I Love the Jiangxiang Gang

"Yang Yanzheng is a steward for Second Miss Chu's household. More than two months ago, he came to Lanyang Village and told me to spy on you. Whenever I heard you got any money, I was supposed to take two bricks and place them beside the old well at the edge of the village. He'd send people over to handle things. Once it was done, he'd pay me a reward—thirty silver dollars a time. "A couple of days ago, he came to see me and paid me as agreed. He told me to keep at it and that the rewards would only get bigger. That's the only reason I kept tabs on where you went. "The people who robbed you were all sent by Yang Yanzheng. They're out-of-towners unfamiliar with the area, so I was in charge of showing them the way and pointing you out. "If something went wrong, I was to let Yang Yanzheng know as soon as possible. That was all I did! I never laid a finger on you, and I never intended to harm you! I've told you everything I know! Fifth Young Master, and you, sir, please spare my life!" Landlord Wei knelt on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. He truly had told them everything. In his eyes, Li Banfeng was like a demon. No matter what was hidden in his heart, Li Banfeng seemed able to see right through it. Ma the Fifth finally understood. Every time, the robbers had been different men, yet every time, they had known his face and known where to find him. It turned out Landlord Wei had been showing them the way all along. Ma the Fifth asked Landlord Wei, "Why does Yang Yanzheng want to harm me? I don't even know the man." Landlord Wei shook his head. "I wouldn't know that. I was just following orders." Li Banfeng nodded. "That sounds like the truth. Is there anything else you haven't told us?" Landlord Wei wept, "I've said it all! Not a single word kept back!" Li Banfeng believed he was telling the truth. He said to Ma the Fifth, "Brother Ma, could you step outside for a moment? I'd like to have a few words in private with Boss Wei." Hearing this, Landlord Wei wailed in despair. He didn't want to be left alone with Li Banfeng—not for a single second. Ma the Fifth also guessed what Li Banfeng intended to do. Watching Landlord Wei weep like this, Ma the Fifth actually felt a twinge of compassion. Just as the man said, he had only done the job for money. He wasn't the mastermind, nor had he ever laid hands on Ma the Fifth himself. "Brother Li, if you ask me, maybe we should just—" Li Banfeng ignored Ma the Fifth and asked Landlord Wei, "You knew full well Ma the Fifth was sleeping in a shack. Why did you still tip off Yang Yanzheng? Why did you still have him send men to rob him? You wouldn't even spare his last coppers for food?" Landlord Wei sobbed, "I was just greedy for that little bit of silver! I saw the Fifth Young Master going out to sell scrap, and I just wanted to make a bit more money!" Li Banfeng asked again, "Ma the Fifth saved your life. Did you forget that?" "Th-that, I paid him back with rent! One thing has nothing to do with the other!" Hearing those words, any pity in Ma the Fifth vanished. "Brother Li, I'm going out for a walk. I'll be back in an hour." "No need for an hour." Li Banfeng smiled at Landlord Wei for a moment. "Boss Wei is a straightforward man. A few minutes should be enough to finish our chat." Landlord Wei cried out hoarsely, "Ma the Fifth! You can't leave! Let's talk this out right now! I've got plenty of friends in the underworld! If you two dare touch me today, you'll never walk out of this door!" Some days ago, when Landlord Wei fought Pockmark Yu, a good number of people had indeed fought alongside him. Could he be a member of a gang too? The Landlords Gang? Ma the Fifth scoffed. "Boss Wei, you think I don't know how things work? Those friends of yours are just street thugs. Pay them, and they'll do the job. Doesn't matter who pays." With that, Ma the Fifth walked out. Li Banfeng patted Landlord Wei on the cheek. "Now it's just the two of us." ... Twenty minutes later, Ma the Fifth returned to the wooden cabin to find Li Banfeng covering the patch of bonding mud with a red rug. Landlord Wei was nowhere to be seen. Ma the Fifth helped Li Banfeng sweep the living room clean, and the two spoke of Landlord Wei first. Ma the Fifth asked, "Now that Landlord Wei is gone, can we still live here?" "Of course!" Li Banfeng sat down on the sofa and lit a cigarette. "Landlord Wei went on a long journey. Who knows when he'll return? No one should come looking for him anytime soon. At most, we just won't have anyone collecting rent." Thinking it over, Ma the Fifth realized that was true. Li Banfeng continued, "There's one thing I don't quite get. In an open-ground duel, can you find someone to fight in your place?" "You mean someone substituting for him in a duel?" Ma the Fifth shook his head. "If it's a daytime arena—a duel fought by day—you can have a substitute. But not in a night arena. That's a fight to the death. You have to take the field yourself." "That's strange, then." Li Banfeng frowned. "Landlord Wei didn't have any real skills to speak of. How could Pockmark Yu lose to him?" Was Pockmark Yu just that bad? During that chaotic brawl, Pockmark Yu hadn't looked bad at all. Could there be another reason? Unable to come up with an answer for now, he set the matter aside. Leaving Landlord Wei behind, the two began discussing Yang Yanzheng. Li Banfeng asked Ma the Fifth, "Yang Yanzheng was definitely acting on his master's orders to harm you. Do you know Second Miss Chu? I saw news about her in the papers once—they said she attempted to murder her husband." Ma the Fifth thought for a long time. "Second Miss Chu, Chu Huaiyuan... I know her, but I never made an enemy of her. We just had some friction in business." "Do tell." Li Banfeng took a sip of tea, clearly interested. Ma the Fifth said, "It wasn't that big a deal. During New Year's this year, Lüshuiwan held fifteen consecutive singing contests from the first to the fifteenth day of the lunar month. Each contest crowned a singing queen, fifteen in total. Among them, three were the most popular: Jiang Mengting, Xu Qiulan, and Xiao Xiufei. "I owned two dance halls back then. I brought in Jiang Mengting, the most popular of the three, and signed her to a three-year contract, having her rotate between my two venues. "By March, I found a way to poach Xiao Xiufei from Chu the Second's hands. Out of the three big singing queens, I had two in my pocket. They usually performed separately in my two halls, but sometimes they'd share the stage at the same venue. "Brother Li, let me tell you, back then, nearly half the dance hall business in all of Lüshuiwan belonged to me! During the day, I even had the two of them cut records..." Li Banfeng understood why Ma the Fifth had managed to bring in twenty percent of the Ma family's entire revenue from just two dance halls. The man truly knew how to make money; his business acumen was exceptional. He also understood why Second Miss Chu refused to let him off. "Brother Ma, sharp as you are in business, didn't you know that cutting off someone's livelihood is as bad as killing their parents?" Ma the Fifth froze for a moment, falling silent. Back when he was the Fifth Young Master of the Ma family, he had only thought that in business, each relied on their own abilities. Now that he had fallen on hard times, he realized that before Chu the Second, he had become an ant she could crush at will. What could he do? The Chu family was also one of the Four Great Families. In Ma the Fifth's current state, how could he possibly contend with Chu the Second? Li Banfeng, on the other hand, was quite optimistic. "She definitely won't kill you. The Chu family wouldn't allow it either. Otherwise, she wouldn't have sent rabble like that. "As for whether she'll keep messing with you, I'd wager she won't stop. But if it's just more rabble like this, they won't be hard to handle." Ma the Fifth considered this for a moment and said, "You crossed the Lu family, and I crossed the Chu family. Living in hiding here in Lanyang Village, scraping by just to survive... it really isn't easy." Li Banfeng frowned in displeasure. "What do you mean, 'scraping by just to survive'? We're going to build a grand enterprise!" ... Yuedong Province, Yuezhou City, villa district east of town. Xiao Zhenggong sat in his spacious living room, looking at the scissors Critick had handed him—a pair stained with blood. "Chief Xiao, do you recognize these scissors?" Xiao Zhenggong shook his head slightly. Critick said, "I think you should know more about your own gang. These scissors belonged to one of your subordinates. Her name is Zhou Yujuan." Xiao Zhenggong thought for a moment. "That name sounds familiar..." Critick said, "She is the owner of the Xianle Dance Hall in Yaowanggou. The dance hall is a property of the Jiangxiang Gang. She went missing, and along with her, Du Hongxi, the wind patrol of Medicine King Hall's Second Branch, also vanished." Xiao Zhenggong recalled some details. Luo Zhengnan, the Master of Medicine King Hall, had reported to him that the Xianle Dance Hall had been blown up. "Where were these scissors found?" "They were found on Li Banfeng." "Li Banfeng? He took Zhou Yujuan's scissors?" Xiao Zhenggong found it hard to believe. "Are you saying that white lamb blew up the Xianle Dance Hall?" Critick shook his head. "Chief Xiao, you don't know much about your opponent either. "Li Banfeng is not the white lamb you think he is. He is a dark energy user, tentatively identified as a journey cultivator. His level may not be high, but he possesses many powerful weapons—what Puluo Province calls spirit items and magical treasures. "On top of those powerful weapons, he possesses exceptionally clear tactical thinking and a fighting style that ordinary people can hardly predict. He is no ordinary opponent." Xiao Zhenggong waved a hand. "Spare me all that. Just tell me, how much money do you want to track him down?" Critick thought for a moment and shook his head. "Chief Xiao, this is no longer a matter of money. You still haven't realized the gravity of the situation. "The Lu family, the most powerful clan in Puluo Province, has set their sights on Li Banfeng. I crossed paths with the private detective they sent. That man calls himself Daboyins, and he is one of the finest detectives in the province." Xiao Zhenggong smiled upon hearing this. "I've known about that for a while. That detective was hired by Zhuo Yuling. She isn't Lu Dongliang's formal wife; her actions don't represent the Lu family." "Chief Xiao, that was before. You may not know yet, but Lu Xiaolan has returned to the Lu family mansion. She has already told her father everything about Li Banfeng. "The Lu family has committed a massive force to scouring Yaowanggou for Li Banfeng. I believe Lu Dongliang won't doubt his daughter. The resources they deploy will only grow. If I remain involved, I will be taking on enormous risks." Xiao Zhenggong's brow furrowed tightly. He lit a cigar and said to Critick, "You need to find Li Banfeng before the Lu family does. Whatever terms you want, we can talk." Critick sighed. "Chief Xiao, you don't understand my point. I cannot go up against the Lu family." "The Jiangxiang Gang can back you." "The Jiangxiang Gang is no match for the Lu family either." Xiao Zhenggong took a puff of his cigar and smiled faintly. "If the Lu family went all out, no one in Puluo Province could stand against them. But they can't go all out. The He family is keeping them in check. That was my purpose in having you heal He Haiqin." Hearing this, Critick nodded slightly. Much of the time, Critick looked down on Xiao Zhenggong. Yet he had to admit that in saving He Haiqin's life, Xiao Zhenggong had played his hand brilliantly. Xiao Zhenggong held his cigar, tilted his head, and looked at Critick. "State your terms quickly, while I'm still in the mood to listen." Critick pondered for a long while before naming the price he wanted most. "I want to open a hospital." "You? Open a hospital?" Xiao Zhenggong felt he had just heard the most ridiculous demand in the world. He knew what pathway Critick followed, and he knew the unspeakable arts belonging to that pathway. This man was a catastrophe to any hospital, and now he wanted to open one. Seeing Xiao Zhenggong's astonished expression, Critick smiled faintly. "Chief Xiao, do you think I can't open a hospital?" "You can, of course you can. Isn't it just a matter of money?" Xiao Zhenggong tried his best to keep his expression under control. "It's not just about money. In Puluo Province, every business needs a gang to look out for it, and a hospital is no exception. Chief Xiao, you should know my difficulties." Xiao Zhenggong pursed his lips. Have the Jiangxiang Gang back Critick's hospital? The Jiangxiang Gang didn't exactly have the best reputation to begin with... After hesitating again and again, Xiao Zhenggong agreed. "I'll get in touch with the Master of Medicine King Hall." Critick shook his head. "I don't want to open a hospital in Yaowanggou. I want to open it in the city—in Lüshuiwan." In Lüshuiwan? Damned foreign devil, isn't that pushing it too far! Xiao Zhenggong's cheek twitched. "That won't be easy to arrange. After all, you're not a member of the Jiangxiang Gang. If you open a hospital in Lüshuiwan, I'm afraid I won't be able to cover for you." "I am a member of the Jiangxiang Gang." Critick pulled open his shirt, revealing a tattoo across his chest that read five large characters: *I love the Jiangxiang Gang.* Xiao Zhenggong stared in stunned disbelief for a long time. "Before... didn't it say... you loved Puluo Province?" Critick smiled. "I feel my bond with the Jiangxiang Gang runs deeper." Xiao Zhenggong pursed his lips. "You... you can't just change a tattoo whenever you feel like it." Critick replied with utter solemnity, "I can change it whenever I like. I could even change it to 'I love Chief Xiao.'" Holding his cigar, Xiao Zhenggong's face turned livid. "No, you don't. You'd better leave it as it is. "And don't let anyone see that tattoo of yours normally. You don't understand the customs of Puluo Province. Showing off a tattoo like that offends public decency."