such loyalty even toward Er’hu, what was there to worry about following a man like him?

Throughout the entire stronghold, only one person heard the news and gave a cold laugh.

“Ten thousand taels? That’s blood money he’s prepared.”

Xiao Hu dismissed the henchman who had come to report, took down the dagger hanging on the wall, and tucked it securely against the inside of her trousers — harmless times it could gut a chicken, dangerous times it could save a life.

She left the side courtyard where she lodged and walked straight toward the eastern gate where Li Que was being kept under guard.

“Third young master —”

Upon reaching the eastern stronghold gate, a small henchman immediately came down from the watchtower to greet her.

Xiao Hu waved a hand. “Stand down. I have a few words to ask him.”

After the henchman withdrew to one side, Xiao Hu pushed the wooden door open and went in.

Li Que lay on a simple wooden bed beside the window — the length was ill-suited, so his ankles rested on the wooden board at the foot of the bed. Hearing someone come up the stairs, he did not so much as open his eyes. Even when Xiao Hu came to stand before him, he did not move.

Beyond the window, the setting sun blazed like flame, and its orange glow burned across the deep, sunken expanse of scarred flesh on his face.

In the dying light, the ridged and pitted scarring glowed a vivid, jarring red, as though holding a pool of thick, fresh blood.

“…Seen enough?”

Li Que opened his eyes.

No warmth from the setting sun could reach those two eyes, cold enough to chill the bone.

“The window is right there in front of you,” Xiao Hu said. “You’re not going to run?”

“If you’d like to fall to your death, I won’t stop you.” Li Que sat up from the bed and said coldly, “Whatever you came to say, say it.”

“Where has Er’hu gone?”

“How would I know?” Li Que spread both hands. “If you think he’s hiding here, go ahead and search.”

“You think I’m a fool?” Xiao Hu narrowed her eyes, fixing them on his. “That bald monk is with your group. The moment he showed up, Er’hu disappeared. What exactly are you planning?”

“You’re so clever — why not make a guess yourself?” Li Que settled cross-legged and looked at her with unhurried indifference.

“I am the one asking the questions.”

“And I’ve answered you — if you’re suspicious, go search the place yourself.” Li Que curved the corner of his mouth, wearing the look of someone who had long since made peace with death. “But if you’re asking me — I know nothing.”

“…Then what do you know?”

“Only this —” Li Que fixed his gaze on her. “A woman disguising herself as a man inside a bandit’s den — what fate do you think would await her if she were discovered?”

“I am not a woman.” Xiao Hu said slowly, her previously relaxed spine gradually pulling itself taut into a straight line.

“I have known more women than you have eaten mouthfuls of pork,” Li Que said with undisguised contempt. “That line might fool others. It won’t fool me.”

“And why have you known more women than I’ve eaten mouthfuls of pork?” Xiao Hu said. “Were you raised in a nunnery?”

“……”

Li Que dropped flat onto his back.

“Get out.”

A long stretch of time passed without the sound of a single footstep.

Li Que looked again at Xiao Hu, who was still standing exactly where she had been. “What else do you want?”

“I’m wondering —” Xiao Hu moved her gaze slowly upward from his face. “Why you’ve been lying there by the bed without moving a muscle.”

Li Que sat up slowly. His back, like Xiao Hu’s, took on a tautly drawn arc.

“…What is there for someone under house arrest to do besides sleep?”

He stared unblinkingly at Xiao Hu.

Xiao Hu swept her eyes across the bare, empty rafters — nothing there — and looked back at Li Que.

“Who else is in here?”

“Are you talking in your sleep?” Li Que let out a cold laugh. “Who else is there here besides you and me?”

“Is that so? Then I must have been imagining things.” Xiao Hu said at a measured, unhurried pace, then abruptly shifted course at the very end. “…But was I really imagining things?”

The moment Li Que had begun to relax, Xiao Hu lunged toward the window in a single swift motion.

The stark change that came over Li Que’s expression confirmed her suspicion. She was almost certain there was someone outside that window — if not Niuwang, then one of their other confederates!

Li Que pulled a long, rusty iron nail from beneath his pillow and drove it at the back of her neck. Xiao Hu drew the dagger concealed inside her trousers and, with swift and sure hands, deflected the nail that had nearly entered her jugular!

Xiao Hu kicked Li Que hard in the stomach, sent him stumbling back, then slashed her dagger out through the window!

No one.

On the dust-covered window frame, only ten fingerprints remained where two hands had gripped and let go.

This is bad!

Alarm bells rang frantically inside Xiao Hu’s mind. She lurched backward, trying to dodge — but it was already too late.

A sharp pain struck the back of her neck, and the world before her eyes went completely dark.

Li Wu stepped to one side, letting Xiao Hu’s collapsing body fall past him.

“I climbed in from the other side — didn’t see that coming, did you?” Li Wu declared with great satisfaction, then wiped his dust-covered hands thoroughly on Xiao Hu’s clean, well-kept brocade garment.

“Que’er —”

“What?”

“When fortune smiles on a man, there really is no stopping it.” Li Wu mused with feeling.

……

In front of the stronghold gates, it was a sea of people.

The wedding procession sat and stood in scattered clusters, watching as another group of able-bodied men from within the stronghold fell into formation at the gates, armed and ready to march out.

Da Hu watched as his henchman finished counting out ten thousand silver taels and snapped the lid shut on the chest in front of him.

He had deliberately prepared heavy silver ingots — so that once they arrived at his colleague’s lair, he could catch them all in one sweep and wipe them out entirely. And while he was at it, he could send that trouble-making brother of his to the grave.

What he had forgotten was: since he was dealing with a fellow practitioner, no such opportunity would ever be left to him.

The hour of the Sheep had arrived, and Da Hu was still waiting for the exchange signal, when a grey pigeon beating its wings suddenly flew in from beyond the stronghold walls and alighted atop the wooden chest filled with silver.

“Young master! Look at its foot!” a sharp-eyed henchman cried.

“Catch it!”

At Da Hu’s command, several henchmen rushed forward.

The grey pigeon stood perfectly still on the chest, letting itself be caught without resistance — clearly, it was a trained carrier pigeon.

A henchman presented the pigeon respectfully to Da Hu, who removed the message tube from its leg and drew out the slip of paper inside.

He unfolded the small slip and took a single glance — his vision swam with rage —

“Place the bank notes in the message tube and let the pigeon carry them back. The matter you are worried about will resolve itself of its own accord.”

Da Hu crumpled the message in his fist.

“Young master…” the henchman did not dare act on his own judgment and watched Da Hu’s expression warily.

“Bring bank notes!” Da Hu said through clenched teeth.

Someone immediately ran to the treasury.

Before long, a bank note worth ten thousand taels, honored at every branch of the Bai Family Silver House across the country, arrived.

The moment the bank note was tied to the leg of the dusty grey pigeon, it instantly became of immeasurable worth. The henchmen gathered around all stared at the message tube on its leg with longing, as though wishing the tube would sprout legs of its own and run into their hands.

Under the gaze of all eyes, Da Hu released his grip. The grey pigeon spread its wings at once and took flight.

“Follow it!” he commanded loudly.

Two henchmen immediately mounted the fast horses that had been readied and gave chase.

The odds of successfully tracking a carrier pigeon were not great — but doing something was better than nothing.

If he ever discovered who had been bleeding him dry from behind the scenes — he would personally reduce that wretch to a thousand pieces!

“Young… young master…” A henchman came stumbling over, a scrap of blood-stained brocade cloth held aloft in his hands. “This is bad…”

The all-too-familiar scene set Da Hu’s temples pounding in relentless waves.

“Stop your panicking! What has happened?!” he bellowed.

“An-another cloth strip has arrived…”

The henchman’s face was white as paper. Not daring to look Da Hu in the eye, he kept his head bowed and handed over the cloth with trembling hands.

Da Hu very much wanted to simply turn and walk away. But with so many pairs of eyes upon him, he had no choice but to take that strip of cloth — which felt as heavy as a thousand stones — in his hands.

Da Hu looked down at it against his will. Blood surged straight to his head, and a shower of golden sparks burst across his vision.

“You scoundrel — you’ve gone too far —”

A roar of fury rang out across Pingshan Stronghold, startling a whole tree of sparrows near the gate into flight.

Da Hu staggered, and the cloth fell from his hands to the ground. Someone rushed forward to support him, while another, who had picked up a few years of schooling, nerved himself to look down at the cloth.

Written on it was a seven-character regulated poem:

“A Guide to Getting Rich, Part Two”

“Da Hu’s loyalty earns praise on every side, a genuine, living Bodhisattva in the flesh.”

“Ransom Er’hu, then ransom Xiao Hu — two, a master of keeping balance, doing it fresh.”

“The full two-province rate is slashed today, two souls for the price of one and eight.”

“But should you make me unhappy in the least, both brothers return home — debt wiped clean.”