Framing

On the main street of Chengde District, Su Xin walked toward the Green Bamboo Gang's headquarters, dressed in their clothes.

He touched the Human Skin Mask on his face. It really was a marvelous thing. Once he put it on, no matter how closely he looked, even he couldn't recognize himself.

He'd gotten the mask from that flower-picking thief. He hadn't expected it to come in handy so soon.

He'd disguised himself to come to the Green Bamboo Gang's territory for one reason: to stir up trouble.

The Green Bamboo Gang and the Flying Eagle Gang couldn't bring themselves to fight? Fine. He'd add fuel to the fire.

Changning Prefecture's Three Gangs and Four Associations comprised its seven great powers. Of these, the Three Gangs were the weakest.

But among them, the Flying Eagle Gang and another gang, the Jiangyang Gang, had only risen to prominence a few decades ago. The Green Bamboo Gang, however, had been passed down through three generations of the Wei Family. When it was first established, it had even been the strongest gang in Changning Prefecture.

Unfortunately, each generation had been worse than the last. By Wei Feng's generation, he couldn't even best his two deputy leaders. He was utterly useless.

As the former strongest gang, the Green Bamboo Gang had fallen into decline, but it still had some grandeur. At the very least, its headquarters were imposing: an entire street belonged to the gang.

At the entrance, Su Xin carried a box full of stones and clasped his hands to the guards. "Brother, I'm one of Boss Chen's men. My boss asked me to deliver something to the gang leader. Sorry for the trouble, could you let him know?"

Boss Chen was one of the three leading officers who supported Wei Feng. After Dai Chong died, he had taken Dai Chong's place as the one overseeing Yongle District.

But Boss Chen was far weaker than Dai Chong had been. He was heavily suppressed by another leading officer, who belonged to Deputy Gang Leader Ma Qingyuan. Yongle District was supposed to be split evenly between the two men, but now two-thirds of it belonged to the other side.

Still, Boss Chen had one advantage: he knew how to suck up. He often offered Wei Feng all sorts of strange contraptions, earning Wei Feng's favor and making him rely on Boss Chen even more.

Boss Chen sent people over often, so the guard didn't pay much attention to whether the messenger had changed. The Green Bamboo Gang had more than seven thousand members; it was only natural that they didn't all know one another.

"The gang leader's drinking at Spring Fragrance Pavilion. You can leave the stuff here, and I'll pass it on when he gets back."

He wasn't here? Su Xin smiled inwardly. All the better. It would've been dangerous to make a move at the headquarters. In a brothel, with all the noise and commotion, it would be easier to escape.

"Better not. This is rather private. Boss Chen said I had to give it to the gang leader personally. I'll make a trip to Spring Fragrance Pavilion."

The guard gave him a knowing look.

Wei Feng was a womanizer, and everyone in the Green Bamboo Gang knew it. Boss Chen often brought him all kinds of bizarre bedroom toys for precisely that reason. Naturally, such things weren't meant for other people's eyes.

Su Xin turned and walked into an alley, casually tossed the box aside, and took off the Green Bamboo Gang clothes, revealing fine silk robes underneath. He then produced a folding fan and instantly became an elegant young gentleman.

He left the alley and went to the street corner, where a group of porters waited with all kinds of sedan chairs, ready to rent them out.

Su Xin tossed over a piece of silver. One of the porters' eyes lit up as he picked it up and asked deferentially, "Where would you like to go, young master?"

"Spring Fragrance Pavilion."

Every district needed a brothel, but Spring Fragrance Pavilion in Chengde District was far inferior to Drunken Moon Pavilion in his Happy Forest. The decor was worse, and the service even worse.

As soon as he stepped inside, the tacky, gaudy red decor made Su Xin cringe.

Then a plump madam in her fifties fluttered her lashes and giggled coquettishly. "Come on in, young master!" The sight left Su Xin speechless.

At Boss Liu's Drunken Moon Pavilion, everything—from the decor to the service—was designed to be as refined as possible.

Spring Fragrance Pavilion, on the other hand, still relied on the same tired, sleazy routine: the madam giggled as she lured in customers, while the girls spread their legs to welcome them. It was hard to believe that Wei Feng, a gang leader in his own right, still got a kick out of it.

"Go on, get out of my way. I'll look around myself." Su Xin tossed a silver ingot into the madam's arms.

The madam caught it, glanced at the silver, and immediately turned to leave. The customer was king—she understood that much.

As long as he paid, she wouldn't mind even if he told her to get lost, or asked her to return to her old job and sell herself.

On the second floor of Spring Fragrance Pavilion, Su Xin channeled his inner strength into his ears, multiplying his hearing several times. The rooms were poorly soundproofed to begin with, and now every sound rang out as clearly as if it were right beside him.

Filtering out the noise, he gripped the dagger hidden inside his folding fan and headed for the innermost private room.

Inside, a young man of about thirty sat with one arm around a girl, drinking away his sorrows. Several Green Bamboo Gang members poured his wine and quietly tried to console him.

This was Wei Feng, the current leader of the Green Bamboo Gang. Of course, his life wasn't exactly glorious at the moment.

Wei Feng was deeply frustrated. Although he was now the gang leader, his life was worse than it had been when he was merely the previous leader's son.

Back then, Wei Feng had been a truly imposing figure. With his father backing him, who in the Green Bamboo Gang would dare cross him?

The earlier battle between the Green Bamboo Gang and the Flying Eagle Gang had started because Wei Feng and Sha Yuandong, Sha Feiying's son, had fought over a woman at a brothel. Their argument had escalated into a brawl.

Back then, Wei Feng hadn't even been afraid of Sha Yuandong. He didn't care that the man was Sha Feiying's son—he'd fight him all the same!

And now? The Flying Eagle Gang had given him a hard slap, and all he could do was sit here drinking away his sorrows.

"Damn it! Just wait until I get the chance. Once I've truly taken control of the Green Bamboo Gang, the first thing I'll do is deal with those two old bastards!"

The men beside him hurried to fill his cup, grinning obsequiously. "Exactly! One day, those two old turtles will learn just how formidable you are, gang leader!"

With a creak, the door to the private room swung open, and Su Xin walked in.

Wei Feng immediately frowned. "Who let you in? Get out! Have you forgotten all your manners?"

"Are you Wei Feng?" Su Xin asked softly, his eyes sweeping over everything in the room.

Aside from Wei Feng and the brothel girl in his arms, there were only five gang members in the room. They were all useless lackeys, with no one particularly strong among them.

Perhaps Wei Feng thought no one would dare attack him in the Green Bamboo Gang's own territory, so he'd brought only a few flunkies with him for his night out.

"Bold! How dare you call our gang leader by his name?" One of the men immediately stepped forward to scold him.

Su Xin ignored him and walked forward as he spoke. "I came here today to tell you one thing: whoever offends the Flying Eagle Gang deserves to die!"

As his final word fell, the folding fan in Su Xin's hand suddenly shattered, revealing the dagger hidden inside. He lunged at Wei Feng!

"An assassin!"

The five men cried out in alarm, but not one of them tried to stop Su Xin. They all howled and scrambled backward.

Terror flashed in Wei Feng's eyes. He was a martial artist, and his inner strength was no weaker than Su Xin's. He had opened thirty-six acupoints and reached the Post-Natal Initial Realm.

Unfortunately, he'd never once fought for his life. When this happened out of nowhere, Wei Feng had already forgotten that he knew martial arts.

Su Xin frowned. He hadn't expected Wei Feng to be such a coward that he was too scared even to dodge.

He hadn't actually planned to kill Wei Feng, but if he held back too obviously, people would see through him.

Fortunately, Wei Feng wasn't completely brainless.

Just as the dagger reached him, Wei Feng suddenly yanked the brothel girl beside him in front of himself, trying to use her to block the blow.

Su Xin deliberately shifted the angle. The dagger pierced the girl's shoulder and continued into Wei Feng's arm.

After his strike missed, Su Xin immediately leapt backward. Before Wei Feng could react, he jumped right out the second-floor window.

"Gang leader, are you all right?" Only after they saw Su Xin escape did the lackeys gather around to fuss over him.

"Get lost! All of you useless pieces of trash, get lost! What were you doing just now?"

Wei Feng shoved aside the brothel girl who had taken the blow for him. She was still sobbing in pain. He then began cursing out the gang members.

They all chuckled awkwardly, too afraid to talk back as they endured Wei Feng's tirade.

The commotion Su Xin had caused was so great that the Green Bamboo Gang had been alerted. Ma Qingyuan and Chen Hong reached Spring Fragrance Pavilion within fifteen minutes.

"Gang leader, what happened?" Ma Qingyuan asked, feigning concern.

"What happened? I was nearly killed by an assassin from the Flying Eagle Gang! They dared to assassinate me right here, in the middle of the Green Bamboo Gang's territory. The Flying Eagle Gang has slapped me in the face, and you still want to put up with it?" Wei Feng roared.

"Could there be some misunderstanding?" Chen Hong said.

He was short and slender, with a refined air. He looked less like a martial artist and more like a secretary.

In fact, he had once been the old gang leader's strategist, leaving all the fighting to Ma Qingyuan.

So when he heard what had happened, his first thought was that someone had framed the Flying Eagle Gang. They had always been restrained, and he couldn't believe they would suddenly send someone to assassinate Wei Feng.

"A misunderstanding? The assassin said himself that he was from the Flying Eagle Gang. What else could there be to misunderstand?"

Wei Feng glared at them, his eyes bloodshot. "If you won't attack the Flying Eagle Gang, then I will! You can have the gang leader's seat! I'm done with it!"

Chen Hong hurriedly took Wei Feng by the arm. "Please calm down, gang leader. I never said we wouldn't fight. I'll issue the order right now: we'll go to war with the Flying Eagle Gang. We'll make them answer for this!"

"Hmph!"

Satisfied with the answer, Wei Feng clutched his arm and left with his men.

After Wei Feng's men had left, Ma Qingyuan's expression immediately darkened. "Chen Hong, what are you doing? Starting a war now does us no good at all!"

Chen Hong sighed. "After something like this, what choice do we have? Our own gang leader was nearly assassinated. If we still hold back, even if those leading officers listen to us, the men beneath them won't.

"This doesn't seem like the Flying Eagle Gang's doing. I suspect someone's trying to stir up trouble between us. It might even be that brat Wei Feng himself, hiring someone to start a war so he can seize our power."

"You think he's that scheming?" Ma Qingyuan didn't believe it. He'd watched Wei Feng grow up. That playboy was nothing but an embroidered pillow.

Chen Hong smiled inscrutably. "When someone's driven into a corner, what won't they do? But he's still too green to take power from us. He wants a fight? Then I'll give him the fight of his life. Once his men are gone, he can settle down and be a puppet gang leader."