It all happened so fast, all the clerks were stunned. Although the government set the conversion rate of notes to silver, that happened in the fourth year of the Jiajing reign period, but by now silver banknotes had long disappeared from the marketplace. That pile of trash on the floor was only worth half a copper coin. If you tried to use it to pay your taxes, the tax collectors wouldn"t even accept it.
"What? You…" The manager was livid.
With a faint smile, Wenchang cut in, "I paid. What"s the problem? You don"t think it"s real?"
"Cheat! Cheat! How…" The accountant was in a rage and could barely get any words out.
"Alright! So you"ve come here to start a brush fire." The manager took off his long gown, his language was that of a man of the jianghu.
"What? You don"t want the money?" Wenchang was smiling.
"What a reckless dead man…" the manager roared, and he bolted forward to grab Wenchang"s bundle of gold foil notes.
Black Iron PaG.o.da kicked the pile of silver notes, scattering them through the air everywhere. "Alright! Son of a b.i.t.c.h has the money but doesn"t want it, whatever, the goods have been paid for. If your f.u.c.kin" store won"t take legal tender of the Great Ming, we"ll go down to the prefectural magistrate"s office to reason things out." He said reason things out, but his fists didn"t listen to reason as they began pummeling the clerks until their cries reached the heavens.
Wenchang darted to the left to avoid a head-on, and his right hand shot out and slammed into the manager"s chest, quick as anything. At such a close distance there was no way to avoid the blow as the manager was knocked back ten feet as if he"d been blown by a strong gust of wind and he slammed into the silk racks and bolt after bolt of silk and satin crashed to the floor.
"You refuse to except Great Ming legal tender, and you also dare to get violent? You son of a b.i.t.c.h!" Wenchang was laughed as he cursed.
They fought from one end of the shop to the other, crying and shrieking like ghosts, silk racks toppling, the whole shop turned into a big mess. Black Iron PaG.o.da cleared a path to the entrance as he through two clerks out into the street, then he mustered his strength and pushed the big, 1,000-catty counter outside the shop and he stood in the street yelling, "Motherf.u.c.ker, this f.u.c.kin" shop is trying to steal its customers gold, can you believe it? I"ll tear down their signboard."[1]
The signboard was too high up, so he took his whip and with three snaps the signboard fell down, shattered into pieces.
Wenchang came out and hollered to all the onlookers trying to avoid him, "This f.u.c.kin" shop is the worst, bullying their customers. Quick, notify the authorities, quick, notify…"
During the shouting, the two of them took off running.
"Catch the thieves, catch…" came mad screams from inside the shop.
Two men came out from the crowd and saw what was going on at the shop. They yelled and took out a steel spearknife and ran after Wenchang.
Suddenly, a middle-aged man in gray emerged from the crowd, along with a young lady, who happened to stick their legs out and trip the two men as they pa.s.sed, who yelped and fell over. The middle-aged man pulled the men up by the shoulder and laughed. "What happened, friends? Be careful."
The men groaned weakly like a sick dog, and by the time they came to their senses, the middle-aged man and the girl were long gone.
♦♦♦
The middle-aged man was Fang Song. He and his daughter headed east as he shook his head and laughed. "This kid has a lot of guts to do something so rash in the middle of the city in broad daylight."
The girl chuckled charmingly. "He was fooling around in the slums last night around the south pa.s.s, so I knew he was up to something. That was so extreme and surprising, a carefully thought out plan. We"ve been unfair to him."
"He stole an honored guest"s carriage from the Luoyang branch of Northwest Escort Agency, so it seems he has yet to make peace with Divine Spear Yang Hu from the Chang"an headquarters. There"s a lot of masters in Luoyang, and talented men in hiding. Acting so recklessly like that, I worry about what will come of it."
"Dad, you mean Blissful Monk, Black Zombie, Holy Four Heavens Nun, and Frigid Scorpion Gao Fei?"
"I fear Seven Spells has already led his men here. That wicked Daoist will surely do something, and we"re unequipped by ourselves, we might not be able to take handle everything. Girl, take the double swords and be prepared to strike at any moment. We won"t reveal the Yin-Yang Bone Sword or the Chief Star Brush unless we absolutely have to. Come on, let"s go!"
♦♦♦
That robbery in broad daylight rocked Luoyang and caused a huge stir. Northwest Escort Agency"s Luoyang branch was also dragged into it, as their honored guest"s carriage had become an accessory to the crime, used to transport the stolen goods before being discarded outside the east pa.s.s where it ran out of control and into the Yellow River and disposed of.
Wenchang and Black Iron PaG.o.da didn"t stay in the city, nor did they linger in the southern slums, but distributed the money and goods among their local helpers, then they hid out near the west pa.s.s. They received news reports from their helpers every four hours, and special reports whenever necessary. Consequently, they not only knew that Seven Spells, Blissful Monk, and the others had arrived in Luoyang, they knew the the prefectural yamen"s every move.
Black Iron PaG.o.da had used his whip to smash the signboard of Gold Valley Mercery, so the perceptive men of the jianghu already guessed who the two of them were.
♦♦♦
It was a hurried, busy scene at Master Zhu the Fifth"s manor on the west end.
The next afternoon, during the double-hour of the monkey, it was starting to get dark. Evening clouds filled the sky. The day was nearly over and night was coming on.
Wenchang wore a pale blue robe over a light, sky blue outfit. He wasn"t wearing a disguise and his hair was bound up with a black silk tie. With measured steps he led the way with a light air, very much like the son of a powerful family, superbly elegant and refined and distinguished.
Black Iron PaG.o.da was dressed up like a hunchback and followed far behind, waiting for it to get dark before Wenchang called him forward to join him.
Master Zhu the Fifth"s manor was at the southwest corner of the west end, far away from the bustling part of the city. In the northwest corner was a horse and mule market. In a remote section of the southwest corner was the suburbs where the powerful and wealthy residences were.
Master Zhu the Fifth"s manor was full of multistoried buildings, as well as three large, striking pavilions, and a huge gateway arch that competed with the one at the provincial magnate"s mansion in beauty. And no wonder, his father had been an official of the third rank in the capital, and so was permitted to construct halls of five rooms and seven crossbeams. The ridge of the roofs were set with animal-shaped tiles, and the roof beams and ridgepoles, the eaves and the square rafters were embellished with blue paint. The main entrance was a three-room, three-beam, affair, and the huge black lacquered door knocker rings represented the owner"s status. Outside the gates were stone steps and stone drum-shaped blocks were erected on either side. A stone pa.s.sageway led from the gates to the big s.p.a.cious public square out front. It was a magnificent sight.
On the right side of the square was a not-so-famous Fertilizing Cloud Temple. It consisted of only three halls, so was not very grand. But there was a sight behind the temple. Behind a two-beam brick building was a big open square. The brick building was a martial arts practice hall, and the open square was a martial arts practice yard, complete with sandbags, plum blossom stakes, stone padlock dumbbells, stone drum blocks, and archery ground, a horse track, weapons rack, concealed weapons targets, and everything else that was needed. The combination of the hall and the temple were Master Zhu the Fifth"s martial arts centre. Fertilizing Cloud Temple had a host monk in charge of receiving guests. The monk was said to originally be from Shaolin and had taken a job as a martial arts instructor, though the instructors did not live at the martial arts centre. Some had their own homes, and others lived with Master Zhu the Fifth. Every day at the start of the fifth watch the instructors and the martial arts students would come together and hang out for a bit before beginning practice at sunup. In the evening, just before dusk, they would meet once again and not leave until the start of the third watch.
Wenchang stepped out under the lingering light of the sun onto Master Zhu the Fifth"s grounds and scanned the area. He strolled toward the martial arts training yard. No enclosure had been built around it, so anyone with an interest in martial arts could come by and visit. Master Zhu the Fifth wanted people to see his strength.
Black Iron PaG.o.da followed 20-30 feet behind as they headed for the martial arts training yard.
The Zhu family disciples were already gathered there. In the evening they didn"t practice horsemans.h.i.+p, so there was only the sounds of people talking, no horse sounds. There were already some onlookers standing in twos and threes on the outer edge of the yard, waiting to watch the action.
The right side door of the Zhu residence creaked and opened from the inside.
Ooh, it"s a special anti-theft door, Wenchang thought.
The door made a strange sound, indicating it wa heavy and tightly-fitted, and it was not usually opened at night. If someone entered it would alert the doorman and was good for protecting against burglars. The enclosing wall of the house was twenty feet high with double eaves which would be difficult to climb. An average third-rate man of the jianghu would have to go through the anti-theft door, where he would certainly be caught.
The door opened and a group of people filed out. Two men in their thirties led the way, dressed in resplendent, embroidered narrow-sleeved robes, followed by three bare-chested martial arts instructors with hairy chests in their forties, and after them a group of young disciples, full of mettle, came walking down the path toward the training yard.
Wenchang lightly leaned into the shoulder of a man come to watch and asked, "Buddy, who are those people?"
The man looked astonished. "Eh? My boy, do don"t know who they are?"
"This is my first time here. I was just out for a stroll to enjoy the night view, so I didn"t know and asked you."
"Oh! No wonder. See those two sons of b.i.t.c.hes in front? The one on the left is that mongrel Zhu the Sixth, and on the right with the big mouth his Zhu the Seventh. Superb martial artists the both of them, their sabreplay is impenetrable. They took the martial arts examinations but failed, and instead terrorize the locals." The man was indignant. He probably already figured that Wenchang was not from the area.
"The three behind them must be instructors."
"Yeah, and they do double duty as watchdogs. If they didn"t have those guys to help them do their dirty work, the Zhu family wouldn"t be so arrogant. The one on the left is Gust of Wind Wu Xiu. He"s also an armed escort with Northwest Escort Agency. The guy in the middle has five ringworm rashes that never go away, so he"s called Spotted Leopard Su Zhen. The one on the right, the big, tall one, his arm strength is 1,000 catties. He can beat back a charging bull, and he"s mean and aggressive as anything. He"s the top one among the instructors, called Central Plains Suppressor Wu Yong. Those little pups behind them are the good-for-nothing disciples of the Zhu family, the bully rats of Luoyang."
"Thanks for the introduction. Eh? There"s girls?"
Three girls had come out of a different side door, one tall, two short. The tall one"s hair was wrapped in an embroidered scarf and she wore a slim-fitting slate gray robe with little plum blossom satin lining. She had delicate curves, pretty as a painting, and she held a sheathed sword in her hand as she glided gracefully along. The other two wore their hair in high buns and light teal upper garments with long skirts. They were maidservants and were only about fifteen years old.
The man grinned. "That"s Zhu the Fifth"s precious daughter, Zhu Shurong. She"s a good girl, just too overbearing and unreasonable. Why would we want to come to watch those little mongrels show off their skills? Of course we all came to see the girl. The Zhu family has quite a few young ladies! They will probably all be here soon! Where else could we see them but at the martial arts training yard?"
Wenchang jolted as a wonderful, awful idea sprang to mind.
The instructors fiddled around in the training centre building for a bit, then they came back out, eight of them, aside from the three leading the way before, and the disciples all a.s.sembled from all over on the gra.s.s next to the building. Of the twelve girls a.s.sembled, Zhu Shurong was the most remarkable.
The onlookers crowded over to form a human screen wall ten feet long about 50-60 feet from the lawn. They didn"t dare get too close.
The sun had not quite set behind the western mountains, but Black Iron PaG.o.da noticed there were a lot of idlers already, so he didn"t worry anymore and sidled up next to Wenchang.
The instructors stood on the north end with arms akimbo. Central Plains Suppressor stepped out and said, "Everyone come over here and listen to me explain the intricacies of the Six Harmonies Fist."
The men stood on the left, the women on the right, all the disciples spread out in an arc before him.
One of the twelve girls seemed to misstep and staggered, crying out.
Someone among the spectators suddenly guffawed.
Central Plains Suppressor turned a fierce eye to the crowd and went over. Everyone in the crowd was silent at once, and one person backed off in shock. All eyes looked at Central Plains Suppressor"s face. Someone was definitely in for it.
1. The other meaning behind tearing down a signboard is to ruin someone"s reputation.