54 Whose Turquoise Robe Got Wet in the Pavilion (2/2)
As the two people under the umbrella naturally talked with each other, eventually the crowds in the rain couldn't bear the disgrace that their opponents had regarded them—influential figures in Chang'an—as nobodies. After several discussions, they forcibly elected Lord Meng from Southern City as their representative.
In such a circumstance, it seemed that Old Chao would be dead tonight. Actually, no one, including Lord Meng, dared to show discourtesy in front of Old Chao if they hadn't watched him die personally. However, Lord Meng had no choice but to come forward this time, because the number and force of his fellows tonight was the greatest and his gang was suppressed by the Fish Dragon Gang the most.
”These years, all the lucrative and covert businesses are occupied by your Fish Dragon Gang, including the grain transporting, the warehouse shifts, army logistics, and the peripheral defense of warehouses of the Ministry of Revenue. You don't even share some minor businesses with other gangs. For the sake of the emperor, how could it make sense in this world?”
Lord Meng, coldly staring at Chao Xiaoshu, continued, ”You should clearly know what the wrath of the public means. In the past, other gangs showed some respect to you due to your seniority, but now, you are still stubborn even when the court intends to crack down on you. So don't blame us for our brutality and ruthlessness.”
”The people in the Jianghu world were always poor in literacy, so they only can repeat these sentences over and over. It really made my ears suffer a lot when I negotiated with others in person years ago,” standing under the umbrella and looking at the 'voluble' Lord Meng, Chao Xiaoshu said in a low voice with a smile. Naturally, his words were said to Ning Que behind him, but not to their opponents.
Lord Meng's facial expression suddenly distorted as he saw Chao Xiaoshu's disdain of him. With his stick heavily touching on the ground, he shouted, ”It is said that there are 3,000 men in turquoise robes, but both you and I clearly know that the number of loyal warriors is just over 200. Besides, your several mighty fellows are now all detained by the nobles in the Valiant Cavalry Battalion of the Yulin Royal Guards. Tonight, I really wonder how you can manage to escape!”
Looking at Meng's slightly twitching, fat face, Chao Xiaoshu suddenly smiled and responded, ”About your first question, I dare say that I am naturally capable of monopolizing these businesses for all these years, including the grain transporting, the warehouse shifts, and the canal transport. No matter if you, or Junjie, or The Old Cat, none of you guys can control these businesses. Even if they were sent to you, you'd not dare touch them.
”You don't have to probe and guess whether I have backup. I can directly tell you that there is no fellow of the Spring Breeze Pavilion around here tonight. Don't you feel strange that Mr. Qi is absent tonight? No need to feel strange. Actually, he and other guys have left for your home. I believe at this time, the Southern City, the Eastern City, and the outer mansion of The Old Cat have already been turbulent.”
With that sentence resounding around the dilapidated pavilion, the crowds in the rain suddenly became more tumultuous. They had kept sending people to track Chao Xiaoshu and had successfully besieged him here. How could they speculate that Chao Xiaoshu would lure them as bait while the rest of the forces of the Fish Dragon Gang went to their houses?
”Misfortunes should stay away from family and home!” The men who retired from the city gate defense military reproached, ”Chao Xiaoshu, you have gone too far!”
Chao Xiaoshu, with his expression turning a little cold, slightly shook his head and said, ”You besiege me in front of my house. Will it be a kind of family-related misfortune if I haven't transferred my family in advance? Anyway, you don't have to worry too much because I will always obey my rules. I am not going to kill you in front of your houses, so as not to break your families' hearts.”
After a short pause, while looking at the crowds, he peacefully said, ”However, it will be impossible for all of you to have a family in Chang'an after tonight.”
It will be impossible for all of you to have a family in Chang'an after tonight.
Such a simple sentence immediately evoked many different pictures inside the brains among the crowd. The five words—Spring Breeze Pavilion Old Chao—represented the guarantee of faith in the Jianghu World. He definitely wouldn't implicate the crowds' families if he had said that. However, on this spring night with a little coldness and rain, their old parents, wives, and children would be rudely thrown out from their houses, and then their hard-earned mansions and pawnshops would be ruined by the men in turquoise robes from the Fish Dragon Gang. Who could accept such facts when it happened to oneself?
Lord Meng's fat face twitched again. His umbrella didn't refuse all the rain, so the twitch shook off several raindrops onto his flesh. Later he said in a cold voice, ”Mansions can be built again, but a dead man can't revive. The Jianghu world will be totally changed as long as we kill you, and then Chang'an... will be ours!”
”Chang'an belongs to the emperor forever.” Chao Xiaoshu slightly laughed. Glancing down the official sword on his waist and then raising his head with a heart-breaking laugh, he said, ”When it comes to killing me, have you ever seen my attack?”
Ning Que, behind Old Chao, closed his own oilpaper umbrella and casually threw it beside his feet. Then he raised his right hand to reach the hilt on his back, diagonally pointing at the rain and clouds.
Chao Xiaoshu slowly stretched his hand to hold the hilt on his waist. The moment his slender fingers gripped the rain-soaked hilt, his turquoise robe slightly vibrated and countless raindrops were shaken into a tiny water vapor, like a misty fog.
The mildly smiling, middle-aged man was suddenly filled with a murderous look, as if turned into another man. The gloomy and cold rain around Old Chao, seeming to have felt something unusual, obliquely and silently avoided him. Afterwards, not a single raindrop dared to touch the turquoise robe anymore.
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