“Old He’s come prepared this time — he’s about to reveal the dagger hidden in the map.”

The sky had already darkened, and scattered points of light emerged near and far across Jiangning. On the top floor of a teahouse glowing warm with lamplight, several figures met as if by chance, brewed tea as if by chance, and began chatting about ordinary topics as if by chance.

The first-of-September assembly had only just passed, so discussing current affairs was nothing unusual — but given the real identities of the people gathered in this teahouse, every topic they touched on actually carried meanings that were far from simple.

“Ruler of Heaven” Meng Zhutao, “Martial Overlord” Gao Huiyun, “Cold Crow” Chen Juefang, plus a companion of considerable skill and standing, “Recluse of the Tuo River” Xu Longbiao — these four present were essentially half the senior leadership under “Wheel King” Xu Zhaonan in Jiangning. After dinner, the four had simply come to this teahouse for a bit of rest.

Speaking first, in a casual tone, was the tall “Ruler of Heaven” Meng Zhutao, his shoulder still wrapped in bandages, as he poured tea for the others. “Gentlemen, what do you all make of it?”

“I don’t think it’s quite time to reveal the dagger yet.” Chen Juefang picked up his teacup and shook his head with a smile. “What Old He threw out today wasn’t baseless — everyone knows what problems the Fair Party has. Five Great Kings, orders coming from too many sources — since ancient times, that’s never lasted long. The problem needs solving, and I think that time is nearly here. Notice he raised the questions today but gave no answers — the map isn’t fully unrolled yet, the blade hasn’t come out.”

“Old He surely already has his answer in mind,” said Gao Huiyun, similarly broad-shouldered as Meng Zhutao, with a smile. “He’s probably just waiting to see everyone’s positions first, then choosing the right moment to reveal it… What does Mister Xu think?”

“Recluse of the Tuo River” Xu Longbiao was in his fifties, his hair half-gray, with a long beard on his chin. Seeing the others had already spoken, he smiled too. “What the Fair King raised, at bottom, comes down to one thing most importantly — who’s in charge. To be more specific, it’s about how things will be run going forward… Isn’t this exactly what everyone already expected? Since he’s raised the question, this time he means to solve it. The Jiangning heroes’ assembly runs for a month — everyone will spend that month discussing privately, working out how things will run going forward. Whoever disagrees gets beaten into agreement. You all understand how it works — simple enough.”

“Old Xu sees right through it, hits the nail on the head.” After Xu Longbiao finished, the others raised their cups and clinked them together with smiles.

“Still, though…” After a moment, Chen Juefang picked at his ear with his little finger. “…Since the problem was raised by Old He’s side, broadly speaking, that means Old He wants to consolidate power… something doesn’t sit right about that.”

“It’s not so strange for him to act this way, holding the title of Fair King.”

“The title itself isn’t strange, but the Fair Party’s five factions each fight their own battles — no one’s been living off his generosity as Fair King. He’s already gotten the nominal advantage; now he wants the practical advantage too. I doubt everyone will be willing to go along with that.”

“You saw it at the assembly, didn’t you. Frankly, just as Old Chen was saying — our Fair Party has developed to this point, and it’s about time to think about who’s in charge and how that authority is exercised. The questions Old He raised aren’t unreasonable. But he shouldn’t have been the one to raise them — at the very least, the five families should have discussed it together first and then brought it out jointly… Now he’s stealing the spotlight, so of course the others are all stalling and muddying the waters. Frankly, no one’s even arm-wrestled yet, and he already wants to come out on top — who’d be willing to accept that?”

The group sipped their tea and chatted a while longer. Xu Longbiao furrowed his brow. “The Fair King’s conduct this time really is a bit strange. A matter this significant should have been discussed privately among the five Great Kings first, then brought to the assembly. Why did he handle it so clumsily this time… People always said the Fair King had a strong sense of the bigger picture — at the first assembly of righteous factions, everyone praised him without reservation…”

“A few days back the five of them did meet, but apparently it didn’t go too pleasantly…”

“A year ago was a year ago — back then everyone was struggling, so of course he showed courtesy to the worthy. Now that the Fair Party’s grown prosperous, Mister He does compare himself to Master Ning of the southwest, after all. That scholarly manner of his was always like this…”

Chen Juefang and Gao Huiyun laughed and chatted a bit more. Meng Zhutao, playing with his teacup, also smiled.

“How could it possibly have gone smoothly. Gentlemen, who’s in charge is one big question, but beneath that lies another — how things get done, and that’s no small matter either. Take our Fair Party’s five factions — after taking territory, we each handle dividing land differently. Heaven King’s side likes to fight wars; against the landlords and gentry below, they actually do the least damage — as long as these people are willing to cooperate and join in, actual family-destroying massacres are rare there. The Fair King’s side has strict rules; some say that compared to the other factions, their way of dealing with landlords isn’t as satisfying…”

He paused. “After that comes the Equality King, then us, then Zhou Shang — each has their own approach… Not to mention the others, but take Yama King — his approach is to kill the wealthy clean, and then come back and kill them again. Who could stand that? Crazy. And yet, this particular madman won’t listen to anyone’s advice. He’s got his reasons, of course — if your attitude isn’t firm you’ll never accomplish anything, and if you don’t overcorrect you can’t fix things. I hear he’s been reading all sorts of pamphlets coming from the southwest, and he always says Ning Yi is hypocritical and will never accomplish anything, that He Wen is too soft and fussy and will never accomplish anything either, and that in this world today, only he himself is capable of great deeds…”

Meng Zhutao shook his head with a smile at this point. “You see, the question of who’s in charge might not be unsolvable — in the end it’s just a matter of the five factions sending representatives to hash it out. But how things get done — that question, Zhou Shang will never agree to. Put it this way: going forward, do we do things He Wen’s way, or our way? We certainly can’t turn into madmen like Zhou Shang, but doing it He Wen’s way — would you all be satisfied with that?”

Gao Huiyun laughed and shook his head. “Plenty to talk about, then.”

“How to talk about it is the big question.” Xu Longbiao took a sip of tea. “Speaking plainly — I imagine you’ve all received invitations by now.”

The other three glanced at each other. Gao Huiyun, unconcerned, laughed. “Not to mention the less noteworthy people — Gao Chang and Lin Jiaojiu were actually the first to invite me to dinner. I’ve already reported it up the chain. Mister Xu said there’s no harm in having a meal, since he’s invited plenty of others too.”

“He Wen’s side keeps strict discipline, and Lin Jiaojiu commands troops without much concern for the finer rules — I hear he’s had quite a few grievances about the Fair King’s discipline. Old Gao, you also command troops — do you think there’s an opportunity here?” Meng Zhutao asked.

“Hard to say.” Gao Huiyun shook his head with a smile. “Still early — let’s feel things out first. Old Meng, and your side?”

Meng Zhutao spread his hands and counted off on his fingers, one by one. “He Wen, Gao Chang, Fu Pingbo, Shi Baofeng, Jin Yongsheng, Chen Yanda… What’s odd to me is why Zhou Shang’s side wants to talk with me too — Wei Xuwen even sent over an invitation…”

“Old Meng’s just popular, that’s all,” the others laughed. “A man of the moment.”

“Still early days — the open meetings are just for show, the real work happens in private connections. No one escapes it before Old He reveals his dagger.” Meng Zhutao smiled faintly. “You lot had best make sure you don’t lose your footing, though.”

“I’m loyal to Mister Xu, through and through,” Chen Juefang declared.

Xu Longbiao smiled. “Mister Xu is my own kinsman.”

“We’ll see how it plays out,” Gao Huiyun said.

“Just joking,” Meng Zhutao said. “Just joking.”

The group drank a few more cups of tea after that.

Gao Huiyun changed the subject.

“Old Meng, how’s that business with your junior martial siblings coming along?”

“Why bring that up?” Meng Zhutao raised an eyebrow.

“The Golden Tower matter still hasn’t been closed, and privately some people have been keeping an eye on you… or is it that business about you shielding a murderer? Gu Anhe is dead after all, and among those openly involved, the ones whose identities are clear enough are just your junior siblings — and since you also head the Society of Grudges, there’s been talk lately that seems aimed at you…”

“Which people? That monkey again?” Meng Zhutao’s expression was somewhere between amusement and something else.

“Not quite that far.” Gao Huiyun waved a hand. “The Monkey King, rising star that he is, has some ambitions, but he knows where the line is. What he did that day, using your affair to stir things up — that was wrong of him, but once Mister Xu made up for his losses, he shouldn’t be pushing it further… Didn’t he even come specifically to apologize afterward?”

Chen Juefang chimed in. “This time it’s really because you handled things a bit too openly yourself, Old Meng. Frankly, going forward, the Jiangning assembly is just going to end up producing some arrangement deciding who’s in charge. Our five factions are all entangled with each other — there’s no way He Wen alone can monopolize everything. Most likely there’ll be some new body set up above, where things get discussed together, and whoever gets into that circle will be the real power holders. Old Meng, you hold high status and power — it’s no surprise that with a loose end like this hanging over you now, some people find reasons to needle you here and there.”

Xu Longbiao smiled. “When it comes down to it, this is all the Monkey King’s fault. If he hadn’t started this whole business, no one else would probably have dared to follow suit.”

The night the Golden Tower incident happened, Li Yanfeng, having lost face, had lashed out at Meng Zhutao over some pretext, and it was only through Xu Zhaonan stepping in to smooth things over that the situation calmed down. But the pretext he’d used that night had now become a new problem in itself. Meng Zhutao was silent for a moment, then pressed a hand to his mouth and smiled faintly. “Li Yanfeng and Tan Tiandao are on good terms. I was giving Tan Zheng some face.”

“Even if you wanted to make trouble for him, I wouldn’t object,” said Chen Juefang, who was on relatively good terms with him among the group, with a smile. “But it’s not my place to lecture you, Brother Meng — some people say brothers are like limbs while wives are like clothes, which isn’t right, of course, but if you’re going to stand up for someone, shouldn’t it at least be your own woman? Look at your useless junior siblings — the junior sister who was already betrothed carrying on with the junior brother, and the junior brother wanting to kill you over it, and that whip wound on your shoulder came from them too. Why on earth would you bother?”

The others nodded slightly as well. Meng Zhutao’s gaze swept across them, then he smiled, somewhere between amusement and something else.

“…I just happen to like that sort of thing, brothers.”

There was a moment of silence ahead of him.

“…”

“…Alright.”

“…Understood. Knows how to have fun.”

“…Brother Meng really is… capable of anything.”

The group laughed together, each expressing their admiration for Meng Zhutao. After a few more cups of tea, they prepared to leave, and Chen Juefang finally offered Meng Zhutao a few words of genuine advice.

“Whoever’s spreading these rumors about you outside — never mind who it is — round up a batch of them first, kill a batch to make an example, as a warning to others. Do it fast. When it comes to power, you can’t afford to drag your feet. If you don’t want to handle it, I can do it for you too.”

“Understood.” Meng Zhutao nodded. “I know what I’m doing. I’ll handle it myself.”

“Alright.” Chen Juefang patted his arm.

This simple tea gathering had been Meng Zhutao’s own proposal to begin with, and now that it was over, Chen Juefang, Gao Huiyun, and Xu Longbiao each departed. Only Meng Zhutao remained at the teahouse, watching the backs of the three as they left, sitting quietly for a while longer amid the flickering lamplight.

As the night deepened and more time passed, Meng Zhutao left the teahouse and took a carriage to a courtyard in the city currently guarded by the Society of Grudges. Deep within this courtyard, in one of the rooms, he visited his badly injured, still-unconscious second junior brother, Yu Bin. An elderly physician stood nearby.

On the day of the Golden Tower incident, Yu Bin had taken advantage of a moment when Meng Zhutao’s attention was elsewhere to attack him from behind with his twin whips, wounding Meng Zhutao’s shoulder — a wound that still hadn’t fully healed. But Yu Bin, having launched the sneak attack, had been struck back by a single lash from Meng Zhutao and nearly died on the spot. Afterward, although Meng Zhutao had arranged for him to receive full treatment, his condition remained far from optimistic.

“…Never mind whether his lower body will ever walk again,” Meng Zhutao said with a sigh after questioning the physician for a while. “Just — can you keep him alive?”

Meng Zhutao’s tone had lowered, and the old physician, feeling somewhat uneasy himself, hesitated for a while. “Truly, a physician’s heart is like a parent’s — we’ve done everything that can be done. Whether he wakes up… at this point it can only depend on him… or on luck…”

This answer wasn’t much different from what he’d said in previous days. Pressing further would only yield more detailed pathological explanations. Meng Zhutao was silent for a moment, then nodded.

Coming out of that room, three people stood beneath the eaves in the courtyard, watching him — his junior martial sister Ling Chu, and two other junior martial brothers, one of whom, the fourth junior brother, was already Ling Chu’s husband.

All three still bore unhealed wounds.

“Meng, when are you going to let us go?”

None of the three looked at Meng Zhutao with any goodwill, but only the youngest sister, Ling Chu, still dared to ask such a question outright — perhaps a result of having been indulged too much as a child. Meng Zhutao’s gaze swept coldly over them.

“Once your wounds have healed, I’ll send you off.”

“We don’t need your kindness — let us go right now!”

“There’s chaos everywhere out there, and more fighting to come. With your skills and temperaments, wounded as you are, how many days would you last out there?”

“That’s none of your business!”

“Can you beat me?”

“Being skilled in martial arts doesn’t make you right—”

“If you can’t beat me, then get on your knees and behave!” In the darkness, Meng Zhutao’s gaze suddenly turned vicious. “Otherwise I’ll call up twenty men and have some fun with you in front of your husband all night, and teach you just how cruel this world can be!”

These words tore through the night air. Beneath the eaves, Ling Chu’s eyes went wide, her lips parted, and in that instant her face turned deathly pale. She was already a married woman, and she understood perfectly well the specific meaning behind his words.

While she stood there unable to speak, Meng Zhutao waved a hand and turned to leave.

Walking out of the courtyard, passing through the long covered corridor, one of his subordinates who handled reports came up to follow him.

As the head of the Society of Grudges branch under “Wheel King,” he had to deal with a large volume of matters every day, especially now that the September assembly had begun — the workload had only increased, and from time to time, people even came secretly to meet with him. He spent the better part of two hours handling such matters, and when he met one of his subordinates in his study, he also took the opportunity to ask about a matter he’d been reminded of not long before.

“…Have you figured out who’s behind the group spreading those rumors outside?”

“We haven’t found the mastermind yet, but we’ve identified some of those directly involved. We’re holding off on moving against them for now, to avoid alerting anyone.” The subordinate handed over a list of names.

Meng Zhutao glanced at it and set it aside. “Keep looking into who’s behind it. In the next couple of days I’ll find an opportunity to cross hands with Monkey King Li Yanfeng. Once I’ve dealt with him, whoever’s on this list — round them all up, take them somewhere out of the way, and handle it cleanly.”

“Yes, sir.” The subordinate acknowledged this, then hesitated and added in a low voice, “But according to what we’ve found out this time, it really doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the Monkey King.”

Meng Zhutao nodded. “Mm.” He didn’t look at him again.

The subordinate withdrew.

The night was black as ink.

Beneath the darkness, scattered points of light flickered on and off across Jiangning. Compared to the splendor of this city in its heyday, these scattered lights showed just how much it had declined — but beneath this darkness, countless schemes and secret alliances were quietly taking shape, and the stakes involved, and the possible consequences, were growing larger and larger…

At midnight, the night wind moaned.

Near a dilapidated old estate outside Jiangning that had been requisitioned as a military supply warehouse, two furtive figures emerged in the darkness, using the cover of night to exercise on the grass. Though the early-month night gave off only faint moonlight, one could still make out that the two figures on this stretch of grass were none other than the now-famous-throughout-Jiangning heroes, the Five-Foot Pervert and the Four-Foot Pervert.

Except at this moment, both of them had hair.

After doing a set of exercises on the grass to work off some pent-up energy, our little Pervert Long Aotian put his hands on his hips and gazed off toward the distant city of Jiangning.

“Hmph, everyone thinks I like stirring up trouble, but I’ve come outside the city — let’s see you catch me now. Wukong, in a couple days… no, tomorrow, once our injuries have healed, we’re going back into the city to raise some more hell!”

“A-Amitabha, Big Brother… this hair, it’s so uncomfortable…”

“A-Amitofu. No pain, no gain — you understand that principle, don’t you… and besides, they’ve already got our portraits up all over the city. Your bald head sticks out a mile — if we don’t disguise ourselves, how are we supposed to get in? Let me tell you, this disguise method is top-notch, nobody will recognize us!”

Long Aotian, sporting two fiercely arched eyebrows, stood with his hands on his hips in the darkness as he spoke.

“Hmph, once I regroup and get back into the city, that Li the Monkey, that Shi Baby-Turd, none of them will get away — they’re all dead men! And you! Wukong, I’m telling you, who’s your boss? Who feeds you? Next time you see Black Girl, don’t you dare call her ‘sister’ again! You’ve made me lose face completely, do you understand? And another thing — when dealing with scum like that, there’s no need to talk to her about any code of the martial world. The two of us should have jumped her together — why were you hesitating? That day it looked like a one-on-one duel, but really it was three of them ambushing the two of us. Those two are black-hearted, one of them’s a cripple, and if they’d actually meant to kill us, that fat guy Lin wouldn’t have been able to stop them — they’re vicious—”

“And another thing…” Long Aotian rambled on, and in truth, over the past several days, these exact words had already been repeated who knows how many times. The little monk was in tears, running away with his hands over his head.

“I’m sorry… help, help…”

“Don’t run, I’m not finished talking—”

Both figures displayed the finest lightness-footwork skills of their lives so far, one chasing, one fleeing, rapidly improving as they went…

Dear friends, happy Dragon Boat Festival! ^_^