775 Wealth (1/2)
After returning from the Norland, Xiao Fengchai had not served any guests. One night, even though Pleasure Alley was at its busiest time, she requested the maidservants and the elderly women to go to bed early.
Meng Mingshu paced back and forth restlessly in the living room. Occasionally, he would glance at his woman and fearfully ask, ”How can this be possible? What should we do?”
Yet, Xiao Fengchai's face was as calm as still water. Now that the situation had this dire of a situation, even Xiao Fengchai found it thorny. ”Are you sure about this?”
”Absolutely positive. Actually there were some signs hinting at it before, but I didn't pay extra attention to them. It was not until the Dragon King sent me a message that I came to understand. Earlier today, when I went to visit him, I wiped something off of his forehead.
Meng Mingshu stretched out his right hand and there was a layer of white paint on his forefinger and middle finger. He had already shown this to her, but he hadn't wiped it off yet, and now the color had faded a little.
”My father never applies this kind of stuff.”
”The problem is… who's behind it?”
”The Golden Roc Castle – it has to be the Golden Roc Castle. The Dragon King's right. The Unique King wants all the assets of Meng family. I'm afraid that my two younger brothers are in grave danger, and that even I…” At the thought that his most trusted bodyguard was working for the Golden Roc Castle, Meng Mingshi was horrified.
Xiao Fengchai was much more composed than him, ”Don't forget that Golden Roc Castle's not the only sect that's good at disguises. Waning Moon Hall and the Dragon King are all masters of it.”
Meng Mingshu had thought that things were already clear, but now he fell into confusion again. ”You're right, but this is Jade City, where Golden Roc Castle can do whatever they want.”
”Haha. Haven't you noticed that Golden Roc Castle has been restraining itself a lot since the fiasco in Xiaoyao Lake? Now tens of thousand troops are stationed in the Heaven's Pass and their allegiance remains unknown, and they'll only be revealed after the gate of Jade City is opened wide. So, I think that the Unique King is not necessarily the only path for one to do whatever he wants here.”
”So what do we do? One mistake, and the Meng family is done for.”
”Play it by ear.”
Seeing that Xiao Fengchai was so composed, Meng Mingshu also managed to calm himself down. He stopped pacing around and fondly gazed at her face as he said, ”I don't know what I would do without you. If Golden Roc Castle is behind this, then the first thing I'm going to do is divorce the woman in my house, marry you, and give you the official identity of Madam Meng.”
Xiao Fengchai smiled. ”If the others heard of this, they would think that we're the ones plotting everything.”
Yet Meng Mingshu became excited and sat on a chair. After pondering for a short while, he said to Xiao Fengchai, ”Have you noticed? I'm now the patriarch of Meng family.”
Xiao Fengchai nodded. With a moderately encouraging look on her face, she said to him as if she were coaxing a child, ”Just keeping that in mind is fine. Don't talk about it openly. You could've gotten yourself into some serious trouble with this very remark.”
Meng Mingshu subdued his excitement as he asked, ”How should I deal with the Dragon King later?”
”Try not to speak and let me do the talking. If by any chance things go south, you can always shift the blame onto me so that we're still preserving some space for others maneuvers. Keeping you safe is the most important thing.”
Meng Mingshu wholeheartedly believed that this was an excellent idea. Rather than feel belittled, he was extreme grateful, to the point of even forgetting about his envy for the Dragon King.
Waiting…
There were no night watchmen in Southern Jade City, but Pleasure Alley was the exception. Some guests had to be cautious about the time and return to Northern Jade City before the connecting gateway closed. A while after nine o'clock, a man came out of Xiao Fengchai's bedroom.
Looking at the Dragon King who went by the name ”Gu Shenwei”, Meng Mingshu frowned. ”Madam Xiao's bedroom is one of the most difficult to access in all of Jade City, yet you came in so expertly. It seems that we'll have to seriously audit the security of these windows.”
Meng Mingshu and Xiao Fengchai had agreed that they wouldn't reveal his true identity at the moment.
”Yeah, you should.”
Meng Mingshu recalled what Xiao Fengchai had told him previously. He glanced at her and spoke no more.
Xiao Fengchai had put some simple makeup on, looking noble and elegant. With one hand on the table and the other on her knee, she said in a businesslike tone, ”Please have a seat, respected envoy.”
Gu Shenwei sat down in a chair opposite and already knew who he was going to negotiate with.
”The Dragon King always gets straight to the point and never wastes any time beating around the bush. Are you the same, envoy?”
”We don't have much time, so it's best we cut to the chase.”
”May I ask a question first?”
”Sure.”
”How did you know that Meng Yuzun had been replaced? I still remember you didn't say that when we first met.”
”Because I just found out myself. I happen to know that Meng Yuzun used to be a kung fu practitioner, and a pretty good one at that. Yet the footsteps of the one who was around the Bodhi Garden were fairly heavy and not like that of a kung fu practitioner's at all.”
Xiao Fengchai glanced at Meng Mingshu. She had never heard the rumor of the moneybags Meng Yuzun venturing into arduous kung fu practice. Meng Mingshu nodded gently, indicating that it was true. Actually, it had been after his elder brother's death that he found out about this, and he himself had been just as surprised back then.
”Do you have any information about if the true Meng Yuzun is alive?”
”It's hard to say. But as far as I know, there is an underground chamber in the Bodhi Garden, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if Meng Yuzun was locked in down there.”
This was yet another issue that Xiao Fengchai hadn't heard about. After Meng Mingshu confirmed it, she commented, ”It seems that Golden Roc Castle is indeed about to make its move on Meng family.”
That's not a question, and Gu Shenwei tersely responded.
”Money is always easy to borrow but difficult to repay. Can you give us some kind of guarantee? Or is t just an oral promise?” Xiao Fengchai continued to ask.
”It's not just a promise, but also a shared management right. And, if he wishes, Second Young Master Meng can choose to work for the Dragon King as his financial executive; he would be in charge of not only the Gu family's assets, but also all of Dragon King's financial resources.”
Meng Mingshu felt that he had to say something now, so he interjected and said, ”Then I would be publicly making myself an enemy of Golden Roc Castle, wouldn't I?”