The Bandit Brother

After leaving the teahouse, it was nearly time for the banquet.

He crossed the small bridge ahead.

Chen Guan also spotted the entrance to Yanhe Pavilion.

Beneath the lanterns on either side up ahead,

Chen Guan saw the waiter who had delivered the invitation earlier.

Beside him stood an old man with graying hair.

The left side of the man's face was sunken.

His appearance and age were especially close to how his father had described the proprietor of Yanhe Pavilion.

Most importantly, the guests coming and going all addressed him as the proprietor.

Chen Guan had keen hearing and quickly confirmed that this was the host for the evening.

Meanwhile, downstairs,

Bandit Brother had just seen another guest in. Then he turned his gaze and spotted Chen Guan coming down from the bridge in the distance. He immediately led a waiter over to greet him.

Chen Guan stood out in a crowd.

Even on the way over, Bandit Brother saw people greeting him.

Bandit Brother and Chen Guan were both rising stars in town at the moment.

Wherever they went, people were sure to greet them.

"Young Hero Chen! Young Hero Chen! This old man should have welcomed you sooner!"

As they drew closer,

Bandit Brother began cupping his hands in greeting from afar.

He needed Chen Guan's help, and was even a little afraid of the young master's skill.

"Shopkeeper Sun." Chen Guan returned the greeting with cupped fists, observing all due courtesy.

But as his eyes swept over the shopkeeper, he noticed something wrong with the sunken cheek.

It twitched involuntarily every so often, making for a rather unsettling sight.

That was a lingering effect of Bandit Brother's having once smashed his teeth in; it had damaged a nerve.

"Honored guest, please! We've reserved a private room upstairs especially for you!"

Bandit Brother was used to his facial deformity and acted as though nothing was amiss as he ingratiatingly invited Chen Guan into the restaurant.

Chen Guan went along with his host.

Tap, tap—

He stepped into a lavish ancient-style restaurant straight out of a TV drama.

Chen Guan glanced around, taking in the aromas of the food, the merchants and young masters and ladies dining in the main hall, and the neatly dressed martial artists.

Look at their elegant attire.

Yanhe Pavilion truly lived up to its reputation.

Though it was much more expensive, the decor was lovely and the location was excellent.

From the western windows, one could even admire the beautiful river scenery. The windows also had insect-repelling sachets, so mosquitoes and bugs couldn't get into the restaurant.

The food here was leagues better than the cook's at home, too.

No wonder the place kept thriving. The atmosphere, the decor, and the quality of the food were all top-notch.

By comparison, prices fifty percent higher than those at an ordinary restaurant didn't seem so steep after all.

As he pondered this,

Chen Guan followed the shopkeeper upstairs, all the while sensing that there was something unusual about him.

He just couldn't figure out why.

He simply didn't like the man, and even felt a little resistant toward him.

Chen Guan had no idea where this feeling came from. He just felt that something was off.

This feeling made him instinctively reluctant to deal with the man.

And so,

Bandit Brother had cheerfully led the young hero to the private room, fawning over Chen Guan as he poured him wine and ordered dishes from the kitchen.

But Chen Guan only made a bit of conversation here and there, and didn't seem very interested.

Bandit Brother was left completely baffled.

This is strange! How did I offend the kid?

Bandit Brother was utterly confused. He thought he'd done everything expected of a host.

Then,

he wondered if Chen Guan was simply a cold and distant person by nature.

Or perhaps the matter with Bamboo Swordsman had made Chen Guan wary of him.

Thinking of this, Bandit Brother watched Chen Guan quietly eating and cursed inwardly,

Damn you, Bamboo Swordsman! You're dead and gone, and not only did I lose all the money I spent on you, now your death is making me offend my new hired hand?

You really deserved to die, Brother Bamboo! You were a damned fool!

After grumbling to himself, Bandit Brother looked at Chen Guan again.

Now that he'd invited the man over, he ought to make a little more conversation.

But Chen Guan's silence made him afraid to speak up. He only dared to keep him company over drinks, not to explain the matter with Bamboo Swordsman.

He feared that trying to explain would only make things worse, and that the more he said, the more mistakes he'd make.

Bandit Brother was an old hand in the martial world. He knew a little of the art of "speaking human words to people, and keeping quiet around ghosts."

As far as he was concerned, Chen Guan, who killed without batting an eye, was a "ghost" who could take his life at any moment.

In truth, though, Chen Guan wasn't trying to give him the cold shoulder.

He'd genuinely meant to befriend him, but for some reason, the whole thing just felt awkward.

What on earth is going on?

Chen Guan couldn't make sense of it. The more he thought, the less he understood.

Gradually, his brows furrowed, and his troubled expression showed plainly on his face.

"What's wrong, Young Hero Chen?"

Seeing Chen Guan look troubled, Bandit Brother thought it over, then nervously ventured to ask,

"Have we failed to attend to you properly, or is there somewhere you need to be?"

Since this was their first meeting, Bandit Brother thought it was perfectly normal if his guest wanted to leave early.

"We've barely said a word over this meal. There's no point in trying to keep him... You can't force a melon to be sweet..."

Bandit Brother had been in business for many years and had learned to read people's temperaments.

Young Hero Chen was the kind of man who'd order a whole family wiped out at the drop of a hat.

His temperament was like a rock battered beneath a waterfall for decades: hard, cold, and smooth.

Bandit Brother figured he should use a gentle approach and slowly warm the young hero's icy heart.

"There are a few things on my mind." Hearing the shopkeeper bring it up, Chen Guan went along and admitted it.

He didn't know why.

Even after spending an hour together, eating and drinking,

even though the man had treated him well and seemed sincere about making friends,

Chen Guan still felt uncomfortable.

Maybe it's because Iron Fan warned me that he might be some kind of bandit. That put me on my guard from the start...

Chen Guan pondered it, thinking that might be part of the reason.

It occurred to him then.

He couldn't help feeling exasperated.

The saying really is true: once the seed of suspicion is planted, it takes root and sprouts, and the more you think about it, the more you're convinced there's something wrong with the person.

A few minutes later,

downstairs at the restaurant,

"Take care, young hero."

Bandit Brother cheerfully saw Chen Guan off, watching him disappear into the crowd.

Every so often, he could still hear greetings and exclamations coming from the direction Chen Guan had gone.

"Seventeen and already at Post-Heaven Great Accomplishment. He really knows how to make an entrance!"

Bandit Brother was a little jealous, envying Chen Guan's strength and his youth.

"Shopkeeper?" The waiter edged a few steps closer to Bandit Brother and followed his gaze toward the direction Chen Guan had gone,

"Is that young hero... easier to get a handle on than Bamboo Swordsman?"

"He's not easy to handle." Bandit Brother's cheek twitched unnaturally.

"The kid looks young, but for some reason he always gives me the impression of an old hand in the martial world.

His age and experience don't match at all. He seems very seasoned.

No matter how much I praise him, he's as still as a pool of water, neither pleased by praise nor moved by insult."

As he spoke, Bandit Brother touched the sunken left side of his face.

"But someone so young, with that kind of composure...

It's strange. Something's strange.

I'll sound him out after a while and see where he's really from. What's this kid's deal?"

"That shopkeeper is almost certainly up to no good!"

On the way back to the Zhao Family,

Chen Guan found the shopkeeper more and more unsettling.

Add to that his feud with Bamboo Swordsman and what Iron Fan had said,

and he had to get to the bottom of this.

He needed to find out where the problem lay.

And where exactly that uncomfortable feeling of his came from.

But if he asked the shopkeeper to his face, the man might not tell him.

Even if he did, he might just say what Chen Guan wanted to hear.

So,

three days later,

in the dead of night,

the martial world's Bone-Shrinking Technique was a minor skill for changing one's build.

With ten years' worth of spiritual energy behind it, it worked even better.

Dressed in black and standing at his current height of one meter ninety, Chen Guan prepared to launch a sudden nighttime raid on the proprietor of Yanhe Pavilion.

"I'll go in as a notorious bandit and interrogate him at sword point. That might get results."

Beneath the hazy starlight,

Chen Guan sprang lightly onto a courtyard wall five meters away, then bounded across a row of rooftops, skimming the eaves with agile steps.