Ming Feizhen and Bai Yeshuang were the only two head constables at Liu Shan Men’s Nanjing branch. As a head constable, one of Ming Feizhen’s duties was to oversee the training and development of other constables. However, due to him being occupied with numerous miscellaneous tasks, his tendency to laze off on the job, pinch food and owe money, he really didn’t like spending his time on training new recruits. Hence, he handballed the task to the arguable veteran – Zha Pi.
Zha Pi was basically in a role whereby he filled whatever shoes needed to be filled. If you wanted to ensure he did a job properly, you only ever needed Ming Feizhen to give him the order. Bullying the weak and playing the pet of the powerful were skills Zha Pi had mastered to the ultimate level, so it wasn’t surprising for him to bask in the glory of his seniority to make the new recruits bend the knee to him.
After Su Xiao’s departure, Liu Yuan and Zha Pi invited a group of female constables they got along with, and the two enjoyed every moment of it.
“I had no idea all of you were deliberately sitting back.” By this point, Su Xiao had heard the details of the raid. “I thought the Qilin Guards completely outclassed us.”
There was no arguing that the Qilin Guards were stronger than Liu Shan Men, but that was mainly in regards to the abilities of their strongest combatants. In the capital, besides Yi Ya, none of the other Qilin Guards were that much stronger than Liu Shan Men’s members. In particular, Shen Yiren’s personally-trained female constables were formidable in their own right. With Song Chi stalling Yi Ya, Liu Shan Men had a solid chance at kicking out the Qilin Guards.
In regards to why Bai Yeshuang didn’t stop the Qilin Guards, she explained, “I was just carrying out Vice-Captain’s orders. She told me to fulfil my duties. Personal grudges are outside of my jurisdiction.” Or more frankly, Bai Yeshuang didn’t like Song Ou, so she left him to his own fate.
“How is Captain Song?”
“Not too bad. Just can’t speak smoothly. He had it rough. Maybe his old lady can’t recognise him right now. Those Qilin Guards really stuck it to him.” The angry Zha Pi flicked up a thumb.
Su Xiao didn’t have an easy time holding in his laughter. “Any news on Vice-Captain?”
“Nothing since she left. She hasn’t contacted us even once. I heard Emperor’s Entourage’s agents sighted her in Hangzhou, but her traces were gone before they could confirm. I’m guessing she’s tracking down Head Constable Ming.”
Putting aside Ming Feizhen’s accomplishments, the members of Liu Shan Men had been around Ming Feizhen long enough to genuinely feel concerned for him.
Liu Yuan: “I’ll give at least five silver taels as condolatory money.”
Bai Yeshuang: “Me, too.”
“Big Brother Ming isn’t dead!”
Since the female constables were close to Ming Suwen, they didn’t think poorly of Ming Feizhen, well, except for the special girls, such as Lan Kelan.
“We’ll offer two silver taels!”
“I said he’s not dead!”
Knock, knock!
Chu Yinghua opened the door.
Having heard about Su Xiao quitting Liu Shan Men, Su Xiao’s classmates and Ye Luo were worried he’d run into trouble once he went back, so they waited and waited for his return at the academy, but they didn’t know he didn’t head straight to Liu Shan Men. When their patience ran dry, they made their way to Ye Luo’s place, where they ran into her heading out. The new group happened to come across Chu Yinghua, who was cleaning up, at the door, so she brought them in.
Su Xiao’s classmates quickly befriended Liu Shan Men’s members, and Ming Feizhen becoming the connecting figure made that even easier. Unfortunately, owing to them being students, they expressed they could only afford to express their condolences with words.
“He doesn’t need your money! He’s not dead!”
Ye Luo tapped Su Xiao on the shoulder. “Xiao Han, I have something for you,” she said before passing over his signature weapon.
“Ancient Cold!” Su Xiao rubbed his cheek against his prized weapon. “Sorry, sorry. I promise I’ll never misplace you again!”
Unlike Su Xiao, though, Ye Luo didn’t look relieved.
“What’s the matter, Sister Ye?”
“… Xiao Han, you… haven’t gotten on the bad side of any weird people recently, have you?”
“N-no… Wait, I think there’s one – the assassin wearing the bronze mask. For whatever reason, he started on me.”
While most people listening flinched, Ye Luo wagged her head. “No, not that type of weirdo. Mm… He’s like a madman. He looks… pretty handsome. I‘d say he’s thirty-forty-ish? He never has two coherent sentences, and he’s really annoying.”
“No…”
“Have another think. He’s really picky and seems to be able to read your mind. He walks with a bit of a limp even though he tries to hide it.”
“Yeah, nobody like that comes to mind. If there was such a person, I’d remember them for sure. I haven’t met any strangers in the last few days.”
Ye Luo still didn’t look fully relieved.
“Sister Ye, was it not you who found Ancient Cold?”
“Mm… Well, I was the one who found it.” Ye Luo gyrated her lips. “That said, how I found it was rather weird. My family steward gave it to me…”
“Oh, your family steward found it?”
“If only. He said my dad gave it to him. If that’s the case, it’s weird. Surely my dad wouldn’t have been the one who dumped you at my front door…”
Liu Yuan and Bai Yeshuang looked to each other. While Ye Luo’s father and Song Ou were pretty much the same in standing, the former was realms ahead of Song Ou. Perhaps it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that catching the attention of Ye Luo’s father was scarier than catching the attention of Bronze Mask. Ye Luo herself knew Su Xiao probably wasn’t about to be lucky if her father took the initiative to interact with Su Xiao. It would’ve been a lot “safer” for him if her father got to know him through her.
“Well, misfortune will never let up until it catches you. Xiao Han, you better check your weapon in case my dad tampered with it.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve carried on me from childhood, so I can tell if someone tampered with it or not as soon as I touch it.” In spite of what he said, Su Xiao still drew his broadsword to perform a flower.
Su Xiao didn’t expect to unwittingly chop off the lock on the chest he had. As a result, the books spewed out of the chest and onto the ground.
“Ah, Big Brother Ming’s books.” Su Xiao looked down to pick up the books and, out of nowhere, cried, “Ming Feizhen, don’t ever come back for your own sake!”
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