The urchin of a cat came from a beggar's background, taught by an old beggar in the arts of theft since he was young. He helped the old beggar slip through doors, pick locks, and steal people's belongings.
As he grew older, his skills became more refined. After the death of the old beggar, he mixed alone in Jianghu, spending his days either stealing or gambling.
Today his luck was down, and he gambled away all his possessions. Just as he was thinking of targeting a prosperous family, Sun Fu found him.
He specifically wanted him to steal from a scholar's home, claiming the man had picked up something of his. He didn't want to make a fuss and preferred to retrieve it himself.
Bullshit about something being picked up. He surely had his eyes on the scholar's treasure and wanted him to steal it for him.
The cat didn't even think before agreeing. He was getting paid, after all!
Once there, he'd search carefully. Who knows, he might even make double!
...
In the deep, quiet of the night.
The cat climbed the willow by the Upper Court's wall, just about to jump onto the wall when a streak of moonlight glinted silver.
The cat paused in his movements, looking closely. The wall was covered in countless fine needles.
"How treacherous!"
Pulling out a thick piece of cowhide, he covered the top of the wall and cautiously climbed up. Just as he was about to jump down, he stopped himself.
Could there be traps on the ground?
Tying a rope around the willow, he descended slowly to the ground, only to find the base of the wall covered in Iron Tribulus. The cat broke out in a cold sweat then and there.
"This scholar is no easy mark!"
Had it not been for Sun Fu's repeated assurances that the owner was just a poor scholar, the cat would have turned tail and run.
"Whatever, I'm getting paid for this."
...
In the Shanglin Neighborhood, west of Yulin Lane.
Sun Fu paced back and forth at the entrance of the alley, uneasy.
"Nothing could have gone wrong, could it?"
If something went wrong, that'd be great!
It would mean that estate was no ordinary place!
"Must not rush, I'll wait another quarter of an hour," Sun Fu curbed the impulse to go find Sikou Yu immediately.
"This is my last chance; nothing can go wrong."
Sun Fu felt as if time was dragging on.
Just as he was about to give in to the urge to leave, a petite figure scampered along the base of the wall, crouching down.
"You... how did you come out?" Sun Fu deflated like a balloon, a great despair filling his heart.
The cat was taken aback and said irritably, "Am I supposed to stay in his house or what?"
"I didn't find the stone you talked about. That scholar is so poor, he has nothing."
"I only found these black shiny spheres in a bamboo basket in the kitchen, tasted one, and they were quite good," said the cat, tossing two of the spheres to Sun Fu.
"Why hasn't anyone come yet?!" Sun Fu couldn't help but glance at the door.
Thump!
A dull thud sounded.
Sun Fu's scalp exploded, his hair standing on end — it was the sound of the muscular man at the door falling down.
"Who's there?! Who's outside?!"
"Hee hee..." A child's playful laughter echoed, appearing fleetingly by his ear.
Sun Fu suddenly froze, a massive wave of fear instantly sweeping over him.
He didn't dare turn his head to look, only cautiously rolling his eyes.
Out of the corner of his eye, over his shoulder, he saw a vivid paper figure leisurely sitting there.
The paper figure was cut and fashioned, covered with red lines, featuring an extremely detailed face, and even its two short legs were kicking and flailing mid-air.
Seeming to notice Sun Fu's gaze, the paper figure suddenly turned its head and gave Sun Fu a big smiling face.
Sun Fu felt as if he had plunged into an ice cave!
He opened his mouth to shout, but the paper figure instantly turned into a puff of black smoke. A thick red fog spread, covering his entire head and face.
Thump!
Sun Fu collapsed to the ground without putting up a fight.
The black smoke spread quickly, swiftly enveloping his entire body.
In the blink of an eye, both the black smoke and Sun Fu had disappeared without a trace.
The room was empty, as if no one had ever been there.
...
Meanwhile, five or six muscular men, while yawning and slipping into their clothes, hurried upstairs.
"That Sun Fu really has some tricks up his sleeve. He found someone so quickly?"
"Well, he was once a helmsman under Leader Zuo, of course, he has some skills."
"Didn't that just make things easier for us, brothers?"
"Right, right, right. First, we'll extract the Taoist's clues through torture. Once he's poisoned and mute, we'll hand him over to Leader Zuo."
"The young master did say, the worse we beat him up, the better; it will make Leader Zuo feel avenged."
"To think he brought such merit to us brothers even at the brink of death, we should treat him well later. Haha..." The leading muscular man laughed heartily.
At this moment, a burly man with a face full of flesh, staggering as though drunk, wobbled down the stairs.
Hearing the conversation, the burly man imperceptibly paused.
Then, as if nothing happened, he brushed past the group.
A small paper figure slipped from the side of the leading muscular man, drifted with the wind out of sight, and instantly turned into black smoke, vanishing into thin air.
At the entrance of Chunfeng Tower, the fleshy-faced burly man looked back and up.
From upstairs came faint words like "escaped," "bastard," "knocked out," "block his home."
"I really wish I could take these pests away with me."
The man then indifferently turned around and quietly disappeared into the night.