Chapter 959: Wresting Control of the Mansion
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Mo Chu never expected that he would one day have another chance to return to Jade City. When he had been under house arrest in Heaven’s Pa.s.s, he had forgotten about another ident.i.ty of his – Governor of Jade City. There was less than three months left before the end of his term.
A few months ago, when he was in Thousand Hors.e.m.e.n Pa.s.s, Han Fen had been the one who was responsible for spying on him, and she was the one who had captured him at the end of the war. So, she counted as one of his acquaintances. She directly pushed the door open, entered the room, and happily said, “Old man, the Dragon King misses you. So do I. Come with me. Let’s go have some fun.”
House arrest was not too miserable for Mo Chu. He was even offered wine. He opened his mouth, but lost the opportunity to drink what was left in the goblet. On his way to Jade City, there was panic written in his face the whole time.
Surprised, Han Fen couldn’t help but ask, “You must be in your eighties, right? Even if n.o.body tries to kill you, you’ll be dead really soon. So why are you still so afraid?”
“I’m not even in my seventies yet,” Mo Chu answered reluctantly. He didn’t tell Han Fen he had been planning on buying a handmaid recently.
Two years ago, Mo Chu had arrived in the Western Regions with honor and power. He had groups of servants at his service and plenty of women around him. In his eyes, the entire Western Regions had been like a toy that he could play around with. But now, there were only a petty team of seven or eight people still following him, and the only woman besides him was a lunatic. Surprisingly, she was quite interested in him, wondering how much fresh blood there was in his skinny body.
Mo Chu was very afraid that one day, when he woke up, he would see this crazy woman bleeding him dry. Therefore, when he caught sight of Jade City in the distance, he actually felt a sense of relief, as if he was finally about to return to his hometown after being away for years. This meant that soon, he would be able to get rid of this terrifying woman in front of him. And as for what the Dragon King intended to do to him, he had given up speculating on it.
‘Outsiders’ thoughts are difficult to understand, especially the Dragon King’s,’ Mo Chu thought to himself.
The group didn’t enter the city right away. Instead, they rented a couple of rooms outside of the city for temporary accommodations. The next afternoon, a handsome swordsman came to pick Mo Chu up. Han Fen’s task had been fulfilled. Before his departure, Han Fen sighed. “Alas, I don’t know what the Dragon King is thinking. He either a.s.signs me to look after kids or orders me to keep watch over old men. To be honest, you’re not as active as you used to be. I think that this is a sign of your death, so I hold no grudges against you. See you around – maybe I’ll never see you again. Alas.”
Taking it as a threat, Mo Chu was horrified and his face turned ashen. He entered the city as if he were a walking corpse. After arriving at the mansion that had previously belonged to him, he summoned his courage several times and finally managed to speak up. “I’m the Governor, Mo Chu. Who’re you? How dare you occupy this place?”
At this moment, there were at least a hundred people gathering in front of the gateway of the Governor’s mansion, animatedly discussing the unprecedented incident that had just happened. Seven or eight janitors, because of their special ident.i.ty, were surrounded by the crowd, and they were audibly spreading all kinds of messages. At first, they would begin all their sentences with words like “I heard that” or “I guess.” But before long, there were only unarguable “facts” in their remarks.
n.o.body heard Mo Chu’s declaration and question. Resigned, he twisted his head back around to look for help, only to find that the handsome swordsman had walked to the side. Another sabersman walked up to him and nodded at him.
This man was the wing guard, Silver Condor. Surprisingly, he had met a true Norlander in Jade City. Regardless of this man’s stance, Mo Chu felt that he was familiar and friendly, and from that, he instantly regained his courage, He believed that even though the Norland had temporarily declined, it was still a powerful country compared to Jade City, and that it would still be as such even if it split apart several more times.
“Step aside! All of you step aside!” Mo Chu’s voice was as booming as that of an old deaf man, only that there was more confidence in it.
Mo Lin waved his hand. Twelve Norlanders, who had been standing by all along, whipped out their sabers at the same time, formed up into lines, and cleared the way for the Governor.
In northern Jade City, sabers were not commonly seen. The onlookers had never expected that these silent listeners had been hiding weapons beneath their capes. The crowd let out an exclamation of amazement and scattered to the sides. Finally, somebody recognized the Governor. First, that person was horrified, but they soon became extremely excited – the Governor appointed by the Norland was going to challenge the Governor designated by the Central Plains. This would truly make for the show of the day.
n.o.body went to the old mansion of the Meng family. The onlookers felt that they were really lucky this day, and that they had to go to southern Jade City and throw the dice no matter what.
None of the janitors, all of whom were attendants who had been brought here by Pang Jing from the Central Plains, knew who this skinny old man was and none of them had heard of him either. They had always been under the impression that this mansion was their Lord’s exclusive dwelling. But these onlookers, who had been enthusiastic just now, suddenly became silent, which seemed to indicate that this old man was no common person.
What fl.u.s.tered them the most was that almost all of the guards in the mansion had followed the Governor to the old mansion of the Meng family. This meant that there were only some servants who had no kung fu skills at all left at the mansion. Though they numbered in the dozens, they were no match for those Norland sabersmen.
Twelve rough sabersmen cleared the way. Mo Lin himself escorted Mo Chu. Fourteen Norlanders, under the gaze of over a hundred people, directly entered the mansion and occupied it in less than two quarters of an hour. They evicted people with no fixed duties from the mansion but didn’t close the gate. Mo Lin stood at the gateway with a saber in his hand. He ignored all questions, silently waiting for the Central Plainsmen to come.
More and more people heard the news and congregated in front of the mansion to spectate. Pang Jing’s servants made some inquiries and finally managed to find out the background of these aggressive people, exclaiming in indignation that they had been tricked. They had thought that these people were members of some powerful force, but it turned out that they were just a bunch of Norlanders who were more like homeless dogs. ‘How dare they compete with a Central Plains lord for the mansion?’
Realizing that they had made a terrible mistake, those servants consulted with each other for a while. Then, at the instigation of the onlookers, they trooped towards the gate and launched an attack, planning to take the mansion back themselves.
Their awe-inspiring attack soon collapsed in an embarra.s.sing manner. The three people at the front of the team were grabbed by Mo Lin and thrown dozens of steps away, yelling in horror when they realized that they were in mid-air. After that, n.o.body dared to get close to the gate. They all began to think about how they could take advantage of this scene to ask for their master’s forgiveness, and maybe even claim some credit.
As news constantly came from the old mansion of the Meng family, those servants became more and more confident. Though they didn’t dare approach the gate, they kept yelling at the opponent. During the next hour, the small group of Norlanders in the Governor’s Mansion “suffered” dozens of tortures, each of which would eventually make them die a miserable death.
“The moment the Governor arrives…” Every torture began with these words, but the Governor never showed up.
The onlookers were even more disappointed than the servants. This fight between the Governor appointed by the Central Plains and the Governor designated by the Norland was an unprecedented incident whose like had never been seen since the founding of Jade City. It was historic enough to be remembered by generations of citizens. Pang Jing’s public image was that of a reckless, enthusiastic, and highly energetic man. If he didn’t show up, then this show would be at least fifty to sixty-percent less wonderful.
Unexpectedly, Pang Jing really did choose to make a concession. A military officer rode over and whispered something into the steward’s ears. Dozens of Central Plainsmen awkwardly elbowed their way through the crowd and never came back.
There was a time when rumor said that Pang Jing had left the city and went straight to the military camp of the Central Plains, which startled a lot of people. They thought that a battle was about to start, but reliable news soon came. It said that the Governor hadn’t leave but rather had been invited into the Bodhi Garden by Meng Mingshu.
“What’s going on exactly? Do the Central Plainsmen cower just like this? This doesn’t seem like what they would do, does it?” The onlookers had too many questions. One of them couldn’t help but start yelling, asking all the people around him for an answer.
“What else can they do?” somebody answered, as expected. “Nominally, this mansion indeed belongs to the Norlanders. There’s still three months before the end of Mo Chu’s term.”
“The entire Norland was defeated. Do you think that the Central Plainsmen are afraid of these dozens of Norlanders?”
“They have no righteous cause. The Central Plainsmen are not afraid of Norlanders, but they are afraid of giving their enemies excuses, and they’re even more afraid of… ”
“Afraid of what?”
“Heh-heh. I’m not telling you. Take a guess.”
It seemed as if these arguments were not going anywhere, so the onlookers steered the discussion to the wealth of the Meng family. “How much is it exactly?”
“It is said that there’s a roomful of gold ingots which is enough to cover all the streets of northern Jade City.”
“You’re bragging. If there were really so many gold ingots, then why would the Dragon King give them up? And why did he s.n.a.t.c.h them in the first place?”
“That’s the point. You guys probably wronged the Dragon King.”
“We? Yesterday you were saying that the Dragon King hid the gold somewhere, as if you had seen it with your own eyes.”
Another round of endless debate started. Mo Lin, who was guarding the gate, remained silent. The onlookers finally became bored. Seeing that it was getting dark, they believed that the Central Plainsmen probably wouldn’t come, so the crowd gradually scattered.
Mo Lin still stood on the spot and didn’t close the gate until it was completely dark.
The Governor’s Mansion consisted of three areas. A dozen Norland sabersmen was not enough to guard all of them, but Mo Lin didn’t mind. He directly went to the backyard and happened to see a familiar figure jump off of a roof.
“The Dragon King has come early,” said Mo Lin.
“It’s been a tough day for you,” repliedGu Shenwei. Technically, Mo Lin was not his subordinate, so he had to be polite.
“It’s nothing. I hope that I can repay the Dragon King’s favor as soon as possible. You know, I have to avenge the old Khan’s murder.”
Avenging the old Khan’s death meant that he had to kill Lotus. Gu Shenwei believed that this wing guard of the old Khan was no longer a match for Lotus. “After the Lord of Jade City is selected, you and I will be even. Don’t take action before that.”
Mo Lin took a deep breath. He was a man who always repaid every favor and retaliated against every attack; someone who hated owing others anything. In this world, he only owed two people a debt of favor, one of whom was the old Khan, so he must avenge his death. The other one was the Dragon King. What he owed the Dragon King was not much, but it had to be repaid with patience. “Okay.”
“Did that Central Plainsman really give up this mansion just like that?” Mo Lin steered their conversation to another topic.
“He didn’t, but he won’t resort to violence. The bigwigs of Jade City are now consulting with each other about how they can help him get this mansion back in a reasonable manner. They will probably take action tomorrow.”
“Is this mansion really that important? Or is the Dragon King merely trying to humiliate that Central Plainsman?” Mo Lin hoped to learn some more inside information, so that he would be able to gauge to what extent he had returned the favor.
“It’s very important.” Gu Shenwei decided not to keep it a secret from Mo Lin anymore. “This is the place where the Meng family’s money is actually hidden.”
An amazed look appeared on Mo Lin’s face, which was very rare. “What? The vault of the old mansion is empty?”
“There’re plenty of things stored in it, but only a small portion of them are gold bricks. The rest of them are stone. Pang Jing wanted me to take those useless things. The Meng family’s money was transferred here a long time ago. It was a gift given to him by Golden Roc Castle.”
“This… Didn’t Pang Jing worry that Dragon King might find the truth?”
“Heh. If I accepted the stones in the old mansion of the Meng family in public today, them what would I be able to do even if I found out the truth afterwards? Would anybody believe me? The people will only say that I’m greedy, and that I want to get the other half of the money as well.” There was a hint of scorn in Gu Shenwei’s tone, which was also rare. He knew that Golden Roc Castle had taken the Meng family’s money, and he had been thinking about how he could s.n.a.t.c.h it all back. But eventually, it was that Central Plainsman’s crafty plot that had given him an opportunity.
Pang Jing wanted to make the Dragon King swallow a bitter pill in silence, but Gu Shenwei had made Pang Jing swallow an even bigger bitter pill. The two had tacitly declared war against each other. It was just that neither of them was willing to be the first one to make it public.
Gu Shenwei walked into the east wing, followed by Mo Lin.
Qin Yeming was waiting inside. The Norlanders had made him stay here. Pang Jing’s servants didn’t even remember his existence.
Gu Shenwei looked at this teenager, hoping that he could tell him the specific whereabouts of the Meng family’s hidden money.