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...Last week's accounting nearly drove me mad. Once again, I was at the very bottom. The elder looked at me as if I were a foul stone in an outhouse. I truly don't understand it—everyone else tricks people for a living, yet I'm the only one who never seems to earn a coin. \nI think I went wrong from the very beginning. \nOrdinary folk are tightening their belts just to survive. How much money could they possibly have? And I keep watching them day after day... What a complete waste of time. \nBut people of the jianghu are different. Every sect has its own skill, its own specialty, which means its own way of making money. Their purses must be full. Kaifeng is full of wanderers from every school. How did I not think to make them my target? \nThat's settled, then. Starting tomorrow, I'll visit them one by one. \n\n[Silver Needle] \nThe moment I stepped onto the street today, I spotted a healer from Silver Needle. Her medical kit was set beside her, and the consultation fee sat on top, yet she was too busy to even look at it. So I slipped over, took two copper coins, and had just turned to leave when I heard her say to someone, "A full prescription only costs five wen." \nI stopped cold. All that hard work, all that running around—for so little? Those two coins felt unbearably heavy in my pocket. I dropped them into her box without a second thought. \nI will not take money my conscience cannot bear! \n\n[Raging Tides] \nI'm so angry! \nFinding someone from Raging Tides is easy—just walk into any tavern. I sat down with one of them, shared a drink, slipped a little something into his cup, planning to take his purse once he passed out. But who could have guessed he would drink himself into such disgrace? After only a few cups, he started getting handsy, reaching for me as though I were part of the furniture. Theft may not be an honorable trade, but it is at least a straightforward one. I will not let myself be taken advantage of by some drunken stranger! \nIn the end, I kicked him aside and ran. What a loss—out of the whole ordeal, all I managed to take was a jug of cheap wine worth barely ten wen! \n\n[Velvet Shade] \nI've always known those at Velvet Shade were sharp, but having failed twice, I told myself that today I would try again, for I had nothing left to lose. \nSenior Sister A'xin taught me that if I wanted to get close to one of their disciples, I had to look the part—dress well and act like a man of means at Revelry Hall. I staked some money and borrowed a fine outfit from her. And honestly, once I put it on, I really did look respectable. \nThe moment I stepped into Revelry Hall, a lovely woman from Velvet Shade greeted me with a voice sweet as honey. She showered me with compliments until I was completely dazzled. Ah... Being treated like a rich man felt wonderful—so wonderful I nearly forgot why I had come. \nAfter a few drinks and watching her dance, she even walked me out herself. Curiously, she didn't charge me for the wine. \nHad she realized I was actually penniless? Then why go to such lengths to flatter me? I couldn't make sense of it. \nStill... the fragrance she carried lingered even after she left. \n\n[The Masked Troupe] \nI left Revelry Hall thinking of her, and before I knew it, I had wandered to the stage at the Masked Troupe. And what a surprise—how can a human voice sound so beautiful? It felt like my bones softened amidst the voice. By comparison, mine is nothing but a broken gong. \nWhen she finished, a young girl came down to collect tips. Her bright eyes were impossible to refuse, and in a moment of impulse, I handed her the last few coins I had. \nSo after an entire day of scheming... I ended up with nothing at all.