Butterflies Follow the Bees

Beside the main road leading north from Apricot Grove stood several houses, cooking smoke rising slowly above them and a shop banner fluttering in the breeze, revealing the words "Flying Swallow." The tea shop had originally been run by a grandfather and grandchild, but as they often went out, they had hired a distant relative to help.

"Hyah!"

It was noon, and the sun blazed fiercely. Two riders came galloping up, tethered their horses, and sat at an empty table.

"A pot of Biluochun tea and two bowls of plain noodle soup, please. Thank you."

The gray-clad man was dozing beside the stove. Opening his eyes, he looked outside. Both customers were dressed as martial artists. The black-clad woman on the right had long, slender brows and a beautiful face, with a hint of ferocity in her eyes.

The one on the left wore black robes and a bamboo hat. Her figure was equally tall and slender, and although he could not see her face, she had something of the same bearing.

"If they aren't mother and daughter, they must be master and disciple..."

Old Gu answered and began bustling around the stove, wielding his spatula with practiced ease. By the time the tea was brewed, the noodles were ready too. Holding a wooden tray in one hand, he walked steadily out to the seating area.

"Enjoy your meal."

After setting down the tea and noodles, he said nothing more and went back inside to resume dozing beside the stove.

"Wan'er, you seem unhappy."

After finishing her noodles, Qin Hongmian looked at the girl opposite her. She had drunk only half a cup of tea.

"Master, are we going straight back to Dali?"

"We've been away for several months. It's time to go home."

"But... we haven't finished what we came to do."

"What worked once won't work twice. Our enemies are on guard now. Staying would do us no good."

Qin Hongmian's delicate brows furrowed slightly. Wan'er disliked killing. On several previous occasions, she had only acted under her master's orders. What was going on this time? Why was she even more eager than Qin Hongmian herself?

Her voice grew slightly cold. "Have you made any... friends while you've been away?"

"No."

Mu Wanqing hastily denied it.

"I... I just think it's a pity. We came so close to getting rid of your great enemy for you."

Qin Hongmian nodded slightly and smiled. "It's good that you have that thought. All my years raising and teaching you haven't been wasted."

"Your kindness in raising and teaching me is higher than the heavens and deeper than the seas. I could never repay it through all my lifetimes. When I was still in swaddling clothes, someone abandoned me in a secluded mountain valley. Had you not happened to pass by, I would long since have filled the bellies of tigers and wolves. How could I be here today? For giving birth without raising a child, a severed finger can repay the debt; for raising a child without giving birth, a hundred lives cannot repay it..."

Mu Wanqing had heard these words throughout her childhood. They were engraved in her mind and soul, and now she repeated them almost without thinking.

Qin Hongmian's eyes brimmed with affection. Smiling, she said, "Good child, good child. I know. Wan'er is a good child who knows how to repay kindness."

After resting for a while, master and disciple were about to set out again when they saw thirty-odd people approaching from the north. They had been walking along the main road, but upon seeing the horses tethered outside the tea shop and the people seated there, they suddenly changed direction and split into two groups to encircle them.

"The Beggars' Sect!"

Qin Hongmian immediately rose with her hand on her saber. Her wary gaze settled on a beggar holding a round-headed iron pestle, his face covered in pale bumps. Counting carefully, she saw five bundles hanging at his waist.

Everyone in the martial world knew that below the chief and deputy chief, Beggars' Sect disciples indicated their rank by the number of bags they carried.

A five-bag disciple already held considerable standing.

"Wan'er, do you know them?"

"A few Beggars' Sect beggars pestered me at Apricot Grove before. I dealt with them all."

Qin Hongmian understood at once. Hatred flashed in her eyes as she sneered. "Beneath that great reputation, nothing but filth. These sanctimonious scoundrels dare call themselves the greatest sect under heaven."

"Go!"

Whoosh!

As the horses' hooves rose into the air, six or seven cold glints tore through the wind, shooting from twenty paces away toward the five-bag beggar at the forefront. The short bolts were half a foot long, their tips dark blue, and they flew like lightning.

"Watch out, Young Branch Master!"

Several iron staffs thrust out, whipping the air with a howl and knocking four crossbow bolts aside. One missed, while another plunged into the chest of the Beggars' Sect disciple on the left. The poison killed on contact with blood, and he died instantly.

"Poison!"

"Hyah!"

Qin Hongmian swept a cold gaze across them and urgently spurred her mount. The horse was remarkably intelligent. Rearing its iron hooves, it smashed them forward. Two Beggars' Sect disciples had their breastbones shattered on the spot and fell to the ground, coughing blood.

"Stop her! Stop her..."

Chen Youchun shouted, "This woman attacked the Beggars' Sect without provocation at Apricot Grove and killed seven of our disciples! Now she's struck with deadly force again. We cannot let her run wild..."

Standing at the very back, his eyes shone like a hungry wolf's as he stared at those two fiery, untamable rouge mares. They charged left and right, slashing with curved sabers and scattering hidden weapons. Three disciples died in a single exchange.

Fiery was good!

Beauties were like wine-the fierier they were, the better their flavor.

Chen Youchun shouted loudly, "For the honor of the Beggars' Sect, all of you, attack..."

He had spent years among the flowers and had an excellent eye for judging people.

Today, he had originally been answering an invitation from the West Canal Gate to handle a small matter by Lake Tai. He had barely set out when he ran into the black-clad woman he had encountered at Apricot Grove that day. He had a peculiar talent: once he had seen a beautiful woman, he could recognize her with fair certainty from her back alone.

Besides, Mu Wanqing's cool, proud bearing was like a secluded orchid in an empty valley. She had been striking to begin with.

Chen Youchun secretly rejoiced.

These two have similar bearings. They're most likely a pair of mother-and-daughter beauties.

That was an exceedingly rare thing.

Sisters, aunts and nieces, or even older sisters and younger brothers were really nothing unusual.

Either the mother was too old or the daughter too young. Even with an age gap of only fifteen or sixteen years, an ordinary woman's figure and looks changed drastically after childbirth. That was why a "mother-and-daughter pair of beauties" was so rare.

If he captured them and presented them to Quan Guanqing, his adoptive father might earn a promotion, and he could take over the Gusu Branch himself, commanding its four or five hundred beggars. Everyone would respect him, everyone would fear him. What woman could he not have then?

He shouted, "The Beggars' Sect's honor cannot be affronted! Form the Lesser Dog-Beating Formation, quickly..."

The beggars planted their staffs and sang as they swiftly arranged themselves into formation. One group stayed where it was and raised long staffs, while two others circled around from the left and right. Their "Begging Song" was a grating cacophony, secretly matching the beats of their staffs and making the listeners' heads ache.

"Yo-ho! Brothers to the east, come begging..."

"Ya-ma-hey! Brothers to the south, get your staffs ready..."

"Wan'er, we'll break out to the south!"

Qin Hongmian's starry eyes chilled slightly. Reaching into a saddle pouch, she crushed a paper packet and flung up a cloud of white powder. Carried north by the wind, it enveloped the still-unformed Lesser Dog-Beating Formation, mingled with the sharp whistles of sudden attacks.

"It's lime..."

"And hidden weapons!"

"Damn it, I've been hit by a dart..."

"Hyah!"

The two spurred their horses onward, knocking over tables and chairs and leaping the low fence to the south. In mere moments, they reached the main road and galloped away with whips raised, leaving the chaos outside the tea shop behind them.

"Ptoo! Ptoo!"

"Damn it all, she got away again!"

Chen Youchun stood at the rear with a man in black, unlike the Beggars' Sect disciples who had charged at the front and ended up with heads covered in lime. Looking at the five corpses on the ground, he fumed. Ordinary beggars counted for little. They served as lookouts and made up numbers in fights, but were not ranked bag disciples at all.

Every one of these skilled, bag-ranked men who died was a loss to the Gusu Branch.

His adoptive father would certainly question him when he returned.

He had already been punished for it last time.

"Losing the lady and the troops besides... and now I have to face questioning..."

Chen Youchun sat in a chair, a shadow passing through his eyes.

Someone found a pot of oil beside the stove and poured it into a basin. The disciples took turns washing their eyes. Lime, hidden weapons, venomous snakes, and poisonous scorpions were also among the Beggars' Sect's specialties, so naturally they knew how to counter them.

"Young Branch Master, is she the person you're looking for?"

The man in black watched coldly from the sidelines. He was not a Beggars' Sect disciple, but by now he understood most of what was going on.

Chen Youchun asked casually, "Hall Master Man, do you know this woman?"

Man Zhan smiled. "I've heard something, though nothing definite."

"Tell me!"

"On the sixth day of the sixth month, when Li Yu devised his plan to subdue the Black Flood Dragon Gang, a black-clad woman also appeared to help him. Rumor in the martial world has it that she is Cult Leader Li's... intimate lady friend, who shares life and death with him."

"Really... is it the same person?"

Chen Youchun was no fool either.

Plenty of people in the martial world wore black.

Were this woman in black and that woman in black the same person?

Man Zhan naturally did not know.

He would say whatever benefited the West Canal Gate. There was no need for Chen Youchun to believe him. He only needed to plant a seed of suspicion. Even if they later discovered it was untrue and dug out that seed, the holes left in both sides' hearts might not be filled.

"Hard to say. Judging by the rumors, though, I think she fits."

"That's easy enough!"

Chen Youchun slowly rose. Looking at the four corpses on the ground, he sneered. "We'll head back for today and visit Green Willow Manor in a few days. If one of his people killed Beggars' Sect disciples, the Divine Dragon Cult won't be able to wash its hands of it either!"