The Great River Gang Was Gone

Under the blazing midday sun,

At last, there was movement from the loft.

Young attendants emerged from inside.

They led the leaders of every rank in the small courtyard, along with the Brokerage Guild managers, into the building one by one.

Another half hour passed. Amid everyone's anxious, expectant gazes, the loft doors slowly opened.

A group of more than a dozen people walked out.

At the front were Elder Xie and the young gang leader, Zhou Yingjun, whom Su Xinghe recognized. Though they had been tidied up, their complexions looked terrible. Their injuries seemed far from light.

Several people who knew them well immediately went up to greet them, while the rest of the crowd stirred in unrest.

"Quiet!"

"Return to your respective teams!"

The minor leaders and several managers returned to the teams under their command, and shouts of rebuke immediately rose from all around.

Under their direction, the panicked Brokerage Guild attendants and Great River Gang disciples split apart and stood on either side of the small courtyard.

Su Xinghe followed the others from his team and came to stand behind Zhang Whiskers.

Only after Lu Kui saw that no one in his team had come to harm did his expression ease somewhat.

"Beard Bro, I'm hungry..."

"Shut your mouth!"

Before Lu Kui could finish, Zhang Whiskers shot him a stern glare. He could only give an awkward smile, lower his head, and dare not make another sound.

"Everyone, Veteran's Trade House was attacked last night. We suffered grievous losses."

Zhou Yingjun stepped into the center of the courtyard and spoke to the crowd in a sorrowful tone:

"As of today, the Great River Gang is disbanded, and the Trade House will temporarily suspend business. Once the aftermath has been dealt with, we will notify everyone separately of when it reopens."

"Whoa—"

The Brokerage Guild attendants immediately erupted into a commotion.

Ever since they had seen the ruins of the Trade House on Eight-Zhang Street that morning, they had harbored this fear in their hearts.

Sure enough, their Veteran's Trade House was going under.

Dozens of them depended on the Trade House for their meals. Without this job, how were their entire families supposed to survive in the city?

The thirty-odd burly men from the Great River Gang, on the other hand, showed little reaction. If anything, they felt fortunate to have survived the disaster.

With the warehouse in that state today, even if they had all been stationed there, it would have made no difference.

But they had always lived from one hungry meal to the next. Even if the Great River Gang was gone, so long as they were alive, they could still scrape out a living on someone else's turf.

"Quiet!"

Xie Guang's aged yet powerful voice suddenly rang out.

Zhou Yingjun immediately continued, preventing everyone from indulging in wild speculation.

"Everyone, hear me out first."

The crowd quieted down again, all of them looking eagerly at the young gang leader.

"Bring it up!"

He turned back toward the loft and waved.

The sight was familiar to Su Xinghe. It was precisely how every reward ceremony began after a major battle.

That familiar flavor.

But now, was this really appropriate...

Sure enough, two young attendants carried a heavy wooden chest into the center of the courtyard.

Zhou Yingjun reached out, and the chest lid slowly opened.

What met Su Xinghe's eyes was not the gleaming silver he had imagined, but a thick stack of pale yellow paper cards, with shining silver ingots beneath them.

"You are all old hands of the Trade House, and I will not mistreat you. I will call out names now. Those called may come forward to collect your own contracts of indenture, along with one month's stipend as compensation."

"Ji Changchun."

Without delay, Zhou Yingjun picked up a paper card and called out the name. This silver had been urgently drawn from the various businesses under Veteran's Trade House, in the hope of temporarily steadying everyone's hearts.

Whispers rustled through the courtyard, yet no one stepped forward.

"Ji Changchun!"

This time, Zhou Yingjun raised his voice.

"Young Gang Leader, Ji Changchun... he seems not to have come..."

A faintly trembling voice answered from within the crowd.

He seemed to have guessed something.

Zhou Chun's gaze swept across the courtyard. Then he bent down and whispered something into Zhou Yingjun's ear.

"Fine. Send someone to check on his home later."

As Zhou Yingjun spoke, he handed the paper card to an attendant beside him.

"Next, Hu Xinlian."

Those whose names were called stepped forward one after another, each taking back the contracts they had originally signed, as well as the monthly stipends stipulated in them.

Though they were reluctant to part with this job, with the stipend in hand, they could barely make it through this gap.

Before long, more than half the people from the Trade House side had left. Only five strong, sturdy men remained.

Zhou Yingjun raised the contracts in his hand toward them.

"You five, wait a moment."

At this point, Lu Sandao stepped forward.

His cold, severe gaze swept across the Great River Gang members. His powerful presence bore down on everyone until they involuntarily lowered their heads.

"Are you all pigs?!"

"The Trade House raised you for all these years, yet you were completely useless last night!"

"You ate from the gang and used the gang's resources. Are you worthy of the young gang leader's cultivation?"

"Don't say you weren't there last night. With such a huge disturbance, not one of you even went over to take a look. The Peaceful Heaven Sect planned an operation on this scale—where were your ears? Not a single one of you heard the wind beforehand!"

His words were harsh, but all the minor leaders silently lowered their heads.

The lower-ranking disciples had originally wanted to argue, but after seeing how their own leaders reacted, they could only swallow their words in helplessness.

"What are you all standing around for?"

"Get the hell out!"

After Lu Sandao finished cursing them, he immediately drove them away.

"Hold on."

Zhou Yingjun suddenly stepped forward.

"San Dao need not blame the disciples. Though they failed to provide aid in time last night, they did not hide in corners today, too afraid to show their faces."

"Those still standing here now are all our own brothers."

"How about this? Before leaving, each of you may collect another three taels of silver for tea money. If we meet again in Lin County in the future, we will still be brothers."

"The young gang leader is mighty!"

"The young gang leader is too generous!"

The Great River Gang disciples, who had been scolded until they hung their heads in dejection, immediately had their eyes light up when they heard there was still money to collect. Spouting all manner of nonsense, they began moving toward the center of the courtyard.

Su Xinghe followed behind the plump Brother Kui and collected three small silver ingots as well.

He would not stand on ceremony over silver handed out for free.

After all, under normal circumstances, he would have had to stab down more than a dozen enemies before he could get these three taels from the man before him.

"Blackie, let's go to He's and feast. This afternoon, your big brother will arrange two long-legged beauties for you."

Lu Kui's gaze locked tightly onto his little brother's money pouch as his arm, slick with sweat and grease, reached around from the side.

A bumper harvest. He could not let the silver run away this time.

Su Xinghe tapped lightly with his toes and had already darted two meters away.

Turning back, he replied with a beaming smile:

"Brother Kui, go order first. I still have something to take care of."

How could Lu Kui possibly agree?

Last time, it had been this very excuse that left him nearly having to pawn his underwear to settle the wine bill.

"What else do you have to do? Don't tell me you want to make a living with the Fishermen's Gang?"

"Your brother knows the Fishermen's Gang well. After we eat, I'll take you to join. With your brother watching over you, we'll start right off at ship-captain level..."

Su Xinghe was not going to any Fishermen's Gang.

The young gang leader had specifically summoned him, yet his name had not even been called for the contract just now. Anyone with half a brain could figure out what that meant.

"You dead fatso, what are you yammering about?"

Zhang Whiskers called coldly from outside the courtyard gate.

They were one team. Even if they were looking for a new patron, they would move together. Besides, the young gang leader had just given them a task.

"Blackie, he..."

Lu Kui pointed behind him.

Zhang Whiskers seemed to know what he was about to do. His eyes widened as he roared angrily:

"Are you coming or not?!"

Lu Kui did not dare defy Beard Bro's words. He could only cast a reluctant glance at his little brother.

Su Xinghe watched the group leave.

"Alright, everyone, come in with me."

Xie Guang's voice rang through the courtyard.

At this moment, nearly twenty people still stood in the small courtyard.

Apart from the young gang leader Zhou Yingjun, Xie Guang, and four young attendants, there were also the former Great River Gang chief leaders Lu Sandao and Xu Qingsong.

The rest were five burly men and three Great River Gang disciples who had remained behind, just like him.

Su Xinghe noticed that the eight of them had something in common.

Everyone had met at the former Trade House training ground, and two of them were even Grade Martial Artists.