Chapter Sixty-One: A Fine Show at the Inn

The tender yellow hearts of the cabbages, as lustrous and translucent as jade, lay nestled in a porcelain dish as white as alabaster, their exquisite beauty making one reluctant to reach out with chopsticks and disturb their dazzling allure.

Lu Liao picked up a few strands with her chopsticks and placed them in Lu Jiu’s bowl, then contentedly began gnawing on a cornbread bun herself.

The flavor was pure, fragrant but not greasy, tender without being stringy—the boiled cabbage was so delicious that after a single taste, Lu Jiu could not stop praising it. Lu Liao smiled faintly, “Didn’t you know? Zhou Liuzi is really a gifted cook.”

“This dish was made by Zhou Liuzi? When did he sneak into the inn’s kitchen?” Lu Jiu asked in surprise.

“What’s so strange about Zhou Liuzi entering the kitchen? I was thinking of going with you later to have a drink with the proprietress.” Lu Liao replied breezily.

“Lu Liao, could you be any more shameless?” Lu Jiu glared at her, thoroughly annoyed.

“Wang Liuli, I kindly invite you to watch a good show with me, and all you do is lose your temper. I’m starting to think your wits have grown dull lately.” Lu Liao looked at Lu Jiu in disbelief.

Lu Jiu gave up on supper, slamming his chopsticks on the table. “Fine! I’d like to see exactly what kind of show you think you can put on for me.”

In a spacious room at the back of the inn, Hualin, his face sallow and waxen, sat on a gaudily patterned leopard-skin chair. He squinted, secretly sizing up his men, who were greedily eating meat and guzzling wine on either side.

Of the Thirteen Riders of the Flying Eagle, all twelve but the gold-eyed Scarred Six were present.

The alluring Hua Erniang, as flirtatious as a butterfly among blossoms, glided among the twelve bandit chiefs, attentively refilling their cups. When she reached Luo Xiaotian, the Soaring Kite, she surreptitiously traced her fingers across his hand.

Hualin caught this out of the corner of his eye, a slight twitch betraying his reaction, and turned his gaze to Ma Yu Ying, the Pockmarked Eagle, on his right.

Back when he first coveted Hua Erniang—famed as the most beautiful flower along the Northwest Road—he’d orchestrated a raid on the Eagle Guard Escort’s caravan, beheading the old master of the escort agency. Hualin himself had led the charge to destroy the bandits and return the stolen goods, and thus, the most ravishing bloom of the Northwest—Hua Erniang, daughter of the slain old master—became his woman, grateful and resigned.

Years passed, and Hua Erniang only grew more alluring, her charms overwhelming. Hualin, just past fifty, refused to admit he was getting old, but compared to her, he now preferred girls barely into their teens, still fresh and delicate. Watching them writhe beneath him filled Hualin with a sense of undiminished virility.

He visited the inn less and less. Even when Hua Erniang sent for him, he seldom went. Eventually, she stopped sending for him, and he found peace.

Ma Yu Ying had secretly warned him several times that Hua Erniang was too familiar with his trusted lieutenant, Luo Xiaotian. Hualin dismissed it—who would dare touch the Northwest Tiger’s woman? Any man who did would not live to see another day.

But tonight’s scene suggested that Luo Xiaotian had indeed crossed the line.

Once their business was concluded, Hualin planned to hand both Luo Xiaotian and the brazen rogue who dared flirt with Hua Erniang to Ma Yu Ying for a thorough punishment—so that even in death, they would remember the price of offending Hualin.

“Today, the chief steward of the Four Seas Trading Guild, Lu Jiu, stormed in full of bluster. It seems Scarred Six has already attacked their caravan. I just wonder if he succeeded.” At Hualin’s words, the room fell silent.

Ma Yu Ying, his face flushed dark red from drink, his chest bristling with black hair, shouted drunkenly, “I don’t see what’s so great about the Four Seas Guild! So what if they’ve got a few military crossbows? When it comes down to a real fight, I alone could wipe out a dozen of them!”

A young man beside Luo Xiaotian sneered at Ma Yu Ying, “Your skill at flattery is impressive, Ma Yu Ying, but as for your martial prowess, I find it pretty ordinary.”

“Yang Hong, don’t think that just because you and Luo Xiaotian are sworn brothers, I’m afraid of you.” Ma Yu Ying smashed his wine jug on the floor, glaring menacingly at the young man.

“Come on, let’s have a bout. If I don’t make you bleed within ten moves, I’ll concede defeat.” Yang Hong was clearly not one to back down from a fight.

Despite his fierce posturing, Ma Yu Ying hesitated, glancing at Hualin for help, caught between pride and fear.

A slightly overweight, balding middle-aged man smiled gently. “We’re all brothers here, no need to take things so seriously. The matter at hand is the Four Seas Guild—let’s not quarrel among ourselves.”

Hualin shot the balding man a look. “Vulture, you always have ideas. Let’s hear it.”

The bald, portly man shook his head modestly. “Boss, you surely already have a plan—no need to ask me. But about the Four Seas Guild: the caravan has been hit, the runaway concubine from the Yang estate in Chang’an has been killed, but under no circumstances should we touch their chief steward. The Yang estate may have granted you, Boss, a fifth-rank military title and given all of us decent positions, but compared to the power behind that man, it’s nothing. For the future peace of all our brothers, we need to consider how to handle the chief steward.”

Hualin’s face darkened as he turned to Luo Xiaotian. “Xiaotian, what do you think?”

Luo Xiaotian stood and swept his gaze across the room. “We may be outlaws, but even bandits have rules and a reputation. Our agreement with the Four Seas Guild spared us much bloodshed and made life easier. If word gets out that we broke our word and attacked their caravan, our reputation in the Northwest will be ruined.”

“We’ve been bandits all our lives, and now we have a chance to become military officers—why not? Are we to let our sons and grandsons follow the same path? If I become a general, you’ll have positions too—why not become officers of the sixth or seventh rank?” Hualin’s face grew even more grim.

“Becoming part of the army could be the right path, but I’ve heard the imperial troops in Longyou are even greedier than us bandits—rolling in wealth. They say even the princesses of the Western Regions can be had at will.” A burly, brutal-faced man leered as he spoke.

The bandits’ eyes lit up with longing at this.

“A fifth-rank general—what a grand position! But my brothers and I have always valued our freedom—we won’t become the court’s lapdogs, nor offer our heads as tokens of your surrender.” Luo Xiaotian sneered at Hualin.

Hualin stood abruptly and slapped Hua Erniang so hard she staggered and fell to the floor.

“That’s right! Since you dared to crawl into bed with this shameless whore, you must have known this day would come. But your poor brothers, Red Falcon and Black Falcon, died because of you.”

Hua Erniang clutched her face, hatred blazing in her eyes, and burst into a wild, bitter laugh. “Ha! I’m a shameless woman, am I? Hualin, what are you? You raided my family’s caravan, killed my father, then pretended to be a hero by returning the goods and forced me to become your woman. Did you really think I didn’t know?”

“And what if you did know? You’re just a worn-out plaything I’m tired of. Ma Yu Ying, you can have her for three days. After that, I want her head—send it along with her lover Luo Xiaotian’s to the authorities for a reward.” Hualin didn’t spare Hua Erniang a glance, his gaze fixed coldly on Luo Xiaotian.

“My head is not so easily claimed!” Luo Xiaotian faced Hualin without flinching, his two brothers rising at his side.

Outside the hall’s window, Ning Jiao stood sentry, face impassive. To him, the four bandit corpses on the ground were no different from split firewood.

Lu Liao nudged Lu Jiu through a hole in the window paper. “It’s about to start—let’s go join the fun.”

With a creak, Lu Liao, hugging a jug of wine, boldly pushed open the door and strode in as if he owned the place.

“Who are you?” several bandit chiefs growled menacingly.

Lu Liao patted the wine jug, glanced at Hua Erniang on the floor, and flashed a delighted smile. “Didn’t you promise to drink with me in your room? I’ve been looking all over for you, proprietress, and here you are.”

“Drink with you, my ass! I’ll skin you alive and soak you in wine for three days and nights!” Ma Yu Ying, seeing Lu Liao’s scholarly attire, flew into a rage and lunged at him like a sworn enemy.

In his youth, Ma Yu Ying’s family arranged a marriage for him with a beauty. He felt like the luckiest man alive, until she eloped with a scholar. Ma Yu Ying didn’t speak for half a year, but after three years, he found the couple, ravished the woman and tortured her to death, then spent three days killing the scholar before he finally died.

Ever since, as a bandit, whenever he encountered a scholar, he would torment them for days before letting them die.

“A bothersome fly—can someone shut him up?” Lu Liao didn’t even bother to look at Ma Yu Ying.

A flash of sword-light, and Ma Yu Ying’s ugly head flew from his shoulders, his decapitated body spurting blood and crashing to the floor. Ning Jiao sheathed his sword and stood at Lu Jiu’s side, his expression unruffled, as though nothing had happened.

Lu Jiu forced down his revulsion, coldly fixing his gaze on Hualin at the center of the hall, remaining silent.

“Well, Young Master Lu, you certainly wield power! Killing my brother right in front of me—do you even put me, Hualin, in your eyes?” Hualin glared murderously at Lu Jiu.

“Your man, Scarred Six, broke the rules first, leading an attack against my Four Seas Trading Guild’s caravan. Tell me, Chief Hualin, do you have any respect left for my guild?” Lu Jiu showed no fear, meeting Hualin’s gaze unflinchingly.

“Bandits come and go like ghosts—I don’t even know where Scarred Six is now. As for your claim that he attacked your caravan, when I see him I’ll ask. But your guard killed my brother before my very eyes—you owe me an explanation.”