Chapter 426: Coincidence

On a Bing Shen day, it is auspicious to draw a blade.

On Funing Street, the most prosperous commercial street in Yunan County, at an old teahouse said to have been open for nearly twenty years, Chen Wuji held a piece of pastry and quietly gazed at the opposite fur shop with a tiny storefront.

Many fur traders operate on this street.

Not far from this shop are Chen Wuji's partners, Jian Shan and Han Mountain Goods.

This shop's frontage is extremely small, squeezed between two similarly modest brothels, and Chen Wuji had passed back and forth many times before without really noticing it.

At this moment.

At the door of this shop, a grimy-faced middle-aged man was talking with a woman, occasionally pointing his hand at the furs hanging at the entrance as if introducing them.

But the woman dressed in ordinary attire seemed dissatisfied, shaking her head repeatedly.

Soon after, the two entered the shop.

Chen Li leaned forward slightly and said, "Family Head, should we send someone to sneak in and keep watch?"

"No need!" Chen Wuji waved his hand, "There's no need for this extra move; it would only alert the enemy."

"Yes."

The fur shop opposite is the final meeting point decided upon by Gu Wenjie's elite troops and female operatives.

They are very cautious; after meeting with the female operative, they changed locations three times before finally arriving here.

Such a high level of counter‑surveillance awareness left even the observer Chen Wuji feeling dazed, as if he had an incomplete sense of déjà vu from time travel.

However, as long as we keep an eye on them, what they discuss inside no longer matters.

Sneaking in during broad daylight to eavesdrop would instead be counterproductive and likely to alert them.

To deal with these infiltrating, nauseating pests, the entirety of Yunan City is outwardly lax but inwardly tight, almost under citywide martial law.

Outwardly it looks no different than usual, but outside the city lie ambush troops, and the garrison on the city walls have already been sleeping with their weapons at the ready, awaiting the enemy's appearance.

Besides that, all the yamen runners of the county office have been mobilized today, scattered throughout the city to keep watch.

Whether inside or outside the city, at the slightest stir, Chen Wuji learns of it immediately and responds swiftly.

Chen Wuji is actually quite curious about what Gu Wenjie's dispatched elite unit will end up doing.

These past few days he has thought about it a lot, but still couldn't figure it out.

What Chen Wuji worries about is them causing sabotage inside the city, such as burning the most important granary and creating chaos, though Yunan City's garrison has never been small.

If they wreak sabotage inside the city, they basically cut off any chance of escape.

Unless these people are all death soldiers.

But using death soldiers for such a thing, Chen Wuji suspects Gu Wenjie has had his brain squeezed by a door.

It would be completely not worth the loss.

A unit of death soldiers is far more important than creating this little chaos.

If they intend to act outside the city, there is even less to worry about.

Chen Wuji brushed the pastry crumbs from his hands and said, "Have the shop bring two more plates of snacks."

"Yes."

Their snacks are quite delicious.

"Family Head, someone else is coming," Chen Li suddenly said.

As Chen Wuji was pouring tea, he set down the teapot and turned his head to look out the window.

Seeing the figure appear at the fur shop's doorway, his expression froze slightly.

Wearing a tattered raincoat and bamboo hat, with a broad‑sword slung across his back.

That appearance… is overly familiar.

"Mao Laosan, come out and die!"

The figure stood at the fur shop's doorway, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Chen Wuji silently covered his forehead.

Coincidence—sometimes it's really hard to explain.

He had repeatedly warned the little fish who wanted to be a wandering knight to temporarily give up that pursuit, yet not only did he not abandon that grand ambition, he actually happened to seek out the operative's stronghold.

Waiting for Zhang Lao to return, it seems we need to find a chance to persuade him to switch to a harsher ruler.

An ordinary ruler is clearly unable to suppress the little fish's restless ambition.

"Family Head, should we intervene?" Chen Li said, worried that doing so might startle the operative inside.

Chen Wuji felt a headache, "How to intervene? They're already shouting so blatantly; if we now send people to interfere, wouldn't that be obviously suspicious?"

"Family Head, could it be…?" Chen Li's expression suddenly tightened, "This person might also be an operative; they discovered our arrangements and are using this way to leak information?"

Chen Wuji stared.

It seems there is indeed some possibility in that direction, but the likelihood is not high.

If Xiaoyu is also a follower of Snake Staff Weng, then Snake Staff Weng probably doesn't need to fear Zhang Lao either.

"No matter who appears now, we shouldn't do too much; just keep watch." Chen Wuji said, "If we keep everyone who shows up here under surveillance, everything remains under our control."

"Yes."

Xiaoyu was extremely arrogant, shouting loudly at the fur shop's doorway, yet no one came out for a long time.

Only after Xiaoyu used insulting language did that grimy‑faced middle‑aged man finally open the door.

"What do you want to do?" the middle‑aged man demanded angrily.

Xiaoyu unsheathed the great sword on his back and slammed it hard onto the ground, "Come fight me!"

"No interest, get out of the way." The middle‑aged man cursed dismissively and turned to go inside.

"If you won't fight me, I'll go report to the officials; I hear the bounty on the head of a river‑and‑lake bandit like you is still valuable, and I, young master, happen to be short of silver lately." Xiaoyu shouted arrogantly and recklessly, like a wandering knight of the rivers and lakes.

The middle‑aged man stopped in his tracks, his face instantly darkening like water, "I have no time today; let's fight another day!"

"No way, another day I have no time." Xiaoyu shouted.

"You know my situation as well; you have to watch the shop, and I have to watch the shop too, so I can only pick a time when I'm free to fight you."

The middle-aged man's expression turned fierce: "Little Fish, we're both just making a living on this street; don't go too far, I don't have time to wrangle with you now."

"You want to leave the Rivers and Lakes, I want to enter the Rivers and Lakes; this isn't up to you." Xiaoyu said, completely unreasonable, then he slowly added, "You also know, once you're in the Rivers and Lakes, you have no control over yourself."

"In short, either you fight me, or I'll go report to the authorities."

Chen Wuji watched this scene, surprisedly smiling.

Xiaoyu really does have a bit of an unreasonable, Rivers and Lakes person's demeanor in this aspect, completely different from his usual self.

The middle-aged man glared at Xiaoyu, gritting his teeth, looking like he'd been rendered speechless by the two options Xiaoyu gave him: "Fine, if you insist on fighting, then let's go in and fight."

"Please!"

Xiaoyu raised his hand, then immediately followed the middle-aged man into the shop.

Chen Wuji saw this, his mind instantly blown.

After a moment of silence, he helplessly ordered: "Wushuang, Wuyi, you two stay near the residence to respond; if anything happens to that person who just went in, find a way to pull them out."

"Yes."

Chen Wushuang and Chen Wuyi, standing like a pine tree beside him, received the order and departed.

Chen Wuji was angered by Xiaoyu's series of coincidental maneuvers, glaring.

If this kid ruins his business, he'll definitely have Old Zhang beat the kid so badly he can't get out of bed for three months.