790 Economic Power (2/2)
He couldn't speed anything up. The meetings with Old Hong and Madam Meng as well as the efforts needed to evade the surveillance of Golden Roc Castle both required a certain amount of time. And there were also some issues in Heaven's Pass that required his immediate attention.
”We don't have any money left/” Xu Xiaoyi knew that the Dragon King never liked pleasantries, so he went straight to the point. ”Currently I have nothing but a bunch of unpaid debts. And I think that in less than ten days, the creditors will find out the truth about the Dragon Army's financial situation, which would be a disaster.”
Gu Shenwei had anticipated this situation in advance. ”It's okay. We'll get rich really soon.”
”You convinced the Meng family?” Xu Xiaoyi was overjoyed even though he had every bit of confidence in the Dragon King. Just from the thought of Meng family's enormous wealth, Xu Xiaoyi's mature face tensed up in excitement, and enthusiasm appeared in his eyes as if he had changed back to the person he used to be. ”When is it going to arrive? I'll be able to handle the creditors if I know the details.”
Yet the Dragon King's next move threw a wet blanket over Xu Xiaoyi's fiery exhilaration. ”This batch of money won't be under your management. From now on, you just have to focus on collecting intelligence.”
Xu Xiaoyi was shocked and depressed. The beard he had been growing for a long time quivered awkwardly as if it was going to fall off. ”Did I do something wrong, Dragon King? I swear, I never stole a single copper from the money I dealt with. If there's any money missing, however small the amount is, I'll hand it over right now.”
”You don't have to. Actually you should save some money for yourself and your elder sister as you've done a good job. If it weren't for you, I would've spent all of the money a lot earlier.”
”But-”
”This is one of the conditions of the Meng family. They want someone they trust to manage the finances.”
”All right,” Xu Xiaoyi felt a stabbing pain in his heart – the Meng family in the Northern Jade City was the richest family in the West Regions, and if he could manage their countless assets… He couldn't bear thinking about it anymore. ”From now on, I'll manage those small accounts for the Dragon King.”
”No. All you have to do is collect intelligence. Hand over all your economic accumulations to the Meng family.”
”What?!” Xu Xiaoyi jumped up in shock. If he had to hand over some of his responsibilities, he wanted it to be the intelligence gathering aspect. ”How can you trust them, Dragon King? They've been with good terms with Golden Roc Castle for generations. When a crisis arises, they'll surely betray you and deal a… What's that word?”
”A counterblow.”
”Yes, a counterblow. Dragon King, it's okay if you want someone else to handle the money, but it can't be someone from the Meng family.”
”Let's give it a shot. As long as you keep one eye open, I think we'll be fine.”
”Are you saying that…?”
”We can never have too much intelligence.”
Xu Xiaoyi giggled as he changed stances and said, ”Well, then. The Meng family will be in charge of the Dragon King's money, and I'll monitor the Meng family for the Dragon King. Alas… Exactly how much money do they have? Tens of millions? Hundreds of millions?”
”That's part of the intelligence you'll have to collect.”
”When's the Meng family guy going to arrive? I think I have some handing over to do.”
”He's already arrived.”
An hour later, Xu Xiaoyi met the person who was both his successor and his rival. He opened his mouth yet was unable to say a word for quite a while.
Xiao Fengchai smiled as he replied, ”Although I get this expression a lot when men see me, yours is a little more dramatic than most.”
”How are you a member of Meng family? Second Young… Meng Mingshu… So this was the reason of your quarrel.”
In order to leave Jade City without arousing anyone's suspicion, Xiao Fengchai and Meng Mingshu had made quite a scene. They had a terrible fight against each other and nearly tore the house down. All the prostitutes in Pleasure Alley had taken a day off to watch the fight. The night when Xiao Fengchai had declared her decision to leave Jade City for good, all of the prostitutes had served their customers with unprecedented hospitality.
”Second Brother trusts me and has put me in charge of the family assets. It seems that we'll be seeing each other a lot more often from now on.”
”I'm honored,” Xu Xiaoyi responded, in awe of both the Meng family and the Dragon King. He found it incredible that the Meng family would entrust such a huge sum of money to a woman. But this woman was the most famous prostitute in all of Jade City, and even his own elder sister Xu Yanwei, who had worked very hard for so many years in the same profession, was still a far cry from reaching this woman's fame. Thus, he felt that what had happened was reasonable and that his defeat by this woman was not really that humiliating. Actually, it was almost a reward that they would be ”seeing each other a lot more often.”
After helping Xiao Fengchai settle down, Lü Qiying came to consult the Dragon King about the issue of delivering the provisions out of the Heaven's Pass. It was already the afternoon when Gu Shenwei finished all the discussions, so he decided to depart at night.
Xu Xiaoyi had been shocked ever since receiving the news that he would have to hand over his financial powers and it was quite a while later that he suddenly recalled that he still had a lot of intelligence to report to the Dragon King. After taking a while to prioritize them, Xu Xiaoyi started reporting.
News about Shangguan Ru was at the bottom of the list.
”Tenth Young Master… has a lot of friends, and an amazing drinking capacity – the men working for me have admitted defeat.”
”Who did she meet?” Gu Shenwei asked, remembering the inexplicable warning of Madam Meng.
”That guy named Azheba visited several times and Duodun sends people there all the time. Dragon King, Duodun hasn't given up yet, so you have to be careful. And there're also some other Norland officers. I have their names written down here. Er…”
”Anything unusual?”
Actually what surprised Xu Xiaoyi the most was the fact that the Dragon King cared so much about Shangguan Ru even though he didn't seemed to trust her very much. Xu Xiaoyi had always been on the Dragon King's side, so he immediately changed his perspective on Shangguan Ru and felt that he had made a terrible mistake by not having informed the Dragon King earlier of a particular message.
”Several days ago, a mysterious guest paid a visit to Tenth Young Master.”