The lanterns along the little street shed a dim yellow glow through the snowy night. The taverns and teahouses were thinning of customers; from the brothels and gambling dens came a noisy clamor, and every so often a man would go in flushed and glowing and come out gray-faced and dusty.
Zhu Manzhi paced back and forth on patrol, one hand resting on the saber at her waist. Snow had gathered on the breast of her black brocade robe and she never noticed; her still-youthful cheeks were knit with worry.
After her last parting with Heir Xu, he had given her seven days to dig up the truth about White Horse Manor. By day she had to patrol the streets and could not leave her post, so she could only ride out past the walls of Chang'an after dark to sniff out information.
Only, Chang'an was a nest of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Behind any little shop might stand some colossus of the court, and in places outside her jurisdiction she could not pry loose the least scrap of news. To this day she had not even found out whose property White Horse Manor was.
Thinking of that line, "I'll sell you to a brothel," Zhu Manzhi felt rather glum. Heir Xu probably wouldn't really sell her off to a brothel, but if he decided she was slacking and not doing the job and stopped paying her any mind, she would lose her chance to get into the Son of Heaven's Camp. She really was working hard—she never got back until past midnight, and she had to be up before dawn to patrol…
Lost in these fretting thoughts, she let the hour grow later and later; she was already a little past the time they had agreed on.
Zhu Manzhi walked back from the far end of the street, eyes darting everywhere, muttering to herself, "He wouldn't just not show up, would he…" She had gone only a few steps when clip-clop, hoofbeats came from behind her.
Her eyes lit up and she whipped around. Xu Buling, in a white robe, came trotting up on horseback. His face was rather cold, as though something was weighing on him.
Zhu Manzhi hurried forward at a jog, tilted up her small face and raised a hand in salute:
"Young Master Xu, you came!"
Xu Buling swung down from the saddle. "Sorry—something held me up on the way. I'm late."
"Not late at all." Zhu Manzhi perked herself up and gave a little giggle, then looked a bit guilty and murmured, "Young Master Xu, that business with White Horse Manor you had me look into last time…"
One look at her face told Xu Buling she had found nothing. He said casually:
"Set White Horse Manor aside. First help me look into a theft."
Zhu Manzhi blinked, then let out a breath and patted her chest. "No problem—that's exactly what I do. Who lost something?" The pat shook all the snow off her chest.
Xu Buling frowned slightly and gave her a once-over; only then did she realize what she had done. Her face went red. She coughed once and stood up straight and proper.
"Just now at the Sun family's shop, I heard the shop's assistant stole the shopkeeper's silver… two hundred taels. Probably the savings of the old man's whole life…"
Xu Buling walked on leading his horse and told her everything he had seen and heard.
Zhu Manzhi listened seriously, her small face growing grave. Two hundred taels was no small sum—a dou of rice in Chang'an cost only three qian of silver. Even she, a Wolf Guard with rather good pay and every sort of way to earn bounty silver, would have to risk her life for three years to save that much.
"That Sancai really is a piece of work. Ungrateful wretch…"
"Never mind that useless talk. You patrol Daye Ward—do you know anyone in the underworld who's well informed?"
Chang'an held a million souls, every trade and every walk of life mixed in together, the powers beneath the surface tangled as old roots. To find one gambling addict in a city that size, the authorities' informants were naturally no match for the street toughs and riffraff.
Zhu Manzhi frowned in thought. "Hmm… I haven't been here long. I've only heard that Fourth Master Chen on Changle Street is well informed and knows everything. But… I'm with the authorities. If I turn up at his door, he won't even bother with me…"
"Lead the way. I'll do the asking."
Zhu Manzhi nodded, eagerly took the reins, and led Xu Buling to Changle Street, not far off.
She had of course heard about the assassin at Dragon's Roar Pavilion a few days ago and Xu Buling being carried off; but her rank was too low, and she had no right even to ask questions about it. Now, walking shoulder to shoulder with him, she hesitated:
"Young Master Xu, a few days ago you were carried off by that villain—are you all right?"
"What do you think?"
"You look fine. I heard the villain was a woman, and you're so handsome, Young Master Xu—did she do anything to you…?"
Xu Buling had no answer to that. He gave her backside a smack with the flat of his scabbard.
Zhu Manzhi flinched and shut her mouth at once. A faint anger smoldered in her eyes, but she did not dare make anything of it…
Changle Street lay in neighboring Yongning Ward. It could not match Daye Ward, where every inch of ground was worth its weight in gold, but it still counted as one of Chang'an's flourishing quarters. Wealthy merchants and great gentry kept their houses there, brothels stood in unbroken rows, and the entertainment trade thrived—it was known as Chang'an's "ward that never sleeps."
Fourth Master Chen was the owner of a tavern on Changle Street. In his youth he had run with the jianghu; north and south, on both the white road and the black, he knew practically everyone, and he had a great many informants under him. He was, in effect, a dealer in information on the jianghu. Whether he had quietly opened a line to the authorities there was naturally no way of knowing—but a man who had lasted this long in Chang'an surely had.
Zhu Manzhi led Zhuifeng, who stood taller than she did, into one of Changle Street's alleys. Four or five enforcers stood outside the tavern on the street; jianghu men went in and out, behaving themselves well enough, leaving their weapons at the door.
Xu Buling unfastened the long sword from his waist, handed it to Zhu Manzhi, and went into the tavern alone.
Snow drifted thick, and the wind bit cold.
Zhu Manzhi stood in the alley with nothing to do. The big horse beside her was very well behaved, standing stock-still without shifting a hoof, its breathing even, its dark shining eyes fixed on her with a touch of curiosity.
It was the first time Zhu Manzhi had ever seen such a knowing horse. She reached up and stroked its neck, but Zhuifeng seemed to scorn the attention and clopped a couple of steps away.
"Tch—"
Zhu Manzhi pouted, then turned to examine the sword in her hand.
The sword was three chi six long. She could not tell what wood the scabbard was made of, only that it looked old and dignified. She slid the blade three cun out and saw four small characters engraved there—"Unbidden, It Acts." Fine snowflakes drifted down onto the edge and parted silently in two.
Zhu Manzhi's eyes lit up; it was the finest sword she had ever seen, and just holding it she could hardly bear to put it down. She meant to draw it and give it a try, but then a commotion broke out somewhere behind her.
Thump—thump—
"Aah—"
The meaty smack of fist on flesh, then several men's screams.
Startled, Zhu Manzhi looked back and saw the enforcers outside the tavern pulling blades from the shadows and rushing inside.
Alarmed that Xu Buling had run into a fight just from asking questions, she hurried over leading the horse, meaning to help.
But before she had taken a few steps, a splintering crash came from the tavern's second floor.
The second-floor window burst apart, shattered wood flying through the falling snow.
Fourth Master Chen, a big, tall man, came flying backward out of the window and landed flat on the bluestone paving with a grunt.
Xu Buling, white robe and all, came leaping out right behind him and drove a savage kick straight down in midair.
The enforcers who had doubled back out stood as though facing a mortal foe and fell away several steps, with no chance even to get in the way.
With his life hanging by a thread, Fourth Master Chen, sprawled on the ground, came back to his senses, choked back even his groan, and raised his hands in terror:
"Spare me, young hero!"
Thump—
The kick from midair still landed on his chest, though with plainly checked force.
Fourth Master Chen's back slammed into the ground; he clutched at Xu Buling's boot with both hands and coughed hoarsely.
Xu Buling's brows drew tight. He looked down at the street thug beneath his foot:
"You want to lecture me on jianghu rules? You're not worthy."
"Not worthy… cough… I'm not worthy…"
Fourth Master Chen coughed again and again and waved off the enforcers who had rushed over, forcing up a smile:
"I only sell information, that's all. I'm no jianghu man. Ask, and I'll answer—just leave this humble one his life…"
In the alley, Zhu Manzhi's eyes were full of shock. She had never imagined Xu Buling would go about asking questions like this—it was far too overbearing; even she, a constable, could not stand to watch. But then she remembered who he was, and quietly backed away again.
Xu Buling eased his boot off him and looked down at Fourth Master Chen. "Do you know a gambler called Sancai? A few days ago he came into sudden wealth overnight. He must have turned up at the gambling dens around here."
Fourth Master Chen could not get up for a good while; he could only sit on the ground nursing his chest. He thought a moment, then looked at his enforcers, still braced for disaster. "Go find out whether there's such a man."
The enforcers did not dare dawdle; they ran off to ask around.
Xu Buling noticed a good many jianghu men loitering and watching. He swept them a frowning glance, and the coming and going around the tavern resumed as before, as though nothing at all had happened.
About two quarter-hours later, one of the enforcers came running back and said grimly:
"Fourth Master, a few days ago a customer did come to Old Zhao's gambling den. Nice and fat. He lost the lot in half a night and ended up better than five hundred taels in debt besides. Said he'd pay the next day, then couldn't produce it…"
Fourth Master Chen frowned, mulled it over a moment, got up from the ground and bowed slightly. "You heard him, young hero. Cleaned out at the tables—that silver is certainly never coming back."
Xu Buling had expected as much. "Where did the man go?"
Fourth Master Chen hesitated a moment, and a fist came at his face; he was smashed back through the tavern window, and the onlookers inside scrambled out of the way in fright.
The punch was not heavy, but it scared the wits out of Fourth Master Chen. He scrambled up in a rush and put up his hands. "Don't be hasty, young hero—I'll talk… Debts to a gambling den have to be paid, sure enough. If that Sancai could not come up with the silver, then the Zhu family must have carried him off…"
"Carried him off where?"
"That the young hero will have to ask Zhu Manlong on Hutai Street. His standing is above mine."
Xu Buling nodded, took a silver note from his sleeve, tossed it to Fourth Master Chen, and turned toward the alley:
"Not a word about tonight. If it gets out, you're the first to die."
Fourth Master Chen picked up the note, a little surprised, and then a look of sheer bewilderment crossed his face. He opened his mouth, and in the end could not hold it in:
"Young hero, why didn't you just hand over the silver in the first place? I never offended you—what did you beat me up for, out of nowhere like that?"
"If I'd just handed over the silver, what if you'd lied to me?"
Fourth Master Chen was dumbstruck for a long while. He really had nothing to say to that…