Look, You're Getting Worked Up Again

The entire second floor of the Wind and Moon Tower was silent.

Only Yuan Bo's ragged breathing, brought on by his overwhelming fury, remained.

"Here. Your axe."

Li Laosan blankly accepted the axe Fang Xuan handed over, the shock in his eyes still refusing to fade.

A lead rider of the South Hall had been beheaded by Fang Xuan right at the South Hall's headquarters, before Yuan Bo's very eyes?!

Back when he followed Old Man Yu, this was an experience he would never even have dared to imagine!

After taking a deep breath, Li Laosan vaguely seemed to understand why, after so many years in the gang, he was still merely a minor leader guarding a stall, while this young man named Fang Xuan had risen in a single leap to become a rising star of the Black Whale Gang—the youngest hall master in the Black Whale Gang!

"Yuan Bo, don't get so worked up. Have some tea and cool off?"

As if completely ignoring Yuan Bo's furious glare, Fang Xuan casually lifted the teapot, poured a cup of tea, and pushed it before Yuan Bo.

Crack—!!

Yuan Bo smashed the teacup viciously onto the floor, his voice trembling with rage. "F-Fang Xuan! By the gang's rules, harming a fellow member means three blades and six holes!"

"Yuan Bo, enough with the three whatever blades and six whatever holes."

Fang Xuan poured himself a cup of tea. He had barely taken a sip before spitting it out, shaking his head. "The tea in the South Hall reeks of rouge. Tastes awful."

Then Fang Xuan set down his teacup and lightly clapped his hands.

In an instant, two East Hall thugs came up the stairs, dragging four bloody, mangled figures behind them.

"Yuan Bo, you said I harmed fellow members. These boys were ordered by Han Xian to kidnap people in our East Hall! The girl they kidnapped was my elder brother's wife! Tell me, how should this debt be settled? Would you like me to recite the gang rules for you?"

Fang Xuan looked expressionlessly at Yuan Bo.

"Yuan Bo, I didn't! She was just an ordinary—"

Long Hair Tian, his flesh a bloody mess, wore an expression of utter terror as he desperately shook his head at Yuan Bo.

Bang!

Before he could finish a sentence, Fang Xuan planted a foot on his face. Long Hair Tian immediately passed out cold.

"Drag them away. People who don't understand the rules of the martial world are a disaster if they remain in the Black Whale Gang. Take them back to the East Hall later and feed them to the fish."

Fang Xuan said this blandly, then raised his head to look at Yuan Bo, smiling faintly.

"Yuan Bo, I've always been one to follow the rules. Han Xian brought men into my East Hall to kidnap someone, so I repaid him tooth for tooth on behalf of my brother. There's no problem with that, right?"

Yuan Bo clenched his fists tightly, his face so dark it seemed ready to drip water.

Elder brother?

Where had Fang Xuan gotten an elder brother?

After taking a deep breath, Yuan Bo said coldly, "Han Xian was at fault first. His hand has already been chopped off, and these people kidnapped someone from your South Hall, so you crippled them as well. That should settle the account, shouldn't it?"

"Settle the account? Yuan Bo, look at you, going senile again."

Fang Xuan shook his head. Then he leaned forward slightly, fixing Yuan Bo with an unblinking stare.

"The debt between Han Xian and me has indeed been settled! But the debt with East City hasn't! He raided over a hundred establishments in my East City. Am I supposed to cover those losses?"

"How much do you want?" Yuan Bo gritted out.

"Not too much, not too little."

Fang Xuan raised one finger. "I only want ten thousand taels."

"Ten thousand taels?!!"

Yuan Bo froze, then laughed from sheer fury. "Fang Xuan, are you mad, or am I mad?! Ten thousand taels? Heh heh, that rundown place you call East City—how could a few shabby inns, broken taverns, and rotten fishing boats possibly be worth ten thousand taels?! And look at me. Do I look like someone carrying ten thousand taels?"

Fang Xuan smiled faintly. "Over these past decades, all of Yuan Bo's food, clothing, and daily expenses have been covered by the gang. You've also skimmed a few hundred taels from the gang every year. I imagine you must have a few thousand taels on hand. Add in the residence the gang gave you in the city, and it should be enough if you scrape it together." (Note: If calculated purely by purchasing power, a few hundred taels would be roughly equivalent to several hundred thousand in modern currency. It may not be especially rigorous or precise, but it should be more or less right. Please do not scrutinize it too closely.)

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Fang Xuan, if you insist on saying that, then at worst—" Yuan Bo was in the midst of shouting.

A thug in azure clothes hurried up the stairs and whispered a few words into Fang Xuan's ear.

In an instant.

A smile rose on Fang Xuan's face. He narrowed his eyes at Yuan Bo and said, "Look, you're getting worked up again."

"Fang Xuan, you—"

"Yuan Bo truly is as vigorous as a dragon and fierce as a tiger. At such an advanced age, you still managed to marry a tender little wife of twenty and have her bear you a child. I heard Yuan Bo injured his vital essence in his early years. It couldn't have been easy to have a son in your old age, could it? As for me, I've always enjoyed helping others. Knowing that Yuan Bo has been stationed at the South Hall lately and has had no time to keep his wife and child company, I had someone invite them to the East City ferry. I was planning to take them out on the water for some fun."

Before he had even finished speaking, Yuan Bo shot to his feet with a whoosh, staring fixedly at Fang Xuan.

"Fang Xuan, you touched my family?!"

"Zheng Juexiong touched my younger brother and his wife first. He was ruthless enough toward himself—he never married or had children, and only has an eighty-year-old mother bedridden with paralysis! Since you came to guard the hall in his place, you should naturally bear everything in his stead. So it's perfectly reasonable for me to touch your family, isn't it?"

Fang Xuan rose to his feet and smilingly patted Yuan Bo's shoulder, where he stood frozen in place.

If he couldn't deal with Zheng Juexiong, could he not deal with an old bastard like you?

"Yuan Bo, I'll give you three hours. If the ten thousand taels aren't delivered by then, I'll send your wife, child, and whole family to the Ping River to feed the fish first, then come take it myself! I've said my piece. I'm leaving!"

As his words fell, Fang Xuan glanced at Han Xian, who had fallen unconscious from excessive blood loss.

"Oh, right. Remember to take him away too. Throw him into the East Hall to feed the fish."

Scattered footsteps sounded as Fang Xuan turned and left.

"Yuan Bo, what should we do now?"

One of Yuan Bo's trusted men stepped forward and asked in a low voice.

Slap!

Yuan Bo viciously slapped him across the face and snarled, "What should we do? I only have one child. What do you think we should do?"

He took a deep breath and watched Fang Xuan's retreating figure, his expression shifting between light and dark.

"Men, go prepare the silver!"

The rain that had continued through the night had stopped at some unknown time.

Amid one dodging gaze after another, Fang Xuan left the South Hall.

For some reason, after settling this conflict, he felt no satisfaction whatsoever—only endless exhaustion.

"Matters of the martial world have dragged down my cultivation progress too much. If this continues, I'll only sink myself completely into this rotten mud pit."

After taking a deep breath, a flash of realization rose in Fang Xuan's eyes.

Zheng Juexiong would return in two months.

He would be coming to claim his life!

Within these two months, he had to raise his martial cultivation to First Heavenly Gate Great Perfection!

After returning home, Fang Xuan dismissed the thugs. Thinking over these matters, he fell into a deep sleep.

By the time Fang Xuan woke again, the sky was already pitch-black.

"Big Brother, dinner's ready!"

Fang Li, with his scholarly air, came out from the kitchen. He wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead, rubbed his soot-stained hands against the hem of his clothes, then turned back to plate up a dish of stir-fried tiny fish and shrimp before setting it on the table.

Meanwhile, Fang Lan took down a set of Short Azure Clothes hanging from a withered bamboo pole in the courtyard outside. As she walked in, she smiled.

"Big Brother, spring's almost here. I bought some couplets and firecrackers at the market. Later, will you put up the couplets with me? And this outfit—I've mended it for you. Try it on later."

Watching this scene, Fang Xuan's heart warmed slightly, yet he could not help letting out a soft sigh within.

His younger brother and sister had never enjoyed much good fortune through him. Instead, they spent every day trembling with fear.

"Xiao Li, the Spring Examination Prefectural Examination is only a month or so away. How is your preparation coming along?"

Fang Xuan got out of bed and asked as he went to wash up.

"Rest assured, Big Brother. In this Prefectural Examination, your little brother will definitely bring back the title of Top Candidate for you." Fang Li grinned at Fang Xuan, revealing a clear, confident smile.

"Once I earn scholarly honors, Big Brother won't have to work so hard."

"Good. I look forward to that day."

Fang Xuan smiled. Fang Li had a gift for studying. During last year's county examination, he had taken first place in the entire county.

Recently, he had also been studying diligently. The classics recitation, miscellaneous essays, and policy essays required for the Spring Examination Prefectural Examination might not yet be so brilliant as to make people slap the table in amazement and fill the hall with cheers, but they were certainly insightful enough to make one's eyes light up.

This time, reaching the top ten of the first rank in the Spring Examination Prefectural Examination should not be a problem.

The dim candlelight swayed gently, casting the small yellow-mud house in warm hues.

"Oh, right, Big Brother."

Fang Li seemed to recall something. He set down his bowl and chopsticks and spoke.

"While you were sleeping earlier, three people came looking for you. The first was a fair, plump young gentleman with a kindly face. He said you would know who he was, and that once you woke up, you should go find him in the city. He said he could solve all your troubles."

"The second was Jingming Ge. He said the silver from the South Hall had already been delivered."

"The third was Yang Zheng, the head runner from the government office. His expression didn't look too good. It seemed he wanted to see you about a Whaling Ship belonging to the authorities on the Ping River that was recently seized by the Water Bandits."

First of all, my apologies. I have indeed been reading several Hong Kong crime novels lately, so when I write, the style may have leaned a little toward a Hong Kong flavor.

This humble author will be sure to pay attention going forward. This will not happen again.

With clasped fists in salute. O(∩_∩)O