Chapter 125 – Suing the Parlour of Clouds and Rain (1/2)

Over these years, Zhou Wenbin had invested millions of taels of silver into Jiaping city, easing the burden that came with taxes and costs to help the city achieve its current prosperity. As the magistrate of the district, not only was he not greedy, refusing to take bribes, but he even spent much of his own money into this place, governing Jiaping to a point where there was not a single beggar on the streets.

It was exactly because of that that he had been received with such reverence as soon as he came to the Parlour of Clouds and Rain. Of course, he did not do this because of the doctrines of great scholarly sages, or because he wholeheartedly wanted to be a good official where the people came first. Instead, he had deeper concerns to consider as a Qi Practitioner.

However, it was exactly under these circumstances that very few people were willing to sell their daughters into this pit of suffering. To a brothel, if they did not have a fresh and abundant ‘supply’, they would obviously go to great lengths and do everything that they could.

The Parlour and Clouds and Rain had never been too worried about this district magistrate; they relied on their relationship with Zhuo Zhibo and their backing from the Sect of Clouds and Rain. They would just slight him from year to year. Zhou Wenbin had his worries as well, so he was reluctant to stir up trouble, ignoring the Parlour of Clouds and Rain that had been so popular with the people. However, now that someone had served as the vanguard for him, he obviously would use this opportunity to benefit himself in one way or another, placing some pressure on the Parlour of Clouds and Rain. Of course, he would just be applying some force to them. It was impossible for him to destroy them in a single stroke.

Li Qingshan frowned. He had been expecting this. If the Parlour of Clouds and Rain could be uprooted so easily, they would not be around still. Probably even the investigations at Fishes’ Gully would be pointless.

Anyways, a person saved was a person saved, while a criminal killed was a criminal dead. He did not plan on destroying the Parlour of Clouds and Rain in a single stroke either, but even if he could not destroy an evil organisation like this immediately, he wanted to deal a blow to them. However, it was still not enough right now.

Zhao Liangqing smiled with a sinister, complacent smile. “Sir Zhou, if there is nothing else, please punish Li Qingshan for murdering the innocent. And, please get him to release our head courtesan, Furong.”

What he said at the end actually led to a chorus of agreement from the entire crowd.

Zhuo Zhibo managed to force something out from his gritted teeth. “Master Zhao, these are all small matters, so it’s best if you don’t bicker over them anymore.” He had to bide his time until he got to the bottom of Li Qingshan’s backing. It was obvious just how he would erupt when he found out that Li Qingshan had no proper connection to Gu Yanying at all.

How could Li Qingshan waste such a perfect period of time? Obviously, he would screw him over whenever he had the chance. He would take advantage of him as much as possible first.

Zhou Wenbin said to Li Qingshan, “You should release that woman first!”

Li Qingshan called out, “Sir, we can’t release her! Here’s the evidence! I have grievances to settle! I want to sue the Parlour of Clouds and Rain!”

Veins popped out from Zhao Liangqing’s forehead, while Zhou Wenbin almost broke into laughter. You utterly crushed the Parlour of Clouds and Rain in a slaughter; you even killed off the procuress, yet now you actually have grievances, wanting to sue the Parlour of Clouds and Rain!

After coughing gently twice, he held back his smile. “For what do you want to sue the Parlour of Clouds and Rain?”

Li Qingshan lifted up Furong. “I want to sue the Parlour of Clouds and Rain for offering fake commodities. They’ve falsely labelled what they were offering, cheating the common people out of what they paid for. They’ve deeply hurt my feelings!”

Zhao Liangqing held back his intense urge to curse aloud. True qi surged from the centre of Li Qingshan’s palm, and Furong immediately fainted. Having fallen unconscious, she could no longer use her arts of charm. Even ordinary people could see her true appearance. Li Qingshan lifted her high up.

“Please look, everyone! This is the true appearance of the head courtesan, Furong. Why don’t you ask yourselves whether I was right earlier or not?”

Basically everyone rubbed their eyes at the same time before becoming stunned. Their dreams shattered. W- was this really Furong? Was this really the woman they dreamed of? Why had they gone as far as to spend every penny they had just to see her? They questioned themselves and realised that they really were idiots.

Regurgitation. Many people directly began vomiting This tremendous disparity between reality and their fantasies made them feel even sicker than eating a hundred flies. Filth poured and flowed through the magnificent Parlour of Clouds and Rain as if this was its original form.

There were also people who refused to believe it, perhaps due to falling too deeply into the arts of charm. They knelt on the ground as they wept bitterly while crying out, “That’s impossible! That’s not Furong! It’s all fake! It’s all a lie!”

Zhou Liangqing flew into a fury. He took a step forward, and true qi crushed down, A large part of the floor collapsed. However, two auras that were even stronger than his immediately locked onto him. One came from Zhuo Zhibo, while the other came from Zhou Wenbin. They were two sixth layer Qi Practitioners who had split open seas of qi.

Regardless of their reasons or intentions, they could not just stand down as Zhao Liangqing attacked Li Qingshan. The two of them were the symbols of law in Jiaping city, the presentation of the authority of the government. They could not allow the law and authority to be defied or broken. Li Qingshan seemed arrogant, but he stuck close to the word ‘reason’.

Li Qingshan did not even glance at Zhao Liangqing. All he said loudly was, “You spent astronomical sums of silver just to see this. Tell me, hasn’t it been unjust?” Afterwards, he casually tossed Furong to Zhao Liangqing, “You don’t need to ask for her. If it’s something like her, I don’t want her even if you’re giving her to me!”