Chapter 85: The Purple Moon Tang Saber

What business?

Song Ziyue asked coldly.

“To cooperate with our Black Dragon Gang. Find some girls between the ages of ten and sixteen and hand them over to us. The price is very generous, but the quality must be good,” Long Seven said without hiding his purpose at all.

Listening from the side, Ling Tian sneered inwardly. So the Black Dragon Gang still refused to give up; they even wanted Song Ziyue’s help. It was just unknown whether she would agree.

Ling Tian was not a good man, but what the Black Dragon Gang was doing was utterly heinous and absolutely intolerable. Especially since they were helping the Yakuza with this kind of filthy business, it was enough to enrage both gods and men. He did not want Song Ziyue to agree, but he had no confidence.

The underworld could rarely escape vice, gambling, and drugs. For Song Ziyue to have already refused drugs was remarkable enough. But this—would she refuse it too?

“I have heard of this matter. You have been cooperating with certain bosses from other provinces, and I also heard that those girls are eventually taken to Japan, is that right?” Song Ziyue’s expression remained calm, revealing nothing.

“Worthy of Sister Yue. Your information is indeed well-informed. That is exactly so,” Long Seven replied with a smile.

“Then may I ask, Mr. Long Seven, do you have any daughters or younger sisters in Province H?” Song Ziyue asked with the same calm tone. To those who did not know her, it might have sounded like idle small talk.

“My family is not in Province H, and I have no daughter or younger sister. May I ask what Sister Yue means by this?” Long Seven asked, somewhat puzzled.

This time, Song Ziyue let out a faint smile and said, “Then I’m sorry. I cannot cooperate with your Black Dragon Gang. If you had a daughter or younger sister in Province H, I might be able to find one for you and send her to Japan to become a porn actress. Someone else’s girl, though, nobody would ever want to go.”

Ling Tian nearly choked on her words, forcing himself not to make a sound. Truly, the girl he had chosen had not disappointed him. Such a refusal was brilliant.

“You! Song Ziyue!” Long Seven was genuinely furious this time. He had not expected Song Ziyue not only to refuse, but to humiliate him as well. It was simply outrageous.

Song Ziyue paid him no mind at all. She merely glanced at the livid Long Seven, then turned her gaze to Zhang Shuai of the Northeast Gang and said, “And what about Mr. Zhang? What do you want with me?”

“Heh, I’m not like them. I’m not here to do business. I’m only here to express my admiration for Miss Song, and by my father’s order, to propose marriage. I hope I can join hands with Miss Song in a union that lasts a hundred years,” Zhang Shuai said. Although he did not especially like a woman like Song Ziyue, he did like her background and power. Besides, his father had given the order, and it was not easy to disobey.

“Did I hear that right? You’re here to propose to me?” Song Ziyue seemed a little stunned. What on earth was this? She had grown this old without a single man ever chasing her, and today she had suddenly run into two at once. Could this be the legendary stroke of romantic luck?

“Yes. If our families are joined by marriage, the Northeast Gang and the Ziyue Gang can be linked together, to the benefit of both sides. And Miss Song and I are also a perfect match in talent and appearance,” Zhang Shuai said. He did not want to address Song Ziyue as Sister Yue; it felt awkward. After all, this was a woman he intended to marry someday, so for now he had no choice but to call her Miss Song.

“You look passable enough, and you’re decent in other respects too. If you had said it a day earlier, I might have agreed. Unfortunately, today I’ve just acquired a boyfriend.”

Song Ziyue looked Zhang Shuai up and down and said with some regret. No one knew whether her words were true or false, but in any case, they made everyone present feel uncomfortable.

Ling Tian saw that Song Ziyue did not dislike Zhang Shuai, and was only refusing him because he had confessed first. He could not help feeling a little annoyed. How could that pretty boy compare to him?

Zhang Shuai, meanwhile, was frustrated by the final refusal. Originally, he did not even especially like Song Ziyue, so this had already been a compromise. He had not expected her to give him no face at all, and even say she had a boyfriend. He had investigated clearly: Song Ziyue did not have a boyfriend. The rumors that she liked women, though, were said to be true.

Xu Shaobai and Long Seven were also stunned. Song Ziyue had a boyfriend? Who on earth was it that could win her acknowledgment?

One had to know that in the underground world, sleeping with a boss from time to time was nothing unusual. But publicly admitting to a boyfriend was another matter entirely. At the very least, that person would already be entangled in this muddy mess. Especially in a setting like this, Song Ziyue’s boyfriend would very likely become Zhang Shuai’s thorn in the flesh.

Sure enough, Zhang Shuai’s expression changed. Though he did not particularly like Song Ziyue, he felt utterly humiliated. He, the dignified young heir of the Northeast Gang, a top student returned from study in France, had been dismissed by a woman just like that.

“Is that so? Then I would very much like to meet the boyfriend Miss Song speaks of. I will not believe it unless I see him with my own eyes. I’ll take it as you’re brushing me off, and in that case, I’ll continue pursuing you,” Zhang Shuai said. He had come on his father’s orders and could not give up lightly.

The atmosphere had grown tense. Zhang Shuai’s demand seemed rather excessive; Song Ziyue had no obligation to introduce Ling Tian to them.

“She is not one of the underworld. She’s just a doctor. There’s no need for her to meet any of you. Today, everything that needed to be said has been said, and my position has been made perfectly clear. If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave,” Song Ziyue said, then looked coldly at the people before her.

“Song Ziyue, we came here to negotiate. Isn’t this far too insincere of you? Not even a shred of room for discussion?” Xu Shaobai asked with a gloomy face, unwilling to accept it.

“Exactly. Do you really intend to offend the three of us at once? The Jin Gang is in the west of Province H, the Northeast Gang is in the northeast, and our Black Dragon Gang is in the south. Song Ziyue, you had better think again,” Long Seven said with thick menace in his voice.

“So that’s how it is. How frightening. It sounds as though if I don’t agree today, you’ll join forces and destroy my Ziyue Gang later, is that it?” Song Ziyue remained as calm as ever, speaking coolly as if discussing someone else’s business. Her icy voice betrayed no emotion.

“Miss Song, if you can choose, marriage alliance is the best way for all of us. I can give you some time to think it over.”

At this moment, only Zhang Shuai remained relatively calm. He thought that perhaps Song Ziyue might change her mind. Of course, if she remained stubborn, then he would have no need to show any tenderness. The old man had long wanted to break into the mainland.

From ancient times onward, every Northeast king had wanted to pass through the mountain passes, then unify the realm. From the Wanyan line of the Jin dynasty, to Emperor Shunzhi and Dorgon of the Qing dynasty, and later to Zhang Zuolin, the Northeast king of the warlord era, all of them had regarded entering the passes, occupying the capital, and thereby unifying North China and even all of China as their mission.

The same was true in the underground world. Every boss dreamed of breaking through the passes and controlling the heartland of the nation.

Zhang Shuai’s father commanded formidable strength. The Northeast Gang was one of the foremost powers in the three northeastern provinces, and people called him the Northeast King. He was famously fierce; legend even said that in his youth, he could kill a tiger with his bare hands.

Many dismissed such stories as nonsense, but many others believed them. After all, anyone who could carve out a domain in the northeastern provinces, where bandits had run wild since ancient times, could not be an ordinary man.

Zhang Shuai inherited his father’s nimble physique. Though lean, he was much stronger than the average man, and also intelligent. He earned a master’s degree in business management from the University of Paris in France. Rumor also had it that he made the acquaintance of a group of wealthy second-generation heirs from Wenzhou while in Paris, and had now returned home after completing his studies.

Yet such a Zhang Shuai was not worthy of Song Ziyue’s regard. Song Ziyue merely needed a man, not some power base, and she did not need to ally with anyone. Her earlier praise of Zhang Shuai as “not bad” had only been because his shell was presentable enough.

Now that the other side was using marriage as a bargaining chip, she felt somewhat displeased, and so she answered coldly, “No need to think about it. I, Song Ziyue, do not need to trade my marriage for anything. I only need a man, and that man I have already found.”

Song Ziyue left her words without any room for maneuver. Zhang Shuai’s face was extremely ugly. He glanced at Xu Shaobai and Long Seven, then gave a slight nod. The two immediately understood. Xu Shaobai stood up.

Xu Shaobai walked up to Song Ziyue, and Song Ziyue also stood. Her expression remained calm, except that she took from Tiger’s hand a blade—a slender blade, the Purple Moon Tang saber.

The Tang saber was a weapon of great influence on later generations in the history of edged weapons, appearing in all internal and external wars from the unification struggles of the early Tang to the flourishing High Tang.

The Records of the Six Statutes of the Tang Dynasty state that there were four kinds of sabers: the ceremonial saber, the shield saber, the horizontal saber, and the long saber. It is thus clear that “Tang saber” was merely a collective term for Tang-era blades, not the name of a single weapon; in ancient times, there was no such expression as “Tang saber.”

The four kinds commonly referred to in later times were the ceremonial saber, the shield saber, the horizontal saber, and the long saber. According to their use, they were divided into ceremonial and combat blades. The long saber differed from the ceremonial saber, the horizontal saber, and the shield saber, which were generally bodyguard sabers.

The Tang saber in Song Ziyue’s hand, strictly speaking, belonged to the category of long sabers. It was said that this type of blade was slender and incomparably sharp. At this moment, even before it left its sheath, a cold aura already lingered about it, making Song Ziyue’s entire bearing seem even more icy and otherworldly.

“Song Ziyue, since you do not know what is good for you, we no longer need to be polite with you. We will not take your life, but we will take your body. When the video is posted online, let’s see whether you still have the face to be the boss of Province H, hahaha!” Xu Shaobai said with a burst of wild laughter.

“Ha! You think you still have a chance? This is my territory. Outside are all my people. As for the men you brought with you, they’ve already been controlled by mine,” Song Ziyue said, stroking the scabbard of the Purple Moon Tang saber. A trace of bloodthirsty smile appeared on her face, and her composure was gone.

Hearing this, Xu Shaobai showed a cold smile and looked at Song Ziyue with disdain. “Then why don’t you call your people in? Let’s see who exactly is controlling the outside.” His tone was full of confidence.