The Sun Mansion threw its main gates wide open to welcome them.
"Honored guests at our door, and I failed to come out to greet you!"
A man over nine feet tall, built as burly as a bear, laughed heartily and even bowed as he said:
"Your gracious visit brings splendor to my humble home."
"Cousin Zhen, please." Jia Baoyu gestured.
Jia Zhen led the way, with Jia Baoyu and Jia Rong close behind, while Mingyan and the other servants waited outside.
"Serve the finest tea!" Sun Shaozu's voice boomed like a great bell. He had long wanted to curry favor with the Jia family but had never found a way in.
They entered the reception hall.
"Where is your study?" Jia Baoyu asked.
Sun Shaozu said sheepishly, "Young Master Baoyu, I'm a rough fellow. What would I do with a study?"
Jia Baoyu immediately felt uncomfortable. A grown man of thirty, without so much as a study! Still, judging by the mansion's furnishings, the Sun Family was certainly wealthy.
"All of you, leave!" Sun Shaozu was no fool either. He dismissed every servant and maid.
After a long while, Jia Zhen spoke first:
"We need you to do something. Once it's done, you may come to the Jia residence to propose marriage."
What?
Sun Shaozu was overjoyed.
He had long coveted Jia Yingchun of the Jia family. She was beautiful, gentle, and obedient. Most importantly, marrying her would let him climb onto the Jia family's branches and establish connections with nobles and princes.
"But the old matriarch of the duke's household..." Sun Shaozu hesitated.
Jia Zhen glanced at Jia Baoyu. "Are you blind? Can't you see Baoyu is here too?"
Jia Baoyu said nothing.
Sun Shaozu slapped his forehead. Whether it happened or not was entirely up to a word from Young Master Baoyu!
"What is it?" he hurriedly asked.
Jia Baoyu said angrily, "Teach someone a lesson. Chop off his manhood, then break both his legs."
Jia Zhen, however, drew a hand across his throat:
"Kill him!"
Breaking his legs and castrating him could hardly vent their fury. Nothing short of killing him would defend Ningguo Mansion's dignity.
"Who exactly?" Sun Shaozu lowered his voice.
Jia Rong said venomously:
"Jia Huan!"
Boom!
Sun Shaozu's expression changed drastically. Horrified, he said:
"You must be mad!"
"Jia Huan is a Hundred-Household Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard! How could you even think of this?"
Jia Zhen's expression remained unchanged:
"You're a sixth-rank military officer. Besides, your Sun Family's ancestors were military officers, and you know plenty of fierce, courageous men. Why should you fear that little bastard?"
Even the fleshy folds of Sun Shaozu's face trembled. These ducal nobles really were naive. He gave a bitter smile.
"What use is being a sixth-rank military officer? Unless the court issues orders for a war, I can barely command any troops. But Jia Huan can say a single word, anytime, anywhere, and more than a hundred vicious wolves will stand before you. If he orders them to bite, not one will dare disobey."
"That is the power of an Embroidered Uniform Guard Hundred-Household Commander!"
Jia Zhen looked displeased and stressed the words:
"An assassination!"
Sun Shaozu started in fright and said gravely:
"Even assassinating an Embroidered Uniform Guard Strongman is treated as treason. Killing a Hundred-Household Commander means extermination of all nine degrees of kinship. There is no wall in this world that keeps every draft out. Once you do something, you leave threads of silk and horse tracks behind. Why would I stake my fortune and my life on this?"
"But..." Jia Baoyu looked dumbfounded.
Just because that fellow had draped himself in the skin of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, could he defy every law under heaven?
Beside himself with fury, Jia Zhen roared:
"And you still have the nerve to boast about yourself! All that talk of the Sun Family having connections among every creed and calling, and the moment something actually happens, you tuck your head in like a turtle! Forget marrying into the Jia family. Stay away from the Ningguo and Rongguo mansions from now on. The sight of you disgusts me!"
Sun Shaozu paced back and forth, trying to think of a solution.
Assassination was out of the question. He did not have the nerve.
Yet he could not bear to give up his connection to the Jia family, or the gentle, obedient Miss Yingchun.
After a long silence, inspiration struck Sun Shaozu, and he declared loudly:
"I wouldn't dare kill him, but I can humiliate Jia Huan in public."
"Only humiliate him?" Jia Zhen was deeply dissatisfied.
"Then your nephew can do nothing." Sun Shaozu was blunt as well.
"Father," Jia Rong interjected from beside him, "humiliation will do. Let's see that bastard make a complete spectacle of himself."
Even that rough brute Sun, normally so brazen and unrestrained, did not dare lay hands on the Embroidered Uniform Guard. To finish off that bastard, they could only gather incriminating evidence and destroy him openly.
A thorough humiliation would at least let them vent some of their spite.
"How?" Jia Zhen asked.
"Your nephew has his ways." Sun Shaozu did not reveal his entire plan. Instead, he asked with a smile:
"And the marriage?"
Jia Zhen said firmly:
"We'll discuss it once the deed is done!"
Jia Baoyu nodded too. "Let's see how you humiliate that fellow. Do it well, and I'll certainly put in a good word for you."
"It's a deal. It will be done today." Sun Shaozu nodded emphatically.
"We'll take our leave."
Jia Baoyu left together with Jia Zhen and his son.
In the eastern part of the city stood a secluded residence, its wooden gate tightly shut.
"It's me, Sun Shaozu!"
Sun Shaozu knocked.
After a long while, an old woman in coarse cloth opened the gate.
"Where is Gao Di?" Sun Shaozu carried a pile of precious medicinal herbs that replenished vital energy and nourished the blood. There were five wild mountain ginseng roots alone, and they had cost him a considerable sum.
"The young master is in the rear courtyard."
The old woman led him to the rear courtyard.
A white-haired young man held a longsword. An entire row of wooden posts had been split apart, and the scattered wood shavings drifted down onto his blade, a testament to his exquisite swordsmanship.
"Brother Sun." He turned around.
His eyes were blood-red, and the left side of his face was a mangled mass of flesh, a truly terrifying sight!
"Gao Di, I need a favor." Sun Shaozu set down the herbs, his gaze carrying a measure of respect.
Fifty-fourth on the Dragon-Tiger Ranking at only twenty-four years old, he was known throughout the Jianghu as the White-Haired Killing Demon!
"Speak freely." The White-Haired Killing Demon's voice was hoarse.
Sun Shaozu did not beat around the bush:
"Gao Di, have you heard of Jia Huan? He is seventy-ninth on the Dragon-Tiger Ranking, and the Misty Rain Tower gave him the nickname Little Butcher. Since you're both on the Dragon-Tiger Ranking, I would like you to act and thoroughly crush his arrogance."
"A contest between peers in the Jianghu-if he doesn't dare accept, it will prove his reputation as a cowardly incompetent who only bullies others with his power!"
"Although he is an Embroidered Uniform Guard Hundred-Household Commander, you have committed no crimes. If he dares use his authority to arrest you, he will provoke public outrage. I will certainly join my colleagues in reporting him."
The White-Haired Killing Demon fixed his blood-red eyes on Sun Shaozu and said indifferently:
"The Gao Family owes your Sun Family a favor. After this, the debt is wiped clean."
"Agreed." Sun Shaozu nodded emphatically.
Both the Gao and Sun families came from hereditary military-officer households in Datong Prefecture, and Gao Di was particularly remarkable. He had taken a master and begun training at thirteen, joined the army at nineteen, and fought the steppe barbarians on the frontier. Only at the beginning of this year had he come south to the Capital.
Gao Di kept a low profile and had no criminal cases hanging over him. He had no need to fear the Embroidered Uniform Guard. If Jia Huan dared pressure him with his authority, he would hand Ningguo Mansion precisely the leverage it needed!
"What should I do?" the White-Haired Killing Demon asked without concern.
The top eighty of the Dragon-Tiger Ranking marked a dividing line, with a substantial gap between each position. In his eyes, the so-called Little Butcher was no different from the man ranked two hundredth.
Sun Shaozu beamed and hurriedly said:
"Stand outside his home and heap insults on him. If he really dares accept the challenge, force him to sign a life-and-death agreement. Under Jianghu rules, once he signs and puts down his thumbprint, no one can be held accountable if he dies."
The White-Haired Killing Demon asked calmly:
"When?"
"Now!" Sun Shaozu could hardly wait.
The White-Haired Killing Demon studied him for a long moment, then repeated:
"The debt will be repaid. Don't come looking for me again."
Before you continue