Green Mountain
Chapter 292 - 234, Third Elder

Chapter 292: 234, Third Elder

The inn was already closed for the night, with tables wiped spotlessly clean and chairs overturned atop them.

In Qiu Ci Street, the atmosphere was bustling, but the largest store on this street was cold and deserted.

The attendant looked at the girl standing before him, clad in a fiery red, her valorous presence striking, and remembered that she had understood all the dark jargon he had just spoken, his face burning with embarrassment.

Zhang Xia, seeing the attendant lost in thought, waved his hand in front of him: "What are you thinking about?"

The attendant sneakily glanced back at the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper pushed aside the abacus and ledgers on the counter, strode out from behind the counter with an air of command, and clasped his hands in a salute: "It’s like the temple is washed away by the flood—please forgive my young attendant who lacks experience. Displaying my clumsy skills before the masters has made a fool of myself. According to the rules of Jianghu, pretending to be mystical but failing embarrasses oneself—one should stab themselves to resolve any grievances..."

The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man dressed in a black short martial outfit, and he looked not so much like a shopkeeper but more like an escort leader who roamed around the land.

His complexion was glowing, with his Taiyang acupoint protruding, and his voice boomed like the ringing of a bell, clearly a trained martial artist.

A curious couplet hanging by the entrance, the dark jargon, a martial artist for a shopkeeper—Dragon Gate Inn was truly mysterious.

The room was warm. Chen Ji took off the large cloak from his shoulders and rested it on his arm, saying indifferently: "There is no need to cut yourself. Since the shopkeeper has been forthright, we have no intentions of being unreasonable."

The young attendant breathed a sigh of relief.

After contemplating for a moment, the shopkeeper proposed: "How about I waive the room fees for you all?"

At this moment, Chen Ji shook his head: "We plan to stay for a while, and I’m afraid that might cause a heartache for the shopkeeper. There’s no need to waive the fees, we just need three rooms prepared..."

Zhang Zheng hurriedly interrupted: "One room. Just prepare one Superior Room for us, but we’ll need a few extra quilts. We will pay extra."

The attendant, puzzled, said: "We still have plenty of vacant rooms in our inn."

The shopkeeper, gently pressing the attendant’s shoulder, said with a smile: "The guest’s wish is our command. Whatever the Guest desires, we shall prepare. But no deprecating remarks. Given your kindness, I cannot be ungrateful. I will arrange for you all to stay in the Superior A Room and only charge you the price of a Superior Room, how about that?"

Zhang Zheng lowered his voice, asking softly as if the sound of a mosquito: "We all agreed to let it go, why can’t he get over it?"

Zhang Xia responded: "This is the rule of Jianghu. Once we accept a favor, the matter concludes. Once we leave, we cannot mention it again, lest we tarnish the reputation of Dragon Gate Inn."

"I see..."

Zhang Xia, imitating the gesture of men, clasped his fists with a laugh: "If we refuse further, it would be disrespecting the shopkeeper; therefore, we accept your generosity and will stay in the Superior Room."

The shopkeeper graciously bowed his hands: "Thank you for your noble consideration. Xiao Liu, escort the Guests to the Superior A Room."

"Yes," Xiao Liu responded, and with a bow to Chen Ji and the others, he said: "This way, please, Guests."

His steps on the wooden floor of the inn creaked.

As they were about to ascend the wooden stairs, Chen Ji suddenly pricked up his ears; he seemed to hear a rustling sound from beneath the floorboards—a noise like sharp iron being rubbed back and forth on a whetstone.

Chen Ji paused his steps, and the sound of sharpening from beneath also ceased.

Xiao Liu, standing midway up the stairs, looked back: "Is something the matter, Guest?"

"It’s nothing, let’s go," Chen Ji said with a smile, lifting his foot to follow.

...

...

Once Chen Ji and the others arrived on the second floor, they saw from the shadows of the beams a person somersault down, landing next to the shopkeeper with a light and floating grace.

An assistant at the inn, carrying a kitchen knife, asked: "Shopkeeper, is he a government official? Or perhaps a spy?"

The shopkeeper squinted towards the end of the staircase: "Doesn’t seem like it. Officials aren’t usually this easy to talk to."

"How about the Eunuch Party?"

The shopkeeper, with hands behind his back, pondered for a moment: "If it were the Eunuch Party, they would come and ransack my inn directly, not disguise themselves as guests. You’ve seen the Eunuch Party in Guyuan City—they’re the ones who don’t play by any rules."

"So, which faction do they belong to?"

After thinking for a long while, the shopkeeper still couldn’t come up with an explanation: "There have been all kinds of demons and ghosts cropping up in Guyuan recently, who knows where they come from."

The attendant ventured a guess: "Spies from the Jing Dynasty?"

The shopkeeper shifted his gaze: "Doesn’t look like it either, but you go out and do some reconnaissance tomorrow. These folks seem to have just arrived in Guyuan; maybe someone who saw them enter the city knows them. But be careful, and don’t fall into the hands of these ’over-river dragons’."

The attendant said, perplexed: "Those people don’t seem particularly tough."

The shopkeeper calmly said: "What is an ’over-river dragon’? ’Over-river dragon’ is someone who clearly sees this place is out of the ordinary yet still dares to enter."

The attendant asked in a low voice: "What are they here for?"

The shopkeeper returned behind the counter, unrushed: "Those who come to Dragon Gate Inn surely have heard rumors and are seeking something. No rush. If I don’t find them, they will soon come looking for me, and then we’ll know."

Just then, the heavy cotton curtain was lifted, and the cold air from outside swept in, causing the candle flames in the inn to flicker and dance.

The attendant turned around: "Is it a Guest looking for a room or... Third Elder! What a rare guest, weren’t you in the Imperial Capital?"

The arrival was a middle-aged man with a long knife hanging from his waist, blind in his left eye with only the white showing—intimidating and fierce.

He patted off the dust from his body and took out a Copper Coin from his sleeve, flinging it towards the shopkeeper with sharp precision.

The shopkeeper leaned his body slightly back, pinching the Copper Coin between two fingers before his nose. He examined the Copper Coin closely, which had the words "Lamp Copper Coin" cast upon it.

The shopkeeper with piercing eyes asked: "Third Elder, has the Lord returned to Guyuan?"

Third Elder calmly said, "This is becoming more disrespectful by the minute, is Lord’s business something you can pry into?"

Shopkeeper’s face darkened, "I kindly addressed you as Third Elder out of respect because you serve Lord as an attendant. If it wasn’t for you being beside Lord, what are you worth? When you were under the General’s command, you were nothing but a defeated soldier. I’m just asking whether Lord has returned to Guyuan, what are you in such a rush for?"

Third Elder sneered coldly, "Put away your petty thoughts; Lord is not someone you can covet. If you break the rules again, I will kill you."

Shopkeeper scoffed, rolling up his sleeves to his forearms, "Just you?"

Third Elder’s left hand rested on the hilt of his knife, "Want to try?"

Amidst the rising tension, a waiter hurriedly tried to make peace, "Gentlemen, there are still many guests in the inn, let’s not alarm them, or we’ll all face Lord’s punishment. Shopkeeper, Third Elder has brought Lamp Copper Coin here, there must be something important."

Having fallen silent for a few moments, Shopkeeper lowered his sleeves again, speaking nonchalantly, "So, what brings you to Dragon Gate Inn?"

Third Elder sternly asked, "Some people have just entered your inn; arrange for rooms next to mine. Remember, don’t ask questions you shouldn’t ask, and don’t say things you shouldn’t say."

Shopkeeper glanced suspiciously upstairs, then turned back and asked, "Hold on, who are these people that you’re here to surveil? Is this your business, or Lord’s?"

Third Elder did not respond.

Shopkeeper pressed on, "Are you going to kill them, or do they carry something Lord desires? If they have what Lord wants, I can eliminate them myself tonight and deliver it to Lord."

Third Elder impatiently said, "Are you done? Lord is not in Guyuan; I returned alone."

"Then why didn’t you say so earlier!" Shopkeeper suddenly lost interest and waved his hand dismissively, not sparing a second glance, "Xiao Wu, take San’er to the room number Yi in the Lower tier. Right, later call the guest from room Bing in the Lower tier to get up; it’s time for them to leave."

Hearing the nickname "San’er," Third Elder raised an eyebrow but ultimately said nothing.

...

...

In the Superior A Room, Xiao Man squatted on the floor laying out the bedding, while Zhang Zheng sat beside her on a chair, idly poking the newly lit charcoal in the brazier with iron tongs.

Xiao Man glared at him fiercely, "What are you doing? Make your own bed!"

Zhang Zheng drawled, "Can’t you make it for me?"

Xiao Man scoffed at him, "I am the young lord’s maid, not yours."

Zhang Zheng widened his eyes, "Why do you always have it in for me, always speaking with such venom?"

Xiao Man methodically spread out the bedding and said slowly, "Should I speak sweetly to someone who frequents the brothel? Don’t you dare lead our young lord astray."

Zhang Zheng hurriedly defended himself, "When have I ever done such a thing? I’ve always disdained courtship! My brothers might fancy it, but I prefer to keep myself pure."

Xiao Man mocked him, "Right, among a pot of cooked rice, you’re the only uncooked grain."

Zhang Zheng opened his mouth but was at a loss for words.

By the window, Zhang Xia turned around, "Are you two astrologically incompatible or something? Why are you always arguing... Shh!"

As he spoke, footsteps could be heard outside the door.

Chen Ji, who had been standing by the window holding Wu Yun, peered silently through a gap to the outside. Suddenly, he turned around, his gaze following the sound as if piercing through the door and walls to see the figure in the corridor.

The next moment, a creak was heard from the neighboring room as someone pushed the door open to enter, and then all was silent.

Zhang Xia dipped his finger in the water in his teacup and wrote on the table, "Are they guests from Dragon Gate Inn?"

Chen Ji furrowed his brows, shook his head, and also dipped his finger in water, "We just moved into the A Room, and immediately someone has moved into the B Room? Caution is paramount; there are ears in the walls."

Zhang Xia nodded, turned around and began instructing Zhang Zheng and Xiao Man, keeping his ear close.

Chen Ji turned back to the window, his gaze once again reaching into the distance.

The Superior Rooms were on the third floor of Dragon Gate Inn, the highest point in all of Guyuan City. He could see the flickering fires on the distant city walls, where border army soldiers moved like tiny black ants.

Within the walls, the low houses were scattered at different heights, and every now and then, the silhouettes of the powerful were seen leaping from roof to roof.

Closer to hand, the inn’s spacious backyard held stables, woodsheds, kitchens, and cowsheds, while songs and drinking chants from the neighboring brothel wafted over.

Xiao Man finished laying out the bedding and walked over to Chen Ji, whispering, "Young lord, should you not rest now?"

Chen Ji shook his head, picked up the teacup and wrote on the windowsill with water, "You all sleep first; I’ll keep watch for the first half of the night, and Xiao Man for the second half."

Xiao Man was startled: Me?

She suddenly felt uneasy, wondering why, with the large man Zhang Zheng here, the young lord asked her to keep watch. Could it be that the young lord had noticed something? Did he discover her Executive Officer identity? What else had the young lord found out?

A jumble of thoughts raced through Xiao Man’s mind, chaotic and muddled. She had wanted to test her young lord, but his single sentence had thrown her off-balance.

Deep into the night.

Zhang Xia slept on a makeshift bed in the inner room, while Zhang Zheng slept diagonally on the floor of the outer room, brain at a tilt. The room’s square table had been moved aside to clear space for sleeping, and in the end, no one slept on the beds; all slept on the floor.

Xiao Man, seated on a small chair by the brazier, couldn’t feel any sleepiness, her gaze fixed on Chen Ji’s back, lost in thoughts.

By then, even the neighboring brothel’s singing had ceased, but Chen Ji’s attention sharpened, revitalized by the night.

In the darkness, a waiter sneaked out of the Octagonal Building, leading a fat man with a large, round face dressed in silk satin, both heading towards the stables.

Once inside the stables, blocked by a thatched shelter, Chen Ji could no longer see their figures.

Moments later, the waiter emerged from the stables, cautiously surveying his surroundings. After a long while, convinced it was safe, he wrapped his collar tighter against the cold wind, breathed into his hands, rubbed them together, and returned to the Octagonal Building.

The fat man with the large, round face vanished into the stables, never to be seen again.