Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Yingzhou was located north of the Yangtze River, surrounded by countless mountains and valleys. Towards the east was the fertile Jiangnan region and northwest of it was the center of the Qing Kingdom, the important city of Jingdou. This province, Yingzhou, was not far from two of the wealthiest areas, and it was also at the crossing of the Wei River and the Yangtze River. Logically speaking, merchants should have be flocking there. The province should look lively and be full of happy citizens.
Yet, the actual Yingzhou seemed to be rather run down. It wasn’t that everything was gloomy, or that the houses were old. It was that the people on the street all had on dreary expressions and seemed lifeless. The street vendors were also spiritless. Even the savoury crepes all looked cold and limp.
The pier outside the city also wasn’t very active. The boats that went up and down the Qing River usually chose to anchor at a pier further down, rather than here. There were only a few desolate boats, and this made the newer ship to be even more noticable.
As for why Yingzhou was this way, the heavens were the first to be blamed. Last year, the Yangtze flooded and broke through a dam upstream. The river poured into the plains, killing countless people and destroying many homes. Fortunately, after the disaster the weather quickly cooled and there weren’t any outbreaks of disease. But this kind of tragedy took the spirit out of Yingzhou.
The officials were second to blame. The currently appointed Zhizhou of Yingzhou was once the Emperor’s student, but he didn’t have an ounce of the Emperor’s blessing. All he knew how to do was show off his power to the city, suck up to his superiors, and bully the merchants and commoners. Forget repairing the river, he couldn’t even maintain standard law and order. He only knew how to collect outrageous amounts of taxes. There was an ongoing rumour that this Zhizhou official had connections with the bandits across the river.
The bandits were the third to blame. The Yingzhou people were a brave group. Throughout their history, they had the fearless tradition of raising their weapons and pitchforks against officials. Now that they’d been stuck with such a horrible official, there were naturally going to be more bitter and poor commoners.
However, that year, the situation had changed significantly. First, the Zhizhou of Yingzhou was invited by the Overwatch Council’s Fourth Bureau’s Zhuzhou City’s Inspection Division to have tea. Just as the people of Yingzhou were celebrating this, hoping that the Zhizhou was finally going to fall, the Zhizhou respectfully returned. And, just as the people were disappointed that Yingzhou was going to continue to fall into ruins, he passed away!
People from Jingdou came to investigate the death for a long time, and confirmed that the Zhizhou did not die from some conspiracy plan. He’d just died from illness.
On the day the Zhizhou died, the commoners of Yingzhou silently lit countless strings of firecrackers. Of course, no one said it was to celebrate the death of the god of plague. But if someone didn’t know of the real reason, they would have simply thought that all the people of Yingzhou had chosen that day to get married.
Another change was that the bandits in the mountain across the river seemed to have settled down more. The largest of the bandit camps had been wiped out in a day, and the bandits had fallen apart. There was rumour that some important person from jianghu had come to Jiangnan to try and take over their control.
…
…
The Yingzhou people hadn’t been happy in a long time, so they pretended to celebrate an early New Year.
Because the Zhizhou had died, next year the court would send in another Zhizhou. The bandits had fallen apart, but more would come about. The commoner’s life would go on just as difficult as before and wouldn’t be affected in that regard.
In a room beside the pier, a dozen hard laborers were crowded together talking. Even if they were just casually speaking, acting this relaxed in broad daylight was not, after all, the attitude hard laborers should have with their job. The hateful expressions on their faces revealed some of their true intentions.
The person that they were all circled around was a woman. She was around 20 years old and had regular features. She wouldn’t be considered beautiful, but there was a toughness between her eyes. The moment she opened her mouth, the men around her all obediently shut theirs. She acted like she was in charge.
Check it carefully. It’s a tea collecting merchant, from Jingdou.
Sister Guan, they have guards on their ship,
one of the hard laborers reminded.
Sister Guan was one of the infamous chief bandits near Yingzhou. She hadn’t been in Yingzhou for long, but she had already gathered much support from a large amount of head bandits. According to the gossip, she was being strongly supported.
Sister Guan laughed coldly.
It’s just a merchant, what’s important about that? Besides, you’ve all done this before. You don’t need me to tell you how much the chest in the back room weighs, right?
They were talking calmly, but once the chest was mentioned, the laborers eyes all began to burn hotly. On the jianghu, a proper bandit looked at the imprint of carriage wheels to determine the weight of the cargo, and from there they could determine its value. But the bandits near Yingzhou were more like water bandits. They were best at looking at how low the ship sat in the water to determine what the ship was carrying.
Yesterday, a large ship had suddenly stopped at the pier. The ship looked to be almost brand new, and the color of the lichen on the ship informed those who spent their lives on the docks that this ship probably hasn’t been in the water for that long. As Yingzhou rarely saw ships of that size anymore, it was a rare opportunity for looting. While everyone was disembarking to sort out the food, vegetables, and water supplies, someone had already closely investigated the ship and knew everything there was to know about it.
What confused the bandits was that since they were tea merchants, why would they have such heavy cargo in the back? As for how the ship sat in the water, it was clearly different from usual ships. This question was finally answered when a female cook, who was an undercover spy, went on board. In a closely guarded room at the back of the ship was a chest. Looking at the condition of the boards and the light scratches on the metal key, the bandits were shocked to discover that the chest was actually full of silver.
No one would bring this much silver to Jiangnan just to collect tea.
Sister Guan also had some doubts, but since the man had taken over the bandits near Yingzhou, he needed to bring in some big money, to give these sweat stained bandits some payment. Besides, what the man was planning to do once spring arrived did require a lot of silver. Otherwise she wouldn’t be so busy, capturing ships all over the place.
One of the bandits also thought it was strange and said,
The ship sits low in the water, but there’s no cargo on board. Maybe they have river stones in the bottom hold that aunt didn’t notice.
Sister Guan shook her head.
It’s not a seafaring boat, why would it need ballast to hold it down? I just find him strange, the merchant of that big ship. Why does he need so much cash?
Cash is good.
A bandit giggled strangely and said,
We wouldn’t dare withdraw the money if we stole banknotes.
This comment immediately earned the agreement of the other men and they all laughed together, with their greed obvious in their voices.
Sister Guan furrowed her brows,
The question is, what merchant still brings cash? Aren’t they worried about safety issues?
The bandits watched Sister Guan and observed that this chief was usually bold and ruthless in her actions, and precise in choosing her targets. Taking advantage of the opportunity of there being no Zhizhou, she had taken them on a few large raids. The only thing was that she was sometimes a little too careful. If she was concerned about issue of safety, why ask them? She should go ask the stupid tea merchant himself.
Sister Guan waved her hands to call over the aunty who was responsible for collecting the information. The aunty was dark skinned and lean. She said pleasantly,
You can relax. There are only a total of a dozen or so guards up there, with a serving girl and one child. The master is a frail looking young man, who’s very beautiful but doesn’t know how to be discreet at all. I think he’s probably some good-for-nothing second generation of a wealthy family, who’s been sent by his seniors to Jiangnan to toughen him up.
He brought a serving girl, probably because the young merchant found the nights too lonely. Sister Guan laughed coldly and felt herself relax. If the tea merchant was a serious merchant, he wouldn’t be bringing a woman with him onto the Yangtze. Perhaps he really was some useless second generation man who thought the shiny silver was more satisfying to bang together than actual paper bills.
As for the dozen or so guards, she didn’t consider them a threat at all. She had around a dozen good men under her, each who were a lethal bandit with the blood of multiple lives on their hands. She believed, when they boarded the ship that night, that the guards would either be killed or flee into the river.
The bandits around her looked at each other and smiled sinisterly.
Sister Guan, after we’re done tonight give the girl to us as a reward.
Sister Guan blinked and looked at them disdainfully.
Look how mature you all are! As long as the silver is ours, the other things are naturally in your hands.
She paused and then laughed out loud, sounding cold and sinister.
Move quickly, and don’t leave anyone alive. Afterwards, drag the ship to the Two Tigers beach and set it on fire.
It was a peaceful night outside of Yingzhou city. The moon above the towering mountains across the river shined brightly onto the endlessly running river. It seemed to calm down the roaring sounds of the water. A few lonely boats were anchored at the pier. The hour of zi had passed and everyone was sleeping soundly. The lights on the ship had been put out long ago, and the merchants had gone to sleep much earlier.
Under the gentle caress of the moonlight, a dozen black shadows soundlessly moved to the riverbank and dived into the river. They swam underwater until they reached the back of the largest ship and then removed the objects that resembled grappling hooks. Some were empty handed and climbed up by the tow line, like a bunch of soaked monkeys. They were all incredibly talented and agile.
In mere seconds, these night attacking bandits had already climbed on board the huge ship and disappeared into the darkness.
Sister Guan held a sharp knife between her teeth as she climbed silently onto the second level. Using the shadows of the ship’s cabin as cover, she headed straight towards the back. They had discussed this plan in detail back in the warehouse and knew the layout of the ship by heart. They knew that the chest of silver was in the back cabin.
Behind her in the dark, she heard a faint choking sound and then closely following, the sound of a person softly falling onto the deck. She furrowed her brows and thought, Don’t those bastards know to strike more carefully? What if they alerted all the guards at once? Although they weren’t scared of fighting, it would still be a hassle.
Arriving outside the cabin, she unexpectedly saw that there were no guards. A few stifled groans could be heard throughout the dark ship. Sister Guan knew that her subordinates were gradually reaching the middle cabin. Feeling slightly reassured, she hooked the door handle with her finger. She placed a little pressure with the tip of her knife, and quietly opened the cabin door. She immediately spotted the chest in the dark.
Using the weak light shining through the front window as a guide, Sister Guan had a clear view of the size of the chest, and couldn’t help but sucking in a cold breath. The aunt had not been clear. She had only said that given the size and weight of the chest, it probably had over thousands pieces of liang. Sister Guan touched the chest in disbelief, taking in the size. My god, she thought, how much silver is needed to fill a chest this big?
She felt a trickle of fear. To be able to carry this much silver, even if he was a second generation from rich family, he had to be one of the richest second generations in Jingdou. After they were discovered, even the man behind her probably couldn’t stand up against the anger that would come from all of Jingdou.
Don’t kill that second generation man! This was the first thought that came to Sister Guan’s mind, but she immediately figured that what is done cannot be undone, and she couldn’t keep hesitating anymore. Besides, this much silver was enough to do anything they wanted.
She carefully took out her tools and worked on the chest for a long time before managing to get it open.
A flash of silver light immediately filled the cabin.
Sister Guan dumbfoundedly stared at the chest in front of her. Her face was struck by shock and disbelief.
Even though she was the type of person who lived her entire life on the razor sharp edge of a knife, and had seen plenty of silver covered in blood, tonight, she was entranced by the rows of neatly arranged silver ingots. Her usually cool gaze began to reveal traces of greed.
She immediately came back to her senses. No matter how bright the moon was, and no matter how beautiful the silver was, it was impossible for it to shine with such allure.
She suddenly turned her head and looked behind her, only to find a serious looking middle-aged man who held a white lantern in one hand, and an extraordinarily long sword in the other. The man was looking coldly at her.
Tiger Guard Gao Da had already done as Fan Xian ordered. He had given Sister Guan plenty of time to admire the silver, and very slowly raised his sword to attack.
Sister Guan raised her own knife.
But that slow and long sword was an unstoppable force. In a flash, it had broken through the infamous female bandit’s defenses and those on her crew. She had to watch, in deadly pain and with her courage disappearing, her left hand get chopped off. Fresh blood spewed out along with the feeling of burning pain
The middle cabin in the ship was lit up. Sister Guan’s hair was dishevelled and her mind in a muddle as she was dragged into the room.
The bandits that had followed her onto the ship had been disarmed and knocked unconscious earlier. They were tied up securely and laid out neatly on the deck. The few on duty Sixth Bureau swordsmen wearing black were acting like nothing had happened, and continued to guard their own direction.
She raised her head and saw, through the strands of her hair, the tired, irritated, and handsome young man sitting in the tutor’s chair. For some reason, a chill ran through her. Who exactly lived on this ship, to be able to have such martial arts masters guard his ship? The man with the sword earlier, was also a master of the art. Now, she realized that the young second generation that the aunt spoke of was not any normal tea merchant.
Guan Wumei?
The young man on the chair glanced at her chopped off hand and, still facing the hatred filled female bandit, yawned. His face was full of interest as she asked questions.
Naturally, the man was Fan Xian. He had stopped in Yingzhou, originally to clean up some of the things connected to Hong Zhu’s case, but had unexpectedly caught the attention of some foolish bandits. However, he realized at once that the woman in front of him was the same woman from the portrait in the Overwatch Council’s file they were pursuing and he couldn’t help laughing. He thought to himself, I was just wondering how to open the Jiangnan matter, and here it’s already been delivered right to my door.
