Hearing this, the underlings exchanged glances, then all eyes turned toward the lad who had spilled the hot water. The kid’s face turned white, and he immediately began bowing repeatedly, "Brothers, give me some face, please."
Just thinking about it, Tang Ziyue’s eyes flew open; first he reached back to hold his aching head.
Tang Ziyue asked, following which he widened his eyes and then clutched his face, "Ow, ow, ow... my face hurts so much!"
Hearing this, a few brothers of the Fishing Guild exchanged glances, and a quick-witted one immediately said, "Mr. Tang, you’re finally awake. The Gang Leader’s been worried sick."
"Gang Leader? Ah, I’m back?"
The brothers of the Fishing Guild said, "You’re back. Do you still remember how you fainted?"
Hearing this, Tang Ziyue said, "Mm, it seems Elder Liu showed up, then made a move on me, and I passed out. After that, I can’t remember anything."
"Oh oh, I see, that explains it."
"But why does my face hurt, too?"
Tang Ziyue looked at the Fishing Guild brothers. Upon hearing this, they looked at each other, and one underling said, "Heh, Mr. Tang, I reckon Elder Liu and his lot must’ve tortured you, right?"
"Yeah, while you were knocked out, they threw hot water in your face and such."
One underling said earnestly.
Tang Ziyue frowned upon hearing this, "Nonsense. Even if they were going to torture me, couldn’t they wait until I was awake to do it? Why would they do it while I was dazed? And what’s the point of throwing hot water on my face, have they run out of other tortures?"
Tang Ziyue frowned and said to the brothers, "Nothing happens without a cause. By saying all this, could it be that it was you guys who threw hot water on my face?"
Thud, the underling who had thrown the hot water immediately knelt down, "Mr. Tang, I, I..."
"What about you? Wow, you’ve got some nerve. Do we have a grudge or something, for you to be so heavy-handed? Hiss... slap yourself in the face twice."
Hearing this, the underling immediately slapped himself twice, then looked at Tang Ziyue with a fearful face, "Mr. Tang, is that enough?"
"Next time, put some thought into what you’re doing. Can you throw boiling water on someone’s face? Go get me a cool towel."
The underling hurriedly went to fetch the cool towel, and then Tang Ziyue said, "By the way, where’s the Gang Leader?"
Hearing this, a few brothers said, "We will inform the Gang Leader right away."
"No need, I’ll go see the Gang Leader."
Tang Ziyue got up, shook his dizzy head, and directly headed to the Gang Leader’s study, where discussions normally took place. The underling with the towel also returned, handing the cool towel to Tang Ziyue.
Tang Ziyue applied the towel to his face, which immediately felt much better. Then, he entered into Nan Batian’s study.
Nan Batian was there, reading a book; the failure of the plan was beyond his expectations.
At that moment, he saw Tang Ziyue enter with a towel pressed against his face.
As soon as Tang Ziyue entered, he paid his respects, and Nan Batian asked, "Ziyue, why is your face so red? Did Chen Jiusi’s lot torture you?"
Tang Ziyue replied, "Ah, no, no, Gang Leader, let’s talk about the important matters first."
Nan Batian said, "Fine, I actually want to find out what exactly happened. Ziyue, what on earth occurred today?"
After listening to this, Tang Ziyue said, "Gang Leader, it’s ..."
After retelling the day’s events to Nan Batian, the Gang Leader shot up, "What! Chen Jiusi saw through my plan and even solved it ahead of time?"
Tang Ziyue said, "Gang Leader, I suspect that inside our Headquarters there’s a traitor from Chen Jiusi, and it’s likely among your own Death Soldiers!"
"How can that be possible!"
Nan Batian could not believe it; he did not think there was a problem with his Death Soldiers.
Tang Ziyue continued, "Gang Leader, this plan was known only by three people: you, me, and Death Soldier Zhao San. Yet somehow, Chen Jiusi learned about it midway and took the corresponding countermeasures. Gang Leader, where do you think the problem lies?"
"Did you tell the plan to Chen Jiusi?"
"Or did I tell the plan to Chen Jiusi?"
"Or could it be that Zhao San told the plan to Chen Jiusi?"
"Other than us three, how could Chen Jiusi have found out? Surely you don’t believe the heavens revealed it to him!"
Upon hearing this, Nan Batian fell silent.
Sitting there deep in thought for a long time, telling Chen Jiusi himself was impossible. So was the possibility of the Death Soldiers revealing it—they were absolutely loyal to him. He would even doubt himself before suspecting those Death Soldiers.
Nan Batian shifted his gaze towards Tang Ziyue.
Thinking about it, Nan Batian shook his head. Tang Ziyue was entirely trustworthy; it couldn’t be him. If it wasn’t Tang Ziyue and not the Death Soldiers, could it really be himself?
Nan Batian thought for a moment then said, "Hmm, Ziyue, I will look into this matter carefully. By the way, why was Liu Song injured?"
Hearing this, Tang Ziyue replied, "I’m not sure. That assassin was definitely unforeseen, and I don’t know where he came from."
After a long silence, Nan Batian said, "It’s strange indeed. Send someone to investigate who hurt Liu Song and see if we can join forces with them."
Tang Ziyue said, "Yes, I will instruct the people of the Inner Hall to investigate."
"However, Gang Leader, with Liu Song severely injured, Elder Liu will certainly look for ways to treat him. So we should also give this some thought, to see if there’s a way we can use Liu Song as bait to plot against Elder Liu."