Chapter 117: The State of Affairs
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
A few days later, That “The Tenth Young Master of Golden Roc Fort fought against thousands of bandits” became the only statement everyone made about the survivors of the journey.
Since detaching themselves from fame is one of the principles of the killers, they were willing to be her nameless killers.
In the beginning, Shangguan Ru patiently explained to others that she was not the main commander. But it only brought her a reputation of “modesty”. Gradually, she only laughed without trying to explain anymore as she had accepted the whole thing. Being the Tenth Young Master of the Shangguan family, having led dozens of machetemen and a larger number of handymen forward throughout an entire day and night, having personally killed countless enemies, and the blood on her body when she was rescued, all of this made her deserve the overwhelming praise.
She had never known, and would never know that the camel driver, who seemed to be an ordinary man, was a top killer arranged by her father. The man was finally killed by several black-robed women in his line of duty.
After calming down, Slave Qing began to make many friends in Iron Mountain’s bandit camp. He kept telling everyone how perfectly his master performed in the “assassination” of him, and how brave she was when she beat back the roving bandits. His words were so vivid and full of excitement as if he had followed his master in every killing.
As a result, Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi found themselves extremely popular in the camps. From Bighead Kingpin to ordinary troops, they all regarded the two girls as heroes and top killers, and the girls loved all these. They went to parties all the day, drank with vulgar men, and mingled around, finding it a worthy trip.
On the evening of the slaughter of the roving bandits as the sacrifice for an offering to their flags, Bighead Kingpin invited all the survivors to a grand banquet. Even the handymen were also invited to the main camp to enjoy the feast. When they saw Bighead Kingpin’s underlings heavily drinking and quarreling, they were so amazed.
No matter who they were and how much they could drink, all the brown-belt assassins had to drink bowl after bowl with the chiefs of Iron Mountain. But halfway through the banquet, the four assassins were all collapsed in a drunken stupor. Hence, the fact that those killers were not good at drinking became a joke in the camp.
However, the two masters were enthusiastic about drinking and did not refuse the wine. In terms of alcohol tolerance, they seemed to be no weaker than the bandits of Iron Mountain, and this had redeemed the honor of Golden Roc Fort. Bighead Kingpin praised them greatly and rather envied the Supreme King. “If I had one more daughter, I would let her enter the service of the Tenth Young Master anyway, even if she were to be a maid.”
Before Gu Shenwei was completely drunk, he heard Bighead Kingpin announced that the roving bandits in the desert had dared to attack the Tenth Young Master of Golden Roc Fort, subjecting Iron Mountain to great humiliation, thus he would search every patch of sand and send all his men to slay those loathsome bandits and get revenge for Shangguan Ru.
Being inspired, the chiefs vowed, sprinkled wines, and shouted: revenge, revenge. They almost turned the camp over.
Early the next morning, Gu Shenwei woke up in dizziness. He felt bad about the hangover.
An underling brought him a breakfast and a letter.
The letter was from Fang Wenshi. In few lines, it said that Fang Wenshi appreciated the “hero” for saving his life, and he needed to continue on his way, blah, blah…
Gu Shenwei almost forgot about the plain scholar and he suddenly thought up that he still had some questions to ask. After borrowing a horse and finding out where the scholar had gone, he started his pursuit.
Fang Wenshi had expected that he could get close to Bighead Kingpin and changing his life from that point onward, but he was quite disappointed. He did not know kung fu, could not drink much and was not even from Golden Roc Fort. He could not make himself fit in the camp. Even the underlings also made fun of him, let alone allow him to meet Bighead Kingpin.
He attended the banquet last night and made it to the main table. As he was ready to give his spectacular speech in a toast, he stepped on a large piece of meat, slipped and fell down. He got a bruise on his head, which invited more laughter.
Fang Wenshi felt disgraced at behaving like a clown. Even worse, as soon as he stood up, the sub-chiefs immediately pulled him to the wine before he could speak. The next morning, he woke up to find himself lying on a pile of filth and surrounded by smelly feet.
Fang Wenshi was so depressed. For the first time in his life, he began to doubt whether what he had learned with difficulty over the past 10 years was of any value. Wide as the world was, there was still no stage for him. He scribbled a letter and had it sent to the “hero”. Packing up his stuff, he left the camp alone. Along the way, he was full of remorse and was even thinking of committing suicide.
When Gu Shenwei caught up with him, he was drowning in sorrow. Standing on the road, he uttered a long loud cry in tears and even did not notice the sound of hoofs behind him.
“Mr. Fang, why did you leave without saying goodbye?”
Fang Wenshi was startled. Turning around, he saw Gu Shenwei. As it would be a shame for a man to be seen crying, Fang Wenshi wiped his tears away, clasped his hands and said, “Hero, don’t persuade me. I’m not going back to see Bighead Kingpin anyway. Iron Mountain is full of boorish fellows and there is no place for a counselor, like me.”
“Bighead Kingpin isn’t going to see you; he doesn’t even know who you are.”
Fang Wenshi let out a long sigh and felt he had no strength to even take another step.
Looking at the man who was rather sad, Gu Shenwei began to doubt whether his judgment about this man was correct. Killing him seemed to be beneficial to both sides. “Mr. Fang, I have a present for you. Please take it as your traveling expenses.”
Gu Shenwei took out a small bag of gold and jewelry, which was a gift awarded to him by Bighead Kingpin.
Fang Wenshi was greatly surprised and studied the boy in front of him with his eyes. He had seen many people over the years, both famous and anonymous, but none of them had ever been interested in him. “You… think I’m talented?”
“Uh, yes… as we’ve been through a lot together…”
“Ha!” Fang Wenshi grabbed the bag and laughed out loud. “Dad, mom, my studies were useful after all! This is the first reward for my efforts!”
He laughed and cried, jumping up and down. Until Fang Wenshi felt exhausted, Gu Shenwei finally said, “Mr. Fang, I came here for two reasons. One is to give you the gift, the other is to consult with you regarding some questions.”
Fang Wenshi put the bag away and tidied his clothes. “Go ahead, I’ll tell you all I know without any reservation.”
“You once said ‘Three decades ago, Golden Roc rose up.’ What does this mean?”
Fang Wenshi never thought that the boy would be interested in this. Again, he looked at the boy up and down. “Are you a killer apprentice from Golden Roc Fort?”
Gu Shenwei nodded.
“No wonder. When you were born, Golden Roc Fort had already ruled over the Western Region and claimed to have been ruling for centuries up till the reign of the seventh Supreme King. In fact, 30 years ago, Golden Roc Fort was only one of the killer gangs. The first and second Supreme Kings were given subsequent recognition, and the third, fourth, and fifth Supreme King were just nicknames used in Jianghu. But the sixth Supreme King rose up in troubled times. He got his killers involved in disputes between countries and he also wiped out the other gangs. In the five or six years after that, Golden Roc Fort became a new force and one of the most important forces when the conflicts in the Western Region had settled down.”
“So it rose up in only five or six years?”
“Opportunity makes the hero. Had it not been for the opportunity in those troubled times of the Western Region, Golden Roc Fort might still be a small gang. By the way, Golden Roc Fort was called Golden Roc Hall in the past. That Hall had a history of hundreds of years and was taken over by the Shangguan family 30 years ago.”
Gu Shenwei had not ever heard of this from Zhang Ji, who was very knowledgeable about the history of the Fort. Even as he was reminiscing about the past while grumbling about the present, Zhang Ji was still loyal to current Golden Roc Fort and was even more loyal than most of the people. He did not want to talk about the humble past of Golden Roc Fort, because in his eyes the Fort had been the king since its birth.
Obviously, such past history would definitely not be recorded in the books that Gu Shenwei had read.
Gu Shenwei listened carefully to Fang Wenshi while both of them were sitting on the ground. Fang Wenshi poured out everything he had recited in the last few days in return for the “present”.
Fang Wenshi analyzed the forces in the Western Region. And when it finally came to Iron Mountain Gang, he said, “The others think Bighead Kingpin a cruel and thuggish guy, but I believe that he had great foresight. Looking back over the past few years, there has been no other bandit gang of over a thousand members except for Iron Mountain. The others were completely wiped out whereas Bighead Kingpin became stronger and stronger. Small countries do not dare to provoke him at all. He is very smart, isn’t he?”
Not so long ago, Fang Wenshi just said that Iron Mountain was full of boorish fellows, but now he changed his mind. Gu Shenwei nodded, but he did not seem to be convinced.
Fang Wenshi spotted Gu Shenwei’s disbelief. “Hey, you should believe my words about Bighead Kingpin.” He blurted out. “Let’s talk about what’s happening now. The people of Golden Roc Fort were robbed by the roving bandits. Although the gifts were for him, he could not have started the war to take revenge for them. But under the excuse of taking revenge, he positioned his camp at the mountain pass. Iron Mountain has promised the other countries in the Western Region not to encamp anywhere for more than six months, but now, for the purpose of vengeance, he can occupy that place as long as he wants. It is likely that Golden Roc Fort will support him.”
Upon hearing this, Gu Shenwei was suddenly realized he was coldly sweating. He thought he was clever and could take advantage of Bighead Kingpin with Miss’ support. But now, he came to understand that, as they were able to survive and extend their power in a complex land like the Western Region, none of those leaders should be underestimated.
Only mutual interests could leverage an alliance. The affection between father and daughter could not delude a man like Bighead Kingpin.
Gu Shenwei and Fang Wenshi departed in the afternoon. Before Fang Wenshi left for his hometown, he told the “hero” his address. “Several years later, when you gather more than 5,000 followers, come to find me and I can be your counselor.”
Gu Shenwei gave Fang Wenshi his horse. He did not know if he would have a chance to seek help from the counselor in his lifetime.
Fang Wenshi walked forward and after a few steps, he suddenly turned around and asked, “What’s your name, hero?”
“Yang Huan .”
Fang Wenshi nodded and repeated the name several times as he was riding away. But later on, he totally forgot the name within three days.
Gu Shenwei walked back to the camp, thinking about all the forces that were related to Golden Roc Fort along the way. He thought maybe someday he could utilize these forces.
As soon as he arrived at the camp, a sub-chief came and asked him to see Bighead Kingpin.
