Chapter 49: Chapter 49
The fourth day after Gao Nian of the Golden Dragon Gang fell.
Early morning — the dawn mist had not yet dispersed.
Shen Xiuhan stood in the courtyard, grinding through Dark Eagle Stance. His qi-blood rose and fell with the stance’s frame, and a faint white vapor rose steaming from his body.
In the distance, a sound of approaching footsteps drew closer, then halted outside the courtyard.
Shen Xiuhan sensed the arrivals, yet was in no hurry to bring his stance to a close.
Only after the stance was completed and the qi-blood in him had gradually settled did he turn to look.
Outside the bamboo-fenced yard stood a row of people.
At their head was a scholarly middle-aged man in his thirties, wearing a squared kerchief. His face was lean and clean, a touch of bookish air lingering in his brow and eyes.
Behind him stood several burly men, each with an untamed look in his eyes, murderous aura radiating off them.
Seeing Shen Xiuhan halt his stance and turn to them, the scholarly middle-aged man courteously cupped his hands:
“Solid stance work indeed!”
“You must be the Brother Shen who has been making a name for himself lately. This one is Tang Cheng, the Second Chief of Raging Waves.”
Shen Xiuhan cupped his fists back without a flicker of expression:
“So it’s Second Chief Tang. Your reputation precedes you.”
“Brother Shen is too polite.”
Tang Cheng was smooth and warm, his smile affable:
“This Tang has come unannounced to inform Brother Shen of one matter: from here on, Xiaojing Bay will be under the management of our Raging Waves.”
At this point he paused, his manner growing even more courteous:
“Brother Shen is a top pupil of Mei Hall — naturally you need not pay safety money. It’s only that, since we’ll be sharing this patch of ground, if there’s any place where we fall short, I ask Brother Shen to overlook it.”
Hm — looks like they’ve already sounded out my background in detail.
Shen Xiuhan understood at once, though he kept a puzzled look on his face and said: “Second Chief Tang is too generous. But the Golden Dragon Gang…”
“The Golden Dragon Gang is no more!”
A smile broke across Tang Cheng’s face; his tone was colored with open schadenfreude: “Brother Shen hasn’t heard?”
“The Golden Dragon Gang reaped what it sowed — knowing it couldn’t stand against our Raging Waves, it tried to put on our skin and scrape one last haul before running. As it happened, it ran into a passing great hero of the jianghu, who slew Gao Nian on the spot — and even went around during the night leaving the scraped-up tribute outside every villager’s gate…”
Shen Xiuhan made a show of enlightenment, and said in admiration: “Did this great hero leave his name?”
“He did not.”
Tang Cheng shook his head: “The great hero took Gao Nian’s dog life, divvied up the money, and departed like a drifting cloud. Our Chief got wind of it and moved with thunderous hand — swept in and uprooted the Golden Dragon Gang’s headquarters in one go.”
“So that’s the way of it…”
A few more words of pleasantry were exchanged, and Tang Cheng took his leave with his several subordinates in tow.
Once they had walked a little way from the Shen family’s gate, one of the followers hurried up alongside him and asked in a low voice:
“Second Brother, the safety money from his house — just waived, like that?”
“What else?”
Tang Cheng cast him a sidelong glance, his tone flat:
“This Changyun County is not the army barracks. In every matter, care must come first — no acting rashly.”
“This subordinate understands!”
“Hm?”
“…Ah, this lowly one understands!”
In the courtyard, Madam Zheng came out of the side room carrying a stack of freshly-woven fishing nets, and asked curiously:
“Dalang, who was it that came?”
Shen Xiuhan scooped up a ladle of water and wiped down the sweat on his body:
“Men from Raging Waves.”
“Raging Waves…”
Madam Zheng looked puzzled. “Didn’t they already collect the spring-season safety money the day before yesterday?”
“It was a different matter.”
Shen Xiuhan, not wishing to set her mind fretting, wrung out the cloth, draped it over the wooden rack, put his clothes back on, and reassured her:
“Ma, don’t worry yourself over it. Spend these next few days getting our household things in order. Once I’ve found a courtyard in the inner city, whatever gang this or gang that is — let them be…”
The moment she heard they were to move into the inner city, every trace of worry swept clean from Madam Zheng’s face, and a brightness came over her features — even the crow’s-feet at the corners of her eyes smoothed out.
“All right! Ma’ll start packing today!”
She paused, then remembered something:
“Oh, that’s right — with so many odds and ends around the house, we can’t shift them all by hand. I’ll go over to Uncle Liu’s place in the West Alley later, take ten wen with me, and arrange to rent his ox-cart for a day in advance…”
Seeing that Madam Zheng had already begun working through the logistics of the move, Shen Xiuhan gave a smiling nod, turned, stepped out the door, and headed for the inner city.
Inner city, the north side.
Where the outer city was riddled with mud pits, the inner city was laid wall-to-wall with level blue flagstones. Shops stood in tight rows along both sides; the passers-by were mostly well-dressed folk.
Shen Xiuhan skirted the North Market and turned into a quiet, broad lane.
A short walk later, a grand and imposing clan manor sprang into view.
The towering blue-brick enclosure wall stretched on for some dozens of zhang; the upturned flying eaves jabbed straight into the sky.
Before the vermilion-lacquered main gate, two white marble stone lions stood guard to either side — stern and commanding in their bearing.
In the center of the lintel, a black nanmu plaque hung high, two great characters carved in vigorous brushwork:
Ji Manor.
Shen Xiuhan ascended the steps, raised a hand to grasp the bronze ring, and knocked on the gate.
“Rap, rap, rap.”
A short while later, a side gate was pulled open a crack.
A gatekeeper of around fifty, wearing a grey cloth lined jacket, poked his head out, his voice neither cold nor warm:
“What business?”
Shen Xiuhan cupped his fists:
“Please trouble yourself to inform Steward Ji Zhong — Shen Xiuhan of Mei Hall has come on appointment to pay a visit.”
At the sound of “Shen Xiuhan,” the scrutiny in the gatekeeper’s eyes at once drew back. He hurriedly pulled the side gate wider:
“So it’s Young Master Shen — please, come in, come in.”
Seeing Shen Xiuhan’s startled look, the gatekeeper smiled in explanation:
“Steward Zhong has already specifically instructed us — when Young Master Shen comes, there’s no need to announce you. I’m to take you straight inside to see him.”
“…Then I must thank old uncle.”
Inside, the Ji manor’s interior was enormous — courtyards deep and layered, all showing the depth of a great clan.
Shen Xiuhan followed the gatekeeper, rounding the second-tier main courtyard, passing through a long gallery of carved beams and painted rafters, and stepping into a tidy, self-contained quadrangle courtyard.
The courtyard was paved with blue brick, swept spotless, and the buildings ringing it were set with orderly grace.
In one corner, several old plum trees of proud bearing extended their branches at a slant; a faint, cold fragrance hung in the air.
In the vast courtyard, there was not a single sweeping maidservant or attending manservant to be seen — it was extraordinarily still.
The gatekeeper led him straight across the courtyard to the foot of the steps before the main chamber, bowed, and called:
“Steward Zhong — Young Master Shen has arrived.”
There was a moment of silence from within, then Ji Zhong’s hoarse voice came through:
“Let him come in on his own.”
The gatekeeper immediately stepped aside and made a gesture of “please enter.”
Shen Xiuhan nodded slightly and stepped forward to push open the carved wooden door.
“Creak—”
Before he had even entered, the faint scent of ink and the aroma of camphorwood hit him in the face.
What met his eyes was — row upon row of orderly purple-sandalwood bookshelves, reaching clear to the rafters!
Four shelves to a row, and a full eight rows of them!
Atop them were packed all manner of classics and bamboo slips, densely arranged.
Shen Xiuhan opened his mouth, struck dumb for a moment in place.
So this unassuming, secluded courtyard — was in fact the Ji clan’s Scripture Library!
By the window, on a carved pearwood soft-couch laid with a thick felt cushion, lay a middle-aged man reclining at an angle, draped with a sapphire-blue satin blanket.
At the sound of the door hinge, he turned his head and cast Shen Xiuhan a glance:
“You’re here? Close the door behind you — come in.”
This man — astonishingly — was none other than Ji Zhong from the retainer posting meeting!
Shen Xiuhan’s eyes flickered.
He had assumed Ji Zhong was merely an ordinary steward — at most a well-trusted servant, given the clan’s surname for capable service.
But just from the fact that Ji Zhong could freely come and go in the Scripture Library…
This Steward Ji’s standing in the Ji clan was far higher than he had imagined!