Chapter 316: Poisoned
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
There could be nothing more conceptually different than slaughters and weddings, yet nothing else could make the citizens of Jade City more excited than these two polar extremes. Now that a wedding was taking place after all that carnage in the city, they could not stop talking.
No matter how depressing Fifth Young Master Meng was looking as he sat on the back of his horse, even he could not spoil the grand atmosphere of the wedding made possible by the presence of a huge amount of riches accompanying the procession. They were stored in boxes made of ironwood, and even the most honest onlooker could not help but be envious.
"I guess only the Dragon King would have the guts to rob the procession," a young man said while squinting. An old man beside him immediately covered the young man's mouth with his hands.
There were many eyes from the Golden Roc Fort and the Meng family hidden in the crowds standing on both sides of the street, and the more experienced residents of Jade City could naturally spot the strangers easily.
However, the curiosity of the people was getting stronger from all the recent events – the Dragon King's declaration of war towards the Meng family (even though Gu Shenwei never did openly declare war with the Meng family, everyone firmly believed that he was the mastermind behind the recent attacks on their banks, as did Meng Yuzun), the counter attacks by the Meng family over the past few nights and the grand wedding ceremony. No one could remain indifferent in the face of such an intensive barrage of news.
Everyone in the crowd was voicing his or her opinion about the recent incidents, and the lookouts were busy trying to identify the dissenters. In the end, they could only admit defeat, as voices of dissent against the Golden Roc Fort and the Meng family were everywhere and it was an insurmountable task. They left the crowd to their gossip and analyses on the recent attacks.
"When do you think the Dragon King will strike against the Meng's residence in North City?", asked someone excitedly, eyes brimming with intent. It seemed as if the speaker wished to pour salt on the Meng family's wounds.
"Dream on. Do you think he will enjoy continued success after only one successful strike? Let me tell you, the number of killers from the Golden Roc Fort stationed in the Meng's residence now could be even more than that of the Stone Castle, waiting for the fool to fall into their trap."
"Well, he's the Dragon King. The way I see it, old Meng will suffer this time, not only has his banks been attacked, maybe the wedding would even be disrupted," the speaker glanced carefully to his sides to see if anyone was observing him, before lowering his voice and continuing in a mysterious tone, "The Dragon King used to be a killer working under the Tenth Young Master, and I've heard that… hehe… there was something suspicious going on between the both of them."
Such inane talk was soon drowned in a torrent of rebuttals.
"The Dragon King never left South City and he's still sitting comfortably in his residence. What's the point of kidnapping the bride after she has consummated her marriage?"
"Even the Dragon King would not dare to strike in North City, that's if he wishes to continue with the peace negotiations. Once he steps out of North City, he is within the territory of the Stone Castle. More reason for him to not show up, isn't it?"
The speaker who had exposed the 'scandal' was nearly drowned in the spittle from his fellow residents. Although he was indignant, he could not produce any evidence to support his claims and could only mutter apprehensively, "I'm just saying. Who knows what's going on in the mind of the Dragon King, he's always full of tricks."
The long wedding procession snaked its way through the gates of North City, advancing towards the Stone Castle at the top of the mountain. Golden Roc Fort had increased its level of vigilance, and only a few had permission to follow the procession from behind.
As such, it was only the permitted few who got to 'witness' the unfolding of the biggest news of the day.
It was a stretch for them to claim to have witnessed the entire proceedings, as they were following far behind, and the mountain passage was narrow. With the addition of the Golden Roc killers providing security for the procession, it would be impossible for even the most dedicated person to rush up to the front.
They were only a medium for the disturbance that followed. As waves after waves of rumors started to trickle down to them, they could not helped but be caught up and swayed by it.
"Why has the procession halted?"
"The music has also stopped?"
"Something has happened, something has happened."
"Brother killer, in front of us..."
"Quick, look quickly, why are people running down from the mountain?"
"What on earth is going on?"
"The wedding procession is under attack!"
"Who is leading the attack? Is it the Dragon King? It must be him!"
"No, no."
"No one attacked, but... Fifth Young Master Meng is dead."
Meng Mingshi thought that he would die at the hands of Shangguan Ru on their wedding night, but alas, he did not even make it to the wedding ceremony.
It was only until the next day when news of the entire incident that took place at the entrance to the Stone Castle traveled down to the city.
There was a narrow stone bridge in front of the gates to the Golden Roc Fort, and according to customs, all who arrived on horseback had to dismount to cross the bridge. Not only was it a sign of respect towards the Supreme King, it was also to ensure the safety of the visitor.
When the procession arrived before the bridge, the guards dismounted, leaving only Fifth Young Master Meng seated on his saddle, not moving at all. He hung his head and looked as sullen as when he just left the Meng's residence.
A personal attendant went up to him and tried to persuade his master to dismount, "We've arrived, Fifth Young Master."
Little did he know that Meng Mingshi had arrived at a different place - the Gates of Hell. As the attendant touched him gently, his body slumped onto the back of his horse.
A few authority figures with close ties to the Meng family began propagating this theory that the Fifth Young Master was poisoned to death.
However, there was not a single clue pointing to who did the poisoning.
Of course, the Dragon King was one of the prime suspects, but even Meng Yuzun himself did not think that it was possible for him to extend his reach to the Meng's residence in North City.
The next suspect was Shangguan Ru. It was a widely known fact that she was not willing to be married to Meng Mingshi, but just like the Dragon King, she did not have the capability to strike in the Meng's residence from afar.
Therefore, the most logical explanation for many people was that Fifth Young Master Meng was so resistant and fearful of his impending wedding that he took his own life with poison.
Next came another piece of news from the Meng's residence: Before setting off for the Stone Castle, Fifth Young Master Meng had drunk a bowl of soup to freshen himself. It was the only possible opportunity to poison him that day, and he had personally ordered the soup to be served. The soup was brought to him by his most trusted attendant.
It seemed to corroborate the news that Meng Mingshi had taken his own life.
The Meng's residence was extremely chaotic; there were crying and bawling everywhere. Nowhere else to vent his anger, Meng Yuzun killed dozens of slaves who could be linked, however slightly, to the bowl of soup Meng Mingshi drank.
That day, the reaction of Golden Roc Fort, the other party involved in this tragedy, was pretty intriguing.
The Supreme King, who rarely showed himself to the public these few years, came to visit his old friend Meng Yuzun personally. He publicly announced that his Ru'er would be part of the Meng family. "No matter whether the wedding ceremony was completed or not, she would also be considered as Fifth Young Mistress Meng."
That very afternoon after Supreme King's visit, a splendidly dressed Shangguan Ru was sent to the Bodhi Garden in North City. She was thus condemned to a life of solitude in the empty garden.
The residents of Jade City were united in their pity for Shangguan Ru, which was a rarity. None of them suspected that she was the murderer anymore. They believed that having a useless husband was even better than spending the rest of her life as a widow.
As the wedding ceremony was not completed, many did not acknowledge her as the Fifth Young Mistress of the Meng family and still addressed her as the 'Tenth Young Master' out of habit.
The person who was the most uneasy over the entire incident was Fang Wenshi. He spent nearly all of his time at the Residence of the Dragon King in South City, trying to find out who was the actual poisoner. "You have to tell me the truth, Dragon King. Are they... you ordered someone to do it, and I know those women are adept in the use of poisons. They would do anything for you."
The existence of the New Moon Hall was still a secret for the time being, and as such Fang Wenshi addressed them as 'those women'.
"It's better if you don't know anything about this," replied the Dragon King nonchalantly. His calmness, however, made his military counselor even more uneasy.
"You ordered it, didn't you?", Fang Wenshi continued questioning. "All because of a woman? To tell you the truth, I'm a little disappointed."
Gu Shenwei lowered his head in thought before replying. "I respect your knowledge and strategies, counselor. However, if you do not even have this little bit of trust in me, I believe it would be better for us to part ways here."
The expression on Fang Wenshi's face immediately changed. He knew that he had gone overboard; this young man was the Dragon King of the Great Snowmountain, not one of his students. "You are being too serious, Dragon King. Hehe, of course, I trust you, even more than I trust anybody else. We still have to work hand in hand to achieve our goal of regional hegemony."
The counselor did not bring up the issue again. Facing questions from other people, he answered righteously, "How could it be possible? It was definitely not the Dragon King's doing. It must be someone with ulterior motives trying to smear him. He had not entered North City for the longest time, and besides, he does not know a thing about poisons."
The first phase of the war with the Meng family was just over, and only dozens of their banks and shops had been destroyed; it was not enough to topple the foundation of the Mengs.
Two days after the death of Meng Mingshi, the Residence of the Dragon King was suddenly crowded as many came, hoping to visit the Dragon King.
The ability demonstrated by the Dragon King, as well as the countless amount of gold and silver being produced finally convinced a bunch of major and small protectors, and some desperate people who were willing to take the risk to publicly announce their intent to co-operate with the Great Snowmountain, hoping to get a slice of the pie.
It was quieter on the evening of the third day. The visitors from the day had already left and the Dragon King was not accepting any more guests. Tonight, he had set aside time for discussions with the two most important people for his plans.
Lyu Qiying, the manager of the Southwall Tavern, was so excited over the past two days that he could not sleep well. He had made up his mind that, regardless of the risks involved, he would do business with the Dragon King. With the millions, and possibly even tens of millions of taels of silver I could earn from doing business with him, I would have more than enough to spend for the rest of my life just from the commission alone , he thought.
The other guest was a character who was rarely seen. If anyone saw the famous prostitute Xiao Fengchai leaving Pleasure Alley at night with only a maid to pay a visit to the Dragon King personally, he or she would definitely be left standing agape in bewilderment. No matter the time of the day, the onlooker would still spread the news all around Jade City.
Shopkeeper Lyu did not know that he was once on Xiao Fengchai's hit list. He was a little beside himself at being able to see the most famous woman in South City in person and seemed overly eager and toady. "Oh my, imagine being able to meet Madam Xiao here. It's a real honor, a real honor I say."
Xiao Fengchai smiled indifferently and quickly classified Lyu Qiying as the type of man not worthy of her attention. She did not want to bring herself down during her visit, but the pull of the two million taels of silver and with more possibly coming from robbing the Meng family's banks and shops was too strong for her to resist, so much so that she could not even pretend to reject accepting them.
Aside from the money, she had another reason for meeting the Dragon King personally: Xu Yanwei had leased five small blocks situated just opposite her house. They occupied a tract of land even bigger than Xiao Fengchai's and she was prepared to start operating the biggest brothel in Pleasure Alley.
Xiao Fengchai would be lying if she claimed to not be envious. She wanted to know how much money the Dragon King was exactly hiding since he could afford to be so generous when assisting a down-and-out third-rate prostitute.
However, the Dragon King would not divulge much. No matter how hard Lyu Qiying and Xiao Fengchai tried to dig, he would not give them any substantial information on the exact amount of money in his hands. Furthermore, the terms he offered were disappointing. "I want to bring down the commission offered to both of you. Two percent is too much, I feel that zero point five percent is enough."
"Zero point five percent?", exclaimed Lyu Qiying and Xiao Fengchai simultaneously. They could not believe their ears; they were here to make money, not become bankrupt.
"Yes," replied the Dragon King. His tone was extremely calm, yet carrying an obvious steely quality. "The amount of money both of you would be making would not decrease, but increase as a result."
The two competitors gave each other a glance and remained silent, waiting for the Dragon King to explain how things actually stood for both of them.
"I want to establish another network of merchants in the Western Region, bigger in scale than even that of the Meng family's and also worth more in money than theirs. I'm willing to give this chance to the both of you."
Xiao Fengchai and Shopkeeper Lyu looked at each other in dismay. Establish another network of merchants? Bigger in scale than even that of the Meng family's? He either must be insane or has not told us everything yet , they thought.
However, if the Dragon King was to fulfill his ambition... they would become the next 'Meng family' and have countless riches, not to mention gaining a strong foothold in the Western Region in the process.
For a long while, neither of them spoke.
Gu Shenwei waited patiently for their reply, but he was thinking of something else. Just as it was getting dark, a caped stranger came bearing a letter stating that both Tie Linglong and Chu Nanping were currently in Bodhi Garden.