Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Gao Yang danced about in excitement, the chains around him jingling. “Yes. You were the one who hired me to kill that guy. Now I have evidence. You’re the Dragon King’s man, right?”
Duan Zihua shook his head apathetically. “No.”
Having not detected the bad omen in this simple answer, Meng Mingshu explained aloud in lieu of his old servant. “He’s a servant of my family. The Dragon King coerced him into assisting him from inside to steal the Meng family’s money. From then on, he’s been working for the Dragon King all along. Duan Zihua, tell them the truth.”
Duan Zihua turned around and kowtowed to his young master respectfully.
Meng Mingshu was confused. “Duan Zihua, stand up and talk. Didn’t you say that you had a terrible conscience and wanted to come back to serve me again? Aren’t you worried that the Dragon King might kill you to keep that thing a secret forever? Well, the Governor of the Western Regions is here. Nobody will dare to hurt you.”
Pang Jing looked around with a confused look, as if Meng Mingshu had just told a big joke. All those present were prudent and observant people, and they all had a premonition that misfortune was going to strike this very person.
Meng Mingshu didn’t notice the look on the Governor’s face, so he continued urging the old man with absolute confidence. “Duan Zihua, I’m counting on you to help me rejuvenate the Meng family.”
With a natural look on his face, Duan Zihua stood up, took two steps backwards, and said in a sonorous voice, as if he had fulfilled all his responsibilities towards the Meng family with the former two kowtows. “Master, I have old parents to serve as well as young children to raise in my family, so I can’t help you cheat other people any longer. The Dragon King didn’t rob the Meng family. Nobody robbed the Meng family. You’ve been hiding all of the gold and silver ingots in the old mansion of the Meng family this whole time. Nobody has ever touched it.”
It was totally quiet in the hall. Everybody knew that a single casual remark of theirs, that even a glance from them might bring unpredictably dire consequences upon their heads at this moment. They all knew that, before the situation became clear, their best choice was to act dumb.
“Ha-ha.” Gao Yang dissolved into laughter, finding it very interesting that everybody in the hall looked like statues. “Nonsense. Everybody knows that the Meng family’s money is in the Dragon King’s hands. Didn’t Wu Xuan get a gold ingot from the Dragon King?”
Duan Zihua deliberately avoided his master’s eyes as he said, “I put that gold ingot in Wu Xuan’s hand to attract everyone’s attention, and then I framed the Dragon King. This was Meng Mingshu’s plan. I-”
Upon hearing his name come out from his servant’s lips, Meng Mingshu appeared as if somebody had just punched him in the face. Finally, he realized what was going on. He had fallen into a huge trap but had no idea who had set it. He had bet all he had on this but lost everything. Desperate, he abruptly pounced onto Duan Zihua. “Cheap servant! You stabbed me in the back! The Dragon King. You and the Dragon King…”
Duan Zihua had prepared himself. Drawing back step by step, he quickly said, “Back then, the old master had just died, and you were afraid that your status was at stake, and that you would have to share the family assets with other family members. Thus, you faked the robbery. Everybody says that the Dragon King did that. The Dragon King didn’t deny it, and you were also glad that someone else had accepted the responsibility for it. But you couldn’t stand living a hard life, and the family property had already been divided anyways. You were eager to use the money, so you framed the Dragon King again in order to rightfully…”
For those who had sharp eyes, the situation was clear enough, so four or five people walked up to Meng Mingshu. They seemed to be trying to persuade him, but they were actually restraining him. They didn’t even let him speak, while on the other hand, Duan Zihua was under no such restraints.
The old servant of the Meng family had disclosed “the truth about the subterfuge,” but the others felt that his remarks had been intended to exculpate the Dragon King.
The more Meng Mingshu heard, the angrier he became. Abruptly, he gathered all his strength and freed himself from the several people’s arms. “I’ll kill you-” Somebody suddenly hit him hard on the back of his waist. Meng Mingshu fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth, unable to speak anymore.
The entire hall descended into chaos. Pang Jing stepped forward and loudly said, “Quiet. Quiet. Listen to me. That things went this way… is really surprising. I believe the Dragon King from the very beginning, but this Duan Zihua’s words were too incredible. It was very difficult for me to believe him.”
“Didn’t he say that the Meng family’s money is still out there? Let’s go and find out whether he was telling the truth,” somebody yelled, believing that nobody would oppose his suggestion.
Pang Jing flicked an unnatural glance at the Dragon King and then asked Duan Zihua, “The Meng family’s money is still there?”
“Exactly.”
“That can’t be true. I came here late, but I also heard that all the Second Young Master Meng got was the Bodhi Garden when they divided the family property. Both the old mansion and the vault should have been assigned to his grandmother. Wasn’t that true?”
“That was a cover-up. Meng Mingshu has already purchased the old mansion in someone else’s name.”
“Let’s go to the Meng family!”
“Go to the old mansion!”
…
Everybody was excited, generating empathy with their respective roles. But the Dragon King, who was the most important person involved in this situation, remained indifferent. His role was the simplest one. All he needed to do was quietly accept everything that had happened in this hall. As long as he didn’t deny anything, then he would be deemed to have cooperated with Pang Jing.
So far, Pang Jing had been acting like an ethical merchant. He had taken advantage of the Dragon King’s reputation, but had also given him the compensation that he deserved.
There would surely be rumors that the Dragon King had incited Duan Zihua to frame his master, which was a price that the Dragon King would have to pay. He had already gained the reputation of a robber anyways, so this kind of rumor wouldn’t do much harm.
But Meng Mingshu had lost the bet and all his “family assets” now belonged to the Dragon King, which could be counted as a gift given to the Dragon King by the Governor.
Gu Shenwei knew that he would eventually have to give half of the money to Pang Jing according to the agreement.
Somebody took the lead and dozens followed. Even Meng Mingshu, who was lying unconscious on the ground, was dragged away by a couple other people.
When passing by Gu Shenwei, Zhang Ji said, “It’s a good deal, isn’t it?”
Shangguan Ru didn’t move. Her eyes were full of surprise, and there seemed to be a hint of accusation, too. Lotus also didn’t move, the look on her face as apathetic as always.
Gu Shenwei followed the crowd through the gate of the mansion. Chu Nanping mounted his horse and hurriedly galloped away. Xu Xiaoyi walked over and acted as the Dragon King’s attendant. This small change didn’t attract anybody’s attention.
Joining the large numbers of attendants and guards waiting outside, the crowd immediately expanded to hundreds of people. After making some arrangements in a flustered manner, they decided to have the guards lead the way. Pang Jing and the Dragon King walked behind the guards. The long procession made its way towards the old mansion of the Meng family.
The procession only progressed two blocks when news quickly spread out, with large groups of residents flooding over to take a look. But the soldiers stopped the crowds from getting too close, so they could only see the tail of the procession. But just this provided them with enough topics of conversation. The excited residents even abandoned their principles of prudence and started animatedly discussing with acquaintances or even strangers as if they had seen everything with their own eyes.
This was a time when rumors arose and spread very quickly, and it was also a time when public opinion was prone to manipulation. Over fifty “insiders” evenly spread throughout Jade City, and they soon dominated most of the rumors.
This thing didn’t attract anybody’s attention either.
The old mansion of the Meng family had indeed been sold. The buyer was a mysterious foreigner, who had purchased the house at a reasonably low price. The old grandmother of the Meng family had felt that she still had a lot of years ahead, so she was eager to get away from this troubled place. At this moment, all of her family members were busy packing.
The rumor had come to them earlier than the procession looking for proof had arrived. After hearing the message, the old woman, who had barely walked for many years, had miraculously stood up and broken into a trot. Her handmaids could barely catch up with her, panting for breath.
The vault was in the backyard’s garden. The steward hurriedly fumbled for the key, totally confused. “Venerable Mistress, it’s empty… ”
The old lady spat in the steward’s face and said, “You also want to cheat me like how the undutiful Meng Mingshu did?”
The three gates were opened one by one. The vault built with giant rocks was empty. The light of the noon sun didn’t make it any less grim.
The old lady was the first one to rush inside, stamping her foot everywhere and knocking on the wall. Realizing that she couldn’t do this alone, she urgently yelled, “Hurry! Find the hidden door. We cannot let the Meng family’s money be taken by outsiders! You and you, go to the gate and stop those people. Hold them back for as long as you can.”
But the procession formed of “outsiders” was unstoppable. Meng Mingshu, who had regained his consciousness, took on a new role. Over a hundred soldiers carried him as they broke through the line of defense consisting of unconfident servants at the gate of the old mansion and then intruded into the back yard garden.
Instead of anxiously rushing to the front, Pang Jing instead took the Dragon King’s hand and stood outside, enjoying the farce that he had caused. The old lady’s cries and Meng Mingshu’s nonsense were drowned out by the rebuke of the bigwigs of Jade City.
“This is kind of interesting, isn’t it, Dragon King?” Pang Jing asked in a low voice. He felt that it was safe now, so he didn’t need Luo Qikang to stay beside him anymore.
“It is, but I prefer to have been informed earlier.”
“Heh-heh. It’s just a joke. And it does Dragon King no harm anyways. The Meng family’s money will soon belong to you… ”
“Half of it belongs to the Governor.”
“Ah. I’m really beginning to like it here. I’m totally free here and there’s no need for me to worry about letting something slip anything when I talk. By the way, that Xiao Fengchai is a pretty good woman. The Dragon King won’t punish her because of me, will you?” Pang Jing blinked. This look of his would only put Xiao Fengchai in even more dire danger.
“Let me keep you in suspense for once,” said Gu Shenwei.
Pang Jing let out a laugh and didn’t intercede on Xiao Fengchai’s behalf any longer. He didn’t care about the life of a prostitute.
“It’s here! It’s here!” A chain of cheers came from inside the vault. The owner of a trading company ran out, face full of excitement, hurriedly reporting the good news. “It turns out that the money is buried right underground. Those gold ingots can make a mountain. Nobody’s ever moved them. Meng Mingshu was indeed trying to frame the Dragon King. This guy is so bold. Dragon King, all of this belongs to you. You should put them under protection. The old lady of the Meng family is trying to snatch the money like crazy.”
The Central Plains soldiers were guarding the vaulted. Adopting every means possible, both soft and tough, they managed to get those without fixed duties out of the vault. Unreconciled, the old lady of the Meng family lay on the ground crying out loudly. She had already tried several times to ran towards Pang Jing, the Governor of the Western Regions, but the soldiers had stopped her every time. Meng Mingshu was standing to the side, battered out of his senses. Those around him guarded against him getting furious, but he had already lost all his fight, his lips quivering and silent.
Gu Shenwei felt that the occasion had come, and nodded at Xu Xiaoyi.
Xu Xiaoyi loudly yelled, “Please be quiet. The Dragon King has something to say.”
“The truth has been brought into daylight,” said Gu Shenwei, thinking about Zhong Heng’s well-known saying that “Resolving an issue is different from uncovering the truth.” It was true. The correlation between the two was even weaker than the ties of kinship between the members of the Meng family. “This is the end of this issue. I have no intention of holding anybody responsible for it. Now that the money in the vault belongs to me, I have made a decision. I’ll give half of it to the Governor of the Western Regions because he upheld the justice in an impartial manner.”
Pang Jing’s face changed. He didn’t expect that the Dragon King would give the money to him in public. Before he could react and before the people present could pay him their compliment, the Dragon King continued. “With regards to the other half, I’ll return it to the Meng family. Though he tried to frame me due to a moment of thoughtlessness, I forgive him. I just want to tell him that I have no interest in the Meng family’s money.”
Gu Shenwei walked towards the outside. It was not until his figure was about to disappear that amazed exclamation of the crowds broke forth. Pang Jing was transfixed with shock, an ominous premonition growing more and more strong within him.
A Central Plains military officer rode into the garden, and upon seeing the Governor, yelled, “That Norlander… Governor… Mo Chu came back!”
Besides Pang Jing, nobody else here knew the true meaning of this message.
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