"Brother Chen! Brother Chen, are you there?!"
The panicked shout shattered the courtyard's silence.
Chen Jianghe looked up and saw Zhou Yong stumbling into the courtyard.
His left arm was still wrapped in a bloodstained bandage, his face deathly pale and his forehead beaded with cold sweat.
"Brother Zhou?" Chen Jianghe hurried forward to support him. "What happened?"
"The escort agency... something's happened at the escort agency!" Zhou Yong grabbed Chen Jianghe's arm. "Zhao Mingyuan... that son of a bitch brought his men and surrounded the place! He's demanding that the Su Family hand over all its assets to pay the debt!"
Chen Jianghe's pupils contracted. "When did this happen?"
"Just now!" Zhou Yong panted. "Second Master suffered a fit of rage two days ago and collapsed on the spot. He still hasn't woken up. The Young Gang Leader has spent the past few days running everywhere, begging anyone who might help, visiting every bank that might lend money and every old acquaintance he could appeal to. But in this world... it's easy to add flowers to brocade; it's hard to send charcoal in a snowstorm."
He paused, lowering his voice further. "A few days ago, outside Zuichun Brothel, that ungrateful bastard Zhao Mingyuan called the Young Gang Leader a 'stray dog with nowhere to go' in front of all the guests..."
"The Young Gang Leader has sold off quite a few things from the family home these past few days. Sister-in-law even pawned her dowry jewelry. They scraped together whatever they could, but only managed to raise a little over two hundred taels of gold." Zhou Yong wiped his face, his eyes full of despair.
Chen Jianghe fell silent for a moment, then suddenly turned and went inside.
Zhou Yong froze. "Brother Chen, you..."
"Wait a moment."
Zhou Yong stared in surprise. A short while after Chen Jianghe went inside, he came back out, now carrying a coarse cloth bundle.
He went to the hidden compartment beneath the bed and took out three oilcloth-wrapped bundles.
The first held a two-hundred-tael gold note; the second contained several dozen taels of silver; the third held the manual for Phantom Shadow Steps.
Zhou Yong followed him to the doorway. Seeing Chen Jianghe stuff all of it into his clothes, he stared in shock. "Brother Chen, what are you..."
"Let's go." Chen Jianghe tightened his belt and tucked the Butchery Blade at his waist. "To the escort agency."
"But the Young Gang Leader said..."
Chen Jianghe cut him off, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "I listened to my senior brother. But as his junior brother, I can't just stand by and watch someone trample all over him."
He paused and looked at Zhou Yong. "Can you still walk, Brother Zhou?"
Zhou Yong gritted his teeth and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I can!"
"Then let's go."
The two of them hurried toward the Su Family Escort Agency, one after the other.
The air outside the Su Family Escort Agency was taut with hostility.
The two black-lacquered gates stood open. Three or four dozen people filled the courtyard, split into two groups.
One group consisted of the Su Family's escort guards and porters, around twenty people in all. They gripped knives and clubs, forming a semicircle in front of the main hall steps. Every face was tense, many had been injured, and their breathing was ragged.
The other group had only a dozen or so people, but their presence was intimidating.
Three men stood shoulder to shoulder at their head.
On the left was Li Tian, with a pointed face and thin lips. He stood with his arms folded, an undisguised sneer tugging at the corner of his mouth.
On the right was an eighteen-year-old youth in brocade robes and a jade belt, his expression cold. It was Chen Wanglong. He looked over the Su Family's people with detached eyes.
At the center stood Zhao Mingyuan, dressed in a dark, black robe with a long saber at his waist. His face was hard and cold.
Seven or eight sturdy warriors stood behind him, each with a steady aura. Every one of them had at least Bright Strength cultivation. They were clearly elite bodyguards carefully trained by the Zhao Family.
Su Derong stood alone on the steps.
Today he wore a moon-white silk robe, his hair neatly combed. He still waved his folding fan, though a little faster than usual.
"Instructor Zhao," Su Derong began, his voice even, "debts must be repaid. The Su Family Escort Agency has run into difficulties, but we haven't reached the point of selling our ancestral property. Give me three months to repay the four hundred taels of gold we owe, principal and interest."
Li Tian let out a mocking laugh. "Three months? Junior Brother Su, do you have any idea what kind of shape the escort agency is in? We lost five more men on an escort run a few days ago, and we can't even pay their families compensation. Take your senior brother's advice and hand over this mess while you can still leave with some dignity."
The Su Family's people glared at him, their eyes blazing with anger.
Wang Gui gave a muffled grunt and started forward, but Zhao Tieshan beside him held him back with both arms.
"Li Tian," Su Derong said, the smile fading slightly from his face, "my family's affairs aren't for an outsider like you to meddle in."
"An outsider?" Li Tian burst out laughing. "Your family owes money to a creditor who just happens to be the Third Master of a branch of my Zhao Family! Here's the IOU, signed and sealed in black and white!"
He pulled an IOU from his clothes, unfolded it, and waved it at everyone. "It's all written in black and white, stamped with the Su Family Escort Agency's seal and signed by Second Master Su Jingming himself! A loan of four hundred taels of gold, at three percent monthly interest. If it isn't repaid on time, all the escort agency's assets will be seized to pay the debt!"
Su Derong's hand tightened inside his sleeve, but he still wore a smile. "Yes, the IOU is genuine. But we agreed that if unforeseen circumstances arose, the repayment could be delayed by three months. Now that the Su Family has fallen on hard times, according to the rules..."
"The rules?" Zhao Mingyuan suddenly spoke, breaking his silence.
The two words fell, and the courtyard went dead quiet.
His cold gaze settled on Su Derong. "Su Derong, the rules of the jianghu are for people with strength to invoke. What strength does your Su Family have now?"
Zhao Mingyuan took a step forward, his boots striking the blue bricks. "I didn't come here today to discuss the rules. I came to collect the debt."
He lifted a hand and pointed to the indigo escort flag planted in front of the courtyard's screen wall. "Take down the flag. The residence, warehouses, goods, horses, and carriages—all valued and seized to pay the debt. If that's still not enough—"
His eyes fell on the white jade pendant at Su Derong's waist. "Then all those odds and ends you're wearing will go toward it too. Perhaps that'll be enough to make up the total."
Su Derong drew a deep breath, pulled a bulging brocade pouch from his clothes, and tossed it toward Zhao Mingyuan. "There are two hundred and twenty taels of gold in here! I'll pay the remaining one hundred and eighty within three months..."
Zhao Mingyuan caught the pouch, weighed it in his hand, then casually passed it to an attendant behind him.
The attendant immediately untied the pouch and counted the gold carefully in the sunlight. A moment later, he looked up. "Instructor Zhao, it's exactly two hundred and twenty taels."
Zhao Mingyuan nodded and looked at Su Derong. "You're still short one hundred and eighty taels."
"I told you, three months..."
"Before noon today." Zhao Mingyuan cut him off, his tone leaving no room for argument. "The IOU is clear: if the debt isn't repaid on time, the assets will be seized. Young Gang Leader Su, surely you can read those words?"
Su Derong's face turned ashen.
Down below, quiet sobs rose from among the Su Family's people. They came from the families of several old porters, who had been summoned there that day and forced to watch their livelihoods pushed to the brink.
Seeing this, Li Tian grinned even more broadly. "Junior Brother Su, why keep this up? Hand over the escort agency, and your family might still have a way out. If this ends up in the authorities' hands, it won't look good for you."
Chen Wanglong suddenly spoke, his voice cool. "Instructor Zhao, time is precious."
Zhao Mingyuan nodded and waved to the men behind him. "Go in and take inventory of the assets. If anyone tries to stop you..."
His gaze swept over the Su Family's people. "Treat it as unlawful entry. Kill or spare as you see fit."
"Yes, sir!"
The seven or eight Zhao Family bodyguards answered in unison and stepped forward.
The Su Family's escort guards tightened their grips on their knives and clubs, but no one dared actually fight. Their opponents were the Zhao Family, one of the Five Great Families of the Inner City. If they fought back, not only would they die—the entire Su Family could be doomed.
Standing on the steps, Su Derong watched the bodyguards advance, watched the despair in his family's eyes, watched the escort agency his grandfather had built with his own hands, his father had painstakingly run, and where he had grown up...
His fan slowly drooped.
He closed his eyes.
At that instant—
"Wait."
A calm voice came from beyond the courtyard gate.
Everyone turned toward it.
Chen Jianghe stepped into the courtyard, with Zhou Yong behind him. Zhou Yong's face remained pale, but his back was straight.