Fifty Taels, the Name of Tie Niu

Liu Family Town.

Qian Manor.

Everything was festively decorated.

Today was the joyous day Master Qian took his eighteenth concubine, and he had invited many guests.

Though night had already fallen, the revelry continued unabated.

However, Qian Huan had no intention of joining the festivities any longer. After drinking for so long, he was already impatient to consummate the marriage.

After bidding everyone farewell, Qian Huan hurried impatiently toward the rear courtyard.

This eighteenth concubine was a respectable woman he had recently taken a fancy to.

He had truly gone to great lengths to marry her.

She had been wed to a Medicine Farmer, and the couple had supported each other through thick and thin for many years.

Qian Huan happened to see her by chance, and wicked thoughts arose in his heart. He then had the Medicine Farmer killed.

Later, he sent a matchmaker to propose marriage. The woman was fiercely unyielding and refused to submit no matter what.

With no other choice, he could only threaten her with her daughter. Only then had he successfully carried the beauty home.

He had already made plans. Once her daughter grew up, mother and daughter would serve him together, allowing him to enjoy the blessings of having both.

Thinking of this, Qian Huan grew even more impatient. He wished he could sprout wings and fly straight to the rear courtyard.

Fortunately, before long, he found the room, pushed open the door, and entered.

"Wife, I'm here!"

Qian Huan chuckled lewdly, rubbing his hands together as he wriggled his way toward the bride dressed in wedding robes.

The bride's body was visibly trembling. Yet in Qian Huan's eyes, that only made him more excited.

He came to the bedside, chuckled, and lifted the red veil, revealing a face that made his blood surge.

"So beautiful!"

He exclaimed in admiration, sighing inwardly that he had truly made the right choice in taking this concubine.

"You don't seem happy at all?"

But his smile quickly faded as he asked coldly.

The bride said nothing, merely revealing a mocking smile.

This angered Qian Huan. He was about to strike, but remembering that this was his wedding night, he grabbed the bride by the collar instead.

"It's fine. You may not be happy now, but soon enough, you will be."

With that, he released her. The bride clutched her throat and coughed several times.

She slowly raised her head and smiled, but there was something icy about that smile.

At the sight, rage surged into Qian Huan's heart. Yet before he could act, his gaze suddenly froze.

For within the bride's hate-filled pupils, he saw a figure reflected.

"Who's there?"

Qian Huan abruptly turned around and saw a black figure reflected in his eyes.

The next instant, a sharp pain tore through his chest. Looking down, he saw a fist planted squarely over his heart.

"Y-you... who are you?"

Qian Huan clutched his chest, but what answered him was the Black-Clothed Man's violent fists.

That savage beating left Qian Huan a bloody pulp. Before long, he breathed his last.

After dealing with Qian Huan, Su Chen paid no attention to the sobbing bride. After searching Qian Huan's body for a while, he turned and left.

Who knew how much time passed before an uproar broke out within Qian Manor.

Of course, none of that had anything to do with Su Chen anymore.

At this moment, Su Chen had already returned home. He changed into fresh clothes, washed up, and lay down on his bed.

"It took seven days to complete three tasks. If not for all the traveling and verification, I should have been even faster."

Su Chen pondered. The three tasks had all been in different locations, dozens of li apart.

He had spent most of his time traveling and verifying whether the information was true.

"I'll go to Lin Family Fortress tomorrow to turn in the tasks. But the three of them only brought in thirty taels. Adding the twenty taels I got from them, that's only fifty taels altogether. I'm still fifty taels short of the next top-up."

"Still, the rewards for these assassination tasks are far too low. It seems Misty Rain Pavilion takes quite a hefty cut!"

Aside from the Clingy Clothes Gang, the targets of the other two tasks both had some backing, yet their bounties were not much higher.

Before killing those three, he had investigated their backgrounds.

The Clingy Clothes Gang was much like the Black Water Gang, except one operated in White Stone City while the other operated in the surrounding villages and towns.

Iron Clothes Martial Hall held a much higher position than the Black Water Gang, though it was still inferior to Hong Family Martial Hall.

But the Medicine Gang was a well-known gang around White Stone City and had ties to many forces in both the Outer City and the Inner City.

Fortunately, they had only asked him to kill an external branch's steward, someone whose status was not especially high.

It was clear that Misty Rain Pavilion was selective in the tasks it issued.

The tasks they released all had low bounties, and the targets' backgrounds and strength were not particularly formidable either.

They were probably afraid of offending major powers as well.

By Su Chen's estimation, the three men had been roughly equal in strength.

Sun Fan and Lu Tao had reached Minor Accomplishment of Strength Training. Qian Huan had been somewhat stronger, at Major Accomplishment of Strength Training, though he had likely only entered it recently.

Unfortunately for them, none had been Su Chen's match. All three encounters had practically been one-sided crushes.

Even so, Su Chen did not dare let down his guard. Who knew whether those people had other tricks up their sleeves?

Fortunately, the final outcome was pleasing. All three had been killed by him, and no accidents had occurred along the way.

After summing everything up, Su Chen fell asleep.

The night passed without incident.

Misty Rain Pavilion.

Lao Lin looked somewhat strangely at the wooden tokens Su Chen handed over, then glanced at Su Chen.

"Please wait a moment!"

He did not immediately give an answer, instead asking Su Chen to wait first.

After Su Chen waited for about a quarter of an hour, Lao Lin finally called him over. Handing the reward to Su Chen, he said, "This is your bounty, thirty taels in total."

Under everyone's gaze, Su Chen accepted the silver, then looked toward the portraits. His expression suddenly stiffened.

One of the papers read:

"Find the murderer who killed Qian Huan, the Medicine Gang's Liu Family Town steward. Information alone will be rewarded with ten taels!"

He had already noticed that some people in the room were secretly sizing him up with covert gazes.

"Not many people accept assassination tasks to begin with. Seeing me come to collect the reward, they've probably already guessed that I was the one who killed Qian Huan."

After a little thought, Su Chen understood why those people were looking at him like that.

"Ten taels just for providing a piece of information. The Medicine Gang really is rich as a nation!"

After sneering inwardly, Su Chen turned his gaze to Lao Lin and asked meaningfully:

"I want to know whether Misty Rain Pavilion leaks information about its operatives."

Lao Lin was startled when he heard this. Then, meeting Su Chen's deep eyes, he answered with certainty, "No."

Su Chen stared at Lao Lin for a long while, then pointed to one of the portraits. "I'll take this task!"

The portrait he pointed to was Liu Tong's.

Lao Lin nodded, removed the task notice, and handed it to Su Chen.

His actions caused some of those covert gazes to diminish.

"Do you need to purchase information?" Lao Lin asked after finishing the registration and looking up.

"You have information on him? How much?" Su Chen asked.

"One tael."

"Then give me a copy."

After considering it, Su Chen said this. Lao Lin handed him a thumb-sized bamboo tube.

After accepting the task, Su Chen rose and left. Before departing, he gave everyone in the room a brilliant smile.

Lao Lin was momentarily stunned. His hands did not stop moving as he muttered, "Tie Niu..."