But when he met Wu Dongrong's worried gaze, he only nodded. "I understand, Dad."
"What are you going to do with Hong Fan? He's a hot potato."
Wu Dongrong asked.
Wu Shuangren answered without hesitation, "I plan to use him to sound out the Mo Family."
Wu Dongrong's expression grew serious. "What if the Mo Family won't take him?"
"Then we'll find a way to force their hand and drag them aboard!"
"Then Hong Fan has to die."
"That's right. He has to die!"
Liao Yu finally couldn't help interrupting the father and son. "Wait! What are you two talking about?"
They both looked at him at once, making him a little embarrassed.
Wu Shuangren explained with a smile, "We've already torn all pretense of cordiality with Hong Fan's side. We'll have to deal with the enemy's counterattack next, and our strength alone isn't enough. We have to tie the Mo Family to us."
Liao Yu said, "I understand that, but how do we tie the Mo Family to us?"
Wu Shuangren's gaze turned cold. "Send Hong Fan over and have them kill him."
"..."
Liao Yu was stunned. He hadn't expected Wu Shuangren to choose such a drastic measure!
But on second thought, letting Hong Fan go would undoubtedly be like releasing a tiger back into the mountains.
Liao Yu didn't think there was any possibility of reconciliation between the two sides.
Only by having the Mo Family kill Hong Fan and completely cutting off their escape route could they and the Mo Family truly cooperate without distractions.
It really was a clever move.
Liao Yu asked, "What if the Mo Family refuses? They've already been beaten into submission."
Wu Shuangren said, "Then we force their hand. There's always a way to pin it on the Mo Family and make outsiders believe they killed Hong Fan for revenge. After all, we have no real grudge against Hong Fan. The people in all of Bo County who most want him dead are the Mo Family."
"Hiss... That makes sense!"
Liao Yu nodded repeatedly.
He looked at the father and son and couldn't help laughing. "Well done, Shuangren. You really are your father's son. You've inherited his ruthlessness."
Wu Dongrong glanced at him and said, "The key isn't tying the Mo Family to us. After you kill Hong Fan, are you confident you can deal with the Mist Hidden Temple's retaliation?"
Wu Shuangren replied calmly, "Outside the city, those two hundred cavalrymen are indeed formidable. We can't beat them for now. But would they dare force their way into the city and slaughter people?"
Unless the Mist Hidden Temple intended to rebel openly, it could never do such a thing!
In fact, if Hong Fan had sent experts like Wei Laohei and Luo You straight into the city to eliminate the Mo Family's leaders, several of them might already have been dead.
But he had chosen to pay a wanted outlaw like Peng Tianlang to do the job instead, because Wei Laohei and the others' identities wouldn't stand up to investigation. It would be easy to trace them back to the Mist Hidden Temple.
Without a suitable reason, even an organization as powerful as the Mist Hidden Temple wouldn't readily kill someone in the city.
As long as the Wu Dynasty still ruled and its hundreds of thousands of imperial guards remained, the law of the land still held sway within the city.
Wu Dongrong shook his head. "The Mist Hidden Temple has experts as numerous as clouds. Even if those cavalrymen can't enter the city, what will you do if they send a few experts in to assassinate you?"
The Mist Hidden Temple had hired outlaws to kill before, but that might not be the case next time.
Wu Shuangren said earnestly, "Dad, even if the Mist Hidden Temple's strongest expert comes, I'm confident I can handle him!"
"Could it be that the master will help you?"
Liao Yu asked.
That was the first answer that came to mind.
Wu Shuangren smiled without answering.
Liao Yu understood.
Wu Dongrong didn't dwell on the question either. He merely sighed. "From now on, you'll be an enemy of the Mist Hidden Temple. You won't have peaceful days anymore..."
Wu Shuangren shook his head. "Hong Fan doesn't represent the entire Mist Hidden Temple. As for peace, only when you're strong enough can you truly have it. Otherwise, who can guarantee that what happened to Li Youcai's family and Butcher Zhang's family won't happen to us?"
"..."
Those words were cruel and realistic, leaving the two elders, who had seen so much of the world, speechless.
41. Character
"Go let your mother know you're safe, so she doesn't worry at home."
After a brief silence in the room, Wu Dongrong spoke to Wu Shuangren.
"All right."
Wu Shuangren got up and left the room.
Watching his departing figure, Liao Yu was filled with emotion.
He looked at Wu Dongrong and said quietly, "If he weren't my nephew, I'd be a little afraid of him..."
Seventeen years old, with martial arts like that, a mind like that, and methods like those.
He was a monster!
Wu Dongrong couldn't keep the smile off his face.
"But honestly, aren't you afraid Shuangren might go astray?"
Liao Yu suddenly asked seriously.
Wu Shuangren had already killed two people today, and had just planned to kill another.
Wu Dongrong said, "We killed more people than he has when we were seventeen."
Liao Yu shook his head. "That was different. That was on the battlefield... You really aren't worried?"
Wu Dongrong grunted in affirmation.
Liao Yu asked curiously, "Why not?"
Wu Dongrong said, "At first, he never actually intended to flip the table."
Liao Yu thought back.
Indeed, judging by Wu Shuangren's reaction, he probably hadn't intended to go this far at first.
Wu Dongrong said, "He witnessed the tragedy that befell Li Youcai's family and saw the aftermath of the massacre at Mo Family Village, but at first he didn't show much hostility toward Hong Fan."
Liao Yu asked, "You mean he went this far because of Hou Huai?"
Wu Dongrong said, "Hou Huai may not be the whole reason, but he must have played a major part. He didn't take this step to satisfy his own ambitions, but because of what happened to Hou Huai. He did this for someone he hadn't known long, so I'm not worried he'll go astray."
Liao Yu nodded repeatedly as he listened and smiled. "Now that you put it that way, the boy really values bonds and loyalty. He's protective of his own."
Wu Dongrong's expression was complicated. "I only hope he doesn't become another Hou Huai..."
It wasn't that he disliked Hou Huai. On the contrary, he greatly respected people like him.
But this world had little room for a chivalrous spirit.
As Wu Shuangren walked toward the clinic, his vision "pulled away" again, and he looked at his Traits.
The green at the edges of the words "Match for One Person" had spread partway inward.
Defeating different experts could change the color of the Trait.
Wu Shuangren surmised that once the Trait changed completely from white to green, it would level up.
Today, he had defeated two great experts in succession, and the green in the Trait had grown a little more.
If he defeated a few more experts like Wei Laohei and Luo You, the Trait would level up!
Defeating Wei Laohei and Luo You increased the green a little more than defeating Peng Tianlang did back then. That means the stronger the opponent, the more "experience points" they provide.
Thinking of it that way, Wu Shuangren found himself looking forward to the Mist Hidden Temple sending more powerful experts.
More than peace, he craved battle and preferred thrills and adventure!
This was the soul of a fighting champion!
Thinking about these things along the way, Wu Shuangren soon returned to the clinic.
Xu Nanzhi was seeing patients in the main hall, and several people were waiting in line.
"Mom."
Wu Shuangren called out.
Xu Nanzhi smiled when she saw him. "Did everything go smoothly?"
Wu Shuangren nodded. "Everything went smoothly. How's Uncle Hou?"
Xu Nanzhi shook her head. "He still hasn't woken up."
Wu Shuangren's expression dimmed. "I'll go check on him in the back."
With that, he headed for the side room at the back.
Inside, Jiang Rong was using a bamboo tube to feed Hou Huai his medicine, while Hou Ping'an stood watching beside her.
Wu Shuangren stood outside the room for a while, only going in after she had finished feeding him the medicine.
"Aunt Jiang."
"You're here."
Jiang Rong nodded and motioned for Hou Ping'an to greet him.
"Hello, big brother."
"Little Ping'an, didn't you ask me yesterday whether the bad guys who hurt your father had been caught?"
Wu Shuangren crouched down with a smile.
Hou Ping'an looked at him.
Wu Shuangren looked him in the eyes. "Well, now I can tell you that those bad guys have all been caught, and they've already been punished!"
Clatter!
Jiang Rong had knocked over the stool beside her.
"Really?"
Hou Ping'an's eyes widened as he asked excitedly.
Wu Shuangren nodded. "Of course it's true. I wouldn't lie to you."
"Really?!"
This time it was Jiang Rong asking, her voice trembling slightly.
Wu Shuangren looked up at her and nodded.
She turned away, covering her mouth as her shoulders shook.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
Hou Ping'an noticed something was different about his mother.
"I'm all right. I'm happy."
Jiang Rong quickly wiped away her tears, then turned around and embraced Hou Ping'an.
Wu Shuangren took a money pouch from inside his robes and held it out with both hands. "Aunt Jiang, please take this money."
Jiang Rong immediately pushed the pouch back, her tone firm. "No, I can't take your money!"
Wu Shuangren shook his head. "The money isn't from me. It's from the authorities."
Jiang Rong was taken aback. "From the authorities?"
Wu Shuangren said, "Uncle Hou was injured in the line of duty this time. According to the rules, the authorities have to give his family a sum of money."
Jiang Rong asked in confusion, "There's a rule like that?"