In the early morning, roosters crowed.

Xiao Man groggily opened her eyes, then went out the door, carrying her little black cat.

She saw Chen Ji sitting silently on a stone bench under a ginkgo tree, looking at a map of the outer city.

“Young Master,” Xiao Man asked curiously, “when do you plan to make your move?”

Chen Ji looked up and said, “No hurry. Hundreds of people from Heji and Furui Xiang have stopped doing business and are guarding the Eight Great Hutongs. Let’s see who can’t hold out first. We’ve already beaten hundreds of their enforcers, who are now recuperating at home. A few more night raids, and they won’t be able to gather so many people. Then we can take over the businesses in the Eight Great Hutongs.”

Xiao Man was startled. “Young Master, are you planning to take over all the businesses in the Eight Great Hutongs? There are powerful figures behind all those businesses.”

Chen Ji smiled. “We have powerful figures behind us too.”

“Who?” Xiao Man asked, puzzled.

Chen Ji pointed to the sky. “Grand Secretary Zhang Zhuo, the future Chief Grand Secretary.”

“Oh…” Xiao Man’s eyes darted around. “Did Zhang Zheng invite you to Baishun Hutong for drinks last night? You mustn’t let those women charm you.”

Chen Ji put down the map and said with a smile, “I didn’t ask for female company. We just played drinking games among ourselves.”

“What about Zhang Zheng?” Xiao Man asked curiously.

Chen Ji glanced at her. “Neither did he.”

Xiao Man let out a drawn-out “oh.” “Young Master,” she said, “I heard from the other maids that for the past few days, Madam Liang has been inviting noble ladies and wives of officials to Yuanjue Temple every day to burn incense and worship Buddha. In reality, she’s looking for a suitable marriage for you. Young Master, I know this is none of my business, but I think, instead of just marrying any woman, you’d be better off with Second Miss…”

Chen Ji put down the map, interrupting her. “Xiao Man, I’m going to leave sooner or later. When that time comes, no matter who I get engaged to, it will harm their reputation. That would be extremely unfair to them. So, I can only be selfish and hope that the person I get engaged to is someone everyone despises. That way, I won’t feel too guilty.”

“So that’s how it is,” Xiao Man whispered.

Chen Ji stood up and walked out. “I’m off to the yamen for roll call.”

Outside the door, Li Xuan and Qi Zhenzhuo were already waiting.

Qi Zhenzhuo’s face showed unconcealed excitement. He chattered, “Master, I went to Yanzhi Hutong last night. There were fewer people there than in Lishamao Hutong. When can we go hit them again?”

“It’s not time yet,” Chen Ji calmly said.

“Huh?” Qi Zhenzhuo froze. “When can we?”

Chen Ji thought for a moment. “When they can’t hold out anymore. We don’t have any businesses in the Eight Great Hutongs anyway, so we can go whenever we want.”

“Oh…”

The three walked along West Chang’an Avenue and turned into the Imperial Guard Command. As they entered, they saw that Chen Wenren and the others were no longer practicing ceremonial drills. Instead, they were training with long spears, practicing troop formations, and exuding a menacing aura.

As the three entered, Chen Wenren glanced at them sideways and said casually, “Have you three heard about the big commotion in the outer city recently?”

Qi Zhenzhuo pretended to be ignorant despite knowing the truth. “Big commotion? What big commotion?”

Chen Wenren sneered, “It’s said that a group of military elites, masked, went and beat up some local ruffians in the outer city, causing unrest, and they’re not even ashamed of themselves.”

Qi Zhenzhuo said in surprise, “How did Commander Chen hear about this? Could it be that your Chen family’s second branch still has some financial dealings with those ruffians? That absolutely won’t do! If the censors find out, they’ll surely impeach your Chen family!”

Chen Wenren’s expression froze. After a moment, he sneered, “Some people aren’t brave enough to kill Jing Dynasty traitors; they only dare to pick on petty ruffians. I’m ashamed for them. If they truly believe they’re capable, they should come train with my Imperial Guards.”

Qi Zhenzhuo’s face darkened. He had just found confidence in the Eight Great Hutongs, but now his past shortcomings were being brought up again.

They both suspected certain things, but neither wanted to reveal it, nor wanted to lose face.

Li Xuan pulled Qi Zhenzhuo’s arm, walking towards the yamen. “Don’t talk so much with him. Focus on training in formations, and you’ll have your day of vindication.”

Qi Zhenzhuo took a deep breath. “Brother-in-law, don’t worry, I understand!”

Chen Ji made the Imperial Guards lie low and wait for the right moment. This wait lasted five days.

Until the evening of the fifth day, Chen Wenren and the others went home early, but Chen Ji still led the Imperial Guards in practicing the Mandarin Duck Formation within the commandery.

“Chen Ji!” Zhang Zheng shouted from a window in the commandery’s watchtower.

Chen Ji pushed open the window and looked down to see Zhang Zheng making three backward strokes with his left hand.

He nodded at Zhang Zheng, then closed the window again.

A short while later, Chen Ji led Qi Zhenzhuo and the others into a carriage outside the gate.

In the alley opposite the Imperial Guard Command, a person secretly watched the carriage head towards Zhengyang Gate. He immediately led a horse out of the alley and galloped towards the Chen family residence.

Lishamao Hutong, Spring Breeze Courtyard.

The young man leaned by the window, yawning. He had been waiting like this from late afternoon until late evening, utterly bored.

The young man sighed, “You shouldn’t have sent all the women from Spring Breeze Courtyard away. It would have been good to let them stay and sing some songs.”

Zhou Kuang sat beside him, his eyes also dull. “Master,” he said, “if we let them stay, and they figured out your identity and spoke carelessly, wouldn’t I have to silence them? It’s already the fifth day. You didn’t go to Minister Wu of the Board of Rites’ appointment, nor Minister Zhang of the Board of Civil Office’s. How many things have been delayed just to watch this show? If they don’t come today, let’s not come back.”

The young man smiled. “You fool don’t understand. Why would I meet with so many ministers and needlessly invite suspicion? Don’t worry, that group will definitely come.”

Zhou Kuang looked up. “When will they come?”

The young man looked through the window crack at the alley downstairs. “Hundreds of people from Heji and Furui Xiang have stopped doing business and are guarding this place. How many more days can they last? What about the businesses in Chongnanfang, Zhengxifang, and Liulichang? Will Panjiayuan’s ghost market still operate? It all depends on who gives in first.”

At this moment, sounds of an argument came from downstairs.

They saw Zhu Guan standing in Lishamao Hutong, arguing loudly with Qian Ping: “Don’t stop me. It’s already the fifth day. You Heji aren’t doing business, but my Furui Xiang still needs to.”

Qian Ping stood calmly beneath the red lantern building and said, “Master Zhu, you and our Heji’s leader have sworn a blood oath before Lord Qi. Are you going to betray that oath now?”

Zhu Guan sneered, “I’m not betraying anything. It’s just that business cannot be delayed. If this petty matter ruins Panjiayuan’s business, I can’t bear the blame from the patron. If that group comes again, just send someone to call me quickly. My Furui Xiang will certainly not stand by and watch.”

The young man upstairs laughed. “Zhou Kuang, look, someone can’t hold out anymore.”

Zhou Kuang frowned. “Master, should we replace this Zhu Guan?”

The young man was amused. “Why replace him?”

Zhou Kuang pondered, “This person is prone to jealousy. Over the past decade, he has suppressed countless talented individuals within Furui Xiang. That could be considered detrimental to your interests.”

The young man rested his arms on the windowsill, his chin on his arms, watching with utter boredom as Zhu Guan led Furui Xiang’s people away in a hurry.

He suddenly remarked with emotion, “When I was a child, Grand Tutor Xu taught me history, saying that all wicked people would face retribution. Later, when I followed Superintendent Xu to practice Buddhism, he also spoke of karma and reincarnation, and that one must accumulate virtue and do good deeds. Then I met Zhu Guan, and I deliberately didn’t touch him, wanting to see when this wicked man would face retribution. But Zhou Kuang, look, both the Grand Tutor and Superintendent Xu were wrong. In this world, the more wicked a person is, the better they live.”

“But most wicked people die a miserable death,” Zhou Kuang whispered.

The young man burst into laughter. “Decades of happiness and joy, and a miserable death is but a moment. Is exchanging a moment of discomfort for decades of carefree living a loss or a gain? If you ask me, it’s a huge gain! Zhou Kuang, the reason Wenyuan Bookstore didn’t want my novel wasn’t because I didn’t write well enough, but because I wrote too truthfully; there were no heroes they wanted.”

Just then, shouts of killing suddenly came from outside Lishamao Hutong. The young man’s eyes lit up. “See? I told you so! As soon as Furui Xiang left, they came! That’s more like it. If they only acted recklessly, I wouldn’t be interested. Now that they’re patient, it means they’re aiming for something big, which makes it interesting… But how will they deal with the hall masters of the fighting guilds?”

“Zhou Kuang, quickly brew me a pot of tea and get me a plate of melon seeds!”

Outside Lishamao Hutong, Chen Ji and the others, masked, charged in.

Chen Ji instructed at the end of the line, “Make sure to beat them so badly they can’t get out of bed for ten days to half a month. That’s how we’ll reduce their numbers.”

The enforcers charged from the other end of the alley. As soon as the two sides met, a six-foot-long iron wolf-brush forced the enforcers to retreat.

Some enforcers tried to grab the end of the iron wolf-brush and wrestle it from the Imperial Guards, but the end of the iron wolf-brush was covered in fine barbs. With just a touch, their hands were punctured in several places, bleeding profusely.

An enforcer angrily rushed into a brothel and roared, “What are you waiting for?”

Heji’s enforcers resorted to their old trick. They rushed out from various brothels, intending to cut off the Mandarin Duck Formation in the middle.

But just as they came out, Duo Bao suddenly roared, “Change formation!”

The Mandarin Duck Formation immediately contracted its formation like a bristling hedgehog, with spears bristling everywhere. Some enforcers rushed forward, holding tables as shields. An Imperial Guard used a trident to block a table, preventing them from getting close. Li Cen, acting decisively, stooped and swept the enforcer’s legs beneath the table with the butt of his spear.

The blockers and pickers, armed with iron wolf-brushes, tridents, and rattan shields, defended the formation flawlessly. The spearmen, meanwhile, waited for opportunities to attack.

The young man upstairs looked through the window crack, muttering, “What a great formation! It’s practically made for alley combat. Zhou Kuang, if your Five-Army Camp encountered this formation, how would you counter it?”

Zhou Kuang thought for a moment. “Bomb it with cannons.”

The young man retorted irritably, “In such complex, narrow alleys, by the time you drag your cannons over, everyone would have already hidden.”

Zhou Kuang thought again. “Indeed.”

The young man stroked his chin. “This group is strange too. A group of military elites treating petty ruffians like Jing Dynasty elites in a fight—that’s highly unethical. Zhou Kuang, can you tell who they are? Shenji Camp? Five-Army Camp? Myriad Victory Army?”

Zhou Kuang observed carefully for a moment. “None of them. The Myriad Victory Army fights aggressively, the Shenji Camp avoids close combat, and the Five-Army Camp has intricate coordination. This current group isn’t aggressive enough, and their coordination is far from intricate… But they’ve definitely seen blood.”

“Where did these people come from?” the young man wondered. “Could they be the Imperial Guards?”

“You mean that group of fops? Impossible.”

The young man watched the fighting in the alley. “However, as powerful as this formation is, it’s not very entertaining. To break it, one merely needs to throw lives at it. Such a fighting style is ugly. Go, have Furui Xiang’s hall masters make a move, to make the scene more exciting.”

Zhou Kuang whispered, “Master, the Left brothers’ hall master skills and their fellow practitioners are still hidden. If they are exposed like this, it might cause disputes… And right now, Heji is taking the beating; our Furui Xiang doesn’t need to get involved.”

The young man said nonchalantly, “You have a point, but if the martial artists on stage have no opponents, the play isn’t exciting enough. Heji’s hall masters are too timid. Furui Xiang needs to set an example for them. Go, tell the Left brothers to make their move.”

Zhou Kuang turned and left the room. From the railing on the second floor of Spring Breeze Courtyard, he waved a black signal flag.

In the narrow alley, beneath the red lanterns, the Imperial Guards were crushing the enforcers.

Just as they were turning into Hanjiatan Hutong, Chen Ji suddenly said, “Be careful, there are hall masters.”

Everyone looked up. In the night, they saw two figures approaching by stepping on the ropes used to hang the red lanterns, one in front and one behind, sandwiching the Mandarin Duck Formation.

Chen Ji looked up to examine them. He saw both wore black opera robes, with four small flags inserted into their backs, and their faces were painted with white, narrow-eyed opera masks.

The two stood on the red-lantern-hanging ropes, swaying slightly, as light as if they weighed nothing.

The next moment, the hall master in front wiped his face. The white, narrow-eyed mask suddenly transformed into a black, bearded face, and he lunged at the Imperial Guards in the alley. They saw him seize two sweeping iron wolf-brushes with his hands, which, as if made of iron, clashed with the barbs, producing a metallic clang.

The hall master behind also wiped his face. The white, narrow-eyed mask suddenly became a red-faced, bearded one, and he lunged at the Imperial Guards at the end of the Mandarin Duck Formation. An Imperial Guard thrust a trident at him, but he caught it, pulled hard, and wrenched it away.

Li Cen shouted in a low voice, “Be careful! This fellow is incredibly strong. He’s a congenital hall master!”

These two hall masters attacked the Mandarin Duck Formation from front and back, forcing the Imperial Guards to continuously contract their formation.

“Move aside!”

Li Xuan and Chen Ji simultaneously passed through the path cleared by the Imperial Guards. One went forward, one went back, one wielding a sword, the other a spear. Sword light and spear blossoms erupted simultaneously at the front and back, forcing the two hall masters to release their grips and retreat.

Both wiped their faces simultaneously, changing back to their white, narrow-eyed masks. They floated lightly back onto the red lanterns, standing on one foot.

One of them looked down at his body. He saw a bloody gash across his chest and abdomen from Li Xuan’s strike. If he hadn’t retreated quickly, he would have died on the spot.

The other also felt lingering fear. He had originally intended to take Chen Ji’s spear blossom head-on, but his hand went numb the moment it touched the spear. It was still trembling uncontrollably.

The two exchanged glances. They immediately chose to bypass the front and rear of the formation, stepping on the ropes to drop into the middle of the formation.

The two simultaneously wiped their faces in mid-air, changing to red-faced, long-bearded masks.

Qi Zhenzhuo saw through their intentions. He angrily said, “Treating us like soft persimmons? Get back!”

The ninety-jin iron wolf-brush in his hand whistled as it flew, fanning towards one of them like a plantain fan, forcing the opponent to wipe back to the white, narrow-eyed mask and leap back onto the rope.

The other had not yet landed when an Imperial Guard’s long spear swept past furiously, aiming squarely for his face.

This person quickly wiped his face, changing to a black, bearded mask. With a clang, he was forcefully struck by the spear and sent flying far away. Before he even landed, he wiped his face white with his right hand, pushed off the ground with his left, and floated like a feather onto a lantern.

The two Left brothers hesitated. For a moment, they didn’t know where to find a weakness in the formation.

The young man upstairs let out a soft “eh?” He subconsciously exchanged glances with Zhou Kuang. “Are they all hall masters?”

Zhou Kuang hesitated. “They wouldn’t all be hall masters, would they?”

At this point, Chen Ji turned to look at the two face-changing hall masters. The hall masters couldn’t deal with the Mandarin Duck Formation for a while, but the Imperial Guards also couldn’t deal with them. They were in a stalemate.

He shouted in a low voice, “Furui Xiang is probably on their way. That’s enough for today, retreat!”

As his words fell, the Imperial Guards uniformly shifted formation and charged out of the alley. The two Left brothers were about to block them, but then they heard synchronized footsteps from outside Lishamao Hutong. Another group of masked men, armed with long spears, blocked the Imperial Guards’ path. There were as many as eighty of them.

Duo Bao exclaimed in surprise, “Who are they?”

Li Xuan, in the formation, narrowed his eyes slightly. “Those are spears from the Imperial Guard armory. Did Chen Wenren think I wouldn’t recognize them just because he removed the white tassels from the spears? It seems the Chen family’s second branch is Heji’s true patron. Right, the Wang family loves to engage in these sneaky activities.”

Qi Zhenzhuo subconsciously tightened his grip on the iron wolf-brush. He looked at the hall masters overhead, then at the masked Imperial Guards at the alley entrance. “Brother-in-law, what do we do?” he asked nervously. “They’re all hall masters too.”

Li Xuan looked at Chen Ji.

“Fight our way out,” Chen Ji calmly said.