Nightfall

Ning Que was the most inconspicuous person in the back of the mountain, but he was the most famous one as Mr. Thirteen among the folk.

His legend was spreading in the frontier fortress and the story about the fight at the side door of the Academy had pleased the people in Chang’an for a long time. People in the attic of the Stone House might not know about who was Mr. First or Mr. Second, but they definitely knew Mr. Thirteen was the owner of Old Brush Pen Shop, honored as Sir Ning.

After Chu Youxian’s words, people in the building kept quiet for a while, and then they began to cheer and shout excitedly.

The royal buyer from the South Jin Kingdom held the handrail tightly and his face turned pale with rage. He stared at Chu Youxian ferociously and shouted at him. “Who the hell are you?”

Holding a fan with one hand and putting the other one behind his body, Chu Youxian bowed and answered, “I’m Chu Youxian from the Eastern City, the representative of Mr. Ning.”

Then he looked toward the western wing-room on the third floor and saw the ugly royal buyer. He smiled and said, “Anyone can buy the Chicken Soup Calligraphy but you. Any objections?”

The royal buyer was so angry that his whole body started trembling. He said indignantly, “You’re unreasonable.”

The Stone House’s boss explained to him, “We’ve sent the supplementary rules before the auction, since the seven copybooks would be sold by special rules. As we know, Sir Ning has the right to choose the buyer.”

The royal buyer from the South Jin Kingdom thought of the paper he saw on the desk minutes ago. Then he suppressed his anger and said, “Even if Sir Ning has the right to choose the buyer, he should do this personally. Why is this nobody doing it for him?”

“How could Sir Ning in Old Brush Pen Shop have heard what happened just now? Has Sir Ning been here before? You guys should stop playing dirty tricks.”

The boss thought for a moment and answered, “You’re right. Sir Ning has previously visited us, but he’s absent at present. Before he left, he authorized Mr. Chu to make the decision.”

The royal buyer from the South Jin Kingdom was stunned.

As it was mentioned earlier, Ning Que was very famous in Chang’an. Especially after he chopped Liu Yiqing, Ning Que became more respectful in the Tangs’ minds. Everybody would like to meet him.

All the aristocrats and rich merchants gathered here for his calligraphy. As they knew he just left a few minutes ago, people regretted so badly because they had missed the chance to see him.

Someone among the people yelled. All of a sudden, a lot of footsteps sounded in the building. Dozens of people opened the bamboo curtain and rushed down the stairs toward the yard.

The Chicken Soup Calligraphy now belonged to Grand Secretary Wang. The people here had no chance to taste the “chicken soup”, of course; they wanted to meet the person who cooked the “old hen”. Therefore, in the twinkling of an eye, people left and the Stone House became nearly empty. The royal buyer stood beside the handrail and looked dreadful, however, he could say nothing more.

“Please wait a minute, Sir Ning,” one of them said.

“Mr. Thirteen, please, our headmaster wants to invite you to visit.”

People walked out of the courtyard, passed through the woods and came to the lakeside. Seeing the small boat drifting further, they waved to the boat and cried out to call him back.

The boat was drifting away slowly. They saw a black figure come out from the pitch-black awning. He waved to the people and landed to leave.

Seeing the back figure disappear at the alley beside the Victory House, people on the lakeside regretted a lot.

There was a rumor among the book and painting shops in Chang’an that the seven calligraphies auctioned in the Stone House were stolen by the little handmaiden in the Old Brush Pen Shop. However, Ning Que’s presence denied it somehow.

When the auction was going very well in the Stone House, Sangsang, the little handmaiden was sitting in the study room of the Star-Picking Casino and staring at a pile of paper.

Since the night when Ning Que helped Chao Xiaoshu fight in the Spring Breeze Pavilion two years ago, the whole underworld in Chang’an was controlled by the Fish-dragon Gang. The study room in the casino once owned by the head of the Western City became the warehouse of the Fish-dragon Gang.

The pile of paper on the table looked a little new and was written carefully. Although they were not excellent or as wonderful as the calligraphies in the Old Brush Pen Shop, they were still valuable.

These were title deeds for houses and land.

Several old stewards with deep wrinkles of the casino were calculating while Mr. Qi was watching and standing by the side of the table anxiously.

The old stewards quickly ticked off beads on abacuses, making noises in the quiet room. Although it sounded nicely, Mr. Qi looked more and more worried.

The beads were moved fast and it would still take them a long time to complete. Sangsang put down the deed for a new building near the lake and said, “We still need forty-one thousand four hundred and sixty-two taels of silver.”

Mr. Qi looked at her weirdly and thought, “Even the best managers in the casino haven’t calculated the result, how can you know it?”

Sangsang knew what he was thinking about. But she did not explain anything and just waited for the outcome quietly.

After a while, the old stewards finally finished complicated calculations and their leader arranged all the papers carefully. He said, “According to the letters of intent, we still need forty-one thousand, four hundred and sixty taels of silver.”

Their result was almost similar to Sangsang’s since there was only a little difference.

Mr. Qi looked at her surprisedly. It was amazing for her to calculate the number only by mental arithmetic.

Sangsang knew she was right but she did not say anything, because she knew it was nothing big even if the old stewards took the wrong tax rate.

Mr. Qi looked at her and beckoned to the stewards to tell them to leave. After the stewards left, he said, “Although the housing price under the Yanming mountain is cheaper than others in the city, it’s unavoidable that someone will force up the price if we buy so much property at one time.”

Then he shook his head and said, “Even if we can force down the price somehow and inform the Chang’an Local Government, we can’t go too far. If we were reported to the court, I wouldn’t know how to explain to Brother Chao. It’s probably the cheapest price.”

The deeds for the houses and land around the Yanming Lake were on the table.

Yanming Lake was completely dredged by the Ministry of Works recently, and the accumulated lake mud still piled up near the stone mountain. It smelled bad if people got close and it was said that the lake would not be any better until next summer.

That was why people in Chang’an did not consider it as suitable for living, even if Yanming lake was a beautiful place.

The land price of Yanming Lake was the cheapest in Chang’an. Nowadays, most of the houses here were all dilapidated and even the new houses were built by the speculative citizens.

After hearing his words, Sangsang nodded and said, “My young master has noticed that.”

Mr. Qi had been commissioned by Ning Que to purchase the houses around Yanming Lake secretly. As the leader of the biggest gang in Chang’an, he had many subordinates to do this for him, but he still couldn’t figure out why Ning Que did this.

“The Yanming lakeside is a good place to travel but not as a place to live.”

He frowned and said, “Even if you want to live there, you don’t have to buy all the houses. It costs too much even though the price is low enough.”

Sangsang said, “I don’t know, either. Maybe he just needs some peace and doesn’t want to be disturbed.”

Mr. Qi shook his head and thought, “There are so many places in Chang’an that could be your home. Why do you have to do this?”

This was an obvious loss.

“It’s more than forty thousand taels of silver.”

Sangsang looked at the deeds and murmured, “Is it enough?”

Mr. Qi said, “I have some money but it belongs to the gang. I’m not able to take it out as I’m just its keeper.”

Sangsang nodded and said, “You have done enough.”

Mr. Qi waved his hand and said, “Maybe it would not be any trouble if Ning Que could deliver a message to the palace.”

Sangsang thought of his purpose and knew he would not like to have any relationships with the imperial court. “Let’s wait for the information of the Stone House.”

“Here it is.”

Ning Que entered the room and looked at the deeds on the table. “If the price is not going to be changed, we have enough money for them.”

Mr. Qi said coldly, “We’ve offered a reasonable price and signed the letters of intent. If the owners are not stupid enough, they would not raise the price anymore.”

Ning Que was satisfied with Mr. Qi and he said, “The money will be sent here later. Would you please sign the documents with the owners?”

Mr. Qi said surprisedly, “With whose name?”

“Brother Chao’s name.”

It was common to consign one’s family and property to someone of trust, so he answered, “Okay.”

“Can you keep it between us?”

“For how long?”

Ning Que thought a while and said, “At most until this winter.”

“No problem.”

Ning Que and Sangsang went to the Yanming Mountain instead going back to the Old Brush Pen Shop after they left the casino.

They looked at the lake and the yards across the lake under the mountain.

Although he was enjoying the bustling life in the Lin 47th Street, there were too many people coming for him recently. That was why he purchased the lake. Since the Great Divine Priest of Revelation’s visit, he realized that they had to move.

He bought this place for some peace. However, there was no need to tell anybody about the deeper reason.

Sangsang looked at the houses there and asked, “Are we going to live here in the future?”

Ning Que nodded and said, “The lake will become solid in winter.”

…