Blood Qi Soup

Zhao Peng clapped Song Shi on the shoulder and laughed heartily.

"Big households hire people to guard their homes, casinos hire them to keep the peace, or you can do escort work like we do.

"See, Junior Brother Song and I have already settled things these past few days. Tomorrow, he'll register with our Four Seas Escort Agency. He can tag along on escort runs in his spare time and earn at least fifty or sixty silver dollars a month. If he goes on long-distance runs, he'll get a share of the profits too!"

Song Shi blushed and nodded, stammering, "Th-thank you, Senior Brother Zhao, for looking out for me."

Zhao Peng turned to Lu Zhen, his eyes full of recruitment-minded enthusiasm. "Junior Brother Lu, your Mid Force Refining Realm skills are even better than Junior Brother Song's.

"How about it? Interested in joining our Four Seas Escort Agency and taking a seat at the table? I guarantee I'll get you a good deal—seventy silver dollars a month, minimum!"

Lu Zhen was a little surprised that an Inner Sect disciple would conduct business so openly. Before he could say anything, Gu Yanzhi beside him laughed and shook open his fan.

"Senior Brother Zhao's really playing a shrewd game. But Brother Lu, since you're so good at arithmetic, I'm sure you can see that my family isn't just in business—we make our living on the water, too.

"To be frank, my family's Tongjiang Shipping is looking to form its own escort fleet.

"You'd only need to make one trip with a ship each month. Eighty silver dollars."

Before Lu Zhen and Zhao Peng could react, Gu Yanzhi stepped closer and lowered his voice, revealing his real trump card.

"Money's secondary. Brother Lu, the Blood Qi Soup from a martial arts school isn't enough for someone in the Mid Force Refining Realm.

"Our ships sail in deep waters, and sometimes we catch a kind of Red Scale Fish. Its blood-qi essence is abundant, ten times stronger than medicinal soup!

"If you join us, I'll make the call on every job and give you one precious fish to aid your training!"

"Precious fish?" Zhao Peng's face changed at once. He then put on an exaggeratedly woebegone expression and jokingly cried out, "Oh, come on, Young Master Gu!

"Your family's got such a vast business. What capable men couldn't you hire? Fine, spend money if you want, but why bring out a treasure like this to tempt people?

"How am I supposed to compete with a walking money chest like you? Why are you even fighting your junior for the same man?"

Gu Yanzhi didn't take offense. With a flick, he opened his fan and smiled.

"Good birds choose their trees to nest in. But Senior Brother Zhao has a point, too. We can't break the rules."

Gu Yanzhi turned to Lu Zhen and cupped his hands. "Brother Lu, I won't pressure you. You can visit Senior Brother Zhao's escort agency first and see how things are, then think over my offer and compare the two. We can talk again after that. How does that sound?"

Lu Zhen took a deep breath, suppressing his desire for the precious fish, and cupped his hands.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Zhao and Brother Gu. This is a major decision, so let me go back and think it over for a few days. I'll give you both an answer."

"Of course, of course!" Seeing an easy way out, Zhao Peng quickly nodded with a smile.

Lu Zhen had just said goodbye to the two men and stepped out of the back courtyard when the scene before him startled him.

The servants who had barely given him the time of day were now greeting him with beaming smiles.

Before he could even leave the gate, several well-dressed men who looked like managers crowded around him.

"Well, if it isn't the newly promoted Master Lu! A fine-looking young man, just as I'd heard!"

Some represented the Great Joy Gate casino, others various trading firms. They all offered fifty or sixty silver dollars, crowding around Lu Zhen to hand him calling cards and pull him into their employ.

After hearing Gu Yanzhi and Zhao Peng's offers, Lu Zhen already knew what he was worth. He politely declined the merchants' offers, saying he needed to consolidate his realm, and sent the eager managers on their way.

As he walked out of the martial arts school, Lu Zhen looked at the bustling crowd on the street and let out a long breath of Turbid Qi.

Being fawned over and fought over by everyone really did make his head swim a little.

Meanwhile.

Pig Cage Alley.

The crowd had packed in front of Sister Shen's dilapidated home, a dense, dark mass.

He Gui, whom Lu Zhen had frightened off before, had returned.

This time, he wasn't carrying that folding fan he used to put on airs. Instead, he gripped a wrist-thick datewood club. His face glowed with triumph, and his narrow, inverted-triangle eyes were brimming with undisguised smugness.

Five or six farmhands in threadbare cotton-padded jackets trailed behind him. They all looked hostile, staring at the run-down house with greedy, green eyes.

"Open up! Open the damn door!"

He Gui kicked the door, shaking dust from the roof.

"Shen! Don't push your luck! The He Clan has come to collect this house today. It's only right and proper!"

He turned and shouted at the men behind him, loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.

"Brothers, I've got the facts straight!"

"That Cripple Lu who stood up for her last time isn't even a proper disciple of the Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall!"

"I paid the cart shop for information. The kid's just an Outer Sect apprentice who's only just paid his tuition! Anyone can get in there and hang around for a few days if they've got the money!"

When the He Clan relatives heard that, the little apprehension they'd still had disappeared.

"Big Brother, what are we waiting for, then?"

A pockmarked man rubbed his hands together, eyeing the rickety wooden door greedily.

"Let's hurry up and get that woman out of here. The beams, bricks—even that broken pot inside—we can tear it all down and trade it for a few dou of rice!"

He Gui chuckled, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth, and lowered his voice.

"It's settled. You can tear down the house and take whatever junk you find inside.

"But the woman... she's mine.

"Third Brother owes me five silver dollars. This woman's still passably pretty. I'll take her home as my second wife, and that'll settle the debt."

The men let out lewd laughs and took turns kicking the door.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The wooden door creaked, its hinges shaking. It was about to give way.

Inside.

Shen Yun pressed her back hard against the door, her feet braced against the ground, the scissors clutched tightly in her rough hands.

Each time a blow landed, her body shuddered violently.

She didn't dare make a sound, afraid she'd lose the breath holding the door shut.

The ends of the alley were already lined with neighbors watching the commotion.

They hunched their shoulders, hands tucked into their sleeves, whispering and pointing, but no one dared step forward.

These days, it was better not to invite trouble.

He Gui had brought so many people this time, and he was acting in the name of the He Clan. Who would dare risk getting on their bad side?

Uncle Ma, the man who sold rotten vegetables, stood in the crowd and tucked his shoulder pole behind his back.

He sighed, turning his head away, unable to bear the sight.

A couple of days ago, he'd helped guard the door because he'd thought Lu Zhen had the backing of the Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall.

But after hearing He Gui claim Lu Zhen was just a nobody who'd paid his way into the Outer Sect, what little courage he'd had vanished in an instant.

Auntie Fatty spat out her melon seed shell. Her fleshy face wore a mean, gleeful look.

"See? What did I tell you?

"Flies don't land on an egg without a crack.

"If Widow Shen were a decent woman, would she have gotten herself into this mess?

"And that Cripple Lu, acting all respectable—turns out he was just a poser!

"I said it all along. How could a miserable cart-puller rise to the top overnight? Well, look at that—the lie's been exposed. If he dares show his face today, I bet He Gui will break his other leg!"

The idle loafers burst into laughter. Their eyes roamed over the trembling door, leering with unmistakable sleaze.

"Such a pity, a figure like Shen's..."

"Heh, if she falls into that old lecher He Gui's hands, he'll probably ruin her."