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Chen Pi woke up from where he had flopped down in the corner of the Mahuo Temple. He looked up at the clothes hanging nearby. He had spent a long time washing them in the river to get the blood out. When he touched his face and felt the hard bristles, he walked over to the lake, washed his face in the water, and then made a few hasty shaves. At this moment, the pain in his hand fully woke him up.

He looked down and saw that all ten knuckles were skinned. It wasn’t caused by the battle he had fought last night, but the injury he suffered when he punched the tree on his way back to the Mahuo Temple.

He wouldn’t have been so annoyed if he had killed them before he started his “hundred coins, kill one person” business. But ever since Xi Qi had said those words, he had been a little concerned. Doing it one by one wasn’t feasible, and could even be regarded as losing money.

Chen Pi got up and saw that his clothes were still wet, so he wrapped the torn quilt around his body, tied it tightly with a rope, and started walking to Baiping Building. This time, he looked at the no-contribution flag he had tied to the pole and took it down.

Whose fucking flag was this? Yesterday, he held off killing the last one and interrogated him for a long time, but the other party refused to talk. Chen Pi felt that instead of withholding information, the other party really didn’t know anything. Now, there was nowhere else left to ask about which Huang Kui member owned this flag. He suddenly felt that this was the wrong way to go about it. If even Huang Kui’s own people didn’t know whose flag it was, then when could he finish this thing?

He still remembered Xi Qi’s words clearly, and knew he had to wrap this up. If he couldn’t even kill that one person, then having these hundred coins would become a joke.

As he walked along, he felt pain coursing through his body. His joints had been severely torn, which made him feel tired with every step he took. He suddenly became a little dizzy and leaned against a tree by the road, still staring at his injured knuckles. He started to hear Xi Qi’s dying gasps in his ear, and the “one hundred coins, kill one person” curse.

Countless Xi Qis appeared and kept repeating the phrase over and over again, and Chen Pi’s face became more and more gloomy. As his inner disgust and anxiety reared their heads, he suddenly remembered his previous self, who never used to suffer from killing anything.

“Bastard.” Chen Pi looked at the Xi Qis in front of him with narrowed eyes and then wiped his face. He tilted to one side, started vomiting violently, and then fainted.

When he woke up again, a group of children were throwing stones at him. He had been awakened when one of the stones managed to hit his chin, and the brats scattered once they saw that he was up.

As Chen Pi stood up and patted the frozen vomit from his body, one could see that his expression had changed. The inner suffering and turmoil had disappeared, and he had suddenly changed back to his former self.

“Since you can’t find out whose flag it is, you’ll have to kill them all. One of them is bound to be it.” Chen Pi looked at the sky, and all but one of the Xi Qis disappeared. This last one looked at him with a smile, as if betting that he wouldn’t be able to finish it. Chen Pi also smiled, and then turned to continue his walk to Baiping Building.

Meanwhile, Changshan was crying and smoking a pipe beside the river bank. His hands were shaking so much that he could hardly lift the pipe up. He was followed by someone who looked like an accountant. This person didn’t dare speak, but merely accompanied him silently.

“Do you think Shuixiang was soiled by that beggar?” Changshan suddenly stopped and asked.

The accountant shook his head. “Mr. Advisor, there’s no way to tell.”

The corners of Changshan’s mouth twitched, and the tears flowed down to his neck. He wiped them away and said, “What do you mean, you can’t tell? Haven’t you checked?”

“Mr. Advisor, everyone’s dead. Who’s going to want to check?” The accountant said timidly. He took a step back before he dared continue, “Moreover, Miss Shuixiang was no longer an innocent girl. It’s not like you don’t know how many she’s been with.”

“Fuck you, you know nothing.” Changshan suddenly became furious and started shouting, “What would that make me if I let someone touch her after I did? After I fucked her, would she dare mess around again? I killed them one by one. The women I’ve been with are mine for life. No one can fucking touch them.”

“Yes, yes.” The accountant nodded and almost fell to his knees in fear.

“Shit, how dare that damned beggar touch my woman. There’s no way I’ll let him become the hitmen’s leader.” Changshan’s tears started flowing again. “Do you think that bitch Shuixiang knew that she might be ruined, so she… she ended it herself first? Doesn’t she know she’s my woman? I feel sick at the mere thought of this whole mess.”

The accountant was covered in a cold sweat when he suddenly saw some girls passing by. He immediately had an epiphany and said “Mr. Advisor, would you like to get another young girl to take Shuixiang’s place? You know, Shuixiang wasn’t your first after all. I’ll go and see if the matrons at the Ximen brothels have any new ones in.”

Changshan didn’t speak for a long time, and then sighed, “Forget it. The seventh house on Willow Street has a fifteen-year-old daughter. I’ve taken a fancy to that pert little ass. Take care of it for me. I have something to do.” He looked at something hidden under his wrist and wiped away his tears. Once he had restored his composure, he said, “The beggar usually stays in the corner of Mahuo Temple. Find someone to go there and ask the other beggars where he is. They all know him. His name is Chen Pi. You can’t fight this Chen Pi, so remember to treat him with courtesy. Buy three boxes of gifts, a good set of winter clothes, and give him a thousand coins. Tell him it’s thanks for his work yesterday, and to make up for the money he missed out on. Be sure to tell him we’d like to discuss a big business deal with him.

“Where at?”

“Baiping Building. Prepare a table of food and wine inside the building. Find a group of brothers good at using spears and set up an ambush. As soon as he comes, don’t say anything, and just do it directly. Be sure to cut him down and bring me the evidence.”

“But didn’t Boss ask you to invite him?”

“You know, there have been other men who have touched my women. Even if they only touch my women’s hands, it’s still dirty. I won’t let either the man or the woman off. When Boss asks, just keep it short and say this Chen Pi didn’t want to. Now, go to the building and ask the leaders of the three gangs and five factions to move to the cockfighting pit at the east gate. I’ll wait for them there. The table of food we’ve already ordered in the building will be Chen Pi’s sendoff.” Changshan shook his sleeves and hid the things under his wrists. “By the way, don’t move Shuixiang’s corpse to my place. I don’t want it dirtied. Let Boss dispose of it himself.”

The accountant nodded, and then started planning out how to go about his tasks. Changshan straightened himself up, blew his nose in a handkerchief, and then let out a sigh. “She had a slender waist. She had just reached the age of fifteen. Newly married, she put her hair into two buns on her head. It was the first time she learned to adorn herself properly, like a beautiful figure cut from stone. Her face showed a kind of timidness and shame at the affection. Her every movement was very sweet and charming. Unfortunately, she hadn’t learned how to take the initiative to show her love to her husband. It was late at night, yet she refused to enter the quilt to sleep. Her husband undressed her, but she was shy and turned her back to the lamp, telling him to sleep first.” (1)

<Extra 4.16> <Table of Contents><Extra 4.18>

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TN Notes:

(1) The whole thing is a poem written by Liu Yong in the Song Dynasty. It’s a poem about a 15 or 16-year-old girl who was married as soon as she reached adulthood. Because she still didn’t understand love affairs, she couldn’t fully adapt to the newly married life, which caused headaches for her husband. About the whole hair thing, young women used to wear their hair down in order to show the public that they were unmarried. Once married, a girl would tie her hair up.

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