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This moment, happy and excited, Hou Xibai came back; stepping across the threshold, he immediately strode forward, came by Xu Ziling’s chair, leaned over, and spoke in low voice, “Ziling is awesome; you said you’d steal and you immediately stole it. I am afraid even the real Cao San was not as good as you.”

Stunned, Xu Ziling asked, “How do you know that thing is stolen?”

Sitting down on the chair next to him, Hou Xibai laughed and said, “Before daybreak this morning, Chi Shengchun went to Shang Lin Yuan to look for Xiaodi, begging me to paint Cao Laoxiong’s real face, so that he could hand it over to the authorities and list Cao San as a wanted criminal. Listening to the tone of Chi Shengchun’s voice, he would offer no less than a thousand taels of gold as a reward; it’s really a large amount of money. Huh? How come your countenance is so unsightly?”

Meeting his inquiring glance, Xu Ziling smiled bitterly and said, “That thing was not stolen by my Cao San; rather, it was another Cao San’s doing.”

Severely shaken, Hou Xibai blurted, “What?”

Thereupon Xu Ziling narrated what happened last night in detail. And then he said, “That magnificent residence is located in the middle of Anhua Street, more or less opposite to the Imperial City. There is a pair of lions on the gate, the lions’ head has antlers on it; it is very easy to recognize, very elegant. I wonder whose official residence is it?”

Hou Xibai was listening with opened eyes and tongue-tied; drawing out a mouthful of cold air, he said, “This person’s martial art skill is high, he made Ziling does not dare to recklessly charge in and seize that thing away; it’s really horrifying.”

Xu Ziling pursued on, “Do you have any recollection on such a pair of strange lions?”

Muttering to himself irresolutely for half a day, Hou Xibai said with a frown, “I will have to investigate it. My recollection is that the main gate of Yin Zuwen’s mansion house has a pair of beasts guarding the gate like ones Ziling described. But it does not make any sense!”

Staring blankly, Xu Ziling said, “Wouldn’t that mean Yin Zuwen is making life difficult for himself? What’s more, if the one making the move was Yin Zuwen himself, he will never be able to hide from Chi Shengchun and that Martial Uncle Xu.”

Hou Xibai said, “Our holy school’s people have never crossed a river in the same boat [idiom: having common interests/obliged to collaborate towards common goals]; they might join hands for personal benefit, or perhaps fight and scheme against each other because of personal benefit. If Yin Zuwen did steal the ‘Han Lin Qing Yuan Tu’, Xiaodi won’t be surprised! Ay! This matter really has many twists and turns; it is really frustrating. I am going to start on Cao San’s wanted posters! Five taels of gold per poster, the monetary reward can be considered not bad, right?”

Rising up to his full height, Xu Ziling said, “I am going to see Hu Xiaoxian; if Ji Qian ask you about me, tell her you don’t know anything.”

Astonished, Hou Xibai said, “Ziling is going to ignore her?”

Xu Ziling said, “I only hope that things can be a bit simpler, at least for the time being. After disposing Chi Shengchun, coming back to see her to clarify everything shouldn’t be any problem, should it?”

※ ※ ※

Kou Zhong sat on top of a high, steep cliff on the Yellow River’s south bank, overlooking the Great River rolling endlessly about a hundred zhang down below, while myriads of thoughts surging in his mind.

Yang Xuyan’s so-called important matter to attend to was certainly an excuse. No matter what price he had to pay, he should have done everything in his power to seize last night’s golden opportunity to eliminate him, Kou Zhong.

Because Kou Zhong plus Xu Ziling have become Shi Zhixuan’s biggest threat.

One of the explanations would be Yang Xuyan deliberately letting him off so that Kou Zhong could go to Chang’an to rendezvous with Xu Ziling, to eliminate Shi Zhixuan, the person who was controlling Yang Xuyan in the dark. Because Yang Xuyan no longer wanted to be a puppet under Shi Zhixuan’s control.

Another explanation would be Yang Xuyan, by way of flying pigeon post, notified Shi Zhixuan to come and intercept him on the way to Chang’an.

Ay! What a headache.

If it was the latter possibility, it could be the most interesting. But he must make adequate preparation, so that he could have decisive battle against Shi Zhixuan at his peak condition, to decide victory or defeat.

Whether he could be considered a hero or a fool, even he himself was unclear. Because Xu Ziling already said that facing Shi Zhixuan, any one of them would surely die. But he already made up his mind to do it anyway, betting that Shi Zhixuan’s internal injury had not been healed yet.

※ ※ ※

Xu Ziling met with Hu Xiaoxian by the famous Fangsheng Chi [lit. releasing life pond] at the northeast corner of the East Market. This was the place they had agreed to meet. If Hu Xiaoxian saw the secret mark left by Xu Ziling indicating the time, she would come at the appointed time to meet him. This way, even if others could figure out the time by interpreting the marking, they would not know the location of the meeting.

Fangsheng Chi was a must-see place for people who toured the East Market. The trees were swirling about, the width of the irregular shape of the lake in all direction reached a thousand paces, there were lotus flowers everywhere on the surface of the water, carps were leaping, fish were swimming, it was brimming with vitality.

Hu Xiaoxian, wearing men’s clothes, hiding her beautiful hair inside the hat, was standing quietly by the lake. The beautiful pupil of her eyes was flickering as she watched the activities inside the pond, her excitement overflowing, she found amusement in her own way.

Only when Xu Ziling sat down by her side did she – a bit reluctantly – turn her eyes away, and said with a sigh, “Xiaoxian never realized that the fish in the pond are so touching. Thinking that nobody dares to harm them, Xiaoxian is happy for them.”

Xu Ziling met her gaze. This was the first time he felt the inner good and honest nature of this beautiful woman; he spoke cheerfully, “The world is actually brimming with beautiful aspects, only we usually overlook it because of our own worries!”

Hu Xiaoxian cast her gaze back onto the water. After thinking deeply for a moment, she said, “I won’t need you to uphold justice and help me anymore! But Xiaoxian is still very grateful.”

Frowning, Xu Ziling asked, “You don’t need my help in which aspect?”

Casting him a glance, Hu Xiaoxian laughed tenderly and said, “Naturally it’s about Chi Shengchun, that fellow; is there anything else? However, you can rest assured that I, Hu Xiaoxian am a person who value loyalty, I definitely will not reveal any secret about Xu Daxia.”

Xu Ziling suddenly understood. He nodded and said, “Turns out the news of Chi Shengchun purchasing the ‘Han Lin Qing Yuan Tu’ from the Dugu Family was leaked out from Xiaojie’s mouth.”

Hu Xiaoxian was shaken. She looked at him, the pretty pupil of her eyes emitted a hard-to-believe, amazed look. Greatly astonished, she said, “You really possess great magical power; how did you know about this matter?”

Xu Ziling elegantly shrugged his shoulders, he said, “How did Xiaodi know about this? Please forgive Xiaodi for holding off the climax. I don’t know whether Xiaojie will believe this, but Chi Shengchun wanting to marry Guniang is absolutely necessary [orig. circumstances require action (idiom)], because he has Yin Zuwen and Li Yuanji’s full support behind his back. There will come a day your esteemed father will succumb.”

Her eyes burning, Hu Xiaoxian sized him up for quite half a day, she spoke indifferently, “It was Chi Shengchun who broke his promise to us, whom can he blame? This morning Chi Shengchun paid us a visit, informing Die that the ‘Han Lin Qing Yuan Tu’ was stolen by his enemy, the ‘Duan Ming’ Cao San. Die immediately seized the opportunity to raise a difficult issue, he stated clearly one day he has not found the scroll of painting, the issue of marriage must not be mentioned. I am afraid that by now Cao San already brings the painting far way to his place. In the vast world, I would like to ask, what does Chi Shengchun have that he will be able to recover the painting? Ay! Tell nujia, please, how did Xu Daxia know about this matter? It was only before nujia went out the door that Die told me about this.”

Xu Ziling smiled and said, “Has Xiaojie thought about it? How did Cao San know that Chi Shengchun had the treasured painting in his hands? Furthermore, how did he know that this painting is of a great importance? One possibility is that the chicken in the coop is rebelling. Chi Shengchun was taken advantage of by his own people, when the matter is settled, perhaps the treasured painting will return to Chi Shengchun’s hands. At that time, because of your esteemed father’s words, won’t Xiaojie have to marry Chi Shengchun even more?”

His remark was absolutely not shooting without aiming. The reason was that in the end, the painting thief came back to Yin Zuwen’s residence. Even if it was not Yin Zuwen himself, his relationship with Yin Zuwen could not be shallow. There was also the possibility that it was related to the internal struggle among the demonic school factions. What really happened inside was not something that outsiders could speculate.

Her countenance changed, Hu Xiaoxian said, “Are you saying that this is only some kind of ‘in order to capture, one must let loose’ trick that Chi Shengchun is playing? Or perhaps this is just his way to discourage other people who wanted to rely on their power to seize the painting away.”

Xu Ziling spoke calmly, “This move of Xiaojie’s is really formidable; you deliberately leaked the information about Chi Shengchun’s treasured painting to Li Yuan. The problem is that this time, the person who made his move to steal the painting is the so-called ‘Duan Ming’ Cao San, and not the Great Tang Emperor Li Yuan at all. Has Xiaojie thought about the difference between the two?”

Revealing a grave expression, Hu Xiaoxian said, “Are you implying that this is a farce that Chi Shengchun arranged himself, so that everybody in Chang’an knows that the ‘Han Lin Qing Yuan Tu’ is the dowry that he had to buy back with a large sum of money, so that Li Yuan will feel awkward to make a strong claim against him?”

Xu Ziling could not bear to deceive her. Shaking his head, he said, “The inside story is complicated; I am afraid Chi Shengchun is not that smart. But, the chance that he would obtain the treasured painting back is quite high. If Xiaojie really does not wish to become the sacrificial victim in Chi Shengchun’s attempt to acquire your esteemed father’s Ming Tang Wo, your current way of handling this matter is akin to sit and wait for death.”

With bewildered and indeterminate eyes Hu Xiaoxian looked him up and down for quite a while; she spoke heavily, “What kind of person Chi Shengchun really is? What did he do to provoke you, Xu Ziling to come and deal with him?”

Shaking his head, Xu Ziling said, “This aspect, it would be best if you don’t mind it. As long as you do what I tell you to do, I will make Chi Shengchun’s evil plan difficult to succeed.”

Hu Xiaoxian unleashed her charm again; revealing a hurting expression, she complained, “Aren’t we working together in sincerity? Why do you have to conceal anything from me? If something happens in the future, the one suffering damage will be Xiaoxian and not you, Xu Daxia.”

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, “This is for Xiaojie’s own good! Because this matter involves the internal power struggle within the Li Clan, knowing about it will not be helpful. The more Xiaojie is unaware, the less chance that you will be drawn into this matter. Didn’t you say that you trust me? Now is the chance to prove your trust to me with your action. Otherwise let’s drop everything, we won’t have any cooperative relationship anymore.”

‘Pfft!’ Hu Xiaoxian giggled tenderly and said, “All right! I will completely listen to you; destined love [in opera], what is your instruction?”

※ ※ ※

By the time Xu Ziling reached the magnificent residence at the Chongren Li, where Lei Jiuzhi and the others were staying, Ren Jun was bending over the table, practicing Situ Furong’s signature, while immensely proud of himself, Lei Jiuzhi picked up the fake seal and said with a laugh, “This is the counterfeit seal of Situ Furong that I refined; even Situ Furong himself will find it difficult to tell between the real and the fake.”

Song Shidao on the side added, “Situ Furong always carried his personal seal with him, so that he could stamp the money ticket that the pawnshop issued at any time. It is very easy for these bits and pieces to reveal the flaws, hence we must handle it very carefully.”

“Is there any visitor?” Xu Ziling asked.

Lei Jiuzhi replied, “Currently we politely refuse any visitor, Xiao Jun only sees the employees of the pawnshop.”

Xu Ziling told them about ‘Han Lin Qing Yuan Tu’ in details first, but also explained clearly its significance to Hu Xiaoxian. He said, “Now, the first stage of our plan is to pull ‘Da Xian’ Hu Fo into this matter, so that Hu Xiaoxian and Situ Furong can meet. Only then will our grand plan be carried out.”

Song Shidao said, “If Hu Fo has the ambition to grow his gambling enterprise, he would not miss the golden opportunity to make friends with Situ Furong. Therefore, if we say this is difficult it actually isn’t, but the difficulties lie in we must not leave any traces, so we want Hu Fo to come to see us, rather than we are showing goodwill by seeking contact with him to curry his favor and to climb the friendship ladder.”

Lei Jiuzhi was still pondering about the ‘Han Lin Qing Yuan Tu’; his brows were knitted, he asked in wonder, “Why would Yin Zuwen want to steal Zhan Ziqian’s famous painting? This matter is really hard to understand.”

Song Shidao said, “Thinking too much is useless. We must become the Papa thief, to steal the treasured painting back from Yin Zuwen’s hands. Otherwise, if Yin Zuwen handed the painting back to Chi Shengchun, Hu Fo will not have any excuse to refuse the marriage proposal. Ziling, do you have enough confidence?”

Muttering to himself irresolutely, Xu Ziling replied, “I can only do my best.”

Thinking hard, Song Shidao said, “How in the world are we going to pull Hu Fo into this matter?”

Xu Ziling’s heart was moved, he said, “Perhaps we could have my Ol’ Die Du Fuwei to facilitate this matter. In the first place, we must let Hu Fo knows that Situ Furong is coming here to seek refuge. Secondly, we must let Hu Fo knows that Situ Furong is interested to get into gambling business. Because Situ Furong’s network of pawnshop covers the whole world, if Hu Fo has the ambition to grow his gambling enterprise, he would understand Situ Furong’s usefulness to him.”

This moment Ren Jun suddenly cheered, “I got it!”

The three men moved behind him to watch. Ren Jun gave them a demonstration, his brush moved like flying on a pawnshop document; sure enough, it was very similar and as amazing as the real version provided by Ou Liangcai, it seemed almost genuine.

The three men exclaimed in admiration endlessly.

Tossing the brush and the paper full of signatures, Ren Jun rose up and said with a laugh, “I practiced for nearly ten days, and only now I can make it close to the original.”

Xu Ziling said, “There’s no time to lose, I must now immediately try to contact Du Fuwei and proceed with our grand plan.”

“How is Xiao Zhong doing?” Song Shidao asked.

Smiling ruefully, Xu Ziling replied, “Tell me how to answer Song ErGe? The only thing I can do right now is not to think of him.” Finished speaking, he left in a hurry.

Back at the Passionate Nest, Hou Xibai was not sleeping at home. It was a quiet afternoon in the hall, Xu Ziling went to the study room to lie down, he closed his eyes to raise his spirit.

Suddenly he remembered Yu He An [jade crane nunnery]; he mused that if he wrote a letter to Shi Feixuan, would the manager, Chang Shan Ni [eternal virtue (Buddhist) nun] really deliver the letter to Shi Feixuan? And then he smiled bitterly in his heart, because he knew that he would never write the letter; moreover, he did not know what to write. Everything that needed to be said had been said not in a letter; any word, any character would be unnecessary. This was the real meaning of ‘everything that needed to be said had been said not in a letter’.

He wondered whether Shang Xiuxun already arrived at the Capital? This matter, he ought to ask Hou Xibai to get a dependable answer. Naturally the most direct would be to ask Shen Luoyan. But he was a bit afraid to see Shen Luoyan; he was afraid of her scorching gaze.

What has actually happened between Yin Zuwen and Chi Shengchun? What was the relationship between the two? Perhaps he could make discreet inquiries from Wanwan?

Finally Hou Xibai returned at dusk. Xu Ziling already woke up from a satisfying and relaxing afternoon nap, his spirit was fully recovered. Meeting Hou Xibai at the corridor, he said with a laugh, “I wonder if Xibai Xiong has five more taels of gold in your purse?”

Full of joy, Hou Xibai replied, “Actually, it’s fifty taels of gold. Xiaodi drew ten portraits of Old Cao today, five taels of gold per portrait, I made a lot of money from Chi Shengchun, which is a great help to Xiaodi’s financial situation. In order to work on Li Yuan’s Hundred-Beauty Painting, I hardened my heart to refuse all other businesses, Xiaodi is quite generous with my expense, so a bit more gold in hands is always better.”

Laughing involuntarily, Xu Ziling said, “This is practically an extortion. In order to save time, Xiao Chi [Little Chi] has no choice but to bear the pain and pay the bill; didn’t you say he originally only wanted you to paint one picture?”

Sneering, Hou Xibai said, “Today, before the Wei hour [1-3pm] he hung Cao San’s wanted poster on every major city gate, all are the meritorious service of my quick brush. So with these fifty taels of gold I really did not treat Xiao Chi unjustly. Can you guess how much does Cao San worth this time?”

Xu Ziling said, “Xiao Chi is indeed resourceful; only government authorities are entitled to issue a reward, yet he was able to arrange such a complicated matter via the government authorities only in one morning. It is indeed not simple.”

Wrapping his arm around Xu Ziling’s shoulders, Hou Xibai pulled him into the study room and said, “How about you and I go to Yin Mansion tonight for a treasure hunt? If I don’t see Zhan Ziqian’s authentic work, I definitely refuse to give up.”

Sitting down dejectedly, Xu Ziling said, “I have a very bad feeling about this, the treasure hunt can’t possibly proceed smoothly. I always have a feeling that we made mistakes somewhere but we don’t know it.”

Hou Xibai sat down next to him across the small table; he said in astonishment, “How could Ziling Shao have no confidence in this? Treasure hunt does not necessarily mean that we have to obtain the treasure, just the course of events itself is already very exciting.”

Xu Ziling came back to the previous topic, he asked, “How much does Cao San worth? Or to be precise, how much does the ‘Han Lin Qing Yuan Tu’ worth?”

Hou Xibai sighed and said, “It’s ten thousand taels of gold. More and more I do not dare to belittle this fellow.”

Xu Ziling nodded and said, “There will be brave men under heavy reward. Perhaps there will even be people who would sell their friends for glory. It’s impossible that Cao San does not have any accomplice, otherwise how did he know that Chi Shengchun had the painting in his hands. For example, for me, this fake Cao San, my accomplice is you, the white dog that will face the disaster together!”

Hou Xibai laughed and said, “The most miserable person is neither you nor me, rather, it’s Chi Shengchun. Even if he split his skull, it’s still difficult to understand why Cao San, instead of stealing a thousand or ten thousand, had to steal this painting of a very great importance, harming him that it feels like he has ants all over his body, throwing his troop disposition into a big mess. This threatening the east and striking to the east stratagem can be considered formidable!”

After a short pause, he continued, “When the first watch of the night [7-9pm] is sounded, I will wait for you here.”

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Frowning, Xu Ziling asked, “What are you doing before the first watch of the night?”

Radiant with delight [orig. eyebrows flying, countenance dancing], Hou Xibai replied, “Tonight I am going to see a famous beauty with unique style, hoping to add a beauty’s portrait to this Fan of Beauty.”

“Shang Xiuxun?” Xu Ziling spoke indifferently.

Stunned, Hou Xibai asked, “How did you do that? One guess and spot on.”

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling replied, “Don’t ask, all right?”

The memory of the night of the Helian Fort battle in the prairie beyond the Great Wall floated in his heart; when he was facing the Golden Wolf Army, which was ten million times larger that their side, when he was wondering whether he would die, unexpectedly he recalled Shang Xiuxun. Could it be that unexpectedly he secretly fell in love with her, but did not realize it? Thinking about it, he felt that there really was no reason. All along, he only had admiration toward Shang Xiuxun, but he was never lost in wild and fanciful thoughts toward her. On the other hand, toward Shi Feixuan and Shi Qingxuan, time and again he had the urge to go out and see them.

For the first time Xu Ziling felt that he did not understand himself.

After staring blankly at him for quite half a day, Hou Xibai said, “Does Ziling want Xiaodi to pass on a message to Shang Changzhu on your behalf?”

Xu Ziling muttered to himself irresolutely for a long time. He sighed and said, “Just tell her I am at your house!”