Hidden Shadow – CH 163

Chapter One-Hundred-Sixty-Three: Hiring a Killer

Chu Dingjiang nodded in agreement. “Go on.”

Zhu Pianxian was overjoyed, thinking she had finally caught a fat sheep.

“First, write down the identity of the person you want to kill. Go to Yaohua Pavilion in Liu’s Teahouse in Yangzhou City. If someone asks, ‘Would you like some meat?’ Give him two taels of silver and reply, ‘I prefer vegetarian food, please make some.’ After receiving the money, if he says, ‘There is a fairy mountain in the sea,’ you reply, ‘In the misty void,’ and that’s it. Give the person your pre-written information. After they’ve read it, they will tell you the price. If you agree, pay a ten-tael deposit first and the full amount after the deed is done.”

The ten-tael deposit did not mean the kill was cheap; it simply meant that no one had dared to renege on the deal with the Piaomiao Mountain mansion so far. This deposit was merely a formality to ‘reach a deal.’

“I will have someone bring you a map to Liu’s Teahouse later,” Zhu Pianxian said with an even more gentle smile. “Is there anything else you wish to ask, My Lord?”

Chu Dingjiang was already quite satisfied with the amount of information he had gathered. He could investigate the rest himself; asking too many questions might reveal his true intentions, and who knew if Zhu Pianxian had any connection to the Piaomiao Mountain mansion?

“No,” Chu Dingjiang readily produced two thousand coins.

Zhu Pianxian’s gaze swept indifferently over the two coins on the table. “In that case, I apologize that I, a widow, cannot see you off.”

“Farewell,” Chu Dingjiang said.

An Jiu rose and followed him. Reaching the steps, she suddenly turned around and caught Zhu Pianxian scrutinizing the two coins with a greedy expression.

An Jiu’s slightly imposing gaze was impossible for anyone to ignore. Zhu Pianxian felt a chill run down her spine. Looking up, she met An Jiu’s cold gaze. She shivered, her first instinct being to quickly stuff the official banknotes into her pocket.

However, An Jiu did nothing and left.

Zhu Pianxian breathed a sigh of relief, though still shaken. But the thought of the two thousand taels of silver made her forget everything else.

She was immersed in the joy of having swindled a fat sheep, unaware that “what goes around comes around.” She, Zhu Pianxian, might very well ruin her future because of those two thousand three hundred taels.

Shortly after Chu Dingjiang and An Jiu returned to their room, the attendant brought the items.

The two carefully reviewed the documents. The information about the Feng Family was so detailed that it could be called a “Chronicle of the Feng Family,” including details about how many concubines he had, their backgrounds, and whether they had children. Even more outrageous… The document also mentioned that the second concubine of Chief Feng owned a dog and that Chief Feng habitually took an elixir before having sex with women…

“I do not know if it is true or not.” Some seemingly trivial matters could sometimes be decisive, but An Jiu always felt that Zhu Pianxian’s face screamed “scam.”

Chu Dingjiang pulled out all the silver notes he had on him. “I used to think I could never spend all my money, but if we keep doing business with Zhu Pianxian, we will probably be penniless soon.”

The Konghe Army was a shadowy force, unlike ordinary court officials who received land, grain, and clothing, among other things, allocated by the court in addition to their salaries. All these things were converted into money and distributed to everyone. Plus, each mission included a huge sum for healing, easily amounting to seven thousand taels a year. Chu Dingjiang had been in the Konghe Army for over ten years; his early salary was lower, but he still earned three or four thousand taels. Everyone in the Konghe Army was treated the same. The money was sitting there with nowhere to spend it, and he had no time to spend it. Social interactions did not require money either, so even if he squandered it, he still had 79,000 taels left.

An Jiu was unaware of inflation, but by this calculation, nearly 80,000 taels of silver did not seem like much. “You are really in a sorry state.”

Back then, how much did she have in her account…? An Jiu thought for a long time, realizing she had no idea, but she vaguely remembered that her last mission’s price was 20 million US dollars, and she took 40%.

Compared by numbers alone, Chu Dingjiang was indeed quite poor.

Chu Dingjiang did not usually pay much attention to these things, but he was not completely ignorant. He carefully recalled, “A meat bun only costs two coins; this amount of money could last a lifetime.”

“That means Zhu Pianxian is too expensive.” An Jiu was not concerned about the amount of money, but rather felt cheated, bullied… This was something she had to remember.

“Want to stay another night?” Chu Dingjiang gestured with his chin, pointing out the window.

He was asking if they still wanted to observe the dock.

An Jiu said, “Let’s go.”

After all, it was just a fleeting feeling, and there were plenty of questionable things in the world. Even if there was something wrong with the dock, it was not their business.

The two set off immediately, entering the city and easily finding Liu’s Teahouse using the map provided by Zhu Pianxian.

Liu’s Teahouse was located in a narrow alley, not very busy, but not deserted either.

The two found a secluded spot nearby to observe from a distance. While searching for a good vantage point, they realized that although Liu’s Teahouse was an ordinary building, indistinguishable from the surrounding dilapidated houses, the interior was completely invisible from any angle.

After observing for several days, they discovered that the shop had regular connections with certain individuals outside. For example, someone would go to the market to buy things every morning, someone would come to collect swill in the evening, and two tea drinkers would come every day. These people did not come at a fixed time, but the intervals between their visits were at most an hour.

Chu Dingjiang followed these four individuals separately but found nothing suspicious.

Everything seemed normal during this period.

However, they were not in a hurry. After all, hiring someone to commit murder was not commonplace; it did not happen every few days. The two patiently monitored the shop for over a month. During this time, Chu Dingjiang went in twice for tea, but without success.

Chu Dingjiang speculated that either Zhu Pianxian was spreading false information, or business had been slow lately, or perhaps they had overlooked something during their surveillance… The mission had an eight-month deadline; a month had been spent on the road, and over a month monitoring this teahouse to find the headquarters of Piaomiao Mountain Mansion. The Piaomiao Mountain mansion was undoubtedly heavily guarded, requiring even more preparation time. Unable to delay any longer, Chu Dingjiang decided to probe.

Chu Dingjiang’s excellent lightness skill made tracking easy, so the task of hiring an assassin naturally fell to An Jiu.

The two agreed to meet at Qingfeng Restaurant five days later and then went their separate ways.

It was past noon, and the sky was overcast.

Business at Liu’s Teahouse was not good; only a few regulars were present. An Jiu entered but did not see an attendant, only an elderly man in his seventies dozing at the counter.

An Jiu tapped on the counter behind him, and the old man slowly opened his eyes. “What kind of tea would you like, My Lord?”

“Do you have a private room?” An Jiu asked.

The old man seemed to regain some of his senses. He pulled out a stack of bamboo tokens and spread them out on the counter, each bearing the name of a private room. An Jiu looked at them and chose “Yaohua.”

“Go upstairs, turn left, and go to the last room,” the old man said.

An Jiu went upstairs on her own and entered the private room.

After waiting a while, an attendant came in and asked, “What kind of tea does the esteemed guest prefer?”

An Jiu preferred plain water, but since she was at a teahouse, she could not just order that. She said, “Tieguanyin.”

“Our shop also has other dishes. Would you like some?” he asked with a smile. “Would you like some meat, esteemed guest?”

Upon hearing this, An Jiu could not help but scrutinize the man. He was about thirty years old, lean, with a face full of wrinkles when he smiled, sparse eyebrows and hair, and thick lips; when he grinned, you could almost see his back teeth.

She took two taels of silver from her bosom and placed them on the table. “I prefer vegetarian food, please make some.”

The attendant’s grin widened. He took the silver and said, “There are fairy mountains on the sea.”

An Jiu took a piece of paper from her sleeve and handed it to him. “In the misty void.”

The attendant took the paper, unfolded it, glanced at it, and nodded. “Six thousand taels in total, ten taels as a deposit.”

An Jiu had been beside Chu Dingjiang when he wrote that note. It read, “Cui Linglong of Yangzhou, Zhu Pianxian.” Did Zhu Pianxian not say she was accepting two thousand taels because she needed to take responsibility? Then she had to take some responsibility. Chu Dingjiang and An Jiu felt it was perfectly reasonable, without the slightest guilt.

An Jiu paid the silver as instructed, thinking to herself, “I did not realize Zhu Pianxian’s life was so valuable.”

The shopkeeper continued, “A month from now, we will hang the head on Shili Slope outside the city. Please bring the remaining payment when you inspect the goods, My Lord. If it is inconvenient for you, we can come to collect it. May I ask where you reside, My Lord?”

“Qingzhu Lane, Hangzhou. My surname is Lu, and my given name is Shuangyu,” An Jiu replied, revealing the identity Chu Dingjiang had given her.