“Take the money, put down the deed, pack your stuff, and get out of my sight!” Liu Zhen narrowed his eyes murderously. He was slowly growing more comfortable with this new role. He was rich and protected by a powerful patron. There was no reason for him to feel afraid whatsoever.
The owner of this house was trembling with fear and dread. “Please wait for a moment, please wait for a moment. I will pack my stuff and scram with my family right away!” He hurriedly bowed and sc.r.a.ped before Liu Zhen.
The owner of this house was smart. He understood ] that Liu Zhen had returned for revenge. The wandering cultivator himself might not be all that scary, but the backup he’d brought was. Their mere presence alone was a telltale sign that they were absolutely beyond his ability to provoke. If he refused to relent despite the twenty million on the table, there was a high chance that this advantageous transaction would quickly devolve into a robbery. After all, he hadn’t exactly bought Liu Zhen’s house fair and square back then.
Smart people usually worked very quickly and efficiently. In less than an hour, the now former owner of this house had packed all his belongings, called a dozen or so carriages to cart away the furniture he’d bought after moving into the house, and readied to leave with his family.
Liu Zhen tossed the bag of twenty million saint spirit stones straight at the owner and declared like someone with too much money on his hands. “You may count them.”
“There’s no need, there’s no need.” The former owner of the house was just about to stuff the bag into his s.h.i.+rt when an old memory suddenly struck his mind. He hastily counted out five million saint spirit stones and returned the money respectfully.
“Brother Liu Zhen, I threw away some of the original furniture inside your house. Please accept this five million saint spirit stones as repayment. It’s all my fault, please forgive me.”
Liu Zhen naturally hadn’t expected that the former owner of the house to keep his stuff after he moved in. He snorted. “Do I look like I care about this small sum of money?”
The former owner of the house trembled as his scalp tingled with fear. Make no mistake, Liu Zhen had become so rich that five million was nothing to him now. The man stood there paralyzed because it didn’t feel right to withdraw the money or return it to Liu Zhen.
“What’s wrong? Are you planning to stay for lunch?” Liu Zhen snorted coldly.
The implied meaning behind Liu Zhen’s words gave the former owner of the house direction, and the latter quickly smiled apologetically. “I’ll be leaving right away, right away. Please excuse us, Brother Liu Zhen.”
Twenty million saint spirit stones was three times the original purchase price he’d doled out. He’d lived there for free for thirty years, so it was a worthy bargain no matter how he looked at it. With twenty million in hand, he could easily buy a better house in Scarlet Tang City.
The road was filled with large and small carts and luggage, and the amount of activity and noise of moving house was quite obvious. The surrounding neighbors came out for a look because of this.
“I thought you said yesterday that you were going to celebrate your first grandson’s one month birthday in a few days? Why have you suddenly decided to move?”
“Come on, Zhang Dalang, talk to us. Why are you being so silent? We’ve been neighbors for so many years, but now you’re leaving without even telling us? Are you afraid that we’ll borrow money from you or something?” These people were long time inhabitants and neighbors Liu Zhen was familiar with most of them.
Zhang Dalang, now the former owner of Liu Zhen’s house, wore an awkward look on his face. “I’m leaving, I’m leaving. It seems that the Zhangs don’t have the fortune to live here for long.”
“What on earth are you talking about? If you don’t have the fortune to, then what about Liu Zhen?”
“Zhang Dalang, I think you’re overthinking this. Liu Zhen failed to keep his fortunes because he was good-for-nothing, but you’re not him. I say you should stay!” These people were all using Liu Zhen for their comparison.
However, there were a few in the crowd who had sharp eyes. They immediately clapped a hand over the speakers’ mouths and jabbed their fingers at Liu Zhen. Those badmouthing Liu Zhen saw the man himself sneering from the entrance of the house and flicking disdainful looks out of the corner of his eyes.
That’s right, he was dismissing them with side glances! His gaze was frivolously ridiculing and mocking. He seemed to be gazing down upon fools from a lofty position.
“Liu Zhen?”
“Am I seeing right? Is it really Liu Zhen? Why have you come back? Are you the one who chased out Zhang Dalang?”
“That can’t be right. How can you possibly scare Zhang Dalang away with that meager cultivation of yours?”
Zhang Dalang’s expression changed greatly when he heard this. “Everyone, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Brother Liu Zhen has paid me a large sum of money to buy back his ancestral home and your a.s.sumptions are completely outlandish. You guys shouldn’t judge a person by their old reputation! Brother Liu Zhen now is a rich man.”
Zhang Dalang raised a cupped fist salute to Liu Zhen. “Brother Liu Zhen, I’ll be leaving now. The fengshui here is quite good, and it has remained so through the thirty years I lived here. I am sure that it’ll only get better now that it has returned to your hands.”
The former owner hastily jumped into a carriage and ordered the group to leave.
This scene stunned the onlooking neighbors completely. They might have suspected that this was an elaborate ploy if they hadn’t witnessed it with their own eyes. Zhang Dalang was a sky origin realm cultivator. Maybe a sky origin cultivator wasn’t all that impressive in the Scarlet Tang City, but it meant he wielded great power in this neighborhood.
Liu Zhen was a poor and weak man. What could he possibly do? He got rich? He’s a rich man now? If he was that capable in the first place, he wouldn’t be robbed of his woman and swindled out of his property in the first place!
Liu Zhen folded his arms across his chest and sneered. “What’s wrong? Keep talking. I’m very interested to hear just how many complaints you lot have in store for me. Maybe some of you have even gotten a little more creative since then.”
His neighbors all looked a bit embarra.s.sed. However, an elderly man who was slightly older than the rest of the neighbors spoke up. “Liu Zhen, I watched you grow up since you were young, so I have a word of advice. Stay away from Scarlet Tang City. You may not know this, but the Liu family has become even richer than it was before. The eldest son of the Liu family is the a.s.sistant minister of the Ministry of War now. Even if you did make some money for yourself, why have you returned here instead of enjoying a better life elsewhere?”
“Yeah, do you think you can raise your head high and make your ancestors proud just by buying back your ancestral home? Do you think you can take revenge against the Liu family now? You think too much of yourself, man.”
The Liu family was the family who stole Liu Zhen’s woman, but it was the youngest son who’d done that. Ever since the Liu family had successfully landed one of their own in court, their power had grown tremendously over time. Today, they were considered one of the first ranking factions in Scarlet Tang City. It wasn’t a foremost faction and it wasn’t one of the best, but it was still among the top sixty factions in Scarlet Tang City.
Liu Zhen’s old family couldn’t even be ranked among the top six thousand, much less top sixty. It was this gap that had sealed Liu Zhen’s fate back in the day.
Not all of the neighbors had spoken up maliciously. However, even the kindest sentiments they offered held tones of wanting to watch a good show. Naturally, Liu Zhen was aware that none of these people were fundamentally good. The only reason they spoke up was to lessen the embarra.s.sment they felt.
“To think I remained in your minds even though I’d left for thirty years. The Liu family? The a.s.sistant minister of the Ministry of War? Is that really as impressive as you say?” The wandering cultivator smiled calmly.
The old man’s face changed greatly. “Liu Zhen, you better watch your mouth. The power wielded by the Liu family now is nothing the rest of us can compare to.”
“Compare?” Liu Zhen laughed loudly. “Why on earth would I compare myself to them? What right do they possibly have to compare themselves to me?”
There was a commotion after Liu Zhen had made his declaration. His neighbors were all shaking their heads repeatedly.
“Madness, Liu Zhen has gone madness!”
“Maybe he has. He got lucky and thought he could mount a counterattack against the Liu family now, only to discover that the gap between him and his enemies has only widened with time. The reality of things was simply too much for him to bear.”
“Well, he has no one but himself to blame. He could’ve kept earning his money outside of Scarlet Tang City and enjoy a better life. What on earth possessed him to return here and humiliate himself further?”
“Yeah, the Liu family is destined to be a hurdle he can never overcome.”
“Alright, time to go home, everyone. It doesn’t look like this guy is going to back down until he’s been smacked by reality. Or maybe it was his plan to go down in flames all along?” All kinds of comments were made in response to Liu Zhen’s remark. Some people kept their voices down so Liu Zhen couldn’t hear them, but some didn’t even pretend to be polite.
Liu Zhen simply laughed calmly before he took out a bag containing ten million saint spirit stones. “I’m holding ten million saint spirit stones in my hand right now, and I plan to use eight million to buy furniture. The remaining two million are labor fees. Those who are willing to work for me, please raise your hands.”
Ten million? For a time, the neighbors thought that their ears had fooled them. They all looked at Liu Zhen with doubtful eyes.
Jiang Chen smiled widely at Liu Zhen’s antics. The wandering cultivator was starting to act more and more like a wealthy upstart. When his neighbors finally realized that Liu Zhen wasn’t joking at their expenses, the commotion of the scene instantly turned up a notch.
“Hey, Liu Zhen, do you still remember Uncle Quan buying you candied fruit on White Crane Street?”
“Hey Zhen, do you still remember Auntie Tao? Back then you wouldn’t stop bullying our Little Cui, but I almost never scold you for it, did I? Speaking of furniture, my family runs in this trade…” A large group of people rushed towards Liu Zhen to volunteer their aid. And why wouldn’t they? It was ten million saint spirit stones, with two million to be paid out in fees. Whoever got the job wouldn’t need to worry about money for the rest of their lives.
In less than half a day’s time, Liu Zhen’s home was completely put in order. All the furniture he bought was in place. Money truly made the world go round.
Liu Zhen still felt like he was in a dream even after his ancestral home was put into order. He never imagined that he would be able to move back into his home and regain everything he lost in such a short time. It was all about money in the end.
With twenty million saint spirit stones, he was able to order the former owner of the house to leave immediately. With ten million saint spirit stones, he was able to make his neighbors bow and sc.r.a.pe before him even as he laughed in their faces. This was the power of money.
Of course, this was just the first step in Liu Zhen’s plan. His next step involved the Liu family.
“What are you planning to do with the Liu family, Liu Zhen?” Jiang Chen asked. The young man hadn’t forgotten how Liu Zhen had dealt with the Heavensfall Society back then. He must have a way of dealing with this. The reason he’d lost his composure at the entrance earlier was because his emotions had temporarily raged out of control. Now that he had calmed down, Liu Zhen should be regaining his smarts.
1. Dalang means first son of his family. It feels strange for non-family to call him First Son Zhang, and since he’s a minor character, it doesn’t quite matter.