Four tall, straight-backed men in black stood before the heavily carved and painted gates. When carriages or horses arrived, three men wearing sabers remained motionless at the sides, while the one waiting to receive visitors stepped forward to make inquiries.
"So this Carp Hall is just one of their several hundred businesses?" Pei Ye asked.
Xu Chuo murmured an assent, then added, "But in the brothel trade, it counts as one of their flagships."
"If the Taiping Transport Gang is so renowned, have you never known who stands behind it?"
"I'm not sure. I know it enjoys some protection from the Southern Office. Otherwise, it couldn't control water transport or maintain a firm foothold in the Divine Capital. But how the threads inside connect, and which parties benefit, remain out of sight," Xu Chuo said evenly. "The Divine Capital is a complicated body of water. Often, it isn't as simple as who belongs with whom, or who controls whom. Many people's interests are interwoven. I don't have a complete grasp of it all either."
"Oh."
"More importantly, before you arrived in the Divine Capital, I hadn't moved against the King of Yan’s Residence."
Pei Ye was astonished. "...Haven't they been trying to assassinate you?"
"Yes, but I've had other equally important things to do."
"Isn't that taking their blows without striking back, and their insults without answering?"
"..."
"Sorry."
"If we strike, it's best to pull them out by the roots-and haven't I started now?"
"Root out the King of Yan’s Residence completely from the Divine Capital?"
"Yes. Before we swing a fist northward, we have to purge the Divine Capital," Xu Chuo said evenly. "You can't clench a fist with a thorn in it."
The words "purge the Divine Capital" made Pei Ye pause, before he smiled. "Then I