“…You’ve seen Yu Feng?”
Yangliu smiled faintly, speaking of her sworn brother’s life and death with a casual tone:
“Was it Li Wu who killed him?”
Mei Niang’s brow furrowed — because Shen Zhuxi had gripped her hand and made it hurt. But the next moment, Shen Zhuxi released her hand.
Shen Zhuxi straightened her spine and looked at Yangliu without turning her gaze aside, the nails of all ten fingers pressed deep into her palms.
“…It was I who killed him.”
“Your Highness need not shield anyone on his behalf.” Yangliu smiled. “One more person having died at Li Wu’s blade makes no difference.”
Shen Zhuxi pressed her lips together without a word. Yangliu watched her expression, and the smile on her face gradually faded.
“Let’s leave family matters for another time.” Hu Yishou flicked his pipe, and said slowly, “Can we act now?”
The ruffians and drifters Hu Yishou had brought with him had nearly filled the entire small alley. In terms of numbers, Hu Yishou held an overwhelming advantage.
Shen Zhuxi looked at Yangliu and said: “…Put down your weapons. You can’t win.”
Yangliu seemed to hear the unknowing prattling of a child. A wisp of contempt rose to the corner of her smiling lips.
“Does Your Highness know that what determines the outcome on a chess board is strategy — not force.”
As Yangliu finished speaking, the teahouse’s family of three was shoved out from the back courtyard by the black-clad figures.
“Mmm mmm mmm —”
A man around thirty, a woman of twenty-five or six, a boy of seven or eight — three utterly terrified commoners with rags stuffed in their mouths, ropes binding their hands and feet, large blades held against their throats — looked at Shen Zhuxi and the others with eyes full of tears.
“Your Highness, have your people put down their weapons,” Yangliu said. “Otherwise, these three innocent commoners will lose their lives because of you.”
Shen Zhuxi stood rooted to the spot. The scrape on her chin burned fiercely — a burning that spread from her chin all the way down to her chest.
“Exhale —”
Hu Yishou slowly breathed out a smoke ring, unhurriedly opening his mouth: “Young lady, do you understand the principle that different trades have their different expertise?”
Shen Zhuxi looked at him with a somewhat baffled expression and nodded.
“Then you might as well sleep for a bit.”
Before Shen Zhuxi had time to react, the back of her neck had already received a precise chop.
“…Do you know who you just struck?” Yangliu looked at the person who had caught the now-unconscious Shen Zhuxi in one hand.
Hu Yishou handed Shen Zhuxi over to the nearby Mei Niang, then idly twirled the pipe in his hand and knocked out the ash inside it.
“Don’t know, and no need to know.” He looked up and gazed with cool eyes at Yangliu standing in the firelight. “Judging by your contemptuous attitude anyway, she is not some particularly important figure.”
“Not an important figure, no — but a very valuable commodity.” Yangliu said. “Hand her over to me, and I will give you however much money you want.”
Hu Yishou said: “No matter how much money there is, a coffin only fits one person.”
“Scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants — merchants are the lowest.” Yangliu said. “Hand her over to me and I’ll give you the position of county deputy magistrate.”
Hu Yishou shook his head: “Getting on in years — can’t manage government affairs anymore. Being an absentee proprietor suits me just fine.”
“…Are you simply impervious to all persuasion?”
“You’re still young, so you don’t know — when you’ve lived to our age, wealth and rank no longer count for much.” Hu Yishou said with an unruffled expression. “Those of us who are growing old only want to leave behind a good reputation when we are gone. I promised Li Wu I would manage this stretch of the west side of the city. You people are making trouble in the west side of the city — that is to say, you are trampling on my face. If only to be able to hold my head up before the younger generation in years to come, I have no choice but to step in and handle this.”
“And how do you intend to ‘handle it’?” Yangliu said coldly. “Take one step forward and I will kill these three —”
With a whoosh, Yangliu’s words broke off in her throat.
The teahouse proprietor screamed behind the cloth stuffed in his mouth. A small, compact throwing dart was lodged in his chest.
Bright red blood was slowly soaking through the cloth of his tunic.
The woman and the boy stared at the man and let out muffled cries of sobbing.
“Getting on in years — my aim is not what it was. In years past, this dart would have gone straight into his throat.” Hu Yishou lowered the hand he had just used to throw the dart.
“You —” Yangliu glared at Hu Yishou with furious eyes.
“I have always instructed my people that the one and only way to rescue a hostage is to kill the hostage.” The corners of Hu Yishou’s mouth slowly curved upward. He watched Yangliu losing her composure, and said with absolute ease: “Little miss, you have made one mistake —”
He smiled and said: “The one who most wants the hostages to remain alive should be you.”
The lantern light in the teahouse fell on Hu Yishou’s face, making the blade scar that nearly ran across his entire face even more fearsome in contrast to the smile.
“As long as these three are alive, you can stand here and speak with me. If these three die, I will take your head immediately.” Hu Yishou looked into her eyes and spoke word by word. “Little miss — do you believe me or not?”
“…I am an entertainer kept by the household of the current Chancellor. To treat me this way — are you not afraid of bearing the full wrath of the Fu family?”
Hu Yishou laughed with sarcasm: “So those of us in this profession place great importance on finishing things cleanly. If you could haunt us in your dreams from the underworld and tell tales, I would die willingly and with full admiration.”
Yangliu had exhausted every method. She was at a complete loss.
The man before her was impervious to both oil and salt, immune to both soft and hard approaches.
“…What do you want?” she said through clenched teeth.
“We are all people who understand each other — is there anything that can’t be settled by sitting down and discussing it?” Hu Yishou said. “If discussion fails, fighting it out again is still an option.”
Yangliu pressed down her fury: “I offered so many terms just now — and who was the one refusing to sit down and discuss?”
Hu Yishou said: “The one who wants to discuss with you is not me.”
Yangliu blanked.
“Young lady, stop pretending to be unconscious — it’s your turn.” Hu Yishou said. “Discussion is not something Hu is skilled at.”
Shen Zhuxi shot upright from Mei Niang’s arms.
That blow just now had been a light, precise strike to the back of her neck. She had not lost consciousness — she had simply followed Hu Yishou’s whispered instructions and pretended to be unconscious.
When the teahouse proprietor was injured, she had endured and held on — kept persuading herself to trust in Hu Yishou’s control of his strength, to trust in Li Wu’s judgment of character — and had not jumped out to ruin Hu Yishou’s plan.
“…Your Highness, you are truly surprising.” Yangliu’s face was cold as ice, though her eyes burned with fire. “If the young master were to see you as you are now, he would certainly be shocked.”
“I have no wish to see him,” Shen Zhuxi said immediately. “And you have no wish for him to see me. Our goals are the same — why can we not reach an agreement that satisfies us both?”
“How am I to trust you?” Yangliu laughed coldly. “Who could believe that a person would abandon jade from Kunshan Mountain and pick up a roadside stone to treat as a treasure?”
“Li Wu is no stone! Even if he were a stone — what of it?!” Shen Zhuxi said in a furious voice.
Not only Yangliu was taken aback — even those beside Shen Zhuxi were taken aback.
No one had ever seen her lose her temper.
“Jade can shatter; stone endures through all eternity. In my eyes, what you call a stone is a hundred times more precious than jade from Kunshan Mountain!” Shen Zhuxi glared at Yangliu in indignant fury.
Yangliu looked at her without blinking, astonishment appearing in her eyes.
After a long moment, Yangliu said in a low voice: “…You truly have changed. I can discuss things with you — but does Your Highness not need to clear the space first?”
Yangliu looked at the Mei Niang and others beside her.
“And your people?” Hu Yishou said.
Yangliu glanced at the black-clad figures beside her, and very soon they withdrew into the back courtyard, taking the hostages with them.
After the hanging door curtain settled and was still, Hu Yishou waved his hand, and the ruffians and drifters he had brought along — along with Mei Niang — all withdrew to the mouth of the alley.
“What about you?” Yangliu said.
Hu Yishou looked toward Shen Zhuxi.
“He doesn’t need to leave.” Shen Zhuxi said.
Yangliu neither agreed nor disagreed, and a mocking smile flashed at the corner of her lips.
“I can spare Your Highness’s life,” Yangliu said, “but Your Highness must swear by the late emperor’s name never to appear before the young master again.”
Shen Zhuxi immediately said: “I can swear by the late emperor’s name — but I cannot guarantee never to appear before Fu Xuanmiao.”
Yangliu’s expression immediately changed when she heard this. Before she could open her mouth, Shen Zhuxi struck first:
“And so you must swear by Fu Xuanmiao’s name that, wherever it is within your power, you will help conceal my whereabouts and prevent Fu Xuanmiao from tracking down myself and those close to me.”
Yangliu said flatly: “You want me to betray the young master? That is impossible!”
“Then what is it you are doing right now?” Shen Zhuxi said in surprise. “Did Fu Xuanmiao send you here?”
Yangliu: “…”
Shen Zhuxi continued: “You just said that however much money Hu Yishou wanted, you would give it — as long as he handed me over to you —”
“And if he did?” Yangliu said.
Shen Zhuxi paused for a moment, drawing courage in her heart from the image of Li the Rotten Wretch’s face.
“Give the money to me instead, and I can promise you — as long as you keep your promise and conceal my whereabouts, I will never voluntarily expose myself or appear before Fu Xuanmiao.”
Yangliu looked blankly at Shen Zhuxi.
“…You would be willing to leave the young master for money?”
“Not for money,” she said honestly. “Only — with money, I can leave faster.”
Shen Zhuxi’s words dropped like a stone into still water, and for a brief moment the air seemed to freeze.
Hu Yishou pondered inwardly: was this, perhaps, what was meant by two people coming to resemble each other after marriage?
Yangliu came back to herself and asked: “…How much do you want?”
“What do you think your young master is worth?”
Yangliu was silent for a moment, then spoke in a voice laced with suppressed fury:
“My young master is naturally a priceless treasure.”
“A priceless treasure — one mustn’t shortchange him.” Shen Zhuxi felt her way forward, venturing: “Five thousand taels of silver?”
“Is Your Highness joking?” Yangliu laughed coldly.
Shen Zhuxi was just about to lower her opening price when Yangliu spoke: “I will give you fifty thousand taels of gold — as long as you swear by the late emperor’s name and by Consort Bai’s name that you will never appear before the young master again for as long as you live.”
Five thousand taels of silver had become fifty thousand taels of gold!
Shen Zhuxi nearly suspected it was gold that had plummeted in value, or entertainers that had inflated in price — how could even a single entertainer kept by the Fu family open her mouth to fifty thousand taels of gold without a second thought?
Even servants kept by the Fu family could be this lavish — what kind of monstrous behemoth must the Fu family itself be?!
From her late father’s reign, the news of the treasury running tight had been an endless refrain. Yet a household entertainer kept by the Fu family could produce fifty thousand gold taels with effortless ease —
This vast land of the Great Yan, with its tens of millions of subjects — the taxes they paid and the output they produced — into whose pockets had it all been flowing?!
Shen Zhuxi quickly said: “You still have to swear first — otherwise, with even you capable of tracking my whereabouts, your young master finding me would only be a matter of time anyway.”
“…In that case, it would be simpler to just send Your Highness to meet your end.”
“Can you kill me?” Shen Zhuxi replied with a question. “After today, I will entrust a letter written in my own hand to people scattered to every corner of the land — as long as I die, I guarantee that letter will find its way before Fu Xuanmiao.”
“You —”
“And I also guarantee —” Shen Zhuxi cut off her words. “He will never forgive you for the rest of his life.”
Everyone knew how to go for the weak spot — before her mother consort had fallen from favor, quite a few beautiful women from the six palaces had come to cross swords with her. Having seen and absorbed all of that over the years, she had learned not seven parts of it, perhaps — but four parts was certain.
This remark of hers had struck the other party’s most vulnerable point. Yangliu’s expression went dark with no words to counter, and after a long while, she opened her mouth:
“…Fine, I agree. And I ask that Your Highness also keep her promise — give the young master his peace, and do not appear before him.”
“Of course.”
The two swore oaths to each other. What came next was the final step of the transaction — having sold Fu… ahem, of reaching an agreement — the exchange of payment.
“Two days from now, I will have someone deliver the banknotes to the Li family residence.”
“In the notes of the Bai family silver house.”
She would not let prosperity flow into an outsider’s hands — Shen Zhuxi added one more condition.
“…Fine.” Yangliu had no more desire to continue haggling; impatience showed in her eyes. “The coalition forces will depart in five days — at least until the young master leaves Bailing Plain, I hope Your Highness will conduct herself properly and refrain from recklessly exposing herself again.”
“Fine.” Shen Zhuxi was equally straightforward.
“Could you have your people stand aside?” Yangliu looked at Hu Yishou, who had been standing to one side watching the whole time.
Hu Yishou raised his chin, and the ruffians and drifters crowded before the teahouse entrance scattered to make way. Yangliu’s eyes gave a signal; the black-clad figures withdrew to the mouth of the alley with the teahouse’s family of three as hostages, then shoved them roughly. One of them threw something onto the ground — the acrid smell of lime spread with the rising dust, and Shen Zhuxi and Mei Niang beside her could not help but cover their noses, coughing.
When their vision cleared again, Yangliu and the others had vanished without a trace.
“Pursue?” Hu Yishou asked.
“…No need.”
Shen Zhuxi frowned and looked in the direction where the other party had disappeared.
An entertainer who could casually produce fifty thousand taels of gold was surely far more than a mere household entertainer.
If this person disappeared, Fu Xuanmiao would certainly grow suspicious. Following the thread to track them down in Xiangyang County was an inevitable outcome. Rather than testing whether Fu Xuanmiao had the capability to seize them as they fled, it was better to test whether Fu Xuanmiao’s subordinates had loyalty that exceeded their own private interests —
Judging from her unauthorized move in coming here, the answer was plainly no.
Shen Zhuxi only wanted to preserve the present quiet life. She had no wish to disturb anyone, nor did she wish for anyone to disturb her.
For that, she had to force herself to use her mind.
She did not want only to be protected by Li Wu — she also wanted to protect Li Wu. Now, had she managed to resolve this crisis on her own?
“Get yourself up — stop playing dead.” Hu Yishou walked to where the teahouse proprietor lay on the ground, and with the toe of his foot, lightly prodded the man’s body. “That dart of mine is truly not that capable — if it were, I would have gone off wandering the rivers and lakes in my youth, instead of opening a gambling house in a small county town.”
“Mmm mmm mmm…” The teahouse proprietor let out muffled sounds.
Hu Yishou’s follower stepped forward and pulled the rag from the teahouse proprietor’s mouth. The wretched man, weeping and wailing, said: “I want to get up myself — but who among you will undo the rope for me?”
“Useless.”
As he said it, Hu Yishou himself crouched down before the teahouse proprietor. He knocked the pipe against a nearby stone, then used the small blade that snapped out from beneath the pipe to cut through the ropes binding this family of three.
“What sin have I committed in this life…” the teahouse proprietor cried. “What does that woman have to do with me — we have no enmity and no quarrel. Why did a thing like this have to land on me of all people? If I had died, my poor wife and child would have to —”
“You lost blood, so save your breath,” Hu Yishou said coldly. “You can’t outlast me in a word battle even if I were dead.”
The teahouse proprietor carefully examined his injuries.
The wound on his body was exactly as Hu Yishou had predicted — it had not struck any vital organ, and with the passage of time the bleeding had already stopped entirely. Not only did the teahouse proprietor’s family breathe a sigh of relief — Shen Zhuxi too set down the heart that had been lodged in her throat.
After Shen Zhuxi promised medical fees equivalent to two years of the teahouse’s earnings, the teahouse proprietor transformed from sobbing to laughing, and contentedly led his wife and child out to eat supper at the night market.
Shen Zhuxi looked at Hu Yishou, words on the tip of her tongue.
Hu Yishou didn’t look at her, seeming entirely unaware of her hesitation. He tucked his pipe back into his sleeve and said: “Getting on in years — ears not too clear, memory not too sharp. How much time has it been? I’m already a bit hazy on what was said.” He said, “Nothing important was said, was it?”
Shen Zhuxi quickly caught on, and smiled with gratitude: “Nothing important was said.”
“Good then.” Hu Yishou said. “I’ve already sent someone to go after Li Wu — I expect before long…”
Hu Yishou hadn’t finished speaking when the sound of Li Wu’s anxious voice rang out from the mouth of the alley.
“Shen Zhuxi!”
Li Wu burst into the alley, followed by the just-departed Li Kun and the other two. All four faces bore varying degrees of anxiety — Li Wu’s most of all. When he saw Shen Zhuxi, safe and unharmed, among the crowd, the breath in his chest visibly released.
Shen Zhuxi saw his face. In the midst of her agitation, a wave of homecoming relief welled up within her.
Immediately following that, the fear-turned-fury came surging from her chest.
“Li Wu!”
She stared at him with wide eyes.
Seeing that something was wrong, he quickly deflated the fierce momentum he had been readying for enemies.
The coalition forces sent by the court were led by none other than Fu Xuanmiao — a matter as major as this, and he had dared to keep it from her all along!