The road in front of No. 110 was a single lane. Despite the hour, it was unexpectedly so congested that it could not be entered.

The car lights flashing unceasingly swept past the old scholar trees again and again. The dried branches shivered, as though in fright. The jumbled sound of voices could already be heard from the intersection.

Yu Lanchuan had just poked his head out when he was choked by a sudden devastating gust of northwest wind. He threw down a "I'll go have a look," wrapped his coat tightly around himself and got down from the car.

"Little Master Yu!" Before he could enter, someone called out to him. Yu Lanchuan turned his head back and saw that the laundry shop at the intersection had its door opened a crack. The shop owner, Boss Jiang, poked his head out and waved at Yu Lanchuan. Over here!"

Yu Lanchuan hesitated a while, then slipped into the laundry shop. The blast of warm air made him quiver. "Uncle Jiang, what's going on?"

He thought that there was just some disagreement within Beggars' Sect and that a few people had come to Sect Leader Yang's place to make a fuss. Looking at the state of things now, that didn't seem to be the case!

Boss Jiang looked behind Yu Lanchuan, then pulled the door shut firmly. "Little Master Yu, haven't you heard? It's that matter that's all abuzz lately… The police have been here quite a few times to look for Old Yang's granddaughter."

Yu Lanchuan didn't have so much free time to pay attention to society gossip. He only skimmed through the news notifications that popped up on his phone and knew that this was a "banquet" that was more offensive to public morals than usual. The girl who exposed it had even gone missing and Yu Yan's side had been busy looking for her during this period of time. "Ah, what about it?"

"Late afternoon yesterday, the police took her away again." Boss Jiang jutted his chin in the direction of No. 110 Courtyard. "She was only allowed to return early this morning… They're saying she's in trouble now, that she seems to be getting money from it."

Yu Lanchuan didn't understand. "Get what money? From where?"

"Ai, how can you not get it? From introducing girls to those rich men!" Boss Jiang was quite old and it was hard for him to speak of these matters. "Let me ask you, if we were in the old days, isn't this that thing? They are saying that there's even a recording online. I asked my grandson to look for it for me but he couldn't find it even after a day and said that it might have been deleted. But it was still there yesterday night and from what's being said, it sounds like there was indeed such a thing."

Yu Lanchuan frowned. "Didn't you say that she was allowed to return early this morning?"

"Perhaps the evidence is not sufficient. I don't know either, she might have to go back there in a couple of days," Boss Jiang said. Yan Hao happened to come over then with a glass of water. It made Boss Jiang recall the time he was brought to the police station in a Spiderman costume and there was a bad feeling in his heart again. "We old people won't beg and plead with all of you to be wildly successful. We just hope that you young people can live your lives honestly and steadily. Study well at school, work hard at your jobs… as for passing on martial art skills and all that, we have long since accepted how things are. If you like practicing it, then you can practise as you wish. If you don't like it, then forget it. But all of you have to conduct yourselves properly! What is this? Spending this kind of money, can you really feel happy in your heart?"

Yan Hao had once endured the pain of being in the center of gossip and slander. When all those flecks of flying spittle were done trampling over him, when they were bored of him, they turned around to look for their next target. It pained his heart to see others suffer as he had. On top of that, Yang Yifan had even found a job for him. Hence, he asked cautiously, "They're all rumours, they might not be true…"

"Then, why are the rumours not about other people? Why don't they talk about me? How can there be so many baseless claims!" Boss Jiang tsk-ed and said, "I've always said that that girl in Old Yang's family is too impudent! Now, she's in trouble, isn't she?"

Yan Hao didn't dare interject. Crestfallen, he stuck his hands into the ends of his sleeves. He went out to observe the situation at No. 110 Courtyard.

Yu Lanchuan didn't want to bother listening to these baseless rights or wrongs and asked directly, "But what does this have to do with Beggars' Sect? What about the ambulance that passed by just now?"

"Sigh, wasn't there a young lady who exposed them and then went missing? A while ago, Old Yang was quite concerned about this matter and asked his people to keep an eye out. He probably doesn't know how his granddaughter is involved in this matter," Boss Jiang said. "That missing girl has a family member that somehow knows a Nine Pouch Elder from Beggars' Sect—a distant relative or something like that. When that sect elder heard about this matter, he brought people over to demand an explanation from Old Yang… Ambulance? I don't know, hopefully it's not the person who came to look for the girl getting worked up and fainting."

"Distant relative?" Yu Lanchuan asked. "How distant?"

Boss Jiang said, "That's not the key point, who cares-"

"That is the key point." Yu Lanchuan raised a hand and cut him off. "You and I might be distant relatives, the kind that came from the same village 500 years ago. How can there be such a coincidence? The four Nine Pouch Elders of Beggars' Sect are second in power only to Old Sect Leader Yang. If someone in their family went missing, there should have been a huge uproar a long time ago. But instead of searching all over the place for the missing person, they come to look for the old sect leader and make a fuss? Furthermore, I live right upstairs but I didn't even know about the police taking someone away yesterday. The neighbours might gossip about it but would this be passed on so quickly to that whatever sect elder? Is this sect leader exceptionally well-informed or does he have 24-hour CCTV in the old sect leader's house?"

Boss Jiang sighed. He felt that Yu Lanchuan was still young. The things everyone had a tacit and silent understanding on, he just had to lay them all out plainly in the open.

Old Yang had withdrawn himself from worldly affairs. He was over ninety years old now and had gone through years of stormy hardship. It had been long since he had the heart to worry and fret over everything. But other people may not be willing to lay low with him. What kind of joke was Travellers' Sect? Wang Jiusheng's gang could rely on sheer power to make their mark and cause waves; so why the hell did the number one sect in the land have to stay inside the cracks of the city?

It was the twenty-first century now. Doing good deeds anonymously, wasn't that just something fools did?

But Sect Leader Yang just had to be so robust and in such good health. When he swung the Dog Beating Staff, there was not the least bit of hesitation. It didn't seem like he would be departing the mortal coil anytime soon. Below him, the Nine Pouch Elders waited in anticipation of their boss's death so that they could take his position but the boss just refused to die. Perhaps they could see that they might not outlast this old man and could no longer sit still, so they took this chance to display their prowess.

The banquet Wang Jiake had exposed included wealthy people, celebrities, transactions of the flesh and even prohibited drugs. Each and every one of those dazzling peacocks had fanned out their brilliant tails and exposed their asses, something everyone loved to revel in. Wang Jiake's disappearance also added a touch of drama and suspense to the whole matter. Everyone had their own opinions, and the debate raged on. Under these circumstances, anyone who had anything at all to do with that banquet were tarred with the same brush, much less Yang Yifan whose words sounded quite outrageous at first glance.

To those internet users who could spin ten thousand hidden truths from a single line, this was already conclusive evidence and the only thing lacking was the judgement from a court of law.

The sudden onset of the night wind shook the signboard of the laundry shop until it was creaking. It was the wailing of ghosts, the howling of wolves.

A great wind had risen. The flying sand and the tumbling stones could borrow its force; all they had to do was keep still and lay quietly in wait.

After hearing his words, Yu Lanchuan nodded at Boss Jiang and stood up to go.

"Wait a while, Little Master Yu. Don't go over. You're usually not back from work yet at this time anyway."

It was just past nine p.m. now. In most circumstances, Yu Lanchuan would indeed not be back from work yet but during this period of time when the Spring Festival holiday was just over, the work for the next year had yet to start rolling. It wasn't very busy at the office.

Yu Lanchuan paused. "But today, I'm already back from work."

Boss Jiang seemed to fear that the walls had ears and kept his voice low as he spoke to Yu Lanchuan. "Don't go over. Listen to me. Right now, the four Nine Pouch Elders of Beggars' Sect are all here. They're all talking over each other, all of them obsessed with arguing. If you don't appear, they can't get anything on you. But once you go over, you will have to greet them. What are you going to say?"

Yu Lanchuan was not dense and obtuse like that foolish child Yan Hao, of course he understood what Boss Jiang was saying. Everyone addressed him deferentially as "Little Master Yu" or "Little Alliance Leader" out of respect for his granduncle, Yu Huaide. It was not because Yu Lanchuan himself had anything worth their esteem.

How much esteem could they have for someone who worked extra hours like a dog, who relied on his apartment to be elected to the position?

When there was nothing wrong, everyone was polite and courteous. They let him organise the Martial Arts General Assembly, brought the younger generation along for arranged dating, and found some minor issues for him to handle so that he could show off a little what it meant to be the alliance leader. By the time he had gone on in this muddled and confused state for another ten, twenty years, when he was a familiar face to people from all walks of life and could find someone to speak to no matter where he went, this "alliance leader" would finally be considered to have the real skills and experience to back up the title.

When something serious happened, which one of these old troublemakers would listen to an upstart like him?

Beggars' Sect's matters were none of his business, he was busy with studies or work, he didn't understand the inner workings, he wasn't present at the scene—all these were excusable. However, if he did not understand how little weight he carried and interfered rashly, then he would be announcing to the world just how valuable this "alliance leader" was.

"Uncle Jiang won't say empty nice words to you. Since ancient times, which among those acts of chivalry wasn't something that took no effort to do?"

Yu Lanchuan's expression wavered for a bit. Slowly, he sat back down.

Right at that moment, the laundry shop's main door was slammed open. Yan Hao had slipped out earlier and now, he was barging right in. "The ambulance took Sect Leader Yang away!"

"What?" Boss Jiang said in shock.

"It's Old Sect Leader Yang! Maybe he was angry, they said that he was speaking halfway when he suddenly clutched his chest and fell over… Ai, Little Master Yu?" Yan Hao's words were rather scrambled.

Yu Lanchuan stood up and left right away.

Gan Qing had been playing with her phone in the car when the door on the other side opened with a swoosh. Yu Lanchuan said, "Help me find a place and park the car. I'm going over to have a look."

"Wait, I-"

Don't know how to drive!

However, Yu Lanchuan did not wait for her to speak. He had rushed off and was already no longer in sight.

Gan Qing sat in this "metal box" for a while, then used her phone to look up which of the two pedals was the brake and which one the accelerator. In the end, she was still as confused as ever. So she pulled up the hood on her down jacket and got down from the car, shivering as she walked one circle around the car. She tried pushing the car from the back—this outrageous Yu Lanchuan had even pulled the handbrake before he left. The car did not move.

A middle-aged man happened to walk out of a small lane. He stood in the wind, smoking and watching her struggle in amusement. "Young lady, what did you buy to get your driving license as a free gift? Stop pushing, where do you want to park the car? I'll get a few people to help you push it over."

Gan Qing spread her hands helplessly. "I haven't had the chance to put in the order for my driving license yet. That friend of mine didn't finish listening to what I said."

The middle-aged man stubbed out his cigarette and walked over. "If you trust me, I can help you park the car."

Gan Qing quickly thanked him.

"Fought with your boyfriend? Did he abandon a girl together with the car at the roadside just because of a quarrel?" The middle-aged man got the car moving with ease of practise. "Ai, someone as bad-tempered as this can get a girlfriend, he must look like a celebrity."

Gan Qing said, "...No, we're just ordinary friends."

The middle-aged man laughed out loud, not believing her. Humming a tune, he found a public parking spot and drove the car into it.

Gan Qing's eyes swept silently across his shoulder. This man was dressed respectably but on his shoulder, his shirt had an out-of-place patch sewn on that even seemed quite fashionable at a glance. Since ancient times, Beggars' Sect differentiated the members by "dirty clothing section" and "clean clothing section." It was said that according to history, both sides had even battled a few times. Later on, after a few rounds of chaos, they became one family. By now, they no longer differentiated the members in this way because even though most of the vagrants and beggars on the streets were still under Beggars' Sect, most of the Beggars' Sect members were no longer beggars. They consisted of people from all trades and professions. It was only when there were sect-related matters going on that they would come wearing clothes with patches to indicate their identity.

Gan Qing looked up from under the hood of her down jacket and asked, "Dage, you look like you're in a good mood. Did something good happen?"

"You can tell?" the middle-aged man said smilingly. "Actually, it's nothing. It's just that there's a great change at the place where I 'work.' In the past, I was just in a half-dead state but in the future, I might be like a salted fish getting a new lease of life. All right, I'll stop the car here. Keep the key well… Do you know how to take out the key?"

Gan Qing waited obediently for him to pull out the key and teach her where to press to lock the car. She said very sweetly, "Then, let me wish you a year of fortune and wealth as a belated New Year greeting."

Her words were very pleasing to the ear. The middle-aged man waved at her and went into a small eatery nearby.

A few people similarly well-dressed with patches on their clothes were waiting for him. "What were you doing? Why were you so slow? How are things?"

"I met a clumsy girl on the way and helped her park her car." The middle-aged man gave out cigarettes to his companions. Subconsciously, he cast his gaze far and realised that the young lady wearing a grey down jacket was nowhere to be seen now.

She has probably gone home, he thought. He wasn't bothered, he just felt that it was a bit of a shame. That girl looked like she was afraid of the cold, she had shrank back into her hood the whole time and even her hands had not been exposed. He had not seen her face clearly but from what he could see of her profile, he felt that she must be a pretty lady.

"I saw a stretcher there, it must be either a heart attack or a stroke. Ai, at his age, this is a sin," the middle-aged man said.

A Beggars' Sect member beside him said, "Old Sect Leader's health is failing at his old age. It's time for him to take a rest… What about the Dog Beating Staff? If Old Sect Leader retires, it's not appropriate for the Dog Beating Staff to be kept in the Yang family home. Don't let that unfilial granddaughter of his take it out and sell it off."

"It's a little too early to speak of this. It's not the right time." The middle-aged man waved him off. "If you ask me, we should at least wait for his emergency treatment to be over, shouldn't we? Elder Tian is still hanging around there, unwilling to let things go. His manners are deplorable. Just now, Elder Zhao secretly sent word. Since there is someone breaking through the enemy lines for us, we will let our brothers disperse for now. As for us… we'll wait and see."

Those few people took their leave of one another and filed out of the little eatery.

The middle-aged man was the last one. He paid the bill, then came out and looked around him. Seeing that there was no one around, he slowly slipped into a small alley and walked towards a concealed little house.

He didn't notice that not far behind him, someone was quietly tailing him like a shadow.