killed on the job, the money we earned wouldn’t even be enough to cover the compensation to their families. Soon, we would run out of our own savings as well. That’s why we escorts have to know all the right people and spare no expense to cultivate relationships. Connections are even more powerful than the fist power.”

“Yes, Father.” Lin Pingzhi answered. Under normal circumstances, he would have become quite excited and would have asked many questions upon hearing about the business end of running the Escort House, yet today all he could think of were the words “Western Szechwan” and “Master Yu.” His heart pounded wildly.

“Your father’s Kung Fu is surely not as good as either your grandfather’s, or your great grandfather’s.” Lin Zhennan exhaled another cloud of smoke. “But my management skills are definitely better than either of theirs. Your great grandfather founded the business in four provinces: from Fujian to Canton in the south, and north to Zhejiang and Jiangsu. I expanded the business to six more provinces: Shandong, Hebei, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Guangxi. What’s the secret here? Let me tell you: make many friends and few enemies. Our Escort House is called ‘Fortune Prestige.’ Remember, fortune comes before prestige; this means fortune is more important than prestige. Fortune will only come if you keep ‘making many friends and few enemies.’ If we change it to ‘Prestige and Fortune,’ wouldn’t that mean we would ride roughshod over above others for glory? Ha-ha!”

Lin Pingzhi forced a hollow laugh, which was devoid of amusement.

Lin Zhennan didn’t notice his son’s uneasiness and went on. “The old saying says, ‘Covet Szechwan after capturing Gansu.’[11] But for us, it’s ‘Covet Szechwan after capturing Hubei.’ Our escort route starts from Fujian, goes west through Jiangxi and Hunan, to stop at Hubei. Why shouldn’t we continue all the way west, up the river into the province of Szechwan? Szechwan is called the Heavenly Kingdom. There are lots of rich people there. If we made it through to Szechwan, we could go either north to Shanxi or south into Yunnan and Guizhou; our business would increase by at least another thirty percent. But Szechwan is a place of crouching tigers and hidden dragons. To do business there, we would have to have connections with the two schools, Qingcheng and Emei.[12] For the past three years, I have been sending valuable gifts to the Pine-Wind Temple of the Qingcheng Sword School and the Golden-Peak Temple of the Emei School every spring and autumn, but neither school would accept our overtures. Priest Radiance, the Head Master of the Emei School, would at least greet the gift bearers, thank them and invite them to a vegetarian meal, then return the gifts without even breaking the seal. Master Yu of the Pine-Wind Temple was even trickier. His apprentices would stop the gift bearers half way up the mountain, claiming that Master Yu was in Exclusive Meditation[13] at the moment, and unable to see any guest. They would also claim that they already had everything they needed in the temple, so that there was no need for any gifts. Our escorts couldn’t even tell which direction the gate of the Pine-Wind Temple faced, let alone meet Master Yu. When they came back, they were infuriated. If it weren’t because of the specific orders I gave them before the trip to behave with restraint and respect, regardless of how they were ill-treated, they would probably have called them all manner of names and started several fights.”

After these words, Lin Zhennan stood up, a proud smile blossoming on his face. “And guess what? At long last, Master Yu has accepted our gifts, and has even sent four of his apprentices to return the courtesy and thank us in person….”

“Four apprentices? Not two?” Lin Pingzhi asked breathlessly.

“Yes, four apprentices!” Lin Zhennan answered. “Master Yu is really handling this matter quite solemnly. This will make our Escort House look especially good!! I’ve just sent messengers to our branches in Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei, informing them of the news and told them to treat these four as our noble guests.”

“Father, when people from Szechwan speak, do they usually call others ‘son of a turtle’?” Lin Pingzhi suddenly blurted out a question.

“Only bumpkins from Szechwan speak that way. There are rustics everywhere, and of course they are not taught of proper manners. Listen to our own henchmen talk when they gamble. They’re no better. Why do you ask?” Lin Zhennan chuckled.

“No reason,” Lin Pingzhi replied quickly.

“When the four Qingcheng apprentices come, you should spend more time with them; watch and learn how students of prestigious schools act. Making friends with them will surely benefit you later on in life.”

The father and son chatted some more. Lin Pingzhi couldn’t make up his mind if he should tell his father about the incident at the wine shop, and finally decided to tell his mother, first. After dinner, the family of three remained in the Back Hall to converse. Lin Zhennan was having a discussion with his wife, as to what gift to get for her brother’s birthday in June. It would be tricky to find something appropriate that the Golden-Blade Wang family in Luoyang[14] would hold in esteem.

A sudden uproar came from outside, and moments later several people rushed into the room.

“Where are your manners?” Lin Zhennan frowned.

Three henchmen had burst in. The man in front muttered in a disturbed tone, “Chief…Chief Master….”

“What’s the matter?” Lin Zhennan snapped in annoyance.

“Bai…Bai is dead,” Henchman Chen blurted out the words.

Lin Zhennan was slightly astounded. “Who killed him? Gambling must’ve let to the quarrel!” He became quite angered, thinking how hard it was to regulate the roughnecks of the Escort House. They would often fight and draw their knives for no reason. And, as they were headquartered in the capital of the province, it could be rather troublesome if someone were killed on their premises.

“No, it is not like that,” Chen explained hastily. “Xiao Li was going to the outhouse just a minute ago and saw Bai lying in the garden nearby. His body was already cold, but there’s not a single wound on the body. No one knows how he died. Must’ve been some kind of a disease.”

Lin Zhennan breathed out a sigh of relief and relaxed immediately. “Let me go have a look.” He started walking toward the garden and Lin Pingzhi followed behind.

When they arrived at the yard, a number of escorts and henchmen had already gathered around the body. Seeing the arrival of the Chief Master, the crowd moved back. Lin Zhennan took a close look at Bai’s corpse. Bai’s clothes had been unbuttoned, and clearly, there were no bloodstains.

“No wounds at all?” Lin Zhennan asked Escort Zhu, who stood next to him.

“I’ve examined the body carefully, and there’s not a single wound anywhere on the body. It does not look like poison either,” Escort Zhu replied, which Lin Zhennan acknowledged with a nod.

“Tell Dong the bookkeeper to arrange a funeral for Bai, and don’t forget to send a hundred taels of silver to his family,” Lin Zhennan directed.

The death of a henchman due to illness was not something Lin Zhennan would pay much attention to. “Didn’t Bai go hunting with you today?” he asked Lin Pingzhi after walking back to the living room.

“Yes, he did. He looked fine when we got back. Who’d think he would catch a deadly disease so unexpectedly,” Lin Pingzhi replied.

“Many things in this world are like that,” Lin Zhennan commented. “Whether good or evil, they always happen in an unexpected manner. I’ve always wanted to open the escort trail through the province of Szechwan. I thought it would have taken at least another ten years. Who would have expected that Master Yu would somehow be prompted by some sudden impulse to not only accept my gifts, but to also send four apprentices, such a long way, to thank us?”

“Father, although the Qingcheng Sword School is a well-renowned school, our Fortune Prestige Escort House is fairly famous, too. We have been sending gifts to Szechwan year after year; it’s only natural for Master Yu to send people our way to show his gratitude, as well.”

“What do you know?” Lin Zhennan chuckled. “Qingcheng and Emei have been around for hundreds of years. They’ve had many outstanding disciples in their schools. Maybe they aren’t as famous as Shaolin or Wutang,[15] but they certainly have enough fame to be placed next to Songshan, Taishan, Hengshan, Huashan, and Heng-Shan of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance.[16] Your great grandfather, Sir Yuantu, founded the seventy-two moves of ‘Evil-Resisting Sword Art.’ This set of sword techniques shocked the entire Martial Arts Society and gained him great fame. You can say that he had never met his match in swordplay. After this sword style was passed on to your grandfather, its eminence declined. It was then passed on to me, and I am afraid that it has declined, even more, in my hands. The Lin Family had only one child in each generation for the last three generations. We don’t even have any apprentices. With only you and me, we really don’t have the same kind of manpower that those other schools have.”

“We could gather all the people from our Escort Houses in the ten Provinces, then we could take on any of them – Shaolin, Wutang, Emei, Qingcheng, or the Five Mountains Sword Alliance,” Lin Pingzhi declared.

Lin Zhennan was amused. “Son, it’s alright to say something like that when you are talking to me. But if you had said those words to an outsider, you’d get into a lot of trouble. The eighty-four escorts we have at our ten Escort Houses each has his own specialties. Of course, when we all gather together, we aren’t afraid of anyone, but what do we gain by beating other people? It is well said that manners and amicability make great fortunes; this is especially true for us in the escort business. What are we going to lose by being humble, while the others go around showing off?”

“Oh no! Escort Zheng is dead too!” somebody suddenly yelled out from outside. Lin Zhennan and Lin Pingzhi were both dumbstruck.

Lin Pingzhi jumped out of his chair and muttered, “They’re back for re…!” It took him great effort to finally swallow the word “revenge” back down his throat. Lin Zhennan was already on his way out and didn’t catch what Lin Pingzhi had just said.

Henchman Chen rushed in and yelled incoherently, “Chief…Chief Master! Trouble! Escort Zheng…Escort Zheng’s spirit is possessed by the Szechwan demon, too.”

“Stop this nonsense! What Szechwan demon?” Lin Zhennan roared with a stern face.

“Sir! The demon…the man from Szechwan was already ferocious when he was alive, so of course he would be more terrifying after death…,” Chen said lamely. Seeing the Chief Master’s hard countenance, he dared not continue, and only looked to Lin Pingzhi with a mixed expression of fear and grief.

“Did you say Escort Zheng was dead? Where’s the body? How did he die?” Lin Zhennan asked impatiently.

Several more escorts and henchmen rushed into the hall. “Brother Zheng died in the stable,” one escort answered with a frown. “He died in exactly the same way as Henchman Bai. There wasn’t a single wound on his body, and no bleeding could be found from any aperture. No swelling on his face either. Maybe…maybe they became haunted by some kind of demon when they…when they went hunting with the Young Master.”

Lin Zhennan snorted. “I’ve lived all my life without ever seeing either a ghost or a demon. Let’s go have a look.” He walked out of the hall and into the stable.

Escort Zheng’s body lay on the ground, his hands still holding onto a saddle. Apparently, he had been taking the saddle off before his sudden demise. There was no sign of any struggle.

As it was already dark outside, Lin Zhennan asked a henchman to hold a lantern while he examined Escort Zheng. He carefully checked all parts of the corpse, including all the major bones, but failed to find any sign of injury – not even a broken finger. Lin Zhennan was not superstitious. When Bai had died suddenly, it was just a strange occurrence. Now, that Escort Zheng died in the exact same way, it had to be more than a coincidence. If they died of plague or some kind of disease, why were there no red or black spots on the bodies? Could the two deaths have been related to something that happened during his son’s hunting trip?

He turned around and asked Lin Pingzhi, “Besides Escort Zheng and Henchman Bai, it was just Escort Shi and he who went hunting with you, right?” He indicated Henchman Chen.

Lin Pingzhi nodded.

“You two come with me,” Lin Zhennan said firmly. Turning to another henchman, he instructed, “Go ask Escort Shi to report to the East Hall immediately. I want to have a word with him.”

Soon, the three arrived at the East Hall. “What really happened?” Lin Zhennan asked his son. Lin Pingzhi hastily confessed and told his father all about the trouble he had at the wine shop: how they went in for some drinks; how the two men from Szechwan accosted the girl, which resulted in the fight; how the fight broke out and the man attempted to push Lin’s head down to kowtow; how he pulled out a dagger and killed that person; how they buried the body in the back garden and gave old man Sa some silver to keep him quiet. He told everything there was to tell, without leaving anything out.

The more Lin Zhennan heard, the more concerned he became. But still, getting into a fight with an outsider and having it result in his death was not the end of the world. He listened to the whole story from his son stolidly. When Lin Pingzhi finished, he pondered in silence for a moment and then asked, “Did these two fellows ever mention which clan or gang they belonged to?”

“Not a word,” Lin Pingzhi answered quickly.

“When they spoke or did things, did you notice anything unusual?” Lin Zhennan inquired further.

“I didn’t see anything unusual. The fellow Yu….”

“Did you say the man’s name was Yu?” Lin Zhennan interrupted.

“Yes. I heard the other guy calling him Brother Yu. But it might have been something else. They had accents, so I couldn’t understand them too well.”

“It can’t be! It can’t be a coincidence. Master Yu said he was going to send someone over; how could they have arrived at Fuzhou so quickly? They don’t have wings,” Lin Zhennan shook his head and muttered to himself.

“Father, you don’t think those two were from the Qingcheng Sword School, do you?” Lin Pingzhi’s voice quivered.

Lin Zhennan did not answer; instead, he performed a move and asked, “When you attacked him using this move from the Universe Hands, how did he fend it off?”

“He couldn’t fend off that move, so I slapped him hard on the face,” Lin Pingzhi replied.

“Good! Very good! Excellent!” Lin Zhennan smiled.

The room had been filled with foreboding, but now that Lin Zhennan showed a smile, Lin Pingzhi felt quite relieved and could not help smiling himself.

“When you hit him with this move, how did he respond?” Lin Zhennan asked again, performing more different moves as he spoke.

“I was infuriated at the time, and can’t remember too well. I think I punched him in the chest,” Lin Pingzhi replied.

Hearing that, Lin Zhennan became even more relaxed. “Very good! Your move should have hit him that way. If he couldn’t even block a simple move like that, he couldn’t be a close relative to the famous Master Yu of the Qingcheng Sword School, Pine-Wind Temple.”

He kept saying “very good,” but he wasn’t complementing his son’s fighting skills; he was just relieved. There must be many people named Yu in the province of Szechwan; if this particular Yu could not even beat his son, he must have been a terrible fighter. Such a rotten fighter definitely had nothing to do with the Qingcheng Sword School. He kept tapping on the table with his right middle finger as he pondered upon the situation.

“How did he grab hold of your head?” he asked, and Lin Pingzhi demonstrated how he couldn’t move when his head was held.

Henchman Chen also felt much encouraged. “Bai was trying to poke him with a hunting fork,” he interrupted, “but the fork was knocked out by the guy’s back kick and then Bai was also kicked down.”

Lin Zhennan felt a shock run through his body. He asked immediately, “He kicked Bai with a back kick and then kicked the fork out of his hands? How…how did he perform those kicks?”

“It was something like this.” Chen grabbed the back of a chair and threw a reverse kick with his right foot, then jumped and threw another back kick with his left foot. These two kicks looked very clumsy, almost like a horse kicking back its hind legs. Lin Pingzhi watched the two clumsy kicks and could not help laughing. “Dad, see….” But then seeing the fearful expression on his father’s face, he stopped abruptly.

“These two kicks seem to be the unique Shadowless Kick maneuver of Qingcheng. Son, how did he perform the kicks exactly?” Lin Zhennan inquired.

“My head was held at that moment. I couldn’t see how he kicked,” Lin Pingzhi said.

“Of course! I’d better ask Escort Shi.” Lin Zhennan exited the room and yelled, “Where is Escort Shi? Why isn’t he here yet?”

Two henchmen came over and reported that nobody had yet to be able to find Escort Shi. Feeling the uneasiness growing inside him rapidly, Lin Zhennan paced up and down in the garden hall, thinking, “If the two kicks were indeed the Shadowless Kick technique, then even if the fellow was not a close relative of Master Yu, he must’ve had some kind of connection with the Qingcheng Sword School. If that’s the case, then who was he?” He finally decided to check it out himself. So he ordered the henchmen, “Go get Escort Cui and Escort Ji.”

Escorts Cui and Ji were the careful types, both experienced and prudent, and well trusted by Lin Zhennan. Having heard about the sudden death of Escort Zheng and the disappearance of Escort Shi, they were already waiting outside the hall. As soon as they heard their names called, both walked into the room.

“We need to go check something out,” Lin Zhennan explained. “Escort Cui, and Escort Ji, my son, and Chen, come with me.”

Lin Pingzhi leading the way, the group of five rode out of town, and headed north. Soon, they arrived at the small wine shop. The door of the shop was shut.

“Old man Sa, old man Sa! Open the door,” Lin Pingzhi pounded on the door and called out. He knocked and knocked, but there was no response.

Escort Cui signaled to Lin Zhennan, that they should bash down the door. After getting a nod from Lin Zhennan, he struck the door with both hands. With a resounding crack, the door’s bolt snapped, and the swinging doors squeaked back and forth on the rusty hinges.

Escort Cui pulled Lin Pingzhi to the side as soon as he forced the door open. They waited, until they were sure that there was no sound coming from within. Lighting a fire, they entered, and then lit an oil lamp sitting on the table along with two lanterns. They searched both the interior and exterior of the shop, yet could find no one. However, blankets, trunks, and other everyday accessories were still in the shop.

“The old fellow got scared. There was a murder here and the body was even buried right in the back garden. He was afraid of getting into trouble, so he just ran off,” Lin Zhennan said with a nod. Walked into the garden and pointed to a hoe that was leaning by the wall, he commanded, “Chen, dig the body up.”

Chen was nearly convinced that the whole crisis had been caused by demons, so after digging only a short while, he felt his limbs getting stiffer and stiffer. He felt so weak that his legs started to give out.

“Utterly useless! How can you even call yourself a henchman?” Escort Ji yelled at him sternly.

He handed his lantern to Chen, took the hoe from him, and then began digging. Not long after, the clothes of the dead body appeared. He dug a little deeper and then levering the hoe beneath the corpse, gave a strong tug. The body was lifted out of the hole.

Chen turned his head away, afraid to look. But gasps of shock suddenly came from the other four. Scared to death, Chen dropped the lantern. The light was extinguished and the garden was enveloped in complete darkness.

Lin Pingzhi’s voice quavered when he muttered uneasily, “We definitely buried the Szechwan guy’s body, how come…how come….”

“Light the lantern!” Lin Zhennan ordered. He had kept his calm since the strange events started to happen, but now there was fear in his voice.

Escort Cui lit the lantern. Lin Zhennan bent down to check on the body. Minutes later, he declared, “Same kind of death, not a single wound at all.”

Chen finally gathered enough courage to give a glance at the body, and then he screamed, “Escort Shi! It’s Escort Shi!” The body they had dug out was that of Escort Shi, and the corpse of the man from Szechwan had vanished.

“Something seems strange about this old man Sa,” Lin Zhennan said. He grabbed the lantern and hurried back into the room, looking over everything very carefully. But he couldn’t find anything unusual, even after looking at everything in the room – in the wine jugs, underneath the stoves, in the iron pot, under the table and chairs. Escorts Cui and Ji, and Lin Pingzhi also began examining the different rooms.

“Father, come here and look at this,” Lin Pingzhi shouted out suddenly.

Following the sound of his son’s voice, Lin Zhennan found Lin Pingzhi in the girl’s bedroom holding a green handkerchief in his hand.

“Father, how could a poor girl have a handkerchief like this?” Lin Pingzhi asked, his voice quavered with excitement.

Lin Zhennan took the handkerchief from Lin Pingzhi’s hands and examined it carefully. A trace of some kind of light but sweet scent soon caught his attention. The handkerchief was very soft and smooth, yet also quite heavy. It was obviously made from high-quality silk. When he looked at it more carefully, he found three levels of green thread sealing the edges of the handkerchief. In one corner, a small red coral branch was embroidered in great detail.

“Where did you find this?” Lin Zhennan asked.

“It fell underneath the corner of the bed. Maybe they didn’t see it, when they packed and left in such a hurry,” Lin Pingzhi suggested.

Lin Zhennan put his lantern close to the bed and searched, but found nothing else. He muttered, “You said that the girl was very ugly. I suppose she wasn’t wearing very expensive clothing, but was she dressed very neatly?”

“I didn’t pay much attention. I am sure her dress wasn’t filthy, because I would have noticed when she poured wine for me,” Lin Pingzhi replied eagerly.

“Brother Cui, what do you think?” Lin Zhennan turned to Escort Cui.

“I think this old man and the young girl must be involved with the deaths of Escorts Shi and Zheng, and Henchman Bai. It’s even possible that they were the actual killers,” Escort Cui concluded.

“The two fellows from Szechwan must have been in on it too; otherwise, why would they move the dead body?” Escort Ji added.

“But that fellow Yu was harassing the girl. I wouldn’t have called him names, otherwise. They can’t be working together,” Lin Pingzhi objected.

“Young Master,” Escort Cui explained, “you may not realize it, but we are living in a very dangerous world, and that people may intentionally set traps in which others may fall. It happens all the time. Two people pretend to fight, and when someone comes to try and separate them, the two will suddenly turn on him.”

“Chief Master, what’s your opinion on this?” Escort Ji asked.

“The old man and the young girl must have come for us. I am just not sure if those two fellows from Szechwan were in league with them,” Lin Zhennan replied.

“Father, didn’t you say that the Master Yu of Pine-Wind Temple sent four people over. There…there were exactly four people,” Lin Pingzhi muttered restlessly.

These words struck Lin Zhennan like a hammer. “The Fortune Prestige Escort House has always shown great respect to the Qingcheng Sword School, and has never done anything to displease them. Why would Master Yu send people to stir up trouble? Why?!” he muttered to himself.

The four just looked at each other in silence; no one could think of anything to say. After a long while, Lin Zhennan finally spoke.

“Let’s move Escort Shi’s body inside first. When we get back to the Escort House, don’t mention this to anyone. We don’t want the authorities to know about this and cause any unnecessary trouble. Humph, the Lin family respects others and wants no trouble, but that doesn’t mean we are cowards who don’t fight back.”

“Chief Master,” Escort Ji agreed heartily, “like the old saying goes, ‘Keeping an army for a year just for one battle.’ All of us will fight for the honor of the Escort House.”

“Many thanks!” Lin Zhennan nodded.

The party headed back to town. Just when they were about to reach the Escort House, they saw a big crowd gathering in front of the gate. Countless torches lit the street, turning the night into day. Lin Zhennan’s heart missed a beat. He rushed forward.

“Chief Master is back!” several people cried out.

Lin Zhennan dismounted his horse and saw that his wife, Madam Wang, was extremely angry.

“Look! Humph, someone is trying to challenge us in our home,” she exclaimed.

A pair of broken poles lay in the street; each had a flag attached to the end. These were the flags of the Escort House; someone had cut down the two flagpoles and left them lying on the ground. The broken ends had very smooth cuts, apparently were cut down with a very sharp blade.

Madam Wang was not carrying a weapon, so she drew Lin Zhennan’s long sword out from the sheath at his waist. With two sharp tearing sounds, she cut the two flags from the broken flagpoles. Picking the flags up, she went inside through the gate.

“Escort Cui, cut the stumps of the two flagpoles down,” Lin Zhennan instructed. “Humph, it won’t be an easy task to take down the Fortune Prestige Escort House!”

“Yes, sir,” Escort Cui answered.

“Damn them! What a bunch of cowards they are, only daring to play these dirty tricks when the Chief Master is not at home,” Escort Ji cursed.

Lin Zhennan beckoned to his son and the two went into the house while Escort Ji poured out even more profanities. The father and son went into the East Hall. Madam Wang had already spread the flags on two tables. On one of the flags, the eyes of the yellow lion had been cut out, leaving two empty holes. On the other flag, the word “Prestige” had been cut out from the name “Fortune Prestige Escort House.”

Lin Zhennan was a patient man with an even temper, but even he could not stand these insults any longer. He struck the table with a resounding blow. One leg of the sandalwood table broke with a crack.

“Father, it’s…my entire fault. I got the family into this situation!” Lin Pingzhi trembled.

“Yes, the Lin family has killed someone, and so what? If I ever saw a punk like him, I’d kill him too!” Lin Zhennan roared.

“Who got killed?” Madam Wang asked in surprise.

“Pingzhi, tell your mother about it,” Lin Zhennan said.

So Lin Pingzhi told Madam Wang everything that had happened: How he killed the man from Szechwan, how they found the body of Escort Shi in the garden of the wine shop, and so forth.

Madam Wang had heard about the mysterious deaths of Henchman Bai and Escort Zheng. At the news of the death of Escort Shi, she exploded.

“Husband, how can we let others push the Fortune Prestige Escort House around like this? Let’s gather our people and go seek justice from the Qingcheng Sword School in Szechwan. We can also invite my father and my brothers to join us.”

Since her youth, Madam Wang was known for having a bad temper. As a maiden, she had no qualms with pulling out a knife for even the smallest of disagreements. Her family, the Golden Blade Wang Family, was a large and powerful family in the city of Luoyang. Everyone would defer to her, out of respect for her father, the Unbeatable Golden Blade, Wang Yuanba. Even now, after her son had grown up, her hot temper had not improved much.

“We are still not sure who our enemy is. It might not even be the Qingcheng Sword School. But whoever they are, I doubt they’d stop at two broken flagpoles and two dead escorts…,” Lin Zhennan replied when he was suddenly interrupted by the bellowing voice of Madam Wang.

“What else do they want?”

Lin Zhennan cast a side-glance at Lin Pingzhi and Madam Wang understood instantly. Her heart started pumping fiercely, and her face paled from fear.

“I caused all the trouble. A true man would take full responsibility for his own action. I won’t…won’t be afraid.” Lin Pingzhi’s words were brave enough, but the trembling voice gave him away.

“Humph, they’ll have to pass through me first before they can get to you,” Madam Wang exclaimed. “The banner of the Fortune Prestige Escort House has been held high for three generations. We’ve never lost our glory.” She turned to Lin Zhennan. “If we can’t even settle this little problem, what good are we? How can we look at ourselves in the mirror for the rest of our lives?”

Lin Zhennan nodded to Madam Wang in agreement. “I’ll send people to search the town for new faces. Meanwhile, I’ll have more people on patrol around the Escort House. You wait here with Pingzhi. Don’t let him run around by himself.”

“Yes, I understand!” Madam Wang acknowledged.

The couple both understood well that Lin Pingzhi would undoubtedly become the next target. The enemy was hidden in the dark and they themselves were exposed under the light. Even if Lin Pingzhi only stepped out of the Escort House for a minute, he would be in great danger.

Lin Zhennan walked to the Main Hall and gathered the escorts, sending some people to go check out the town, and instructing the rest to patrol the Escort House. All the escorts had heard about the situation. The flagpole of the Escort House being cut down was a slap in the face of each and every one. Infuriated, they had already dressed themselves in uniforms