28. The Turmoil at the Eastern Gate Beneath Wispy Clouds

There was still some distance to the capital, so Xie Wujie needed to buy not only dried provisions, but also water. When he arrived at a sesame flatbread shop, the shopkeeper hurried to pull the door shut. Xie Wujie blocked it with his hand, but unexpectedly, his fingers were caught. His hand was unharmed, but the door gave way with a crash, broken from the force. The shopkeeper cried out, "My door!"

"Shopkeeper, wait a moment, I'm here to buy something. Closing so early?" Xie Wujie stepped forward and spoke.

The shopkeeper replied, "No sale, no sale. What about my broken door? You big brute, you broke it! Shouldn't you pay for it?"

Xie Wujie waved ten taels of silver. "Is this enough?"

The shopkeeper's eyes widened at the sight of the silver. "Enough, more than enough! Sir, that's enough for a hundred doors!"

But Xie Wujie slipped the silver back into his pocket, saying, "You can have the silver, but answer a few questions for me first."

The shopkeeper glanced around warily. "Sir, may we speak inside?"

"Oh?" Xie Wujie was surprised, but seeing the shopkeeper's furtive manner, he suspected the man was worried about something. He did not object and said, "Lead the way."

Inside, the shopkeeper spoke, "You must be Xie Wujie, right?"

"So you know me," Xie Wujie smiled, surveying the humble shop. The furnishings were simple; a large table at the entrance was covered with flour for preparing flatbread dough. A nearby oven exuded a fragrant aroma, the flatbreads baking inside. The rest of the place was just as plain.

The shopkeeper wiped sweat from his brow, his wrinkled face creased with worry. He sighed and pulled a portrait from a drawer. "This is you. All of Dog Puddle Town knows you’ve arrived. I suppose no one dared do business with you along the way."

"There's a portrait here?" Xie Wujie was astonished. "Shopkeeper, if you had a portrait, why hide it?"

"It’s the Wild Dog Gang. There's a Dog Lord in Dog Puddle Town, with a hundred or so thugs under him. Normally, they're like crabs—strutting about, no one dares stand in their way. Somehow, he learned you were coming, so he ordered every street and alley to hide the wanted posters. Tonight, they plan to trap you here. Though you broke my door, you weren’t unreasonable and even offered generous compensation. I don’t believe you’re a bad man. The wanted notice claims you killed the Young Sect Master of Azure Cloud Sect. I know him; last time he came here, he and the Dog Lord oppressed the townsfolk. He wasn’t a good sort either."

"So that's how it is," Xie Wujie said. "I wondered about it. When I went to buy wine, the tavern was closed. Then I tried to buy braised meat—there were three pounds of steaming lamb right there, but the butcher claimed it was sold out!"

"Exactly. No one dares cross the Wild Dog Gang. Otherwise, at best you’re beaten, at worst your family is ruined! Next door, there was a fellow called Crazy Li. He married a beautiful wife, and the Dog Lord wanted her for himself. Crazy Li refused, so the Dog Lord beat him, and his wife was driven to hang herself." The shopkeeper shook his head and sighed.

Xie Wujie murmured, "It seems the Wild Dog Gang truly are scoundrels."

"Scoundrels? That’s putting it mildly! They bully us for profit, then use the money to buy off the surrounding sects—Azure Cloud, Twin Phoenix, even the Zhaodi Estate. All these sects have ties to the Dog Lord. With such backing, how can we resist?"

Hearing all this, Xie Wujie mused that the sect names here were quite arbitrary, but it proved