Not One Can Be Spared

Shen Chu's farewell came without warning,

Zhao Dezhu was caught completely off guard. His expression stiffened for a moment, but he quickly forced out a smile and rose to see him to the door. "All right, all right, Master Shen, take care. We'll chat again another day when we have time."

Shen Chu said nothing more, merely nodding.

The moment he stepped outside, he nearly collided with someone.

Master Wang was jogging over, his face alight with excitement.

When he saw Shen Chu coming out of Zhao Dezhu's room, he abruptly stopped. A look of contempt and realization crossed his face. "Oh, Shen Chu? You came to see Manager Zhao too? I was wondering why you wouldn't band together with us old fellows. So you'd already climbed a high branch."

Shen Chu could not be bothered to explain. He merely gave him an indifferent glance and walked straight past him.

Master Wang was choked by his nonchalant attitude. With a cold snort, he stopped paying attention to him, turned, and pushed open the door to Zhao Dezhu's room.

Zhao Dezhu had just sent Shen Chu away and was sitting at the table, his face dark as he pondered something.

Seeing Master Wang arrive uninvited, he could not help frowning, though he still asked patiently, "Master Wang? What brings you here so late?"

Master Wang chuckled and, without ceremony, dropped himself onto a seat beside the table.

Seeing that plenty of food and wine remained on the table, his eyes immediately lit up. He picked up his chopsticks and stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth, then took a swig of wine before smacking his lips. "Manager Zhao, you're living quite the good life."

Zhao Dezhu's brow furrowed even deeper at his behavior, and his tone grew heavier. "Master Wang, if you have something to say, say it."

"Fine, then I'll be blunt."

Master Wang wiped his mouth, took a ledger from his robes, and slapped it onto the table.

"These are the accounts I checked over the past few days. I went through, line by line, the amount of coal and iron brought into the courtyard during this time, as well as the number of blades entered into storage. The numbers don't add up, Manager Zhao. There's quite a sizable gap in the middle. Can you explain it?"

Zhao Dezhu's expression abruptly changed. Though he quickly returned to normal, Master Wang had already caught that fleeting change firmly in his eyes.

Master Wang was overjoyed.

This Zhao Dezhu really was hiding something!

"Master Wang, you must be joking. The accounts have always been crystal clear. Perhaps you made an error while checking them."

Naturally, Zhao Dezhu would not admit it. He lifted his wine cup for a sip and gave Master Wang a cold look.

But Master Wang gave a smug chuckle, leaned back, crossed one leg over the other, and drawled, "Manager Zhao, don't try to muddle through with me. I, Master Wang, have worked in this courtyard for so many years. You can't hide these little tricks in the accounts from me. I don't want to make a big fuss of this either, but you have to let my old brothers and me feel a little more balanced, don't you?"

Zhao Dezhu fell silent for a moment.

Then he set down his wine cup and burst into laughter. "Master Wang, perhaps I was negligent with the accounts. Good thing you pointed it out. How about this? I'll make up a bonus for you old fellows later, as an apology."

Seeing him yield, Master Wang grew even more smug. "Hehe, Manager Zhao, wouldn't it have been better if you'd said that from the start?"

"But we're not beggars. How much could a bonus be worth?"

"The figures in these accounts seem quite substantial to me. How about this? I won't ask for much. Whatever you send out in the future, I'll take half. What do you think?"

At those words, Zhao Dezhu's eyes suddenly narrowed. Before he could reply, Master Wang began making even more demands on his own.

Not only did he want a share of the profits, he wanted Zhao Dezhu to give the best materials to them old hands first in the future, to give them preferential treatment in the work rotations, and even to drive out all those lackeys.

"Easy enough, easy enough, so long as Master Wang can keep this secret..."

Zhao Dezhu smiled as he agreed to every condition one by one, but his eyes were slowly turning colder.

Master Wang finally finished laying out all his conditions. Seeing that Zhao Dezhu had actually agreed to every last one,

he contentedly picked up two pieces of meat and stuffed them into his mouth.

Zhao Dezhu filled his wine cup beside him, then asked as if casually, "Master Wang, does anyone else know about you coming to see me tonight?"

Master Wang waved a hand, completely unconcerned. "I came alone. How could I let anyone else get a share of something this good?"

Zhao Dezhu nodded, and the smile on his face suddenly became somewhat strange.

He then rose and walked to the door, as though he intended to close it.

Meanwhile, Master Wang had his head lowered as he dealt with the last few pieces of meat on the plate, utterly unaware of the abnormality behind him.

After closing the door, Zhao Dezhu casually grabbed a door bar as thick as an arm from behind it.

He turned around, his eyes utterly devoid of ripples.

He aimed at the graying back of Master Wang's head,

and viciously swung the club down!

As the club fell, it struck with a dull, heavy thud.

Master Wang did not have time to let out a full scream before he crumpled limply to the ground.

But Zhao Dezhu still did not stop. He pounded Master Wang's head again and again with savage blows,

striking more than a dozen times in a row.

Dark red fluid gushed from the back of Master Wang's head, quickly soaking into the dirt beneath him.

Zhao Dezhu stood beside the corpse, gripping the bloodstained door bar as he caught his breath for a moment.

The panic in his eyes gradually settled into calm, then turned cold and resolute.

He looked down at Master Wang's corpse, his mind whirling rapidly.

Since this Master Wang had managed to uncover problems in the accounts, the others who had banded together with him were probably involved as well.

Leaving them alive would sooner or later become a disaster!

And Shen Chu!

When Shen Chu had left just now, he had happened to run into Master Wang coming to see him.

Although Shen Chu had looked as though he could not care less about Master Wang, would he connect tonight's events? Would he guess something?

Zhao Dezhu's eyes darkened, and his fingers tightened sharply around the door bar.

No, he needed to think of another way!

Sun Ping's illness had dragged on for more than ten days, but he had finally recovered.

Early that morning, he returned to the Sword-Forging Courtyard.

Having missed work for all those days, he had fallen behind on quite a bit. Throughout the entire morning, Sun Ping swung his hammer until it was nearly smoking.

It was not until lunchtime that he faintly sensed something was off.

Not one of those old fellows who usually liked to gather together and chatter endlessly was anywhere to be seen.

No wonder the courtyard was left with only the sounds of hammering iron.

Without them, the place felt strangely empty, as though even the air had quieted a little.

Sun Ping walked over to Shen Chu. Seeing Shen Chu waving his chopsticks as he focused wholeheartedly on eating, he leaned over and asked, "Shen Chu, why haven't I seen Master Wang and the others? Did something happen in the courtyard these past few days?"

Shen Chu's chopsticks did not stop as he stuffed chunks of braised pork into his mouth. "Don't know. Haven't seen any of them for days."