952 The Palm (1/2)
Pang Jing lightly tossed and catched the gold ingot in his hand again and again. Every two or three times, he would stop, hold it before his eyes, scrutinize it, and then start tossing it again. He didn't seem to be trying to find any clues, and it was more like he was gauging the purity of it, like a scrupulous merchant.
Meng Mingshu was sitting diagonally opposite him, his eyes moving up and down alongside the gold ingot. As if hypnotized, he looked wooden and had totally forgotten about the question that Pang Jing had asked him.
The two had met each other several times before. In Pang Jing's eyes, this was probably the process of two strangers becoming close friends, so he cared about his manner even less as he put one foot on the chair and the other on the ground, leaning his body against the back of the chair. Suddenly, he grabbed the gold ingot, twisted his head aside, and smiled. ”Old Meng, you still haven't told me yet whether this gold ingot belongs to your family or not.
This form of address, ”Old Meng,” reminded Meng Mingshu of his father. He hurriedly answered. ”Please pardon me. I was being absent-minded. Er… It seems that… this ingot does belong to the Meng family, but… ”
”But what?”
”I don't mean to hide anything from Your Lordship… ”
”Wow, why are you being so polite? There are no outsiders here. Just call me ”Little Pang” or ”Younger Brother Pang.” Both are okay.
Overwhelmed by the unexpected favor, Meng Mingshu smiled but then called him ”Elder Brother Pang,” which was a more common form of address. ”I don't mean to hide anything from you, Elder Brother Pang, but during these past two years, the Meng family has been haunted by a lot of troublesome issues, both internal ones and external ones. It is possible that one or two thieves from within my family stole this ingot. It does belong to my family, but I'm not entirely certain about whether it was stolen or snatched.”
Pang Jing didn't get angry after hearing this perfunctory answer. Instead, he walked up to Meng Mingshu and patted his shoulder. ”No matter what, this is an important clue. I've already sent some men to investigate. You have to know that it was not easy for me to get this gold ingot. Both the Heavenly Mountain Sect and the Department of Guards were staring at it with covetous eyes. Fortunately, I got there quickly and snatched it. The leaders of both sides weren't there, so nobody stopped me. Ha-ha.”
”Elder Brother Pang took decisive action. I admire you.”
”Actually I admire you more than you admire me. Old Meng, you've lost almost all of your wealth, and yet you're not anxious at all. Even I, an outsider, am more anxious than you. Your composure has really shamed me.”
Meng Mingshu's heart lurched. Realizing that he had overacted, he abruptly stood up and smacked his right fist into his left palm. ”Alas, Elder Brother Pang, there's something that you don't know about. I'm not calm. Actually I even want to commit suicide. But if I do that, then I wouldn't have the nerve to face my father and elder brothers in the underworld. I've been forcing a smiling face upon myself all along. There's no 'composure' in me at all.”
Pang Jing put on a slightly surprised face. ”Elder Brother Meng was a victim during the robbery. Even if you don't try to search for the money, there's certainly no need for you to force a smiling face upon yourself. What's going on? Are you afraid of offending anyone?”
”This… it felt like we were old friends upon first meeting, and Elder Brother Pang is a Central Plains dignitary, so I'll be honest with you. The situation in Jade City is very complicated. Big fish swallowing little fish has always been the rule here. The Meng family is a middle-sized fish at most. The one who dared to rob the Meng family was naturally a big fish. I could only swallow the bitter pill in silence. If I don't keep quiet, then I'm afraid I might offend the big fish and be swallowed.”
”Ha-ha. What a school of fish. Tell me, who's the big fish in Jade City?”
”I think that there's no need for me to tell Elder Brother Pang the answer.”
”The Unique King and the Dragon King?”
”Exactly.”
”Which one of them does Elder Brother Meng suspect?”
Meng Mingshu had predicted that this day would come sooner or later, so he was surprisingly composed. With a perfectly affected look of despair, he answered in a low voice, ”The Unique King.”
”Golden Roc Castle and the Meng family have been allies for so many years, and you are also in-laws. How could you suspect the Unique King?”
”In the past, Golden Roc Castle was a killer organization, and there were some affairs that were inconvenient for them to deal with in public, so the Meng family would offer help in that aspect. The cooperation between us went fairly smoothly with no disagreements. But afterwards, the Unique King wanted to be a true king, so he considerably downsized his killer army. After that, there was no need for him to do everything covertly. Therefore, he naturally felt that the Meng family had become redundant. My father… was actually killed by a killer over a year ago. Golden Roc Castle even sent someone here to pose as my father in order to cover up their deed. Nominally, the Meng family had been robbed of all money overnight. But in fact, I suspect that Golden Roc Castle had already transferred most of my family's wealth away long before the robbery, which was why they would kill the impostor and fake the robbery.”
Meng Mingshu made these remarks in a measured tone. There was both a reasonable speculation and a deep indignation in his words. Even he himself partially believed his lies.
Pang Jing obviously appeared to believe him, nodding repeatedly. ”This makes sense. I was thinking that the Unique King should have helped the Meng family get revenge even if Elder Brother Meng didn't request them to, given the relationship between the Meng family and Golden Roc Castle. But unexpectedly, they did nothing, as if they don't know about the robbery at all.”
Meng Mingshu sighed repeatedly. ”I'm only telling Elder Brother Meng this in private – I don't dare ask them to return the money. I only hope that they'll let me live.”
”Ha-ha.” Pang Jing let out two laughs, pressed his right hand to Meng Mingshu's shoulder, and thought for a while before saying, ”Why didn't you ask the Dragon King for help? He's a mortal enemy of the Unique King's.”
”How dare I!?” Meng Mingshu was taken aback, as if he had just heard extremely shocking news. ”I live in northern Jade City.. It's as if I live in the palm of the Unique King. Golden Roc Castle has been watching my every move.”
”Um. I can understand why you're concerned. If – and I mean if – I can convince the Dragon King to intervene and help you get the money back through negotiation or by force, what would you say?”
”Golden Roc Castle-”
”What are you afraid of? If the Dragon King becomes the Lord of Jade City, then northern Jade City will no longer be in the hands of the Unique King.”
”Are you sure that the Dragon King will become the Lord of Jade City?”
”That's why I said 'if.'”
”Tha–That would be for the best.”
”But I think that the Lord of Jade City, regardless of if he is the Dragon King or someone else, won't offer help for nothing. The Central Plains may put some pressure on that person. Is Elder Brother Meng willing to pay a price?”
It suddenly dawned on Meng Mingshu that Pang Jing had been paving the way for proposing his own conditions all along. He clenched his teeth and said, ”It would be like a divine providence if I got my lost money back. What kind of price wouldn't I pay? I'm willing to donate half of the money to the helper.”
After leaving the office of the Governor, Meng Mingshu broke out into a cold sweat and galloped back to the Bodhi Garden. The more he thought about it, the more scared he felt. Pang Jing was a secretive man. He had been acting dumb from start to finish. It was very likely that he knew some inside information.
He urgently wanted to have an audience with the Dragon King, but he didn't dare to do anything reckless, so he instead wrote a letter to Xiao Fengchai and implied his intentions in an ambiguous manner.