The Boy Rides a Bamboo Horse, the Green Plum Boils Wine (1)

In this world, there is always someone who is another person's natural nemesis—someone who can completely suppress them. For Dorian "Beanie" Owen, the scourge of the Assassin Alliance, his greatest nemesis is Left Shore...

The Assassin Alliance is no charity. Though they oversee the entire assassin trade, they never bother with how each assassin hall trains its killers—they mind only their own business.

Each of the old men in the Assassin Alliance has their own personal disciple—just one. Unlike the assassin halls, which select their killers through brutal contests among hundreds or thousands of children, these disciples are handpicked by the Old Monsters themselves.

Just like Left Shore's master chose him, most of the others were selected the same way. But the Old Monsters all have their boundaries: they never pick sons of officials, only poor boys. They give the boy's family a sum of silver, then buy him outright...

Left Shore was an exception. His master picked him purely because his talent and constitution were outstanding. After years of not finding a satisfactory disciple, he couldn't bear to let such a prodigy slip away.

Left Shore's master truly wanted to take a disciple. Even knowing Left Shore's noble background, he still investigated thoroughly—and what he found made him laugh...

Left Shore's birth parents were both remarkable, but as an illegitimate child, he was neither loved by his mother nor cared for by his father. No one bothered with him at all—not even enough to collect the silver for selling him off.

Besides Left Shore, there was one other exception: Beanie!

No one knew where Dorian Owen came from, and nobody cared. In the Assassin Alliance, there were hundreds if not thousands of kids with mysterious backgrounds like his, but Dorian was by far the most unusual...

Beanie was born inside the Assassin Alliance. They said he was a foundling, picked up as a baby, but...

How many babies are abandoned across the Nine Provinces each year? Why did the Seven Old Monsters of the Assassin Alliance happen to pick up this one?

Wasn't that just way too much of a coincidence?

If picking up Dorian Owen was just a stroke of luck for him, then what about raising him from childhood as the Alliance's future Young Master?

Not only did the Seven Old Monsters train Beanie, they absolutely spoiled him. Dorian Owen was basically the tyrant of the Assassin Alliance.

From the time Beanie could remember, he was climbing roofs and tearing down tiles, swaggering wherever he pleased in the Assassin Alliance. The other disciples, when they saw him, acted like they'd seen a ghost—terrified this little terror would beat them up.

It wasn't that Dorian Owen was so strong that they couldn't beat him. In fact...

Because the Seven Old Monsters doted on Dorian Owen so much, even though he got their careful instruction, he was actually the weakest of all the disciples.

Beanie might have been weak, but he loved picking fights—especially with people taller than him. At first, no one went easy on him; whenever he started trouble, they beat him up. These were future top assassins, so when they hit, they didn't hold back.

Beanie always ended up half-dead after every fight, but...

His opponents didn't have it easy either. However hard they hit Beanie, their masters would punish them twice as much afterwards, warning them that Beanie was different—he was the Young Master of the Assassin Alliance, and they were forbidden to challenge their superior.

At first, some people refused to accept it. But after getting beaten up too many times, they stopped resisting. Every time Beanie started trouble and fought them, they'd just pretend to lose and let him win...

Beanie was spoiled rotten by the Seven Old Monsters—his skills were lousy and he was weak, so his punches barely hurt. Compared to their training, getting hit by Beanie was just a tickle. They'd rather let him hit them than suffer punishment from their masters.

And so, Beanie's era began. He realized he'd 'defeated' all his peers and grew so proud he practically soared, calling himself the number-one expert in the Assassin Alliance and strutting through his own reign.

As the 'top fighter,' Beanie was both proud and satisfied. The others, seeing Beanie stop picking fights, were even more satisfied than he was.

Beanie was smug, and the Seven Old Monsters were happy to see him pleased. The others, afraid of their masters, went along with it and humored Beanie. He had no idea how weak he really was—he honestly thought he was a big deal, until...

Left Shore appeared!

When Left Shore first arrived at the Assassin Alliance, he was a skinny little bean sprout—actually shorter than Beanie. Beanie wasn't interested in bullying someone smaller than himself; he took one look and forgot about Left Shore.

Beanie might have loved causing trouble, but it wasn't just for the sake of mischief. He challenged the Old Monsters' disciples and other young assassins purely out of competitiveness—he wanted to be the best.

Even when Beanie got hurt, he never tattled to the Old Monsters. He just healed up alone and went back for another round, determined to fight until he won...

Beanie had no clue how much the Old Monsters were manipulating things behind the scenes. To this day, he still believes he's just that strong—invincible, undefeated!

Maybe Dorian Owen was just naturally a bit dim, or maybe the Seven Old Monsters of the Assassin Alliance spoiled him so much he lost all sense—either way, he was convinced he was the strongest of them all.

Once Beanie knew he was the best, he slacked off even more—why bother training if you’re already number one?

Until half a year later, when Beanie ran into Left Shore again!

Maybe the Alliance food was just that good, or maybe Left Shore’s old servants hadn’t cared for him properly, but in just six months, Left Shore had shot up—now he was a bit taller than Beanie...

This time, Left Shore couldn’t escape!

"You—fight me." Beanie swaggered up to Left Shore, staring him down...

He might have been a tiny, chubby kid, but he crossed his arms and pretended to be all grown-up, acting like an adult—so much so it was almost painfully cute. But...

Left Shore didn’t care about Beanie’s cuteness at all. Even as a little kid, he already had the makings of a cool, aloof guy. He glanced at Beanie like he was looking at an idiot, then walked right past him to keep training.

Who has time to play with a fool?

Beanie was completely ignored!

Beanie’s chubby little face puffed up instantly, his eyes went wide, and his new front teeth stuck out as he ground them together...

"Damn it, who does that brat think he is? How dare he ignore Lord Bean? I’m gonna bite him!" Beanie flung out his arms, huffing and puffing as he turned to chase after Left Shore.

"Hey, brat up ahead—stop right there for Lord Bean!" Beanie had always loved acting like an adult, and 'Lord Bean' rolled off his tongue with perfect swagger...

Left Shore heard him, but didn’t care at all. He didn’t even bother to roll his eyes, just kept walking.

Beanie was pretty chubby, and since he hadn’t been training lately, he got tired after just a few steps. So he stopped to catch his breath—but...