Author: 哔哔 (Bi Bi) / Jin Gang Quan

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 62

That night, both Xiongda and Xiong’er went to sleep. Xiong’er reluctantly agreed to let Huo Fenghua stay for one night. He made a bed for him on the floor by the stove, where even after lying down, Huo Fenghua could still feel the warmth from the embers.

Huo Fenghua lay on a torn old mattress. He folded his clothes into a pillow, laced his hands behind his head, and stared up at the hole in the roof.

He heard Xiong’er tossing and turning on the bed as if he couldn’t fall asleep. Xiongda didn’t move at all, but there was no snoring either.

After a while, Xiong’er got up and went outside to pee.

Huo Fenghua quietly followed him out. When Xiong’er was halfway through, Huo Fenghua slapped him on the back from behind, nearly startling the pee back up inside him.

“What are you doing!” Xiong’er snapped as he yanked his pants into place.

Huo Fenghua said, “I can’t sleep, and I keep thinking about what you said about Wuhetan. How do you know that place so well?”

Xiong’er finished tying his pants and walked to the middle of the yard. “A friend of mine went there two years ago. He wrote me a letter, told me to bring my brother to help him. My brother and I discussed it for a long time, and in the end we still didn’t go.”

Huo Fenghua asked curiously, “How did you discuss it? He can’t even talk.”

Xiong’er shot him a vicious glare.

Huo Fenghua hurriedly waved his hands. “Joking, joking. I mean, your friend, is he impressive? Doing well over there?”

Xiong’er said, “In his letter he said every restaurant and inn in Wuhetan, even a tea stall, is under one Boss Hu. Even if you set up a little stand selling food, you still have to pay tribute to Boss Hu. Back then he worked under that Boss Hu.”

Huo Fenghua stroked his chin thoughtfully. “A monopoly, huh?”

Xiong’er yawned and squatted down. “Wuhetan’s location is special, and it’s hard to transport supplies. Someone monopolized the river shipping. If you want to trade goods with the outside, you have to go through river transport. So in the city there are a few powerful figures who are basically in cahoots. Ordinary people can’t afford to offend them. And Donglin and Xichou are at war, so they don’t have the strength to take it back.”

Huo Fenghua asked, “What about Beiyi?”

Xiong’er said, “Beiyi is plagued with internal strife. They’re even less capable of dealing with it. Anyway, the more chaotic it is outside, the more stable Wuhetan becomes. Once things outside stabilize, they start worrying outsiders will covet it, and then the inside gets chaotic.”

Hearing that, Huo Fenghua suddenly asked, “If Feng Tianzong conquered all of Xichou, would he lead troops to attack Wuhetan?”

“Feng Tianzong?” Xiong’er hadn’t expected him to bring up that name. He looked up at him. “Do you know there’s a gambling pool about Feng Tianzong out there?”

Huo Fenghua froze. “Betting on what?”

Xiong’er said, “Whether the current emperor will let General Feng live to the day he conquers all of Xichou.”

Huo Fenghua went still.

Xiong’er laughed and shook his head. “When the cunning rabbit’s dead, the hunting dog gets cooked. But it’s all just rumors among people in the martial world. Don’t go saying it out loud. If the authorities hear you, they’ll drag you off and cut your head.”

Huo Fenghua reached out and patted Xiong’er’s shoulder, then squatted down beside him, his expression heavy.

Xiong’er looked at him. “What? You admire General Feng too?”

Huo Fenghua frowned. “Why ‘too’?”

Xiong’er said, “The war’s dragged on for years, so the excitement’s faded now. But a couple years ago, when Feng Tianzong led the great army sweeping across the Xichou battlefield, the whole court and countryside were fired up. Even kids in the alleys were chanting nursery rhymes praising Feng Tianzong’s brilliance and martial might, saying he was heaven-sent, a reincarnated immortal. My brother got swept up too and wanted to enlist. Later they turned him away because he was mute. At first I thought, Feng Tianzong really is amazing; every household, even children praising him. Then I thought, wait, something’s off. Those rhymes have tidy meter and catchy endings. No kid, and no backwoods brute, could’ve made them up. All that ‘reincarnated immortal’ and ‘divine soldier from heaven’ stuff—whoever wrote those rhymes was probably trying to get him killed, not worship him. How is that admiration?”

Huo Fenghua’s lashes trembled slightly as he looked at the silver moonlight spilled over the ground. He wondered whether Feng Tianzong understood all of this in his own heart.

Seeing Huo Fenghua fall silent, Xiong’er quieted too. After a while he said faintly, “None of that is our business anyway.”

Huo Fenghua nodded. “Then let’s think about what is our business.”

Xiong’er looked at him.

Huo Fenghua said seriously, “I want to go to Wuhetan. I want to make money.”

Xiong’er was silent for a moment. “You’ve got skills. If you want to make money, you can do it anywhere. Why do you have to go to a place like Wuhetan, full of every kind of person?”

Huo Fenghua said, “Didn’t you say it yourself? In places like this, officials and merchants collude. For commoners like us to make a little money, we can only do illegal deals, sneak around our whole lives, never to see the light.”

Xiong’er snorted. “And if you go to Wuhetan, won’t you be doing illegal deals too?”

“That’s different,” Huo Fenghua said. “Does Wuhetan even have laws you can follow? No. Everything’s done openly in broad daylight. Then once you establish a new order, you make new laws, and make everyone follow your laws. Isn’t that good?” As he spoke, gave Xiong’er a flirtatious wink.

Xiong’er saw it and turned his head away in disgust. “We don’t have silver, and we don’t have that kind of ability. You think all the people going to Wuhetan are idiots? What you want to do, who knows how many people have tried before.”

Huo Fenghua said, “Who says we don’t have silver?” As he spoke, he pulled out a jade pendant from his chest and waved it in front of Xiong’er’s eyes.

Xiong’er froze. “A top-grade cat’s-eye green jade?” He reached out to grab it.

Huo Fenghua moved fast. There was no way he’d let Xiong’er get it. He only let him glimpse it in his hand. “Well? Worth a lot, right?”

Xiong’er stared at it for a long time, unable to stop himself from admiring it. “That really is fine jade. Where’d you get it? If you meet the right buyer, you could sell it for a huge price.”

“But I won’t sell it,” Huo Fenghua said, and tucked it back into his robe.

Xiong’er asked, “Family heirloom?”

Huo Fenghua shook his head. “A gift from the person I love. No amount of silver could make me sell it.”

Xiong’er sighed regretfully. “If you won’t sell it, then to you and me it’s worth nothing. Why show it to me?”

Huo Fenghua said, “I’m just telling you we’re not as penniless and powerless as you think. We’re young. If we already dare do sneaky things like stealing and cheating, why can’t we go to Wuhetan and make a run at it?”

Xiong’er buried his face in his arms and didn’t speak.

Huo Fenghua put a hand on his shoulder. “Look at this broken house of yours. Even if we go to Wuhetan and don’t make a name for ourselves, if you and your brother come back, I guarantee nothing in this place will be missing. Believe me?”

Xiong’er muttered, “My pots and pans are still decent, at least.”

Huo Fenghua laughed and tugged him closer. “Then come take a look. The world’s huge. If I get rich alone, it’ll be lonely. I’ve got to find a couple buddies to share it with. Come on.”

After a while, Xiong’er said, “If you can persuade my brother, I’ll go.”

Huo Fenghua grinned. “That’s easy.”

The next morning at daybreak, Huo Fenghua was still sprawled on the floor, lazy and unwilling to get up. He heard Xiong’er pacing around the room. Soon he heard him say softly to Xiongda, “Big brother, I’m going out to buy some food.”

Then Xiong’er left the house, gently closing the door behind him.

Huo Fenghua flipped up in one motion, went to Xiongda’s bedside, and crouched down. He rested his forearms on the bed edge, face-to-face with Xiongda, and said, “Big brother, little brother won’t introduce me, so I’ll introduce myself. My name’s Su Qiang, nickname Guangtou Qiang. You can call me Brother Qiang.”

Xiongda stared at him, looking blank.

Huo Fenghua lifted a hand for a handshake.

Xiongda didn’t understand what he meant. He watched that hand for a long time, then finally reached out and took it.

Huo Fenghua gave it a shake, let go, and said with a smile, “I talked with your little brother all night. We decided to go out and try our luck, do a bit of business, make some money so you two can marry wives. But he’s worried you won’t want to go, so he told me to ask you what you really think while he’s not here.”

Xiongda frowned. After a while, he lifted his hands and gestured in front of Huo Fenghua.

Huo Fenghua didn’t understand a thing, but he patiently watched the whole gesture sequence and then nodded. “Big brother, you make a lot of sense. So are we going or not? If you want to go, nod. If you don’t, shake your head. Okay?”

Xiongda lay there quietly for a long time, then nodded.

Huo Fenghua’s mood soared. He reached out and patted Xiongda’s chest, then remembered he was injured and quickly rubbed it instead, saying, “Good stuff, big brother! You’ve got a future!”

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