Chapter 53: Chapter 26: Hunt
The night was deep. In the vast darkness, the myriad lights of Changshan County flickered, like candles in the wind.
Willow Alley.
The Fang Family had finished dinner long ago. An oil lamp sputtered, its flame dancing and flickering, filling the small house with a warm, dim yellow glow.
Mrs. Xue of the Fang Family was doing needlework by the light of the lamp.
Fang Rui was telling a story in a gentle voice.
Fang Ling, one hand cupping her cheek, gazed at Fang Rui, listening with rapt attention, her wide eyes unblinking.
It was the coziest and most peaceful time of their day.
Suddenly.
"...It’s about time."
Having finished a long part of the story, Fang Rui stopped and stood up. He glanced out the window, guessing it was time. "Mother, Ling’er, I should be going."
Mrs. Xue of the Fang Family put down her needlework and also stood. A flash of worry crossed her eyes, but she didn’t voice it. She silently helped him check his medicine pouches, then straightened the wrinkles on his clothes.
It wasn’t until Fang Rui had the pouches slung over his back—
—that the thousand words in her heart finally coalesced into a single sentence: "Brother Rui, be careful on the road."
"Come back soon, Brother!" Fang Ling, who had become more sensible recently, earnestly admonished him, mimicking her mother.
"I will!"
Fang Rui answered with a smile and patted Fang Ling’s head. He then led her and Mrs. Xue of the Fang Family down to the cellar, blocking the entrance with a heavy stone.
After that, he left, locked the door to the house, and headed straight for the Black Market.
...
Arriving at the Black Market, Fang Rui paid the entry and stall fees with practiced ease, found his spot, and set up his stall.
He had made a habit of coming once every three days, always setting up his stall around eleven at night. Because of this, customers started showing up to buy his medicine pouches as soon as he opened.
"I want three packets of Muscle Regeneration Powder!"
"Give me five packs of Scar Remover!"
"One pack of Hemostatic Powder!"
...
Business was booming, as usual.
Suddenly, Fang Rui felt someone watching him. He immediately whipped his head around, his gaze sweeping in the direction of the sensation.
The person hastily averted their gaze and turned away, browsing a nearby stall and seemingly asking about prices, acting perfectly normal.
"Heh!"
Fang Rui let out a soft laugh.
Although he hadn’t seen the man’s face, he recognized him from his back: Zhou Chu!
That’s right!
The same man with the triangular eyes who had tried to stir up trouble on Fang Rui’s first visit to the Black Market.
He didn’t recognize the man for any other reason than this: it wasn’t the first time Zhou Chu had been watching him.
Over his last two or three visits to the Black Market to sell his medicine pouches, the man had been observing him, subtly but surely.
The man was trying to be secretive, but with Fang Rui’s sharp perception and cautious nature, how could he fail to notice? He had simply been feigning ignorance.
’The fish has taken the bait...’ Fang Rui thought. ’I’ll sever the claws reaching out this time and make an example of them. Then my medicine business can stabilize again.’
"Boss, do you have any Scar Remover left? I’ll take one!" Just then, another customer arrived at the stall, urging him on.
"Oh, here you go!" Fang Rui snapped back to reality, a smile returning to his face as he served the customer.
A short while later, not far away, Zhou Chu put something down and glanced back. Seeing Fang Rui busy with his customers and nothing out of the ordinary, he finally let out a big sigh of relief.
He spat on the ground, glaring at Fang Rui from the side with eyes full of malice. "The guy really did show up today. Just now... it seemed like he sensed something..."
"No, I can’t wait any longer. I have to tell Second Uncle. We have to make our move tonight!"
Zhou Chu muttered to himself and quickly turned to leave.
But why had he started targeting Fang Rui?
The story began after their first encounter.
That day, after Fang Rui revealed his identity as an Entry Grade Martial Artist, Zhou Chu had fled in a panic. He was so terrified that for several days, he didn’t dare set foot in the Black Market.
Later, even when he did return, he was worried Fang Rui would ambush and kill him in retaliation. He would sneak around, avoiding Fang Rui’s stall like the plague...
It was only after more than a month, when Zhou Chu realized Fang Rui had no intention of making a move, that he began to act normally again.
Although he was sure the danger had passed, Zhou Chu was furious and deeply resentful about what had happened that day, and about his own paranoid behavior afterward.
Of course, resentment was one thing, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Fang Rui was an Entry Grade Martial Artist; Zhou Chu could never hope to deal with him on his own.
His second uncle, Zhou Changlin, was an Elite Gang Member of the Wild Wolf Gang and an Entry Grade Martial Artist, it was true, but their relationship wasn’t particularly close.
If Zhou Chu actually thought he was important enough to ask Zhou Changlin to step in—to make an enemy of Fang Rui and even fight to the death, all just to soothe his own bruised ego—he would have been chewed out mercilessly!
He was at least self-aware enough to know that.
After all, this was reality, not some novel—it was absolutely impossible that someone would rashly make an enemy, let alone fight to the death with an expert of the same Realm and risk their own life, all over a junior’s petty conflict.
Bribing him?
Also impossible.
Fang Rui was an Entry Grade Martial Artist, a status more than sufficient to protect a business earning three to five taels of silver a month.
In other words, that amount of profit wasn’t enough to convince his second uncle, Zhou Changlin, to rashly make a move and risk a life-or-death battle with an expert of the same Realm.
Furthermore, Fang Rui was cautious and careful, leaving Zhou Chu with no options. Slowly, the matter had begun to fade from his mind.
Until, a few days ago, Fang Rui developed new finished medicines, and his business boomed...
In these tough times, Zhou Chu frequented the Black Market because his family was struggling, and it was on one of those days that he happened to discover this.
This made him like a cat that had caught the scent of fish; he had found his opportunity.
Zhou Chu staked him out twice and estimated that Fang Rui was making a profit of at least ten-plus taels of silver a month.
This was no small sum!
If they could force the formulas out of Fang Rui, it would be a source of steady, long-term income!
