Ji Kang and Yu Shuren’s new table companion was slender and very short. Most people were shorter than Ji Kang to some degree, so he usually didn’t take note of it, but this newcomer must have been a head and a half shorter than him and would have been considered short in any company.

They had dark brown skin that was uncommon in Jidong but wasn’t unusual in Anwon, shoulder length hair that was tied behind their head in a ponytail, and an incredibly average face that would likely be difficult to recall or describe.

Currently they were oozing contrived enthusiasm and forced joviality. Almost immediately Ji Kang felt that this was their contact, before realizing their entire demeanor was calculated to give him that impression.

The corners of Ji Kang’s eyes crinkled slightly in a small appreciative smile. Although such intentional but subtle nonverbal communication was not a skill of his, he could appreciate when someone else displayed a mastery of it.

“Please, feel free to take a seat.” Ji Kang sarcastically gestured to the seat they were already sitting in, not forgetting to maintain the illusion of tipsiness.

“Thanks! Deal me in. You can call me Li Chun by the way.” Li Chun smiled cheerfully and opened the wine they brought.

Ji Kang and Yu Shuren glanced at each other and wordlessly decided that Ji Kang would be the one to talk.

“I’m Ji and this is Brother Yu.” Ji Kang dealt the cards.

The three of them played a few rounds of the drinking game, with Li Chun shouting with exasperation when they lost and laughing with schadenfreude when either of the other two did instead. When Li Chun decided that they had waited long enough for most attention on them to have relaxed, they got around to the real business.

In the middle of a round, without changing their jovial tone, they suddenly said their half of the password that the sect had given to Lu Wu, Ji Kang, and Yu Shuren to let them recognize the Azure Grove Sect’s spy in Anwon.

“The seedling grows far from the grove…” Their eyes were calm and unfazed even as they laughed once again for show.

“...But their roots drink from the same spring.” Ji Kang finished the phrase.

Unlike the last time Ji Kang and Yu Shuren had gone through this sort of password exchange, there was no slackening of tension, much less any letting down of the pretense the three of them were maintaining. They were still probably being observed by spies working for other forces.

The three of them kept right on playing the drinking game as if nothing had been said. It wasn’t until after another couple of rounds that Li Chun felt safe enough to continue speaking seriously.

“I assume that the bag under the table is the gold? You could certainly have hidden that a little more carefully, but I have to give props to whichever one of you came up with the plan to send those other two off as decoys.” Li Chun said, grinning widely. “I almost gave up on contacting you lot when I saw how many people were watching the inn before they left. Most of them must have thought I would meet up with those two in the chaos of the market. Since most of them left, I decided I should talk to you two instead.”

Yu Shuren looked at Ji Kang skeptically. Ji Kang nodded while at the same time shrugging, indicating that this scenario had occurred to him before he suggested the plan but that he hadn’t been certain what would happen.

“You guessed right, we have the gold. Just to let you know however, we will be needing to set up a rendezvous point for later tonight to hand it over to you. We’re under specific instructions not to give it to you on a first meeting.” Ji Kang turned his attention back to Li Chun and spoke.

“Hah! That’s ridiculous. Was one of those other two the one who made that stupid rule?” Li Chun asked.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Yes.” Ji Kang nodded.

“They obviously just didn’t want to miss the chance to have an exciting encounter with a real life spy. Don’t worry about me looking suspicious walking away with your bag, I’ve got a storage ring that can carry all of it.” Li Chun started to reach towards the bag with their foot while showing the two of them a jade ring on their right pinky.

Yu Shuren blocked Li Chun’s foot and gave them a hard stare. Li Chun looked shocked and then contemplative.

“I don’t disagree with your assessment, but we’re still under orders. Let’s set up a place for us to do a dead drop tonight instead. That way we can spoil our boss’ fun and wrap this business up as efficiently as possible.” Ji Kang interrupted the other two’s staring match.

“Hmph, if we wanted to be efficient letting me take the gold right here would clearly be better than going to the trouble of giving you guys specific instructions to a good place for a dead drop and then spending half my night waiting for you guys to drop it off to make sure no one following you grabs it before I can.” Li Chun grumped.

“Obviously. But we’re still under orders.” Ji Kang replied stonily before taking a drink as if he had lost a round.

“Fine. Do either of you have something to write with?” Li Chun asked.

Yu Shuren pushed a sheaf of parchment and a stick of charcoal towards them. Yu Shuren disguised the action by simultaneously reaching across the table and claiming the jug of wine to pour the next round of drinks.

“Wow, at least you two came prepared to provide the things necessary to carry out your ridiculous orders. That kind of forethought is rare in a henchman.” Li Chun said while stealthily writing down a series of directions and a description of where to put the bag.

“Thanks. Glad to see our hard work isn’t going unappreciated.” Yu Shuren responded wryly.

“Ooooh the big one speaks!” Li Chun laughed, equal parts teasing and exasperation, before sliding the parchment back towards Yu Shuren. “Here, follow the directions exactly and try not to get lost; if I have to spend the night outside and one of you amateurs leaves the bag in the wrong place I’ll come back and kill you in your sleep.”

“I doubt either of us will be the one doing the drop off, but I’ll pass it along.” Ji Kang folded the paper into a small square and tucked it behind his belt. “Pleasure working with you.”

“I guess that’s my queue to make an exit.” Li Chun observed.

Over the next two rounds Li Chun became visibly upset and started loudly grousing about their suspiciously bad luck. After losing one more round they stood up angrily, tossed a tael on the table like they had lost a bet, and stormed off.

“Damn cheats!” Li Chun groused loud enough to be heard by some of the other patrons as they pushed their way out of the inn.

This commotion did not go unnoticed by the other patrons of the restaurant, many of whom turned to look at Ji Kang and Yu Shuren inquisitively.

“Hah! If ya’ can’t afford ta lose… then don’ bet!” Ji Kang slurred loudly as if he was calling after Li Chun.

With this explanation, most of the onlooker’s curiosity was satisfied, and if some among them were doubtful it didn’t matter to Ji Kang because the spies had to pretend to be normal patrons and when most of the crowd lost interest they had to pretend to do the same.

Not long afterwards Ji Kang and Yu Shuren gathered their belongings and stumbled up the stairs to their room, where they dropped the pretense and waited for Lu Wu and Jin Xun to return.

Finally, late in the night as patrons started filtering out of the bar downstairs, Lu Wu and Jin Xun got back from the market, having had a boring day of walking around trying to make themselves available for a clandestine rendezvous.

Lu Wu was angry when Ji Kang and Yu Shuren informed him the spy had contacted the group who had stayed in the inn and threw what could only be described as a tantrum.

Once his tirade wore itself out, Ji Kang handed over the directions to the drop off point. He also explained that it would be a dead drop and there would be no contact with the spy. This sparked another tirade from Lu Wu, who seemed to have had quite the frustrating day.

After that it went exactly as Ji Kang had predicted. Lu Wu wasn’t entirely resigned to not meeting the spy once despite having traveled so far to get here, so he decided that he would do the drop off.

“We’ll all sneak out of the inn from different exits carrying heavy bags. There will be three decoys and only one real bag. We’ll all lead anyone who follows us on a merry chase around the city before leaving our decoy bags in some likely-looking spot. The real bag carrier should stick around nearby after making the drop off in case Li Chun needs help fighting off anyone who follows them to claim the bag…” Lu Wu nodded as he laid out his plan while nodding like he was absolutely convinced in the genius of his plan.

Ji Kang had some doubts, but it sounded like a good enough plan that he wasn’t going to argue.