Chapter 59: Chapter 59

“Guannan? Ji Guannan? I’ve heard he was one of the Five Great Prodigies of Changyun, and that he fell here some years ago…”

“That he was. Lord Guannan was a direct-line prodigy of the Ji clan — at his young age he had already stepped into Sinew Tempering. His future should have been boundless.”

Grief washed across Deng Shan’s face; he let out a long sigh:

“But two years ago, Chenjian Wu joined forces with the Giant Whale Gang and Water Dragon Stockade, and launched a night assault on Yunyi Island in full strength. With Lord Guannan’s movement art and cultivation, he could have broken through the encirclement and withdrawn…”

“But to cover the brothers on the island, he did not fall back a single step. He led three Patrol Envoys in a last stand at the pier. In the end, those three Envoys fought to the point of exhaustion and fell, and Lord Guannan was encircled and ground down by three Chiefs of Chenjian Wu together. He took dozens of blade wounds, and his blood stained the waters of Yunshui Lake…”

So it was a joint assault by three factions!

Shen Xiuhan was deeply shaken.

Before this, going by what Luo Zhan had said at the retainer posting meeting, he had thought Ji Guannan had failed to escape and been captured alive by Chenjian Wu’s Second Chief, then publicly executed.

Only now did he learn the truth: this prodigy had chosen, of his own will, to hold the rear, and died fighting to the last.

A surge of genuine respect rose in Shen Xiuhan.

Such valor — standing shoulder to shoulder with his men, facing death without flinching — truly commanded admiration.

Walking out of the supply room, Shen Xiuhan now held a set of dark-based, silver-trimmed Ji clan house colors, along with three black-lacquer bamboo tubes the length of a short flute.

Deng Shan pointed to the tubes:

“Patrol Envoy, these are ‘signal rockets.’ Twist open the catch at the bottom and there’s a fuse inside. If you come under attack, strike a flint to it and fire it skyward. The rocket shoots up — even in broad daylight the signal carries for five li. If water bandits come in force, fire all three in succession.”

Shen Xiuhan gave a measured nod, turned the tubes over in his hands for a moment, then stowed them carefully away.

The two then made straight for the berths and cast off a nimble black-canopied skiff.

Deng Shan took the sculling oar himself. The little boat ran with the current northward; after a few minutes, it rounded to the north side of Yunyi Island.

Looking up, a row of stilted bamboo houses, built out over the water, loomed half-hidden in the gathering dusk. The lake was chill and somber; only a few of the bamboo houses leaked a dim yellow glow, throwing wavering, broken reflections.

The skiff touched shore, and the two leapt onto the boardwalk.

“Squad C, boardwalk muster!”

Deng Shan opened his throat and bellowed.

In no time, four lean, hard-bitten figures came vaulting one after another from the bamboo houses.

All four wore straw cloaks over short combat garb, their frames agile and imposing.

Shen Xiuhan swept a glance: each of these four was a young trained fighter, a steel saber at every hip, the oldest looking no more than twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

“Eyes open, all of you!” Deng Shan called out in a deep voice. “This is Patrol Envoy Shen, newly posted by the family. From here on, Squad C falls under Patrol Envoy Shen’s command. Gentlemen, make your introductions!”

At this, all four stiffened to attention, stepped forward as one, cupped their fists, and called out crisply:

“Tiger-Taming Boxing Hall — Yan Chuan!”

“Dragon-Tiger Hall — Geng Weizhi!”

“The Hu family — Hu Zhi!”

“Zhou Family Martial Academy — Ruan Linhuan!”

“We greet Patrol Envoy, sir!”

Their voices rang with iron — their bearing full of fight.

Shen Xiuhan returned the salute, his voice carrying over the lake wind: “Mei Martial Hall, inner court — Shen Xiuhan, well met!”

With introductions made, Deng Shan took his leave. Shen Xiuhan followed the four inside the bamboo house — it happened to be suppertime, and they invited him to eat with them.

Inside the bamboo house.

An oil lamp flickered.

The fare was simple.

In the center of the room, a small clay brazier held a pot of millet porridge at a rolling boil, bubbling and steaming.

On the table, four fat lake fish lay every which way, grilled to a golden-brown.

Yan Chuan and the other three held rough porcelain bowls and reached with their chopsticks into the pot of millet porridge.

As for the grilled fish — the four couldn’t even be bothered to give them a second look.

Shen Xiuhan thought for a moment and understood at once.

Yunyi Island was short on every kind of supply — the one exception being the inexhaustible river catch from the water.

After years of garrison duty on the lake, the four had long since grown sick of fish.

After a beat of thought, Shen Xiuhan set down his chopsticks, undid his bundle, and pulled out several scallion flatcakes.

Madam Zheng had griddled them that morning. A bit cold by now, but they still gave off an enticing flour-and-oil fragrance.

“Brothers, here — share these around.”

Shen Xiuhan tossed the flatcakes to the four.

Crisp-fragrant and rich with scallion oil, the aroma filled the room.

At the long-missed smell of oil and flour, every pair of eyes lit up, four faces alive with surprise and delight.

“Many thanks, Patrol Envoy!”

Geng Weizhi was an impatient sort. At once he tore off a big chunk and stuffed it into his mouth. Two chews in, his eyes went round; awash in flavor, he couldn’t hold back a great thumbs-up:

“Flaky, crispy, full of proper flour taste — Patrol Envoy, your cookhouse skills are first-rate!”

Shen Xiuhan sipped a mouthful of hot porridge with a laugh:

“These aren’t my work — they’re my mother’s handiwork. My family’s taken a shopfront on Osmanthus Street in the inner city’s South Market — the place is called ‘Shen Family Eatery.’ When you brothers get your leave and head back to the city, do come give us your patronage.”

At this, all four cupped their fists and burst out laughing:

“So it’s Auntie’s work!”

“Patrol Envoy, rest easy — once the brothers are off duty and back in the city, we’ll be heading straight to Auntie’s place to pay our respects to the temple of the five viscera!”

A few flatcakes went down, and the last traces of awkward distance dissolved like smoke. The floodgates of talk swung open with them.

Of the four, only the lean-framed Ruan Linhuan was a man of few words. Yan Chuan, Geng Weizhi, and Hu Zhi were all frank and garrulous sorts.

A few swigs of rough tea to wet the throat, and in a matter of sentences the three had laid bare every trick and passage of the waterways around Yunyi Island.

Geng Weizhi dropped his voice:

“Patrol Envoy, don’t let the Garrison Commander’s baby face fool you. He keeps a low profile day to day, but in truth he’s already twenty-five this year — a genuine peak Manifest Strength master, ranked among the top in all of Changyun County!”

“That’s right — if not for his birth…”

Yan Chuan chimed in with feeling, a note of something unspoken in his tone, “Given the Garrison Commander’s skill and cultivation, he’d be the undisputed successor among the younger generation of the main family, following Lord Guannan’s fall!”

Done with people, they moved to the lay of the land.

“Yunshui Lake’s marshes stretch far and wide — the waterways cut across three states: Qi, Wu, and Yue. Seven or eight major and minor bandit factions hold the outer reaches.”

“Around Yunyi Island alone, Chenjian Wu, the Giant Whale Gang, Water Dragon Stockade, Fish Island, and other gangs are clustered cheek by jowl. Every one of these outfits traces its roots back to the great southern-sea martial faction, the Wrathwater Gang.”

“Of them all, Chenjian Wu is by far the largest and most rampant. The fortress reportedly has close to twenty qi-blood martial artists and over a hundred seasoned water bandits, organized under ten Chiefs. The top five seat-holders are all Hidden Strength masters!”

At this, Shen Xiuhan’s brow arched. He raised a hand to break in: “If these water bandits have already grown this powerful…”

Hu Zhi cracked a grin — he had caught the drift of the question — and picked up the thread:

“The Patrol Envoy is wondering why this lot haven’t simply taken Yunyi Island, instead of tolerating the family driving a nail into their waterway?”

Shen Xiuhan nodded slightly. He did indeed find it strange.

The martial artists the Ji clan had stationed on Yunyi Island — never mind several factions joining hands; Chenjian Wu alone would be enough to slaughter the island clean.

“It’s not that they don’t want to — they don’t dare!”

Yan Chuan snorted coldly, slamming his tea bowl down on the table, a flash of satisfaction in his eyes.

“Two and a half years ago!”

“Chenjian Wu sent four of its Chiefs — the Blood Ascetic, Chen Xin, Tu Xiaotian, and Qu Bushi — along with more than a dozen Manifest Strength fighters and over a hundred seasoned water-ghosts, in a full-scale siege of Yunyi Island.”

“In the end, it cost Lord Guannan his life and left one of the family’s Hidden Strength retainers badly wounded. But this — this tore a hole in the sky!”

“The county yamen officials were enraged!”

“The County Magistrate himself rode out, joining forces with the Wang family patriarch Wang Zhidao. Two Transforming Strength masters, leading the three divisions of yamen constables and a host of fighters, went straight to Chenjian Wu’s Great Chief, Duan Xiao, to demand an accounting!”