"Here's six days' pay—five copper coins a day. That's thirty copper coins. Take a look—see if there's any mistake?"
In the other room, the "scholar's student" no longer resembled the upright figure he was in public. He was bent at the waist, looking almost obsequious.
He counted the copper coins, saw nothing wrong, and took his leave.
"People say bookworms are good, but you gotta have something to show for all that reading. Guys like this aren't even as useful as the errand boys at the tavern!"
Liang Hu muttered under his breath, watching the figure in the distance.
He patted the copper coins stuffed in his shirt, a look of satisfaction washing over his face.
"Guess I'll have a decent winter after all!"
He pushed the door open and was just about to leave when suddenly someone else stepped out of another room.
"Son of a bitch!" he cursed inwardly, and turned to go back inside.
This kind of thing couldn't get out, which meant he couldn't let the kids see him slip up now.
"Guess I'll just have to wait till after midnight to sneak out."
As he was thinking this, that person walked right over—and what came out of his mouth nearly made Liang Hu lose it and kill him on the spot.
"Master Liang, this probably has nothing to do with the scholar, right?"
Night enveloped everything, and distant lanterns wrapped the city in splendor—but for Lu Chang'sheng, it was all just scenery, untouchable, forbidden.
"Some things—you just have to take risks."
By moonlight, he glimpsed the fierce look in Liang Hu's eyes and felt a twinge of helplessness.
This kind of thing wasn't really in his nature, but sometimes there's just no choice.
The days were getting colder—extreme heat followed by freezing cold. The weather was so abrupt, everything felt turned upside down. If he couldn't find a place to hole up in the next few days, chances were he wouldn't survive the winter.
"I'm not the only one who knows about this. Even if you kill me, someone else will find out. You can't silence dozens of kids all at once."
"Even if you could stomach it, you'd never survive in this city. The Black Mountain Army patrols every three days—one or two bodies, maybe they look the other way. But if too many kids turn up dead, the bigwigs in Prefecture City aren't gonna sleep so easy."
"And if the bigwigs can't sleep... then what?"
Lu Chang'sheng didn't try to play coy—he just laid it all out on the table.
He'd been watching Liang Hu these past few days. Sure, the guy was calculating, but at the core, still had some roughneck left in him. If things got tense, maybe he'd just kill first, ask questions later. And Lu Chang'sheng figured—wouldn't be able to forgive himself, not even in the afterlife.
"You little shit—" Liang Hu's eyes were murderous. If Lu Chang'sheng had hesitated a split second longer, he probably would've been dead. But hearing him out cooled him off, just a little.
"What do you want? Listen, the Black Mountain Army isn't what it used to be. Dead bodies mean nothing to them. At most, cleaning up is more of a hassle, that's all!" Liang Hu growled. The situation was slipping out of his control, and he knew it.
Then why don't you do it? Lu Chang'sheng thought to himself. But he didn't call Liang Hu out on it.
People like them, scraping by on the streets—all they had left was a tiny scrap of dignity. Maybe they bowed and scraped in front of someone stronger, but right now, he wasn't that someone.
"I want to work with you, Master Liang. Make something of myself." Lu Chang'sheng stepped forward, handing him a handful of copper coins.
Liang Hu snatched the coins and sneered. "You can hustle, I'll give you that. But you're aiming too damn high—I can't back a horse like you. At best, I'll help you get a gig somewhere. Frankly, it's only because you can read. If you couldn't, you'd be lucky to find anything at all."
Lu Chang'sheng sighed inwardly. He knew he'd overestimated the other man. He nodded, not saying anything more.
At least he had a roof over his head now. That was something.
But what he hoped for—he'd had to lower his expectations quite a bit since he got here.
"Every creature's got its own path. With Liang Hu's help, maybe in Black Mountain Prefecture I can claw my way up a little faster," he thought privately.
Too bad—all Liang Hu would do is help him find a job. Anything more, and the man would just bail.
Not long after, Lu Chang'sheng returned to the room and spotted a few kids huddled around Wang Heihou and the other two.
"Black Monkey, you really don't wanna reconsider? We're all new to this city. If we don't stick together, it's gonna be a hell of a lot harder to survive!" one boy urged.
Lu Chang'sheng recognized them—they were all from the Zhao clan.
Noticing someone come in, the others turned to look.
"Chang'sheng!" Wang Heihou and his group came over excited.
"You make a good point, but the four of us stay together. We'll only go if we all go," Wang Heihou said, turning to the Zhao boys.
"That's not happening. At most, we'll take Niu Dazhuang along. The rest—no way!" spat the boy.
"Then forget it. We're not going," Wang Heihou replied flatly.
The boy bristled, "Suit yourselves. Good luck surviving with nowhere to live. Let's see how you make it then."
And with that, he stomped off in a huff.
"Screw him. Who do they think they are?" Wang Heihou grumbled, annoyed by their tone.
"Still, they weren't completely wrong," Li Nangua said quietly.
Lu Chang'sheng knew she didn't actually want to join up with those boys—she was just looking out for them.
"We'll have a place to crash tonight. It's taken care of." He pulled them into a corner and explained where the thirty copper coins had gone.
The coins were pooled from all of them. Even though no one had brought it up, Lu Chang'sheng figured he should set things straight—just so nothing festered or left a bad taste later on.
Of course, he didn't bother getting into the details—no sense in making things more complicated than they needed to be.
Hearing it only took thirty copper coins to get a roof over their heads, the others gasped in amazement.
"Chang'sheng, I knew you'd come through! Those guys are just tightwads. Not letting you join them—that's their loss," Wang Heihou said smugly.
Lu Chang'sheng pressed for details and learned what the other kids were planning.
Tomorrow, everyone would go their separate ways—no one really knew what to do. That was when Zhao Liang rounded up the Zhao Family kids to form an alliance. The catch was, everyone had to hand over their copper coins and let the group leaders dole them out—just to make it through the winter.
Honestly, it wasn't a bad idea. If he hadn't had something else lined up, he'd probably have to consider teaming up with them too.
As for only letting Wang Heihou and Niu Dazhuang join—it was probably because they both had more coins.
That night.
A bunch of kids, most of them barely twelve, found themselves standing at a crossroads.
No one could really say which way to go.
Lu Chang'sheng sat on the straw mat. Sometimes, a few others would come by, wanting to copy Zhao Liang's plan and form a group. But every time, they were turned away by Lu Chang'sheng's lot.
"This is the true test of human nature. If nothing bad happens, it's fine. But once trouble starts, the guy holding the money's just gonna split, and the rest will be left with nothing but regret," he thought to himself. He wanted to warn them, but after thinking it over, kept quiet.
······