Stranger Danger

Chapter 81: Ye Qing’s Plan

The Stranger pointed a finger at the bookstore and replied sadly, “Your pet Strangers refused to let me in.”

Ye Qing slapped his head in realization. He had forgotten about Kung Fu Frog and Wawa after everything that had happened tonight. Considering Kung Fu Frog’s strength, he could definitely see how Faceless was unable to force his way through.

“Follow me!” Ye Qing ordered and entered the bookstore. The second he stepped through the door, Kung Fu Frog leaped down from the second floor and looked behind him warily. Wawa was also hiding inside a book and sneaking peeks at Faceless.

“Don’t worry, Brother Frog! Allow me to make the introductions. His name is Faceless, and he’s a friend from now on!” Ye Qing explained.

“Croak croak!” Kung Fu Frog swayed its head back and forth with a puzzled look. It was clearly still wary despite Ye Qing’s assurance.

Wawa suddenly appeared on Ye Qing’s shoulder and pulled his hair. She then whispered beside his ear, “Friend, friend, you need to be careful! This guy is the baddie who tried to kill a few days ago!”

“I didn’t think you’re the type to hold a grudge!” Ye Qing patted her little head smilingly and said, “Don’t worry. That fight back then was just a misunderstanding. From now on, he’ll never hurt me again.”

Wawa was more perceptive than he thought. He thought that no one would be able to recognize Faceless after he had taken on a new appearance, but the Book Sprite still recognized him immediately.

Ye Qing then looked at Faceless and said, “These are my friends, Brother Frog and Wawa. I’ll be counting on you to take good care of them while I’m absent!”

“As you command, young master!” Faceless responded before shooting Kung Fu Frog and Wawa a friendly smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Brother Frog, Wawa. I’ll be in your care from now on.”

Seeing that Kung Fu Frog and Wawa were still wary of him, Ye Qing suggested, “Brother Frog, you can ask Faceless to buy you any wine you want to drink. Wawa, you can also ask Faceless to get you any delicious food you want to eat!”

“Really?” Wawa immediately threw all caution into the wind and chirped excitedly, “I wanna eat sugar calabashes, marshmallows, chestnut cakes, osmanthus cakes and, and…”

“Don’t worry, Wawa. I’ll buy them all for you tomorrow!” Faceless declared with a bright smile. “On that note, I picked up some cooking skills in the past. I know how to make some pastries and delicacies such as squirrel cinnamon fish, sweet drunken prawn, emerald porridge, as-you-wish cake, plum blossom cookies and more. I’ll make them all for you if you want!”

“I want! I want! I want them all!” The little girl was beside herself with joy.

Faceless then turned to Kung Fu Frog and produced a jar of wine from his Nature’s Shell. “Brother Frog, this is a Sunset Wine that’s been stored in a cellar for over a century. It is brewed using a hundred-year-old Sunset Flower and a thousand-year-old Ice Spring Water, and flavored with a hundred other things to give it an unthinkable amount of flavors. It is sweet, mellow and rich and I guarantee that your memory of this wine will last for a lifetime. Consider this my meeting gift for you, Brother Frog.”

After handing over the jar of wine to Kung Fu Frog, he added, “Besides that, I know a little about wine brewing and delicious wine in general. If you don’t mind, I will happily share my knowledge with you.”

“Croak croak…” Kung Fu Frog’s wariness visibly decreased after it accepted the offering, though the only reason it let down its guard at all was because it couldn’t sense any malice from Faceless. If not, it would’ve attacked him no matter what he offered.

“Hehehe, as long as you are satisfied!” Faceless responded with a smile as if he could understand Kung Fu Frog’s words!

Ye Qing smiled. He had to admit that Faceless was an expert in reading people and navigating through a social situation. In just a few sentences, he was able to get both Kung Fu Frog and Wawa to drop their guard.

“Go catch some rest, Faceless. We will be going out on a trip tomorrow morning,” Ye Qing ordered before walking upstairs. Once he returned to his bedroom, he immediately closed his eyes and entered a meditative state. Now that he knew what Faceless’ group was planning, it was time to make some plans and preparations.

When the first morning bell rang, Ye Qing immediately packed his stuff and left the bookstore. Faceless was already waiting for him at the entrance.

“Let’s go!” Ye Qing beckoned him to follow and stepped onto the street.

Faceless asked while trailing a few steps behind Ye Qing like a humble servant, “Where are we headed to, young master?”

“The county hall!” Ye Qing replied honestly, “Your plan is too much for me to handle alone. I’m going to need to notify Lord Yan about this.”

“Are you trying to convince Lord Yan to capture Tang Yi’an and clear out the Strangers lurking within the county?”

Ye Qing smiled enigmatically and said, “You’ll find out the answer very soon.”

A few steps later, Ye Qing recalled something and added, “By the way, remember the common bailiffs you killed at the Shing Wong temple? You best avoid bringing up the matter at all when we meet Lord Yan later. It’ll be troublesome otherwise!”

“I will. Thank you for the reminder!” Faceless replied obediently.

Some time later, Ye Qing arrived at the county hall and requested a bailiff standing guard at the entrance to notify Yan Yufei of his arrival. The large majority of bailiffs in the administrative division recognized Ye Qing because he had accompanied Yan Yufei to the Shing Wong temple before. Even those who didn’t know him knew that he was extremely close with Yan Yufei and Yan Feng. That was why he was granted entry very quickly and easily.

Yan Yufei looked the same as ever. He wore a long, scholarly robe and sported a kind, genial appearance as usual. However, he had also added a couple of wrinkles to the corner of his eyes and a few strands of white hair to his beard. The changes were minute, but it made him look a few years older than he was the last time Ye Qing saw him.

Clearly, a magistrate’s job was anything but easy.

Yan Yufei was extremely happy to see Ye Qing. He said apologetically after they had exchanged their greetings, “I’m sorry, Joyless. I’ve been wanting to invite you over, but I kept forgetting about it every time I got busy. I hope you won’t take offense.”

Ye Qing replied with a polite smile, “Of course not! You work day and night because you care for the people of Anyang, and as a temporary resident of Anyang I’m only all too thankful for your diligence. There is no way I would ever blame you for this.”

“Hahaha! You praise me too much, Joyless. I’m just carrying out my responsibility!” Yan Yufei said while gesturing for Ye Qing to take a seat.

While Ye Qing was taking a seat, Yan Feng poured them both a cup of tea and asked in a friendly tone, “What’s been keeping you, Joyless? I’ve visited you a couple of times to invite you to a drink, but you were never available!”

After Ye Qing thanked Yan Feng for the tea, he replied, “Sorry, sorry, I’ve been absorbed in my cultivation for the past few days. If I knew you were going to treat me to a drink, I would not have gone into secluded training. Dammit!”

Yan Yufei laughed. “Hahaha! I know right? Yan Feng has the face of a generous man, but in reality he’s even stingier than some housewives. If something costs half a copper, he won’t think twice to split a copper coin into two. I can barely remember the last time he treated someone to lunch, much less a drink!”

“My lord! How can you say that? I treated you to a drink just three years ago!”

“Hahahaha…”

The trio exchanged pleasant conversation for a while longer before Ye Qing deemed that it was finally time to get serious. “To tell you the truth, I have come today to inform you about something terribly serious, my lord.”

Yan Yufei’s curiosity was immediately piqued. “I rarely see you looking so serious, Joyless. What is it?”

Ye Qing answered solemnly, “I found out that a group of Strangers are plotting to destroy Anyang three days later.”

“Destroy Anyang? Why, that does sound pretty serious!” Yan Yufei said with a chuckle. The magistrate must have thought that Ye Qing was joking, but when he noticed Ye Qing looked as solemn as ever, he finally said disbelievingly, “You… weren’t joking?”

Ye Qing shook his head. “I wouldn’t joke about something like this.”

Yan Yufei instinctively straightened his back and turned serious as well. “What happened? Please, tell me everything!”

“It’s like this…” Ye Qing proceeded to tell him about his encounter with Faceless and the conspiracy he had accidentally uncovered. The only thing he refrained from mentioning was the fact that Faceless was the one who killed the bailiffs at the Shing Wong temple.

“Are you serious?” Yan Feng exclaimed in horror and fury when Ye Qing finally finished his story. “How dare these Strangers hatch such a heinous plot! How dare they!”

Yan Yufei kept his cool and asked, “You said you caught that Stranger who called himself Faceless. Did you bring him with you?”

“I did!” Ye Qing nodded. “Faceless, tell them everything you know in detail.”

Faceless had been waiting for his turn to speak. He immediately bowed to Yan Yufei and greeted, “Faceless greets you, Lord Yan.”

Yan Yufei looked a little taken aback. “This old man’s Faceless?” The old man had accompanied Ye Qing into the hall, but he paid him no heed that he was the young man’s servant or subordinate. He never imagined that he was a Stranger until he revealed himself. This should not be possible because official buildings such as this one were centers of the Will of the Dragon and the Will of the People; an official’s homeground so to speak. Most Strangers would lose most of their power and be forced to reveal themselves if they even get close to such sites, but the old man before him looked perfectly fine.

Even now, Faceless had no presence whatsoever and felt no different from an ordinary human. It was no wonder that Yan Yufei was stunned. Yan Feng was already gripping his saber and getting ready to fight Faceless to the death if need be.

“Don’t worry. He has signed a master-servant contract with me. He is now absolutely loyal to me, and I can kill him with a single thought if he ever changes his mind, so you have nothing to worry about, Brother Yan,” Ye Qing assured before ordering Faceless again, “Faceless, tell them what you were planning to do to Anyang.”

“As you command,” Faceless nodded before telling Yan Yufei about his fellow Stranger’s plan.

Yan Yufei was silent for a long time after Faceless was finished. When he looked up again, he was barely holding back his anger as he said, “These Strangers’ gall knows no bounds. How dare they plot the destruction of Anyang!”

After taking a deep breath to calm himself, he looked at Ye Qing and said gratefully, “Thank goodness you managed to uncover this conspiracy, Joyless, or the consequences could only be described as unimaginable. On behalf of everyone in Anyang and Chu, I thank you for saving our lives!”

Ye Qing hurriedly said, “You flatter me, my lord. Anyone with even a smidgen of conscience would’ve done the same.”

“What do we do now, my lord?” Yan Feng asked, “Should we detain Tang Yi’an, put the whole county under lockdown and hunt for the Strangers lurking within Anyang right away?”

Yan Yufei nodded in agreement. “Sounds like a good plan. Tang Yi’an is the guard captain, and yet his dereliction of duty has nearly paved the way to an unthinkable disaster. There is no chance I’m letting him off this time. As for the Strangers, I see no reason to keep them around whatsoever, especially since we are so short on time. I hereby order you to round up the men and scour the whole county for Strangers! You may kill anyone you find!”

“At once!” Yan Feng accepted his order solemnly.

However, Ye Qing blocked the bailiff’s way and said, “Wait, Brother Yan!” He then turned back to Yan Yufei and said, “My lord, your plan isn’t bad, but it only treats the symptoms and not the cure. If you will heed my advice, I have a different plan that will solve this crisis once and for all.”

“Tell me!” Yan Yufei asked curiously.

Ye Qing took a sip of tea before starting, “Since we know exactly what these Strangers are planning, why don’t we use it to our advantage beforehand? My plan is this: let’s set up an ambush and wait for these Strangers to invade Anyang. This way, we may kill them all in one fell swoop!”

“That… sounds pretty risky,” Yan Yufei replied uncertainly. To say that Ye Qing’s plan was bold would be an understatement. If something went wrong, it could result in the end of Anyang.

“The path to the optimal outcome is often risky!” Ye Qing explained slowly, “Although your plan sounds safer, there is one big flaw with it. If one or more of the Strangers managed to escape detection, they may come up with a second, third or fourth plan to topple Anyang. Even if you manage to defeat them this time, there is no telling if you’ll be able to defeat them again and again.”

“That is why the best course of action here is to take the fight to them. If my plan succeeds, we’ll be able to eliminate not just the Strangers inside Anyang, but also the ones that have been harassing the people in the outskirts. The people will be safer than ever before, and the realm won’t soon forget your achievements. So please, do not be too quick to dismiss my plan.”