Later that night, Bazar Batu slowly opened his eyes. He heard two people talking and peeped from behind his eyelashes. He thought he saw Mu Dishi sitting at a table with a man, but their voices were unfamiliar; he reasoned the poison might still be affecting him. When he heard the name Yongzheng, he realized the two were strangers. He knew he had to flee but found no one else in the room; he was alone on the bed.
Yongzheng and Xue Horan were sitting at the table for dinner. Yongzheng noticed Xue Horan staring at him. "What's the matter?"
Xue Horan demanded, "Tell me what the flower house is, and how do you know the potion?"
Yongzheng tried to brush it off. "It's nothing, it's better if you don't know."
Bazar Batu seized his chance to cause chaos and cover his escape. He quickly got up and sat on the edge of the bed. He announced loudly, "He doesn't want you to know about flower house, because he dares not tell you."
Xue Horan turned around. "Are you awake now?"
Bazar Batu smirked. "I know exactly what a flower house is."
Xue Horan, innocent, asked, "This gongzi, what is a flower house?"
Bazar Batu scoffed. "A flower house is a place where men go to entertain themselves."
Xue Horan, trying to understand, asked, "Like an opera?"
Bazar Batu shook his head in disbelief, chuckling. "You are even duller than Lok gege..." He looked at the innocent-looking teenager. "In a sense, you are a lot like Mu Dishi."
Xue Horan, shyly, looked at Bazar Batu. "Everyone says so. I am not him. This gongzi can kindly tell me why men go to the flower house to entertain themselves?"
Bazar Batu smiled. "The flower house is a place for men of all different ages to go drink and chat with women. If the negotiation is reached, the woman can take the man back to her room and entertain him further." He chuckled suggestively. "Unlike playing Go or music, I mean being in bed... naked..."
Yongzheng cut in, sharply. "Stop talking... he doesn't need to know."
Bazar Batu enjoyed his leverage. "Oh... I already told him. If you don't want others to know, then you shouldn't do it."
Xue Horan turned to Yongzheng. "Yongzheng, have you been to such a place before?"
Yongzheng admitted, "Yes."
Bazar Batu chimed in, "I bet with his handsome face, a lot of flowers are attracted to him."
Yongzheng looked at Bazar Batu with a chilling grin. "There are indeed, but I went there to seek different thrills."
Bazar Batu prompted, "What kind of thrills?"
Yongzheng's eyes hardened. "The kind of thrills when people are in ecstasy without knowing that there is danger hidden in the dark." He looked directly at Bazar Batu. "That is not as thrilling as when you turn the person over. He looks into your eyes and knows that your face is the last thing he will see before he died. Do you know what?"
Bazar Batu swallowed, unnerved. "What?"
Yongzheng stated, coldly, "My experience for many years is that people who talk a lot tend to scream louder when they are stabbed."
Xue Horan protested, "Yongzheng..."
Bazar Batu shouted, trying to regain his bravado. "I'm not afraid, do you know who is looking for me?"
Yongzheng dismissed him. "I am sure no one is looking for you. If someone is looking for you, how can you be a wet dog in the river?"
Xue Horan, feeling uncomfortable, told Bazar Batu, "Gongzi, you are free to go, no one is holding you."
Bazar Batu stared at Xue Horan, walking around him twice, assessing him. He sighed. "I want to know?"
Xue Horan asked, bewildered, "What?"
Bazar Batu asked, pointedly, "What is your relationship with this villain?"
Xue Horan replied, confused. "What do you mean?"
Bazar Batu pressed. "I don't know how a naive person like you would fall into his trap?"
Xue Horan blushed but defended him. "He is not evil; Yongzheng is a very considerate person."
Bazar Batu scoffed, "What do you see in this villain?"
Yongzheng had heard enough. He grabbed the back of Bazar Batu by the collar and threw him out of the room. He closed his eyes and sighed. "So annoying..."
Xue Horan, still worried, asked, "Are you really angry, or are you afraid that he will reveal more secrets of the flower house?"
Yongzheng sat back down to eat. "There is nothing to hide. I have been to those flower houses many times, eliminating my enemy."
Xue Horan stood behind Yongzheng and said with a smile, "Yongzheng, I should be the one that is mad. Why do you seem to be madder than me?"
Yongzheng asked, "You are not mad?"
Xue Horan shook his head and leaned in to hug Yongzheng. He rested his head on Yongzheng's right shoulder. "My mother used to tell me not to reopen old wounds." He kissed Yongzheng on the cheek. "We live for the future, not the past. To me, your past has nothing to do with me. What matters to me is our past, our present, and our future."
The tense calm was instantly shattered. Bazar Batu suddenly crashed back into the room, hitting the bed and spitting out a mouthful of blood. Before he could recover, four daggers flew in, pointed directly at his head. Yongzheng reacted instantly, kicking the heavy stool with a snap, sending it airborne to block the incoming daggers.
Wu Jinghua, the leader of the intruders, shouted, "You are completely surrounded by Seventy-Two Islands. Surrender and crawl out on your knees!"
Xue Horan looked at Bazar Batu and asked, "Are you an enemy of Seventy-Two Islands?"
Bazar Batu, confused, asked, "Who is Seventy-Two Islands?"
Yongzheng retorted, "With your bad mouth, who knows who you have offended."
Bazar Batu slowly got up. "I haven't offended anyone... You are my first victim after returning to Central Plains."
Yongzheng pressed, "Then what does Wu Jinghua want with you?"
Bazar Batu glared at the woman. "That is the woman who hurt Wenqian jiejie and Ciaxia." He looked around the room. "What sect is she from?"
Yongzheng answered, "Seventy-Two Islands, she is the seventh leader."
Bazar Batu smiled grimly. "There are moles in the six sects. I think I know who killed Dandan."
Xue Horan asked, shocked, "Dandan... Yan Zhanjin's shimei is dead?"
Bazar Batu dismissed him. "Where have you been?"
Bazar Batu looked first at Yongzheng and Xue Horan, and then around the room with mounting dread. He knew immediately that he could not escape through the window; it was too high to jump without serious injury, and his martial skills were nonexistent. Fighting through the front door seemed equally suicidal.
"Da ge," Bazar Batu said worriedly, his voice low. "That woman brought so many people... what are we going to do?"
Yongzheng sighed, accepting the brutal reality. "If we're surrounded, the only way out is through the front door."
Bazar Batu grabbed Yongzheng's sleeve anxiously. "Are you sure? You'll have to fight a lot of people to get us out of here!" he protested.
Xue Horan looked at Bazar Batu and asked, surprised, "Gongzi, don't tell me you don't have martial skill?"
Bazar Batu smiled shyly, scratching the back of his head. He looked at Xue Horan. "I suppose you possess martial skill?"
Xue Horan nodded simply.
Bazar Batu chuckled awkwardly, feeling like a loser in front of the young man. "I possess other skills, just not fighting skills... hehe..."
Yongzheng shook his head, already moving, and walked out of the room, followed by Xue Horan and a nervous Bazar Batu. They stopped at the top of the stairwell, noticing the dining area below was completely filled with members of the Seventy-Two Islands. With no other choice, Yongzheng, Xue Horan, and Bazar Batu slowly walked down the stairs to face Wu Jinghua and her subordinates.
Wu Jinghua smiled coolly as the three men reached the dining area. "Aiyo, I didn't expect to see Number One here." She took a step forward, her tone shifting to command. "Leader One, please send that person to us, otherwise..."
Yongzheng challenged her immediately. "What if I don't?"
Wu Jinghua sneered, her eyes flicking pointedly to Xue Horan. "If Leader One refuses, then Jinghua will have to snatch him away, but the sword has no eyes. I fear if we fight, a sword might accidentally stab him."
Yongzheng stood firm, his voice ringing with absolute certainty. "No matter how many swords pierce in his direction, as long as I'm still standing, no sword can penetrate him."
Wu Jinghua bellowed, frustrated. "Very good. I want to see how you alone can help those two escapes from here!" She waved her hand, and members of the Seventy-Two Islands surged into the inn.
Two members attacked Yongzheng. He struck them down with swift, brutal efficiency and snatched the swords from their hands. He handed the blades to Xue Horan. "Be careful."
Xue Horan passed one sword to Bazar Batu. "We aim toward the door."
Bazar Batu, thinking quickly despite his fear, countered, "This is crazy, we aim at the back door!" He grabbed Xue Horan's hand, and they bolted toward the back exit.
Xue Horan shouted a last, crucial instruction over his shoulder to Yongzheng. "Yongzheng, the old temple!"
Wu Jinghua bellowed at her subordinates, "Capture the Mongol man!"
Many members swarmed Yongzheng, who instantly engaged them in a fierce fight, while Wu Jinghua slowly retreated and started chasing Xue Horan and Bazar Batu.
Hand in hand, Bazar Batu and Xue Horan ran from the inn to the outskirts of town, with Xue Horan urgently leading the way toward the old abandoned temple, pursued closely by a relentless group from the Seventy-Two Islands.
Xue Horan urged, "There should be a temple in front; we can hide there."
Bazar Batu responded urgently, "We have to outrun them first!"
Xue Horan suddenly let go of Bazar Batu's hand and used his sword to block a fast-incoming metal fan. The brutal impact sent him sliding backward, and the attacker sprinted forward, slamming him to the ground forty yards away with a vicious hit to the chest.
A three-section staff then hit Bazar Batu's back hard, knocking him down. Bazar Batu quickly rolled himself forward, deftly avoiding three incoming daggers, and slid toward Xue Horan. Immediately after, two more daggers shot directly at the helpless pair.
The flying daggers were cut clean in half just before they struck. Bazar Batu and Xue Horan looked up to see a shiny long dao sword hovering in front of them. They followed the sword's line up to a man in black who was looking coldly down at them.
Xue Horan recognized his old acquaintance; his voice laced with surprise. "It's you..."
Gu Yingjie smiled gently at Xue Horan. "Long time no see, how have you been, Xue gongzi?"