The woman’s hand paused as she poured the tea. “Back quick, aren’t you?”
“Any slower, and I’m afraid you’d have raided my home base.” Third Sister Red shrugged and waved a hand. “Take a seat, both of you. We Rats have a rule: anyone who crosses the threshold is a guest.”
She didn’t look the least bit fatigued, and there was no telling if she’d caught that Flower Fair hacker. Gu Xianwang wasn’t cut out for this kind of up-close socializing and sat there awkwardly, nursing her teacup sip by sip.
Third Sister Red shut the door with a backhand motion, dragged over a round-backed chair to the side of the tea table, and slung her bag over its backrest. From inside, she drew out a bamboo-stemmed Beijing eight-inch pipe. She scooped some tobacco from a grass pouch and packed it tight with a tamper—she had a habit of tapping it three times left, three times right, until the leaves lay perfectly even and smooth.
She struck a match, crossed her legs, and only then seemed to unwind, narrowing her eyes just a touch.
Her aura was overpowering. Even a chatterbox like Ye Chan felt short of breath, as if she’d been transported back to her senior year of high school, getting an earful from the homeroom teacher.
“What, cat got your tongues? Did I kill the vibe by showing up?” Third Sister Red spoke up first. “By the way, I just crossed paths with your master. Ninth Master has no idea you came to the Flower Fair today, does he, Miss Gu?”
She knows me?
Gu Xianwang froze. “My master… he has no idea I went out today.”
Ye Chan blinked in surprise, nudging Gu Xianwang’s knee under the table and mouthing silently: You two know each other?
“And this one’s Old Boss Ye’s granddaughter. Word is, she’s quite the high achiever.”
Holy shit, that’s wild—even a nobody like me rates a mention? Ye Chan reeled.
“No need to be so on edge. Since it was the Rats who pulled you out of that mess, doesn’t it make sense we’d have the basics on you?” Third Sister Red blew out a smoke ring. “Miss Gu, I’ve even caught some of your shows.”
Her pipe had a grass pouch and tamper tied to it, along with what looked like an antique trinket: a paper crane sealed in plastic, faded with age. Gu Xianwang didn’t relish being on the radar of someone like her, but picking a fight here wasn’t smart. She fixed her gaze on the paper crane and replied as evenly as she could. “Thank you for the support, Third Sister Red. It’s an honor to be known by the Rats’ boss.”
Gu Xianwang set her teacup down as she spoke, and the woman topped it off. As the tea tinkled into the cup, she added, “This face feels awful. If you’re rested up, mind helping me take it off first?”
Third Sister Red glanced up with keen interest, a teasing lilt in her voice. “You used to wear it all day without batting an eye. What’s with the complaints after just half a day?”
The woman didn’t flinch. “Hot weather. It’s stifling. Sorry to keep you waiting—give me a minute?”
Their exchange sent a chill down Ye Chan’s spine for some reason, but Gu Xianwang’s heart lurched, a flicker of anticipation tightening her chest. She met the woman’s eyes, dead serious. “If it’s no trouble… could you do it right here?”
Third Sister Red, seated between them, let out a humph of amusement. “What, scared she’ll bolt?”
Gu Xianwang didn’t dodge. She stared right back. “Yeah. A little.”
“Fine by me.” She pressed the electric bell on the table and had someone bring tools. “We can talk while we work.”
~~~
The tea tray had been cleared away, replaced by an array of instruments that looked more suited to surgery than makeup removal. Third Sister Red stood beside the woman, with a tall white incandescent lamp on her other side. Its harsh glare raked across the woman’s face, laying bare every pore and fiber of her skin.
Ye Chan had a sudden epiphany and whispered, “Wait, is this the legendary disguise technique?”
The woman kept her eyes shut tight, immobile, silent, expressionless throughout. Third Sister Red gripped a pair of tweezers and grinned. “If that’s what you think, sure. Fun to watch?”
Ye Chan took the bait. This boss lady didn’t seem half as intimidating up close. “Totally! That Rats’ poem goes, ‘Flowing Cloud like illusion, ever formless.’ That about your disguise skills?”
“Hey now, you’re a feisty one, but you nailed the key bit.” Third Sister Red didn’t bother denying it. “The doggerel means two things: the disguises on one hand, and on the other, gripes about my changeable moods. Your typical roughneck Jianghu types always figure women must be moody and unpredictable.”
“Since they think that way about me, I’m too lazy to bother arguing. I might as well just go with the flow. Take my Red Pavilion, for instance—it’s not a place just anyone can stroll into. Sure, you all call me Third Sister Red, but that’s not my real name at all. Name or face, I change them on a whim: three to five days if it’s quick, a month or two if it’s a full overhaul. No one can ever pin down the real me.”
Ye Chan blinked in astonishment, then stuck out her thumb with genuine admiration. “Badass. You’re the role model for our generation.”
Third Sister Red let out a snort of laughter. “Kid, your flattery beats anything those old fogeys can muster. Since you two made it out of the Flower Fair, you must have snagged the complimentary gifts. That Red Pavilion voucher tucked inside? Its one and only purpose is to let you waltz right through the door. Sister’s giving you some friendly advice: don’t lose it.”
“Uh… if we do lose it, we’re locked out?”
“Not quite.” Third Sister Red slowly peeled away a layer of gelatinous mask from the woman’s face. “I keep my doors open for business, so of course I welcome paying customers. But there are way too many folks looking to do deals through the Rats. I can’t entertain every single one. Want to see me? Just rattle off my latest alias, and you’re in.”
Ye Chan ought to have seized the chance to ask for that latest name, but as the woman’s true bone structure emerged, she found herself staring, dumbfounded.
“Long… Sister Long?”
“Hold your horses—it’s not all off yet.” Third Sister Red shot a glance at Gu Xianwang. “Take a page from your Sister Gu’s book. That’s real composure.”
Gu Xianwang pressed her lips together and said nothing. Composure? Hardly. She was simply so stunned with joy that words failed her, and she didn’t dare make a sound for fear of interrupting Long Li as she removed her disguise.
It wasn’t until Third Sister Red finally stripped off her medical gloves, tossed her tools into a dish of alcohol, and declared it done that the makeup removal—every bit as intricate as surgery—was truly complete. The table was a mess, littered with a whole plate of shaping material that could have been clay or flesh glue for all anyone knew. No wonder she dared perform such feats right in front of guests; it must have taken a solid decade of honing to reach that level.
Long Li pressed a warm, damp cloth to her face for a moment before finally opening her eyes. She smiled at Gu Xianwang. “Xianwang, long time no see.”
Long time? It had only been three or four days. But the moment Gu Xianwang heard that voice—unmistakably her true one—her heart clenched with sudden emotion. It felt like years apart, like lovers reuniting after life and death in some tear-jerking opera.
She had a thousand questions burning on her tongue, but all that came out was: “I’m just glad you’re safe.”
“Wow!” Ye Chan leaped to her feet. “I knew it! Which bigwig was looking out for us? You, Sister Long!”
“How did you two escape from the Altar?” She glanced at Third Sister Red’s expression, envy creeping in. “So you know people in the Rats too—and a big boss at that.”
Birds of a feather, as expected. The jianghu was nothing but a giant web of connections, after all.
“It’s a long story,” Long Li said. “I only rushed into Tianjin this morning myself. Even had to borrow a car from Third Sister.”
Gu Xianwang suddenly caught on. “But… don’t the jianghu folk steer clear of the Long Family? Why would Third Sister help you?”
Third Sister Red, worn out from the effort, sank back into her seat and lit a cigarette. “Come on now—where in this world are there eternal enemies? Only eternal interests. I’m a businesswoman. If it’s a good deal, why pass it up? Long Family, Gu Family—who cares? Right?”
“If that’s the case,” Gu Xianwang ventured carefully, “Third Sister, you said earlier that asking Long Li about Long Family matters was barking up the wrong tree. Mind telling me why? Does that mean Long Li isn’t from the branch of the Long Family you’re all talking about?”
The weight on her heart had lifted by more than half. If she could just clear up this last point, she could face her master with a clear conscience.
Third Sister Red shot back, “Miss Gu, do you even know what those three words—’Long Family’—really mean?”
Gu Xianwang paused, glancing involuntarily at Long Li. “I’ve heard bits and pieces. My master seems to dread them.”
Long Li gave Third Sister Red a meaningful look. “Let me explain.”
Third Sister Red shrugged indifferently and gestured for her to go ahead.
“Xianwang, you’ve probably heard the story of how Qin Shi Huang sent Xu Fu sailing out to sea in search of immortality elixirs, right?”
Gu Xianwang hadn’t expected the Long Family to tie into something so ancient. She straightened up and replied gravely, “I have.”
“Back then, although Emperor Qin permitted Xu Fu to expend vast sums of money sailing east across the seas in search of the Immortal Mountain and the elixir of immortality, he was still an emperor at heart and naturally wouldn’t place all his hopes on a single Daoist. Besides overseas realms, the sprawling dragon veins of the Central Plains were equally mysterious and unfathomable. Under Emperor Qin’s command, there was precisely such a shadowy guard unit. Guided by the Classic of Mountains and Seas, they delved deep into the populace, scouring everywhere on his behalf for heavenly materials and earthly treasures, as well as bizarre and strange objects.”
“This shadowy guard unit was the precursor to the Long Family.”
Gu Xianwang mentally did a rough calculation of the timeline and sensed a few minor inconsistencies in the narrative, but she held her tongue for the moment and continued listening to Long Li. “According to legend, after Emperor Qin’s death, the Long Family no longer loyally served the imperial house. Instead, they truly submerged into the common folk, transforming into scattered jianghu Rat-Walkers. They made a living on one hand while continuing their treasure-hunting and tomb-robbing pursuits across the lands south and north of the Yangtze on the other. They excelled in assassination techniques and were immune to a hundred poisons. No one knew their true faces. Over thousands of years, the jianghu knew only legends of them, yet not a single person knew where they actually existed.”
Ye Chan clicked her tongue in amazement. “If they lived to this day, the treasures they’ve accumulated wouldn’t fill several buildings?”
Gu Xianwang understood. “So, the so-called Long Family skin map—is that what you mean by a treasure map?”
She thought for another moment and realized that Long Li’s tone while recounting this had sounded more like she was speaking of matters unrelated to herself, so she asked, “You’re not one of this so-called ‘Long Family,’ are you?”
The private room was utterly quiet, save for the faint crackle of the burning tobacco leaves. Long Li fell silent for a moment, then lifted her gaze to meet hers directly. “I don’t know.”
