44

Chapter 44: Dining and Slaughter

After receiving meticulous instructions from Qin Zongheng, Cao Hong did not remain idle. On the tenth day following their brief encounter at the Xibin Restaurant, Cao Hong sent an invitation to Duan Mingyu, asking him to gather at a restaurant owned by the Yangwei Escort Agency.

The contents of the invitation were nothing more than Cao’s professed admiration for Scholar Duan’s peerless learning, extraordinary courage, dashing good looks, and romantic charm, expressing a fervent desire to forge a bond of brotherhood by slaying a rooster and swearing oaths together, and so on.

Duan Mingyu spat out a mouthful of tea upon reading it. "What? That fellow Cao Hong wants to have dinner with me?"

Xie Xiande stroked his beard. "There is no such thing as a banquet of good intentions; Cao Hong is clearly setting a trap for the young master!"

Xu Zuye frowned as he held the invitation. "Young master, perhaps we should not go. Putting aside the fact that we previously had a brawl with Zhang the Seventh Monkey, even the trouble involving Master Wan would be enough for the Yangwei Escort Agency to kill us ten times over. Right now, they view us as a thorn in their side and a nail in their eye, eager to be rid of us as quickly as possible. Going there will spell more misfortune than good; I fear this is highly inappropriate!"

Though the two men offered their opinions, they were ultimately waiting for Duan Mingyu to make the final call. Without a doubt, Duan Mingyu had emerged as their spiritual leader, and the ultimate decision rested in his hands.

Duan Mingyu slammed his hand onto the table. "Go? Of course we go! When soldiers come, we block them; when water comes, we earth it up. I refuse to believe we are that weak now. Even if he wants to swallow me up like a dish on his table, I'll make sure to snap two of Cao Hong's teeth on the way down!"

A Feast at Chu Gate, after all—who hadn't played that game before? Ever since King Xiang of Chu invented the banquet themed around "eating meals and killing people," countless descendants over the millennia had innovated and carried on the tradition. The styles of banquets had continuously refreshed themselves. Aside from retaining traditional features like swordsmen and executioners, later generations had invented poisoned wine, white silk sashes, and hidden weapons. Evolving into modern times, practitioners had elevated the realm to having no weapons in hand yet possessing them in the heart; if both sides disagreed, stools, wine glasses, and bricks could all kill the enemy invisibly.

Duan Mingyu called out with composure, "Wang Aiqing!"

"Your humble servant... Oh, your subordinate is here!"

Duan Mingyu suppressed a smile. "Take a few dozen of our better-skilled brothers and come with me."

Flattered and startled, Wang Aiqing replied, "Subordinate acknowledges the command, guaranteed to complete the mission!" Ever since he had toned his body into a muscular physique, he had been cooped up training in the camp all day until even the birds were bored to death. Hearing there was a mission, Wang Aiqing beamed with the radiance of spring, feeling as though fortune was smiling upon him. Receiving his orders, he immediately trotted off with a bounce to arrange the men.

Duan Mingyu turned to Xu Zuye and said, "Brother Xu, go immediately to the yamen and send a message to Magistrate Cheng. Tell him to act according to my eye signals!"

Xu Zuye asked doubtfully, "Young master, Magistrate Cheng is going too?"

Duan Mingyu laughed it off. "Sorry, sorry! Just a habitual figure of speech! I mean to have old Cheng send yamen bailiffs to wait by the entrance. The moment they hear any abnormal sounds, they should charge in and clean up the mess. Also, you are coming along with us!"

Xu Zuye said, "Very well, I shall see if this Cao Hong is truly as arrogant as he claims."

Duan Mingyu closed his eyes. "All right, you are all dismissed to make your preparations!"

Yang Zhaoniang suddenly crawled out from beneath Duan Mingyu's bed at an unknown moment and complained discontentedly, "Hmph, why go to all this trouble? Just tell my grandfather to go and run him through with a sword—isn't that the end of it?"

Duan Mingyu massaged Yang Zhaoniang's little head. "Zhaoniang, don't worry. Nothing will go wrong."

Yang Zhaoniang shook her head. "No! My grandfather said: of all things, we don't fear ten thousand, we only fear... we only fear..." Zhaoniang seemed to be searching for a profound phrase, but under her tension, she couldn't summon it immediately, her speech slowing down more and more.

Seeing Yang Zhaoniang acting so silly made Duan Mingyu want to laugh. "You mean 'we only fear the unexpected', right?"

Yang Zhaoniang's delicately sculpted face turned beet red as she nodded forcefully. "Yes, yes, yes! We only fear the unexpected! Therefore, I've decided you aren't going. Come with me, and I'll appoint you as the vice leader of the Beggar Sect—I guarantee you good food and drink!"

Duan Mingyu comforted her, saying, "Zhaoniang, there are some things you don't understand yet. Among men, when problems arise, they must be resolved."

Yang Zhaoniang turned her head away in a huff. "I won't listen, I won't listen..."

Duan Mingyu feigned compliance. "Fine then, I won't go."

"Really?"

"Fake!"

In a fit of anger, Yang Zhaoniang threw a couple of punches at Duan Mingyu. "That's for tricking me! That's for tricking me!"

Duan Mingyu remained silent, letting the little girl vent her frustrations.

As night fell, Duan Mingyu led his procession in a grand march toward the agreed location.

Wang Aiqing said, "Young master, it is probably unwise for all fifty of us to enter together. It's too easy to alert the enemy."

Duan Mingyu replied, "Wang Aiqing, marvelous. Even such a profound problem was deduced by you. If you were just a little bit smarter, you could catch up to that pig raised by old man Sun next door."

Wang Aiqing aggrievedly protested, "Young master, what your subordinate said is the absolute truth. Didn't you often educate us not to lay all our strength out on the table?"

Xu Zuye ignored the two of them; he figured he would just stick close to Duan Mingyu later—drinking poisoned wine for him or blocking blades if necessary.

Duan Mingyu tapped Wang Aiqing's head with his sword hilt. "Idiot! Do you think we can even get inside with this many people? Besides, today we are fighting away from home; can we afford to march this entire force in just to be slaughtered?"

Wang Aiqing nodded. "Ah, the young master speaks with reason!"

Duan Mingyu instructed, "Therefore, we must split into two paths and act according to circumstances. Do you understand?"

"Your subordinate understands. I wonder what the young master has in mind..."

Duan Mingyu said indignantly, "You really do have a tendency to lean toward Second Senior Brother Pig Bajie! My meaning is for you to scale the back wall, without alerting a single soul. Deal with them quietly, one by one. The moment you hear any commotion from the front, come over immediately and protect your sovereign."

Wang Aiqing pandered, "Understood, subordinate guarantees it will be done without a sound."

With that, Wang Aiqing led forty-odd men to circle around toward the back entrance. Looking at the sparse dozen men remaining by his side, Duan Mingyu felt a flicker of unease rising in his heart.

"Duan Gongzi, please step inside! Our Chief Escort has been waiting for a long time!"

Duan Mingyu walked with steady steps, his dozen men slowly ascending the staircase while tension mounted in his chest. *Dammit, this turtle's son Cao Hong isn't hosting a Feast at Chu Gate at all—he's clearly holding a martial arts convention!* Upstairs and downstairs were packed densely with people; this fellow Cao Hong was truly shameless, almost rivaling his own level of audacity.

Duan Mingyu made a rough calculation: there were roughly two hundred people here. He had severely miscalculated the man's determination to eliminate him.

Stepping onto the second floor, the layout stretched long from east to west and was narrow from north to south. A table and chair were placed at the seat of honor facing west toward the east, with five or six seating arrangements placed in descending order along both sides. The ancients were extremely strict regarding the hierarchy of seating: the most honorable seat in the room was facing west toward the east, followed by facing north toward the south, then facing south toward the north, and the least honorable was facing east toward the west.

Cao Hong sat right in the seat of honor facing west toward the east. The seats facing north toward the south were occupied by Zhang the Seventh Monkey, He Sanhu, and two other men, with over a dozen subordinates standing behind them.

From the seating arrangements alone, it was clear that Cao Hong intended to subject Duan Mingyu to a display of intimidation right from the start!

Duan Mingyu twitched his cheek. *Forget it, who told me to make such a fatal mistake? Bringing too few men leaves me lacking in presence!* Duan Mingyu chose the seat facing north toward the south and sat down slowly. He muttered inwardly: *A wise man does not fight when the odds are against him; when you're wrong, you admit it, and when you take a beating, you stand straight. Even grandfathers started out as grandsons—a person must learn to endure.*

Xu Zuye took the lowest-ranking seat facing east toward the west, locking eyes with Cao Hong across the room, while the dozen or so subordinates he brought stood silently behind them both.

Cao Hong smiled and said, "Duan Gongzi truly has courage. Come, Cao will toast you first."

Duan Mingyu also raised his cup. "Very well, I'll drink as I please, but finish yours!"

The facial muscles of everyone in the hall twitched, their eyes rolling back like dead fish.

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