And he did. He was an extremely skilled archer, so of course he hit the target, and the audience cheered and laughed.
“Well, dang! You do got it!”
They laughed and chattered amongst themselves, and some really did toss a few coins. The small, round coins tumbled and rolled across the ground, and Feng Xin went over to gather them. Xie Lian silently crouched down to help. He felt a little depressed, like he’d lost something.
Feng Xin had once been the servant of the crown prince; even ministers had been compelled to be courteous and polite when they saw him, never mind the common folk. Some had even tried to curry his favor. Heeding the hollering ringleaders when they hauled rocks and earth had been depressing enough, and now they had to endure being watched like performing monkeys. Feng Xin’s sharpshooting skill wasn’t being used to kill enemies in battle but rather to entertain the masses. Just thinking of it made Xie Lian’s stomach turn.
Suddenly, a woman’s voice rang out sharply. “Who’s shooting arrows in the streets?!”
Xie Lian’s heart jumped to his throat. Everyone in the crowd pointed at Feng Xin.
“It’s him!”
Feng Xin was confused, and the crowd parted as several women came stomping over, holding an arrow—the one he had shot earlier. The women surrounded him.
“You damned brat! Did you shoot this? What guts—randomly shooting off weapons in broad daylight! You destroyed the screen in our yard! Tell me, how are you gonna pay for it?!”
“Yeah, you’ve scared away so many of our patrons!”
As it turned out, Feng Xin’s shot was so powerful that the arrow had flown all the way into someone’s yard. Feng Xin didn’t like interacting with women to begin with, and these ladies were caked with heavy makeup; the perfume of powder assaulted his nose and suffocated him. They probably came from a place of ill repute, and their accusations had him waving his hands and backing away.
Xie Lian hurried over to stand in front of him. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. He didn’t mean to. As for compensation, we’ll think of something…”
The women’s tempers flared, and they began to shove him. “And who are you?! You—”
The white bandage covering Xie Lian’s face had slipped from all the pushing and pulling. When the women saw his face, their eyes lit up and their tones took a kittenish turn.
“Oh gosh, what a handsome little gege!”
Xie Lian was confused.
One of the women clapped once, her face blooming into a wide smile. “Very well, then! It’s decided! You’re together, right? We’ll take you as payment!”
Xie Lian was even more confused.
Before he realized what had happened, the women had already dragged Xie Lian away to a rather lavish little establishment. When he looked up, he could see women on the upper balconies dressed like blossoming flowers and chirping like birds. Only then did Xie Lian realize he had been taken away by a bunch of brothel madams!
Goosebumps instantly raised on his skin. “Wait, I don’t have money! I really don’t have any money!”
The brothel madams cackled. “Of course you’ve got no money.That’s why we’re bringing you in to earn some!”
Xie Lian was flummoxed. “Sorry, but I’m a man!” he exclaimed.
“We know you’re a man. We’re not blind!” the brothel madams replied, annoyed.
Feng Xin finally broke through the sea of people surrounding him and rushed over, shouting, “Let go of His— Let go of him this instant!”
The two were in a horrid predicament and promptly bolted—they knew they were in the wrong, so they didn’t dare fight back. The enraged brothel madams called over thirty hired goons, and the duo had to scurry all over the city to escape their pursuit. They had never been involved in a situation like this before and would never dare visit that area again.
All the same, the experience confirmed for them that busking was a viable way of earning money, so they found a new location and set up shop. They were fresh faces, so the locals were very interested, and Feng Xin was a strapping, honest-looking, rather handsome man. They managed to earn a small fortune in those first few days that paid for their food and medication for at least half a month—but good things don’t last, and it took less than half a month for someone to come knocking.
That day, several beefy men came looking for them while Xie Lian and Feng Xin were packing up. Suspecting that they were Yong’an soldiers, Xie Lian was alarmed. Inside his sleeves, his fists were ready to strike.
“Who are you?” he demanded in a low voice.
The leader humphed. “You guys have been hanging around on our turf for days, but you don’t know who we are?”
Xie Lian and Feng Xin were both puzzled.
Another man spoke up. “You’ve stolen so much of our business. Don’t you think it’s rude not to explain yourselves?”
The two of them finally understood what was going on—these were other local street performers. The street artists all belonged to a guild or gang, and those groups laid claim to turf. This new duo had shown up, taken all their customers, and stopped them from making any money, so of course the group came looking for trouble. But Xie Lian and Feng Xin weren’t from the streets, so how could they possibly know this particular etiquette?
Who’d even want to steal your business if they weren’t at the end of their rope? Xie Lian thought bitterly, but he still spoke courteously. “It’s not really stealing, right? People watch what they want to watch. We weren’t forcing anyone to gather for our…shooting performance.”
As if these people would listen. “Not stealing?! No one’s made any money the past few days—you’ve taken all the grub!” they exclaimed rudely.
Bang! The gang members jumped in surprise and saw that Feng Xin had slammed his fist into a nearby wall. There was a giant fist mark there, cracks crawling out from its center.
“Are you looking for trouble?” he asked coldly.
The gang of beefy men certainly had come there to start trouble and talk with their fists. But after witnessing Feng Xin’s punch, they had no doubt that his fist was stronger than theirs, and instantly their fire was smothered by half. Still, they refused to let this go so easily. The leader was briefly stumped, but he quickly changed his tune.
“How about this: we’ll do this by the book. Let’s compete with our skills. The winner gets to stay, and the losers will pack up and leave, never to set up shop in this area again!”
Hearing that it’d be settled with a competition, Feng Xin laughed. Of course he did—how could mortals possibly compete with them? It was a sure win!
Xie Lian also breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s exactly what I wanted. How do you want to do this?”
“We’ll use our best busking trick!” the man proclaimed loudly. While he spoke, two other men brought over a few long, rectangular stone slabs of slate, which the man patted. “Shattering boulders on your chest! How about it? Do you dare?”
Seeing how smug he looked, it seemed this was indeed his specialty. Xie Lian crouched to touch the slate, then looked up.
“It won’t be a problem for me, but will it really not be a problem for you?”
These stone slabs were the real deal.
The man laughed. “Judging by the shape you’re in, you’d better just worry about yourself!”
Feng Xin crouched next to him. “Your Highness, let me?”
Xie Lian shook his head. “No. You’ve worked hard the past few days. Let me do it this time.”
He wanted to make an effort too.
And so, both Xie Lian and the man lay down on the ground with slate slabs pressing down on their chests. Feng Xin was given a large hammer. He weighed it in his grip and was just about to smash it down when Xie Lian swiftly spoke up.
“Wait.”
The others were delighted. “What, do you admit defeat? It’s not too late to forfeit now—we’ll let you go!”
