In the teahouse, Sui Yunzhu noted down the basic information of the man while keeping an eye on the situation outside.
The beggar-like man had initially considered going to Hejian, but An Jiu's sudden appearance halfway had startled him, making him hesitate again. In these times, women who made a living outside were either widows or had special identities. He didn’t dare agree, but he also couldn’t bring himself to refuse outright.
"My apologies, brother. You’re free to come and go as you please. My younger sister is playful and young—please forgive her," Sui Yunzhu broke the stalemate between the two.
An Jiu peered at Sui Yunzhu through the gaps in her bamboo hat, clearly not understanding why he had suddenly lied.
Hearing this, the man turned and quickly left.
An Jiu’s mental strength closely followed him.
"Why?" she asked Sui Yunzhu.
Sui Yunzhu replied, "Forced kindness is no kindness at all."
"If you twist it, you twist it. What does it matter if it's forced or not!" An Jiu tossed out these words and chased after the man’s trail.
Sui Yunzhu sighed and let her go. But he absolutely had to write to Lord Chu and complain about this—who else could handle such a domineering woman besides him? Sui Yunzhu truly felt powerless despite his best intentions.
An Jiu wound through two streets and arrived at a dilapidated courtyard, vaulting over the wall directly.
The man was sitting by the well, drinking water. When he saw the ghostly figure of a woman clad in black, his eyes widened in shock. After a long pause, he finally stood up. "Miss, what kind of master are you?"
After a brief silence, An Jiu spoke. "I’m An Jiu, affiliated with the Hejian garrison. Are you willing to enlist?"
How could there possibly be women in the regular army? It was obvious what this was about. The man smiled bitterly. "What, even Hejian has Shadow Guards now?"
"You’re from the Crane Control Army?" An Jiu was surprised—she had hit the jackpot right away.
The man nodded honestly. "Codename: Blood Fiend."
He was an assassin from the Crane Control Army. Because he had followed Chu Dingjiang in aiding the current Emperor’s ascension to the throne, he had been granted a special pardon. He knew this wasn’t the Emperor’s decree but rather Chu Dingjiang giving them a chance to start anew. Without household registration, he had lived in seclusion after arriving in Xingzhou. His money was nearly gone, and if he didn’t find a way to make a living soon, he’d starve. Coincidentally, Hejian had posted recruitment notices, and he was tempted. With proper registration, he could find legitimate work—that would be a real fresh start! Even if war broke out between Liao and Song, with his skills, he could easily protect himself in Hejian. When he returned, he’d at least have a proper background!
An Jiu looked at his tattered appearance and thought it was a shame for such a cool and domineering codename. "But you shouldn’t be this down and out. Aren’t Crane Control assassins supposed to be so rich they have nothing but money?"
"Who carries silver while killing people?!" Blood Fiend plopped down on the stone steps, looking utterly dejected. "I didn’t expect to get out so soon. At first, it was exciting for a few days, but then I realized there wasn’t much difference—it was even emptier."
"Without something to hold onto, of course you’d feel empty." No one understood this feeling better than An Jiu. She tried to persuade him. "We’re a regular army. It’s different from the Crane Control Army. Besides, what else can you do besides kill?"
Everything assassins learned was for killing. Take An Jiu, for example—aside from that, she only knew how to herd sheep.
But Blood Fiend clearly disagreed. "I know plenty of things. As long as I have household registration, I can live openly."An Jiu remained silent, staring motionlessly at him.
After a while.
Blood Fiend spoke. “You don’t believe me? I can mix poison pills, make silk flowers, and even write calligraphy!”
“You’re quite dexterous. Pity you’re not a woman—otherwise, you might have thrived in the inner courtyard.” An Jiu couldn’t reconcile the image of a slovenly old man with an activity like “making silk flowers.” After some thought, she added, “I don’t discriminate. Come with me.”
Blood Fiend was speechless. He tossed the ladle back into the bucket and leaned against a pillar, basking in the sun for a nap.
An Jiu simply crouched and moved closer, squatting right in front of him to stare at him from an even shorter distance.
As a seasoned assassin, Blood Fiend had always been the one stalking others—never had he been scrutinized like this! Moreover, An Jiu’s mental strength was nearly tangible, her gaze as sharp as a blade. It felt like a knife was scraping over his entire body, and the slightest tremor of her hand could end his life.
After enduring it for a while, Blood Fiend had no choice but to open his eyes. “Are you also from the Crane Control Army?”
An Jiu nodded.
“Why make things difficult for a fellow assassin?” Blood Fiend said this, but in truth, he was calculating whether he could win if a fight broke out. This girl had no trace of inner force, so how had she found him so easily? And upon hearing his name, she hadn’t shown the slightest fear! Unable to gauge her depth, he hesitated to act, resorting to continuous chatter in hopes of finding a way to shake her off.
Knowing oneself and the enemy ensures victory in every battle—he decided to probe her identity. “Code name?”
“An Jiu.” The answer slipped out before she remembered her Crane Control Army codename was Xuan Ren.
“What does that code name mean?” Blood Fiend frowned, thinking hard.
In the Crane Control Army, aside from ranked officers, ordinary assassins were assigned names based on the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. Only those on the Crane Control List were given special codenames, and only the top ten had the privilege of choosing their own names.
Beyond that, only after an assassin’s death would their original name be engraved on a Soul Bell and hung in the hall.
An Jiu’s codename originally meant “angel,” but since there was no such concept here, she thought for a moment. “Little treasure? Yeah, something like that.”
Blood Fiend looked at her with a twisted expression, wondering if the Crane Control Army really had such bizarre codenames.
Meanwhile, An Jiu was equally curious about Blood Fiend—this was the first time she’d met an assassin with such expressive features.
“You really don’t recognize me?” Blood Fiend asked.
An Jiu studied his seemingly warm but secretly ruthless gaze and suddenly understood why he was so fixated on this answer. “You’re on the Crane Control List? Sorry, but I only know three people on that list.”
Blood Fiend chuckled. “I bet Gu Jinghong is one of them.”
An Jiu didn’t respond.
Blood Fiend continued, “I heard he died during an assassination attempt on Yelü Huangwu. I’ve never understood why they sent him alone on that mission. What a waste!”
Assassinating Yelü Huangwu was an incredibly dangerous task. Even if Gu Jinghong was the top-ranked assassin, how could the Crane Control Army send him alone? Wasn’t that practically sentencing him to death?
An Jiu scrutinized this seemingly sentimental middle-aged man and said coolly, “Don’t waste your energy trying to escape. You won’t get the chance.”Blood Fiend's heart trembled. From the moment he saw An Jiu at the teahouse entrance until now, it felt like being trapped in an impenetrable net with no way to find an opening. Now that his cover was blown, he couldn't be bothered with further pretense. "I can't go back to that life! Don't force me into a fight to the death!"
He wore the expression of one who would rather die than yield.
An Jiu wondered why there were so many effeminate men in the Crane Control Army. Though Blood Fiend appeared to be a perfectly normal man—unlike the flamboyant Gao Dazhuang—his stubborn defiance made him seem like a petulant little girl at heart.
Faced with someone like this, An Jiu wasn’t sure how to proceed. So she remained silent, simply staring at him—watching him drink, watching him eat, even watching him head to the outhouse...
"Aren’t you hungry?" Blood Fiend finally couldn’t take it anymore and spoke up, offering her a piece of flatbread.
(To be continued...)
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