136 Friendship (1/2)

After daybreak, Gu Shenwei went to greet Miss Luo Ningcha. Miss Luo told him that Shangguan Ru had promised to meet him after 9pm in Kun Yard.

Kun Yard was reserved for Shangguan Ru. When she becomes the Tenth Young Master, she would move to this yard from the Inner Residence. Gu Shenwei knew its location since he had been there before. He was a little worried about the time. 9pm was rather late as he would have less than two hours before 11pm.

Subsequently, he went to West Castle to visit Shangguan Hongye and his mother.

Luo Ningcha arranged this meeting on a sudden whim, and both parties of this meeting felt slightly awkward in the beginning. It was inappropriate to send a boy slave to feast with a young master like Shangguan Hongye, who was a nephew of the Supreme King. However, Shangguan Hongye and his mother accepted this arrangement. They found it hard to reject Luo Ningcha's money. Although the Eighth Young Mistress was ruthless and inhumane, she was filthy rich and generous. With so much money, she could accomplish anything.

Shangguan Hongye's mother was in her thirties and surnamed Yang. She had lost her youthful charms and now, she's struggling to survive. Her house was shabbily decorated, and all her servants, which consisted of a boy slave and a maid, were sent by the fort. Both of the servants were underpaid and hated working there. They would fake their obedience to Madam Yang and Shangguan Hongye in front of the guests.

Seeing Shangguan Hongye and Madam Yang living in such conditions, Gu Shenwei thought to himself, ”Shangguan Fa treats his own brother's widow and son in such a cold way. He's indeed much more merciless than the most ruthless killer.”

He found out that it was forbidden to talk about the Supreme King in this house. It seemed that Madam Yang and Shangguan Hongye abided by this rule much more strictly than all the other people in the fort, but this attitude also showed their dissatisfaction towards the lord.

After they got rid of the initial awkwardness, Madam Yang and Shangguan Hongye showed more enthusiasm. Gu Shenwei thought that they were a little too enthusiastic and felt slightly uncomfortable.

Shangguan Hongye spoke very little, but Madam Yang spoke endlessly. She talked about her family, praised Slave Huan for his capabilities and sighed that her son was not good at studying nor fighting. This made Shangguan Hongye very unhappy. Next, they talked about the Eighth Young Mistress and Lady Meng.

Gu Shenwei was a little absent minded and gave perfunctory replies to Madam Yang until she asked him an unusual question.

”Aren't you worried that the Eighth Young Mistress might be unhappy after seeing you work for Master Ru?” Madam Yang asked curiously with a tinge of reproach, while trying to act like a friend of the Eighth Young Mistress.

Gu Shenwei was still absent minded. Firstly, he stated that he was an underling of the Eighth Young Master and serving Tenth Young Master was Eighth Young Master's idea. Also, as a slave, he should do his best to bring both of them together, since they were a family.

Gu Shenwei left immediately after answering this difficult question.

After he left Madam Yang and Shangguan Hongye's residence, he went to the school to visit Zhang Ji. However, he did not obtain any useful information from Mister Zhang. Although Zhang Ji knew lots about strategies and history, he knew little about kung fu. He knew nothing about the origin of the Death Scripture.

After leaving the school, Gu Shenwei went straight to Eighth Young Master's house.

Luo Ningcha was pleased that she could get Madam Yang to openly support her. This was the first time that she won a lady's support in the fort, and this lady was a sister-in-law of Lady Meng and an aunt of the Eighth Young Mistress. Luo Ningcha could not wait to hear Slave Huan's judgement of this lady.

”How is it? Can she be trusted?” She asked impatiently.

Luo Ningcha only had one servant, namely Maid Cui. Luo Ningcha became more and more paranoid as time goes on and she couldn't bring herself to trust any other servant.

Separated by a wooden square wall, Gu Shenwei could only hear the voice of Miss Luo. He hesitated for a moment before saying, ”You can't believe her.”

”How could that be? She offered her assistance when we were in the Inner Residence,” said Miss Luo, with a sense of disappointment.

”This is where the problem lies. As Lady Meng was the head of the inner residence, no one dared to sympathize with you openly. Madam Yang's exaggerated actions proved that she was under Lady Meng's orders to investigate you.”

Luo Ningcha suddenly sighed. She started to throw a tantrum by smashing tea cups and hitting the maid as she berated Slave Huan, ”You spout all kinds of nonsense. Initially, you said Madam Yang could be easily bribed and now you say that she was a spy for that old woman. Bighead Kingpin wanted you to help me. This is ridiculous. How can I believe you? Mama Xue always said to never let my guard down around you...”.

Gu Shenwei looked down while kneeling on the ground as he waited for Miss Luo to cool down. He said, ”Now that the enemy is stronger than us, it's naturally more difficult to bribe them”.

”Then what do you think we can do? Are you saying that I had given out so much money for nothing? I'll deal with Madam Yang sooner or later.”

Luo Ningcha was not good at earning the trust of people nor was she good at creating plans to further her own interests. Even though Gu Shenwei had to educate her patiently, he had decided to distance himself from this woman as to not be betrayed by her.

”There is a way, which couldn't only punish Madam Yang, but can also make her stand on your side.”

”You should have said this earlier”, Luo Ningcha said as she forgot about the fact that she was the one who was constantly nagging.

”Since Madam Yang was investigating you on behalf of Lady Meng, you should speak kindly of Lady Meng in front of her as to show a hint of regret, but don't be too histrionic...”

”Why?”, Luo Ningcha asked while smashing another tea cup, ”Do you want me to beg?”

Gu Shenwei was losing his patience and said, ”Of course not. By letting Madam Yang pass along your message to Lady Meng, Lady Meng would never believe her. If you gave Madam Yang more items such as gold, some clothes for Madam Yang, so she could wear them in the inner residence for everyone to see...”

Luo Ningcha had a sudden realisation and exclaimed, ”Oh, so you're trying to sow discord?”

Gu Shenwei heaved a sigh of relief and said, ”Indeed. As Madam Yang and Lady Meng aren't close to each other, this trick can be very useful. After Madam Yang gets humiliated in front of Lady Meng's, the bribe will be successful.”.