Two rickshaws pulled up outside Lu Chunying's home. Two women stepped down, one after the other, and entered the courtyard.
Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying were at the gate to welcome them. Seeing the two women arrive, Xiao Yeci hurriedly called out, "Sister!"
Lu Chunying chimed in beside her, "Sister."
Smack!
Xiao Yeci swatted Lu Chunying aside with a slap and rushed forward to help He Yuxiu with her luggage.
He Yuxiu had not brought much luggage; Youtao carried their few daily necessities.
Youtao was terribly ill at ease, keeping her head down the entire time, not daring to speak.
Xiao Yeci said with a smile, "This must be Little Sister Tao'er. Chunying, call her Auntie."
Lu Chunying looked at Youtao's age and shook her head. "Forget it. I'd rather call her Sister."
Li Banfeng had settled He Yuxiu in Lu Chunying's home. By gathering all the vulnerable people together in one place, he made it clear where their defense needed to be focused.
Ma the Fifth thought this was absurd, but once Li Banfeng decided on something, there was no changing his mind.
Come dinner that evening, Ma the Fifth let out a sigh. "My fear is that Chu Huaijun might suddenly send people over. When that happens, we'll..."
He Yuxiu cut him off. "Nothing to fear. If he dares come to this house, I'll take his head clean off."
Ma the Fifth offered a wry smile. "Sister Xiu, don't talk out of anger. Behind Chu Huaijun now is the Garrison Commissioner."
He Yuxiu shook her head. "I'm not talking out of anger. I was a person meant to die—meant to die in Qishuiyao, and die a pathetic death at that. Old Seven dragged me back from the gates of hell. I thought I would never return to Lüshui City in this lifetime. Yet here I am today, and I even get to move into a place like this. That Little Sister Yeci and Little Sister Chunying are willing to take me in is entirely thanks to Old Seven."
Xiao Yeci said with a smile, "Sister, there's no need to be polite! Chunying and I can't really count as sisters to you, can we?"
He Yuxiu said, "Everyone in this house, myself included, belongs to Old Seven. If anyone touches this house, I'll fight them to the death, no matter who they are."
Xiao Yeci stole glances at He Yuxiu, her heart fluttering.
This woman was even more formidable than a man!
After dinner, Li Banfeng took He Yuxiu and Luo Zhengnan and quietly slipped away toward the He family mansion.
Half a street away from the mansion, the three entered a private residence.
This residence belonged to Luo Zhengnan. It had no courtyard, just a two-story building.
Stepping into the first floor, He Yuxiu saw colorful scraps of paper pasted across the walls. The pieces were jagged and uneven, seeming to piece together some design, though she couldn't tell what it was.
"These are things used by Sound Cultivators," He Yuxiu whispered to Li the Seventh. "Are they for soundproofing?"
Li Banfeng nodded slightly.
Luo Zhengnan slipped into the kitchen and first dumped a bucket of water into the sink. The water drained straight down, disappearing to who knew where.
He then added firewood to the stove and lit a fire, but didn't set a pot on the cooktop.
He Yuxiu looked at Li Banfeng and whispered, "Is this a steam engine?"
Sharp eyes, Xiu'er.
Luo Zhengnan immediately went up to the second floor and lifted the bedboards. Beneath them lay an iron cylinder over half a meter long, connected at both ends to downstairs, with numerous pipes plugged into its body. Something buzzed and hummed within.
He Yuxiu froze in surprise.
She knew what it was, but such things were exceedingly rare in Puluo Province.
He Yuxiu asked Li Banfeng, "Isn't this a generator?"
"You recognize this too?"
"Of course I do. A steam turbine generator. I've seen them before. The Outer States have plenty of these, but they're useless in Puluo Province. Electricity generated in Puluo Province is gone before it travels from the front room to the back courtyard—what do they call it, excessive loss?"
What He Yuxiu meant was excessive line loss—meaning electrical energy was entirely dissipated along the wiring during transmission.
Could one simply avoid transmitting it and use the electricity right inside the room?
People had tried. Precision electronics like television sets and computers couldn't operate properly in Puluo Province. Once powered on, the screen would be covered in static snow, occasionally displaying images of unknown origin.
Simple appliances, such as light bulbs, could indeed be used.
However, generators were deafeningly loud. Enduring ear-splitting racket and shoveling coal and adding water just to power a single light bulb was nowhere near as practical as using a gas lamp.
He Yuxiu detested the noise as well. Covering her ears, she asked, "What do you need this thing for?"
Li Banfeng replied, "That depends on what an expert can do with it."
The output wires from the steam turbine generator connected to a hemispherical device resembling a radar dish.
Luo Zhengnan cranked a handwheel, aligned the radar's direction, drew out two wire leads, and attached them to his temples.
Throwing the switch, electric current surged through his body. Luo Zhengnan gave a shudder and activated his technique.
He Yuxiu was astonished. "I've truly never seen a pathway like his."
Li Banfeng smiled faintly. "Xiu'er, in a moment, you'll have your eyes opened even wider!"
Luo Zhengnan straightened his back and proclaimed with solemn dignity, "Next, please enjoy an excerpt from Women Generals of the Yang Family—Exploring the Ravine: 'Men shout, barbarian horns blare, mountains roar and valleys quake, battle cries shake the heavens!'"
Li Banfeng called out in approval, "Xiu'er, what do you think of this singing style?"
He Yuxiu was unimpressed. "Mediocre voice, decent posture."
Luo Zhengnan shook his head. "Wrong channel."
He adjusted the radar's direction slightly, waited a moment, and said to Li Banfeng, "There are three hooks around the He family mansion: one at the front gate, one at the back gate, and one by the roadside."
Needless to ask, these three were scouts sent by the Garrison Commissioner.
Li Banfeng took out a music box from his chest and opened the lid. On its turntable stood a small golden figurine.
Giving it a slight turn to aim the golden figurine's face toward Luo Zhengnan, he pressed the switch, and the music box began to play.
The melody was soothing and moving. This was a fine treasure gifted to Li Banfeng by Ling Miaoying.
Neither He Yuxiu nor Li Banfeng was harmed by the music, as the golden figurine was not pointed at them.
Luo Zhengnan, however, was affected. He grew utterly exhausted, on the verge of falling asleep, because the music he heard was different from what anyone else heard.
He needed to transmit the music he heard. Twisting his left ear, he switched from receiving mode to transmission mode.
The melody from the music box beamed through the radar straight into the ears of the three hooks. In less than a minute, all three had fallen asleep one after another.
Luo Zhengnan fell asleep as well; the music box's power was simply too formidable.
Li Banfeng shut down the generator, packed up the equipment, tucked Luo Zhengnan back into bed to rest, and brought He Yuxiu back to the He family mansion.
"Brother Seven, you made all these preparations just for me to make this one trip home?"
Li Banfeng nodded. "You'll have to repay this favor. I'm going to make you do something quite excessive."
He Yuxiu smiled. "I'll do whatever you want. How excessive could it possibly be?"
"Go home, explain things clearly, and once that's done, come straight back."
He Yuxiu nodded and walked toward the He family mansion.
...
Inside the He family mansion, the accountant Sheng Shanzhou was carrying a suitcase and on his way out the door when the He family's first lady, Yan Yulin, blocked him. "Old Sheng, you can't leave! Are you abandoning the household affairs?"
Sheng Shanzhou had a pained look on his face. "Madam, I'm just an accountant. I don't possess such great abilities. I'm getting on in years and can no longer keep up. Please let me go home to enjoy a couple days of peace and quiet."
Yan Yulin shook her head. "That won't do, Old Sheng! If you leave at a time like this, what are we supposed to do?"
"The head of the family isn't here! What can I possibly do? Madam, please just let me go."
"Who says the head of the family isn't here?" He Yuxiu leapt in through the window, startling Yan Yulin so badly she almost cried out.
Sheng Shanzhou dropped his suitcase to the floor and hastily bowed to He Yuxiu. "Eldest Miss, you're back... I was just..."
"You were about to leave?"
"I... I was, um..." Sheng Shanzhou no longer dared to leave; even if He Yuxiu told him to go, he wouldn't dare step out that door. "I was going to fetch the ledgers and report the accounts to the Family Head."
"Enough. I have no time to listen to your droning. Listen closely to what I'm about to tell you regarding our businesses, and memorize it: businesses across all regions now have outlets for their goods. Follow Ma the Fifth's instructions for the specifics, and sever all ties with the Chu family completely..."
Once business was handled, He Yuxiu returned to Lu Chunying's residence, and Li Banfeng returned to Luo Zhengnan's place.
After waking Luo Zhengnan, Luo Zhengnan set up the equipment again and woke the three lookouts as well.
Li Banfeng asked, "They all fell asleep at the exact same time—won't they get suspicious?"
"Seventh Master, don't worry. They have no idea they fell asleep together. All they know is that they dozed off. They're locals of Puluo Province working for the Outer States, and working a job is just to put food on the table. Who would ever admit to nodding off in the middle of the night?"
Back at Xiaoyaowu, Li Banfeng originally intended to have a drink with Ma the Fifth, when Cao Zhida suddenly came to report, "A young man came to the dance hall. He drank liquor, refused to pay, and insisted on asking for tea. Judging by his getup and the way he talks, he's probably from Sanying Gate."
Cao Zhida was nervous, but Ma the Fifth didn't take it seriously. Sanying Gate had Qin Tianjiu, so they couldn't stir up any real trouble.
"Give him some money and send him packing."
Li Banfeng shook his head. "I'll go treat this man to tea. Old Luo, come with me."
He brought Luo Zhengnan along to make sure there were no hooks around.
Arriving at the dance hall, Li Banfeng spotted the young man sprawled out across a chair, sporting an expression that practically begged for a slap.
Luo Zhengnan gave a subtle nod, signaling there were no hooks in the area.
Li Banfeng sat down beside him and said in a low voice, "Looking for me?"
The young fellow startled. Just as he tried to sit up straight, Li the Seventh said, "Don't move. Stay sitting just like you were."
The lad didn't dare move, whispering back, "Seventh Master, our bronze seal would like to invite you for tea tomorrow."
Li Banfeng handed the youth a silver dollar, pulled the brim of his hat low, and left the dance hall.
The next morning, Li Banfeng arrived at the teahouse, and Xiaopang hastily ushered him into a private room.
"Brother Seven, Chu Huaijun, the head of the Chu family, treated our chief and third chief to dinner last night and even gave our chief a treasure."
"What treasure?"
"A pair of judge's brushes."
Judge's brushes?
A few associations popped into Li Banfeng's mind.
Could they be relatives of the judge's brush in my house?
"What do these judge's brushes do?"
Xiaopang scratched his scalp. "What they actually do, I don't know either. I only heard it's a prized treasure kept at the bottom of the Chu family's chest."
In terms of origin, this pair was quite different from Li Banfeng's. Li Banfeng had snatched his from two petty ruffians.
"He invited your chief and third chief, but what about your second chief? Was it an intentional snub to isolate him?"
Xiaopang nodded. "The second chief was furious. Last night, he called me and our silver badge over, drinking and cursing the entire night. He didn't dare curse the chief, so he only cursed the third chief for being spineless, railing for half the night. I thought over what Brother Seven said before—his cursing really was meant for my ears. He might truly want to join hands with you. Brother Seven, do you want to meet our second chief?"
"No hurry to meet. Send your second chief a gift first. Go to Yufangzhai and pick out something fine—whatever your second chief likes. I'll foot the bill."
Qin Xiaopang said, "It won't carry much weight if I send it. It'd be best if Brother Seven delivered it in person."
Li Banfeng smiled. "If you deliver it, it's the same as me sending it. He'll understand in his heart."
...
"A pair of judge's brushes, a prized treasure of the Chu family?" He Jiaqing frowned. "How come I've never heard of it?"
Wan Jinxian said, "The word came from inside Sanying Gate. They've already been presented to their Great Gold Seal. It's absolutely certain."
"Old Wan, contact the Ghost Hand Sect. Tell them it's on my orders—have them find a way to get that pair of judge's brushes for me."
...
"Judge's brushes?" Luo Zhengnan wiped the antenna and packed it away into the box. "Seems He Jiaqing is quite fond of them. I wonder if Seventh Master likes them too."
Chapter 390