The trip by train to Tientsin had Sumi excited. It was her first time on a train and initially that alone had her energy up. Then as the scenery moved by, she had endless questions for Enishi. At first he answered everything, but then pretended to sleep. It was true, he was in a relaxed state, but wanted to listen to Sumi and those around them. After hearing her mumbling about what she saw, he realized they were almost in Tientsin.

"Be cautious from now on," Enishi warned, without opening his eyes.

Sumi reined in her curiosity and began to observe those around them. When the train stopped, they waited for almost everyone to disembark, before getting off the train themselves. Glancing at her husband, she saw the nerves on his neck were bulging, meaning he was in his Frenzied Nerves state. Those that recognized him, gave him plenty of space. Word spread quickly and no matter where they walked, people moved away. Since Sumi normally used the crowd to hide herself, the personal space radius had her anxious. She walked more on the balls of her feet, in case she had to spring away suddenly.

A man approached them cautiously, "Mr. Yukishiro?"

Enishi stopped walking and stared at the man. Sumi came up behind the guy, blade at his neck. "Who are you?"

The guy flinched. "Bolin asked me to keep an eye on the man you seek. I'm Ling."

"Let's get tea and talk," Sumi said, then sheathed her blade.

Ling brought them to a tea shop and they sat down. He explained about Yue's activities after Bolin had left. He also warned them about the local gang. "The Mad Dogs gang have been targeting the Green Gang controlled by Yuesheng, to maintain control over the opium trade. They're known for their brutal violence. Mr. Wu had them paid off, which is why the Mad Dogs didn't interfere with his business."

"Set up a meeting with Yuesheng," Enishi directed.

"Yes sir. Where will you be staying?"

"The Astor." It was the hotel where Bolin had stayed and conducted most of his business.

"I will make the arrangements and notify you in a few hours."

From Bolin's report Enishi knew that Yuesheng had originally been Heishin's gambling and opium enforcer. He liked fine clothing and rich women, which is why he enjoyed sing-song houses for evening entertainment. Once at the hotel, Enishi arranged for the best Chinese silk to be brought to him and to book the best sing-song house for the night. That meant he dropped a lot of money to buy out the sing-song house, so the singer would perform for only them.

"Are you flexing your wealth and power?" Sumi asked admiring the silk clothing he was wearing.

Enishi confirmed, "like Heishin, Yuesheng has expensive taste and is very greedy."

They had baths and shortly after the clothing merchant came. Enishi picked out a yellow set of pants and shirt in his preferred style, that also had a dragon in red that started at the shirt hemline and ended on the chest. For Sumi he purchased a red hanfu, that had a yellow tiger embroidered on it.

"This is the best quality silk I've ever come across," Enishi praised with a warm smile that didn't reach his eyes.

The merchant beamed and agreed with him. "Thank you sir, I appreciate your business."

Once the man had left, Enishi pulled out a pouch from the clothing he had just replaced. On himself he put a heavy gold necklace that had a large monkey head charm, with rubies as the eyes. "Yuesheng is superstitious about monkey heads. Rumour has it he wears dried ones in his clothes. This gold one should capture his attention. Also I want you to wear these hair clasps."

Sumi held out her hand. "What a beautiful jade green dragon! But this white jade tiger is my favourite. Can I keep these?"

"Yes." He was rewarded by a long, promising kiss. Enishi watched her put them in her hair and then said, "ready to go?"

She took his offered arm and they left their room. As before, Enishi was in his Frenzied Nerves state. He could feel many people watching them leave the hotel and go across the street to the sing-song house. Ling greeted them at the door, careful not to openly admire Sumi. They followed him to a booth, that was centre to the stage. Once seated, Enishi ordered their dinner. While they waited, dancers performed on stage. Yuesheng arrived after dinner was over and the singer began her vocal performance.

As expected Yuesheng's eyes took in the fine silk clothing Enishi and Sumi wore. He openly admired them after introducing himself. "You are one exquisite beauty. Such fabulous hair pins! Sir you have refined taste."

Enishi didn't like that the man had not taken his eyes off Sumi. He found that Yuesheng kissing her hand in greeting, was over the top and flirtatious. However he kept up the appearance of polite happiness, even though he wanted to kill the man already. Watching Sumi, Enishi genuinely smiled when she slid the steak knife from under her napkin into a sleeve.

"You should come to Shanghai to discuss business."

"That can be arranged." Yuesheng promised and then put an arm around Sumi's shoulders.

The man didn't notice the knife until it tapped his crotch. Enishi held back his laughter, from the shocked expression on Yuesheng's face.

"Remove your arm please," Sumi said with a honey voice, eyes flashing with suppressed anger.

The man carefully withdrew his arm. "I meant no offence. I don't suppose you'd care to dance with me?"

"I only dance with my husband."

Yuesheng gulped, as colour drained from his face. "I did not know you two were married."

Sumi smiled, "you're forgiven this one time."

The man looked around the room, noticing no one else was there. "This place is usually packed at night."

"Enishi bought it out, so we'd have privacy."

Yuesheng's eyes widened, as he realized just how much money had been spent. He finished his wine and when the waiter came to fill it, the vintage was something only the elite could afford. Even the necklace around Enishi's neck, spoke of his vast wealth. "Where did you get that golden monkey head?"

"I had it made," Enishi said and removed it. Placing it on the table he added, "do you want it?"

Yuesheng nodded, unable to speak.

Enishi slid it across the table towards Yuesheng, but it was Sumi who spoke. "Think of it as a gift to encourage you to come to Shanghai quickly. My husband doesn't like to wait."

"I will take my leave sir, to make travel arrangements." Yuesheng bowed and once again took Sumi's hand in his.

Sumi didn't like how long Yuesheng held her hand. Looking over at Enishi, she saw jealousy in his eyes. Once the man had left, she let loose a big sigh. "If he wasn't so important for business in Shanghai, I would've killed him where he sat."

Those words, put Enishi in a better mood. "I don't trust him yet, so you might still get the chance."

**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ** ~ ~ ~ ~ ~**

[GRAPHIC VIOLENCE]

The Mad Dog gang had expected Enishi to pay them, like Wu Heishin did. When that didn't happen, they decided to attack and kidnap his female companion. What they were unaware of, was that Enishi knew Sumi could take care of herself, even without others protecting her. He'd taught her how to fight efficiently and had added various techniques to her combat arsenal. The ambush happened in the afternoon, on the docks of the main river artery.

Sumi had felt the attention of more than one person and so she wasn't caught off guard when the twenty gang members swarmed her. Like Enishi had instructed, Sumi positioned herself between two heavy stacks of crated goods, forcing the men to be funnelled in, so they couldn't surround her. Now only two men at a time could attack her, unless one came up the rear. That was easier than if they had all come at her in the same instance.

The curved wedding gift blades were unsheathed. The first guy was as tall as her, but that didn't matter. She stepped in and kicked him in the groin, so hard that he'd be shitting pelvis bone fragments for a week. One of his fellow gang members pulled him out of the funnel and to the side, by a leg. That same man came back with a buddy. They were bigger than the last man and were shoulder to shoulder. Using one of Enishi's moves, her head butt dropped the first guy and the second one she smashed her elbow into his jaw. They went down and lay still, forcing the other gang members to crawl over them to get at Sumi.

One man came in from the rear, while his friends distracted her head on. He got his hands around Sumi's throat, but made a mistake that she knew how to capitalize on. The guy was bigger and stronger than her, but he didn't curl up his fingers. His left fingers were out straight, so she reached up and snapped them as far back as possible, effectively breaking them and his hold on her. As his grip lessened she used the back of her head to smash his nose and finished with a blade run ear to ear. His blood ran faster than a wild river and changed her clothing from light blue to black in seconds. Two more in front of her, didn't expect Sumi to crouch low and hamstring them, all the way down to the bone, making their legs useless. She hit the femoral artery by bringing the slash round to the front. Next one that came at her received a throat kick that smashed in the guy's larynx, causing suffocation.

The twelve men left, she thought would be wiser and not blindly rush at her. Yet here was a fat man, lining himself up like a bear, charging straight at her, with his head low. He meant to drive her backwards, stumble and fall, so his friends could capture her. Having telegraphed his intent, she expected him, so turned her body sideways and bent at the knees. Timing it perfectly she drove all her weight up and forward, off her back foot and through the shoulder, straight into the guy's face. Sumi had barely moved, but managed to stagger the fat guy backwards on stiff legs. But the man didn't go down, even though blood was pulled by gravity, from his broken nose. He didn't try rushing her again, more cautious this time. Using her speed and agility she rushed him, using her blades to make quick, deep lacerations, so he had blood oozing out of multiple cuts. Then like a hook, removed a chunk of his flesh, effectively peeling it back. His scream was surprisingly high for a big man. His mind collapsed in pain.

Stabbing and slashing Sumi moved forward, killing another five men, who were dumb enough to come forward bare-handed. She couldn't believe that the next three men repeated the same patterns as those she'd already annihilated. With kicks, punches, head butts and elbows, each of them lay unconscious at her feet. The last guy was kept upright by a pile of bodies, until a head kick snapped his neck.

Retreating to give herself a little breather, also gave the last three guys time to wait for reinforcements. However, word had been sent to Enishi about the attack on his wife. He came exactly at the right moment, when Sumi was running out of steam. His arrival meant no man was left standing. The Mad Dog gang members were not killed by him, but they'd be lucky to move again or eat anything but mush. Three quarters of the gang were out of commission and Yuesheng's Green Gang arrived to finish off the rest. The second in command of the Green Gang, confirmed that Sumi had killed the Mad Dog Gang's leader.

Word travelled quickly about the fight, getting blown out of proportion. Soon the rumour said that Sumi had killed fifty men, injuring another fifty. When some saw her covered in blood that was obviously not her own, they said she had transformed into a tiger, only to be joined by her husband the dragon. The story became ridiculous, making both Sumi and Enishi laugh. Still to prevent unnecessary interest, they left on the train the same afternoon. Both wore black hooded capes over their blood stained clothing. Only when the train pulled into the Shanghai station, did Sumi begin to relax. On arrival back at Enishi's mansion, they stripped off their clothes and told the house staff to throw them out. A whisper about Sumi's soaked clothing, travelled everywhere in Shanghai. People wondered if she was more lethal and thus insane, than her husband. The title of Lady Killer was said almost reverently, by the Shanghai mafia and police of the area.