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The situation on the street did not change, but he felt his interest was slightly waning.

In the end Wang Shichong could not become a very capable man, all he could be was a local hegemon, unlike Li Mi, Li Shimin, and the likes, men who had qualifications to vie for the world. Even compared to Du Fuwei, he was still far behind. Although he could be considered a man full of scheming, but due to his stupid and cowardly attitude, it would be difficult for him to unleash his aspiration.

Currently Li Mi had hundreds, if not thousands, reasons to attack Luoyang, but with his amazing self-restraint, as long as he knew Wang Shichong was still in control of Luoyang’s general situation, he would not be willing to risk the danger.

Otherwise, even if he prevailed, Li Shimin’s main force would come from Guanxi in surprise attack, and it would be the moment Li Mi sounded the mourning bell. Li Mi would rather let Wang Shichong enjoy his power for a while longer, and used him to block Li Shimin, while giving his troops and generals the time to recuperate as much as possible, while also recruit new soldiers and recover their strength.

Could it be that the plan to deal with Li Mi would fail through lack of a final effort? This kind of ‘losing what one has just obtained’ feeling was like knowing that the card in hand would definitely win, but the opponent suddenly threw his cards away indicating all bets are off; an extremely disappointing feeling.

Current situation in Luoyang might change any moment, and nobody knew what would happen the next time such fantastical change occurred.

Tiele people retreated, Dugu Ba was killed; would the Dugu Clan bring about new deployment?

In that instant, a divine light flashed in Kou Zhong’s mind; suddenly he understood everything clearly.

Based on Shen Luoyan’s loyalty and devotion to Li Mi, she could not possibly kill Dugu Ba for personal vendetta.

Just from the fact that Dugu Ba personally came to Tiele people’s hideout, it was clear that within the Dugu Clan, Dugu Ba was not the one with close relationship with the Tieles. At most he was only in charge of threading a needle [fig. acting as a go-between].

Shen Luoyan killed him, it was precisely to disrupt the relationship between the Dugu Clan and the Tieles.

Ba Fenghan forced Qu Ao to leave, actually he was doing Li Mi a big favor.

Supposing he could tell the Dugu Clan who the real culprit that killed Dugu Ba was, what might happen?

Thinking to this point, he was dejected, because he knew the Dugu Clan would never believe him.

This moment his horse already reached the highest point on the Tianjian Bridge, and was starting to stroll down.

Although the street was full of pedestrians, vehicles and horses, yet Kou Zhong felt incomparable loneliness, as if he and the rest of the people lived in two separate worlds.

His train of thought shifted to Li Shimin.

Contrary to Kou Zhong’s expectation, Li Shimin’s power was indeed very strong. None of the martial art masters of the Heavenly Strategies Mansion was not intelligent and brave; any one of them could make people bag their food before they finished eating and leave.

And now Ba Fenghan was gone, the two boys’ strength was greatly diminished. Although their problem with Shi Feixuan was resolved, it was offset by similarly headache-inducing fallout with Li Shimin, so that he had a feeling that his life was hanging by the thread at all time.

In this kind of situation, he considered whether he should withdraw immediately, taking advantage while Li Shimin had not returned to Guanzhong, to get the ‘Duke Yang Treasure. Ever since his arrival in Luoyang, this was the very first time that he had a strong desire to withdraw.

Thinking to this point, he fiercely clenched his teeth, and turned his horse around. He made up his mind to go to the Imperial City first to find Xu Xingzhi. The appointment with Song Jingang was thrown to the back of his mind.

※ ※ ※

“Xu Ziling!”

Xu Ziling closed the book up and put it inside his pocket. Without even looking back he spoke coldly, “How are you going to harm us this time?”

Shen Luoyan came to his side and gracefully sat down. She sighed and said, “How can Heaven play such trick on us, fitting you and I on hostile position against each other?”

She was wearing plain white clothes, and has become so thin that within her lucid and elegant jade countenance, there was a hint of hard to describe lovely and touching charm.

Xu Ziling’s anger suddenly vanished away.

She was right; at the time where the whole country was in rebellion, people of different parties fought desperately with all their wits and with all their strength, committing all manner of crimes, just like people on the gambling table, each one desperately want to win all the other people’s money into his own pocket. There really was nothing surprising about it.

“Let’s go!” Shen Luoyan spoke indifferently, “Wang Shichong’s days are numbered; if you wait too long, you might not be able to leave at all.”

Xu Ziling was still pondering the new astronomy knowledge he had just obtained from Lu Miaozi’s legacy just now; his mind was peaceful, his thinking clear and bright. He spoke calmly, “Tell me, how can I tell whether your suggestion is malicious or come from your kindness?”

Shen Luoyan faintly said, “Let me tell you something: Dugu Ba’s body has been discovered. From the bruises on his body, they were able to ascertain that it was you and Ba Fenghan who did this.”

Xu Ziling was slightly stunned, but immediately came to see the truth. Smiling ruefully, he said, “What an excellent plan to shift the blame onto someone else!”

Seeing he did not suddenly flare up in fury, Shen Luoyan was greatly surprised. It was quite half a day later that she hung her head down and spoke in low voice, “Each time I am harming you, the pain in my heart is really something that I do not need to tell others. Do you understand? You had better go!”

Xu Ziling sensed something was really wrong, but did not know where the problem was.

If Shen Luoyan were not confident that in the battle over the Eastern Capital they would surely win, she would not have spoken to him in such tone and demeanor.

Intuitively he felt that she has been going through an internal struggle before coming to urge him to leave; in no way would she let him know about their conspiracy.

If the Dugu Clan would recklessly avenge Dugu Ba’s death, while the two boys were completely unprepared, Kou Zhong and his little lives would certainly be as precarious as a pile of eggs.

Shen Luoyan raised her face and gazed deeply into his eyes; she said, “I have said what I wanted to say! I even said what I wasn’t supposed to say, a leader can submit or can stand tall as required. Ziling, take care of yourself!”

The last sentence was spoken with a voice as soft as mosquito; finished speaking, Shen Luoyan left as if she wanted to escape with her life.

Xu Ziling stood up suddenly and took a deep breath.

The only thing he had to do right now was to find Kou Zhong to see how they were going to deal with the Dugu Clan’s raging temper.

※ ※ ※

Kou Zhong was still thinking about how to find Xu Xingzhi without attracting undue attention when Song Mengqiu called him from behind, “Kou Xiongdi, Shangshu Daren is looking for you.”

Kou Zhong stopped in front of the flight of steps in front of Shangshu Mansion’s main gate. Turning around and saluted, he said, “General Song must be very busy these past couple of days, otherwise how can I have a feeling that I haven’t seen General Song for a long time?”

Song Mengqiu came to his side and pulled his hand inside; it was only after they passed the main entrance that he halted his steps and said, “These days we don’t even have time to sleep, therefore, even Shangshu Daren needs to find something to help him relax.”

Even from the beginning Kou Zhong did not have too good of an impression on this man; he always felt that he was slick and sly, a hypocrite whose mouth did not agree with his heart. However, in order to find Xu Xingzhi, he thought that ever since he started, there has never been a better way than to ask Wang Shichong directly; therefore, without any choice he said perfunctorily, “I really can’t imagine what can make us, these bunch of men without any good night’s sleep, to forget our worry and not to think over our anxiety.”

Acting mysterious, Song Mengqiu leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Women, of course. Not only that, this is the most attractive beauty. Her voice, appearance, all kind of arts, and her beauty could make a man forget his old man’s surname.”

Kou Zhong nearly forgot Xu Xingzhi; greatly amazed, he asked, “Whose family’s beauty has this kind of charm and power?”

Song Mengqiu replied with glee, “Naturally it’s the number one courtesan under the heavens, Shang Xiufang. Other than she, who else is worthy to be reputed as the number one voice, appearance, and all kind of arts?”

‘Turns out it is she,’ Kou Zhong mused inwardly.

The first time Fu Qian challenged Qu Ao for a duel at Man Qing Yuan, Wang Bo was inviting her to perform her art in public, but he, along with Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan, messed it up.

Also, because they were taking Shangguan Long away, they did not have the good luck of seeing her; they weren’t even sure whether she did perform or not. Thinking about it, he was amused.

Song Mengqiu proudly said, “Wang Daren knew that after performing on stage for Rong Fengxiang tomorrow evening, she is going to enter Guanzhong. Therefore, with thousand ways, a hundred plans he is inviting her. He even prepared two banquet tables, hence he urged us to find you to join the fun.”

Stroking his tummy, Kou Zhong said, “What time is it now? I have just had my fill of food and wine; I would be powerless to stuff my tummy with more than half steamed bun.”

Naturally Song Mengqiu did not know that he was thinking of taking advantage while Wang Shichong was too busy for him to look for Xu Xingzhi. Laughing involuntarily, he said, “Kou Xiongdi must be joking. How could a wine lover thinking about the food [to accompany the wine]? Shang Beauty loves to take a nap is well-known, hence if we want to invite her, we can do so only after wei hour [1-3 pm]. Come!”

Kou Zhong only followed him for two steps before stopping; he said, “I want to go to the toilet first. Otherwise, after taking a seat and looking at the exquisite choices, if I wanted to leave, it would be very difficult to leave. It would be extremely awkward. Ha!”

Song Mengqiu had no choice but to nod and said, “I’ll see you later then!”

Kou Zhong cried inwardly, ‘Heaven helps me!’ and went away quickly.

※ ※ ※

Xu Ziling walked over to his horse; while stroking the horse’s neck tenderly, he pondered on how to find Kou Zhong.

If he wanted to look for Kou Zhong, first of all, he had to find out where Song Jingang was staying in Luoyang. To do this, his only choice was to contact Green Snake Gang’s Ren En. In Luoyang, he had a better chance than Xu Ziling.

While he was about to leap onto the horse’s back, someone was coming rapidly toward him.

Xu Ziling turned his head to look, and saw a skinny young man wearing servants attire, coming directly at him from a distance; his delicate features were somewhat familiar-looking, but momentarily he could not remember where he had seen this person.

The young man revealed a friendly smile, but did not say anything until he was right by Xu Ziling’s side, “Xu Ye don’t remember Tongtong? The other day when Xu Ye met with Commander Liu, I was the one pouring tea for you!”

Now Xu Ziling remembered that after meeting Liu Heita again, in the house where Liu Heita was staying he saw a delicate and pretty woman Tongtong [see Book 13 Chapter 1]. It’s just that now she was wearing men’s attire, hence momentarily he could not remember. Otherwise, with his highly retentive memory, how could he forget?

Speaking about beauty, naturally she could not surpass Shen Luoyan, Song Yuzhi, that kind of beauty who can overturn a country, but in term of simple beauty, she was cheerful and pleasant, giving others the impression that she was candid and friendly. She had different and distinct personality traits.

Smiling, Xu Ziling said, “Your disguise skill, was it taught by Zhuge Dewei Xiong personally? There is no woman-dressed-as-a-man flaw at all. I still remember Liu Dage praised your exceptional flying blade skill.”

Tongtong’s pair of clear and pretty, beautiful eyes lit up. She said delightedly, “It’s hard to imagine Xu Ye to be this unassuming. When I saw you the first time, I was a bit afraid of you!”

Taken aback, Xu Ziling asked, “What’s so scary about me?”

Tongtong excitedly replied, “Not really scared, just felt that Xu Ye was that kind of men who don’t like to talk, an aloof man who always keep a distance from other people, that kind of man. You know! Xu Ye’s fame is so great!”

Her naivete evoked Xu Ziling’s childish heart; he laughed and said, “That was because I was pretending to be a tiger to scare the little girl.”

And then he frowned and said, “Didn’t you come with Liu Dage back to the north? Leaving you here is too dangerous.”

Only this moment Tongtong seemed to remember what she wanted to do. She said, “This place is too exposed, could Xu Ye come with Tongtong to speak elsewhere?”

First of all, Xu Ziling did not have the heart to refuse this delicate and pretty beauty; secondly, he thought that maybe he could find out Song Jingang’s place from her. Thereupon he nodded and said, “No problem. But I do have an important matter I have to take care, so I can’t waste too much time.”

Tongtong was excited, “It will take but a moment,” she said, “You can leave the horse here, we have someone to look after it for you.”

Hearing her last sentence, Xu Ziling immediately knew that she did not remain in Luoyang alone; hence he gladly came with her.

※ ※ ※

Kou Zhong arrived at the door of the room where the feast was being held inside the Shangshu Mansion; he sighed inwardly first before stepping inside.

The guards saluted solemnly.

He had spent some time crashing to the east and breaking through the west and asked nearly everybody he met along the way until he finally learned from the mouth of a young pretty maid’s mouth that Xu Xingzhi was participating in the late afternoon luncheon.

If it were before, he would be happy for the benefit of Xu Xingzhi receiving Wang Shichong’s favor; but now that in his heart he was already thinking of sounding the retreating drums after the initial success, this situation could only increase his worries.

Even if he found a way to communicate his decision to Xu Xingzhi, the two of them leaving the banquet together, or even one after another, would be very inappropriate.

The hall was indeed setup with two banquet tables, arranged side by side at the southern end of the hall, and this moment all seats were nearly taken.

On the east side of this gorgeous hall, about a dozen men and women that looked like musicians were sitting solemnly, waiting respectfully. Obviously this was the ensemble to accompany Shang Xiufang later.

Including the servants and maids, there were nearly fifty people in the hall, but most of them were quiet. Several people around the banquet table were chatting and joking, but they also kept their voices down. The ambience was that of a formal governmental dinner party.

Kou Zhong’s arrival immediately attracted everyone’s attention. Wang Shichong, sitting on the head of the table, laughed aloud and said, “Mr. Kou, please come over here!”

It seemed to be the very first time that Kou Zhong was addressed as a ‘Mister’. Immediately he had goose bumps all over, from head to toes. While exchanging greetings and saying hello to everyone, he stole a quick glance toward the other table and signaled with his eyes to Xu Xingzhi – it was unclear whether the message was understood or not – before walking over to Wang Shichong’s seat.

Eight out of ten people sitting around the main banquet table were old acquaintances, there were only two men that he did not recognize, but he did not see either Shang Xiufang or Dong Shuni.

Wang Shichong ordered the servant to pull a seat separated by one empty chair from his own while quipping, “I thought you were going to miss out on this distinguished meeting. Seeing you so destined, I’ll bestow you this dragon seat next to the phoenix seat, a pavilion near the water [fig. using one’s proximity to the powerful to obtain favor]; what comes next will have to rely on your luck!”

Other than Linglong Jiao, everybody, especially the men, around the table let out an uncertain laughter, even Ouyang Xiyi.

Wang Shichong’s move could be considered giving Kou Zhong enough face. But since Kou Zhong repeatedly rendered outstanding service, plus his capacity as an honored guest, plus considering his soaring prestige in Luoyang recently, nobody thought Wang Shichong’s arrangement to be inappropriate.

As soon as he took his seat, Kou Zhong pretended to grumble, “Apparently Wanggong is not such a true friend; if Wanggong had been willing to tell me early this morning that we are going to see Miss Shang, even if Dugu Feng [peak] had his entire family, young and old, blocking the entrance of the Imperial City, I would have fought my way in!”

His remark immediately provoked hoots of laughter, breaking the previously solemn atmosphere.

Perhaps Wang Shichong’s mood was extremely good that day; he sighed dramatically and said, “Xiao Zhong, you did not know this, but it was only about one sichen ago that Miss Xiufang notified me that she is willing to attend the banquet. Tell me, if you wanted me to inform you early this morning, what do you want me to say?”

Amidst the agreeing laughter, Wang Xuanying, who sat opposite to Kou Zhong, spoke cheerfully, “Die’s face right now is brighter than the sky; originally Miss Xiufang came to the Eastern Capital this time, she was only willing to perform twice, so everybody else was rejected. But this time she made an exception. I am so sure that we will incur a lot of people’s envy!”

It was only then did Kou Zhong know that Shang Xiufang put on such air; he could not help feeling curious and wanted to have a glimpse of her fragrant countenance.

Hearing his son flattering his old man, Wang Shichong was greatly comforted; he said, “Speaking of which, I nearly forget to draw Mr. Kou’s attention.”

And so he introduced the two men, which were the Xianzhou’s Zongguan [lit. chief manager] Tian Zan and Guanzhou’s Zongguan Yang Qing, two of Wang Shichong’s right hand men who were stationed at the townships outside Luoyang.

Naturally these two did not come here to listen to the performance. Clearly Wang Shichong was constantly summoning his subordinates and deploying his troops everywhere.

Other people around the banquet table consisted of Wang Xuanshu, Wang Honglie, Wang Xingben, Linglong Jiao, Yang Gongqing, and Lang Feng. With Shang Xiufang, who has not arrived yet, altogether there were exactly 12 people. [I think Huang Yi miscounted; I counted 13.]

But he did not see [Taoist] Priest Ke Feng and Zhang Zhenzhou.

The former probably was unwilling to attend such a sensual event, and the latter probably has already left the Eastern Capital, leading some military operation elsewhere.

The other banquet table was for second rate officials and aids and advisors to top officials such as Xu Xingzhi and the likes. Kou Zhong knew several, hence he nodded and greeted them.

Seeing Wang Shichong was speaking in low voice with Yang Gongqing, who sat next to him, Ouyang Xiyi, who sat next to Kou Zhong, leaned over slightly and said, “How would Zhong Xiao Xiong thank me?”

Taken aback, Kou Zhong asked, “What good thing did Qianbei do for this kid?”

Ouyang Xiyi laughed and said, “It was Laofu [old man] who made arrangement of your seat. Tell me, shouldn’t you thank me?”

A warm feeling burst forth in Kou Zhong’s heart; this senior martial art master has always taken a good care of him as much as he could, promptly he expressed his gratitude.

The ensemble suddenly played their string and wind instruments; melodious music reverberated around the banquet hall.

Shang Xiufang finally arrived.

※ ※ ※

Xu Ziling and Tongtong went through the store and back to the house where he and Liu Heita had their meeting the other day.

After being seated, Tongtong served him fragrant tea, and sat next to him. “About Dugu Ba, did Xu Ye do it?”

Xu Ziling smiled wryly and said, “I originally wanted to take care of him, but the one actually doing it was someone else. But now it does not matter anymore.”

Tongtong nonchalantly said, “Dugu Ba’s stinky reputation spread far and wide, the news of his death is actually to the satisfaction of everyone. But the strangest thing about this matter is that for some reason Dugu Feng [peak] seems make notable move, so that I become even more anxious for Xu Ye.”

The something-was-amiss feeling in Xu Ziling’s heart was getting more intense.

What exactly was the reason that the hot-tempered You Chuhong was driven to seize control over this matter? If he could not see through the enemy’s move, he and Kou Zhong might suffer a crushing defeat.

“When did they find Dugu Ba’s body?” he asked in heavy voice.

“Ought to be around the third watch of the night [11pm – 1am] last night,” Tongtong replied, “His body was discovered by the patrolling troops, it was hanging from the Tianjin Bridge.”

Xu Ziling was shocked. Shen Luoyan’s method of shifting the blame onto someone else was indeed very sinister. Anybody would think that they deliberately hung the corpse like this as a retaliation of getting besieged on the Bridge the previous night.

Tongtong added, “They also said that if you don’t die, then I perish. It would be best if Xu Ye and Kou Ye gain the initiative by striking first, otherwise you will get the worst of it.”

Smiling ruefully, Xu Ziling said, “I was going to look for Kou Zhong to discuss this exact matter. Do you happen to know where Song Jingang stays?”

Tongtong nodded, and promptly told him the address.

Amazed, Xu Ziling said, “You really have a fast and abundant news network.”

Utterly delighted, Tongtong said, “This is precisely our mission in staying in this place. There’s another important information Xu Ye needs to know: we are suspecting that someone of Wang Shichong’s camp is a mole who work for Dugu Feng.”

Xu Ziling was stunned, “There is such thing?” he asked.

Tongtong solemnly replied, “The speculation came from a few spider’s thread and horse track that we gathered so far. Honestly, we also have an informer inside the Palace City. For example, Yang Dong’s chancellor Yuan Wendu has always been greedy for life, afraid of death. But concerning Wang Shichong’s massive military force in the Imperial City, he still acts like romance is in the air [orig. wind, flower, snow and moon (trite poetry subject)]; not only in his talks he does not appear to be afraid at all, he also said that he knew Wang Shichong’s entire plan.”

After a short pause, she went on, “Just by looking at how Dugu Feng unscrupulously deal with Kou Ye, we know that Dugu Feng is clear about Kou Ye devising battle plan in a tent [idiom] on behalf of Wang Shichong!”

At last Xu Ziling’s countenance changed.

If that was the case, not only he and Kou Zhong were in grave danger, even Zhai Jiao and her men might face fatal disaster at any moment, so much so that they might implicate Song Lu, Song Yuzhi and the others.

Xu Ziling suddenly stood up and resolutely said, “I must find Kou Zhong immediately.”