Shoe factories, clothing factories, pharmaceutical factories... Factories stood shoulder to shoulder, and a crowd was packed outside the gate of every single one.
Many among them held placards inscribed with the number "1" or "2"—the going rate for a single job.
Tan Jinxiao attached great importance to this. "From now on, we'll need placards of our own to wear our prices right on us. That'll make it easier to find work, and when it comes time to settle up afterward, there'll be fewer misunderstandings between both sides."
Juanzi looked at Tan Jinxiao. "We didn't come out here with you to look for day labor. Can you understand plain speech or not?"
Xiao Yeci checked her pocket watch; it was already eight in the evening. "It's this late already, yet so many people are still waiting for work!"
Tan Jinxiao replied, "The Underground City knows no difference between day and night. So long as you have the strength, you can work straight from morning to night—work several days and nights on end, and nobody will stop you."
One shoe factory had arranged newly finished shoes along the curb, waiting for someone to pick up the shipment.
Li Banfeng picked up a shoebox, opened it, and examined it.
Whether in craftsmanship or materials, whether in Puluo Province or the Outer States, this pair of shoes was undoubtedly top-grade.
Moreover, Li Banfeng recognized the brand; it was sold in both Puluo Province and the Outer States.
As for the price, if judged by retail tags in the shops, buying a pair like this on Chen Changrui's salary would make his heart ache for half a year.
There were no price tags on the shoes here. Li Banfeng asked, "How much for a pair of these shoes?"
Seeing that Li Banfeng was dressed impeccably, the worker at the gate answered politely, "Sir, we don't sell our shoes retail."
Li Banfeng smiled. "I'm just asking the price, not actually buying."
Looking troubled, the worker said, "If you want to buy shoes, please check the shoe shops nearby. We really don't sell retail here."
Tan Jinxiao piped up from the side. "I've worked in a shoe factory before. I don't know what the going rate is now, but back then, a pair of these went for sixty."
Li Banfeng hadn't heard clearly. "Sixty what? Silver dollars?"
"What silver dollars? How many folks here have ever even seen a silver dollar?" Tan Jinxiao snorted. "Sixty in Huan Country currency—and that's not cheap, either."
Li Banfeng frowned. "That can't be right. Does that even cover the cost of production?"
Tan Jinxiao said, "Covers it and leaves a profit! It just depends on how the work gets done. Stop messing around here. When someone comes to collect the shipment soon and sees you buying shoes, this factory won't be able to stay in business. The boss will have to grab a shovel and go looking for day labor outside, and the machinery here might even lose its life."
"The machinery losing its life? What's that supposed to mean?"
"If someone smashes the machines, aren't their lives gone?" Tan Jinxiao urged the group. "If you're here to work, I'll help you negotiate a price. If you don't want to work, don't go disrupting their business."
As they spoke, a whistle blew in the distance, and a miniature train chugged slowly into view.
The small train was much like the miniature trains in the Black Rock Slope urban district. It pulled up before the shoe factory gate and halted. The factory workers loaded goods onto the train while the conductor received the cargo, tallied the count, and signed off on an invoice. The workers took the receipt and went back inside the factory.
Li Banfeng asked, "They don't even pay in cash on the spot?"
Tan Jinxiao said, "Once you collect enough receipts, you take them to the Master's counter to draw your pay. Usually, they don't delay payments. If you run into an unusual situation, then you wait a bit longer...
"Hey, miss, write down what's useful and skip what isn't! Why bother jotting down how the factories sell their wares? Don't you get tired of scribbling so many words?"
He was talking to Xiao Yeci.
Xiao Yeci was taking notes with great diligence. "Not tired at all. These details are very useful."
Tan Jinxiao shook his head. "What good is noting this stuff? Even if you don't get tired, you could at least save some ink and paper!"
As Li Banfeng walked along, he saw clothes, hats, shoes, socks, pots, bowls, ladles, and basins—he felt like buying all of them. The craftsmanship was truly exceptional, but every single factory adhered to the same rule: no retail sales.
Tan Jinxiao pointed toward a grocery store ahead. "If you want to buy things, go there. That's a proper retail shop."
Li Banfeng entered the shop. He examined the garments, the shoes, the kitchenware, and the tables, chairs, and benches. The goods here simply could not compare to what came out of the factories.
The shopkeeper was fairly warm and accommodating, bringing out a suit for Li Banfeng to try on.
Li Banfeng's very first suit had been bought at Feng's Grocery Store, so he held a special fondness for goods from such general shops.
He bought the suit, but he didn't try it on; the chemical odor of the fabric was far too pungent.
Juanzi also took a liking to the clothes in the grocery store. The shopkeeper frequently did business with three-headed people as well and knew what sizes worked, picking out two shirts especially for Juanzi.
Seven yuan ninety for a shirt, twenty-eight yuan thirty for a suit.
Coming out of the grocery store, Juanzi held the shirts happily, but Mengzi was displeased. "Why buy this piece of junk? Sm-smell that stench—how can anyone wear this?"
Juanzi snorted. "Listen to how haughty you've become! Back when we were dirt-poor, we could only buy a single piece of clothing every few years. Have you forgotten already?"
How many years it actually took to buy a new garment, Mengzi truly had forgotten, but Li Banfeng could calculate it.
According to the going rates in the Underground City's Human Market, a laborer could barely scrape together two yuan a day. After deducting basic food and living expenses, only a few dimes remained. If they had children and elderly parents to support, not even those few dimes would be left. How long, then, would it take them to save up for a new suit of clothes?
Yet the Underground City truly did not lack clothes. Right ahead was a garment factory, where crate after crate of clothing was being loaded onto the train.
There was no lack of clothing, yet they could not afford to wear any. What kind of logic was this?
In the Underground City, there was no difference between day and night. Li Banfeng checked his pocket watch; it was already midnight. It was time to find lodging.
"Are there any inns around here?"
Tan Jinxiao shook his head. "No inns. There are restaurants, though. Pay an extra fifty cents, and they'll let you sleep there."
Liangwu said, "Let's go have a look, then."
Tan Jinxiao sneered. "Look at what? Have you earned any money yet, daring to go to a restaurant?"
Xiao Yeci observed Tan Jinxiao closely. She felt that this man spoke with a certain logic, yet within that logic lay glaring flaws.
Li Banfeng said, "Money's been earned. You served as my guide, and I'm quite satisfied. Here's three yuan."
"Three yuan just for pointing the way?" Tan Jinxiao was overjoyed. "If you've got jobs like this in the future, you must come find me! I won't do anything else—I'll wait on you exclusively!"
Liangcai asked, "Does that mean only he gets to eat, while those of us who haven't earned money can't?"
Tan Jinxiao nodded with utter seriousness. "Of course! If you don't earn money, you starve!"
Li Banfeng took out a stack of banknotes. "Everyone's earned money. You're my guide. Juanzi, Mengzi, and Xiaoshan are my bodyguards. Miss Xiao is my secretary. And as for the Liangwucai sisters, you'll be my..."
While Li Banfeng was still pondering an appropriate title, Liangwu volunteered, "We two sisters will warm your bed."
Tan Jinxiao rolled his eyes. "Just that? I can do that too! From now on, you don't need to hire so many people. I'll be your bodyguard! To tell you the truth, my cultivation is above the clouds! I won't claim our pathway is all that formidable, but ordinary folks can't even get close to me!"
He remembered that he was an above-the-clouds cultivator; by the looks of it, his memory had recovered quite a bit.
Tan Jinxiao looked at Xiao Yeci, then turned back to Li Banfeng. "This miss here, I can't replace her. I don't read much, so you'll still have to keep her on as secretary."
Liangcai asked, "We two sisters warm Seventh Master's bed—can you replace us for that, too?"
"Course I can!" Tan Jinxiao thumped his chest. "My body's plenty warm! Not just warm, but sticky too! A bed I've warmed up is truly something to behold!"
Liangwu giggled. "We two sisters have plenty of skills. After warming the bed, we can do other things!"
Tan Jinxiao's head drooped. "Other things I can't do. Well, a man can't be perfect in every way!"
He led the group into a restaurant. Li Banfeng remarked, "I saw several eateries along the road. Why must we come to this one?"
Tan Jinxiao answered honestly, "The food here is good, and I know the shopkeeper. With so many of us eating together, I ought to help out an old friend's business."
There were quite a few patrons inside the restaurant.
Tan Jinxiao found a table, sat down, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Shopkeeper, what are you daydreaming about? Business is here!"
The restaurant's shopkeeper walked over carrying a large wooden chest on his back. "What would you folks like to eat?"
Tan Jinxiao announced, "Today we're having meat! One bowl of braised pork belly rice for each of us!"
The shopkeeper took out paper and pen from the wooden chest on his back. Just as he was about to record the order, Li Banfeng stopped him. "I don't feel like braised pork belly."
Tan Jinxiao grew disgruntled. "Braised pork belly is delicious! Listen to me!"
Li Banfeng said, "Do you have a menu? I want to order."
Tan Jinxiao said, "This isn't the outside world. They don't do multicourse banquet spreads here—it's all large bowls of rice! Just listen to me. The braised pork belly rice gives you the most bang for your buck."
The shopkeeper retrieved the menu from the wooden chest on his back. Li Banfeng looked at it; indeed, there were no table dishes.
Even without multicourse dishes, Li Banfeng still didn't want braised pork belly. He ordered a seafood rice for one yuan and twenty cents.
Tan Jinxiao stamped his foot in frustration. "Why order seafood rice? It's just clam shells mixed with rice—what's so good about that? Braised pork belly beats that by a mile! Big, thick slices of fatty meat hold off hunger and satisfy your cravings. How good would that be!"
"Clam shells" referred to clams, and Li Banfeng genuinely enjoyed eating them.
Xiao Yeci looked over the menu. "The food isn't expensive at all. You said earlier that one had to earn three yuan to eat meat, but from what I see here, a rice bowl with meat only costs just over a yuan."
Tan Jinxiao said, "Miss, are you telling me you only eat one meal a day? Or that once you blow it all on one meal, you don't care about anything else? Don't you have to live life day by day?"
Xiao Yeci ordered spare rib rice, Liangwucai ordered two portions of roast duck rice, and Juanzi ordered three portions of braised pork belly rice.
The shopkeeper wrote down the order and headed to the back kitchen to get to work.
Li Banfeng said, "This restaurant isn't small. How come I haven't seen a single waiter?"
Tan Jinxiao shook his head. "Where would the money come from to hire help?"
Xiao Yeci said, "Business is quite decent. He should easily afford two or three waiters."
Tan Jinxiao gave a bitter smile. "You folks aren't in this trade, so you don't know the hardships here. Xiao Songzi and I ran an eatery back in the day, too. It's truly not easy."
Li Banfeng asked, "Who's Xiao Songzi?"
"A friend. A good friend of many years, but he left later on." Tan Jinxiao didn't dwell on Xiao Songzi; instead, he pointed toward the kitchen. "The keeper here is named Chen Yongnian, an old friend of mine as well. He has a wife back in the kitchen who knows how to fry, sauté, boil, and deep-fry—she does it all, so there's no need to hire anyone else."
Before long, the shopkeeper served the dishes. They weren't carried out on metal platters, but taken directly out of the large wooden chest on his back.
Li Banfeng looked at his seafood rice: a plate of blood clams and a large bowl of white rice.
The blood clams had been scalded in boiling water, then tossed in soy sauce—tender, savory, and refreshing. Li Banfeng could hardly keep his hands from scooping up bite after bite.
The shopkeeper produced a wine jar from the wooden chest on his back and poured a cup for each of them. Li Banfeng asked, "How much for the wine?"
Tan Jinxiao waved his hand. "What wine money? Order meat, and the wine is on the house! That rule can never change!"
The shopkeeper smiled. "Rest assured, sir, the rule will never change."
The liquor was potent and sharp-smelling. Tan Jinxiao pointed at the cup and said, "I'm not blowing hot air to you folks. This stuff is blended from pure alcohol without a grain of grain in it—packs one hell of a punch!"
Mengzi snatched away Xiaoshan's wine. "Children shouldn't drink."
Juanzi snapped, "Whether you drink it or he drinks it, what difference does it make?"
Tan Jinxiao pointed at his braised pork belly rice. "This pork was bought at the Earth Market, and your clam shells came from the Sea Market. The ingredients for this meal cost barely thirty cents. Seasonings and charcoal add at most another ten cents."
Xiao Yeci said, "Then he's still making quite a bit of money! That's more than half in profit."
Tan Jinxiao shook his head. "You haven't factored in the biggest expense. The rent for the shop, factored into each dish, eats up more than sixty cents. As for the remaining ten-odd cents, whether the keeper gets to pocket it depends on whether enough patrons show up today. If too few customers come, he won't even cover the rent, and he'll be operating at a loss."
Xiao Yeci said, "Rent is that expensive? Then why not just buy a place of his own to open a shop?"
Tan Jinxiao sighed. "Shops in the Underground City aren't for sale. They all belong to the Master."
Li Banfeng asked, "Who exactly is this Master?"
Tan Jinxiao had no way to explain. "The Master is... the Master."
After finishing their meal, Li Banfeng did a quick headcount; he needed to arrange lodging for everyone.
A total of eight people had come out this time. Having heard Tan Jinxiao mention that fifty cents covered overnight lodging per person, eight people would come to four yuan.
Just as he was about to pay, Tan Jinxiao stopped him. "You can't pay like that! Don't you know how to do math? Three yuan is plenty!"
Li Banfeng was puzzled. "Why three yuan?"
Tan Jinxiao said, "For three yuan, you rent a large room, and all of us can stay in it."
Xiao Yeci blushed. "Men and women should stay separate! How could we possibly share a room?"
Tan Jinxiao waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry, the room is big enough. Hang a curtain down the middle and nobody will see a thing. Just make do for one night."
"Hang a curtain?" Juanzi felt this was inappropriate. "Then what about me?"
The shopkeeper, Chen Yongnian, took the three yuan and was about to tidy up the rooms for them when a man entered the restaurant, dressed in a stand-collar woolen overcoat and a black bowler hat.
"Oh, Master Bao!" The shopkeeper blinked in surprise. "Today isn't collection day yet."
"The day's been moved up—a new rule set by the Master." The man named Bao pulled over a chair, sat right at the restaurant doorway, and summoned several underlings to block the entrance.
Tan Jinxiao said, "See that? That's the debt collector sent by the Master, named Bao Yaocheng. He usually comes at the end of the month, but this month he's several days early. No idea what's going on."
The shopkeeper, Chen Yongnian, didn't dare ask questions and hastily fished for money in the wooden chest on his back.
A stack of banknotes was stuffed into Bao Yaocheng's hands. Bao Yaocheng counted them, then shook his head. "This isn't enough."
Chen Yongnian froze. "Master Bao, I've run this shop for several years now. It's been this price all these years."
"Don't you read the notices?" Bao Yaocheng pointed toward the door. "It was posted yesterday: shop rent goes up by thirty-five percent. Once you pay up, go have a look yourself."
Chen Yongnian fumbled inside the chest behind him for a long time, pulling out all his money, down to what was set aside for tomorrow's restocking. Even then, he couldn't cover the thirty-five percent increase.
"Master Bao, I just bought coal yesterday, so I really have no cash left today. Could you grant me two days of leeway?"
"No leeway!" Bao Yaocheng shook his head. "These are the Master's orders!"
Chen Yongnian pleaded, "Master Bao, please come back tomorrow. I'll head out in a moment to borrow some from friends..."
"Cut the useless chatter. Shut off the flue." Bao Yaocheng waved toward outside. Two underlings opened a sheet-metal box by the restaurant entrance.
Inside the sheet-metal box was an iron valve. Just as one man reached to turn it, Chen Yongnian rushed out. "No, you can't do this!"
As Chen Yongnian scuffled with the two men, Bao Yaocheng stepped forward and yanked Chen Yongnian back.
"Who told you to lay a finger on my men? Where'd you get the nerve?"
Smack! Bao Yaocheng slapped Chen Yongnian across the face.
Chen Yongnian begged, "I beg you, grant me one day—just one day."
Smack!
Bao Yaocheng swung his hand back and struck Chen Yongnian again with a backhand. "I'm a lazy man. When my palm swings out for a slap, my backhand's got to swing right back. For the sake of these two slaps, I'll give you twenty minutes. Bring me the money."
Chen Yongnian lowered his head. "Master Bao, twenty minutes isn't enough to borrow that much money."
"Fine, I'll give you a few more, and then you'll find a way to borrow it!" Bao Yaocheng raised his hand to strike again. Chen Yongnian stood frozen in place with his head lowered, not even daring to dodge.
He feared that Bao Yaocheng really would cut off the flue—that pipe was more important to him than his own life.
"Wait a moment," Li Banfeng walked over to Bao Yaocheng and asked, "How much is thirty-five percent of the rent?"
Bao Yaocheng eyed Li Banfeng. "Does this have anything to do with you?"
Li Banfeng replied, "Never mind whether it has anything to do with me—the money has to do with you, doesn't it? Name a figure."
Bao Yaocheng handed the ledger sheet to Li Banfeng. Chen Yongnian was still short eight hundred and twenty yuan on his rent.
Li Banfeng handed Bao Yaocheng eight hundred and fifty yuan. "Keep the change."
Taking the money, Bao Yaocheng glanced between Li Banfeng and Chen Yongnian. "What's the relationship between you two?"
Chen Yongnian didn't know how to respond. Li Banfeng smiled. "None of your concern. Take the cash and get lost, isn't that enough?"
Bao Yaocheng shot Li Banfeng a glare and spat, "What a fucking sucker!"
Cursing under his breath, he left with his men.
Chen Yongnian thanked Li Banfeng profusely. "Honored guest, thank you for saving my life! I'll go borrow the money right now—I'll repay you right away."
Li Banfeng waved his hand. "No rush on that. Attend to your business first."
Chen Yongnian insisted, "I can't take your money like this. I must pay it back."
Li Banfeng smiled. "I didn't say you didn't have to repay me. The longer it sits, the more interest accrues, so I won't lose out. Go tend to your business."
Tan Jinxiao watched from the side, remaining silent the entire time.
Chen Yongnian set about tidying up the lodging rooms for Li Banfeng and the rest. Li Banfeng had originally asked for just one room, but the shopkeeper prepared three. "Please spread out and make yourselves comfortable—consider it a token of my gratitude. I'll go raise the money right away."
Li Banfeng asked Tan Jinxiao, "What did shutting off the flue mean?"
Tan Jinxiao replied, "It means cutting off his wife's windpipe. If she can't vent smoke, she can't breathe, so there was no way in hell he could agree to that."
Li Banfeng pondered for a moment. "Didn't you say his wife knows how to cook and wash dishes?"
"She does! So long as she has enough coal and water, his wife can do anything."
Li Banfeng was flabbergasted. "His wife is a machine?"
Tan Jinxiao nodded. "Didn't expect that, did you? Even a machine can be taken as a wife!"
Li Banfeng could hardly conceive of it. "There are actually people like this in the world?"
Tan Jinxiao sighed. "I used to think he was mad, too. But mad or not, a man still has to live his life!"
...
In the kitchen, Chen Yongnian put things in order, closed up the shop, and prepared to head out to raise the money.
A wooden spatula extended from the cabinet, gently stroking Chen Yongnian's cheek and caressing his bruised wounds.
"It's all right, it's over now," Chen Yongnian murmured, touching the wooden spatula. "I'm going to borrow money. We ran into a good person, and we can't let a good heart be chilled."
Hiss!
A puff of steam hissed forth; she was aching with worry for Chen Yongnian.
Chen Yongnian turned the water valve and shoveled some coal into the stove. "Watch the house well. Wait for me to come back."
...
The group divided up the rooms and went to sleep. Li Banfeng had a room to himself. Because Juanzi's three heads could take turns resting, she took charge of keeping watch over Tan Jinxiao. Liangwucai and Xiao Yeci shared another room.
In the dead of night, once Xiao Yeci had fallen into a deep slumber, Liangwucai slipped quietly out of their room and entered Li Banfeng's.
Li Banfeng was sleeping soundly on the bed. Liangwucai crawled under his blanket.
Liangcai murmured softly, "He's so cold. His freezing flesh makes me want to shiver right along with him."
Liangwu said, "Cold is as it should be. It's precisely because he's cold that we came to warm the bed."
Floating in midair, the projector silently watched the scene before it, a wave of reflection rising within:
A muskmelon is naturally cold to begin with, yet under the camouflage of light and shadow, not a single flaw can be seen.
Such is the power of art, disguising the false to appear so utterly real.
In a certain sense, this is the art of truth itself. If I only film this piece of art and show it to Madame, then Director Qi will...
Heh-heh-hah-ha!
At that thought, the projector darted its gaze around, worried that the glove might pop up out of nowhere and steal the film.
...
Tan Jinxiao was fast asleep. Juanzi and Xiaoshan were also asleep, leaving only Mengzi to watch over Tan Jinxiao.
An ethereal tune drifted through the room. Mengzi's eyelids grew heavy, and after struggling a few times, he drifted quickly into dreamland.
Li Banfeng put away the music box, pushed open the door, entered the room, and stepped up to Tan Jinxiao. "Quit faking. Get up."
Tan Jinxiao opened his eyes. "What for?"
"Time to work!"
"What hour is it to go to work? Even if you hire a long-term farmhand, you have to let him sleep!"
Li Banfeng said, "This is an urgent job. We just did a deal, and the accounts haven't been settled yet."
"Oh, that," Tan Jinxiao actually understood immediately. "It is rather pressing. I reckon he must have walked two streets away by now."
...
Tan Jinxiao had calculated accurately; Bao Yaocheng had indeed made it two streets away.
Collecting rent hadn't gone smoothly today. With this rate hike, several households couldn't pay up. He had beaten them and smashed their things. Bao Yaocheng wasn't softhearted; if they couldn't produce the money, he shut off their flues directly.
Walking down an alley, Bao Yaocheng felt a chilly breeze brush across his face.
Looking up, he saw a man clad in a black suit and a black bowler hat, standing right before him.
"Who the hell are you?" Bao Yaocheng asked.
Li Banfeng raised his head. "Forgotten so soon? I gave you money just a moment ago."
Bao Yaocheng recognized him. "Oh, it's you—the one who paid Old Chen's rent? Having second thoughts? If you regret it, don't come whining to me; go find Old Chen. Who told you to be such a fucking sucker?"
"That's two times now," Li Banfeng pulled down the brim of his hat. "Old Chen's debt is cleared, and the rent has been paid. But how do we settle the bill for those two slaps?"
Bao Yaocheng laughed. "How do you want to settle it? My slapping him is his damn good fortune! Do you think you dare lay a hand on me? Who do you think you are? Who do you think you're talking to? Touch a finger on me and see what happens! Do you know who I—"
Smack!
Li Banfeng reached out his right hand and struck Bao Yaocheng's left cheek with a resounding slap.
Bao Yaocheng spun half a circle on the spot and nearly collapsed to the ground.
"You hit me?" Bao Yaocheng looked up in shock. "Do you have any idea who I am..."
Smack!
Li Banfeng delivered another slap, still landing squarely on his left cheek.
Bao Yaocheng's jaw was knocked out of alignment, making his speech slur: "I... I collect rent for the Master..."
Smack!
Li Banfeng delivered a third slap, still on the left cheek. "I'm a diligent worker. I don't care to use the back of my hand, so I'll just keep using my palm."
Several lackeys rushed forward from the side. Li Banfeng dropped every single one of them with a single slap each.
Li Banfeng raised his palm to strike again. Bao Yaocheng broke down in tears, snot, tears, and blood flowing together.
"I only gave him two... two slaps! You've already hit me three times..."
"Don't you have to pay interest?"
Smack!
Another slap. Bao Yaocheng lay prostrate on the ground weeping, not daring to rise.
Li Banfeng said, "Earlier you called me a sucker. Ten slaps for that isn't too many, is it?"
"I wasn't swearing at you," Bao Yaocheng hastily explained. "I was swearing at Old Chen..."
"You just swore again. That makes twice in total. Twenty slaps—hardly excessive, right?"
"Master, I was wrong..."
"You still owe me thirty yuan in change. One slap per yuan isn't asking much, is it?"
"You were the one who said to keep the change..."
"And how do we calculate the interest on that?"
"Master, I... I beg you..."
Smack!
With another crisp crack, two of Bao Yaocheng's molars went flying.
Li Banfeng controlled his force impeccably. Even after delivering dozens of slaps strictly to the left side of Bao Yaocheng's face, he neither killed him nor let him faint.
With principal and interest settled in full, Tan Jinxiao strolled over and tended to their injuries. He even grumbled a couple of complaints at Li Qi: "Look at you, what a ruthless hand. You've beaten him so badly he barely looks human anymore!
"Brothers, don't cry! Don't cry now! It breaks my heart to see you blubbering like that. Let me put on some medicine for you. My medicine works wonders—there's medicine for outside, and medicine to take inside! Come on, brother, open up your mouth so I can pour it in!"
Globs of greenish-yellow fluid were shoved into Bao Yaocheng's mouth and smeared over his bloody wounds.
Bao Yaocheng thrashed for a long while before his eyes rolled upward and the corners of his mouth curled into a blissful smile.
Tan Jinxiao said, "Brother, feast your eyes. This technique is called Golden Slurry and Jade Nectar."
Li Banfeng gave a slight nod.
If he could turn people into fools, he naturally knew how to play the fool himself.
...
The door of the companion dwelling rattled as someone entered the house.
The newcomer did not linger in the main room, heading straight into the Second Chamber.
His movements were extremely quiet, and remarkably easy to overlook.
The gramophone's flame burned steadily, appearing to be in a deep slumber.
Yet Zhao Xiaowan's puppet slowly opened its eyes.
Voices drifted from the Second Chamber.
"Elder Brother, the time has come! I've seized the key from that scoundrel's hands, waiting only to join you in our great undertaking!"
"Worthy Brother, how could you be so reckless? That villain is suspicious by nature. If you took his key, he is bound to notice!"
"Elder Brother, I am already set on tearing away all pretenses with that scoundrel—why should I care whether he notices or not?"
"Calm yourself, Worthy Brother. Let us deliberate carefully first!"
"I have no time to deliberate with you! Tonight I must have a final reckoning with him! If you refuse to aid me, Elder Brother, our ties end right here, and from now on we shall be as strangers."
The Second Chamber fell silent. Zhao Xiaowan assumed her technique was insufficient to overhear them.
After waiting a moment longer, Zhao Xiaowan was about to try a different method when a voice spoke up inside the Second Chamber.
"Worthy Brother, this elder brother has a technique to impart to you to lend you a helping hand."
"Our pathways are different. How could I possibly learn your technique?"
"Since you are a shadow, you can learn my technique. However, this matter must never, ever be known to another living soul."
Chapter 644