Chapter 740: Lost in Fate

"Who the hell do you think you are? The Emperor himself?"

Years earlier in Beifeng Commandery, the line would basically have been:

"What, do you think you're Marquis Zhenbei?"

And now, here on the edge of eastern Jin, someone had come out with this version.

In a roundabout way, it proved something.

Within eastern Jin...

Marquis Pingxi really was something close to a local emperor.

No wonder Zheng Fan had laughed.

The man had scratched exactly the right itch.

Perhaps Lu Daniu had been wrong to beat the innkeeper earlier.

But beating someone... for a man like Marquis Zheng, who had slaughtered prisoners on battlefields and raised skull mounds more than once, what did that really amount to?

Bad mood today?

Beat the innkeeper.

Very bad mood today?

Burn down the whole damned inn.

So what?

He did not do such things because they were boring and beneath him.

Not because they were "wrong."

For someone standing at Zheng Fan's current height, right and wrong had long since blurred.

No.

They had long since become almost impossible to find.

If he truly wanted to count rights and wrongs one by one... then when he breached the Wang River dikes during the campaign against Chu, wouldn't every innocent soul swept away downstream by the flood have to crawl out and demand an accounting from Marquis Zheng?

So yes.

The one-eyed brute had unwittingly flattered him in exactly the right place.

And the more Zheng Fan looked at him, the more pleasing he found him.

Marquis Zheng raised his head.

His gaze swept across the escort agency men still standing there with weapons drawn.

Quite a few of them were clearly veterans.

"Put the blades away."

It was not phrased as a suggestion.

It was... an order.

Aura was a strange thing.

You could not see it.

Could not touch it.

Yet it unquestionably existed.

When Marquis Zheng stopped holding a bowl of fish soup and watching the entertainment with a smile... when he stopped looking like some leisurely rich young master... and instead assumed the bearing he used when issuing commands in the army... the other diners merely felt that the well-dressed gentleman had somehow changed into another person.

Suddenly... deep.

Imposing.

Impossible to read.

But to men who had served in Great Yan's army... that presence... that pressure... that feeling... was far too familiar.

Men tempered inside military ranks often looked dull and ordinary on the surface.

But in certain areas... they were sharper than most people.

And these were veterans who had truly killed on battlefields.

Not raw recruits.

The escort men exchanged looks.

Then began sheathing their weapons.

They did not know who the man before them was.

He had shown no token.

Worn no armor.

Displayed no banner.

But instinct told them... that right now... obedience would be wise.

Lu Daniu, still pinned beneath Xu Chuang, stared at Zheng Fan as though he had seen a ghost.

Then... silently lowered his head.

Lord Gao was even more direct.

He still held an official post, after all.

Once his saber was sheathed, he folded his hands, stepped half a pace backward, and saluted.

"May I ask who Your Excellency is?"

There were no shortage of swindlers in this world.

Low-level ones cheated people out of food and drink.

More capable ones invented identities and imitated the airs of whatever profession they pretended to belong to.

Observe enough.

Study enough.

And one could perform the role.

Back beneath Mount Tianhu, Marquis Zheng had even encountered men of the con-artist trade who first fooled themselves before going out to fool others.

But there was one problem.

How did you observe and imitate the bearing created only on a battlefield?

How did you fake something forged by commanding men who could die on one word from your mouth?

So Patrol Lieutenant Commander Gao was almost certain... they had run into a genuinely important figure.

And absolutely someone important within the military.

Even then, he did not dare guess that the man before him was truly Marquis Pingxi.

The difference in rank was too enormous.

It was not merely unlikely.

The idea itself never even rose naturally in his mind.

Marquis Zheng ignored Patrol Lieutenant Commander Gao for the moment.

He lowered his gaze toward the one-eyed man instead.

"Come. What's your name?"

The one-eyed man wanted to remain defiant.

But under Marquis Zheng's present aura, instinctive fear kept suppressing him.

"Lu Daniu."

The name was wonderfully plain.

Very much in the same family as Liu Dahu, the Sword Saint's stepson.

Common people had little education.

Childhood names like Dog Egg could be found everywhere.

When adulthood demanded a proper name... well... then came names like Big Ox and Big Tiger.

"Lu Daniu. Mm."

Marquis Zheng reached out and picked up the bowl of fish soup he had set down earlier.

He drank two more mouthfuls.

"This soup really is delicious. Know why?"

Lu Daniu's cheek twitched.

Instinctive anger and instinctive reverence were colliding inside him.

He wanted to turn hostile.

Wanted to curse this man's mother.

And yet he did not dare.

Somewhere deep inside, he had the vague feeling that if he truly cursed the mother of the man in front of him... then not only he... but all the brothers standing behind him... might...

"Heh-heh-heh."

Marquis Zheng laughed again.

Then leaned forward slightly.

Still holding the bowl... he brought his face closer to Lu Daniu's.

"Because the fish the innkeeper bought this time grew fat eating the flesh of Chu men and Savages instead. That's why they taste so damned fresh. Isn't that right?"

Lu Daniu swallowed.

Could you... really think about it that way?

But... it made an absurd amount of sense.

More importantly... once he thought of it that way... the disgust lodged in his chest suddenly disappeared.

Zheng Fan waved to Xu Chuang.

Xu Chuang rose and released him.

Lu Daniu scrambled up.

By instinct, he straightened his back.

Then by another instinct... shrunk his shoulders.

For some reason, standing before this man felt less comfortable than kneeling had.

"May I ask Your Excellency..."

Patrol Lieutenant Commander Gao saluted and asked again.

In truth, Marquis Zheng had no intention of revealing his identity.

Common people loved stories where an Emperor traveled incognito, then changed back into dragon robes and made everyone around him fall to their knees in terror.

Perhaps they found it satisfying.

But the Emperor... no.

Marquis Zheng... had grown long accustomed to people kneeling before him.

There was no thrill left in it.

If anything, revealing himself would create another problem.

Every civil and military official in this county would immediately rush over batch after batch like overexcited dogs to pay respects.

What a nuisance.

Again... once the threshold rose high enough, ordinary pleasure disappeared.

Patrol Lieutenant Commander Gao saw Zheng Fan refuse to answer and immediately said:

"I think today's dispute was really only a knot in the heart. Now that the knot has been untied, the matter can end here."

He had barely finished when Lu Daniu, still full of brute stubbornness, shouted:

"You're right! These fish grew fat eating Savages and Chu men. I'll drink the soup! I'll eat their flesh!"

Lu Daniu grabbed the entire basin of fish soup from the table.

It had been sitting there for some time, so it was not nearly as scalding as when first served.

But it was hardly cool either.

Even the Sword Saint had needed to blow over his bowl earlier.

This brute, however... simply put his mouth to the rim.

"Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!"

He poured the entire basin down his throat.

Then he released an enormous belch.

Pain and satisfaction twisted together across his face.

"A pity I really can't fit the fish meat in anymore."

"Heh-heh. Aiyo."

Marquis Zheng laughed again.

Then Lu Daniu walked over to the innkeeper.

First, he pulled a lump of silver from his clothes and tossed it in front of the man.

Then... he raised his own hand.

Smack!

And slapped himself across the face.

"Apologize? Not a chance. I told you not to serve fish and you served it anyway. That means your hospitality was bad, and you deserved the beating. This slap is what settles the matter!"

"Yes, yes, yes."

The innkeeper had calmed down by now.

The stubborn courage fueled by grievance had vanished.

Lu Daniu's cheek was bright red.

Clearly, he had not held back at all.

Then he turned toward Zheng Fan and saluted.

"Many thanks."

Marquis Zheng had climbed up from the bottom himself.

He had not slowly accumulated seniority in the ministries of Yanjing, but the people he had dealt with were the highest, most difficult figures in Great Yan... no.

In the entire realm.

So Zheng Fan understood perfectly well that Lu Daniu's earlier anger had not been a performance.

The man had not recognized his identity.

Even now... he still had not.

But this current display of boldness and openheartedness... that was very clearly a gesture of goodwill.

In the customs of this era... or really any era... bold, straightforward men were especially pleasing to those above them.

Marquis Zheng himself enjoyed spending time with men like Hero Chen.

Whether Lu Daniu's current performance was deliberate or not... it at least proved one thing.

The man had a brain.

A retired soldier who could pull together an escort agency like this could not possibly have relied only on a few old connections.

"Come along."

Marquis Zheng rose and headed toward the rear courtyard.

Lu Daniu and Patrol Lieutenant Commander Gao exchanged one glance.

Then immediately led the others after him.

Patrol Lieutenant Commander Gao even ordered his own men to stop irrelevant people from following.

Three banquet tables had been set up in the courtyard.

Quite a few women and young male entertainers still stood around waiting.

Lu Daniu hurriedly pulled out more silver, paid them off, and urged them to leave as quickly as possible.

Xu Chuang dragged out a chair for Marquis Zheng.

The Sword Saint stood in a corner with the wrapped Longyuan Sword in his arms.

He had eaten and drunk his fill, and now his eyes were half closed.

Siniang gathered some melon seeds and peanuts from one of the tables and brought them to Zheng Fan.

Whenever they traveled outside, anything Zheng Fan ate passed through Siniang's hands first.

Even the fish soup earlier had been served by her.

There was no helping it.

Reaching his present position had not been easy.

One had to cherish life.

Besides... he had plenty of enemies.

And plenty of powers and people who might not be enemies but would still be delighted to see him suddenly drop dead.

Being cautious was also a form of respect toward them.

The rear courtyard was quickly cleared.

Marquis Zheng cracked melon seeds and asked Siniang:

"We have people in Yingdu, don't we?"

"Yes. There is a small establishment there, but not many men."

The influence of Marquis Pingxi Residence was still mainly confined to eastern Jin.

Outside it... even in Yingdu... they maintained little more than simple liaison points.

"Not enough."

"Master wants to take in this Big Ox?"

Zheng Fan shook his head.

"He was lucky enough to wander over at the right moment. Since fate placed him in front of us, we might as well casually give him a little fortune. That officer beside him is slightly interesting too. But only slightly."

Even Xu Chuang could currently serve only as enforcer and junior retainer.

Marquis Pingxi's standards for talent had risen far too high.

Lu Daniu had certainly not inspired some overwhelming desire to recruit genius.

But perhaps there really was a thread of fate here.

And if so...

Zheng Fan did not mind casually planting a willow cutting.

Who knew whether decades later it might unexpectedly grow into something useful?

Siniang smiled and nodded.

"Remember to mention it to the Blind Man when we return. I suspect I'll forget by then."

"Yes. I understand."

The courtyard had been cleared.

Lu Daniu and Patrol Lieutenant Commander Gao stood shoulder to shoulder in the front row.

The others formed two rows behind them.

Marquis Zheng waved one hand.

Very quickly, the two rear rows left the courtyard as well.

Only Lu Daniu and the Patrol Lieutenant Commander remained.

Zheng Fan looked toward the latter.

"Your name?"

"Gao Zhunpang. Patrol Lieutenant Commander of Shangchuan County."

"Oh."

Marquis Zheng nodded.

Then pointed toward Lu Daniu.

"How many men under you?"

"Thirty who eat dry rice."

Here, "dry-rice eaters" meant permanent men who worked full-time for the escort agency.

Those who "drank porridge" were temporary hands called in only when manpower ran short.

"Business good?" Zheng Fan asked.

"Not bad. Enough for wine and meat," Lu Daniu answered.

"Mm. Earlier I heard people say you have connections in the army?"

"I served there before. Still know some people. Makes it easier to say hello when passing checkpoints." Lu Daniu answered honestly.

Then he pointed toward Gao Zhunpang beside him.

"Brother Gao started the business. I run it for him. His connections are stronger than mine."

"So that's how it is."

Gao Zhunpang held an official post, so it was inappropriate for him to run a private business openly.

Instead, he had Lu Daniu operate the escort agency for him.

There was some thought behind it.

Zheng Fan smiled.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Hm?" Gao Zhunpang blinked.

"I..." Lu Daniu hesitated.

"Kneel," Marquis Zheng said.

Thud!

Gao Zhunpang dropped to his knees instantly.

Lu Daniu was still hesitating when Gao was already down.

"This subordinate pays respects to Your Excellency!"

Lu Daniu hurriedly knelt too, while inwardly cursing himself for being one beat slower.

Why the hell had he hesitated?

Would kneeling to the wrong person cost him a chunk of flesh?

"Perhaps the two of you really do share some fate with this Marquis today. This Marquis..."

Thud!

Lu Daniu, already kneeling, went completely limp from fright.

He collapsed flat onto the ground, limbs spread, his whole body actually trembling faintly.

Goddamn it.

"This Marquis..."

Gao Zhunpang's face flushed red as well.

He looked up once at Zheng Fan in disbelief.

Then immediately lowered his head.

After that... he gritted his teeth.

And slowly stood.

Zheng Fan simply watched the Patrol Lieutenant Commander rise in front of him.

Gao Zhunpang did not dare meet his eyes.

Instead... he extended one hand.

Head lowered.

"By duty, I must request Your Lordship's token and verify your identity."

"Oh?" Zheng Fan asked. "You already knelt just now. Now you want to inspect my token?"

"No. I knelt earlier for my wealth and my life. I guessed Your Lordship was some important military figure. But if Your Lordship uses that form of self-reference, then this subordinate..."

Gao Zhunpang swallowed.

Drew another breath.

Then continued:

"Then duty requires me to verify your identity. I am not trying to perform loyalty before Your Lordship."

His meaning was simple.

If you were pretending to be some other noble or important person... fine.

People could kowtow, admit defeat, and move on.

But once you called yourself "this Marquis"... then he had to verify who you were.

Business was business.

Because the identity of Marquis Pingxi could not tolerate even the smallest mistake.

After all...

Marquis Pingxi possessed the authority to directly mobilize troops.

Zheng Fan nodded.

Then turned toward Siniang.

"Is my token with you?"

"Master, A'Ming has it."

"Oh. Right. Forgot."

They had stripped down their entourage and departed quickly.

Not everything had been properly packed.

Of course... once they reached this area, it was effectively their own front doorstep.

There had not seemed much reason to worry.

"Old Yu. Lend me your sword."

Buzz!

Longyuan flew from the Sword Saint's side and stabbed directly into the ground before Zheng Fan.

Its sword qi remained restrained.

Yet even standing there... anyone could feel the sharpness contained within.

Longyuan was famous throughout the jianghu.

Young swordsmen of the present age took pride in wearing swords modeled after its style.

And there was only one man beneath Heaven... who could have the Sword Saint of Jin standing beside him as a bodyguard.

Gao Zhunpang immediately dropped properly to one knee.

"This subordinate pays respects to Marquis Pingxi! May the Marquis enjoy peace and health!"

Lu Daniu, who had collapsed flat earlier, forced himself upright and changed into a proper kneeling posture.

Zheng Fan continued the sentence he had been interrupted in saying.

"Since fate brought us together today, this Marquis is willing to form a good connection with you. Are the two of you willing to work for this Marquis?"

"We are willing to die for the Marquis!"

"We are willing to die for the Marquis!"

"Then it's settled. In a little while, someone will come find you and arrange some work."

"Many thanks for the Marquis's patronage!"

Gao Zhunpang immediately thanked him.

Marquis Zheng nodded.

Then sighed softly.

This scene... suddenly gave him a strange sense of familiarity and distance.

Because years ago... he too had once knelt before the Marquis of Jingnan and declared his loyalty, hoping Old Tian would support him.

Ah.

Time.

Marquis Zheng let himself feel nostalgic.

Then noise suddenly erupted outside again.

"Aiyo! Weren't you the ones saying there weren't enough people? I went and brought more over! No, no, no. They were paid separately. Our group hasn't gotten its money yet. I'm not leaving! Give me the money! Give me the money and I'll leave! We abandoned other business and came all this way. We can't go home empty-handed!

"Hey! Don't bully people like this! I even brought my newly adopted godson. Just bought him in Shengle City. Completely fresh. Never been touched!

"Hey, hey, don't shove me! Don't shove me!"

Gao Zhunpang immediately nudged Lu Daniu, signaling for him to handle it quickly.

Earlier, everyone had gotten drunk during the birthday banquet. Someone had complained that the male entertainers were no good and asked for another group.

After everything that had just happened... how could anyone possibly continue with that kind of entertainment in front of Marquis Pingxi?

Lu Daniu hurried out with silver to settle the matter.

He had only just latched onto an unimaginably thick leg.

He could not afford to damage his own image now.

Marquis Zheng himself did not particularly care.

The atmosphere of Jin had always been uninhibited.

"All right. This Marquis is leaving. No need to see me off."

"Yes, Marquis."

Gao Zhunpang naturally would not shout to the whole county that Marquis Pingxi was here.

His own benefactor.

The fortune delivered personally into his hands.

Naturally... something like that had to be treasured quietly.

The Sword Saint stepped forward and pulled Longyuan from the ground.

He sheathed it.

Then asked:

"Interesting?"

Clearly, the Sword Saint found the entire affair rather boring.

"Hey. We work ourselves half to death doing so many interesting things precisely so we can occasionally make time for a few pointless ones, don't we?"

The Sword Saint said nothing.

Zheng Fan continued:

"You have to believe in fate. One drink, one bite, everything has its reason. Who knows? Maybe decades from now these two really will become useful."

"That's the sort of thing Qi Refiners like to say. You believe that?"

"Sometimes."

Zheng Fan and the others walked out.

Lu Daniu cleared the way ahead.

The madam who had been shouting earlier had just received her silver.

The moment she saw Zheng Fan's group come out of the courtyard, she immediately pasted a flattering smile onto her face.

She knew perfectly well when to make a scene and when to become pleasant.

The men emerging from that courtyard were dressed and carried themselves like people of rank.

Especially the one walking in front.

Absolutely some important gentleman.

By instinct, the madam pushed her newly acquired godson slightly forward.

Displaying her merchandise.

Inside, she muttered:

Look, honored lord.

Take a look.

The sons of Jin's great clans often liked this sort of thing.

They considered it elegant.

And they spent freely on it.

The corner of Marquis Zheng's eye swept that way.

Then stopped.

The madam saw his gaze land there and immediately brightened with delight.

Behind him, Gao Zhunpang and Lu Daniu saw the same thing and were privately astonished.

So Marquis Pingxi, besides liking other men's wives... also liked this?

Marquis Zheng did not merely look.

He walked straight over.

Then reached out and pulled the boy away from the madam.

"Honored lord, this is my godson. Completely fresh. Never been opened. Honored lord, this..."

"Shut up!"

Buzz!

Xu Chuang's saber immediately landed across the madam's neck.

She went silent at once.

Zheng Fan reached out and touched the boy's face.

The boy looked back at him with dull, unfocused eyes.

Then Zheng Fan pulled aside the hair that had deliberately been combed over the top of the boy's head.

Sure enough... beneath it... he found traces where ordination scars had been concealed.

The madam's "newly adopted godson" was no stranger.

He was the little monk Zheng Fan had once met at Snow Sea Pass.

One of the pair consisting of an older monk and a younger monk.

Liaofan.

Two years ago, Zheng Fan had sent master and disciple onto the snowfields to spread their teachings.

Their results had been excellent.

Then one year ago, because of the prophecy brought by Hu Bamei, which vaguely pointed toward the far western reaches of the snowfields, Zheng Fan sent word ordering master and disciple to investigate that direction and see whether they might discover anything.

The Blind Man handled what followed.

So Zheng Fan had long since forgotten the matter.

But one thing was obvious now.

Something had happened to the pair.

Otherwise there was no possible explanation for why the little monk was not on the snowfields, not at Snow Sea Pass, not in Fengxin City... but inexplicably standing here as a boy purchased and adopted by a brothel madam.

Marquis Zheng crouched.

Looked into Liaofan's eyes.

They remained dull.

Like the eyes of a marionette whose strings had gone slack.

"Liaofan. Where is your master? What happened to you on the snowfields? What did you... find?"

Whatever happened... had to have happened on the snowfields.

The madam had said she acquired Liaofan through Shengle City.

Here, "acquired" meant purchased as merchandise.

Shengle City had a road that crossed the Tianduan Mountains and led onto the snowfields.

Slave trading remained one of its pillar industries.

A foundation Zheng Fan himself had created back when he served as General of Shengle.

But why had Liaofan returned to Jin through Shengle City... instead of Snow Sea Pass?

When master and disciple traveled the snowfields, they should absolutely have had attendants with them.

"Master... snowfields... snowfields... Master..."

Those few words seemed to strike something inside the little monk.

Liaofan's eyes slowly began to focus.

They settled on Zheng Fan.

He seemed to be thinking.

Remembering.

Then... his whole body shuddered.

As though some terrifying memory had suddenly returned.

His expression twisted into extreme pain.

His mouth opened.

And he screamed:

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

[End of Chapter 740]