High-end establishments were all similar. Hu sat in the shadow of their high walls, shook silver from the robes of passing noblemen, got beat by the guards and kicked from the premise. Like clockwork. The guards would laugh as they confiscated the silver he held between his fingers, and the silver he hid in his rags, but not the silver he hid beneath his tongue.
Far from exceptional, Red-Wind Pavilion was a prime example.
Heads turned as the beggars entered. The patrons pointed and exchanged amused glances. Some jeered, while others pretended to be above it all. Fine robes, each set more luxurious than the last, ebbed and flowed from even the smallest gestures. The slender necks and wrists of the escorts were adorned with jewels that glowed as they caught candlelight.
For the same reason that Hu and Little Thief were invisible on the street, none of the patrons inside stood out to them. To the beggars, all the wealth on display blurred together into an obnoxious golden smear.
As an exception, Little Thief was impressed by a man-sized sculpture carved from solid green jade. It was meaningless to try measuring its worth in gold, the value of the jade alone would be astronomical. The sculpture depicted the mythical flood dragon, tail coiled around a mountain, head pointed skyward.
“Stop!” a young man wearing clean, white-blue robes separated himself from the throng of gawkers, appearing behind the duo.
Hu kept limping forward, Little Thief in tow.
“You’ll stop when a disciple of Wudang addresses you,” the young man from Wudang summersault-leaped over their heads and landed square in their path.
Hu took another step, “Move aside, Taoist. I’m a ghost. Let me pass in peace.”
The Wudang disciple matched Hu and took a step forward, “If you’re a ghost, then I’m a dog,”
“That would make you the Dog of Wudang. I’ve heard of you!”
“No, you haven’t, because such an absurd title does not exist. I am known as Wudang’s Righteous Sword!” his hand dropped to his waist where a sword was sheathed, “I’ll teach you a lesson on behalf of Wudang: greed precipitates the fall. Now, return the money you tricked out of that innocent guard.”
Hu turned to face Little Thief, “Remember, these are the kinds of people you should avoid at all costs.”
Little Thief nodded seriously, looking at the white-robed young man like he was a specimen of his kind.
“Quiet, swindler!” Righteous Sword shouted before addressing Little Thief with a warm smile: “Child, it's not too late for you yet. Come over here, to the side of righteousness, I shall protect you!”
Little Thief stayed rooted by Hu’s side.
Righteous Sword sighed like he had just witnessed a tragedy, “You’ve already sunk your fangs into him. Very well, today I will dispense justice on behalf of Wudang.” He unsheathed his sword in one smooth motion, “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you.”
Hu shoved Little Thief back a few steps, “Behind the sculpture,” He tossed over the bag of cabbages.
The boy caught the bag but stood his ground,
“Now!” The scars on his face twisted angrily. Little Thief scampered off.
“That was unnecessary, I would never harm a child,” Righteous Sword said. He had his sword out to the side, but showed no signs of assuming a stance.
Hu limped over at his usual slower-than-a-walk pace. The gathered observers held their breath, anticipating the beatdown the beggar would receive. He stopped about a pace from Righteous Sword. The two studied each other, they were about the same age.
Righteous Sword frowned, “Your face…”
Hu responded by winding his arm back and delivering a punch directly to Righteous Sword’s chest. The latter didn’t even attempt to block.
A moment passed. Righteous Sword revealed a look of pity.
“The foundation of martial arts is the stance,” Righteous Sword said, echoing his teachers, “With a foot like that, you will never throw a decent punch or swing a sword properly,” He sheathed his sword, placed his foot back and lowered his center of gravity, “Like so!” He delivered a palm strike to Hu’s chest.
A pause, then the impact hit Hu like a crashing boulder, lifting him off his feet and sending him soaring backwards. The crowd of customers and escorts cheered as his body collided hard against the flood dragon statue, before dropping to the ground. A pair of worried eyes peeked at him from around the statue’s base.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“You’re quite sturdy,” Righteous Sword brought a hand to his chin, observing Hu’s state, “That should have knocked you out. Have you undergone some form of body-tempering?”
Hu grunted as he stood up. Even with the enhancement, his bones still creaked from the impact. With his left hand, he made a grand gesture of pulling one of Cheng’s pouches from his tunic.
Righteous Sword’s eyes lit up at the appearance of the pouch, “Have you decided to do the right thing and return the money?”
“Take it,” Hu tossed the coin pouch, causing the eyes of the onlookers and his opponent to trace its path through the air. In that brief window, Hu’s right hand manipulated a silver coin until it was tightly lodged between callused knuckles.
The pouch landed at Righteous Sword’s feet, who bent down to retrieve it. Right as his fingertips brushed the faded leather, there was a flash of silver.
Righteous Sword issued a pained cry and leaped backwards. Upon landing, his knee hit the ground, like it couldn’t bear his own weight. He shot a glance at his left ankle, which was bloodied and quickly turning purple, “Damnit! What did y—" The question died in his throat at the sight of a silver coin rolling a thin blood trail on the floor.
“Enough!” A loud voice snapped the onlooking crowd to attention. A large warrior, two heads taller than Cheng, forcibly dispersed the crowd. He wore the distinct uniform of the Red-Wind private guard. Despite his overwhelming physical presence, informed customers had their attention directed towards someone else: an old, grey-haired lady clad in red. She was about as tall as Little Thief, but her small stature belied great influence.
Hu could infer from the crowd’s reaction, and rumors he had heard over the years: She was Madam Hua, the proprietress.
A hush fell over the hall as Madam Hua stepped forward, “The ‘Red’ in Red-Wind Pavilion refers to the beauty of autumn leaves, not blood. If your bloodthirst surpasses your ability to control it…” She gestured at the large wooden double-doors, “Then kindly remove yourself. This is a place for revelry.”
She was looking at Hu as she said all this, but she was addressing everyone in the hall. She briefly glanced at the half-kneeling Righteous Sword, “Somebody fetch a doctor for the Wudang boy. And a cleaner. I want the carpet spotless!”
Righteous Sword looked like he wanted to protest, but the condition of his ankle was serious. He shot Hu a furious look before turning and stumbling over to a nearby chair, awaiting the arrival of the doctor.
Hu received the bag of cabbages from Little Thief, who had returned to his side amidst the chaos. He limped over and dropped the bag at Madam Hua’s feet.
Madam Hua’s expression flickered at the sight of the cabbages. With a snap of her fingers, an attendant retrieved the bag. She addressed the beggar-duo, “You two. I would speak with you privately.”
Hu studied her features, searching for any sign of veiled threat. He briefly considered whether he should bring Little Thief along, but concluded that it would be careless to leave him unattended. He made his decision, “Lead on.”
Little Thief followed Hu, and Hu followed Madam Hua and her bodyguard. The group ascended up a flight of carved wood stairs to an interior balcony overlooking the large hall. This was where the most expensive escorts worked, and where the wealthiest patrons gathered. They continued on, snaking up through the building until they arrived at an office on the fourth floor. Including the imposing bodyguard who never left Madam Hua’s side, Hu counted fourteen armed guards on the way here. If the situation deteriorated and he needed to open up an escape-route, it would not be by the way they entered.
Appearance-wise, Madam Hua’s personal office was a smaller, less demonstrative extension of the larger building. The various architectural motifs were similar, but more nuanced. Hu’s eyes caught on an engraved sword elevated above the other display pieces around the room. Anything Madam Hua prized so highly was undoubtedly priceless.
Madam Hua took a seat behind a desk piled high with bound scrolls. There were also writing tools and peripherals that one would expect to find at the cerebrum of a business of this scale. She scrutinized the two beggars standing before her, not inviting them to sit, “Where’s Ji? Dead…?”
“He’s alive” Hu said. By his side, Little Thief nodded.
Madam Hua expression visibly softened, “Age finally caught up to him then. I didn’t want—didn’t think I’d live to see the day,” Her eyes focused on a fixed point in the distance, “The first of the month, every month, for 57 years… Not once was he late.”
Hu let the silence hang for a breath before speaking, “Don’t blame him too much.”
“Whose blaming?!” Madam Hua rose from her seat. She sounded like a child throwing a fit, surprising both Hu and the bodyguard standing by the door.
He waited for her to regain her cool, “Are you and Ji close?”
She shook her head, “I don’t get close to the people I care about… I assume he still sits all day in front of that crumbling alley? I imagine it’s taken a toll on his body.”
“You’d be right, on both counts,” Hu said, “About Wudang’s Righteous Sword—”
She held up her palm, “I won’t pursue it. Rather…” Her lips curved into a smile, “How about an opportunity? I would have need of a resourceful pair of beggars.”
“I’ll decline—" Hu’s words cut off part way. He stared at Madam Hua, specifically at a white coin held up between her thumb and index finger.
Jadeite. It could be used to buy things that silver and gold could not.
Seeing that he recognized it, Madam Hua raised an eyebrow, “You’re quite the knowledgeable beggar, aren’t you? It’s yours, if you perform well,” She swiped the white coin back into her sleeve, “The work is simple: I need eyes and ears at the banquet. You would be monitoring select individuals and reporting back to my subordinates.”
“You say you have subordinates. Why hire some unknown beggars?”
Madam Hua gestured at the bodyguard standing by the entrance, “My people are easily recognizable.”
“Why not disguise them?”
Madam Hua shook her head, “My men are healthy and able-bodied warriors. Furthermore, years of training has drilled martial arts deep into their bones. They walk with their backs straight and their heads raised proudly—”
The large bodyguard puffed his chest out a little.
“—and that makes them useless.” Madam Hu said, causing the bodyguard to deflate, “The only thing more suspicious than a fighting man is a fighting man clumsily pretending to be something that he is not.”
“You trust us?” Hu asked. This was an important question. If she said yes, he would turn around and leave with Little Thief, no-questions-asked.
Madam Hua formed a smile that did not quite reach her eyes, “If I trusted you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I’d have whisked you away to some fortified rural villa so I could have peace of mind knowing you were safe and secure. Consider yourselves fortunate that I don’t trust easily.”
“Now,” She leaned forward expectantly, “Do we have a deal?”