While he was about to reply, Ol' Liu came out of the shop, followed by two men. They were heading to the left.
The two boys' eyes fell on the broadsword hanging on the two men's waists. The temptation of obtaining these sabers far surpassed their guts in dealing with the three men. Clenching their teeth, they decided to follow these three men.
Ol' Liu, three men, strutted down the street; passers-by simply avoided them by walking on the other side; clearly they were the ‘people-see, people-afraid' type of characters. When they came across five or six government officers, they even stopped and stood in the middle of the street, whispering to each other for a while, before they finally turned into a dark, secluded alley perpendicular to the main street.
The two boys exchanged a ‘come-on, be brave' look at each other, and then they pursued on.
Upon entering the alley, they found out that the three people have vanished.
Kou Zhong pulled Xu Ziling toward a wooden door of someone's rear courtyard; he whispered, "They must have come into this backyard, otherwise, how could they disappear just like that? Shall we come in to have a look?”
Xu Ziling was aghast, "What if there are other Haisha Bang people inside?” he asked.
Kou Zhong sighed. "Just consider Ol' Liu is lucky tonight!”
Xu Ziling said, "If we go back to the hotel, we are only going to sleep anyway; how about waiting here for a moment?”
Kou Zhong sat down on the ground at the corner of the alley; he laughed and said, "I feel like we are back in Yangzhou, when we were bored, we simply sat down and chatted for half a day. Ha! We finally enter the Jianghu and roam the world.”
Xu Ziling sat down next to him and said in a low voice, "Haisha Bang seems to have a lot of power around here; even the porters at the dock have to obey their orders. Isn't sea sand [hai sha] referring to sea salt [hai yan]? To be able to gain control over salt trading in here, they must be very powerful and extremely rich; what could they possibly want from a couple of poor kids like us?”
Kou Zhong had a new level of respect for him; he said, "I haven't thought about it as thoroughly as you did; fortunately we have decided to steal the salt, otherwise, I am afraid we can't afford to buy even a grain of salt.”
And then he continued excitedly, "The most important thing right now is getting rich. If we have money, we can go looking for Susu Jiejie; if she has not married Li Dage yet, she can marry us. Jiejie is pretty, and she is kind-hearted too; to have her as our wife, we would be very happy indeed.”
Xu Ziling laughed and scolded him, "Chatting and laughing cannot be too much; how can Jiejie marry two persons at the same time? Are you saying we should sleep together in one bed at night? I don't want it.”
Kou Zhong sighed and said, "The most important thing in life is to find comfort for oneself. We have not even touched women's breasts yet, how can there be men as useless as we are? Hee! If we can seize those two sidekicks of Ol' Liu, why can't we go to the pleasure house and be merry?”
Xu Ziling snapped, "And at that time, if we do not immediately leave the city, Haisha Bang will chop us to pieces; how can we be merry then?”
Kou Zhong was jolted, "Someone's coming!”
Xu Ziling pricked up his ear and listened carefully; sure enough, he heard footsteps behind the wooden door. The two boys sprang up and stood on either side of the wooden door, while their hearts were pounding wildly.
Ol' Liu's voice was heard from behind the door, "Xiao Hua really knows how to make men lose their soul and rock their spirit; no wonder although Er Ye [second master] is so busy that he is spouting smoke through his seven orifices, he still have us deliver the swallow's nest to coax her.”
The other man said, "I was also itching all over to see her; if not for Dong Ming Pai [eastern sea sect] people came, I would immediately go to a low-grade brothel and have a woman taming the fire in me.”
Ol' Liu laughed lecherously, "I heard Madame Dong Ming, Shan Mei [sole beauty] Xianren [immortal/celestial being/fairy or goddess] is just like her name, she is as beautiful as an immortal [usually female]. I hope her skill in bed is not inferior to her martial art skill.”
The other man, who had not spoken so far, suddenly said, "I don't care how good her skill in bed is, would she even give us the time of the day? After the Boss, there is Second Boss; everybody's lining up, I doubt that you, Ol' Liu, will get your turn.”
Three men laughed lewdly.
‘Squeak!' The wooden door was pushed open. Totally unsuspecting, Ol' Liu walked out.
‘Bang! Bang!' The two men behind him received a couple of punches from behind the door; with a miserable ‘Oomph' they fell backward.
As Ol' Liu turned around in surprise, the pit of his stomach also received a couple of punches, sending him rolling around on the ground in terrible pain.
The two boys did not expect it would be this easy to deal with these three men.
Kou Zhong stretched out his neck to look inside, but all he could see was a quiet little garden with no one in sight. Not far from the garden, there was a small two-story building; the door was closed, but there was lantern light penetrating through the cracks. Signaling Xu Ziling, together they dragged the three men inside.
Other than Ol' Liu, the other two men were unconscious, with blood all over their faces. Skillfully the two boys loosened up the three men's belt and tied them securely.
After taking away their broadswords and purses, they grabbed Ol' Liu. "Do you remember us?” Kou Zhong asked with a laugh.
Ol' Liu was still so much in pain that his face was twisted, his muscle trembled. "Daye [big master] please spare my life!” he groaned.
Kou Zhong pulled out a broadsword and pressed it across his neck; with an ugly face he shot a string of foul language, and then he asked, "I will ask you a question, and you will honestly give me an answer; or else I'll cut your throat. But it will be a little cut, just enough to bleed you to death.”
By this time Ol' Liu already had a good view of them; he was aghast. "Didn't you drown?” he asked.
‘Pow!' Xu Ziling rewarded him with a slap on the face, instilling fear on him.
"You are allowed only to reply, not to ask question,” he said, "Haisha Bang's salt warehouse, where are they? Don't beat around the bush. I'll interrogate your brothers later, and then I'll know if you told me a lie.”
Kou Zhong praised him inwardly; this was the technique Du Fuwei used against them. Busily he increased the pressure of the saber against Ol' Liu's neck and hissed, "Answer quickly!”
Ol' Liu could only mumbled ‘uh, uh, ah, ah', but no words came out of his mouth.
Xu Ziling said irritably, "You saber presses onto his throat, how is he going to speak?”
Sheepishly Kou Zhong pulled his saber back a little.
Betting on their young age, Ol' Liu tried to be brave, "If you kill me, I guarantee you won't leave this place alive,” he said.
Xu Ziling laughed and said, "Aren't you going to deal with Dong Ming Pai tonight? How can your gang people have time to pay us any attention right now? By the time they discover your three dead bodies, we will already be far away from here.”
Kou Zhong exposed his bragging, "Don't blow your own horn; didn't we offend you today? Why are we still alive and well? Alright! Let me cut one of your fingers first, I want to see if you, this tough guy, are going to cry or not.”
"No!” Xu Ziling shook his head, "Blinding his eye will be more fun. Question is: which eye? Left? Or right?”
Immediately from a tough guy Ol' Liu turned into wimpy guy. "Xiaoren [little/lowly one] admits defeat,” he begged for mercy, "We have eight salt warehouses in total, which one Shaoye[1] wants to know?”
"Tell us about all eight of them in one stretch,” Kou Zhong replied, "If you hesitate one bit, you lose one eye. I am a skilled person in gouging someone's eye.”
Terrified, Ol' Liu talked in one breath. Kou Zhong had him repeating it several times until he was satisfied that Ol' Liu did not lie; "Which warehouse is the closest one?” he then asked.
Helpless, Ol' Liu told him everything.
Xu Ziling said, "What kind of sect is Dong Ming Pai, actually? Why did your Boss have to be here for them?”
Ol' Liu hastily said, "If I tell you, would two Shaoye let me go?”
Kou Zhong said, "If you are honest, we'll let you sleep in here for one night. But I'll have to cut your two friends' head to show the way we, the two dragons of Yangzhou, work.”
Of course he would not actually kill anybody; it was just the technique frequently employed by the people of the ‘dark road' to let people know that they were not easy to deal with.
As expected, Ol' Liu was so scared that his face turned blue and his lips purple. "Shaoye please spare my life,” he begged, "I'll talk. But you must keep your promise, don't hurt me.”
"Quickly talk!” Xu Ziling barked.
Ol' Liu dejectedly said, "I only know what I heard from Er Ye. Dong Ming Pai came from an island on the other side of the ocean called Liuqiu [Ryukyu]. The Sect is predominantly female. Hey! The ship you escaped to today was precisely their ship; did you see them?” [Translator's note: ‘they' and ‘them' here are feminine.]
Kou Zhong cursed, "Are you asking me, or am I asking you? Besides, we did not escape aboard, we boarded the ship. Do you think having ten fingers is too much and you think caressing women with nine fingers would be more satisfying?”
Immediately Ol' Liu pleaded for mercy again. He then continued, "Every year around Chunfen time [Spring Equinox, 4th of the 24 solar terms, March 21 - April 4] they come to coastal regions to select young men to be brought back to Ryukyu. I don't know why Boss wants to deal with them this year. Oh! I really don't know the details of this matter.”
The two boys suddenly saw the light; they understood now the reason Tan Yong was interested in them, and they felt very proud of themselves. But then they recalled that in the end Madame Ryukyu Shan Mei Xianren did not select them, so they felt inferior mixed with self-pity.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling exchanged a glance, they both lost interest in continuing the interrogation; so they tore the three men's clothes to stuff their big mouths, and then using ‘their school's unique skill' they made the men bend over and tied them tightly with special rope braided from the men's clothes so that it would not be easy for them to exert their strength. Only then did they leave unhurriedly.
Concerning the matter between Haisha Bang and Dong Ming Pai, they had neither the interest nor the power to interfere.
The only thing in their mind right now was how to stealthily loot Haisha Bang's salt and make a fortune out of it. When that time comes, wouldn't they be able to soar over the wide ocean and the empty sky?
[1] Continuing my note on Shaoye earlier, here he put himself in subordinate/servant position.