Negotiation

Zhou You took a deep breath and opened his eyes. "My mind is in turmoil. I ask Senior Brother Xu to decide for me."

"Alright."

Xu Ying smiled until the corners of his eyes curved. This junior brother was quite sensible; he had not stubbornly refused to yield, saving them quite a bit of trouble.

Outside the Zhou family's home, a group of Wild Fox Gang lackeys were cleaning the ground.

They scooped up the mangled corpses and excrement with their hands and carried them away, leaving nothing behind.

The stones were moved away, and the dents they had smashed into the ground were filled with yellow earth and tamped flat. Not a single trace was allowed to remain.

Splash!

A large bucket of water was poured over the wall. The gang members carefully scrubbed it with rags, washing away the filth along every edge of the bricks.

The few of them withdrew their gazes. Both sides held their negotiations at Widow Li's wine stall.

"Junior Brother Zhou, put your mind at ease. Today, they will restore everything exactly as it was."

Xu Ying took full responsibility, patting his chest as he gave Zhou You his guarantee.

Wu Gang, seated opposite him, said politely, "It was originally a misunderstanding. Now that it has been cleared up, we are willing to offer compensation."

Tu Laosan's jaw had been dislocated, and he could not force out a single word. He stared at Zhou You with hatred in his eyes.

Zhou You acted as if he had not seen it, absorbed in his own thoughts.

He had been too conservative earlier. He should have deliberately guided them into damaging the Martial Arts School's Wooden Talisman.

Once Tu Laosan damaged the Wooden Talisman, it would be tantamount to provoking Jianxiong Martial Arts School. The boat would already be afloat; then, even if Xu Ying wanted to smooth things over, he would not be able to.

One move short in the game of chess. He had miscalculated.

Zhou You decided to let it go for today. If he wanted to eliminate Tu Laosan, he would need to think of another method.

He could guess that Tu Laosan, on the other side, was thinking the exact same thing.

"Little Zhou, have a drink."

Widow Li swayed over gracefully, set a wine jug on the table, and invited Zhou You to drink.

What had just happened changed too quickly, leaving Widow Li unable to react.

Only now did she realize that Little Zhou had already become an extraordinary figure.

No wonder Constable Liu had repeatedly urged her to befriend the old Zhou family.

She had seen the two men talking at the wine stall before: Wu Gang was a high-ranking member of the Wild Fox Gang, while Xu Ying was a Martial Arts School disciple. Either one of them could stomp their foot in the street and make the ground shake.

Now Zhou You sat with them, discussing matters as their equal.

In the eyes of the neighborhood, Tu Laosan was already like a soul-reaping demon, yet he did not even have the qualifications to sit down.

"Xu Ying, we were at fault in this matter. I am willing to pay money to calm Zhou You down."

Wu Gang's heart ached as he said this.

More than twenty gang members Tu Laosan had brought had been killed or injured, with far more dead than wounded. The burial money alone would be a hefty sum.

Then there was Du Dayou's injury, and his medicine expenses would not be small either.

Second Master Tu's private treasury was about to lose another huge chunk, leaving his finances stretched thin.

"On our side, we are willing to offer two hundred taels."

Xu Ying neither approved nor disapproved upon hearing the figure. He turned to Zhou You and asked, "Junior Brother Zhou, what do you think?"

"I remember Tu Laosan asked me for fifty taels back then. Mm, I will not ask for much more now. Multiply that amount by ten."

Ten times fifty taels was a full five hundred taels.

Wu Gang's eyelids twitched. What a lion opening its jaws!

With his position as hall master, two hundred taels was already the ceiling. Anything more was beyond his authority.

"Too much. No, no."

What did five hundred taels mean?

By Gongliang City's prices, ten taels of silver could provide a fine banquet, enough to feed a family of three for an entire year.

At present, a great number of refugees from Su City had flooded into the city, driving prices upward. Even so, five hundred taels was enough to buy a small courtyard.

Xu Ying also clicked his tongue in amazement. His own family courtyard was valued at just over five hundred taels, savings his father had accumulated over most of his life.

Though he felt it was too much, they were fellow disciples. This was not the time to undermine Zhou You.

"Wu Gang, whether it is too much is not for you to decide. The trouble Tu Laosan caused must fall on his elder brother's head."

Xu Ying said proudly, "Is the name of Jianxiong Martial Arts School not useful enough!"

"When Tu Laosan blocked the door today, did he truly fail to see the Wooden Talisman hanging before it?"

No matter how one put it, Tu Laosan was the one in the wrong. Even if he wanted to argue, he had no confidence to do so.

If only he had shown a little patience and confirmed Zhou You had failed before coming to the door, things would not have blown up to such an extent.

Surrounding the home of an Official Martial Arts School Disciple was, by its very nature, equivalent to declaring war.

Wu Gang would rather pay than let this escalate because Jianxiong Martial Arts School was wealthy and powerful, far beyond what they could afford to offend.

"Fine. I will relay this condition to Second Master Tu. But you must guarantee that you will not lay a hand on Tu Laosan."

Xu Ying nodded. "You have three days to give an answer. Otherwise, I may not be able to stop Junior Brother Zhou."

Just as Wu Gang was leaving with Tu Laosan, Zhou You suddenly spoke. "There is something I should remind you of."

Hm?

"Earlier, Tu Laosan hired an outsider to kill me, an Internal Force Martial Artist named Lu Zhigang. He was injured but did not die, and he secretly fled."

"Before he left, he declared that Tu Laosan had acted dishonorably and that he would definitely return for revenge."

"I can refrain from touching Tu Laosan, but you should keep an eye out for this Lu Zhigang."

The veins on Wu Gang's forehead bulged. He wanted nothing more than to strangle Tu Laosan, that walking disaster-maker.

An outsider, an Internal Force Martial Artist—and he had even dealt with such a dangerous fellow?

Whether Zhou You was telling the truth or not, this matter was definitely not over.

When Tu Laosan bribed Lu Zhigang, he had not told him that his opponent had already cultivated Martial Force, which was what led to the ambush's failure.

Lu Zhigang bore a grudge, yet he could not defeat Zhou You. He would surely shift his target to Tu Laosan.

Wu Gang immediately cupped his hands toward Zhou You. "Thank you for the warning. I will remember this favor."

He thought that he had to hurry back and inform Second Master Tu so they could make preparations early.

Lu Zhigang came from a Martial Arts School in Su City and cultivated the nimble Wild Goose Formation Fist. He could soar over roofs and walls, appearing and vanishing like a ghost.

If he was not dead, then with the sixty taels Tu Laosan had given him, he could hide away, recover from his injuries while nourishing himself, and quickly regain his peak combat strength. What were refugees?

Desperate outlaws with nothing left, so poor that only their lives remained.

Once he hid in the shadows and waited for a chance to retaliate, striking without restraint, he would surely become Tu Laosan's nightmare.

"Junior Brother Zhou, why have I never heard you mention this?"

Xu Ying asked about Lu Zhigang.

"It was nothing major, so I did not report it. That Lu Zhigang was already starving until his features had changed. Unable to beat me, he fled in panic."

Zhou You was certain no one could expose this lie. Lu Zhigang was now dead with no testimony left behind, and even his corpse had been cremated by the white-robed people of the God of Release Cult.

He insisted that Lu Zhigang was alive and would surely return, and he had his own purpose for doing so.

"Next, it is time to devote myself to cultivating the Wild Goose Formation Fist."

Only by using the Wild Goose Formation Fist to kill Tu Laosan could he make Lu Zhigang's revenge into solid evidence.

That was right. Zhou You had accepted the reconciliation on the surface, but deep down, he had no intention of sparing Tu Laosan.

Zhou You of Jianxiong Martial Arts School had agreed not to act, but "Lu Zhigang" could.

Though the real Lu Zhigang was already dead, Zhou You could create another Lu Zhigang from nothing and use the Wild Goose Formation Fist at the Martial Force level to kill Tu Laosan.

"Junior Brother Zhou, you asked for five hundred taels. Are you not afraid they will refuse?"

Zhou You thought that he wanted them to refuse. Then he would have a reason not to accept the reconciliation.

But that was unlikely.

After this negotiation, he had roughly figured out how Martial Arts Schools and gangs coexisted: well water did not mix with river water.

Both sides' middle and upper ranks understood that they should avoid conflicts at the bottom level whenever possible.

Thus, during the negotiation just now, Xu Ying and Wu Gang had maintained a tacit understanding.