Fu Xi Yan truly had never thought to compare Pei Yuan Jin and Liu Huan.
By the time he learned who Liu Huan was, the man had already been labeled “my sister’s fiancé” in his mind. As for Pei Yuan Jin, whether he was Young Palace Master Pei or Director Pei, he had always seemed lofty and aloof, untouched by mundane concerns. So hearing him suddenly say he wanted the written pledge “for reference” inevitably made Fu Xi Yan… extremely expectant.
On the way back, Fu Xi Yan was both curious about how Pei Yuan Jin intended to deal with the Martial Rankings and afraid of interrupting whatever ideas he was developing from that pledge. He scratched his head and fidgeted restlessly, unable to sit still.
Pei Yuan Jin looked at him strangely. “Why are you so excited?”
Excited? Me?
Fu Xi Yan coughed. “There’s something I don’t know whether I should say.” Afraid Pei Yuan Jin would answer, Then don’t say it, he hurriedly added, “Actually, I just wanted to ask how you plan to deal with being listed on the Martial Rankings.”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “The person who tied the bell must be the one to untie it.”
Fu Xi Yan thought about it. “Have the person involved come out and prove your innocence?”
“Prove your innocence” was both strangely appropriate and strangely inappropriate in this context. Pei Yuan Jin could not resist reaching over and poking Fu Xi Yan’s cheek. “I’m going to the Four Directions Merchant Alliance.”
Fu Xi Yan had been poked rather often lately and was beginning to find it embarrassing, so he puffed out his cheeks in protest.
Pei Yuan Jin poked the swollen cheek, and Fu Xi Yan made a pfft sound.
…
Pei Yuan Jin seemed to discover a new source of amusement. His eyes brightened slightly, and he poked him several more times. Fu Xi Yan surrendered. “Fine, fine. Let’s go find the Four Directions Merchant Alliance right now and fight them to the death… ♪ Roaming the four corners, the road stretches far, the waters run long… ♪”
Pei Yuan Jin patiently waited until he finished bellowing the song before saying, “The information on the Four Directions Merchant Alliance should be arriving soon.”
He had to admit, Pei Yuan Jin had a remarkably accurate grasp of his subordinates’ efficiency.
They had barely returned to the Fu family’s new residence in Jiangling when the Wind Division delivered a complete set of information on the Four Directions Merchant Alliance. It included the private affairs of all seven families, as well as the rivalries and cooperation between them, and filled several booklets in total.
Fu Xi Yan read with great relish, clicking his tongue repeatedly. “The Gu family is incredible. The Second Branch’s wife was jealous that the First Branch would inherit the family business, so to get her husband into power, she tried to seduce her father-in-law. But the father-in-law took a fancy to the Second Branch wife’s younger sister instead and wanted to keep her as a mistress. The two of them plotted together, only for the sharp-eyed younger sister to notice. She went home and told her family, and the in-laws took the whole thing to court… Tsk, tsk. Why is there no ending?”
Pei Yuan Jin leaned over and glanced at the page. “Look at the date. The Jiangling Prefect’s case probably happened around then.”
Fu Xi Yan thought, What terrible timing. Before getting arrested, couldn’t the Prefect have hurried up and given the Gu family scandal a proper ending?
He picked up the next booklet. “Spring waters warm, spring hearts stir. The young masters of the Xiong and Taishi families both fell for the Liu family’s daughter. Who would’ve guessed the Liu girl wanted to marry the Chen family’s son instead? The Chen son likes the Dong family’s daughter, and the Dong daughter wants to marry the Taishi son—hahahaha! What perfect timing. They formed a closed loop. A tragic four-person love story, with only the Xiong family’s young master left completely unnecessary.”
Poor little Xiong-xiong.
While Fu Xi Yan was still happily turning pages, Pei Yuan Jin had already skimmed everything at a glance. He casually wrote two letters and summoned the Hidden Dragon Unit. “Send one to the Taishi family and one to the Dong family. Then bring Lu Qing here.”
The Hidden Dragon Unit accepted the orders and left.
Holding the Merchant Alliance gossip in his hands, Fu Xi Yan stared at him with wide, curious eyes. “What did you write? Am I allowed to know?” Without realizing it, he was no longer nearly as cautious around Pei Yuan Jin as he had been in the beginning.
Pei Yuan Jin noticed, but deliberately indulged it. “The Four Directions Merchant Alliance is not harmonious internally. The Taishi and Xiong families have been close for generations and act in concert. They are the Alliance’s nominal leaders. The Dong, Chen, Liu, Gu, and Jiang families joined later, so naturally they formed their own bloc. After the Jiang family fell, the Tong family was brought in by the Xiong family. The Chen, Liu, and Gu families strongly opposed it, while the Dong family remained neutral.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…” We’re reading the exact same book. Why are our book reports so different?
Pei Yuan Jin handed him the booklet beside his hand. “It’s all in this one.”
Fu Xi Yan opened it. The pages were packed with substantial information—the important points specifically marked by the Wind Division.
“The Martial Rankings were the Chen family’s idea. The Chen family ancestor is a Martial King and ranks first.”
“The motion to expel the Jiang family was jointly initiated by Lord Taishi and the head of the Xiong family.”
They looked perfectly ordinary on the surface, but the implications beneath them were turbulent.
Fu Xi Yan suddenly compared the seven families’ trade routes and drew a map. Everything immediately became clear. “The Taishi and Xiong families are Northern Zhou families, and their businesses are concentrated in the north. The Liu, Gu, and Jiang families are based in Southern Yu. The Chen and Dong families go east and west respectively and mainly control water routes. So the internal struggle within the Four Directions Merchant Alliance is still a struggle between the two countries!”
No wonder Liu Tan Du could simply refuse to be listed on the Martial Rankings. The Taishi and Xiong families, who openly held the reins of the Alliance, were on his own side.
That was what Fu Xi Yan had thought! With the Four Directions Merchant Alliance’s enormous scale and influence, how could either court possibly sit back and ignore it? It turned out their competition was not open or external, but hidden within the Alliance itself.
“The Four Directions Merchant Alliance was first established by the Taishi and Xiong families, which means forming the Alliance was Northern Zhou’s idea.” He nodded. “Southern Yu has extensive waterways, convenient transport, and developed industry, commerce, and agriculture. Increasing trade between the two countries benefits Northern Zhou. But Southern Yu isn’t stupid either. Its spy network was built around banks and pawnshops. Maybe some of the Merchant Alliance families were helping behind the scenes.”
Northern Zhou and Southern Yu appeared to have been tied down by their own domestic unrest and to have laid down their arms, but in places ordinary people could not see, the struggle between them had never stopped.
Once Fu Xi Yan understood this, he also understood why the Tong family had reported the Jiangling Prefect. Whether the Prefect himself was guilty could be set aside for the moment. At the very least, the Tong family had replaced the Jiang family inside the Four Directions Merchant Alliance. That alone was a victory for Northern Zhou.
The chessboard between the two countries was too broad and too vast. Perhaps only the emperors of north and south could survey the whole board and understand the true gains and losses.
From Fu Xi Yan’s limited perspective—
Before coming to Jiangling, after the clash between Northern Zhou and Southern Yu, Northern Zhou had lost a prefect and only uncovered a Southern Yu spy network that had already been abandoned. Worse, the case had thrown the entire court into panic and unrest. Northern Zhou seemed to have suffered the hidden loss.
Only after arriving in Jiangling did Fu Xi Yan learn that Northern Zhou had used the charge of colluding with Southern Yu and bribing the Prefect to eliminate the Jiang family, which Southern Yu had planted inside the Merchant Alliance. Northern Zhou’s seats within the Alliance had shifted from two against five to three against four. With one side declining and the other rising, Northern Zhou’s influence within the Alliance had increased significantly.
Fu Xi Yan asked, “You sent letters to the Taishi and Dong families because you think they represent Northern Zhou and Southern Yu respectively? But when the Tong family entered the Alliance, didn’t the Dong family remain neutral?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “A general naturally remains in the rear.”
Fu Xi Yan suddenly understood. “As expected of a Young Palace Master who sits securely in the rear. Did you tell them that if they don’t want to offend the Immortal Treasury Palace, gladden their enemies, and upset their allies, they’d better obediently remove your name from the Martial Rankings?”
If the Four Directions Merchant Alliance were a solid block, Pei Yuan Jin’s threat would be far less effective. But now that its members were engaged in fierce internal commercial warfare, they would naturally treat any outside force with caution. Pei Yuan Jin’s threat had an excellent chance of succeeding.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “No. I merely told them not to get too excited.”
…
Fu Xi Yan asked curiously, “What are you planning to do that would make them excited?”
Pei Yuan Jin did not answer directly. He glanced at the sky outside and said, “Chicken tonight?”
Fu Xi Yan thought the wording sounded strangely familiar, but instinctively asked, “What kind of chicken?”
“Roast chicken.” Pei Yuan Jin sent Xiao Sang out to buy one.
Fu Xi Yan sat there reading about the Four Directions Merchant Alliance for a while longer before suddenly remembering that “Winner winner, chicken dinner” had been a popular phrase from a game in his previous life, one he had once been sincerely obsessed with for quite some time. Yet now, it had taken him a moment to remember it.
…This change seemed to have appeared only recently.
Fu Xi Yan reflected on it. Perhaps after transmigrating, the younger version of himself had had no paths open to him at all, so he had valued the knowledge stored in his memories from his previous life especially highly. He had treated it as his golden finger, using it to reassure himself that he had not transmigrated into a complete good-for-nothing and to counteract the frustration reality brought him. But now his strength was advancing by leaps and bounds. He was already a Mortal-Shedding Stage expert and was permanently bound to a powerful Dao-Entry Stage expert. His future looked brilliantly bright, so his attachment to his previous life had, without him noticing, begun to loosen.
When the steward heard that Xiao Sang, who served beside Fu Xi Yan, had gone out to buy roast chicken for Pei Yuan Jin, he assumed the food prepared by the household did not suit Young Palace Master’s taste. He immediately reported it to Madam Fu and, after receiving permission, ordered the kitchen to prepare an entire chicken banquet for dinner.
He and Madam Fu both understood that the Fu family was at a critical juncture. The support of the Immortal Treasury Palace’s Young Palace Master was indispensable, so he had to be properly entertained.
Pei Yuan Jin duly accepted the goodwill.
Fu Xi Yan asked curiously, “Is all this chicken for Lu Qing?” He remembered that Pei Yuan Jin had not only sent two letters but had also invited Lu Qing, the man reputed to be Jiangling’s strongest expert.
Pei Yuan Jin said nothing and instead looked toward the courtyard outside.
Amid a burst of hearty laughter, a beggar in ragged clothes vaulted over the wall and staggered inside, one step deep and the next shallow. Mud and grit from the soles of his feet stamped dirty footprints across the ground.
“Lu Qing, Chief Manager of the Immortal Treasury Palace’s Thunder Division in Jiangling, greets Young Palace Master!” As he spoke, his eyes kept drifting toward the chicken feast on the table.
Fu Xi Yan could hear him swallow from across the table.
…
Because of the name Lu Qing and his reputation as Jiangling’s strongest expert, Fu Xi Yan had already formed a general picture of him in his mind.
Reality was the complete opposite.
When Pei Yuan Jin saw Lu Qing’s blackened paw reaching toward the roast chicken, he immediately flicked a chopstick into the back of his hand. “Wash first.”
Lu Qing was extremely unwilling. “Fine, every time I visit the Immortal Treasury Palace, you make me wash. But why am I in Jiangling, on my own territory, and still have to wash? Besides, if I wash today, I’ll just get dirty again tomorrow. Why waste the effort?”
Pei Yuan Jin took Fu Xi Yan’s hand. “Meet the Young Madam.”
Lu Qing froze. “Huh? Which ‘shao’?”
“The ‘shao’ from Young Palace Master.”
Fu Xi Yan awkwardly waved in greeting. Anyway, the first time was strange, the second became familiar, and by the third and fourth there was no end in sight. Once it happened often enough, his skin grew thick. As long as you were embarrassed and he was not, everything was fine.
Lu Qing’s gaze moved between their faces several times. Then, expression wooden, he turned his head and asked, “Where’s the bathwater? Make it cold. Don’t mix in any hot water. I need to cool down!”
By the time he returned from cooling down, one incense stick had burned.
Fu Xi Yan looked at the clean young man before him. His brows were clear, his features handsome, his lips red and teeth white. At last, he resembled Fu Xi Yan’s original imagination somewhat, except that one leg still appeared slightly lame.
Lu Qing cupped his hands toward him. “Greetings, Young Madam.” Then he dropped into the seat in front of the roast chicken, tore off a large drumstick, and stuffed it into his mouth. “Let me eat a few bites before Young Palace Master tells me anything. Otherwise, I’m afraid I won’t be able to eat afterward!”
Pei Yuan Jin picked up a piece of chicken for Fu Xi Yan. “You eat too.”
Lu Qing chewed while watching the two of them. Seeing this, he made a disgusted face. “Watching you two act like that is already making me lose my appetite.”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Then don’t eat.”
Lu Qing turned his face away, grumbling under his breath.
Fu Xi Yan had already eaten at Jinyu House and was still full, so he only took a couple of casual bites. Lu Qing was dissatisfied again. “Young Madam doesn’t look like someone who can’t eat.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
Pei Yuan Jin threatened calmly, “The last person who said something like that lost both front teeth.”
Lu Qing, who was currently using his front teeth to tear meat from the drumstick: “…” He immediately started eating faster.
Between the roast chicken and the Fu family kitchen’s full chicken banquet, there was truly a lot of food. Pei Yuan Jin and Fu Xi Yan barely ate, so Lu Qing handled almost all the rest himself. Once he finished, he wiped his greasy mouth on his clean sleeve, burped, and said, “All right. Tell me the story. I’m listening.”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Go wreck the Four Directions Merchant Alliance’s Martial Rankings.”
Lu Qing stared blankly. “Why?”
“They put me on it.”
Lu Qing grew curious. “What rank?”
Pei Yuan Jin pressed his lips together, refusing to say such a humiliating number. Fu Xi Yan answered on his behalf. “Ninth.”
Lu Qing burst out laughing without giving his Young Palace Master the slightest face. “The Immortal Treasury Palace’s Young Palace Master, ranked ninth on some merchants’ Martial Rankings? If Palace Master hears about this, he might personally slaughter the entire ranking until there’s nothing left.”
Fu Xi Yan thought, Why not just send the Immortal Treasury Palace’s people to challenge the ranking from first all the way to hundredth and turn it into an internal Immortal Treasury Palace ranking? Of course, that was unrealistic. Mobilizing the entire Immortal Treasury Palace over a tiny list would only flatter the Four Directions Merchant Alliance.
Lu Qing asked, “How do you want me to wreck it?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “They carve a stone stele every year.”
Lu Qing understood. Pei Yuan Jin wanted him to smash the stele. “How many experts are on the other side?”
Fu Xi Yan found that a little strange. Lu Qing was Chief Manager of the Thunder Division in Jiangling, right next to Jingmen. Logically, he should not know absolutely nothing.
Pei Yuan Jin’s next words immediately cleared up his confusion. “Put a little more effort into Palace affairs. That too is one facet of the hundred forms of human life.”
Lu Qing had extraordinary talent in martial arts, but unfortunately he had been born into a scholarly family and was also the only son. His family absolutely refused to allow him to abandon scholarship for martial arts. His lame leg came from his father breaking it in rage when Lu Qing refused to study.
After his leg was broken, Lu Qing completely gave himself up to doing whatever he pleased and simply refused treatment. Amid the daily chaos of his household, he bought an utterly ordinary martial arts manual for three taels of silver and somehow taught himself all the way to the Bone Forging Stage without a master. He even healed his own leg. Unfortunately, he had grown so accustomed to walking with a limp that even with two perfectly healthy legs, he still liked walking crookedly.
Once he reached the Bone Forging Stage, his family could no longer control him. He ran away from home, wandered the jianghu, and by chance entered the Immortal Treasury Palace.
Lu Qing believed his own martial path consisted of watching the chaotic bustle of human life, so he enjoyed dressing as a beggar, mixing into crowds, and wandering the streets looking for excitement. If there was not enough excitement, he would personally create some. Somehow, through cultivating in this disorderly fashion, he had carved out a path of his own. Two years ago, he had already reached half-step Martial King.
He had simply always felt his state of mind was not ready, so he refused to honestly attempt the Martial King Stage. He hoped that one day, enlightenment would come naturally.
Lu Qing muttered, “It’s not like I have a good father who can revise martial arts manuals for me… Oh, right. Why is Young Madam a man?”
Fu Xi Yan: “…” Sorry. Because I was born one.
Pei Yuan Jin asked in return, “Why can’t Young Madam be a man?”
Lu Qing froze at the question. “Why can’t Young Madam be a man? Right, why can’t Young Madam be a man? Who decided it had to be a woman? If I can practice martial arts instead of studying literature, then why can’t Young Madam be a man? All the principles under Heaven were made up by people in the first place… but male and female were decided by Heaven. Hahahaha…”
As Lu Qing muttered to himself, he seemed to fall into a trance. The true qi inside his body suddenly erupted violently—he was actually about to step directly into the Martial King Stage.
Seeing this, Pei Yuan Jin stretched an arm in front of Fu Xi Yan, worried the commotion from Lu Qing’s breakthrough might affect him.
But Lu Qing had already shot into the air, vaulted the wall, and disappeared to parts unknown.
The turn of events came so suddenly and absurdly that no one could have imagined a single casual sentence from Pei Yuan Jin would have the effect of awakening a man from a dream. Fu Xi Yan stared dumbfounded. “Is he going to be all right?”
Lu Qing’s breakthrough had come naturally after everything had accumulated to the right point. Pei Yuan Jin was not worried about him. He was thinking about his own problem instead. “I’ll have to find someone else.”
Fu Xi Yan looked at him. “Another day of missing Martial King Shou.”
Pei Yuan Jin was mildly displeased. “Why do you miss Shou Nan Shan?”
What had Shou Nan Shan ever done?
It was merely…
Pei Yuan Jin went over everything Shou Nan Shan had done after meeting Fu Xi Yan. His brows gradually relaxed. Come to think of it, they really should resolve the current matters as quickly as possible and make their trip to Southern Yu.
Fu Xi Yan had no idea what had just gone through his mind and honestly explained, “Uh, I was saying that on your behalf.”
Pei Yuan Jin glanced at him. “I don’t.”
“Weren’t you trying to find an expert to go wreck the place?” Fu Xi Yan thought this man truly changed his mind too quickly. He had only just said he needed someone else, and Fu Xi Yan did not know that many experts from the Immortal Treasury Palace…
He blinked. “You’re not jealous, are you?”
Pei Yuan Jin looked puzzled. “Why would I be jealous?”
Fu Xi Yan thought about it and also found the idea completely unreasonable. He scratched his face awkwardly. “Never mind. Have you decided who you’re sending to wreck the place?”
“Yes.”
“Who?” Fu Xi Yan was curious. Lu Qing liked chicken. Who knew what the next person liked? He needed to tell the kitchen beforehand and spare Xiao Sang another errand. His leg had only recently recovered.
Pei Yuan Jin said calmly, “Me.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
Has Young Palace Master run out of other experts too?
In truth, the instant Pei Yuan Jin said “me,” Fu Xi Yan had already had a bad premonition. Sure enough, when it came to sensing impending misfortune, his intuition continued to maintain a flawless one-hundred-percent success rate.
“I think… maybe… you could write… to the Taishi family… and have your… name removed. Why go there yourself and tire yourself out?” The most important part was that Fu Xi Yan himself would have to suffer too.
Fu Xi Yan already felt that sitting in carriages had beaten his backside into blossom, shattered it into four pieces, torn his guts apart, and scattered his soul. Yet now he had to ride a horse.
The horse galloped at full speed. Every time he shouted a sentence, he swallowed a mouthful of wind and still got no reply. Finally he could not help shouting again, “What if… you actually fight… and make your ranking official?”
Pei Yuan Jin was not particularly worried about that.
Even if the Four Directions Merchant Alliance were not divided against itself, even if every family truly stood united, they still had no reason to offend the Immortal Treasury Palace.
By deliberately releasing the rumor this time, they had actually been testing him. If he showed no reaction, they could boldly place his name on the rankings and borrow his reputation to add luster to their own. If his reaction exceeded expectations and threatened the Merchant Alliance itself, then naturally they would find some graceful, respectable way to resolve the matter.
But Pei Yuan Jin had no intention of allowing them that grace or respectability.
To him, the act of testing him was itself a provocation.
After rushing day and night, they finally caught up with the final day of the martial tournament.
Pei Yuan Jin rode directly into the city. Fu Xi Yan sat listlessly in front of him. At the beginning of the journey, Fu Xi Yan had still managed his own horse, but later he truly could not endure any longer, so Pei Yuan Jin brought him onto his own mount and alternated between the two horses.
Xiao Sang, Xiao Zhang, and the Hidden Dragon Unit followed behind them.
A party of more than a dozen people galloping together was extremely conspicuous.
Chen De Yuan, head of the Chen family and organizer of the Martial Rankings, quickly received news that the Immortal Treasury Palace’s Young Palace Master had arrived. He could not help glancing at the Old Ghost of the Yangtze, who sat beside the arena, before sending someone to pass along the news.
When Wei Li Ming defeated the Old Ghost of the Yangtze, plenty of people had been watching. Wei Li Ming had never even returned to the ship afterward, so how could the fighter possibly have been Pei Yuan Jin? Yet after Yuan Bing mistakenly identified him, the Old Ghost of the Yangtze simply went along with the mistake.
After all, losing in forty-two moves to the Young Palace Master of the Immortal Treasury Palace was not embarrassing. It could even be treated as an honorable battle record. That was far better than losing to some nameless nobody.
The Old Ghost of the Yangtze had begun life as a river bandit and possessed an extraordinarily thick skin. He assumed the mighty Young Palace Master would not care about such a trivial matter. Even if he did, one excuse of “It was dark and I couldn’t see clearly” ought to settle things. He had never imagined Pei Yuan Jin would personally come back.
Now he was beginning to panic. He leaned toward Dong Wei, eldest young master of the Dong family, who was seated near the arena. “Young Master, my stomach feels a little uncomfortable.”
Dong Wei said, “The challenge matches are about to begin. Go quickly and come back quickly.”
The top ten on the Martial Rankings did not participate in the ordinary tournament. Only the ten people who fought their way into eleventh through twentieth place each year could challenge them. Each member of the top ten could accept no more than three challenges from the same tournament. Since the Old Ghost of the Yangtze ranked ninth, all three of his challenge slots were filled every year. He would definitely have to take the stage shortly.
The Old Ghost of the Yangtze gave a dry laugh and nodded. He was just about to stand when an uproar suddenly rose from below. Eleventh place had already been decided—a young girl barely in her teens.
“Excellent!” The head of the Liu merchant family was the first to rise.
The young girl was his daughter, Liu Zhen Zhen, who despite her young age had already earned the jianghu nickname “Little Guanyin.”
Liu Zhen Zhen swept her gaze over the crowd until it landed on the Old Ghost of the Yangtze, who was furtively edging backward. She smiled. “Senior Old Ghost, please grant me instruction!”
By calling him out directly, she naturally drew everyone’s attention toward him.
Seeing the Old Ghost of the Yangtze actually trying to leave at this moment, Chen De Yuan’s eyes chilled. As the man responsible for the Martial Rankings, he knew the temperaments and backgrounds of its regular members extremely well and immediately guessed the Old Ghost was trying to flee.
But with Liu Zhen Zhen having already issued her challenge, the Old Ghost of the Yangtze had nowhere to retreat. He could only flip onto the platform and cup his hands toward her. “Miss Liu, please.”
By the time Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin arrived, the match was almost decided.
Liu Zhen Zhen’s martial arts were quite good among the younger generation, but against the Old Ghost of the Yangtze, she ultimately lacked experience. Worse, the Old Ghost was fighting with particular impatience today. By the twenty-fourth exchange, Liu Zhen Zhen exposed an opening. The Old Ghost struck her in the chest with a palm and knocked her off the platform.
That immediately enraged her doting father. The head of the Liu family could not stop himself from snapping, “Insolence!”
The Old Ghost of the Yangtze was about to smile bitterly and apologize when the corner of his eye caught sight of Fu Xi Yan. His back instantly turned cold. Although the light had been dim that day, he remembered Fu Xi Yan’s appearance perfectly. Among all the spectators watching that fight, no one had watched with greater enthusiasm than him.
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