In the narrow alley, Mo Beidou was still staring blankly at Fang Shuwen.
His mind was in turmoil. He had so much to say, yet he couldn't get a single word out.
Finally, Fang Shuwen waved a hand in front of his eyes:
"Eldest senior brother, soul, come back~~"
Only then did he impatiently bat Fang Shuwen's hand away:
"Quit fooling around."
Fang Shuwen grinned:
"If there's anything you want to say or ask, just say it.
"Don't sit there puzzling over it yourself."
Mo Beidou looked at Fang Shuwen with a complicated expression. After pondering for a long while, he finally spoke:
"Are you really my junior brother?"
"The genuine article. Guaranteed."
"That's good, then."
Mo Beidou let out a great sigh of relief:
"As long as you're still my junior brother, I won't ask about anything else.
"There are all sorts of strange things in the jianghu, and everyone has their own fortuitous encounters. Though I've never had one myself, I've heard plenty about them, so it's nothing to be surprised about.
"But what are you doing here?
"What happened with the Zhou Family? I thought you were dead. I cried over you several times."
"It's a long story."
Fang Shuwen thought for a moment before saying:
"It involves the Pearl Pavilion and a demonic cult from thirty years ago. Anyway, we'll talk about it properly when we have time.
"I was in a guest room at the inn just now when I saw you hurrying along, with those two following behind you... Have you run into trouble?"
"Oh no, my medicine!"
Only then did Mo Beidou remember the medicine he'd bought. He hurried over, hoping to salvage it.
Unfortunately, the Fierce Tiger Gang member hadn't just knocked it to the ground earlier; he'd also trampled it. The medicinal ingredients were now mixed with dirt and no longer usable.
Mo Beidou sighed:
"The young chief escort was ambushed and gravely injured. We're counting on this medicine to keep her alive.
"But those Fierce Tiger Gang bastards bought up all the lifesaving ingredients beforehand. I finally managed to find a shop and buy these.
"I don't even know if they would have worked, and now they're gone..."
Fang Shuwen understood at once.
He knew this kind of ploy: buy up the lifesaving medicine, then keep the pharmacies under secret watch to find anyone who came looking for it.
That was how the two black-clad men from the Fierce Tiger Gang had set their sights on Mo Beidou.
But seeing his eldest senior brother's worried face, Fang Shuwen thought for a moment and said:
"Don't worry, eldest senior brother. I might have a way."
Mo Beidou froze, instinctively wanting to ask what way he could possibly have.
But on second thought, he remembered that his sixteenth junior brother was no longer the man he'd once been.
Just the way he'd killed those two Fierce Tiger Gang scum, smacking them to death as casually as chopping melons and vegetables, was beyond the abilities of an ordinary person.
As if grasping the last lifesaving straw, he immediately seized Fang Shuwen's wrist:
"Little Sixteen, come with me."
Mo Beidou was blunt and hot-tempered, a man who acted as soon as an idea struck him. He pulled Fang Shuwen along and set off.
He didn't even spare a thought for his own injuries.
Fang Shuwen tried to persuade him otherwise, but when he saw that Mo Beidou wasn't listening, he gave up.
But after wandering around the alley for a while, they still couldn't find their way out.
Only after they encountered a local resident and asked for directions did they make it back to the main street.
Mo Beidou didn't dare draw too much attention, though. He pulled Fang Shuwen along, keeping to hiding places all the way, until they finally arrived at a courtyard in a fairly secluded location.
At the entrance, Mo Beidou knocked the door ring three long times and twice short.
The people inside waited a moment before opening the door a crack. Only after seeing Mo Beidou did they open it fully.
But when the person who'd opened the door saw Fang Shuwen entering with Mo Beidou, his expression changed:
"Old Mo, who is this?"
"My junior brother."
Mo Beidou immediately said:
"This is my sixteenth junior brother, Fang Shuwen.
"If I hadn't run into him by chance today, I'm afraid I wouldn't have made it back."
By then, Fang Shuwen had already swept his gaze around the courtyard.
Almost everyone there was an escort or attendant from the Lu'an Escort Agency.
But all of them were wounded, looking like a band of battered, defeated soldiers.
A master and servant stood out from the rest.
The master wore white robes and a bamboo hat and sat quietly in the courtyard.
A maid stood behind the master.
Both of them looked up at Fang Shuwen's arrival, but quickly looked away, seemingly unconcerned.
Mo Beidou explained Fang Shuwen's background to the man who'd opened the door, but a trace of hostility remained in the man's eyes, and he didn't let down his guard completely.
When he heard that Fang Shuwen was going to examine the young chief escort's injuries, his wariness immediately reached its peak.
"Absolutely not!"
The man's name was Sun Qian. Like Mo Beidou, he was an escort captain of the Lu'an Escort Agency.
With the young chief escort gravely injured, he and Mo Beidou were the two in charge here.
Sun Qian's expression darkened:
"Old Mo, this is nonsense!
"If this lad is your junior brother, then I assume he comes from the Four Seas Martial Hall, just like you.
"But how is it I've never heard that the Four Seas Martial Hall teaches medicine?
"The young chief escort has suffered a poisoned wound. We can't turn to just any doctor in our desperation.
"If anything happens to her, how are we supposed to answer to the chief escort?"
Mo Beidou wanted to explain, but didn't know where to start. He wanted to say that his sixteenth junior brother was far more capable than he was, but worried that it might touch on Fang Shuwen's secrets.
For a moment, he was so anxious that sweat covered his forehead.
Seeing this, Fang Shuwen simply smiled:
"Eldest senior brother, there's no need for words."
"But..."
Mo Beidou still wanted to press the matter. He didn't want to give up so easily.
Then he saw that Fang Shuwen was already walking toward the room.
Mo Beidou was taken aback. So after all that, when his sixteenth junior brother said there was no need for words, he'd really meant there was no need for words?
Did he mean that he would simply do what he needed to do, without explaining himself to anyone else?
Sun Qian's face darkened. He quickly stepped around in front of Fang Shuwen:
"Stop right there..."
He reached out to push him as he spoke, but the instant his palm touched Fang Shuwen's chest, a tremendous force surged out.
Sun Qian had only enough time to let out a muffled grunt before he was sent flying.
Without breaking stride, Fang Shuwen walked straight into the room.
Sun Qian stared, dumbstruck. Wasn't this supposed to be Mo Beidou's junior brother?
How could he be so formidable?
Seeing that Fang Shuwen had already entered the room, he paid no heed to his own condition and shouted urgently:
"Someone, stop him!!"
Several escorts immediately looked ready to act.
Mo Beidou shouted as well:
"All of you, sit down!!"
The few who'd been ready to act promptly sat back down...
They were in a difficult position too.
The young chief escort was laid up, and they had to obey both escort captains. But when the two disagreed, what were those who followed their orders supposed to do?
Sun Qian glared at Mo Beidou:
"Old Mo, do you know what you're doing?"
"I trust my junior brother!"
"...What if something happens to the young chief escort?"
Mo Beidou finally lost his patience and roared:
"Something happens, something happens, my ass! If we don't save her, will she come back to life on her own?"
"Even if my junior brother can't save her and the young chief escort really dies because of it, at worst I'll pay with my life!!"