Since it was only the second day since the new volume of The Legend of Yan Jiuniang had come out, the small stall in Yinqiao Ward saw an unbroken stream of young women visiting; though not a large crowd, there were always two or three customers lingering about. By the time Qu Longjun had coaxed two girls into helping mind the stall and slipped away to the private room upstairs at the Xiang Family Eatery, the late-night hour had already struck, and time was growing short.
Yu Hezhang was in the middle of vividly describing the thirty-second of the so-called “Thirty-Six Soul-Stirring Techniques” from the city’s Flower Crane Pavilion. Ning Ji listened with great interest, outwardly still affecting the arrogant pose of “young master who’s seen the world,” but having been well trained, his cold, indifferent expression gave nothing away.
Seeing the “leader” of the two of them—the one called “Dragon Overlord”—arrive, both Yu Hezhang and Meng Biao seemed rather excited. The night before, when they had come to try to recruit them, the other side hadn’t paid them any attention at all, but the fact that he’d come tonight perhaps meant this young lecher had finally been tempted.
“Ha ha ha ha, I was just telling young Brother Sun about the amusing goings-on at Flower Crane Pavilion, and Brother Long happens to have some free time—I say, why put off till another day what we can do today, the four of us, why not—”
Before Yu Hezhang could finish, Qu Longjun had already walked past him and waved a hand.
“Don’t bother with that vulgar stuff, it’s no fun.” She sat down at the seat by the window and picked up the teapot to pour herself some, then looked up, her smile calm and warm, her tone light and easy. “I still have my own business to attend to. I came today partly because of the connection we made on the road—I have no ill feelings toward the two of you—and partly because my little brother spoke well of you, so I came up to chat. Chief Yu, sit.”
With this, she took control of the conversation, and Ning Ji beside her also waved a hand, gesturing for them to sit. Yu Hezhang gave a couple of “oh, oh”s and took a seat at the table. “Actually…”
Qu Longjun said, “According to what my brother tells me, the two of you want us to help with something?”
“This—naturally… that’s the general idea. Of course, most importantly, the two of you young heroes—”
“Don’t bother with that.” Qu Longjun waved her hand. “Everyone in the martial world has their own interests, and even among our own, accounts should be kept clear. Let’s speak plainly—do you want our brothers to help kill someone, or what?”
Lamplight flickered across the street outside the window, and Yinqiao Ward’s night market carried a hazy warmth, but inside the private room at the Xiang Family Eatery, the temperature seemed to have dropped considerably from the moment “Dragon Overlord” walked in. Yu Hezhang and Meng Biao had not expected her to be so blunt, and for a moment they were rather thrown off balance.
Yu Hezhang cupped his hands, his expression turning serious. “Actually… Brother Long, my master’s plans in Fuzhou this time are considerable, not just one or two matters. To really lay it all bare, we’d need to trust each other first…”
Qu Longjun took a sip of cool tea, her gaze drifting toward the stall outside the window, then turned back with a smile. “In other words, you don’t trust us.”
“Oh, not at all—but there are rules to how things are done on this road, Brother Long. Why not hear what we’re offering?”
“You already told me your offer yesterday, no need to repeat it… Chief Yu, you haven’t quite understood what I mean.” Qu Longjun pressed her palm down and sat up straight, looking squarely at Yu Hezhang. “We’re both friends of the road—we met briefly in Pucheng County, and our impressions of each other aren’t bad. Let me put it more directly, Brother Yu: if you’re looking for our brothers to help kill a few people, given how decently you’ve handled yourself, that could be considered. But if you’re saying your master has some grand plan, we have absolutely no interest, and the crux of it is exactly this matter of trust you mentioned—you don’t trust us, and we, frankly, don’t trust your master either.”
She said all this calmly and firmly, then, having finished, picked up her teacup and touched it lightly against the cup in front of Yu Hezhang. “Drink up.”
Yu Hezhang picked up his cup, momentarily stunned, then said, “Brother Long… could you be more explicit?”
“More explicit, is it… What is your master’s standing, that he could summon us?”
“…”
In the room, the young man named Dragon Overlord wore a smile, his expression proud, yet with a certain natural chilling air about him besides. Yu Hezhang, unsure how to answer, glanced at him, then turned to look at “Sun Wukong” sitting to the side… But after a moment, the pride on Dragon Overlord’s face eased somewhat; he reached out and gently touched the table beside him, sighing softly.
“Brother Yu, some things aren’t pleasant to say, but it’s best to say them up front. As for Fuzhou today, when it comes down to it, there are really only two major matters. First, the Emperor wants to take a consort, and gentry from all over are coming into the city to compete for the honor—to speak plainly, no matter how it’s dressed up as promoting good governance, it’s nothing but selling official posts. And second, all the various greenwood men are entering the city looking for a chance to stir up trouble. You lot have been killing off imperial dogs out in the provinces, and now, come to Fuzhou, this is the very plan you’re set on…”
“Dragon Overlord’s” tone remained calm as her fingers toyed with the cup before her. “But in this world, more people talking means more loose lips. If these hundreds, even thousands of escort chiefs and greenwood men entering the city all knew what you were planning, then surely the whole affair would already have reached the heavens. Brother Yu, who’s behind you? Pu Xingui? Or Chen Shuangran?”
Having said this, she raised the question, gaze fixed on Yu Hezhang, then shook her head with a smile.
“Doesn’t matter.”
In the room, the young man went on:
“What matters is, you probably don’t even know what these two are actually planning…”
Yu Hezhang opened his mouth but in the end said nothing. Dragon Overlord’s gaze swept over Meng Biao, and she continued.
“Spend some money, find some thugs, some underlings, and when the time comes, have them cause trouble, stir up chaos, let them get caught—it doesn’t matter, no one’s heart aches over it. Brother Yu, do you know what happens next?”
She paused, then pointed a finger first at Yu Hezhang, then at Meng Biao.
“If something like this really happens, you—both of you—will first be found by our brothers, and that includes your wives, your children, your elders. I will personally flay them, one inch at a time, in front of you. The process won’t be pleasant, but in the end, you’ll help us find whoever it is behind you—whether it’s Pu Xingui, Chen Shuangran, or someone else—and we’ll make sure you all die together. Of course, since you’ll have confessed, you and your families will at least die quickly.”
“…”
The room fell silent.
Dragon Overlord turned her gaze to Sun Wukong beside her.
“…I told you yesterday—in the martial world, if you’re truly brothers meaning to do great things together, then the whole story, start to finish, has to be laid out clearly. But look at this now—we’re being asked to be nothing more than hired thugs, and later we might end up carrying the blame for someone else’s schemes. With all this going on, are we even going to get on with our real business? When we go home, how are we supposed to explain all this wasted time to our family?”
“Of course, none of this is Brother Yu or Brother Meng’s fault for now.” He turned his gaze back to Yu Hezhang and Meng Biao, comforting them calmly. “But this is simply how our brothers do things—if we took your money today to help you, and later found your master to be dishonorable… what then? Bringing harm to your entire families for nothing…”
He paused, then looked at Meng Biao and added, “Both families, I should say—Brother Meng must have family too, I imagine.”
Faced with these gentle, self-serving words, Meng Biao’s mouth twitched, his expression stiffening.
That day in Pucheng County, he had been the first to take a beating from the hot-tempered “Sun Wukong,” and so he understood all too well just how shockingly high a level the other’s skill reached. And while “Big Brother” Dragon Overlord had never once raised a hand throughout, once here in Fuzhou’s Yinqiao Ward, aside from seeing him the night before righteously drive off that “Little King of Hell” Yue Yun with lofty words, all the rest of the time they’d only seen him smiling as he chatted amiably with a group of girls—watching him for a while, it was almost warming.
They had never imagined that, behind closed doors like this, the man would speak with such utter disregard for anyone’s life or death.
There was really no way to respond to this.
Yu Hezhang, beside him, picked up his teacup, forcing out something of a smile.
“Ah… actually… if the two brothers were truly willing to help us out of goodwill, then… our master behind us would naturally have to come forward himself. We’d never treat the two of you as ordinary men of the road, Brother Long…”
“But that’s far too much trouble, Brother Yu.” Dragon Overlord waved a hand, smiling calmly. “By then we’d be back to feeling each other out, weighing things over—for what? That little bit of money? Brother Yu, we come from a family with real standing, real background. We wouldn’t look twice at what you’re offering… though since we’re on the subject, I might as well let something slip: we do have some business of our own here in Fuzhou this time, and one matter of it might overlap with your affairs. There’s no need to make it clear for now, but if we happen to cross paths while going about it, don’t get in our way.”
“Brother Long, please, do say more.”
“It’s also about killing a few men in the court—an old grudge left behind by an elder. No need to tell you who exactly. If you kill the men first, I won’t hold it against you.” She waved a magnanimous hand.
“Actually… if Brother Long gave the word, perhaps we could work together…”
“No need to say more. Brother Yu, Brother Meng.” She raised her teacup. “At home you rely on your parents, out in the world you rely on your friends. I’m not an unreasonable man—give it some time and you’ll understand, all this is for your own good. Of course, meeting is a matter of fate, and for the sake of that fate, if there’s anything you particularly want done, anyone you particularly want killed, tell us plainly and we can help. Mainly it’s this foolish little brother of mine—he thinks the two of you are decent sorts. I’ve got other business, so drink up.”
The young man called Dragon Overlord touched his teacup against those of Yu Hezhang and Meng Biao, took a sip at the rim, then set the cup down and rose to leave, giving “Sun Wukong” a pat on the shoulder as he went. “Come help pack up the stall in a bit.”
“I’ll finish this bowl of ice jelly first and come.”
“Glutton.”
He muttered the word affectionately, and, seen off by Yu Hezhang and Meng Biao, walked out the door, down the stairs, and out to the street of the night market, where his face already carried a handsome, gentle smile. He greeted the two girls minding the stall, sending them both into fits of laughter, while Yu Hezhang and Meng Biao clicked their tongues in silent admiration.
Turning back, they found “Sun Wukong” sitting by the table, glaring at them, thoroughly displeased.
“So… you two aren’t people worth talking business with, after all?”
Meng Biao’s face contorted; he thought he was about to be struck. Yu Hezhang cupped his hands together loosely and sighed.
“Ah, Brother Sun… don’t be angry. It’s just that we have a master behind us, as you know…”
“Your master’s plans—you don’t even know them yourselves?”
“This…”
“And you’d still drag me in?”
“This…” Yu Hezhang hesitated a moment. “Brother Sun, this really isn’t the case—if the two of you, with skills like this, were truly willing to help, my master behind me would certainly come in person. It’s just that right now…”
“Forget it,” Ning Ji waved a hand. “Any other time, my elder brother’s been in a bad mood, and you two coming around once or twice now—well, that would already have gotten you killed. Sit down and eat something…”
He himself was still young, and having no wish to dwell on it further, buried himself in his ice jelly. Yu Hezhang and Meng Biao relaxed a bit at that, but exchanging glances, and recalling being ambushed that afternoon by “Iron Fist” Ni Po, both looked troubled again. After sitting a while, Yu Hezhang, recalling the phrase “my foolish little brother thinks you’re decent sorts,” dragged his stool closer.
“Actually, Brother Sun, we’re all brothers here, no need to hide certain things from you… I’m a go-between from Pucheng County. There are several masters above me—the very top is the Wang family’s Wang Wuyong. Of course, us greenwood folk mostly used to work alongside that hero Xu Nanjiang. This time, for the gathering in Fuzhou, Brother Xu was originally meant to come himself, but who’d have thought that along the way he ran into trouble with the authorities that reached all the way up, and rose up in rebellion right there at Tiger-Subduing Stronghold—so it fell to me to bring some of our brothers here instead… To speak of my true standing, I now count as a strategist of Tiger-Subduing Stronghold. I’m giving you the truth of it, Brother Sun—my fate is truly in your hands now…”
“Whether or not you give me the truth of it, it wouldn’t be hard for me to kill the two of you anyway.”
Ning Ji set down his spoon of ice jelly and said this, though the expression on his face had eased considerably by now.
“Of course, of course.” Yu Hezhang leaned in with a smile. “But, Brother Sun, tell me—say, given your standing, if I were to go back and speak with the men above, get the higher-ups to come down here themselves, be open and sincere, take this matter seriously—Brother Sun, do you think Brother Long might still consider… joining us for something big?”
“Sun Wukong” thought it over.
“…We came out this time for the experience. Big things, small things, so long as they’re interesting, we’ll do them—but our family’s instructed us not to take a loss… To be honest, I think you two are decent enough people, but my elder brother’s cautious, and I can’t talk him into it. I’d advise you not to make more trouble either—if he gets angry, he’s not nearly as easygoing as I am.”
“Of course, of course…”
“Forget about anything big for now.” He lowered his head to his ice jelly, then went on, “But since you’ve laid it out honestly, and that counts for something, I can let something slip to you too, so we don’t run into trouble by accident later. Of course, you have to keep it quiet.”
“Of course, of course, Brother Sun, please speak freely…”
“Tie Tianying—that’s our real business coming to Fuzhou this time, to kill him… My grandfather died at his hands, back then.”
“…”
Outside the window of the Xiang Family Eatery, the lamplight of the night market gradually dimmed, and the crowds thinned as the hour drew close to midnight, while inside the private room, the two sides chatted on a good while longer, exchanging heartfelt words back and forth. By the time they parted, they could more or less be called friends.
Returning to the stall, helping pack up the cart, and on the way back, Ning Ji and Qu Longjun finally compared the intelligence they’d each gathered and overheard.
Ning Ji, especially, kept praising Qu Longjun’s cold, imposing manner and lofty air from earlier, growing quite worked up over it, wishing they could switch places somewhere so he could take his own turn at it.
Sure enough, his old thought of wanting to make her his strategist had been the right one.
He’d found himself a real treasure.