Chapter 13: Chapter 13

KNOCK KNOCK!

The following morning, at the crack of dawn.

A rapping at the gate.

“Open up! Open up!”

“The hell are you banging for? Do you even know whose place this is?”

“Whose place? This is Boss Li’s residence — no need to search here!”

CREAK.

The courtyard gate was pulled open from the inside, revealing Li Suifeng’s face.

“What’s going on?”

He regarded the cluster of Canal Gang disciples at his doorstep with a mild tone.

The man at the front wore an ingratiating smile. He sidled up to Li Suifeng and spoke in a hushed voice:

“Boss Li, you might not have heard — something big happened in Nanyang Prefecture last night. A bunch of notorious fighters from the neighboring Mingzhou Prefecture turned up dead on our streets. The Helmsman has ordered a full city lockdown.”

“Of course, you know how it is — our Nanyang Branch isn’t exactly overflowing with muscle. If an actual sixth-rank expert showed up, we wouldn’t be picking a fight anyway. This is just for show, really. Settle the people’s nerves.”

The other Canal Gang disciples looked at Li Suifeng with undisguised respect.

They all knew the story — Boss Li had joined the Canal Gang as a boy and worked his way up from the bottom, same as them. But now he’d broken through to eighth-rank and killed Retainer Jiang. A future at headquarters wasn’t out of the question.

“Since the Helmsman gave the order, come in and have a look around.”

Li Suifeng waved them through.

“Oh, we couldn’t!” The lead man laughed. “Just a formality, Boss Li. We’ll move on to the next spot.”

“Mm.” Li Suifeng nodded.

Once the group had departed, he bolted the courtyard gate behind him.

THUD. THUD.

The heavy sound of flesh striking a wooden training post echoed through the yard.

This was a habit Li Suifeng had developed over the years. Before the system, he’d never had access to any advanced arts, but he’d trained every technique available to a low-ranking Canal Gang boss to a respectable level.

Even with the system now, the habit had stuck.

“Didn’t expect you to be a Canal Gang man.”

Ye Qingmei emerged from the side room, watching Li Suifeng train with open curiosity.

A master of this caliber, holed up in a minor branch of the Canal Gang.

Her color was better today — a touch of warmth had returned to her face, replacing yesterday’s ghostly pallor. She still wore the same fitted traveling clothes.

“Even if you hadn’t guessed, it wouldn’t have taken you long to find out.” Li Suifeng continued his practice, paying her no particular mind.

Ye Qingmei leaned lazily against the door frame of the side room, watching him work.

The forms were nothing special — basic palm techniques, elementary at best. But that body-hardening art of his was genuinely impressive.

At the lower rungs of the jianghu, plenty of people trained in external hardening arts. Most never stuck with it. The methods were brutal on the body — many practitioners were riddled with chronic injuries long before they reached mastery.

To have pushed external hardening this far at his age was remarkably rare.

She didn’t interrupt. She waited until he finished.

Li Suifeng snatched the teapot from the table at the courtyard’s edge and took several long gulps before turning to her.

“How did you find the Red Lotus Sect branch’s location?”

“Where were they hiding?”

Ye Qingmei shook her head. “I have my channels, but I can’t tell you what they are.”

“The Red Lotus Sect’s Nanyang branch wasn’t that hard to locate — they were based out of the Yue family compound in the southern quarter. But after my failed ambush last night, they’ve likely already evacuated.”

“Pinpointing their new location will take some time.”

Li Suifeng nodded.

Ye Qingmei was no ordinary wanderer.

On the surface, the Sword-Washing Sect behind her had been destroyed. Yet she still had access to intelligence networks that could locate Red Lotus Sect hideouts — information that even the Six Doors didn’t have.

“If you get a lead on Song Xian’s whereabouts, let me know. I’ll handle it.”

With that, Li Suifeng headed for the courtyard gate.

“I’ll bring you back some breakfast.”

And then he was gone.

…

Li Suifeng made his way toward the mouth of Green Stone Alley.

“Morning, Boss Li!”

“Boss Li!”

Neighbors greeted him warmly from every direction.

Li Suifeng might not qualify as a good man, but he’d never bullied the people of Green Stone Alley. When neighbors ran into trouble, he helped where he could. His reputation in the alley was solid.

He returned each greeting with a nod.

At the alley entrance, a few early risers were still eating at the breakfast stalls.

“Boss Li — what’ll it be?”

The stall owner smiled at one of his regulars. Having Li Suifeng as a patron was practically a shield in itself.

The attitude naturally reflected that.

“The usual. And pack one up — I’ll drop it off at Chen Shan’s place.”

“Coming right up!”

After eating his fill, Li Suifeng brought the packed breakfast back to the courtyard, then set off for Elder Qi’s residence.

…

The Qi Residence.

“Master Hu — Li Suifeng is here.”

The Qi household steward stood behind Qi Hu, his tone respectful.

Qi Hu rolled a pair of goose-egg-sized copper balls in one hand. At the steward’s words, he said mildly:

“Send him in.”

Li Suifeng was one of his key assets now. Of course he’d see him.

“Li Suifeng is probably here to gauge the Helmsman’s attitude.” Sun Xi spoke softly.

As Qi Hu’s chief advisor, he lived in the Qi residence. With last night’s incident rocking the city, he’d naturally stayed close to Qi Hu.

“After stirring up trouble this big, of course he’s worried.” Qi Hu’s eyes narrowed. “Besides — he collected the past two years’ worth of dock fees yesterday. I’m owed my cut.”

Before long, the steward escorted Li Suifeng in.

“Elder.”

Li Suifeng clasped his fists in greeting.

Qi Hu wore a broad smile.

“Suifeng, you did well yesterday. Brought honor to our Canal Gang.”

“The Helmsman’s side — leave that to me. You just go ahead and do what you need to do. If you run into anything you can’t handle, I’ll personally take it to the Helmsman on your behalf.”

Sun Xi stood off to one side, his expression faintly odd.

He’d been with Qi Hu at branch headquarters yesterday. The elder hadn’t spoken a single word in Li Suifeng’s defense. The only reason Li Suifeng had escaped punishment was because the Helmsman had willed it so.

Now Qi Hu was claiming all the credit.

What an old fox. Clearly angling to squeeze Li Suifeng for another payout.

And if Qi Hu treated a man as useful as Li Suifeng this way — what about someone even more expendable? What about him?

Conflicting thoughts churned behind Sun Xi’s eyes.

“Thank you, Elder, for speaking up on my behalf before the Helmsman.”

Li Suifeng’s expression didn’t shift by a hair. He produced a thick stack of banknotes from his sleeve and offered them to the elder.

Qi Hu smiled with satisfaction and reached out to take them.

The instant his fingers gauged the thickness of the stack, a flash of displeasure crossed his eyes.

Yesterday, Li Suifeng had collected well over ten thousand taels. And this was all he brought? Two or three thousand?

Qi Hu tossed the banknotes onto the table, his tone turning sour.

“Suifeng.”

“If I hadn’t fought tooth and nail for you yesterday, you killed one of Qin Wuyang’s people — you think you could have walked away that easily?”

“Don’t you think this stack is a bit… thin?”