Chapter 55: How Can One Tell Male from Female?

The lilting notes of the piano drifted through the room.

Each nimble note seemed like a mischievous child, chasing the others and laughing as it ran.

Music’s greatest quality was its ability to reshape the atmosphere of a place without ever taking visible form.

Winter thoroughly enjoyed that feeling.

Even after the blind man carrying an erhu had been shown inside by a servant, Winter did not stop playing.

The Blind Man took a seat by himself.

The servant tactfully withdrew and closed the door.

He knew his master disliked having people who understood nothing of music lingering nearby while he played.

At last, the piece ended.

Winter rose.

He bowed slightly first to his left, then to his right, as though he were not standing in a room occupied by only two people, but rather upon the stage of a grand theater before an immense audience that had just heard him perform.

The Blind Man Bei liked that.

It was like one clean freak encountering another.

Both understood the importance of ritual in life.

Naturally, a certain sympathy arose between kindred spirits.

Finally, Winter’s gaze settled upon the blind man from the East.

“You are the Eastern musician who understands the piano?”

The Blind Man Bei nodded.

“Heh.”

Winter walked to the table.

This time he did not pour tea.

Instead, he filled himself a glass of red wine.

“Want some?”

The Blind Man Bei nodded again.

He was genuinely a little thirsty.

“Play something first.

“Then I’ll buy you a drink.”

The Blind Man Bei stood.

He held the erhu in one hand while reaching out before himself with the other.

One step.

Then another.

Slowly feeling his way forward, he eventually arrived before the piano.

Only after reaching down to confirm the position of the chair did he safely sit.

It was a very old-fashioned piano.

Given the era, there was no helping that.

You could hardly expect it to look modern.

But the moment the Blind Man Bei’s ten fingers settled upon the keys and made intimate contact with them, that familiar sensation returned.

He let out a long breath.

Winter, standing nearby with his wineglass, narrowed his eyes slightly.

At that moment, he clearly sensed an enormous change in the aura of the blind man before him.

That confidence.

That bearing.

That perfect union of one man and one instrument.

It was almost as though

Winter himself had become the unnecessary burden occupying this part of the room.

The performance began.

It was *Bagatelle in A Minor*.

A piece better known by another name:

*Für Elise*.

The Blind Man Bei had no idea whether Beethoven existed in this world.

But it did not matter.

Half his soul had already sunk into the familiar rhythm and feeling.

As for the other half, it was roaring at him without pause:

You still have fucking business to do!

The piece ended.

Winter had been holding his wineglass in the same position for a very long time without moving.

After a while, he placed one hand against his chest and sighed with emotion.

“I have witnessed a miracle of music.”

The Blind Man Bei shook his head.

With some regret, he said, “Some of this piano’s notes are out of tune.”

But much like a man who had gone an entire day without cigarettes and was suddenly handed any random smoke, the Blind Man Bei had already gotten what he needed.

He felt wonderful.

“What can I do for you?

“So long as it lies within my power, I will certainly do it.”

Winter understood that this blind man before him could not possibly be some ordinary street performer.

“I came here because I want to discuss a business deal with you.”

“There are many people who want to do business with me.

“What sort of business are you talking about?

“Information?

“Or goods?”

“Goods.”

“What goods?”

“I can smell them on you.”

Winter froze.

Then he laughed.

“Hehehehe...”

Yet he showed no fear.

His expression remained as warm and mild as before.

One would never have guessed that not long ago he had specifically sent people to capture the other party, and now the man had simply walked into his home.

“Whether perfume or soap, both are worth an enormous amount.

“So long as we distribute them widely before the alchemists at the Academy manage to analyze and reproduce their ingredients, we can still make a mountain of gold.

“I must admit, you possess courage, boldness, and talent impressive enough to earn my admiration.

“But I still need to ask one thing.

“Just like this... you think you can negotiate business with me?”

The Blind Man Bei turned his face toward Winter.

“How do you prefer negotiations to be conducted?”

“I’m not entirely sure.

“That is something you need to demonstrate to me.”

“I understand.”

“What do you understand?”

“That you’re asking to be fucked with.”

The Blind Man’s ten fingers returned to the piano keys.

The next instant music rang out again!

White battle qi erupted around Winter.

His body shot sideways to the left.

Bang!

The table where Winter had been standing exploded into splinters.

Winter lowered his stance slightly, preparing to pounce.

“Heh.

“Your music is interesting.

“Are you a rare spatial mage?”

However, just as Winter prepared to make his next move a cold sensation touched his neck.

Xue San had already appeared behind him.

A poisoned dagger pressed intimately against Winter’s skin.

Only the tiniest distance remained before that contact became far more invasive.

Winter was admirably straightforward.

He immediately dispersed the battle qi he had just summoned.

Then he raised both hands and slowly straightened.

With great helplessness, he said, “This is the first time I’ve discovered that my own home gives me absolutely no sense of security.”

The Blind Man Bei shook his head seriously.

“The truth is, I genuinely wanted to negotiate this business properly.”

“Then may I ask why, after sending perfume and soap to me, you spent such a long time hiding yourselves and refusing to appear?”

“Because we were waiting,” the Blind Man Bei replied.

“Waiting for what?”

“For the top-up.”

Wait and wait and wait.

Wait and wait and wait.

The Blind Man Bei and Xue San had already been in Tuman City for some time.

They had chosen their target.

They had delivered the products.

But then they encountered an extremely awkward problem:

Master’s advancement was much slower than expected.

In truth, if Feng Siniang had not realized that further delay in Master’s breakthrough might create difficulties for both the Blind Man’s group and Liang Cheng’s group, and thus chosen to lend Zheng Fan a helping hand and accelerate the process, then the Blind Man Bei and Xue San would probably still be playing hide-and-seek.

Tuman City was nothing like Tiger Head City.

Even one of its merchant houses could not be compared with the gangs of Tiger Head City.

And the target the Blind Man Bei had chosen this time was a very large fish wearing the skin of a merchant caravan.

Through investigation, analysis, and several less civilized methods involving captured tongues and interrogation, the Blind Man Bei had eventually determined that the man before him could serve as their business partner.

“All right.

“I obtain perfume and soap from you.

“Then what do you want from me?”

Winter asked.

“We have indeed prepared a batch of goods.

“In fact, we can even give you the formulas.

“What we want is a sum of silver, six hundred superior warhorses, and three hundred complete sets of armor and military equipment.

“Everything must be modeled after the Zhenbei Army’s gear.”

“Far too expensive.

“Truly far too expensive.

“If you converted everything into money, there might still be room to negotiate.

“But superior warhorses and quality armor are things money cannot necessarily buy.

“I cannot obtain them.”

“You can,” the Blind Man Bei said with certainty.

The man before him possessed deep connections in Yan, among the barbarian tribes, and in the West.

His reach could not be underestimated.

“I think you probably understand a little of my identity.

“But genuinely, I myself am a merchant.

“I obtain your perfume and soap because I want them for my own business.

“There is no chance I would share the profits with those greedy old things in the Senate.

“So the resources I can personally mobilize are only my own capital.

“I apologize.

“I did seriously consider your proposal, but I truly cannot do it.”

Warhorses.

Weapons.

Unless they were in Rome, where Winter could simply spend gold and have people procure or forge what he wanted, there was no easy solution.

But this was Yan.

Smuggling that many warhorses and so much military equipment here?

Did they really think Beifeng Commandery’s three hundred thousand Zhenbei cavalry were decorative?

“Actually, this does not have to be only a business deal.

“You can regard it as an investment.”

“An investment?”

“I know you want to establish contact with that Princess.

“But you have failed.”

“You even know that?

“I’m genuinely beginning to wonder whether you are an intelligence agent of the Yan court.”

Standing behind Winter with a dagger at his neck, Xue San immediately nodded in agreement.

“That’s what I’ve always thought too.

“Shame Yan doesn’t have a Directorate of Ceremonial or Eastern Depot.”

“The Princess has no interest in you.

“Because neither you, nor the western empire behind you, possess anything worthy of making three hundred thousand iron cavalry take a second look.”

Winter sighed softly.

He tilted his head slightly toward Xue San.

“Can I wipe my sweat?”

Xue San nodded.

He moved the dagger slightly away.

“Go ahead.”

“Mm.”

Winter rubbed his forehead several times.

“That was rather hurtful.”

“It is merely the truth.

“So I believe that rather than exhausting yourself trying to win over someone who looks down on you, you would be better off personally investing in and cultivating a new power.”

“This new power— is it yours?”

“It belongs to my Master.”

“What benefit would I gain from investing in you?”

“We are perfectly willing to betray our own people and guide invaders in.

“Truthfully, I have always believed that because of the distance involved, if your empire wants to extend its hand into the East, then even if you can send an army here, you will still require local natives to act as your running dogs.

“It is a very cost-efficient method.

“And I believe that throughout the course of your empire’s expansion, you have used similar methods plenty of times.”

“I understand.

“But I have another question.

“There are so many military chiefs throughout Beifeng Commandery.

“Why should I not simply buy them?

“Why should I choose to invest in you from the beginning?”

“Because of investment value.”

“Because my life is currently in your hands?”

“That can also count as one reason.”

“Then that reason no longer exists.”

A rough voice sounded.

The giant husky appeared behind the Blind Man Bei without warning.

Winter shrugged.

“Now we are even.

“My life is in your man’s hands.

“Your life is in my dog’s paws.

“Hiss...

“If we look at it that way, I may even hold the advantage.”

Then

Winter said to the husky behind the Blind Man Bei, “Be careful.

“He’s a spatial mage.

“But at this distance, a mage should not pose much of a threat.

“Still, you arrived rather late.

“Don’t tell me you deliberately waited until everything was over before coming to save me?”

The husky stuck out its tongue and licked its nose.

Dissatisfied, it said, “What spatial mage?

“He is clearly a mental-type mage.

“My innate ability is mental perception.

“This room and everything around it were covered with more mental detection fields than I could count.

“It took me an enormous amount of effort to avoid them all and sneak up behind him.”

As it spoke, the husky licked its lips again, seeming to savor the taste of that mastiff from earlier.

“What a pity.

“You didn’t expect this, did you?

“Yes, I’m a demonic beast.

“But my innate ability is mental-type.

“Today, you simply had bad luck.”

A demonic beast had already closed to point-blank range.

With one casual slap of its paw, it could probably smash the Blind Man Bei’s skull apart.

And yet the Blind Man remained perfectly calm.

He even said blandly, “There is a sad story.

“Telling you may be rather cruel.

“Actually, you were already under the influence of my mental power before this.”

“Are you joking?

“Is this what you Easterners call... a dead duck insisting its beak is hard?”

“You don’t believe me?”

“You need to give me a reason to.”

The husky had tremendous confidence in its own mental abilities.

“If I had not already influenced you in advance, then you should have noticed that the mastiff delivered to you earlier...”

“What about that mastiff?

“In my eyes, she was beautiful.

“I enjoy the hot-tempered, wild sort.

“That makes conquest more satisfying.”

“It was male.”

The husky:

“...”

(End of Chapter)