Chapter 468.1: Gallant Heroine Zhao Xiaowan

What kind of organization was the Flying General's Battalion? Who was their leader, and why were they impersonating Wifey?

The whole thing sounded absurd, but it warranted attention. Li Banfeng rewarded the Omnidirectional Peeper and passed the news on to Luo Zhengnan, asking him to keep an ear out for anything about the Flying General's Battalion.

Luo Zhengnan worried that Daboinsky still had something up his sleeve. "Master Qi, once you have settled the matter with Lu Dongliang, you better head back to Greenwater City. That fake foreign devil isn't easy to deal with. He's got all sorts of tricks he can use in the New Land."

Li Banfeng wasn't too worried. He had plenty of experience in the New Land himself. "A new dance hall just opened on Shaping Road. Go look after the business."

Luo Zhengnan froze. "You are asking me to take care of the dance hall business?"

Li Banfeng smiled and said, "It's your business, so of course you have to take care of it."

"My own business..."

Li Banfeng had given Luo Zhengnan a dance hall, and it was a gift he had earned.

Luo Zhengnan could hardly believe it. "Master Qi, someone like me has to stay out of sight..."

"Who says?" Li Banfeng replied in all seriousness. "Stand tall, Old Luo. If the Jiangxiang Gang so much as lays a finger on you, we will wipe out every last one of them!"

Luo Zhengnan thanked him over and over. After hanging up, he pulled the antenna out of the top of his head and put it away in its box.

He stood tall and straight on the balcony, his hands clasped behind his back.

***

Li Banfeng went back to Yuren City. However, because the entrance changed, it took him an extra two hours.

When he reached Changsan Literary House, he found an empty room, stowed the key safely away, and entered the Pocket Dwelling.

Wifey watched him carry the corpses toward the door. "Heyaaaa~ Husband dear, that's our food supply. Why are you taking it outside?"

Li Banfeng smiled. "You don't care about such low-quality food anyway. I will take these outside first. There's a whole family out there waiting to eat."

The Gramophone was mad. "Hah, you madman! You have got another family out there? A whole household waiting on you isn't enough?"

"That's a different kind of family."

"How is it different?"

"I don't have a wife there. You are my one and only darling wifey, so don't be petty over these leftovers!"

None of Lu Dongliang's subordinates had particularly high cultivation. Li Banfeng gave one level-five cultivator to Crimson Lotus to refine into pills and set aside another for the Film Projector to replenish its strength. He took all the other corpses to the literary house.

At the Literary House, everyone was overjoyed. Yanqing first plucked out a pair of eyeballs and fitted them into Tang Changfa's eye sockets.

Tang Changfa blinked a few times, but his new eyes felt dry and wouldn't move smoothly. He went to the kitchen, found a small bottle of cooking oil, and dripped some into his eye sockets. That felt much better.

Li Banfeng allowed them to divide up the remaining flesh and bones among themselves. He had already stored a large amount of blood in the Blood-Drinking Pendulum, specially prepared for Yancui.

It wasn't that Li Banfeng favored her. He had used the Skill of Fleshbuilding to modify Yancui's body, allowing blood to circulate through it. She was the only one who could make use of the blood.

Yancui already had a lovely, full figure. With her skin now soft and smooth from the fresh blood, she looked even more attractive.

Yanqing was angry. "Why does she get it all? Why don't we get a share?"

Li Banfeng said nothing. Yanhong was the cleverest of the girls and quickly spoke up. "Yancui did a lot to help when Master Qi was learning his abilities, so it's only right that he dotes on her a little more. If we serve him well from now on, none of us will miss out on rewards. Master Qi brought us so many good things today. What more could we ask for?"

Li Banfeng liked the sound of that. The next time he used the Skill of Fleshbuilding, he would make a few improvements to Yanhong as well.

Then again, Li Banfeng didn't actually know how to use the Skill of Fleshbuilding at all. He had only managed it with the box of paste Sun Tiecheng had given him. Now that he had given the paste to Wifey, he would have to find a chance to ask Old Sun for another box.

"Where did our City Lord go?"

"I hear he's found himself a lover outside the city," Tang Changfa said. "Every morning, he gets himself all spruced up and heads out at dawn. He doesn't come back until well after midnight."

Li Banfeng snorted. "With so many lovely girls in the city, why go looking for a lover elsewhere? What a scoundrel!"

Tang Changfa agreed. "You are far more respectable than he is. Once you are City Lord, we will find our lovers right here in the city!"

While everyone was busy dividing up the flesh and bones, Li Banfeng went back into the Pocket Dwelling and fetched two boxes of rouge for each of the girls.

Tang Changfa had contributed the most, so Li Banfeng gave him a curved saber. The saber was a spirit-bound item. Two old hunters from Properfolk Village had captured a vengeful spirit, but it was too vicious to carry around safely, so they had hired an Artificer Cultivator to turn it into a curved saber, then sold it right there in the village.

This curved saber would actively try to kill. No matter where it pierced a person's body, its tip would automatically extend toward the head in a swift and vicious manner.

Tang Changfa accepted the saber with a guilty look. "Boss, all I wanted was to drive the Eldest Young Master away, and I couldn't even manage that. I don't deserve such a valuable gift."

"Of course you do," Li Banfeng said firmly. "I rely on you to manage everything I own in this city. That alone deserves a generous reward. Besides, we are running a business. All sorts of people come through our doors, and I count on you to handle the troublemakers. If you keep going at people with a kitchen knife, word will get around that we rob and murder our guests. It will ruin our reputation."

Tang Changfa didn't quite understand. "So killing people with a curved saber means we are not robbing and murdering our guests?"

Li Banfeng frowned. "How foolish of you! This saber works much better than a kitchen knife. Wherever you strike, it will take their head off. Without a head, they can't talk. How are they going to ruin our reputation then?"

Tang Changfa thumped his chest. "Don't you worry, boss. You are going to be our city lord one day. If anyone dares speak ill of you, I will be the first to cut them down!"

Yancui, Yanhong, and Yanqing had also contributed a great deal, so Li Banfeng gave each of them a piece of jewelry. He didn't neglect the other girls either and had a new outfit made for each of them.

The girls hadn't had new clothes in years and were all delighted. As everyone celebrated in the literary house, a cry rang out from the street. "Papers! Get your papers!"

Yanhong turned to Tang Changfa. "Big Bro Changfa, since it's such a lovely day, why don't we buy some newspapers?"

Tang Changfa frowned. "Didn't I buy you one last month? What's so interesting about it? Haven't you read enough?"

Yanhong didn't dare to answer.

Li Banfeng asked, "Is that dude selling a monthly paper?"

Tang Changfa smiled. "No, just regular newspapers. There are daily papers and evening papers. I buy the girls one every month so they know a little about what's going on outside."

Li Banfeng said, "If there are daily papers, why do you only buy one a month?"

Tang Changfa rubbed his hands together. "The newspaper seller has special status. The city lord allows him to buy newspapers outside the city and bring them back here to sell. He makes a profit on the difference. He charges more than a yuan for a single paper!"

Li Banfeng asked, "A silver dollar?"

"One yuan in Huan notes." ℯℯ𝑙.

"Oh. What's the problem then?"

"Well, that's still a lot..." Tang Changfa smacked his lips. It really hurt him to spend that much money.

Only then did Li Banfeng remember that the literary house rarely had any customers and brought in almost no income. So where did its money come from?

The money came from the monthly allowance that Sun Tiecheng gave out. It wasn't much and was barely enough for even food and drinks.

Tang Changfa explained, "Boss, we have to eat something every day. If we don't eat at all, our bodies stop working properly."

Food was essential to sustaining their bodies and cultivation, as well as their conviction. But why did Sun Tiecheng give them money instead of simply providing food? He wanted them to retain a sense of the value of money and deepen their understanding of what it meant to be alive.

Even with Tang Changfa carefully budgeting every month, they could barely afford enough food to fill their stomachs. A newspaper really was a luxury for them.

Li Banfeng returned to the Pocket Dwelling, fetched five hundred thousand yuan in cash, and handed it to Tang Changfa. "I am not here often, so use this for now. Make sure you eat well, and keep buying newspapers. You need to know what's happening outside. If you are alive, you should live like it!"

Tang Changfa tried to refuse, but Li Banfeng frowned. "What's wrong with investing some money in my own business? Now go buy those newspapers."

Tang Changfa hurried out to buy them. Even then, he couldn't bring himself to spend too much and bought only two copies of the Water City Evening News.

The Water City Evening News was a well-known evening paper in Greenwater City and one of the Ling Family's best-known newspapers.

Tang Changfa gave one copy to the girls to pass around and handed the other to Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng usually read only the front page, but the girls scrambled for page four. They preferred the serialized fiction in the supplement.

"Come quick! There's a new chapter of The Gallant Heroine's Untold Tales!"

The Gallant Heroine's Untold Tales? This is a rather plain title.

Seeing the girls huddled together to read the latest chapter, Li Banfeng grew curious and turned to the supplement to take a look.

It was a chapter from the middle of an ongoing novel. Since Li Banfeng hadn't read it from the beginning, he couldn't quite follow the story.

Yanhong hurried to explain to Li Banfeng. "The Gallant Heroine's Untold Tales is about the valiant heroine Zhao Xiaowan taking command and rebuilding the Flying General's Battalion. With her spear whirling, she strikes terror into villains' hearts and displays her might, vanquishing evildoers and protecting the innocent!"

The Flying General's Battalion? Daboinsky had mentioned it too.

That alone didn't prove anything. Novels celebrating Zhao Xiaowan often mentioned the Flying General's Battalion. Whatever unit she commanded, the stories almost always gave it that name. It had become her trademark.

Yanhong spoke in a strong, clear voice, with an emphatic rhythm that earned a cheer from Li Banfeng. "Yanhong, have you ever thought of becoming a storyteller?"

Yanhong had indeed considered it. "Boss, I would love to give it a try. Just listen and see what I can do! Now, the Flying General Zhao Xiaowan ventured alone into Thousand Pearl Mountain. Facing a band of men as savage as wolves and tigers, she showed not a trace of fear. With a single thrust of her spear, she struck straight at their leader..."

She recounted the story of Zhao Xiaowan venturing alone into Thousand Pearl Mountain. There were plenty of stories about Zhao Xiaowan, but the one Yanhong told was particularly well written. The story was full of twists and turns that made it hard to stop listening.

The story seemed to be set in the present day, and it mentioned a place of particular interest: Thousand Pearl Mountain.

A band of ruthless bandits there committed every evil imaginable. Li Banfeng had had his eye on the place, intending to go and pick up some food to help Wifey regain her strength. Lately, though, a constant stream of minor matters had kept him from finding the time.

The fact that the bandits had even made it into a story showed just how much people hated them.

Li Banfeng asked, "How many bandits are there on Thousand Pearl Mountain? If we brought them all back, would there be enough to give everyone in the city new flesh and bones?"

"There were quite a few, over three hundred," Yanhong said. "But they are all gone now. The Flying General dealt with them."

"She took down over three hundred men all by herself?"

Yanhong spoke with admiration. "The Flying General's valor is unmatched in all the world!"

"Was that just made up for the novel?" Li Banfeng asked doubtfully.

Yanhong brought over a newspaper. "Boss, it really happened. Look at the news on the front page. The bandits on Thousand Pearl Mountain were wiped out."

Li Banfeng read the report. The paper was from around New Year, when he had been busy with Qiu Luoye's rebirth and hadn't had time to follow the news.

The report made no mention of Zhao Xiaowan. It simply stated that every last bandit had been killed, with no survivors. The novel on page four, however, mentioned her repeatedly. It was the very story Yanhong had just told.

News on the front page and a novel on page four. Aren't they turning news into a chapter in a novel a little too quickly?

Li Banfeng put the newspaper away. Yanhong looked reluctant to part with it, so he reassured her. "You will have all the newspapers you want from now on. Next time I come, I will bring you more rouge too."

After a meal in Yuren City, Li Banfeng prepared to leave. Everyone at the literary house hated to see him go as no one had treated them this well in years.

Li Banfeng smiled. "Keep working on your cultivation and learning new skills. I will be coming to you for pointers someday."

Tang Changfa said, "Boss, there's no need to be so formal. We are family. You only have to ask. I will teach you the principles behind the ability The Taunter's Gambit right now. I am just not capable like the city lord, so I don't know if you will be able to learn it."

Li Banfeng could learn the principles behind an ability, but he was not a Folly Cultivator and had no cultivation levels in this path. Without Sun Tiecheng teaching him personally, he could never master any of its abilities, no matter how thoroughly he learned the principles. He had already tried this with Yancui.

Li Banfeng had no idea what special method Sun Tiecheng used. He didn't want to learn The Taunter's Gambit anyway, since it relied on hurting himself to intimidate his enemies.

Back in Properfolk Village, Li Banfeng found Ma Wu and showed him the newspaper.

Ma Wu had been busy managing his businesses, first in Qi Qiu City, then in Yellowclay Bridge. Apart from business news, he hadn't paid much attention to what was happening elsewhere.

"Zhao Xiaowan wiped out the bandits on Thousand Pearl Mountain? Could she still be alive?" Ma Wu considered this for a moment, then shook his head. "Someone must be acting in her name. Whether they are actually fighting for justice is another matter. We would have to look into it."

"That's exactly what I am planning to do," Li Banfeng said. "The author of this novel goes by Three Plum Blossoms. Have you had any dealings with her?"

Ma Wu nodded. "Some, but I don't know her well. Her real name is Shan Zhumei[1]. She's from the Ink Fragrance Shop and is one of Shen Rongqing's most capable people. She's proud and aloof and very difficult to get along with. She's accompanied Shen Rongqing to dinner with me twice, but I could barely get a conversation going with her."

What sort of woman was she, if even Ma Wu couldn't get her talking?

Li Banfeng said, "Once we are back in Greenwater City, arrange for Miss Shan to come out and meet us."

Ma Wu shook his head. "I really don't want to see her. You better stay away too, unless you want to be snubbed."

"We won't approach her ourselves. I will find someone else to do it."

1. The Chinese pen name translated as "Three Plum Blossoms" sounds similar to Shan Zhumei. ☜