Chapter 25: A Thief Robbing a Thief, Then Robbing Them Again!

The next day, deep into the night!

Longsheng Cloth Store warehouse!

Zhao Xin, the head of the warehouse guards, had just returned from the store. Humming a tune, he walked through the warehouse gates carrying a bag of cooked beef.

Two guards responsible for the gate hurried forward to greet him.

"Boss!"

Zhao Xin chuckled, tossing the food to one of them. "Go ahead and eat. Shopkeeper Wei bought this from Zuichun Tower specifically for you all."

The two men were overjoyed; after thanking him profusely, they scurried off to the side to eat.

Those chosen by Shopkeeper Wei to guard these warehouses were all fugitives with blood on their hands. They dared not venture out during the day, so they were easily satisfied with a bit of good wine and food.

Zhao Xin entered the warehouse. As was his custom, he insisted on patrolling the interior himself every night.

As an infamous bandit wanted by the Imperial Court, he was grateful for Shopkeeper Wei’s protection and thus took his job very seriously.

The warehouse was vast. Because all lights were strictly prohibited, it was pitch black, with only the moonlight filtering through the ventilation ducts providing a faint glimmer.

Reaching the center, he suddenly noticed a shadowy figure atop the high stacks of cargo.

"Who’s there?"

No sooner had the words left his lips than the figure dropped before him.

"Jian Qi!"

"Jian Qi?"

"Jian Qi!"

With those words, Jian Qi transformed into a blur, closing the distance to Zhao Xin in an instant.

As a mid-eighth-rank expert, Zhao Xin was not about to surrender without a fight. He pushed off the ground, retreating while reaching for the blade at his waist.

Alas, just as he was about to draw his weapon, a massive force struck his neck. With a muffled grunt, he collapsed.

Jian Qi expressionlessly pulled a bottle of wine from his robes, poured it over Zhao Xin, and set the bottle beside him.

With that done, he leaped through a ventilation duct and vanished silently into the night.

Not long after, a group of men dressed as Longsheng Cloth Store employees pushed carts into the warehouse.

The two guards at the door, still eating, walked over. "You boys look unfamiliar. What brings you here?"

One of them replied, "Shopkeeper Wei sent us to load the cargo! Here are the papers, take a look."

The guards looked suspiciously at the paper in the man's hand, but before they could clearly see it, blades pierced through their bodies.

At the same time, the other guards scattered throughout the warehouse were killed in the same silent, efficient manner.

A hunchbacked old man came to report, "Hall Master, we've killed seven in total!"

The man addressed as "Hall Master" was Lin Nanshan, leader of the Ning'an Hall of the Ningzhou Branch of the Remnant Elders Society. He was responsible for overseeing about three hundred members of the society in and around Ning'an City.

Lin Nanshan frowned slightly. "Yu'er said there were eight. The remaining one must be that mid-eighth-rank expert. I wonder why he didn't appear?"

The hunchbacked old man, Wang Can—the Deputy Hall Master and the most senior member—asked, "Could he have run off to fetch reinforcements?"

Lin Nanshan shook his head. "Impossible. Our men surround the area; if he had fled, we would have seen him. He must be inside the warehouse!"

With that, he led several elite fighters into the warehouse.

Soon, he found Zhao Xin, who appeared "dead drunk" on the floor.

Lin Nanshan was overjoyed. "Truly, Heaven is helping me!"

He had worried about the trouble of dealing with such a high-level expert, never expecting him to have drunk himself into such a state.

Of course, this had been arranged by Xue Yuan. Fearing the Remnant Elders Society was too weak to finish the job quickly, he had sent Jian Qi to neutralize the biggest threat first.

Lin Nanshan immediately finished Zhao Xin off with a single strike.

"Quick, start moving the goods!"

At Lin Nanshan's command, over thirty large carts were pushed in!

Fifty or sixty members of the Remnant Elders Society swarmed forward, clearing out all the raw silk and silk fabrics in the warehouse.

Covered with tarpaulins, the long convoy exited the warehouse and paraded through the streets.

It was the early hours of the morning, so there were few pedestrians. Even if someone happened to pass by, seeing the Longsheng flags on the carts and the men dressed as store employees, they thought nothing of it.

Lin Nanshan directed the convoy through back alleys, racing until they reached a warehouse on the east side of the city.

At his order, everyone pulled on masks.

Only then did they approach the main gate.

Someone was already waiting outside. After exchanging the agreed-upon secret codes, the gates opened, and the carts filed in.

Everything went smoothly, and Lin Nanshan breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Yet, just then, a dull thud echoed as the warehouse gates were slammed shut.

Suddenly, dozens of men in black emerged from the shadows!

Lin Nanshan, Wang Can, and the others instinctively drew their blades.

But a voice shouted, "Brothers, do not be tense! These are my men!"

As torches were lit, Lin Nanshan saw a pot-bellied, silk-clad middle-aged man standing among the black-clad figures, smiling cordially at them.

"May I ask, are you Boss Zhao Yuancheng of the Yuxing Cloth Store?" Lin Nanshan asked.

Acting on intelligence provided by Wang Yu'er, Lin Nanshan had already sent men to contact Zhao Yuancheng.

Zhao Yuancheng laughed. "That is I. May I ask how you are called, and why you refuse to show your true faces?"

Lin Nanshan replied, "We are both here for profit, why bother with the details? Boss Zhao, just check if the goods are correct."

Zhao Yuancheng stopped asking. With a slight wave of his hand, a dozen employees rushed up, pulled back the tarps, and began inspecting the cargo.

The goods, of course, were correct.

Zhao Yuancheng’s smile became even more intriguing. He knew these were the Su family's goods! He even knew this batch originally belonged to Magistrate Li Yuanwang! He had been a participant in the framing of the Su family.

Originally, Li Yuanwang had racked his brains trying to find a grand gift to please Prince Yu. It was Zhao Yuancheng who had devised the scheme to frame the Su family, allowing Li Yuanwang the perfect plan to manipulate silk prices in the Jiangnan region as a tribute to the Prince.

Zhao Yuancheng had done this to crush his biggest competitor and monopolize the Jiangnan silk trade. Now that this batch had fallen into his hands, he didn't mind consuming it and making a handsome profit.

As for who the men in black were, or what Li Yuanwang would think when he found the cargo missing—none of that mattered. The man behind Zhao Yuancheng was someone even the Prefect dared not offend!

In the fertile lands of Jiangnan, any big player with ambition reached out a hand. No one knew how many hands were pressed here, but those hands were inevitably slick with oil and stained with blood.

By now, the employees had finished the inspection and the accountant had tallied the numbers.

"According to the agreed price, the total is 853,853 taels and two mace."

Zhao Yuancheng nodded, then cupped his hands toward Lin Nanshan. "Brothers have it tough; let's call it 860,000 taels."

At current market rates, the cargo was worth at least 1.5 million taels, but knowing the other party was desperate to offload it, Zhao Yuancheng had naturally squeezed the price.

A glimmer of excitement flashed in Lin Nanshan’s eyes. "Good, thank you, Boss Zhao!"

The deal was quickly settled!

Zhao Yuancheng did not double-cross them. He was no fool; he knew that anyone who could hijack goods from Li Yuanwang was no ordinary bandit. As a businessman, why invite such trouble?

After receiving the thick stack of silver notes, the members of the Remnant Elders Society left the warehouse in high spirits, not even bothering to take the thirty carts with them!

Outside, Lin Nanshan announced, "Every brother who participated will receive a bonus of ten taels. Come collect it later!"

The men cheered—this was no small sum!

The sixty-plus men then scattered. They were ordinary people hiding in plain sight throughout Ning'an City, only gathering when a mission required it.

Lin Nanshan, cradling his fortune, walked home with an unusually light step. If all went well, the massive sum he had raised for the society would make his promotion to leader of the Ningzhou Branch a certainty.

"I must downplay Wang Yu'er's contribution. Wang Can and the others keep singing her praises; I need to keep them in check."

Lin Nanshan knew Wang Yu'er was important, but she was not his confidante. He could give her some rewards, but he would only feel secure if the key positions in the Ning'an Hall were held by his own people.

Just as he passed an empty alley, a dark shadow dropped before him.

"Who?"

"Jian Qi!"

"Jian Qi?"

"Jian Qi!"

As the words fell, Jian Qi flashed before Lin Nanshan.

Lin Nanshan’s cultivation at the high eighth rank was truly not weak, yet this time, he failed to even reach the short blade at his waist before Jian Qi snapped his neck.

"I seem to have improved once again."

Jian Qi muttered to himself, then fished the silver notes from Lin Nanshan’s body, tucked them into his own robes, hoisted the corpse, and vanished into the night.

...

Not long after, at the Wang residence.

Wang Yu'er, unaware if the operation had been successful, sat nervously by the lamp waiting for news.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

Wang Yu'er opened it to find Jian Qi.

"Young Hero Jian, is something the matter?"

"Lin Nanshan has fled with the fortune; no one will ever find him again," Jian Qi said coldly.

Wang Yu'er was shocked, immediately realizing her plan had been under the other party's control all along! She took an involuntary step back, swallowed hard, and asked, "What... what do you want?"

"Do not be nervous. I am saying that you must fight for Lin Nanshan’s position!"

"Me?"

"Yes, and we will help you!"

"Why should I believe you? And who are you?"

"Who we are is unimportant. What matters is that we can help you kill Prefect Chen! And the Remnant Elders Society would never gamble the entire Ningzhou Branch just to assassinate him for your sake!"

The words awakened her from her dream!

Upon hearing this, Wang Yu'er stood motionless, as if struck in a vital point.

Jian Qi did not pay her any further mind. Instead, he turned to gather twenty of the Wang family guards and immediately headed toward the Yuxing Cloth Store warehouse.

"A double-cross on top of a double-cross... the Prince is truly ruthless," Jian Qi thought to himself on the way.