Negotiation

That afternoon, after finishing lunch, Huang Donglai and Sun Yixie wandered all over Xuzhou, not doing anything particularly proper. By late afternoon, the two returned to the inn. Just like the previous evening, each stayed in his room for a long while, probably washing up. Two hours later, when darkness fell, the two came out dressed brightly and prepared to head to a brothel. The spies Master Shu had sent to watch them had followed them from the moment they left the inn and could find nothing unusual. Or rather... the lack of anything unusual was itself unusual. What had the spies actually missed? They had overlooked the inn itself... Sun and Huang had truly done no business outside that afternoon, but before leaving the inn, Huang Donglai had quietly instructed one of the inn's servants to take care of matters for him. While the two wandered around, the inn servant went to a pharmacy in the city, bought a pile of medicinal materials, and delivered them to Huang Donglai's room. The spies knew nothing about this, because they had all followed Sun and Huang outside and left no one watching the inn. Of course, even if they had, it would not have helped. The medicinal materials Huang Donglai had the servant buy were all very common things. There were more than twenty kinds in all, and none were in small quantities; altogether, they made a huge pile. But in reality, to prepare the poison he wanted, besides a few materials he had brought in his own luggage, he needed only nine kinds of medicinal materials. The reason he had bought so many kinds and quantities was mainly to disguise his formula. This trick was the experience of the Huang Clan, and also a little secret known to many masters of poison and medicine in the martial world. When you are away from home and plan to buy materials locally to prepare a confidential formula, it is best to buy several, or even a dozen or more, unrelated materials, and not to buy the exact amount, but a little extra. When you begin preparing, besides using the materials you need, you should also consume a little of the unnecessary ones... In this way, even an expert cannot trace the types, quantities, and remaining amounts of the materials you bought to deduce your formula. To put it further, when it comes to poisoning, with this method, even if someone searches your room afterward and finds such a pile of medicinal materials, they cannot use these materials as evidence to prove that what you prepared was poison. At present, Huang Donglai employed this familiar ploy. During the two hours of 'bathing and changing clothes,' he set aside some time to prepare all the medicine he would need tonight, and only then left the inn with Sun Yixie. Just after seven that evening, the two arrived at Qiliu Youran. This time, the madam's attitude toward them... was different. Because Huang Donglai had rejected the proposal of Master Shu's 'friend' yesterday, today the madam naturally would not show them any pleasant looks. At the mere sight of the two, the madam said in a strange, mocking tone, 'Oho, you're here~' She looked sideways and upward as if muttering to the heavens. 'Alas, I was wondering what was wrong with today's weather... why is there such a perverse wind blowing? So it turns out some tactless fool insists on showing up.' Huang Donglai did not waste words with her. In a very serious tone, he replied, 'We have business and wish to see Master Shu. Please announce us.' The madam had not expected such a straightforward demand. Hearing it, her expression changed slightly, and she finally looked at the two properly. Still, her tone remained unfriendly. 'Do you think you can see Master Shu just because you want to? Who do you think you are?' She had meant to make things a little difficult for the two and humiliate them. But who would have thought... 'Oh?' Sun Yixie laughed at once and retorted, 'Can you turn away Master Shu's guest on your own authority? Who do you think you are?' At this point, he deliberately raised his voice. 'This place of yours is truly strange. A dog making decisions for its master, is that it?' The people who came to Qiliu Youran were all respectable folk. There were not many like Sun Yixie, a professional scold trained in a fish market. Over the years, the madam had mostly encountered crude curses, and she was used to them. But such a sharp, mocking retort was rare. The key was that the remark truly caught her, leaving her shaking with anger and unable to talk back. 'You Sun fellow! Do not push your luck!' The madam still had some temper and continued to threaten. 'Do not think that just because Master Shu thinks highly of you, you can act with impunity!' 'Wow, the dogs in this courtyard are barking so loudly.' This time, it was Sun Yixie's turn to look up at the sky. 'Brother Huang, is this a brothel or a dog market? I really cannot tell.' 'Exactly.' Huang Donglai also looked around with mock seriousness, deliberately not looking at the madam. 'Maybe we should go back. If Master Shu asks later, we can say we came looking for him, but were chased away by barking dogs.' With that, the two turned to leave. The madam was so angry she nearly spat blood, but there was nothing she could do. In the end, she had to swallow her pride and beg the two not to leave. 'Please wait, gentlemen...' Just then, a strange man appeared from outside the gate and blocked the way of Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai. He had come just in time to rescue the madam. 'Master Shu invites you both upstairs for a talk... Please, this way.' The Twin Xies knew he was one of the spies who had followed them during the day, so his appearance did not surprise them. Hearing this, the two exchanged a glance, shrugged, then turned back and swaggered upstairs. When they passed the madam, they did not even glance at her. The madam was so infuriated by them that it took her a long while to recover. Today she had truly learned a lesson: if a dog is allowed to bully people behind its master's power, then a fox must be allowed to borrow the tiger's might. Sometimes high martial skill was useless. Shui Sheng's skill was high enough, was it not? Yet he was still a brothel drudge here. A lackey who did not use his brain would be a lackey for life. At the same time, in Master Shu's room. Master Shu had been sitting in the room, respectfully awaiting the Twin Xies for quite some time. He knew the two would come again tonight. Even if no one had eavesdropped on what Chu Xue and Sun Yixie said, he could guess most of it. 'Master, they have come upstairs.' Just then, in the darkness, a man's voice suddenly spoke to Master Shu. 'Mm.' Master Shu nodded and answered in a low voice. 'Proceed as planned.' ... Before long, Sun and Huang were seated at the same table with Master Shu. It was Master Shu who spoke first. 'You two came today. Do you have something to ask of me?' 'Heh...' Sun Yixie sneered. 'Master Shu, there is no need to stand on ceremony. If we are asking a friend to handle something, what is the difference between asking and not asking?' 'What? Are we friends again now?' Master Shu retorted. 'Yesterday, Young Hero Huang clearly rejected the proposal I offered as a friend. Today... are you two going back on that?' Huang Donglai shook his head and said, 'Master Shu, you are mistaken. Rejecting a proposal does not mean rejecting a person... As for friends, anything can be discussed. You have your proposal, we have ours, and we exchange them.' 'Oh...' Master Shu took a sip of wine from his cup and said unhurriedly, 'Then tell me. What is your proposal?' 'Wiping out the Guangxing Escort Agency is definitely inappropriate,' Sun Yixie said. 'But making our brother Buji take the blame for killing Zheng Mukai is absolutely out of the question,' Huang Donglai said. 'Pushing Shui Sheng out is no good either,' Sun Yixie said. 'So, in our view, how about...' Huang Donglai said, 'Master Shu shoulders the responsibility for killing Zheng Mukai?' They spoke back and forth, each remark more outrageous than the last, until they actually made such a demand to his face. But Master Shu did not lose his temper. He answered calmly, 'Then... how do you suggest I shoulder it?' Sun Yixie replied, 'In any case, Zheng Mukai died because he sneaked into Qiliu Youran and intended to harm Miss Chu Xue. And Shui Sheng... is ultimately your man, Master Shu. Why not take the opportunity to make things clear to Zhu Jiaduan, but do not mention that Shui Sheng did it. Just say that you ordered your subordinate to do it. Wouldn't that settle everything?' With this speech, he effectively revealed that he already knew the outline of the case. Of course, this was within Master Shu's expectations. 'Then how do you explain the two escort hands who died at the West-City Inn?' Master Shu still replied in a calm tone. 'Am I supposed to say I wanted to eliminate them completely?' 'Yes,' Huang Donglai replied. 'You can also say that you not only wanted to root them out completely, but because you heard about Zheng Mukai's earlier conflict with us, you wanted to frame us. That way, moving his corpse and beating it with a flurry of blows can also be explained.' 'Mm.' Master Shu nodded. 'In other words, I take on both what Shui Sheng did and what I did.' He paused. 'In that case, Zhu Jiaduan will no longer settle scores with Lei Buji or Shui Sheng. He will come after me.' 'Correct,' Sun Yixie said. 'When that time comes, Master Shu, you only need to show the man surnamed Zhu your strength and give him some compensation as a gesture, so he has a way to back down...' Huang Donglai took up the thread and continued, 'After you use both force and favor, considering that Zheng Mukai's death was basically deserved, Zhu Jiaduan will naturally have no choice but to let it go. Then the matter will be settled.' 'Heh... hahahaha...' At this point, Master Shu could not help laughing aloud. Seeing him laugh, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai laughed too, the kind of standard villainous laughter that rises wave after wave... The three laughed heartily for a long while. Finally, Master Shu stopped first and suddenly asked, 'Fine. You have arranged everything for me so clearly. Now I have one most critical question for you...' He paused, and his tone turned cold. '...Why should I help you like this?' After he finished, Sun and Huang exchanged a brief look. The confident smiles remained on their faces. 'Master Shu, is our drinking with you today... a coincidence?' Instead of answering, Sun Yixie threw a question back at him. 'No.' Master Shu did not like to lie. People like him did not enjoy things that made them uncomfortable. 'Then there must be a reason behind this inevitability, right?' Huang Donglai asked. With those two lines, Master Shu understood that the pair had seen through him: even when he had covered up the scene for Shui Sheng, he had already been laying a trap to lure them to Qiliu Youran. 'You two...' Master Shu was silent for a moment, then glanced deliberately or not toward an unoccupied corner beside him before replying, 'You are more formidable than I imagined...' 'You flatter me,' Sun Yixie said. 'You are too kind,' Huang Donglai said. Master Shu took another sip of wine and continued, 'Yes. You two have something I want.' 'But the proposal you gave me yesterday is not enough to exchange for it,' Huang Donglai said. 'Indeed, it is not enough...' As Master Shu spoke, a half-smile appeared on his face. 'But you cannot blame me... Yesterday I thought you two were merely a pair of greenhorns who had broken the Tianqi Gang's scheme by luck.' 'And today?' Sun Yixie asked. 'Do you want to hear me praise you?' Master Shu said. 'Yes. Go ahead. Let me hear it.' Sun Yixie was thick-skinned and felt no embarrassment. Master Shu smiled. 'I say that you are playing the pig to eat the tiger, crafty old foxes... You do not mind, do you?' 'Not at all,' Huang Donglai said. 'Also, whether it was the proposal you gave yesterday or the surveillance you placed on us today, we do not mind either... Because we can understand it. If we were in your position, we would likely do the same.' 'It is a negotiation. It is normal for both sides to lay out their conditions and discuss them slowly,' Sun Yixie added. 'Brother Huang just said that between friends, anything can be discussed, right?' 'All right. Since you two are being so frank, I will speak plainly.' At this point, Master Shu stopped beating around the bush and went along with it. 'As long as you give me that notebook recording Gu Qiying's gu and poison arts, I will do everything you mentioned just now.' Now he had finally revealed his hand. Although the cure for the Bliss Gu was no longer a secret, Gu Qiying's gu arts contained far more than the Bliss Gu alone. The poison arts and gu arts in his notebook were of many kinds and had endless uses. These were priceless things that could not be bought with money. For this, not to mention the conditions Sun and Huang had just proposed, even if they had asked for something more outrageous, Master Shu would still have agreed. 'With your far-reaching influence, Master Shu, surely you know...' After a breath, Huang Donglai replied, '...that I already handed that notebook over to the Brocade Guard long ago?' 'I know,' Master Shu said. 'But as the young master of the Huang Clan, Young Hero Huang, during the time this thing was in your hands... you did not read it? Did not memorize it?' He smiled. 'Heh... I even suspect that the notebook you gave to the Brocade Guard may not have been genuine.' 'Heh... As expected of Master Shu. There is truly no hiding it from you.' Sun Yixie suddenly praised him. Huang Donglai had a similar attitude and gave a sheepish smile. 'All right. Since you have seen through it, Master Shu, I will not hide it. I did memorize quite a bit of the notebook's contents... But it is only in my head. I have not copied it down. If you want it... after I return tonight, I can think it over slowly. In a day or two, I will copy it and deliver it to you. Only, before that...' 'You want me to take care of what you need first?' Master Shu said the last half of the sentence for him. 'Correct,' Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai replied in unison. At this, Master Shu turned his head and put on a thoughtful expression. He looked at a window on one side of the room. After looking, he replied, 'All right. Then there is no time to lose. Tonight... No, right now!'