Landlord Wei fell to his knees and wept as if his very soul were leaking out through his eyes.
"Yang
Yanzheng is the steward of the Chu Family's Second Young Lady!" he
squeaked. "Two months ago, he came to Blue Poplar Village and told me to
keep an eye on you. If I ever heard you had money, I was to put two
bricks beside the old well at the entrance of the village. That was the
sign. Then he would send people over to 'handle' things. Once it was
done, I would get thirty silver dollars. Thirty! Each time!
"He
came by to see me two days ago and gave me the promised payment. Then,
he told me to continue doing this. If I kept going at it, I would get
more and more money. So I watched! I watched you every day, every step,
every breath.
"Every robber that came for you was sent by Yang
Yanzheng. They weren't from the village, so they didn't know their way
around. I showed them the paths and I pointed you out. That's all! I
promised him that if anything went wrong, I was to report to him at
once.
"I never did anything to you and I never wanted to hurt
you. Fifth Young Master! And this good sir! I have told you everything,
every filthy bit of it. Please… please don't kill me."
Landlord
Wei had indeed said everything he knew. In his eyes, Li Banfeng was
like a devil. And no matter what he tried to hide, Li Banfeng seemed to
see right through him.
It was at this moment that Ma Wu
finally understood why, though the robbers were different each time,
they had always known who he was and where to find him.
It was Landlord Wei who had led them straight to him.
Ma Wu scowled. "Why would Yang Yanzheng target me? I don't even know the man."
Landlord Wei shook his head. "I don't know! I only did what I was told!"
Li Banfeng nodded. "Good. Another truthful answer. Now then, anything else you have been keeping from us?"
"I swear there isn't!" Landlord Wei howled. "I have said everything! Not a single secret left in me!"
Li
Banfeng believed him. He turned to Ma Wu and said softly, "Brother Ma,
could I trouble you to step outside for a moment? I would like a word
alone with Landlord Wei."
The moment Landlord Wei heard this, he started bawling. He didn't want to be alone with Li Banfeng, not even for a second.
Ma Wu had already guessed what Li Banfeng intended to do.
Seeing
the man weeping like that, Ma Wu couldn't help but feel pity. After
all, Landlord Wei had only taken money to do a job. He wasn't the one
pulling the strings, and he had never even laid a finger on Ma Wu.
"Brother Li, maybe this matter should just-"
Li
Banfeng ignored him and asked Landlord Wei, "You knew full well that Ma
Wu was already sleeping in that shack, so why did you still report to
Yang Yanzheng that he had money? Why did you ask him to send men to rob
him, not even sparing his last bit of money for food?"
Landlord
Wei wept as he said, "I was just greedy for a bit of extra money. When I
saw the Fifth Young Master of the Ma Family selling scrap, I thought I
could make a little more off it."
Li Banfeng asked again, "Did you forget that Ma Wu saved your life?"
"I-I already repaid him with rent money. That was a separate matter entirely."
Upon hearing that, whatever pity Ma Wu had left turned to dust. "Brother Li, I'll step out for a bit and come back in an hour."
A
slow, eerie smile crept across Li Banfeng's face as he looked at
Landlord Wei. "No need for an hour. Since he's being so forthcoming, we
should be done talking within a few minutes."
Landlord Wei
howled in a rasping voice, "Ma Wu, you can't leave! Let's make things
clear right now! I have plenty of friends in the underworld. If you dare
lay a hand on me today, none of you will be walking out that door
alive!"
A few days earlier, when Landlord Wei had fought with
Yu Mazi, there had been quite a number of people swinging fists at his
side.
Could he really be part of a gang? The Landlord Gang, perhaps? Li Banfeng thought.
Ma
Wu gave a short, cold laugh. "Landlord Wei, do you think I don't know
how this works? Those friends of yours are just thugs for hire. They
serve whoever pays them."
With that, Ma Wu turned and walked out.
Li Banfeng squatted down and gave Landlord Wei a gentle pat on the cheek. "Now it's just the two of us."
***
Twenty
minutes later, Ma Wu returned to the wooden hut and found Li Banfeng
spreading a red carpet neatly over the patch of floor where the gluey
clay had once been. Landlord Wei was gone, leaving not even a clue as to
where he had gone.
Ma Wu helped tidy up the room until it
looked almost as if nothing had happened. Then, as they worked, they
began to talk about Landlord Wei.
"Now that he's gone," Ma Wu asked, "are we still staying here?"
"Of
course we are," Li Banfeng said as he sat down on the sofa and lit a
cigarette. "If anyone asks, just say Landlord Wei's off on a long trip
and we have no idea when he will be back. There shouldn't be anyone
looking for him anytime soon, so the only thing missing is someone to
collect rent."
Ma Wu thought about it and decided that this logic made sense.
"There's
one thing I can't wrap my head around," Li Banfeng continued. "Can you
have someone else fight in your place during a bloodcall out on the
fields?"
"You are talking about a substitute, right?" Ma Wu
shook his head. "If it's a bloodcall on the Skygreen Field, that's a
daytime duel, so a substitute's allowed. But for the Skyblack Field, no
chance. That's a death match and you have to fight it yourself."
"That's
odd," Li Banfeng muttered with a frown. "Landlord Wei really doesn't
act like a man with any real skill, so how did Ju Mazi lose to him?"
He thought for a moment. Was Ju Mazi just weak? No, he didn't fight like a rookie in that brawl. Could there be another reason?
For now, he couldn't figure it out, so he let it go and pushed the thought aside.
When they were done talking about Landlord Wei, the conversation turned to Yang Yanzheng.
"Yang
Yanzheng was clearly acting on orders from his mistress," Li Banfeng
said. "Do you know the Chu Family's Second Young Lady? I read about her
in the papers once. Said she tried to kill her husband but failed."
Ma
Wu thought for a while. "I do know the Chu Family's Second Young Lady,
Chu Huaiyuan. However, there's no grudge between us, just some business
clashes here and there."
"Tell me the details," Li Banfeng said, taking a sip of tea, looking genuinely intrigued.
"It
wasn't a big deal. During the New Year celebrations, Greenwater Bay
held fifteen music galas, one each day from the first to the fifteenth. A
Song Queen was selected in each gala, and of all the Singing Queens,
Jiang Mengting, Xu Qiulan, and Xiao Xiufei were the most popular.
"I
owned two dance halls. I invited Jiang Mengting, the most popular one,
signed her to a three-year contract, and arranged for her to perform at
both venues by rotation."
"By March, I managed to poach Xiao
Xiufei from Second Miss Chu. Out of the three top Song Queens, I had
two. Usually, they performed at separate venues, but sometimes I
arranged for them to sing together on the same stage."
"Brother
Li, I'm telling you, back then nearly half the people who went dancing
in Greenwater Bay were coming to my halls. During the day, I even had
the two of them recording phonograph albums."
Li Banfeng
finally understood how Ma Wu had managed to earn twenty percent of the
Ma Family's income with just two dance halls. The man truly had a head
for money and a remarkable sense for business. He also now knew why the
Second Young Lady of the Chu Family couldn't forgive him.
"Brother
Ma, you are such a smart businessman. But you know what they say,
cutting off a man's source of income is no different from killing his
parents."
Ma Wu froze for a moment and fell silent.
Back
then, as the Fifth Young Master of the Ma Family, he had believed that
everyone relied on their own skills in doing business. Now that he had
been cast out and fallen, he realized he was nothing more than an ant
Miss Chu could crush whenever she wished.
He felt utterly
helpless. The Chu Family was one of the four great families, and in his
position now, how could he ever stand against Miss Chu in what was sure
to be a long and grinding fight?
Li Banfeng, however, was very
optimistic. "She won't kill you. The Chu Family wouldn't let her. If
that were her goal, she wouldn't have sent those kinds of small-time
lackeys after you.
"As for whether she will stop pestering
you, probably not. But if she keeps sending the same useless bunch, they
will be easy enough to deal with."
Ma Wu thought for a moment
before saying, "You have provoked the Lu Family, and I have provoked
the Chu Family. We're like rats trying to survive in Blue Poplar
Village, and things have not been easy."
Li Banfeng frowned. "What do you mean by surviving like rats? We are meant to do great things!"
***
In
the eastern villa district of Yuezhou City, Xiao Zhenggong sat in his
grand living room, staring at the bloodstained scissors Cedric had
brought.
"Boss Xiao, do you recognize these?" Cedric asked.
Xiao Zhenggong shook his head slightly.
"I
think you should get to know your gang a bit more," Cedric replied.
"They came from one of your subordinates, a woman named Zhou Yujuan."
Xiao Zhenggong thought for a moment before saying, "That name…does sound familiar."
Cedric
continued, "She manages the Elysian Melody Dancehall, a property of the
Jiangxiang Gang, in Medicine King Gully and she has gone missing. And
along with her, the Wind Watcher from the Second Branch of the Medicine
King Hall, Du Hongxi, has also disappeared."
A flicker of
recognition crossed Xiao Zhenggong's face as he recalled that Luo
Zhengnan, the master of the Medicine King Hall, had reported that the
Elysian Melody Dancehall had been bombed.
"Where did you find this pair of scissors?" asked Xiao Zhenggong.
Cedric answered, "Li Banfeng threw it at me."
"Li
Banfeng? He took Zhou Yujuan's scissors?" Xiao Zhenggong's eyes widened
in disbelief. "You are telling me that a bleater blew up the Elysian
Melody Dancehall?"
"Boss Xiao, it seems you don't know your opponent very well," Cedric said, shaking his head.
He
went on, "Li Banfeng isn't some bleater. He's now a Dark Ability User.
As of now, I have determined that he's a Wanderlust Cultivator. His
cultivation level might not be high, but he has many powerful weapons,
the kind that people in Puluo Province call spirit-bound items and
enchanted artifacts."
"Aside from those powerful weapons, he
has a keen tactical sense and an unpredictable fighting style that most
people can't understand. He's clearly not an ordinary opponent."
Xiao
Zhenggong waved his hand dismissively and said, "You don't need to say
all that. Just tell me. How much do you want to track him down?"
Cedric
thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Boss Xiao, this isn't about
money anymore. I don't think you realize how serious the situation has
become.
"The most powerful family in Puluo Province, the Lu
Family, has already set its sights on Li Banfeng. I even clashed with a
private investigator that they hired. The man calls himself Daboinsky,
and he's one of the best detectives in the province."
Xiao
Zhenggong laughed when he heard that. "I'm aware of that already. The
investigator was hired by Zhuo Yuling. She's not Lu Dongliang's first
wife, and her actions cannot represent the Lu Family."
"Boss
Xiao, that was back then. You may not know this yet, but Lu Xiaolan has
returned to the Lu Family residence and she has already told her father
about Li Banfeng.
"The Lu Family has sent a great many people
to Medicine King Gully to look for him. I doubt Lu Dongliang will
question his daughter, which means that their deployment of men in
search of Li Banfeng will only increase. If I keep meddling, I will be
taking on a huge risk."
Xiao Zhenggong's brows furrowed as he
struck a match and lit his cigar. "Cedric, you must find Li Banfeng
before the Lu Family does. Whatever you need to make it happen, we will
negotiate."
Cedric sighed. "Boss Xiao, you don't understand. I can't go up against the Lu Family."
"The Jiangxiang Gang can help you," Xiao Zhenggong said.
"The Jiangxiang Gang isn't a match for the Lu Family either."
Xiao Zhenggong inhaled from his cigar and exhaled a thin stream of smoke that curled toward the ceiling.
He
then smiled and said, "If the Lu Family went all out, none in Puluo
Province can stand against them. However, they can't do that because the
He Family exists to restrict them. That is why I told you to cure He
Haiqin."
Cedric gave a slight nod. He often looked down on
Xiao Zhenggong, but he had to admit that curing He Haiqin was a
brilliant move.
With his cigar pinched between his fingers,
Xiao Zhenggong tilted his head toward Cedric. "Go on, tell me your terms
while I'm still in the mood to listen."
Cedric thought for a long time, then at last spoke the wish that weighed most heavily on his heart. "I want to open a hospital."
"You? A hospital?" Xiao Zhenggong looked as if he had just heard the most ridiculous request in the world.
Xiao
Zhenggong knew exactly which Daoist path Cedric walked, and the
abilities that came with it were the sort one could hardly bear to see.
The man was a walking calamity for hospitals, yet here he was talking
about opening one.
Seeing the disbelief on Xiao Zhenggong's face, Cedric smiled faintly. "Boss Xiao, you think I can't open a hospital, don't you?"
"Of course you can," Xiao Zhenggong said, trying to keep his expression under control. "It's just a matter of money, isn't it?"
"It's
not just about money. In Puluo Province, every business needs the
protection of a gang. Hospitals are no exception. Boss Xiao, you should
know why things are difficult for me."
Xiao Zhenggong pressed his lips together, lost in thought. Should I let my gang take charge of Cedric's hospital? The Jiangxiang Gang's name is already bad enough…
After some hesitation, Xiao Zhenggong agreed. "I will get in touch with the hall master of the Medicine King Hall."
Cedric shook his head. "I don't want to open it in Medicine King Gully. I want it in the city of Greenwater Bay."
Greenwater Bay? Bloody foreign devil, aren't you pushing a bit too far?
Xiao Zhenggong's cheek twitched. "That won't be easy. You are not
officially part of the Jiangxiang Gang, and I can't promise we'll be
able to protect your hospital in Greenwater Bay."
"I am part
of the Jiangxiang Gang," Cedric said. He yanked open his shirt, baring
his chest. Across his chest, five bold characters screamed in black ink:
I Love Jiangxiang Gang.
Xiao Zhenggong stared for so
long it looked as though his brain had stopped working. When he finally
spoke, his voice was thin. "Didn't that tattoo used to say you loved
Puluo Province?"
Cedric flashed a grin. "My feelings have… shifted. My bond with the Jiangxiang Gang feels deeper now."
Xiao Zhenggong pursed his lips again. "You-you can't just change a tattoo like that on a whim."
"I can," Cedric said solemnly. "I could even change it to I Love Boss Xiao."
Xiao
Zhenggong's face turned pale green. His cigar trembled between his
fingers. "No, don't do that. Leave it as it is, and keep that tattoo
covered at all times. In Puluo Province, it's highly indecent to expose
your tattoos."