Chapter 161: The Alliance of All (Part I)

The weather was fine and the breeze was gentle. Liu Buwen sat outside with a cup of tea, baffled by the increasingly turbulent atmosphere along the commercial street. When he had first intended to use Sima Ge as a breakthrough to set things in motion, he never expected the situation to snowball so massively. Now, finding a way to wash his hands of the whole affair seemed practically impossible.

From one end of the street to the other, Sima Ge's devotees were everywhere, even attracting tourists from afar who came specifically to meet him. Though the middle-aged man's face was lined with wrinkles, it was obvious he was thoroughly enjoying himself and relishing every moment.

Luo Gan walked over and sat down beside Liu Buwen on the steps in front of the All-Things House, gazing out at the scene in the distance, once more sinking into melancholy.

"Do you ever wonder now," Luo Gan asked, "whether what we did back then was right?"

Liu Buwen chuckled dryly, nodding in lieu of a verbal answer.

"A true man makes a clean break once he acts," Luo Gan said. "He stands by his deeds. There's nothing to regret."

"I'd be fine on my own," Liu Buwen sighed, "but I just feel terrible for the ordinary people here. What crimes have they committed to deserve becoming like this?"

"There is bound to be a way to undo this," Luo Gan replied. "Just as we lifted him up, we can pull him down."

"Pull him down?" Liu Buwen shook his head. "I'm afraid it won't be that simple. Once mud solidifies into a hardened block, it is no longer soft and yielding. When it becomes something that remains unyielding no matter how hard we trample on it, what power do we have left to stop him?"

"Stop him?" Luo Gan murmured. "We won't need to stop him ourselves. Someday, future generations will coin a saying: *Water can both float a boat and capsize it.*"

At the far end of the street, Sima Ge was riding high on his success, parading around with a band of petty underlings under the banner of serving the people, shaking down everyone in sight. While hisRobin Hood-style antics of robbing the rich to feed the poor genuinely helped many destitute souls, they also alienated a vast number of the wealthy. At that very moment, the affluent merchants were holding a secret gathering, with A-Zhen disguised as a wealthy merchant from afar to blend in and muddy the waters.

"Good grief!" the jeweler cried out. "If this keeps up, my jewelry business is finished! They didn't even leave me a single chain! What am I supposed to sell now? What am I going to eat and drink?"

"Don't even get me started," the fruit vendor chimed in. "Even the beggars on the street are becoming a rare sight! The stinking beggar who used to sit at my doorstep last month is now decked out in gold and silver, strutting around like a lord. Tsk tsk, what kind of world have we come to..."

"Those apprentices of Wood deserve to die!" the steamed bun seller cursed. "They should have just finished off Sima Ge while they were at it!"

"Now hold on a minute, you can't say that," Mr. Wu-Bi interjected. "After all, Sima Ge was the one who led the momentum back then and forced that fellow Huang Changjun to step down. Surely he deserves some credit for that, doesn't he?"

"What did you just say?"

Before Mr. Wu-Bi could finish, Yun Niang leaped forward, grabbed him by the collar, and glared at him with such ferocious intensity that she resembled a lioness about to devour a feeble prey. Mr. Wu-Bi broke out in a cold sweat, completely powerless.

"Are you defecting to the enemy now?" Yun Niang demanded angrily. "Speaking up for them? What is your real intention?"

Mr. Wu-Bi hurriedly apologized. "No, no, not at all! I was just trying to be fair and objective, that's all. No other meaning!"

"Huang Changjun, Lord Long, whoever they were—no matter how bad they used to be, I could always manage things by paying a few coins!" the jeweler lamented. "Not like this! Next time they come and I don't have money or jewelry left, will my family's Phoebe zhenmu bed even survive..."

"Even fishermen know to catch the big ones and let the small ones go!" the fruit vendor complained. "This scoundrel sweeps up both the big and the small in one net, and then hands out the loot to his own favorites. It's despicable!"

The entire room was thick with resentment. Everyone was venting their grievances over Sima Ge's inhumane actions, cursing his ancestors back eighteen generations, yet not a single person possessed the wits or a viable plan to truly confront the present crisis.

A-Zhen felt he had heard enough and that it was time to voice his perspective.

"I am a traveler from afar," A-Zhen began, "perhaps the honorable company would care to hear my thoughts. It might just help clear your minds."

The bun seller frowned in suspicion. The man before them was unfamiliar, unlike anyone running the surrounding shops or maintaining long-term business ties on this street.

"Who on earth are you?" the bun seller asked. "How did you manage to get into our meeting?"

"Do not be alarmed, my friend," A-Zhen replied calmly. "If I harbored any malicious intent, I would have stayed as quiet as a mouse at this gathering. Speaking up means I have nothing to fear. I am merely a merchant who frequently travels to the West Market of Chang'an to deliver goods, selling them in surrounding areas to earn an honest living. I was content being a humble commoner, but then Sima Ge's men stepped in and brazenly plundered my goods, leaving me with no means of livelihood. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Then does the esteemed guest have any brilliant insights to share with us?" Mr. Wu-Bi asked.

"Having listened for so long, I gather everyone's complaints boil down to how terrible Sima Ge is," A-Zhen said. "I completely empathize; my suffering is no different from yours, and I am just as furious. Yet, everyone merely stops at talking. Not a single person dares to propose actual action."

Silence fell over the room. Complex expressions crossed everyone's faces as they eyed, tested, and observed one another. Although they had formed a so-called assembly and a temporary alliance, they were, after all, merchants. They were fiercely cautious when it came to cooperation and interests. No one was willing to shoulder the risk or gamble their own fate and the destiny of their shops, all of them secretly hoping that someone else would stick their neck out while they simply followed the crowd and reaped the benefits.

"Let me speak plainly," A-Zhen continued. "The issue we face is no longer whether Huang Changjun or Sima Ge is a good man, nor how detestable their actions are. The real problem we must confront right now is whether Sima Ge should be eliminated, and how we should deal with this troublesome fellow afterward so that the commercial street can return to its former state and everyone can make an honest living again."

Inside the room, people began to nod one after another, still watching each other's reactions. Yun Niang and the bun seller nodded first, followed by the jeweler and the fruit vendor. Last to nod was Mr. Wu-Bi, acting like the clever opportunist who only agreed once everyone else had, ensuring his own interests were protected.

A-Zhen sensed that the moment had arrived. If he let this atmosphere slip away, such an opportunity might never come again.

"First of all," A-Zhen said, "we need a clear understanding of Sima Ge. Who can share some intelligence about him?"

"Sima Ge is fond of persimmons and loves eating winter bamboo shoots," the fruit vendor offered. "But bamboo shoots are terribly expensive, so he likes to cozy up to royal nobles and high officials just to eat shoots with them, carving little wooden trinkets to win their favor."

"I heard from a young shop assistant of mine who was hauling gold bars to Sima Ge's carpentry workshop," the jeweler added, "that they actually buried and hid the loot right in the courtyard's soil, all while publicly claiming they had distributed everything among the people! Can you believe how infuriating that is?"

"Accursed bastard!" the bun seller cursed bitterly. "I worked my fingers to the bone for seven days, and not a single apprentice came to help—they were all lounging around enjoying themselves! And now that I've left, they've issued a city-wide warrant for my arrest, claiming they're going to drag me back and turn me into pork-stuffed steamed buns! And to think I used to send them free buns every single day—a pack of ungrateful wolves!"