Chapter 119: The Chaotic Struggle (6)

After meeting with Zhang Gongyuan, Tie Xinyuan dragged Qiao'er away from Fushou Alley.

It is best not to deal with people who, having just been brutally beaten by their master, still serve him with such fanatical loyalty despite their wounds not yet having healed.

Seeing Qiao'er and Tie Xinyuan leave, the smile on Zhang Gongyuan's face slowly faded. He returned to the courtyard, closed the door, and said to the beautiful woman standing there, "Someone will come to help you move shortly. Leave Fushou Alley."

The woman bowed and replied, "Wherever you wish for me to go, that is where I shall go."

Zhang Gongyuan sighed and reached out to brush a few stray locks of hair from her face. "I have searched for you for ten years, yet I never imagined you were right under my nose. I regret it, and I hate it."

The woman shed tears. "Do you wish for me to be dead?"

Zhang Gongyuan shook his head. "When I first saw you, I truly wanted to strangle you to death. Now, I only wish to strangle myself. Let us both just live on."

Having said this, Zhang Gongyuan seemed to lose interest. He tapped his forehead with his fist and added, "From now on, you shall live with me. The old rule remains: as long as I have a bite to eat, you shall have half."

"What about your wife?" the woman asked, concerned.

Zhang Gongyuan laughed. "There is no wife. Once you come home, you are the wife. Besides, it is only the two of us, so it does not matter what you are called. Back then, for the sake of a few mouthfuls of food, I stupidly became a house-boy. You understand what a house-boy is, don't you?"

The woman shook her head. "I do not understand, and you need not explain. Seeing the look on your face the moment you walked through the door and saw me is enough. Even if you were to strangle me now, I would accept it. It is I who failed you."

Zhang Gongyuan stretched out his legs and sat in a chair in the courtyard, saying lazily, "Heaven has given me an ending that is neither good nor bad. It is just like the first half of my life—never attaining the best, yet never enduring the worst. Just mediocrity. Pack your things; the people coming to fetch you will arrive soon. If you do not leave, there may be trouble."

The woman nodded and went into the house. Only then did Zhang Gongyuan survey the small courtyard, finding everything in it an eyesore. Meng Tiefu was finished. What could a defrocked monk with his nether parts snipped off by scissors possibly achieve?

Who would be next?

Tie Xinyuan and Qiao'er sat on the railing used for tying horses along Maxing Street, watching the public bathhouse across the way while whispering to each other.

"Do you think that guy was the one who finished off Meng Tiefu?" Qiao'er asked, pushing away the head of a donkey that kept sniffing him.

"Didn't you see Meng Tiefu wearing only his undergarments? He was bleeding all the way along the road. I couldn't see exactly where he was wounded, but judging by the blood loss, it wasn't a minor injury."

"Is that guy with the mangled head Cao Fang's servant?"

"Likely. Last time at Fan Tower, Cao Fang hit him with a club until his head was a mess, and the guy didn't make a sound. People like that don't hold high status in the Cao family."

"Why would he help us?"

"Who said he was helping us? He is helping his master, Cao Fang. You think Cao Fang could defeat someone that Yang Huaiyu couldn't? What we are doing is something that Cao Fang and his lot must also do."

"If we calculate it that way—you kill my people, I kill yours—will there be anyone left in the end?"

Tie Xinyuan gave a bitter laugh. "There is never a shortage of people, especially those skilled in martial arts. Those powerful, wealthy families don't care about their lives at all. Nobility or commoner, they are just tools to be used once and then discarded. Raising death-sworn retainers is not something ordinary people can do, nor is it a charge they can bear. You watch; once this group of Meng Tiefu’s men is exhausted, others will surely replace them. Their people are among the remaining martial arts candidates. These so-called experts are nothing more than pawns placed on the board."

Qiao'er exclaimed, "If that's the case, then what's the point of us taking these people out?"

Tie Xinyuan sniffed. "How is it useless? Yang Dalang can't beat the Iron Lion, and compared to the likes of Meng Tiefu, he seems to be lacking as well. If we don't eliminate these people, Yang Dalang has no chance of winning the top prize."

Qiao'er thought for a moment and asked, "Honestly, why are we going through so much trouble to help Yang Dalang? We almost brought disaster upon ourselves today."

Tie Xinyuan turned his head to look at Qiao'er, annoyed. "Why? It's for your sake. With your temperament, you'll be tied to a platform and beheaded by Bao Zheng sooner or later. For these past two years, we've been young and no one has paid us any mind. But in a few years, when we are older, we will inevitably cause even greater trouble. When that time comes, Yang Dalang will be your lifeline. With him around, he might at least be able to commute your death sentence to exile eight thousand miles away. No matter how far the exile, there's always a way back. If your head is chopped off, I have no way to help you put it back on."

"I don't think I'll be beheaded, but there isn't a single thing you do that doesn't carry the risk of losing your head."

Tie Xinyuan chuckled. "I'm used to it."

Qiao'er's comment made Tie Xinyuan inexplicably happy, for he realized he really was the type to be a villain; he always seemed to encounter problems that required great effort to solve.

Great matters, of course, are best resolved through extraordinary means. It was just that the Zongzheng Office hadn't burned down, which left him feeling somewhat unsatisfied.

Recently, he heard that the hot spring pools at the Zongzheng Office could no longer be used for bathing, as those who had bathed there claimed they felt dirtier afterward than before, and a strange, lingering odor would stick to their bodies for days. Whenever he thought of the beauties in the Zongzheng Office smelling of gasoline, Tie Xinyuan couldn't help but laugh.

Now, this case had become a complete dead end. After so many days, even if the people at the Zongzheng Office dug up the hot water channels and found the gasoline drums, they would never find the person who had stuffed them into their pipes.

Qiao'er nudged Tie Xinyuan with his shoulder, pulling him out of his reverie. "The old retainers of the Yang family couldn't have actually gone into the hot spring to bathe, could they? There's been no movement for so long."

"Wait a little longer. Those three old geezers are veteran scoundrels. Expecting them to kill someone might be a bit difficult, but when it comes to harming people, these three experienced old men are ten times better than us. Even if they didn't get a chance to finish off Lei Meng in the hot spring, we still have a chance to ambush him outside."

Seeing Tie Xinyuan's confidence, Qiao'er patiently waited for either Lei Meng or the three old soldiers to emerge from the pools.

Lei Meng was likely the last easily targeted expert. Once the news of the attacks on the Iron Lion, Long Chuan, and Meng Tiefu spread, the remaining people would surely find places to hide and wouldn't come out until the palace examinations began.

Just as Qiao'er pushed away the curious donkey for the hundredth time, the three old soldiers walked out of the bathhouse, looking refreshed. They were all smiles, clearly having succeeded.

"These two boys have filial hearts, waiting here specifically for their grandfathers. Come, let's go have some osmanthus cake."

The chubby old soldier smiled and called for Tie Xinyuan and Qiao'er to join them at the teahouse across the street.

"Did you three succeed?" Qiao'er asked repeatedly.

The thin old soldier retorted angrily, "Succeed at what? We were just feeling a chill, so we took a hot bath and found someone to trim the calluses off our feet. We have to make a trip to Fengzhou after spring arrives."

"To collect the birthday gifts for the Old Matriarch?"

"Naturally. Even in the Zhe family, there is no one of higher standing than the Old Matriarch. Spring marks her ninetieth birthday. We have gifts arriving from Qingzhou, Qin-Feng Circuit, Fenzhou, and Yanmen Pass. We have plenty to keep us busy."

Tie Xinyuan had heard Yang Huaiyu mention this. He had also said that once he was married, he would take Su Mei to Fengzhou to pay his respects to his father.

The five of them sat on the second floor of the teahouse, drinking tea and eating pastries, listening to the old soldiers recount tales of days gone by. It was a harmonious scene.

Before they had even finished a pot of tea, they saw two attendants from the bathhouse rushing into a nearby medical clinic.

Tie Xinyuan glanced at the chubby old soldier, who chuckled, "Someone probably saw us getting cupping therapy and acupuncture and wanted to feel refreshed too, but their constitution wasn't up to it. This happens often; don't be surprised. A good sleep will fix it."

"Who performed the acupuncture? Did you use silver needles or bamboo needles?"

The chubby old soldier laughed. "When the lame one saw the acupuncturist was overwhelmed, he just gave them a hand. He's not a real doctor and didn't have fancy silver needles, so he had to use bamboo ones. The money for your tea is the tip he was given. The man was quite satisfied."

The lame old soldier smiled. "Long-term illness makes one a doctor. To ease the pain in my leg, I've had many needles stuck into me; I never thought I'd be earning money with it this time. Eat up—this is the first time I've earned money with my own skills. It won't do if you eat too little."

Qiao'er giggled, stuffing a large piece of pastry into his mouth. "Watch out that someone doesn't recognize you and report you to the officials for practicing medicine without a license."

The lame old soldier laughed. "My dear grandson, let me teach you a lesson: in this world, people judge by appearances, but when everyone is stripped bare, it's hard to tell who is who. That fellow had been soaking in the pool for so long his muscles were loose and sore. He was half-asleep on the couch waiting for a doctor to massage him. My technique isn't bad, so naturally, he didn't feel a thing."

Qiao'er's eyes widened. "If I ever go to a hot spring in the future, I must keep my eyes wide open to see who I'm dealing with, lest someone stick poisoned bamboo needles into me without me even knowing. How many needles did you stick into him, anyway?"

The lame old soldier stroked his beard. "There are over a hundred acupoints on a person's back—the Du vessel, the Jiaji points, the Foot Taiyang Bladder Meridian, and various extraordinary points. Since the man paid, I naturally had to be thorough..."

Hearing this, Tie Xinyuan and Qiao'er both drew a sharp, collective breath.