Struck by Evil

In truth, this was also why Feng Xiu was reluctant to face him. The fear, rooted in his memories of childhood, of being beaten into filial obedience was only one reason.

More than that, in the martial arts and the art of combat, keen eyesight mattered most!

Especially Feng Ao's pair of tiger eyes. Even when he merely looked at Feng Xiu in silence, they made him feel ill at ease all over.

Feng Ao lifted his eyes and fixed his sharp gaze on Feng Xiu. A trace of approval flashed in them.

Not bad. He knew how to argue back and think for himself now.

But he still wasn't ready!

Then Feng Ao's voice turned cold and hard again, leaving no room for doubt.

"This matter is settled. There's no need to discuss it further. Handle what's yours to handle: comfort them, replace the tenants,

"and find some other way to survive if the heavens won't send rain. But the water in Tang Reservoir is not our solution."

Feng Xiu lowered his head, rapidly weighing every possibility.

Tang Reservoir was a public works project built to suit the plateau's geography, intended to nourish and irrigate the river-valley basin.

When dealing with the matter in Dendrobium Village, Feng Xiu had made a special trip to Tang Reservoir. The River-Suppressing Iron Ruler there stood three times taller than Green Rock City itself, and beyond it stretched a boundless ocean of water, scarcely different from a vast lake.

Thoughts flashed through Feng Xiu's mind like lightning.

His own family's granaries—Golden Ear Wheat!

Golden Ear Wheat was unique to the Cloud Ridge Plateau. It was also the foundation of the Feng Clan and the many powers in Green Rock City.

But that made it even harder to explain. Capital might take dangerous risks for profit, but it would never sit by and watch its core assets lose value.

Would the great grain merchants, including the Feng Clan, really stand by while their harvests dwindled?

Unless... opening Tang Reservoir itself would bring about something even more terrifying than a tenant revolt and damage to their own interests?

Was there something wrong with the water?

The moment the thought arose, Feng Xiu dismissed it.

Feng Ao's authority had taken deep root. Feng Xiu didn't dare argue any further. He opened his mouth, then answered, "Yes. Wen Zheng will obey."

"You may leave."

Feng Ao spoke calmly, lifting his teacup for a small sip.

"Mm~"

Feng Xiu bowed respectfully and turned to leave, bending as he lowered his head. But when he reached the threshold, Feng Ao's voice sounded again.

"Wen Zheng, there's also the matter of your second brother. You should see to him."

Noticing the faint disappointment in Feng Ao's words, Feng Xiu was startled. "What's happened to Second Brother?"

"He's been struck by evil."

"Struck by evil?"

"He insists on marrying a courtesan, as if she's bewitched him. It's gotten bad enough that the matter's reached me!" Feng Ao's brows knitted together.

"Did you know your second brother has even stopped eating for that prostitute? If that's not being struck by evil, what is?!"

Feng Ao snorted. His anger simmered beneath a fearsome air, and Zhou Gang hurriedly tried to calm him.

"Brother Feng, take it easy. Take it easy."

Feng Xiu's expression shifted when he heard this, but he took a deep breath and didn't ask for the details.

The eldest legitimate son, and now this. Wasn't there already enough on his plate?

Feng Xiu was the oldest in the family and the only child born to Feng Ao and his late first wife.

Overall, the Feng Clan was climbing toward the status of a wealthy, prestigious family—a counterfeit aristocratic house, really. But perhaps the air of a nouveau riche family still clung to them.

As for this younger brother, all he could say was that he had rather extravagant tastes.

"I'll take care of it," Feng Xiu replied, turning to leave.

Struck by evil?

The moment he stepped over the threshold, a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

But before he could think it through, Feng Ao's voice called after him again.

"I'll be going away in a couple of days. You'll handle the affairs at home until I return. I want an explanation when I get back."

Feng Xiu paused, answered, "Yes," and then quickened his pace.

After leaving the reception hall, Feng Xiu first returned to his room to change into dry clothes, then washed his face with cool water.

Only after the feverish heat in his body had eased a little did he wipe his face dry.

Then he instructed a guard, "Go invite Uncle Zheng over."

"Yes."

The guard turned and went.

The weather was hot, and Feng Mansion naturally had ways to beat the heat. Two basins of ice made with saltpeter sat in a shady corner of the room.

While Feng Xiu waited, a knock sounded at the door.

"Eldest Young Master, you sent for me?"

The visitor knocked first and only entered after Feng Xiu gave permission.

Uncle Zheng was around fifty, with a lean face and graying hair neatly combed and bound with an ordinary wooden hairpin.

He wasn't as burly as a martial artist, but his steps were steady. His indigo cotton robe had faded from years of washing, and his bearing reflected the composure of someone long seasoned by hard work.

Feng Xiu raised a hand and led him to a rosewood chair in the adjoining hall, indicating that he should sit. "Uncle Zheng, have a seat. Do you know what Shou Zhuo's been up to lately?"

Uncle Zheng was an old hand who had worked alongside Feng Ao since the early days. He was still in fairly good health, and Feng Xiu treated him with courtesy.

Uncle Zheng didn't sit right away. He bowed slightly and perched on the edge of the chair.

After a moment's thought, he replied, "To answer the eldest young master, the second young master went to the Wenjin Society's ten-day gathering about eight days ago with several classmates from the city. Afterward, they invited one another to the Fragrant Flower Pavilion."

The Wenjin Society was an elegant literary club founded by scholars from several private academies in the city, with a fine-sounding name.

In reality, it was an excuse for wealthy young men with backgrounds like Feng Shou Zhuo's to gather for revelry and trips into the countryside.

They hadn't written many essays, but they'd mastered every sort of frivolous pastime, from using beauty as paper to using flesh as an inkstone.

"And after that?"

Suppressing his helplessness, Feng Xiu pressed on.

Right now, his top priority wasn't the rain-praying matter in White Willow Village, arranging for a matchmaker to find new tenants from respectable families, or investigating what was really going on at Tang Reservoir.

None of that mattered. What mattered was that, as the eldest son of the Feng Clan,

Feng Xiu had to make the family's harmony visible to everyone!

If he couldn't even keep an eye on his own younger brother, how could anyone expect him to lead the family to prosperity?

Because Feng Xiu hadn't known about the matter, he had already displeased Feng Ao. That was why Feng Ao had made a show of still being angry, using the display to reprimand him.

"According to the people keeping an eye on him..." Uncle Zheng lowered his voice. "At an exclusive gathering at the Fragrant Flower House, the second young master tossed out two hundred taels for a newly arrived courtesan and claimed her first night. The next day, he made a scene, insisting he would buy out her contract and take her away from the brothel."

Uncle Zheng's expression suggested he was recalling what he'd heard. "The woman's name is Su Wantang. According to the madam of the Fragrant Flower House, she came to Green Rock City alone three months ago and sold herself. Her contract is clean."

"She claims she's an orphan who fled Jin Province, but this old servant sent people to investigate. None of the checkpoints or relay stations along the route recorded her entering the region."

"In just over a month, she's made a name for herself and become the top courtesan in the house."

The second young master's illness had come on so suddenly that Uncle Zheng had only managed to investigate this much.

Feng Xiu furrowed his brows. "Who went with him to the Wenjin Society?"

"There was the third son of the Li family, the cloth merchants in the north of the city, and the nephew of Wang, the judicial clerk at the yamen."

Uncle Zheng listed several names in succession. They were all wealthy, idle young men in Green Rock City, born to concubines and with no prospects of earning official honors.

In the end, the ways great families trained their heirs all had something in common.

A family could cushion the consequences of your idleness, but you couldn't actually be good for nothing.

"The one leading them was the only son of Shopkeeper Liu from Juyuan Pawnshop, Liu Wenjun."

"Liu Wenjun?"

A look of understanding flashed through Feng Xiu's eyes. The man was a notorious playboy in the city, a regular at both gambling and brothels. Master Black had told him plenty of dirt about him.

What good could possibly come of him taking Shou Zhuo to a place like that?

Su Wantang had appeared out of nowhere three months ago, with no record of entering the region along the way, and had become the top courtesan in just a few months.

She had sold herself, had no entry record, and seemed to have a clear target: Shou Zhuo?

A pig-butchering scam? No—the kind of scheme used by the Thousand Gates. He'd read about it in miscellaneous notes.

This was probably more or less exactly what was going on.

The conclusion was somewhat hasty, but it was all he could think of.

As for whether it was true love, that didn't even enter Feng Xiu's mind. The Feng Clan's rules were strict, and Feng Shou Zhuo couldn't possibly be unaware of the consequences of his actions.

"Look into two things." Feng Xiu considered it for a moment, then gave his orders decisively.

"First, investigate everything about Su Wantang, including everyone she's been in contact with, her daily routine, her preferences. I want to know it all."

"Second, prepare a modest gift and send it to Shopkeeper Liu of Juyuan Pawnshop in my name. Tell him I appreciate his son looking after Shou Zhuo."

Uncle Zheng's expression turned grave. "Yes. This old servant understands."

"Also, make the arrangements. I want to see Shou Zhuo."

If this really was a Thousand Gates Gambit, the other side would surely have more moves planned. The sooner Feng Xiu could see Feng Shou Zhuo, the sooner he could confirm his condition.

He could also see if he could coax some details about Su Wantang out of him.

Afterward, Uncle Zheng went to the stables and drove the carriage himself. Before long, it was waiting at the entrance to the mansion.

Once Feng Xiu was inside, the carriage rolled slowly toward the outer city.

To avoid harming the family's harmony and to keep Feng Shou Zhuo from developing any other thoughts of fighting for power, his residence wasn't in the inner city.

To be honest, Feng Xiu couldn't understand this at all.

The difference between a legitimate eldest son and a younger son, between legitimate and concubine-born, created a gulf in status. They weren't even on the same level.

His surname was Feng, his given name was Xiu. He'd undergone the capping ceremony and received the courtesy name Wen Zheng.

His surname was Feng, his given name was Shou Zhuo, and he had no courtesy name.

Judging just by their names and the way Feng Shou Zhuo was indulged, Feng Xiu would have to die before the position of family head could ever fall to him.

So how had Yuan Shen managed to rise from being the son of a concubine to become the head of the Yuan family?

On the street,

hawkers cried out as they made their rounds. Commoners in coarse clothes and martial artists with sabers at their waists and swords across their backs flowed past one another.

Amid the laughter of several lightly dressed women, three or five martial artists with hollowed temples sat beside a roadside shop.

One hand held up a bamboo hat to fan away the heat while the other drank from a large bowl of cold tea.

After the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, the carriage slowly stopped before a quiet courtyard in the eastern part of the outer city. Uncle Zheng spoke up.

"Young master, we've arrived."

Feng Xiu and Uncle Zheng pushed open the door together. The courtyard was plain and simple, with few decorative buildings. Only two guards, one man and one woman, attended Feng Shou Zhuo.

"Eldest Young Master."

The young guard was startled to see Feng Xiu, then respectfully greeted him.

"Take me to him."

Feng Xiu's expression was cool, his brows shadowed by anger he kept barely in check.

The guard trembled at his words. It was obvious why the eldest young master had come.

He hurriedly led them to the side room.

By the bed, a pretty young maid patiently wiped the sweat from the forehead of a gaunt man with a towel.

"How is the second young master's health?"

The room was filled with the pungent scent of Chinese medicine. Before Feng Xiu could speak, Uncle Zheng asked.

"The second young master took some calming medicine and just fell asleep," the maid stammered, clearly afraid of the old man.

Feng Xiu looked toward Feng Shou Zhuo on the bed. At that moment, he looked like an entirely different person from the one in Feng Xiu's memories.

He was gaunt—not quite skin and bones, but long stripped of his former air of wealth. His face was as pale as paper, and now and then his body trembled as cold sweat seeped out.

Feng Xiu jolted.

He'd last seen him ten days ago.

In just ten days, he'd become barely recognizable?

This wasn't being struck by evil. Someone wanted Feng Shou Zhuo dead!