"Move aside! Everyone, move aside! Where's the family! One family member, go with the ambulance! Does the patient have any drug allergies? Any slow-onset illness?"

"I… No, he doesn't." Yang Yifan crouched on the ground. Her ears were full of noise and clamour that were pressing in on her until it felt like her brains were congealing into a lump. Just now, she had relied completely on intuition to perform CPR and she didn't know if she did it correctly. Her hands and legs were shaking hard now and she couldn't stand.

A pale hand stretched out towards her and grasped her by her elbow. The skin on that hand was already hanging loose, yet there was polish on the fingernails. Those nails seem to want to pierce through her thick winter clothing and into her flesh.

Zhang Meizhen picked her up from the ground. "Get up."

"Wait a minute." An old man dressed as a clean clothing section member of Beggars' Sect came forward to block them. This man's voice was abnormally loud; when he opened his mouth, the sound was like beating a gong. The tiny No. 110 Courtyard didn't seem able to contain his volume and his voice echoed around them. "Miss, shouldn't you first hand over the Dog Beating Staff?"

Zhang Meizhen snorted. "Tian Zhanpeng, don't you think you're being embarrassing?"

"I'm not the one who's embarrassing. We all know who that person is!"

The paramedic in the ambulance turned around and shouted, "What is it that's so important that you people must talk about it at this moment?"

"Let her go over first!"

"The Dog Beating Staff…"

"Unfilial…"

"The Dog Beating Staff!"

"Sacred item… Dog Beating Staff…"

The clamour was so noisy that Yang Yifan's head ached like it was splitting apart. Right at that moment, Zhang Meizhen hung a small plastic bag around Yang Yifan's neck, like she was hanging a key on a primary school student. Before she could see clearly what was in the bag, Zhang Meizhen put one hand on her back and pushed her forward. "Hurry up and go."

Tian Zhanpeng was one of the four Nine Pouch Elders of Beggars' Sect. He was wearing a sleek and shiny leather jacket and there was a patch made from sackcloth over his chest, looking like a badge of honour. When looked at closely, it could be seen that he actually could not bear to sew it on directly and had attached it with a safety pin!

In the darkness, this old man was like a lump of donkey dung with leaves stuck on it. When he saw Yang Yifan ignoring him, he stretched out a hand to stop her.

Right then, there was a whistling sound as a vicious wind suddenly slashed over. Tian Zhanpeng withdrew his hand back reflexively. The thing brushed against his hand and fell to the ground, striking against the bricks with a clear and crisp ringing sound. A chain whip had appeared in Zhang Meizhen's hand at some point!

The chain whip was very long. Like a viper, it broke apart the large group of Beggars' Sect members who were gathered together.

No one had thought that this old lady would make a move without saying a word. Those who were nearly licked by the whip were each and every one of them startled and confused. The noisy crowd quieted down in an instant.

Yang Yifan finally broke free. Once she leaped into the ambulance, it drove off with a low rumble.

The whistling wind, the shouted curses, the debates, the sound of the medical equipment… as well as the "Dog Beating Staff" that was brought up again and again, they all coiled around her ear, looping repeatedly without rest.

Yang Yifan propped her elbows on her knees, her hands covering her ears. Her hair on either side of her head had fallen forward. She pushed it back harshly.

A paramedic said to her, "When someone around forty or fifty years old has symptoms like numbness in their chest or their back, pain in their elbows or stomach discomfort, they would already need to be very careful, much less someone who's so old! When the old man said he's not feeling well, did the family not pay attention?"

Yang Yifan looked up at a loss.

She hadn't had the time to listen.

She had so many matters to worry about—a public relations crisis, handling the police, an entire company's worth of staff to support, defending against competitors taking the chance to step on her while she was down, the brand partners waiting for her explanation… Grandpa didn't know anything and the one line he had said the most to her had always been, "That's enough from you," as though anything she did was something bad that he had to rein in at the last second.

What was considered "enough"?

Every year, the various big name brands would release all sorts of fanciful and fabulous new products, white foam on the crests of the waves of fashion that build up and crash in looping cycles. The beautiful items that they created were like transient flowers, born amidst joyous clamour, then falling out of fashion at the speed of a galloping horse.

The voices the people let out were like the wind blowing across the grain fields; before one wave had settled, the next one had risen. Every road, when walked to the end, was a narrow one. Countless people squeezed in, countless people fell off. Tearful recollections and accusatory laments frequently sounded from all directions, making someone who was right in the middle feel a sense of danger, of being ambushed from all sides, as though there were dead ends everywhere.

Meanwhile, the era was like a volcano beginning to rumble, ready at any time to burn off the road ahead and leave only a hanging precipice. No one had a guide on how to pass through safely. They could only warn the people around them repeatedly, "You have to become a better version of yourself; only then can you take on any change without having to change yourself." This was equivalent to bullshit. The definition of "good" was so wide, who the hell knew what "a better version of yourself" meant.

Thus, they could only create mirage after mirage—a bright and radiant outer appearance was "good"; exquisite and luxurious items were, of course, also "good"; not reading more than a hundred books a year was not worthy of being called "good"; the poetry in your heart and the distant dream^[1] was the high-class "good"... And then, all these "good" things, big and small, were tossed in all directions, leading to everyone chasing madly after them while raising a hue and cry everywhere.

Everyone was running, no one dared to stop. Who dared to be "enough"?

Yang Yifan suddenly realised that it was abnormally quiet. She thought for a while, her mind sluggish, then realised that her phone was not with her. It might have been dropped just now when she clashed with those people or perhaps, in this day of pandemonium, she had put it down somewhere carelessly.

Unused to it, she checked her whole body but could not find her phone. However, she noticed the little plastic bag Zhang Meizhen had hung around her neck.

She opened it for a look. Inside was a wad of cash.

That was right. She had left in a hurry and didn't even take her purse with her.

The noise that could give a person tinnitus was far away now. She was holding this stack of paper bills and depended on an old man whose fate was still uncertain for mutual survival.

The darkness of the night in Yanning finally became vast and empty.

Despite the fact that the leading character had left the scene, things did not quiet down at No. 110 Courtyard.

Tian Zhanpeng pointed at Zhang Meizhen and said in great fury, "This matter concerns our Beggars' Sect. Why is a demoness like you from Travellers' Sect interfering?"

Zhang Meizhen raised her chain whip. "I do what I like."

"Elder Tian, don't waste words with her anymore. The Dog Beating Staff!"

Tian Zhanpeng hmph-ed and turned to say to his own followers, "Ever since Old Alliance Leader Yu passed away, our old Sect Leader was deceived by these people and this courtyard fell into darkness. All sorts of demons and monsters come here. Our sect's sacred item must not stay in this place. Since Old Sect Leader does not have the ability even if his heart is willing, then we should take care of the Dog Beating Staff in his place!"

When he finished speaking, numerous bootlickers fawned on him.

Tian Zhanpeng led a rousing call. "Up to the sixth floor! We will go welcome the Dog Beating Staff!"

Before his followers could shout their agreement, Zhang Meizhen pulled her chain whip taut with both hands. "You dare?"

Tian Zhanpeng scoffed. "In consideration of your advanced age, I initially did not want to embarrass you but you refuse! When you were young, you had hundreds of tricks up your sleeve. Your advances were rejected so you went around seducing people, sleeping with all those dirty and smelly people. In the end, you became a widow but you still wrap yourself around our old Sect Leader and refuse to let him go."

Zhang Meizhen laughed, not at all bothered. "'Dirty and smelly'? Oh my, how could you be so unfilial and say that about your father? Quick, say some positive things and then burn some paper money during Qingming and your mum here won't tell on you."

"You're asking for death!"

He took out a metal club from somewhere and swung it at Zhang Meizhen. In an instant, numerous clinks and clanks sounded. The wooden weiqi board under the tree was swept away by the chain whip and split apart. Both these people were in their seventies; yet when they fought, it was unexpectedly ferocious. The bystanders that had nothing to do with the matter watched with wide eyes and opened mouths, and for a moment, didn't know whether or not they should call the police.

The other three sect elders of Beggars' Sect stood by and watched with their hands unmoving. They had no intentions at all of helping, afraid that others would say that they were bullying her with their strength in numbers. The old and crafty Elder Zhao said to Elder Tian, "Old Brother, we will leave this matter to you and go to welcome the Dog Beating Staff."

The chain whip wrapped around the metal club in Tian Zhanpeng's hand, nearly taking it out of his hands. When he heard this, he was immediately enraged until he was like a gourd. He roared, his veins bulging, and gripped the metal club with desperate strength. He aimed a kick at Zhang Meizhen's stomach.

Zhang Meizhen straightened the chain whip and blocked his kick but also staggered a couple of steps back herself. "You people dare to enter a private residence?"

Elder Zhao said peacefully, "Of course not. We will leave right after we welcome the Dog Beating Staff. We definitely do not dare to touch anything inside the Sect Leader's house. The few of you, go look for plastic bags to cover our shoes so that we don't dirty the Sect Leader's floor."

"Stop there!" Zhang Meizhen shouted.

"You stop there!" Tian Zhanpeng retorted.

When Zhang Meizhen turned around, he seized the chance and swung the club at her back.

Right at that moment, something long pierced in horizontally, pushing the metal club away with a clang. Tian Zhanpeng felt a numbness between this thumb and forefinger, and even had dust thrown on his face. He spat a couple of times and stared—it turned out to be a broom with a long handle.

Yu Lanchuan stabbed the broom he had taken from the reception office into the ground and swept a couple of times in a very civilised manner. He undid the button at his collar. "Intentional injury. Have you thought it through? At your age, imprisonment at any term is equivalent to life imprisonment."

Tian Zhanpeng said, "Who are-"

Elder Zhao was stunned. "You are… Little Master Yu?"

"Yeah." Little Master Yu nodded. "I met you once during the assembly in autumn and we also exchanged a few words then. Old Master Zhao, I trust you are in good health?"

"Thank you for your well wishes." Elder Zhao smiled. He did not think highly of this young man. "I will surely look for Little Master Yu another day to have tea. Today, our Beggars' Sect has some internal matters to take care of so I will not disturb you. We are also very sorry to the neighbours here for creating such a huge disturbance. We will leave immediately after going up to welcome the Dog Beating Staff."

Yu Lanchuan raised an eyebrow and gave him a strange look. "Sect Leader Yang wants to give the Dog Beating Staff to you people and is even troubling everyone here to go upstairs and take it yourselves?"

"The Dog Beating Staff belongs to our Beggars' Sect in the first place. Sect Leader Yang is currently in hospital and is not able to take charge of matters for the time being. Naturally, the few of us will look after the Dog Beating Staff on his behalf," Elder Zhao said.

"Oh, it belongs to Beggars' Sect." Yu Lanchuan nodded and spoke like he was making idle conversation. "When was Beggars' Sect officially registered and became a legal entity?"

Elder Zhao's eye twitched.

"Or… did you people even sign an agreement regarding the ownership of the Dog Beating Staff?" Yu Lanchuan asked.

"Very funny, Little Master Yu"

"Not at all. I don't like to joke while taking in the northwest wind late at night." Yu Lanchuan passed through the crowd of Beggars' Sect people and walked towards the building entrance without any regard for anyone. He stood there. "Unless you take out a document detailing the lawful shared possession of the Dog Beating Staff, barging into a private residence and taking an item from it is breaking and entering. The police are on their way."

"Little Master Yu," Elder Zhao said with a false smile. "This is a family matter within the martial arts community. It isn't good to involve public officials, is it?"

"Such a major scene with so many people is a 'family matter'?" Yu Lanchuan asked.

"Little Master Yu, don't try to frighten us with that trick." Elder Zhao lowered his voice. "For generations, the Dog Beating Staff has been in the hands of the sect leader. When the sect leader retires, the staff should be returned. If you don't believe me, you can ask the Old Sect Leader. Would he dare say that it is his private property? So what if the police come? Will they arrest us all just because of one walking stick? If we insist on having the Dog Beating Staff today, Little Master Yu, none of you can stop us. We are all in Yanning, we are all people of the same path and we bump into each other frequently. I know you are a civilised man, don't make this unpleasant for everyone."

Yu Lanchuan smiled. His tone softened a little as he discussed with the other person. "Sect Leader Yang is still in hospital. The Dog Beating Staff doesn't have legs. Is it necessary for everyone to do this? Old Master Zhao, can't you wait a couple of days? Wait for him to wake up and say who he wants to give it to. I'll take leave from work to escort this sacred item of yours over, all right?"

Elder Zhao sighed. "Little Master Yu, it's not that I, Old Zhao, don't want to give you face. It really is because in this building of yours, there are the evil remnants of Wan Mu Chun, former members of Travellers' Sect… Even if I agree, the disciples under me won't agree. You need to be more understanding."

"I remember that the Alliance Leader's Command did not convict Wei Xiao of the crime. Why is it that when it comes to you, the moment you open your mouth, Wan Mu Chun becomes 'evil remnants'?" Yu Lanchuan's face turned cold. "I see that you are insisting on entering this residence tonight."

Elder Zhao did not say a word. Behind him, a few Beggars' Sect disciples charged forward together, squeezing past Yu Lanchuan to enter the building.

Yu Lanchuan suddenly brought the broom down forcefully. The long plastic handle smashed right at the kneecaps of the person in front. The person stumbled half a step, and then was knocked back by the broom swinging across and dragged down one of his companions as he fell. Of the remaining two people, one was struck on the leg while the other was hit by the broom handle until he was bleeding from the nose and falling from the stairs. The long and light handle spun in Yu Lanchuan's hand, then stopped in a horizontal position, blocking the doorway.

From his elevated position, he looked down on the Beggars' Sect mob. He felt that his vow not to fight against opponents of more than two was going to bite the dust right there and then.

Since ancient times, there was the saying, "Heroes disrupt order with their martial skills^[2]." In the past, Yu Lanchuan had felt that this saying had nothing to do with him but it turned out that there were some matters where actions spoke louder than words.

This was probably the first time the Seven Secret Arts of Han Jiang that had been passed down to the current generation was seriously put to full use for a purpose other than to prevent sudden death from overwork—in other words, to make these fools listen to him speak.

This barbaric behaviour is truly a disgrace to civilisation, he thought.

Yu Lanchuan nodded politely at Elder Zhao across the mob. "Please, do try."

T/N:

[1] 诗和远方 translates literally to "poetry and distant" and means "an ideal life." It is from the line "这个世界不只有眼前的苟且，还有诗与远方"—"This world does not only consists of the tedious necessities before your eyes, there is also poetry and the far distance." This line was written by Gao Xiaosong.

苟且, which I translated as "tedious necessities," refers to doing something perfunctorily, just because it has to be done. In this context, it refers to the day-to-day matter that's annoying and stressful but has to be done to survive, practical things that put food on the table. In contrast, 诗与远方—"poetry and distant"—is imaginary, something that exists only in our hearts, whose only worth is in making life beautiful.

This phrase was apparently popular among a certain generation (those born in the '70s and '80s) as a motivational phrase.

[2] "Heroes break order with their martial skills" is from the saying "儒以文乱法，侠以武乱纪" which means "Scholars break laws with their words, heroes disrupt order with their martial skills." Basically referring to how scholars or heroes (heroes is not exactly the right term but is the closest I can get) use what they're good at if they want to bring change to the rules.