"Hongle, are you in a bad mood?" Shi Huaifeng suddenly asked.
Leyu was sipping an iced honey Five-Flower Tea, watching those idiots who'd been acting all tough just now but were now crying for their mothers as they swam in the sea. Leyu blinked at the question. "No, I'm in a great mood."
"Did I go too hard with the punishment and make them suspicious?" "After all, Leyu had only replaced Qin Leyin as a substitute for less than a day, and the memories weren't fully sorted out yet, nor had he inherited any of Qin Leyin's habits. Right now, he was really just an official edition Leyu in a new skin."
"You hardly ever offend people, and if you do, you never leave any survivors," Shi Huaifeng shook out his blue and white windbreaker, "I always figured you'd either rough them up a bit then smooth things over, or just dump their bodies in the river. It's either friends, or corpses—no third option."
"So I wasn't ruthless enough, huh..." Leyu laughed. "Actually, I just realized, seeing that look in their eyes—furious, helpless, wanting to bite me but not daring to come closer—it actually feels pretty damn good."
Shi Huaifeng looked a bit surprised. "Didn't you used to despise exactly this kind of sadistic pleasure, taking joy from the suffering of the weak?"
"People change," Leyu raised his drink. "Like suddenly discovering that honey Five-Flower Tea is pretty tasty."
Shi Huaifeng was about to say more, but just then his younger brother Qin Yueyang tapped his shoulder and silently mouthed three words.
Jing Zhengwei.
Shi Huaifeng suddenly seemed thoughtful, and when he looked at Leyu's back, there was some emotion in his eyes.
They were both members of the Shining Four Guards, so Shi Huaifeng had handled intelligence on Jing Zhengwei as well. He knew how much effort Qin Leyin had put in to get close to Jing Zhengwei; hell, he'd even known the Four Guards might once have worked hand-in-hand with Jing Zhengwei—but in the end, Qin Leyin scrapped that plan himself.
He used to think Jing Zhengwei was just another wildflower on Qin Leyin's path to success, like everyone else Qin Leyin had ever used up and thrown away.
But now, it seemed Qin Leyin really caught feelings this time—enough to change completely.
"With that in mind, a lot of things suddenly made sense:" "Why he'd rushed back to Xuanzhu County right after the uprising; why, instead of diving straight into work after waking up, he went to the deck to look at the scenery; why all that killing intent in him faded out and his playful side took over..."
"All of it, because he'd killed Jing Zhengwei with his own hands."
Shi Huaifeng knew that Jing Zhengwei's favorite drink was also honey Five-Flower Tea.
"So is becoming like him Qin Leyin's way of mourning?"
But they sure didn't have time to sit around being sentimental. Shi Huaifeng said, "There's always losses in transporting military funds—our people are taking inventory of the gold and silver again. Do you want to add anything?"
Leyu shot Shi Huaifeng a look, then glanced at the respectful blue-clad agent not far away, and chuckled. "I'm telling you, I'm not important enough for Yanjing to pay this much attention. These bigshots from Yanjing aren't bowing their heads to me—they're bowing to the gold and silver down below."
"Pointing out my status as an operative—if anything, that's less respect and more of a warning. 'The agents from Yanjing are already here watching you, so don't get any funny ideas about this money.'"
"These few months hanging around the Silver Blood Association had changed Leyu more than the last ten years put together." "Sharing tricks with those cultured vultures every day—he'd gone from being just a regular cutesy-type to a battle-hardened stan-adoring manipulator."
"When it came to all this roundabout hinting and word games, he could read most of what was going on. Shi Huaifeng's message was clear: Our guys are recounting the funds—if you want a little extra, now's your window."
No one knew better than Leyu just how fat those military funds were. It was more than enough to turn Blue Flame into a shut-in, and even skimming a little would let Leyu retire comfortably in Yanjing.
He looked at Qin Yueyang. Qin Yueyang nodded, so Leyu said, "Let Yueyang lend a hand."
Qin Yueyang—Qin Leyin's half-brother, not part of the Shining Four Guards, but he more or less knew his brother was part of some secretive organization.
"Unlike that loser Jing Zhengwei—no dad, no mom, no little brother, and nothing but attitude—Qin Leyin had raised Qin Yueyang as his tool from the very start. One look down memory lane, and there was his full-on 'Little Brother Development Plan.'"
And Qin Yueyang wasn't broken yet—maybe he couldn't match Jing Zhengwu, but at least he was SR-level support staff, Main Hall tier. So until Leyu's brain sorted itself out, he could hand all the business off to Qin Yueyang without worry.
Compared to the usual starting package, Qin Leyin honestly had it the best: No immediate death threats, money, power, muscle, and someone to fetch-and-carry for him. The opening move was already a yacht cruise.
"Even compared to Jing Zhengwei, the only difference was swapping the starter wife for a little brother."
"…But thinking about it, it kinda felt like a bad deal."
Qin Yueyang, of course, had no idea his big brother was mentally grumbling about his 'little brother' role, so he nodded and said, "I'll take care of it before we reach Yanjing. There won't be any mistakes."
"It's hot as hell right now, big bro. Shouldn't you take care of something more important first?" he said, "Otherwise, things are gonna start stinking."
Leyu froze, then nodded. "You're right, need to deal with that first… Let's go. Shi Huaifeng, you handle the blue-clads."
The Yanjing agents from the Statistical Department—Leyu had dug up plenty of intel on them from Qian Yuliu, Yin Yinyin, and Qin Leyin's memories. In places like Dongyang District, the Statistical Department was so marginalized they just did grunt work for the Patrol Execution Guard. That was rare, but it made sense—the Backlight Organization never gained real traction in Dongyang, even the rats were starving, so why would the landlord keep a cat around?"
Elsewhere, though—like Chenfeng District, where Backlight touched every social layer—the Statistical Department's status shot up. No wonder Blue Flame immediately set his eyes on being its director."
And the Yanjing Statistical Department—hell, that was practically a spy agency under the Imperial Family itself. In Yanjing, where you could hit several officials dead with one brick, they could actually arrest or kill anyone, no procedures needed. The fattest cat in all of Shining's territory."
"Imagine how many rats must be hiding in Yanjing."
"That's why Qin Leyin supported the workers' revolution—the more riots from the masses, the bigger the Four Guards' say in things."
Leaving overtime behind and stepping into the ship's interior, the Chenhun steamer now looked a lot like a modern cruise liner. Alloy steel panels separated each section, and there wasn't much of a smell.
"Big bro, don't you have something you want to ask me?" Qin Yueyang suddenly asked.
Leyu paused, then put on a mysterious air. "You know what I'd ask, I know what you'd answer, so let's skip it."
"That's my call," Qin Yueyang said. "Since we were leaving Xuanzhu County, there was no reason for him to go on living... Before we left, I took care of him myself. He tried to beg for his life at the end, but I didn't spare him."
"Qin Yueyang spoke vaguely and downplayed it, but Leyu quickly caught what he meant—just your basic Xuanzhu County patricide side quest."
"The Qin family's story was nothing out of the ordinary, actually even more boring than the Jing Family: just another father abusing wife and kids. Who knew why he never hit the servants, only his own family. But the Silver Blood Association was full of people who asserted authority by hurting their kin, so Leyu didn't find it odd at all."
"Once the three Qin siblings grew up, it was cosmic payback—finally the old man's turn to get screwed over. In Xuanzhu County, patricide didn't even count as a thing, but the family still clung to the old man's reputation, so they could only bide their time and gradually strip him of power till payback day came."
"Before leaving Xuanzhu County, Qin Leyin always suspected little bro was still seething, so he deliberately put him in charge of getting the family out."
"And sure enough, not only did he leave every relative to fend for themselves, he also got revenge for Mom and siblings—with bonus grieving son performance."
"Leyu obviously had no objections, might even have cheered—hell yes, orphan life again, no more fake 'Dad' and 'Mom'!"
"Feel good?"
Qin Yueyang froze, discovering big bro was looking at him curiously, genuinely, and with no hint of sarcasm. He thought for a moment, then said, "Not good, but I feel a lot lighter."
"That means you've forgiven him. That's what revenge is really for," Leyu said. "You pour all your hatred onto your enemy, and their death takes all your bad feelings away... Forgiving someone after taking your own revenge—now that's the kind of wine that sets you free."
Qin Yueyang nodded thoughtfully. "I'll tell sis about it in a bit."
"No need to wait," Leyu jerked his chin forward. "She's right up ahead."
Qin Yueshi, dressed in blue and green, was standing outside a door. She heard her brothers arrive and glanced at them—red lips, white teeth, golden hairpins and earrings, ridiculously pretty and cute, though a faint sadness lingered in her eyes and brows.
"Sis!" Qin Yueyang instinctively moved to shield himself between her and Leyu, but Qin Yueshi made no sudden movements, only quietly gazed at what was in the room.
Leyu walked over to stand by her, following her gaze.
Sunlight poured in through the cabin window, falling like a blessing from above on the mortal stretched out on the floor.
It was Jing Zhengwei's corpse.