Chapter 150: The Pact
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
With the sword and the scabbard thrown onto the ground, Gu Shenwei was holding on to his saber. His look was cold. It was as though the person lying on the bed was a human-figured target.
Although Xu Yanwei had seen all kinds of clients before, a chill still ran down her spine. Her body curled up like a baby. She begged fearfully, "Please have mercy.".
He walked to the front of the bed. He used his saber to lift the quilt that was covering Xu Yanwei. He could use blood to control Shopkeeper Lyu and bribe Xu Xiaoyi with money. Towards these fickle-minded ladies, he had to use different approaches. Sometimes, he even wanted to kill her.
The only person Gu Shenwei didn't dare to attack was Pot-bellied Buddha. Every time he thought of what that fat ugly man had done to his daughter, he felt extremely disgusted. In his opinion, even though this woman was sometimes filthier than a beggar crawling in the gutter, this filth stirred up his last bit of sympathy for her.
Gu Shenwei could not comprehend his emotions, but he did not want to inquire further. He only knew one thing. If he was unable to make Xu Yanwei surrender now, he would have to kill her.
His sympathy for her stopped here.
Xu Yanwei finally understood his gaze. Instead of the usual feelings of cruelty, abreaction, and desire, it displayed the strong will of a killer.
"Next time, you will earn enough money to escape from Jade City."
Xu Yanwei looked at the knife in Gu Shenwei's hand and suddenly became shy for no particular reason. She nodded while pulling the quilt up unknowingly.
"However, you have to return your life, which you owed, back to me."
Gu Shenwei had rescued the siblings twice before, but Xu Yanwei was unaware of this. To her, she never owed anyone anything. She would only obey and be controlled by her master. Hence, she nodded again.
"You have to work for me for three years. Then you and your brother will be free."
This was an offer from a killer. Xu Yanwei nodded again. As she was good at acting, sometimes she couldn't even tell which roles were real. This time she was playing a new role, which was a businesswoman who didn't know the value of her goods.
She liked this role. All this while, she was being passed around like a wine jug. She never had a chance to make a deal.
"Speak up.", Gu Shenwei ordered as he was slightly dissatisfied with Xu Yanwei's constant nodding.
"For three years, Xiaoyi and I will work for you. We'll do anything.", she said with an emphasis on the last sentence.
There was a table, which was filled with the mess left behind by the previous customers, in the bedroom. Gu Shenwei poured away the wine in a glass and refilled it. He made a cut on his left wrist using his saber and dripped his blood into the glass. He turned and looked at her, who was on the bed.
Xu Yanwei dressed as quickly as she undressed. While she was getting off the bed, she draped her clothes over her. By the time she was off, she was neatly dressed. No one could do better than her in such a scenario.
"Give me your hand."
"I'll do it myself."
Xu Yanwei was filled with excitement and deeply fascinated by this strange yet mannish pact. She devoted herself wholeheartedly. She picked up the sword on the carpet and drew the sword out. She was shocked by the light, which was reflected off the sword. She brought the sword to the side of the table with both hands, as though she was holding a holy object.
By gently cutting herself, blood was oozing out from her smooth skin, as though it was a piece of compressed cotton. It was similar to a small blooming flower, whereby it bloomed and withered in a flash. Blood trickled down the delicate wrist.
Xu Yanwei turned her body after cutting herself. She felt giddy. She threw the sword away and grabbed onto the table. She stared at the blood fuse in the wine and smiled. She lifted the cup, drank a big mouthful and licked off the blood stain on her wrist.
Gu Shenwei took the glass and drank the remaining half.
His judgment was right. The seemingly delicate Xu Yanwei had a strong heart, which was stronger than most men.
Xu Yanwei called for her younger brother so that they could listen to the new master's orders.
Xu Xiaoyi locked the door. He could then leave his money reluctantly and headed upstairs.
The look of Mr. Huan surprised him. As he was familiar with all sorts of appearances that a satisfied client would have, he did not expect such a cold expression. His sister seemed weird as well. Her eyes were beaming as though she wanted to share a big secret.
Gu Shenwei repeated the deal to Xu Xiaoyi, as he didn't want to make Xu Xiaoyi perform the blood oath. Gu Shenwei began to make specific requests. He chose them to work for him after thoughtful considerations.
"Help me collect all the information related to the Stone Castle. I want to know all kinds of information, be it what kind of drinks the customers like or whose toes are shorter. I want to know all of this information, regardless how trivial or uncanny."
The Xu siblings were born and grew up in the South City. They knew the place inside out, hence they were the best people to help Gu Shenwei collect information.
However, after listening to Mr. Huan's words, both of them became afraid and started finding excuses.
"Ah, I understand now. Stone Castle wanted to catch the spies so they wanted to hear what everyone is talking about. They would kill anyone who spoke ill about them.", Xu Xiaoyi said while making a killer pose.
"You wanted to rise up the ranks. You wanted to know what kind of things your superiors like so that you could cater to their tastes.", Xu Yanwei guessed. Her guess was more accurate.
"Almost there. However, I don't want both of you to "ask" around. Just listen to them. You, make the customers talk more. You, go to the streets, taverns, batting arenas and listen to their conversations. As a reward, both of you don't have to pay every month."
The two siblings nodded solemnly. Xu Yanwei earned thousands of taels monthly. She would be able to earn more if she worked harder. In terms of monetary value, Mr. Huan's task was relatively easier.
Having money and spies, Gu Shenwei had to create his own escape plans. Next morning, he brought Xu Xiaoyi to the North City, to visit the commandant, Zhong Heng. Both of them had met several times before.
Zhong Heng had a deep impression of Gu Shenwei. He personally greeted them and treated them well as though they were very important people.
The commandant had heard about how Slave Huan killed his mentor. However, he didn't bring this matter up. He just congratulated Gu Shenwei on his promotion on becoming a killer.
Tie Hanfeng bought a house in the North City. Zhong Heng sent his men to inquire from the relevant ministries and received the confirmation in no time. With Zhong Heng's enthusiastic assistance, Gu Shenwei was able to obtain the house deed and entered the house that was "left" behind by Master Shifu by this afternoon.
Even though the name on the deed was "Xu Yi", which was Xu Xiaoyi's full name, he could only stare at it as he knew who was the real owner.
The house was small and had only one door. However, the location was good as it was situated near the North City checkpoint, towards South City. Tie Hanfeng originally intended to go to Southwall Tavern to kill time.
Gu Shenwei invited Zhong Heng to drink at South City. That night, the Commandant and his two followers were drunk and Zhong Heng had to stay overnight at Xu Yanwei's inn. When they left the next morning, they left behind a five thousand taels banknote. Gu Shenwei withdrew this amount of money from Shopkeeper Lyu, over at the Southwall Tavern. This banknote could be redeemed at any banks in the North and South City.
Gu Shenwei was busy with his own affairs for several days. On the other side, Bigmouth Liu was in a hurry. He personally visited the "master". While stammering, he reminded the young superior that everything was ready, except the most important aspect. They hadn't hired any machetemen.
Gu Shenwei was in no hurry and rested for a day. On the seventh day after he left the mountains, he brought Bigmouth Lin to the Rogue Forest.
Rogue Forest had a red glow during winter, and that was the reason behind its name. During winter, the trees were slightly bleak, but the crowd didn't subside.
The Rogue Forest was located in a valley in the east of the city. There was a river cutting through it and there were tall canopies. However, the visitors could not see the Stone Castle that lay above.
There was where the jobless machetemen gathered. If one wanted to hire these machetemen, one would have to bring enough money and give a shoutout. If one wanted to find a good assistant, one would have to be discerning.
It was in the Rogue Forest where Gu Shenwei first heard of the Horned Dragon Society.
There was a Machete God Contest in the forest and the organizers were the Horned Dragon Society, who had just gained popularity in Jade City.
Horned Dragon Society was established by a group of people from the rich and noble families in North City. It would mean that many of them were descendants of the royal family.
The biggest feature of Horned Dragon Society was that it was wealthy. After establishing for a short amount of time, it organized the Machete God Contest. It wanted to select the best macheteman in Jade City and the prize was ten thousand taels. The winner could get to work for Horned Dragon Society and could receive a large amount of remuneration. Those, who excelled in machete skills could also join the society and was given monetary rewards.
Even in their prime, many machetemen were unable to earn as much as ten thousand taels. Even though most of the leaves of Rogue Forest had fallen, more people had gathered at the forest.
In the Central Plain of the forest, there were numerous open spaces that were connected by trails. All of them became sparring grounds. There were a large number of spectators, even those who didn't know kung fu came to spectate as well.
It was surprising that Gu Shenwei had not heard of such big event in advance. He was disappointed with Bigmouth Liu.
Bigmouth Liu didn't notice the dissatisfaction of his young superior, and said, "Wow. All the machetemen in the city were crazy over the money. This is a good thing. We can select some good yet unselected machetemen after Horned Dragon Society are done with their selection.".
"Tenth Young Master only wants the best macheteman."
"Stop joking. The winner can get ten thousand taels. We only have twenty thousand. We can only hire two machetemen."
"Heh", Gu Shenwei sneered. He didn't argue with Bigmouth Liu. Just like the masters of the Horned Dragon Society, Bigmouth Liu knew nothing about machete skills. The winner of the competition might not be the best macheteman.
Two years ago, Gu Shenwei didn't understand this rationale as well. However, the experience at East Castle had allowed him to understand this logic. Out of six hundred odd good students of the Carvewood Academy, few could survive the massacre. Contests and assassination were two completely different things.
While Bigmouth Liu was engrossed in the sparring, Gu Shenwei was more concerned about the machetemen who were scattered in the forest. They were disinterested in the contest and the best macheteman might be within them.
Gu Shenwei went around and finally spotted one macheteman. He was in his forties and had small yet bright and piercing eyes. He seemed slightly exhausted and was probably at the end of his prime. However, Gu Shenwei noticed that several machetemen would whisper to him before entering the contest.
Gu Shenwei pulled Bigmouth Liu out of the crowd and asked him whether he recognized the macheteman.
"Boss Tuo is a great helper, but you can't hire him."
"Why?"
"He used to be... under... someone. He lost his job not long ago."
Gu Shenwei immediately realized that "he" was referring to First Young Master Shangguan Chui.
(Seeking for collection and recommendation)