Xiao wanted to go to a guest house for the night, but realized that he didn't have enough money left for a luxurious one. The last time he got some gold was a week ago in Fan City when he raided this corrupt, rich man's mansion. He ought to shoot some birds for sale, he thought. He knew what Bradley would have said. He would have scolded him for spending too much on alcohol. "I had to," he would have replied.

So, not wanting to be cooped up with sweaty workers, he found a park with a wooden bench and laid down for a nap. It was dusk when he sat down and he immediately fell asleep. He had already checked out the town hall and the mayor's residence and how to leave if - for some reason - he had to run away.

However, soon he felt a kick to the stomach. Instinctively, he rolled off the bench to the ground and then got up. He kicked at a man close to him and then punched another. It was dark and he was surrounded by maybe five servants. Their leader was a man about thirty dressed in a fine robe who he had just kicked. Couldn't even let me sleep?

"Stop! What are you doing?"

"Teaching you a lesson," the leader said. He was a porky man with small eyes and thick lips.

"What have I done to you?"

"The way you look is enough reason for me to punch you to pulp," he said. "Attack him!"

The servants did but they were no match for Xiao. He kicked the first one that approached then turned and twisted the wrist of another. Then he grabbed him and used him as a weapon to swing at the other three servants. One was hit but the other two dodged it. Xiao threw the servant to the leader, who sidestepped and came offensively close to him.

"You have some moves," he said in his high pitched voice.

"Run off now," Xiao said. "Let me sleep."

"Not so fast." The man punched Xiao, who twisted himself with the speed of lightning and kneed the man in the side. Then he kicked the man in the back, causing him to fall face first onto the ground. He stepped on him.

"Don't even try to come close to me," he warned the servants. They nodded fearfully. "Who are you with?" he asked them.

"We are Master Johnstone's servants," one said, trembling.

Xiao nodded slowly. "Run off now."

He lifted his foot and the servants got their leader on to his feet and they went off.

Xiao sighed. So much for a nap. Now he had to find a better place to stay in case they came at him with more men.

He shook his head to clear it, pouting. He longed for sleep. As he walked slowly out of the park, he saw a young man selling pancakes. Poor man, in the dark? he thought. So he approached him and smiled widely. "Hey there."

"Hello young master."

"I'll buy two," Xiao told him.

"That's ten copper coins."

Xiao gave him twenty copper coins. "Here."

The young man gasped. "No young master - "

Xiao laughed. "Just take it. I wanted to ask you something."

The young man still looked shocked and scared to take in the money but he nodded. Had he never been tipped? "I will do my best to answer."

"Where is the Johnstone dwelling?"

The young man looked more scared still. "It's just around the corner. The biggest mansion with two lions in front of the gate."

Xiao smiled courteously. "Thank you, Brother."

He walked down the street towards the Johnstone dwelling. He was determined to get some gold from this douchebag. 

The place was beautiful, with red brick walls and statues. Xiao wondered how many people's Johnstone had bullied to have such a good house. He walked around it and realized that there were three alleys he could escape into. Smiling, Xiao left the place and found a tree on a neighbouring street to curl up in.

When the clock tower sounded one in the morning, Xiao quickly climbed off the tree and ran into an alleyway to change into black clothes. All the night-walkers - knights and criminals alike - wore the night suit, which caused them to blend into the darkness, making them hard to detect. Thus, it was a must for night wanderings. Or knight wanderings, Xiao thought. It was an old joke but he enjoyed it to this day. Strictly speaking, he should be tying his hair up since that would be evidence for those chasing after him but he thought that unnecessary. Besides, that wouldn't be too cool.

He then headed to the Johnstone dwelling. There were two guards on patrol so Xiao waited until they passed before going over the wall. Then he ran up to the house and got onto a low roof with a high leap. One after another, he went from roof to roof and finally found the bed chamber of Johnstone. At least, he assumed the skinny man in red robes with gold thread was Johnstone. He listened outside the window. Johnstone was talking to a servant.

"Put those into the vault, Paul." There was a jingle of coins and maybe pieces of gold. Xiao saw Johnstone hand Paul a brown bag.

"Yes, lord."

Lord? Xiao repeated to himself. Who was this Johnstone?

"And also. When will the Lakens pay their rent and their debt?" Johnstone proceeded to ask.

Xiao froze. Lakens? Jacob?

"I will go over tomorrow morning, lord."

"And tell that little bitch to wash his fruits properly." Johnstone laughed at his own cruel joke and Paul chuckled.

"Yes lord."

"Go now."

Xiao felt anger bubbling inside him. This "lord" was way too arrogant and mean. He saw the servant, Paul, leave the bedchamber and walk towards the back of the dwelling so Xiao followed him along on the roof. Absently, he wondered whether the younger disciples, his younger brothers, would naively stop the servant and take all his riches and not follow him to the vault. 

Paul reached a room and entered. Xiao went to the window and looked in. It was lit with several candles and decorated in red, as if there was a wedding going on. He saw Paul pushing away a red drape beside the bed and revealing a safe. Paul fumbled with the keys then opened it and stored the brown bag inside. Then Paul locked it up and left the place.

Xiao smirked triumphantly. He waited until Paul left then pushed open the window and got into the room. Like Paul, he pulled back the red drapes and saw the safe. He reached into his pockets and found the "magic" key. It was a key that most knights had for opening any lock. Sure enough, the safe opened and Xiao gasped. Previously, he hadn't seen inside the safe but now glittering gold faced him.

That old man, how many centuries of taxes from how many poor commoners did he collect? Xiao shook his head in anger but then smirked because all of these were his now. He opened up his bag and grabbed handfuls of gold from the safe and deposited them into it. That's thousands of tankards of alcohol, he thought to himself.

He quickly stuffed the money all in and then he went out through the window and didn't even bother to close the safe. He didn't think many people visited this place. He jumped over the closest wall where he knew Juniper Alley was. It would take him into the town hall where the mayor lived.

He ran with his upper body bent over in order to be speedy - tonight's missions needed to be time efficient - until he saw the two flags that announced the town hall. He went to the side of the residence and leaped over the wall. Just then, a dog barked.

"Dammit," Xiao cursed softly. He hadn't checked whether there was a dog or not. It was taught to all knights that they should throw a "questioning" stone into the yard of whoever they were going to visit at night to test whether there were dogs, but all too frequent, there were none and Xiao often skipped this step.

He looked around but didn't see the dog so he leaped to a nearby roof. Dogs wouldn't follow him here, he thought. Then he followed the usual procedures of going about the roof until finding the owner of the house. He found the mayor with three guests eating a feast. There were all sorts of cuisine and the smell drifted out of the window. He hadn't eaten a proper dinner and his stomach growled. 

Xiao jumped down into the yard and shouted in a deep voice "someone come help!" Then he went back to his hiding place by the window and saw the four men in a state of frenzy. They must have been talking about some illegal business, Xiao thought. He probably should have listened before causing a commotion.

It was too late now, so he waited until the four men went out of the room and then went in for a meal. The pork was tender and savoury and the chicken noodle soup was just right. "Wouldn't it be nice to be a corrupt, unjust mayor?" he asked out loud.

He continued eating while people shouted down in the yard.

"Who called for help?" someone was shouting.

Xiao smirked and chugged down a full goblet of alcohol. It was a XiFeng from Mount Huai. "Damn that was good!" he exclaimed.

But then he heard someone crying next door. He whipped his head around. It was probably a woman. Xiao grabbed an unopened bottle of XiFeng and then ran to the next room. It was locked but he opened it quickly with his key. He found a young maiden sitting by the bed, crying. She was wearing a light pink dress but it was wrinkled, dusty, and teared open at certain parts. Her face was hidden by her long hair.

"Maiden," he called softly and closed the door behind him.

She stopped crying and looked up. Strands of hair stuck to her face and tear streaks were visible. She looked at him in fear. Xiao realized that with him dressed in all black and hair loose, he didn't give her a positive impression. Especially not since he closed the door.

"What's your name? Have you been forcefully taken here?" he asked.

Tears still trickled down but she wasn't crying as usual. "Linda Zhan. And yes."

Xiao's eyes widened. "Are you Wang Zhan's sister?"

Linda's eyes widened too. "You know my brother?"

Xiao smiled a little. "We met today. But come with me, we've got to go."

Linda looked at him, still doubtful. "Do you want to stay?" Xiao asked her.

She shook her head frantically and Xiao inched a bit closer. "Do you need help getting up?"

She shook her head again and slowly got to her feet. Xiao opened the window. Thankfully, it faced the other side of the commotion.

He looked at her with a grimace. "Uh, maiden Zhan, I know it's indecent and all that but I've got to carry you. They already know that I am here."

Her mouth was half open in shock but she nodded. So Xiao squatted down for her to climb up and then leaped down the window ledge. "It's nice that the mayor's house is so big," he told Linda in a whisper. "It's harder to be discovered."

He waited for a comeback like "then how do they know you're here" but was disappointed. Bradley certainly would have started a fight with him. He ran towards the wall and leaped up. It was harder with Linda on his back, especially since the wall was high but he managed it with a few bricks dislodged. The dog barked again.

"Shut up will you?" he said quietly and to his surprise Linda gave a weak giggle. He ran until they reached the park he napped at a few hours ago and let her down.

"What happened to you?"

"Didn't my brother tell you?"

Xiao shook his head. "I came to the town hall for fun. But then I heard you cry and that was why I rescued you."

Linda started crying again. "Hey, hey," Xiao said, flabbergasted. "You're safe now, aren't you? I'll take you back home. Where do you live?"

"Thirty one, Eighth street. But I could direct you."

"I'll carry you again," Xiao told her. "Then your brother can take care of you and all that."

Linda nodded and they set off again. Linda told him the directions and within a few minutes they arrived at a big mansion. "And he called me a rich brat," Xiao muttered to himself. He knocked on the door and an old woman answered it. As soon as she saw Linda, she gasped.

Xiao smiled at the scene and went off into the night again. He'd only wanted a laugh tonight but instead he did a good deed.