Knight of the Sea

“Where am I supposed to find you a gold mine?” Fang Tinglan didn’t even blink at the request.

“It doesn’t have to be right now,” Zhou Buyi said cheerfully. “It’s quite easy to negotiate with me.”

“Alright, then say I owe you one. Are you waiting to profit off the interest?”

“I’m sure two gold mines will be a piece of cake for Officer Fang.”

“…” Fang Tinglan sighed and put down his cup. “I thought you only looked like a scoundrel, but now I can see you’re the same inside.”

“You exaggerate.” Zhou Buyi held up his hands in mock helplessness.

Despite being in Bainiao District, this establishment lacked the solemn elegance and arrogance of the Yulan Street. The people living here were mostly low ranking officials with small estates outside the city or traveling merchants that frequented Tisu.

The sky brightened and the temperature gradually climbed. The children downstairs shouted for carriages and the servants gathered under the shade, whispering about the private affairs of the area. Every once in a while, one might hear the crisp sound of a slap and know that another unfortunate fly had met its unfortunate end under someone’s palm.

Fang Tinglan fanned the air in front of him with his hand, then tossed the paper Qin Weiyu had given him onto the table.

“How much do you know about the people living there?” He asked, standing up to lower the curtains.

“Giving me orders already?” Zhou Buyi clicked his tongue. He glanced over the address.

“Qin Weiyu gave this to you just now? He should work on his handwriting… Chenming Palace.” He sighed, “That place is filled with old men with faces as stiff as scholarly masters. Even the girls are boring, their expressions all muted before they’re even married. You’d think they were little widows remaining faithful to their dead husbands. They won’t even smile when I give them candy, so boring… Oh, right. I’ve heard that the person at that address has a story.”

“Oh?” Fang Tinglan looked back.

“His name is Yener and he’s an antique of an old knight — a position just for show, by the way — living with his similarly old wife.” Zhou Buyi lifted the net covering the fruit platter and popped a candied fruit into his mouth. He pushed it to the side of his mouth, his cheek bulging like a hamster.

“This old knight was originally a trusted minister of the Amber Emperor, but offended the Emperor for whatever reason five years ago and was sent to make a living by himself in the rural areas1in the rural areas: anyone moderately rich has land of their own. So, when officials are no longer favored, they’ll be sent back to their homes and they can make a living off farming..” He added vaguely, “Two harvests later, that cripple summoned him again to compile a dictionary. He hired a coachman and left Xiaoye Docks2Xiaoye: lit. little night with his many boxes of books, his wife, and their only son. Their horse couldn’t have been very good either, because it took them an entire five days on what should have been a three day journey…”

“You talk as much as that old beggar I met this morning.”

“ — and on the fifth day, he was kidnapped.”

“…”

Zhou Buyi continued cheerfully, turning the candy in his mouth.

“Like I just said, his position is just for show, so his family doesn’t have an estate or a salary. They’re so poor that I bet all they have to eat back home are those boxes of books. Since they couldn’t afford to pay ransom, then of course they’d be taken care of. The first one to die was their coachman.”

“The old man kept writing to his friends in Jiumeng city; too bad he didn’t know that his similarly poor friends didn’t even receive his letters. Those bandits took his son outside and returned with the boy’s bloodied coat.”

Fang Tinglan didn’t bother to hurry him this time. He half listened to the man, and half listened to the servants below muttering about how the fish peddler was once again scamming customers.

“Anyways, I think it’s a pretty good deal. Instead of paying for four people, now one only needs to pay for the old man and his wife. Tsk. If it was me, I’d only pay for myself.” Zhou Buyi shook his head. “However, he’s quite lucky. Those bandits must have forgotten to lock the door when they dealt with the son, so he and his wife managed to escape.”

“Too fake,” Fang Tinglan said.

“Everyone else said the same, but the old knight wouldn’t say anything else and nobody can confirm whether their cell was locked or not.” Zhou Buyi finally finished his candy and spat the pit out. “The couple is certain it was the grace of God — that it was some invisible force that saved them. So, they want to do some sort of charity to repay that force — their son is already gone, so they adopted the first orphan they met and treat that child like their own.”

“There are orphans everywhere in Jiumeng.”

“Correct. The two picked up a little girl.” Zhou Buyi said. “A lucky girl; she was always picking through the rubbish at Hongliu Harbor, but now she’s transformed into the queen’s maid in the blink of an eye. Too bad the queen, Her Majesty Long Rong, doesn’t interact with society much because she was kidnapped herself when she was a child. Otherwise I’d really want to meet this little sparrow turned phoenix.”

“Finished?” Fang Tinglan asked.

“Finished,” Zhou Buyi answered.

“Fake.”

“Certainly so.”

“Are the people of Jiumeng City so easy to fool?” Fang Tinglan didn’t believe it for a moment.

“If it was one of Abale’s favored ministers, then those Amber Scorpions and the police would have investigated long ago. But for a penniless and insignificant knight, nobody would care unless he said he’d inherited an enormous diamond,” Zhou Buyi smirked. “After public security and domestic affairs came and added this girl to their register, the entire affair was over. If it wasn’t for the fact that one of my girlfriends knew the queen’s maids, then I wouldn’t have known about something so old.”

Fang Tinglan suddenly gave a start.

“Did your girlfriend tell you who represented the police department and domestic affairs department that day?”

“I don’t remember the domestic affairs one… but I do know the one from public security. He used to lead the police at Hongliu Harbor, but soon made a great contribution by bringing tens of his subordinates and actually attacking the Baihu Gang of the Mud District. They killed the Blind Eagle Ah’ge on the spot and captured their leader Dowa. Because of this, he was promoted to head of the department.”

“Quit beating around the bush, who was it?”

“Faluko.”

~~~

Faluko’s head hurt.

“How did you suddenly fail?” He pinched the bridge of his nose and helplessly looked at the young man in front of him.

“You’re the one who told me not to provoke the Amber Scorpions. I was following orders.” Hai Lian chewed on a stick that he’d picked up along the way.

“But they came to me themselves; what could I have done?” He said both helplessly and righteously. He even pointed to the corner of his mouth. “Look, the results of offending them.”

“You should be glad they didn’t take your life,” Faluko sighed. He rarely sighed; it detracted from the cold, dignified aura of his position. But with the entire fight ring ordeal, it was very likely that the ones he was after had disappeared into the wind. He couldn’t afford this sort of loss, and simply shoved it to the back of his mind.

“Fine, leave Kui Lei for now, and take a break from the entire list too. I’ll find you again when the time is right.”

“Pay me for Herak first, I need the money.”

“The old man needs money?” Faluko understood.

“I haven’t given him anything in half a year, of course he does,” Hai Lian nodded.

Faluko opened the drawer and counted out a dozen or so gold and silver coins. He pushed them across the table.

“How long do you plan to live like this?” The man suddenly sighed.

Hai Lian’s hand suddenly stopped atop the coins. He looked down at the healing wound along his finger. Fang Tinglan’s medicine was very effective; the wound no longer hurt and was already scabbing. Only a few more days and all signs of the underground fight ring will have disappeared from his body.

But how long would it take for his heart to heal from Wild Horse’s knife-like words?

How much longer did he have to live like this?

“At least…” Hai Lian’s voice was soft as a feather, “At least I can protect her until she gets married, I suppose.”

A/N: Finally close to mapping out all the character’s relationships ORZZZZ

Each chapter is clearly stuffed with information, but the progress is still so slow. I hope nobody thinks I’m dragging it out TT__TT

T/N: Cannot believe it’s been 24 chapters it feels like we just barely got to know them!

Also I’ve been translating 治安 as public security… Took me an entire crime c-drama to realize that “police department” would work better… I’ll fix the previous chapters eventually.

in the rural areas: anyone moderately rich has land of their own. So, when officials are no longer favored, they’ll be sent back to their homes and they can make a living off farming.

Xiaoye: lit. little night