With his wife about to give birth, there was, all told, no shortage of things happening at home. When word came that Cheng Lie, leader of the Hundred Blades Alliance, had been slaughtered along with his entire household, Ning Yi had been mulling over the strange look he’d seen earlier in Su Wenxing’s eyes, and it only made him pause for a moment.
As a gang of considerable size in the Jiangning area, the Hundred Blades Alliance served as one of the Su family’s enforcement arms, mainly backing the main branch. Having witnessed the scale of the underworld in Hangzhou, Ning Yi no longer felt much of anything toward this sort of local outfit that colluded with merchants and gentry to collect protection money — but they still needed some group like this around, and if the Hundred Blades Alliance fell, the Su family would likely need to find another.
That was more or less as far as Ning Yi’s thoughts on the matter went. He’d had little to do with the Hundred Blades Alliance or its leader Cheng Lie personally — at most he’d met the man twice, exchanging a few shamelessly self-serving introductions. Gang killings happened constantly in the martial world, and Ning Yi didn’t feel Cheng Lie’s death had much bearing on him. He offered a silent moment of mourning, sighed, and let it go.
Within the family, the one closest to Cheng Lie was probably his father-in-law, Su Boyong. On Su Tan’er’s side, the person who dealt with such matters day to day was the usually quiet, soft-spoken maid Juan’er, along with Guard Geng, who’d had some personal friendship with Cheng Lie. Upon hearing the grim news, Juan’er’s mood visibly sank. Ning Yi offered her a few words of comfort, and Su Tan’er, who seemed to be holding up fine, said to him, “Husband, Father’s probably already gone over there. Take Juan’er along with you too. There are plenty of people here at home, I’ll be fine. If the baby comes, I’ll send someone to find you, and you’ll be able to rush back.”
Given the massacre involved, Ning Yi nodded and agreed, then comforted Juan’er further. “Gang killings aren’t exactly unheard of, especially with things so unsettled lately, but Jiangning’s public order has generally been quite good. This is too big an incident — the authorities won’t just let it slide. I’ll have someone look into it too.”
Given how serious the matter was, Ning Yi set aside the strange looks he’d noticed from Su Wenxing and the others earlier. Things hadn’t been going well for the second and third branches lately anyway. Su Wenxing was Su Zhongkan’s son, and during Ning Yi and Su Tan’er’s absence, he’d been the leader of the younger generation stirring up trouble on behalf of the second and third branches. Now that Su Tan’er and Ning Yi were back and Su Yu had begun cracking down, whatever the second and third branches had swallowed had to be spat back out — and even though they still came out ahead compared to before Su Tan’er and Ning Yi had left, having to disgorge some of what they’d already taken in was bound to leave certain people feeling resentful, not to mention humiliated.
So that evening, he went with Juan’er to view the scene of the Hundred Blades Alliance massacre, and along the way arranged to meet Wenren Buer, who had by now arrived in Jiangning, asking him to have the Covert Investigation Bureau look into which faction of the underworld was responsible.
“Also… lately I’ve had the feeling someone’s been following me…” Ning Yi said.
“Shouldn’t be — we’ve got eyes outside. When you came over just now… there shouldn’t have been anyone tailing you, and besides, this is Jiangning…”
“Might just be my imagination. Staying alert became a habit back in Hangzhou, and I still haven’t quite relaxed out of it. Even if someone in Hangzhou held a grudge against me, with Fang La in such deep trouble right now, they wouldn’t come all this way just to settle scores with me… tch, I think I need a therapist…”
“A what?”
“Never mind.”
“Ha, the only person you really offended badly enough in Hangzhou was that Miss Liu from the Overlord Blade Camp, and you’ve already smoothed things over with her. Who else would be after you?” Wenren Buer knew the story between Ning Yi and Liu Xigua, and his tone carried a hint of teasing — but then something occurred to him, and he frowned. “Though now that you mention it, there has been a group connected to Fang La passing through here recently… though that’s not under our jurisdiction…”
“What?” Ning Yi frowned.
“When the city fell, and along the road afterward, quite a few people were captured — some minor and mid-level leaders, men with some reputation in the underworld — and they’re being escorted to the capital. The first batch is due here tomorrow. Now that you mention it, could there be some remaining Manichaean cultists planning to rescue them along the way? Or perhaps keeping an eye on you as well?”
Ning Yi thought for a moment. “…Let’s take precautions, just in case.”
“Right, I’ll go tell the prince consort, have them lend a hand on that front.”
“Ha, I don’t care about any of that — what matters to me is my family.”
Ning Yi clapped him on the shoulder, and the two of them shared a laugh. After settling the general arrangements, Wenren Buer added quietly, “Also, about that matter you mentioned before…” He finished explaining it, then said, “So — have you decided whether you’ll come work with us?”
“I’ve got some thoughts on it, but let’s wait until Tan’er has the baby before I decide. Whatever I end up doing, there’ll probably be no avoiding staying in touch going forward.”
Wenren Buer nodded, then cupped his hands with a solemn expression. “Though I’m a few years your senior, I have nothing but the deepest admiration for your skill in planning and strategy, Liheng. I’ll no doubt be relying on you a great deal in the future.”
With that settled, Ning Yi took his leave of Wenren Buer and went to collect Juan’er from the Hundred Blades Alliance compound before heading home. The next day was the twenty-seventh of the third lunar month. Around noon, Su Tan’er gave birth to a baby boy, mother and child both safe and sound. The Su household erupted into festive celebration, lanterns and decorations everywhere, gongs and firecrackers sounding together. As for what name to give the child, with Su Tan’er utterly exhausted, no one had yet brought up the matter, and no one troubled Ning Yi either, who stayed by his wife’s side in their room the whole time.
Now that the child had been born, visitors soon began arriving to offer their congratulations. Those who came on the twenty-eighth were mostly Su Boyong’s own peers and friends, not the sort to trouble Su Tan’er. Ning Yi, meanwhile, wrote out several invitation cards and went out to deliver them to the prince consort’s residence. He hadn’t originally planned to go out the very day after the baby’s birth, but his real concern was whether anyone connected to Fang La’s faction had their eye on him — a matter that concerned the whole family’s safety. Unlikely as it might be, it wasn’t something to take lightly, so best to go and come back quickly.
He first delivered the card meant for Kang Xian, exchanged a few words with Lu A’Gui, then went to find Wenren Buer, who was currently staying at an inn in the city, not far from the prince consort’s residence. Upon meeting him, Wenren Buer first offered his congratulations, then asked about the situation with Fang La’s people — still no confirmation either way. He then brought up another matter, one Ning Yi had raised nearly half a year earlier, which had finally borne results.
“They’re at the inn right now — would you like to go see them?”
“I haven’t decided to join your organization yet — wouldn’t that be a bit awkward?”
“You’ve said yourself there’ll be dealings between us eventually. You’re hardly strangers to them either, honestly. If you show your face, it’ll give them a bit of a scare too, let them know we’re not just a bunch of useless placeholders here. I’m asking as a favor, Brother Ning.”
Ning Yi thought it over and nodded.
At that same moment, in a room on the first floor of the inn, Qi Xinyong and Qi Xinyi were cleaning their spears, while Qi Xinhan poured tea and handed cups to his two older brothers. “Second Brother, Third Brother, is this really how we’re deciding to do it?”
“If we want revenge, there’s no other way,” Qi Xinyong said.
“Go after Liu Xigua?”
“Who else would we go after?”
“The one I want to kill is Fang La,” Qi Xinhan said, frowning.
Qi Xinyong, Qi Xinyi, and Qi Xinhan were, respectively, the second, third, and fifth sons of Qi Yuankang, who had served as a councilor of state under Fang La. When Qi Yuankang had risen in rebellion, their eldest and fourth brothers had died; unable to overcome Liu Xigua, the three of them had been forced to flee. The Qi family’s Soul-Seeking Spear technique was remarkably formidable, but scattered and adrift, the three brothers hadn’t known what to do with themselves — until Wenren Buer had people track them down. Over the following months, he had gone to considerable lengths to smooth over various troubles on their behalf, all while persuading them to join the Covert Investigation Bureau — whether for avenging their father, serving the country, or clearing their family’s tarnished name, it would serve all these purposes at once.
At that moment, the steel spear in Qi Xinyi’s hand collapsed into three sections, swinging in his grip; he wielded the segmented spear like a three-section staff, whirling it through the room with a whistling sound before snapping it back together with a sharp click into a single straight spear. He was the quieter of the three. “The Sacred Lord is surrounded as he is — his defeat is only a matter of time. We probably won’t get the chance to kill him ourselves.”
“Might as well join them, then. Once we do, have them assign us to the army in the south,” Qi Xinhan said.
Qi Xinyong narrowed his eyes. “Killing Fang La, killing Liu Xigua — both are for our father’s sake. But even so, we did rise up in rebellion alongside them once. Could you really bring yourself to kill our former comrades on the battlefield? If that’s how it is, why did we spend half a year wandering around like this — wouldn’t it have been simpler to just surrender to the court the moment we left the city?”
As he finished speaking, footsteps outside had already come to a stop. Someone knocked, then pushed the door open. “That’s a fair point.”
The voice was calm and even. As the door opened, a young scholar stood there, Wenren Buer following just behind him. The scholar’s gaze was quiet and composed; the three brothers felt a vague sense of familiarity — and by the time he spoke his second line, Qi Xinyi found himself abruptly gripping his Soul-Seeking Spear tight, while the other two shot to their feet.
“‘A cup of wine beneath the spring breeze among peach and plum blossoms, ten years of lamplight through the rivers and rains of the wandering world’… No need to rise, gentlemen Qi. Please, sit.”
Those very lines were the ones Liu Xigua had spoken the night the three of them had ambushed her — the tone and cadence remained etched clearly in their memory. After this, the young scholar before them walked in as though he owned the place, smiling and cupping his hands in greeting. The three brothers exchanged a glance; the scholar, still smiling, strolled to the side table and poured himself a cup of tea. “Allow me to introduce myself properly — I am the Bloody-Handed Butcher, Ning Liheng. It’s been a while.”
…
Back on that long street when Ning Yi had struck without warning, the Qi brothers had bolted before he’d even finished announcing his name — and the fact that his rather impressive nickname had gone so thoroughly unappreciated at the time still needled him somewhat. Having indulged his petty sense of satisfaction on that front, what followed was simply a bit of deliberately mysterious small talk, with Wenren Buer helpfully embellishing on the side, pointing out how Ning Yi had gone undercover within the Overlord Blade Camp and thoroughly dismantled it from within. The three Qi brothers, naturally, found themselves unable to hold much of a grudge against Ning Yi after that — what stuck with them instead was simply the impression that this was not a man to be trifled with.
That had been exactly the effect this meeting was meant to achieve. Once the pleasantries were done, one of Wenren Buer’s subordinates came over and quietly whispered something to him. Not long after, having left the Qi brothers’ room, Wenren Buer said, “We’ve got it sorted out — caught the man too. Whoever was following you, it wasn’t any remnant of Fang La’s people.” His expression turned rather colorful, and he frowned slightly. “It was a servant from your own household.”
“Hm?”
“He said…” Wenren Buer wore a mysterious look, then burst out laughing. “He said you’re involved with a reformed, once-famous courtesan, and that he’d been ordered by a few of your young masters to follow you and confirm it. You can ask him about it yourself later. Ha, seems like your second and third branches’ young masters really have been pushed to their limit by the two of you.”
Wenren Buer, being part of the intelligence apparatus, had naturally looked into Ning Yi’s household affairs as part of his effort to recruit him. Before he’d even finished speaking, Ning Yi’s brow had already furrowed, and he stood there for a moment. “I won’t bother asking. Let the man go — I’m heading home.”
“Sure, just say the word if you need anything. Though something this small…” Wenren Buer waved a hand. “In any case, false alarm — better this than something connected to Fang La. I was about to have the prince consort’s people step up their guard on that front, and while there wasn’t anything wrong with that, you know how it is, different departments and all, wouldn’t have been our place to interfere. People would’ve said you were meddling where you had no business…”
Wenren Buer, perhaps trying to lighten the mood, went on rambling a bit. To him, of course, since the matter had been caught ahead of time, it hardly counted as a real problem. But just as Ning Yi was preparing to head home, back at the Su residence, a servant, nearly in tears, was reporting to Su Wenxing and the others what had just happened: “Xiao Si’s been caught, I saw it with my own eyes, he’s on his way back right now. Fifth Young Master, I’ve heard that son-in-law Ning has a great many connections with the authorities too…”
“His connections with the authorities aren’t going to do him much good against his own family!” Su Wenxing said, his eyes darkening as he abruptly stood up. “Go on, get out! I’ve heard enough!”
Once the man had withdrawn, he turned back to the others in the room. “Now that he knows, what do you all suggest we do?”
“Yeah, what do we do now…”
“Just wait for him to come back and deal with us?”
“What else can we do — he already knows, and can any of you actually beat him?”
“We said from the start, once we’d gathered the facts, all we had to do was spread a rumor — how would he even know who did it… and now the man’s been caught! Who did you people even pick for this? He’s definitely going to give us up…”
“Well what do you want us to do about it now!” Su Wenxing snapped. “It’s already happened!”
“Should we go tell Second Cousin first, maybe?”
“She just gave birth — if you go running to tattle to her now, no matter how she reacts, Grandfather will beat us to death!”
“This wasn’t supposed to happen right now, of all times…”
“Then, Wenxing, should we tell your father?”
“What good would it do to drag my father into this…”
Amid their arguing, the sound of firecrackers rose up again outside — still in celebration of Su Tan’er’s newborn child; it seemed more visitors had arrived. Su Wenxing thought for a moment, then suddenly furrowed his brow.
“There’s only one way to handle this now… either we wait for Ning Yi to come deal with us, or… we call up every last one of the women in this family — all the cousins, aunts, in-laws, whoever we can call, mainly whichever women will stand together with us! Second Sister’s baby has only just been born, we can’t let this stand — this Ning fellow is bullying us Su family people, Second Sister isn’t in any state to hear something like this right now, so the rest of the family has to stand up for her! Enough talk…”
He took a breath, looked around at everyone, and stamped his foot hard. “What are you all… still standing around for — go call people, now!”