Noisy Alley was nothing like its name. The residents were all respectable folks living in imposing mansions, and at night it was so quiet you could only hear the barking of dogs—tonight, the dogs seemed especially worked up, all because two new families had moved in.
Long before the Qin and Shi families arrived, Shi Huaifeng had already arranged their accommodations. Through the Ritual Guard's maneuvering, he had managed to buy two houses on Noisy Alley—one large, nestled deep in the alley for the Shi Family, and a smaller one at the mouth of the alley for the Qin Family.
After all, Shi Huaifeng did not have quite the same guts as Qin Leyin, who had practically moved the entire clan to Yanjing, so naturally, he needed a bigger place to live.
As for Qin Leyin, he only brought a few servants, along with his younger brother and sister. In a way, his siblings were no different from his servants to him—was it like the difference between a named hero unit and a regular unit without any name?
When Leyu and Shi Huaifeng arrived at Noisy Alley, they just happened to catch the hero unit Qin Yueyang at the gate of the new Qin manor, greeting a strange middle-aged man. Qin Yueyang spotted Qin Leyin, raised his eyebrows at him.
Leyu was not sure if this was some kind of Qin Family sibling superpower—or maybe Qin Leyin had a secret vocation as a Pokémon Master Trainer—but somehow, he could glean the exact message from that twitch of Qin Yueyang's brow. It was like telepathy through a look:
"Should I keep pretending to be the Qin Family spokesperson, or do I reveal your identity upfront?"
Leyu rummaged through his memories, and realized that Qin Leyin really had trained his brother in the art of messaging through eye contact. "Maybe suffering really did leave them some kind of secret gift?"
It was well known that the last Patriarch of the Qin Family had been a ferocious bastard, one who would 'eat his own cubs.' "With someone like that, resisting, talking, or running could only bring more severe torment, or trigger an outright rampage."
Qin Leyin was a smart guy. As the eldest, and most frequently beaten, he gradually deciphered his father's 'combat system,' learning how to handle him in various states—but he could not openly coach his siblings, since 'verbal warnings' would break the mechanic and set off an instant rage state.
From a young age, he taught Qin Yueyang how to communicate with their eyes. It was not easy, but under enormous, terrifying survival pressure, the two brothers quickly mastered the trick.
Qin Yueshi, being the youngest and protected by two older brothers, never learned this mysterious blood-wrought skill. Once the brothers could communicate like this, fighting dad became much easier—so much so that their sister never even got a turn. Their father's rage meter just emptied out, task accomplished.
"Even though Leyu had the 'Ice Blood Physique,' and could not feel any negative emotions, after skimming through Qin Leyin's childhood memories, he decided he would never look at them again."
"Maybe it was the influence of the Blood-Drinker Ba Dao Style, but Qin Leyin's childhood memories always appeared tinged a vivid, cult-like crimson."
"Or maybe it was just the other way around—the blood-red childhood was precisely why Qin Leyin chose the Blood-Drinker Ba Dao Style?"
"God, I'm so nervous—first time trying this telepathic eyebrow move. Is this the nine-square input or the twenty-six-key version?" Leyu tried his best to blend in with Qin Leyin's memories, and winked at his tool-man little brother.
Qin Yueyang got it instantly. "Steward Liu, allow me to introduce you. This is my elder brother, Qin Leyin, Patriarch of the Qin Family, and this is Shi Huaifeng, eldest son of the Shi Family, who just moved here as well."
Steward Liu bowed to Leyu and Shi Huaifeng—not too humble, not too arrogant—and said in a booming voice, "Patriarch Qin, Young Master Shi, a pleasure. I am Liu Guanzhang, second steward at residence thirteen of Noisy Alley, the Marquis of Colddrink's estate. I come bearing greetings from the marquis to our two new neighbors."
He stepped aside, revealing two servants holding gifts behind him. Though the gifts were concealed under cloth, everyone could see that anything from a marquis's house wasn't going to be just a tin of cookies.
"No surprise, this is Yanjing. Pick any neighborhood and you'll bump into a marquis. In all of Dongyang, there's only the Duke of Wanghai, and in Chenfeng District, there aren't even any aristocrats left alive…" Leyu replied, "Thank you, Marquis, for your concern. Once our residence is sorted, I'll come pay my respects in person."
"No need for all that trouble," Steward Liu said airily, "Four days from now, the marquis will host a Noisy Banquet, inviting all our neighbors from Noisy Alley for moon-viewing and melon-eating"—Leyu nearly burst out laughing—"and we hope that the Qin and Shi families will do us the honor of attending, to build good neighborly ties."
Shi Huaifeng was just about to accept, but Leyu flicked his ear with soap-gun precision, having noticed that Qin Yueyang was shooting him meaningful looks.
Steward Liu paused, then continued, "But invitations must be formally written. As someone familiar with every household in Yanjing, I must admit I've never met such brilliant gentlemen as yourselves. Judging from your accent, you seem to hail from Dongyang. To prepare the invitation cards and introduce you to the other neighbors, I wonder—what branch of your family are you from, and what business are you in? Otherwise, I wouldn't want to make a blunder at the banquet."
"So that's what this is about," Leyu thought. He slung an arm around Steward Liu's shoulder and led him aside, lowering his voice, "It's normal you don't know our background, but let's be real—in these times, at this moment, you think anyone else is moving from Dongyang to Yanjing? There's really only one reason, right?"
Steward Liu hesitated, "Uh…"
"I can't say much, you get it or you don't. Deep waters here. Too many interests tangled up. Imperial insiders are watching, outside intel is already censored. I can only say—you get it, you get it. If not, go ask the Marquis himself." Leyu clapped him on the shoulder, "That's all for tonight, and don't count us in for that banquet. I really can't say more."
Having sent off the thoughtful Steward Liu, Leyu let out a sigh of relief and waved Qin Yueyang and Shi Huaifeng inside.
The new Qin manor's courtyard was nothing to sneeze at, with servants bustling about cleaning. Shi Huaifeng spotted someone lying on a bench in the gazebo, smoking, and asked in surprise, "What are you doing at the Qin house?"
Shi Huaisong flicked his ash and sighed, "Fengzi, you didn't give me any money. I can't exactly go sample the Yanjing girls for you, so all I can do is hang around here and smoke."
"You could smoke at home!" Shi Huaifeng would not be led astray by his brother, "Why aren't you at home, then? What are you doing here?"
"All those relatives at home give me a headache, and with second sis around, it really makes no difference. So I came here to wait for you." Shi Huaisong scratched his chin, "I'm honestly bored out of my mind with our own cousins at home…"
Qin Yueyang glanced at Leyu, who nodded, and then Qin Yueyang kicked a pebble across the courtyard. The stone whistled through the air, and Shi Huaisong tilted his head just in time to dodge a brain-cracking hit.
"Kidding, kidding!" Shi Huaisong surrendered with both hands, "I might be a rascal, but I know my limits. I'd never mess with your sister. Otherwise, Fengzi would probably marry me into your family as a son-in-law…"
Leyu could not be bothered with him, but Shi Huaisong still followed along. Inside the main hall, Leyu saw Qin Yueshi in a training outfit, towel around her neck and hair wet, sweat beading on her forehead, taking a break with some tea—obviously, she had just finished practicing.
Once inside, and with nobody else nearby, Shi Huaifeng could not help but ask, "Hongle, why did you turn down Steward Liu's invitation? That was a great chance for us to make nice with the neighbors…"
"You see them as neighbors; they see us as fat sheep." Leyu sat down and said, "First thing out of his mouth is to ask for our genealogy and line of work—he's just probing for our background. If I hadn't stalled with roundabout nonsense, he'd probably have thugs digging for our dirt right now."
"Genealogy means, do we have people in the Imperial Court; industry means, do we have clout among the people."
"A bunch of outsiders from Dongyang, tossing cash around and buying up two properties in Noisy Alley. If you were the Marquis of Colddrink, wouldn't you want a cut?"
Shi Huaifeng paused in surprise. Shi Huaisong, rolling his own cigarette, piped up, "Fengzi, I told you—you should get out with me and see the world more often. You have no idea, when I see outsiders in Xiangxue Sea, we all work together to hustle them into the Point of No Return Bar, and set up a scam to bleed them dry."
"Sigh, in all these years, I only came across one really loaded out-of-town merchant. My cut from that con was enough to let me live at Xiangxue Sea for a month—that month, man, was just heaven on earth…"
At this, Qin Yueshi stood up with a look of disgust, as if to leave, but after a moment's thought, sat at the farthest chair in the hall instead.
"It's one thing for businessmen to scam fat sheep, but a local Yanjing thug like the Marquis would skip the setup. If he finds out we have no power or backing, he'd just send in the Patrol Execution Guard to lock us up and make us pay ransom."
Shi Huaifeng was startled, "It can't be that bad, can it?"
"Why couldn't it?" Leyu laughed, "Even the Statistical Department dares to kill people on the street—what do you think the Patrol Execution Guard is like in Yanjing? In Dongyang, it's only because the Silver Blood Association is on top and keeps the officials in check, so you guys have to bother with elaborate cons."
"There's a reason the Silver Blood Association would rather feud with Jing Zhengwei to the bitter end than ever leave Xuanzhu County."
Shi Huaifeng calmed down too, "But even if the Marquis really wants to screw us, we don't need to worry."
The Radiant Four Guards might not have much reputation, but Yanjing was ultimately their turf—it was easy for them to protect a couple of out-of-towners.
"Having a foothold isn't just about finding somewhere to squat. You have to be strong yourself, or no one will help you." Leyu tapped the coffee table and said, "Looks like we really don't have a choice after all…"
Leyu had originally been on the fence about Bai Yu's proposal, but after realizing just how 'xenophobic' the Yanjing locals were, he could only accept the Ritual Guard's arrangements—first hug their thigh, then figure out how to get himself a scary-looking, legitimate status. Otherwise, he would not even survive in Yanjing.
"Leyu had never experienced this sort of targeted predation from locals before—after all, his previous hosts in Qian Yuliu and Jing Zhengwei were both locals with pure bloodlines. They were always the ones discriminating against others, never the other way around."
But this time, with Qin Leyin hauling the whole family to Yanjing, they had barely set foot in town, and the wolves were already circling. "Looks like fleecing out-of-town fat cats was a storied culinary tradition here."
"Fengzi, what business are you planning?" Leyu asked.
Bai Yu's assignment for Shi Huaifeng was actually pretty reasonable: become a Yanjing tycoon, and try to join the 'National Relief Association.' Even though it was a business club, just from the name, you could tell their moral standards were way above the Silver Blood Association.
In fact, the National Relief Association was a patriotic civilian organization officially recognized by the Imperial Court. They really had built bridges, fixed roads, done disaster relief, and charity. Their reputation among the people was excellent.
How good, exactly?
So good that people in Yanjing did not even believe something as evil as the Silver Blood Association could exist.
As for why Bai Yu wanted them to join, he explained—the rumor was that this merchant guild controlled public opinion and guided the political leanings of Yanjing.
"Well, shit, Leyu really thought he was the first merchant to use media control, but it turned out the Yanjing merchants already figured it out. Guess the businessman meta is just capped everywhere."
To help Shi Huaifeng get into the National Relief Association, the Ritual Guard would skim some funds off the military budget as the Shi Family's startup capital. Of course, they'd also assign someone to help the Shi Family on their rise—"monitoring" sounded harsh, so let's just call it "organizational care and support."
"Naturally, all the military funds ended up with the Ritual Guard—Leyu and Shi Huaifeng had no problem with that. Without the Radiant Four Guards training and logistic support, they could not even get the cash safely to Yanjing to begin with, let alone the fact that this was now Four Guards' turf and they were outsiders. They just had to behave and do as told."
"Damn, Leyu never tried job-hunting up north in his last life, but now he was getting the real Beijing Drifter experience."
"Haven't decided yet. I'll scope out the Yanjing market these next few days and think it over…" Shi Huaifeng frowned, "By the way, when did you start calling me Fengzi?"
"Your third brother calls you that all the time. I just figured you liked it."
"I don't like it. Please don't call me that."
"Alright, little brother Feng."
"…Do what you want," Shi Huaifeng waved him off, "But since we don't know anyone or anything in Yanjing, does it even matter what sort of work we do? Any suggestions?"
Leyu started ticking off on his fingers, "Women's underwear sales, serialized comic newspaper, public message board, Taobao-like e-commerce…"
"Whoa, whoa," Shi Huaifeng yelled, "I won't even ask for details, but those all sound pretty unseemly."
"If it's proper and rakes in cash, you think they'd let a bunch of outsiders do it?"
"Yeah, fair point…"
Shi Huaisong could not help chiming in, "I think the women's underwear idea is great. Fengzi—no, big brother—listen, I really have some fantastic designs in my head. Just give me a chance…"