Spring was always a relaxing time of the year. The breeze gently brushed the willow trees and wild flowers, causing the air to be filled with the pleasant scent of the season.

The West Gate Boulevard of Fuzhou[1] was a stone slab road that extended all the way to the west gate of the town. A huge mansion stood south of the street with a tall flagpole on either side of its gate. The flagpoles were about twenty feet tall, each with a huge green banner streaming in the wind. The banner on the left was embroidered in yellow silk, bearing the image of a majestic lion. As the banner fluttered back and forth in the wind, the lion seemed as though it had come alive and were about to jump down at any time. Just above the lion’s head was a pair of bats, embroidered in black silk, waving their wings in flying motion. The banner on the right bore four huge words in black that read “Fortune Prestige Escort House,” all written in a bold, vigorous hand.

The house, itself, had a large vermilion gate. Teacup-sized copper studs on the gate shone in the bright sunlight. Above the gate, characters in gold lacquer were inscribed on a huge sign reading – “Fortune Prestige Escort House.” And slightly below, the word “Headquarters” was engraved in a smaller font. Beyond the gate were two rows of benches bordering a path, and sitting upon those benches were eight guards in house uniforms, with their faces animated with excitement.

Sounds of hoof beats came from the backyard of the court. All eight guards sprang up and rushed out of the gate. Five horses galloped out from the side-door on the west of the mansion and stopped directly in front of the gate. Leading the pack was a beautiful horse, white as snow, with a silver bridle and stirrups. A young man in silk clothing, roughly eighteen years of age, sat on the horse, with a sword hanging from his belt and a bow strapped onto his back. A hunting falcon perched on his left shoulder, as the horse strode along the street. The four horsemen following him were all dressed in tight, black outfits.

“The Young Master is going hunting!” three guards shouted in unison.

The young man smiled and cracked his whip in the air cockily. Answering the command, the white horse neighed happily and dashed along the stone slab road.

“Escort Shi,” one of the guards yelled out, “how about bringing back a wild boar, so we can all have a feast!”

A forty-year-old horseman, trailing behind, grinned back. “Don’t worry! I will make sure to save the boar’s tail for you. Just don’t get drunk before we get back.”

Amid the loud laughter, the five horsemen vanished like the wind.

Just after they exited the town gate, Lin Pingzhi,[2] the Young Master of the Escort House, spurred his horse lightly. The horse picked up speed and soon left the rest of the pack far behind. After riding onto a small slope, he set the falcon to work. Minutes later, a pair of yellow rabbits was flushed out from the bushes. Lin Pingzhi quickly grabbed the bow from his back. Pulling out an arrow from his saddlebag, he took aim and shot in one smooth action. One rabbit was down, with one more to go. But by the time he pulled out another arrow and was ready to shoot again, the other rabbit had disappeared behind the bushes.

Escort Zheng rode by with a smile. “Nice shot, Young Master!” he praised.

“Young Master, hurry, we’ve found pheasants here!” Henchman Bai shouted in the woods to the left.

Lin Pingzhi rushed over and saw a pheasant flying out from the bushes, heading directly toward his head. He pulled out an arrow rapidly and fired at the pheasant but missed. Out of reflex, he lashed his whip at the pheasant. With a cracking sound, the pheasant fell to the ground, bright and colorful feathers scattering in all directions. All five cheered.

“What a swift lash! Even a large griffon wouldn’t escape that,” Escort Shi exclaimed.

The party hunted in the woods for over four hours. Intending to let the Young Master have a good time, the two escorts, Shi and Zheng, and the two henchmen, Bai and Chen, always drove the prey toward the young man, even when they, themselves, had the better shot. By the end of the hunt, Lin Pingzhi had shot two more rabbits and two more pheasants. But Young Master Lin wanted to hunt more. Not realizing enough excitement from small prey, he yearned for larger game.

“Let’s go a bit deeper into the woods, and see what we can find,” he exclaimed eagerly.

Escort Shi thought to himself, “If we go too deep into the woods, as the Young Master wishes, he probably won’t quit until after dark. Surely, the Madam will complain when we get back. That won’t be good.” So he replied, “It is quite late already. There are lots of sharp rocks around that might damage the hooves of your white horse. Why don’t we try our luck again early tomorrow morning?”

He knew that it would be very hard to persuade the stubborn Young Master, but Lin Pingzhi loved his white horse so much that he wouldn’t risk any chance to injure his precious pet. The horse had been given to Lin Pingzhi as a present on his seventeenth birthday two years ago. The colt had come from a foreign country, and cost his grandmother in Luoyang, a fair amount of gold.

Just as Shi had expected, his suggestion worked.

“My Snow Dragon is clever enough to not step on sharp rocks, but I am not so sure about your horses. Alright, let’s head back then. We wouldn’t want Henchman Chen to crack his bottom somewhere on those sharp rocks, would we?” grinned Lin Pingzhi, patting his horse on the neck.

Howling with laughter, all five turned around and started heading back home. Lin Pingzhi rode ahead of everyone else, but did not take the same route by which they had come. Instead, he turned north and sprinted forward. Satisfied after some rapid riding, he finally reined in the horse and let it trot slowly.

The sign of a wine shop emerged from one side of the road, not far ahead.

“Young Master, how about a drink here? The fresh rabbits and pheasants we’ve got would go perfectly with some good wine,” Escort Zheng suggested.

“So, you didn’t come out for hunting, but rather for drinking, did you? I suppose if I don’t bribe you with some drinks, you wouldn’t want to come out again tomorrow.” Lin Pingzhi grinned as he dismounted and started walking toward the wine shop.

Normally, the owner of the wine shop, Old Cai, would have hurried out to take the reins and flattered Lin with some praise. “Well lookee thar, the Young Master’s gotten so much game today! Ain’t he great! There ain’t many who can match his skills,” Old Cai would exclaim. But today, when they came to the door, they were greeted with complete silence. A girl, dressed in green, stood by the wine vat, with her hair done up in two buns with a hairpin through each; she seemed to be busy with it. She was facing inside and seemed to have no intention of turning around.

“Where is Old Cai? Get out and tether our horses,” Escort Zheng yelled impatiently.

Henchmen Bai and Chen pulled out a bench, brushed off the dust with their sleeves, and let Lin Pingzhi sit down. The two escorts sat with Lin Pingzhi, and the two henchmen sat down at another table. Coughing sounds floated out from the backroom, and moments later, a gray-haired old man walked out.

“Welcome, sirs. Can I bring you some wine?” the old man greeted the group of five in a distinctly northern accent.

“Do we look like we are here for tea?” Escort Zheng retorted. “Of course we want wine. Get us three jugs of Bamboo Green.[3] Where’s Old Cai? What’s going on? Are you the new owner here?”

“Yes, sir! Coming right up! Wan’er, bring three jugs of Bamboo Green,” the old man said to the girl. “To be frank with you misters, my name is Sa. I was born in this town, but I left to be a trader when I was young. Recently, my son and my daughter-in-law both passed away. I figured that no matter how tall a tree is, its leaves will always fall to the roots, so I brought my granddaughter back to my hometown. But since I’ve been gone for over forty some years, my relatives and my friends had either passed away or left town. Luckily, the previous owner of this wine shop, Old Cai, happened to want out, so he sold it to me for thirty taels[4] of silver. I am finally back, now. I feel happy just listening to the hometown dialect. But it’s so embarrassing that I’ve totally forgotten the dialect myself.”

The girl in the green robe came back with a wooden tray. She set down the bowls and chopsticks, and then placed three jugs of wine on the table. When she finished, she walked away with her head down, not even glancing at the customers. Lin Pingzhi watched as the girl walked away. She had a slim figure, but her skin was dark and rough. Pox marks covered her face, which made the face appear to be very ugly. Lin Pingzhi thought that the reason she was so rigid was probably because she had only started waiting tables not too long ago, so he paid no more attention to her.

Escort Shi brought out a pheasant and a yellow rabbit, and handed them to old man Sa. “Clean them up and cook them well,” he ordered.

“Yes, sir! Right away! Would you like some jerky and peanuts to go with the wine, sirs?” old man Sa asked.

Wan’er placed some beef jerky and peanuts on the table, not waiting for old man Sa’s order.

“Our Young Mister Lin, here, is the Young Master of the Fortune Prestige Escort House. He helps out needy people all the time. Money, to him, is like dirt. If you cook the two dishes well and make his stomach happy, you can easily make back that thirty taels investment you spent in a matter of months,” Escort Zheng introduced.

“Oh, yes, yes! Many thanks!!” old man Sa answered cheerfully as he picked up the pheasant and the rabbit and went into the kitchen.

Escort Zheng poured the wine into all three cups. Raising his own cup, he poured all of it down his throat, then after smacking his lips a few times, he said contentedly, “The owner changed, but fortunately the wine is still the same.”

He poured himself another cup and was just about to drink it, when suddenly, the drum of hoof beats rose from a distance and then came to an abrupt stop outside the shop. Two horsemen rode in from the north. Traveling at a blazing speed, they arrived at the small shop in no time at all.

“Hey, it’s a wine shop. Let’s go in for a couple of drinks,” one of the riders shouted.

Escort Shi recognized that the speaker had a distinct accent of western Szechwan.[5] He turned around and spotted two men in purple robes. They tied the reins of their horses to the big banyan tree outside the shop and walked in. Giving the escorts a casual glance, they made a big display of sitting down. Both had a strip of white cloth wrapped around their foreheads. At first glance, with their purple robes, they seemed to be fairly cultured people, but since both had bare legs showing in the open and bare feet in hemp shoes, they were unlikely to be so.[6] Escort Shi knew that most people from Szechwan dressed in this manner. The strips of white cloths worn on their foreheads were in mourning for the death[7] of Marquis Zhuge Liang.[8] The Marquis did so many great things for the people of Szechwan and was so well respected that even a thousand years after his death, people still wore white mourning cloths on their foreheads in his memory.

Lin Pingzhi had never seen people dressed like this before. “Their dress looks neither civilian, nor martial. It’s very strange indeed,” he thought aloud.

“Wine, get me some wine! So many damn mountains here. Our horses are really tired out!” the younger of the two yelled out.

“What can I get for you?” Wan’er walked to their table and asked. She looked down at the floor while asking the question, so that the two could not see her face. Her voice was low, but sounded very clear and pleasant. The younger man was dazed for a second. Unexpectedly, his right hand shot out and raised Wan’er’s chin.

“What a pity!” He snickered.

Wan’er gasped and quickly drew herself back.

The younger man’s companion burst into laughter. “Brother Yu, this chick has a nice body, but as for her face, look how pockmarked it is!! Just like the inside of a pomegranate!” The younger man laughed even louder.

Lin Pingzhi’s anger flared. He slapped the table hard and shouted, “What kind of creatures are you, you two blind scoundrels? How dare you to come to Fuzhou and behave so ill-mannered?”

“Hey, Jia Junior, somebody seems really upset. Who do you think this sissy is referring to?” the younger fellow, Yu, said with a smirk.

Lin Pingzhi was fair of face, and looked much like his mother. Even under normal circumstances, he would have slapped someone just for staring at him. Hearing the word sissy, his temper flared. He grabbed a tin kettle from the table and hurled it at the two men. Yu shifted back slightly; the kettle missed him and sailed out the door, landing on the lawn outside. Wine from the kettle splashed everywhere. Escorts Shi and Zheng sprang up immediately and rushed up to the two men.

“This boy should play a little bitch in the opera. He would seduce quite a few men. But I doubt he’s any good at fighting.” Yu grinned sneeringly.

“This is the Young Master Lin from the Fortune Prestige Escort House. You’ve really got your nerve to offend him!” Escort Zheng hollered. As he spat out the last word, his left fist was already on its way toward Yu’s face. Yu deflected the punch with his left palm, then grabbed Zheng’s wrist and pulled hard. Escort Zheng lost his balance and fell toward the table. Yu then struck Zheng’s neck with his left elbow. With a crash, the table collapsed to the ground, along with Zheng.

Although Zheng was not in the top echelon of fighters at the Escort House, he was not at the bottom, either. Seeing that Escort Zheng had been knocked down by Yu with just one move, Escort Shi knew the two would make tough opponents.

“Friends, who are you?” he asked. “Looks like you know Kung Fu. Haven’t you heard of the Fortune Prestige Escort House?”

“Fortune Prestige Escort House? Never heard of it. What the hell is that?” Yu smirked.

“We are in the business of teaching manners to lowlifes, such as you,” Lin Pingzhi leapt over with a roar. He struck out with his left hand, but before fully extending his arm, his right hand struck out from underneath his left hand. This maneuver was called “Cloud Concealed Glare” and was a move from the Lin Family’s Kung Fu style of Universal Hands.

“Ho! This sissy boy actually knows a few tricks,” Yu exclaimed mockingly, blocking the blow with his left arm and stretching out his right hand to grab Lin Pingzhi’s shoulder.

Lin Pingzhi lowered his right shoulder in evasion, and attempted to punch Yu with his left fist. Yu ducked his head from the punch, but to his surprise, Lin Pingzhi’s fist opened and changed from a punch into a palm strike. With the move called “Flowers in the Fog,” he slapped Yu hard across the face.

Now Yu went berserk. He threw a kick at Lin Pingzhi, who stepped to the right and returned a kick at Yu. While the two fought, Escort Shi had already engaged in a fight with Jia, and Henchman Bai helped Escort Zheng up from the ground. Swearing at the top of his lungs, Zheng leapt forward and joined Lin Pingzhi in the fight against Yu.

“Go help Escort Shi! I can handle this punk!” Lin Pingzhi shouted.

Escort Zheng knew that the Young Master always wanted to best others, and did not want extra help, so he picked up a broken table leg and swung it at Jia’s head. In the meantime, the two henchmen had run outside. One took Lin Pingzhi’s sword, which was hanging from the saddle, while the other grabbed a hunting fork, and then both started pouring out all manner of profanity at the top of their lungs. Retainers of the Escort House were not good fighters, but because they were the ones shouting out the escort songs during trips, they all had loud voices. They cursed in the local dialect. The two men from Szechwan had no clue as to what they were saying, but they knew that it must have been something quite uncomplimentary.

Lin Pingzhi focused on using moves from the Universal Hands style to fight Yu. He had practiced this form with many escorts in the Escort House. Partly because this form of martial art was indeed excellent, and partly because no one from the Escort House, who valued his employment, was stupid enough to beat the Young Master. Thus, even though Lin Pingzhi had a good understanding of the form, he did not have much actual fighting experience. He had fought some local rascals in Fuzhou before; however, no street thug could prevail against the fighting style of the great Lin Family. In less than three moves, they all would end up running away, with either a swollen face or a bloody nose. But things were quite different, this time. After only a dozen or so moves, Lin Pingzhi had to swallow his pride and admit that his opponent was really tough.

While the two exchanged punches, Yu kept taunting Lin Pingzhi with insults. “Hey, buddy! The more I look at you, the more you look like a girl dressed, as a guy. Look at those lovely cheeks of yours. Why don’t we stop fighting, so I can give you a big kiss? What do you say?”

Lin Pingzhi was enraged. He glanced over at Escorts Shi and Zheng, only to find that they were not faring well, even though it was two against one. Zheng had been punched hard on the nose; blood was all over his face and his clothes. Lin Pingzhi hastened his moves and, unexpectedly, was able to slap Yu in the face a second time. It was a heavy slap.

“Son of a turtle!” Yu snarled. “I was just playing with you, you loser. You want to fight for real now?” He suddenly changed his tactics and sped up his moves. Punches poured down upon Lin Pingzhi like a thunderstorm.

The two fought from the inside of the shop to the outside. Seeing a punch aimed directly at his solar plexus, Lin Pingzhi remembered the release-block technique his father had taught him, so he tried to block it with his left arm, but Yu’s punch was so powerful that he failed to stop it. The punch sent a shock throughout his entire body, and before he was able to gather himself, Yu’s left hand grabbed him by the collar.

Yu jerked him down hard. Lin Pingzhi’s torso caved in to Yu’s strength and leaned forward. In the next second, Yu’s right arm was already pushing down on the back of Lin Pingzhi’s neck with a move called the Iron Threshold.

“You son of a turtle! If you kowtow[9] to me and call me Great Uncle three times, I might let you go.” Yu laughed scornfully.

Escorts Shi and Zheng were stunned. They wanted to rush over and rescue Lin Pingzhi, but were kept at bay by Jia’s nonstop kicks and punches.

Henchman Bai thrust the hunting fork at Yu’s back. “Punk, let go of him! Who the hell do you think you are…?” he yelled loudly.

Yu threw a reverse kick with his left foot, which knocked the fork out of Bai’s grip and sent it flying into the air. He immediately followed with another backward kick, using his right foot, sending Henchman Bai rolling to the ground.

“You stinking turtle egg! The hell with you! Your grandma has no eyeballs!” Henchman Chen started cursing. But with each curse, he took a step back, so after eight or nine of them, he was already far from the scene of the fight.

“Hey, sissy boy, are you going to kowtow or not?” Yu laughed. He pushed down even harder, pressing Lin Pingzhi’s head almost to the ground. Lin Pingzhi tried to punch at Yu’s stomach, but the punches always fell a few inches short. Lin felt unbearable pain from his neck as if his neck was going to break. Sparkles glittered in front of his eyes and his eardrums were filled with buzzing sounds. He clawed and scratched like a wild cat, when suddenly, his fingers came upon a hard object that was strapped on his shin. Without thinking, he pulled it out and stabbed it at Yu with all his might.

Yu let out a sudden shriek and let go of Lin Pingzhi. Dread and terror covered his face as Yu stumbled back in disbelief. The dagger had pierced through his stomach all the way, leaving only the handle showing. He was facing west, and the golden handle of the dagger glinted crazily in the rays of the setting sun. He opened his mouth wide, but nothing came out. He reached for the dagger with his hand, but then paused, too afraid to touch the shining handle.

Stumbling back several steps, Lin Pingzhi also looked on in shock. His heart almost jumped out of his throat. Jia and the two escorts stopped fighting and looked at Yu in astonishment. Yu finally gathered enough courage to grab the protruding handle. Blood gushed from the wound as he pulled out the dagger. The onlookers cried out in disbelief.

“Jia…Jia…Tell my father, se…seek…vengeance…for…!” Yu hissed before dropping the dagger and fell forward onto the ground. His torso twitched a few times and finally stopped moving.

“Brother Yu, Brother Yu!” Jia rushed to his side and cried out bitterly.

“Get your weapons!” Escort Shi whispered. He darted to his horse and drew out his long knife. As an experienced escort, he knew only too well that Jia would stop at nothing to avenge the death of his companion.

Jia glared murderously at Lin Pingzhi for a few seconds, and then quickly retrieved the dagger from the ground and dashed to his horse. He mounted in a hurry, wasting no time in untying the rein. In a swift slash, he cut the horse loose with the dagger. Jia spurred his horse hard, and within moments, both the horse and its rider disappeared into the northern horizon.

Henchman Chen walked up to the body and kicked it hard, sending it rolling over. Blood continued to gush from the wound.

“You big moron, how dare you insult our Young Master? Now you’ve learned your lesson.”

But Lin Pingzhi had never killed anyone before. His face turned pale in fright. “Escort Shi…what shall we do? I never…I didn’t mean to kill him.” His voice trembled.

Escort Shi pondered to himself, “The Fortune Prestige Escort House has been around for three generations. Getting into fights and having people die while on the job is simply unavoidable. But normally the victims are either bandits or unorthodox members of the Martial World, and these fights usually happen in some remote mountains or deep forests. Afterwards, we simply bury the corpses and forget about the whole thing. Of course the bandits would never go to the authorities and report the killing. But this time, the victim was obviously not a bandit, and the scene is close to a populated area. Murder is no small crime. Even the son of a governor or mayor wouldn’t be able to get off easily if they committed such a crime, let alone the Young Master of an Escort House.” Reflecting upon these facts, he came to a decision.

“Let’s move the body into the shop,” he said with a frown. “It’s too close to the road here. We don’t want anyone to see this.”

Luckily it was already quite late, and there was no one passing by. Henchmen Bai and Chen hauled the body into the shop.

“Young Master, do you have any money on you?” Escort Shi whispered to Lin Pingzhi.

“Yeah, I do!” Lin Pingzhi answered anxiously, as he took all of his money out in a hurry. There were about twenty taels of silver in all.

Escort Shi took the silver and walked into the shop. Setting the money on the table, he said, “Old Sa, this outsider was harassing your granddaughter, and our Young Master was just trying to help. He didn’t want to kill the man, but he had no choice. All of us witnessed the whole event. The incident originated because of you, so if anybody blows the whistle, no one will get away with it. Take the money and just forget about the whole thing. We’ll get rid of the body and pretend nothing happened here. Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes,” Old Sa nodded.

“Killing a few gangsters is a piece of cake for us when we escort cargos,” Escort Zheng exclaimed. “These two Szechwan rats behaved so suspiciously, I bet they were either burglars or rapists. They must have come to Fuzhou looking for crimes to commit. Our Young Master saw through their disguises, and took care of them for the safety of the town. He should have gone to the authorities for a reward, but our Young Master does not want to go through all that trouble, and he doesn’t really care about this kind of fame. You, old friend, better keep your mouth shut. If you let anything out, we will say that you are their accomplice and that you were just using this wine shop as cover to spy for them. From your accent, anyone could tell that you’re not from here. People would say ‘How did those two just happen to show up right after you took over the shop? What a coincidence!’”

“I won’t say anything. I know nothing,” Old Sa said hurriedly in compliance.

Led by Escort Shi, Henchmen Bai and Chen buried the body in the garden behind the shop; they also cleaned up all the bloodstains in front of the door.

“If we don’t hear anything unusual in ten days,” Escort Zheng said to Old Sa, “you’ll get yourself another fifty taels of silver. But if you really feel like telling stories…humph! Well, the Fortune Prestige Escort House has killed hundreds of bandits before. It wouldn’t be any trouble to plant two more bodies in your garden, would it?”

“We won’t dare! We won’t dare! Thanks! Many thanks!” Old Sa complied yet again.

It was already dark outside by the time everything was finally handled. Lin Pingzhi relaxed a little, but still felt uneasiness as he went back to the Escort House. When he entered the front hall, he saw his father sitting in a wooden armchair, his eyes shut, lost in thought.

“Dad!” Lin Pingzhi called.

“Went hunting? Caught any boars?” Lin Zhennan opened his eyes and asked with a smile.

“No,” Lin Pingzhi replied.

Lin Zhennan lifted the pipe in his hands and suddenly struck down toward Lin Pingzhi’s shoulder. “Take that,” he exclaimed.

Lin Pingzhi knew that his father always liked to impulsively check up on his progress in fighting skills. Typically, he would have countered this Plunging Comic Star – the twenty-sixth move in the Evil-Resisting Sword Art, with the Buddha Blossom – the forty-sixth move. But his mind was so burdened by the incident at the wine shop that he thought his father had already learned about the incident and was bestowing his punishment with his pipe. He dared not move, crying out plaintively, “Father!”

Lin Zhennan’s pipe halted just about three inches from his son’s shoulder.

“What’s with you today? You think you’d still have the shoulder when you are actually fighting someone, if you were this clumsy?” Lin Zhennan asked. Although the words were harsh, a smile played about his mouth.

“Understood!” Lin Pingzhi responded. He dropped his left shoulder and rapidly spun his body around, stepping behind his father. Snatching up a feather duster from the tea table, he thrust it at Lin Zhennan’s back. This was the move called the Buddha Blossom.

“That’s the right move!” Lin Zhennan nodded in approval. He passed his pipe across his back and parried the thrust, then countered with a move known as the Flute-Play on the River.

Lin Pingzhi was much more focused now. He blocked the attack with “Purple Mist East Bound.”

The father and son fought until after roughly fifty moves, when Lin Zhennan swiftly poked his son on the chest just below his right nipple with the handle of his pipe. Not able to fend off the attack in time, Lin Pingzhi felt a sudden soreness in his right arm, and dropped the feather duster immediately.

“Good! Very good! You have shown progress every single day of this month! You lasted four more moves than yesterday!” Lin Zhennan smiled gleefully and sat back down. “Pingzhi, guess what! Our Escort House has received wonderful news today,” he announced while filling his pipe with fresh tobacco leaves.

Lin Pingzhi took out a firestone and lit the pipe for his father. “Did you just sign off on a big business deal today?” he inquired.

Lin Zhennan shook his head.

“As long as our Escort House offers good services, business will come to us! Our only concern is our own ability – are we capable of fulfilling big contracts, when they do come to us?”

He inhaled deeply, and then blew out a cloud of smoke.

“Escort Zhang sent us a message from Hunan.[10] Master Yu of the Pine-Wind Temple, the Master of the Qingcheng Sword School, in Western Szechwan, has accepted our gifts.”

Hearing the words “Western Szechwan” and “Master Yu,” Lin Pingzhi’s heart almost jumped from his throat. “Accepted our gifts?” he repeated in a mutter.

“I haven’t really told you much about the business of the Escort House,” Lin Zhennan went on. “You wouldn’t have understood anyway. But you are growing up fast, and the heavy burden of running the Escort House will slowly shift onto your shoulders. It’s time for you to start taking a larger part in the business of the Escort House. Son, we’ve been in the escort business for three generations. We have been able to expand to today’s scale and become the largest and most renowned Escort House south of the Yangtze River. How did we accomplish this? First, because of the great fame of your great grandfather; second, because of the fighting techniques our ancestors have handed down, generation after generation. Anyone mentioning the name of ‘Fortune Prestige Escort House’ will give a thumb’s up and say, ‘What fortune! What prestige!’ In the escorting business, reputation counts for twenty percent, real fighting skills count for twenty percent, but the final sixty percent has to depend on your relationship with both the unorthodox and orthodox members of the Martial World.”

Blowing out another cloud of smoke, he continued.

“Think about it. Our wagons have to pass through ten different provinces. If we had to fight every time we went on a job, how many men would we have lost? Even if we won every single time, it would be like in the old saying: ‘To kill a thousand enemies, sacrifice eight hundred of your own.’ If any of our escorts were injured or