Shangguan Fei again reminded Long Fanyun to stay low. “Don’t raise your head so high. Walk more casually. Don’t always have your knife in your hand. Mind your eyes in particular—you have to look less defensive. Okay, that’s better,” he said.
Shangguan Fei had a set of well-established disguising skills. Long Fanyun, however, could still be recognized as a swordsman from the Great Snowmountain no matter how much he tried to disguise himself. After all, his pride was difficult to hide.
“Even the Dragon King does not put on airs as you do,” Shangguan Fei grumbled. He disguised himself perfectly as an elder who looked sad. His facial expression came naturally when he thought to himself that he was in the enemy’s territory, and he might be killed at any moment.
He, however, regained his composure when he walked into a shop. The place was full of businessmen, but none recognized that he was the son of the Supreme King.
When he entered the shop, Shangguan Fei shouted, “You finally came back. We barely survived after you closed your shop.”
He did it deliberately to attract everyone’s attention.
The shop was where the Meng family purchased and sold goods. There was a large flow of people daily. Those that heard his words nodded. Some even thought that he was an old client of the Meng family, so they nodded and greeted him kindly, and Shangguan Fei responded warmly to their greetings.
The manager of the shop was stunned. He had been in charge of the shop for years, but he did not recognized these two clients. Besides, he did not understand Shangguan Fei’s words. He responded, “Erm, we have always been here. You’ve not been to our shop for a while, have you?”
When the manager saw that they had come in common civilians’ clothes and had no goods, he paid little attention to them. Sometimes conmen would come in with fake jewelry, thinking that they could fool the managers and swindle money out of the Meng family.
Shangguan Fei thought that all the shops of the Meng family had been closed after the Dragon King’s arrival. He did not expect that this shop had been operating the entire time. However, he was smart and said, “Haha. What could you guys do when the Dragon King came? At that time, all the major clients were scared away. Only peopIe from the Meng family are worthy to talk to clients like me who have priceless goods.”
The manager was sure that Shangguan Fei was an experienced cheater. Therefore, he reached out his hand and said coldly, “Show me. Is it an antique or jewelry? Forget about showing me a fine jade. Last time, the conman that came here with a so-called ‘fine jade’ had his leg broken and he still needs a stick to support him to this day.”
The manager hoped that his words could scare the cheaters away. This experienced cheater, however, was bold. Not only did he stay, he groaned in disdain. He took out a small wooden box and placed it on the table, asking, “Does this deserve a leg?”
Hearing this, the two hired thugs behind the manager began to walk towards them. The manager waved his hand and stopped them. “There are so many clients. We cannot create any trouble. Even they are cheaters, we cannot beat them in public. If they are reluctant to leave, I will just give them several taels of silver to make them go away,” the manager mused.
When he opened the small box, he was shocked. “Several taels of silver? This deserves thousands of taels. He’s an important guest!” he thought to himself. He stuttered, “This… This is…”
“Yes, you’re right. This, however, is just a sample,” replied Shangguan Fei.
The manager’s strange expression attracted some of the people’s attention. He was on the alert and closed the small box immediately. After hesitating for a while, he reluctantly gave it back to Shangguan Fei and whispered to him, “Please follow me inside.”
Soon, the news had spread widely. It was said that a client was going to sell a priceless treasure to the Meng family, and the treasure’s final price was much likely to be ridiculously high. No one, however, could explain what the precious treasure was. The two thugs behind the manager swore to others that they had seen nothing except a fleeting light when the manager had opened the box.
Long Fanyun had not seen it, either. He had no idea that Shangguan Fei had been carrying anything valuable. “When the Dragon King came back to Xiaoyao Lake with the army from the Land of Fragrance, he must have brought many priceless treasures. This must be one of them,” he guessed.
They were treated with fine tea, exquisite pastries and comfortable chairs. Shangguan Fei slowly tasted the fine tea without mentioning the treasure.
The manager tried to inquire about their identity. The colder Shangguan Fei acted, the more polite the manager became. He finally understood this client’s thoughts, deciding to himself, “He must be thinking that I’m not qualified to be in charge of such important business. Perhaps he wants me to deliver this message to my master.”
“Please wait for a moment. I’ll go invite my master to come here,” the manager said before leaving the room. “He must be referring to the Meng Family. Only a slave or servant who had been hired since childhood has the right to call the Meng family ‘master’,” Shangguan Fei thought.
Now that only Shangguan Fei and Long Fanyun were in the room, Long Fanyun could not resist his curiosity and asked, “Is he intending to invite Meng Mingshu?”
“I’m not sure. The Meng family is large. Meng Mingshu is not the only one who came to Xiaoyao Lake,” said Shangguan Fei.
“Our task…” said Long Fanyun.
“Hee-hee, there’s no need to rush. There are so many things here to eat and drink. We can wait here patiently until Meng Mingshu appears. He is so rich that he will not mind us eating this,” Shangguan Fei chuckled.
The manager returned alone. He said in a polite manner, “Please follow me to a more appropriate place for doing business.”
Shangguan Fei held the treasure close to his chest and asked defensively, “What are you planning to do? Do you want to lead us to some remote place to kill us and steal my treasure? I warn you that I brought dozens of my men with me, and they are waiting outside the city.”
The manager replied with a smile, “Please do not worry. The Meng family would never do that.”
Shangguan Fei did not worry about his safety, for he knew the Meng family well. They thought highly of money, similar to Shanggguan family’s reliance on their knives. If they could solve a problem with money, they would not resort to force. If they needed to use force, they would ask Stone Castle for help. It was their tradition, and had been for many years.
The manager led the way, leaving the shop from the backdoor with Shangguan Fei and Long Fanyun. They headed for the destination in a carriage.
The destination was not far from the shop. As soon as they got out of the carriage, they immediately recognized the place.
It was the back garden of the Royal Palace of the Hui Kingdom. They had been here with the Dragon King several months ago.
Many guards were scattered across the garden. They were the Meng family’s own machetemen. Their leader, on the other hand, was a Golden Roc killer dressed in standard black clothing
The killer was about forty years old and was rather old for a Golden Roc killer. He glanced over them, and then walked to Long Fanyun. He reached out his hand and said, “Hand over your scimitar.”
Long Fanyun gripped his hilt tightly. He did not want to enter a room unarmed.
“He’s my bodyguard. Although he’s a little old, he’s good in martial arts. So please stop staring at him. Hand your scimitar over to him. It’s their territory,” Shangguan Fei commanded.
Long Fanyun reluctantly handed over his scimitar.
The killer took the scimitar and kept an eye on Long Fanyun.
Soon they entered a small study. When the manager went to invite his master, Shangguan let out a sigh of relief. He said to Long Fanyun, “I was terrified.”
“What’s wrong?” Long Fanyun asked while he stretched out his hand to pull out his scimitar subconsciously, forgetting that he had handed it over to that old Golden Roc killer.
“That killer’s family name is Wen, and he’s a blademaster of Golden Roc Fort. He knows me. Fortunately, my disguise saved me. The fact that Meng Mingshu is able to ask the blademaster of Golden Roc Fort to protect him shows that he’s likely to take over the Meng family.”
A year prior, the eldest son of the Meng family had been assassinated and Meng Mingshu was the biggest beneficiary.
The master did not appear, and Shangguan Fei began to worry that the blademaster outside had recognized him. He hid behind the window and looked outside. He murmured, “Wait, Meng Er is out there. He lives here and is seeing an old man off. That man must have come here to borrow money from him. The old man seems to come from a respected family, but he still bowed before Meng Mingshu. That is why I said I do not understand Old Meng. He is so rich and lives a luxurious life. Why did he want to learn Kung Fu?”
Long Fanyun did not understand what Shangguan Fei meant.
“He is coming!” Shangguan Fei shouted, immediately running back to his seat and sitting down with a serious look.
Meng Mingshu came in with the blademaster. He said, “It has been a long time since I met a rare, precious treasure and an unknown, respected guest. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“No amount of waiting is too long as long as we can make a deal. Can you tell me your name?” asked Shangguan Fei.
“I’m Meng Mingshu,” he replied.
“I have heard much about you,” said Shangguan Fei.
They had a long exchange of pleasantries, and both were reluctant to take a seat first.
Finally, they sat down at almost the same time. They were still talking about current events and the weather. After an hour had passed, Meng Mingshu finally introduced the subject and asked, “Mr. Guan, can you show me your precious treasure now?”
Shangguan Fei had claimed that his family name was Guan. He did not give an answer and sipped his tea silently.
Meng Mingshu knew his guest’s intention, so he said, “Mr. Guan, would you prefer to have a private talk with me?”
Shangguan Fei also understood the hidden meaning behind his words, thinking, “I’m protected by a tall bodyguard myself, so he must have wanted to keep the blademaster with him, just in case.” Shangguan Fei, however, was nervous facing that blademaster who might be able to recognise him. So he turned around and said, “Elder Fan, go have a look around the back garden. It has beautiful scenery and you might even encounter some queen or princess there.”
Long Fanyun was reluctant to leave, not because he worried about Shangguan Fei’s safety, but because he did not trust him.
His identity now, however, was that of a bodyguard. He had to obey Shangguan Fei’s order in front of others. So he agreed to the order in a low voice and left the room.
Meng Mingshu also ordered the blademaster to leave.
Now, only the two of them remained in the room. Meng Mingshu’s smile gradually disappeared and he said, “Let’s get straight to the subject. Where did you get those goods? We have the money to buy your goods, but we do not buy goods with unknown origins.”
“My goods are clean,” Shangguan Fei replied. He had always been on good terms with his uncle, and he could not pretend anymore. He grinned and asked in his own voice, “Uncle, don’t you recognize me?”
Hearing the word “uncle”, Meng Mingshu was surprised. He stood up immediately and stared at Shangguan Fei. After pausing for a while, he said, “You, you’re…”
“Uncle, what do you think of my disguise? Even blademaster Wen could not recognize me,” Shangguan Fei boasted.
Meng Mingshu’s face changed . He walked to the window and looked outside. Then, he turned around and asked, “How dare you come here?”
“I had no choice. The Dragon King forced me to come here,” replied Shangguan Fei.
“The Dragon King?” Meng Mingshu replied with a confused expression. He had reached a secret agreement with the Dragon King. However, he thought that since the Dragon King’s influence in Jade City had ended, their agreement was invalid. He never expected that the Dragon King would send people to him again. He asked, “Why did he send you to me? We don’t even know each other.”
Obviously, Meng Mingshu was lying. Shangguan Fei did not expose his lie and said coldly, “Nothing. The Dragon King asked me to send you his greeting. That’s all.”
“Did he mention anything else?” Meng Mingshu asked, as he could not believe his ears.
“Nothing else. I have completed my task. Uncle, you will not sell me out to the blademaster Wen, will you?”
Meng Mingshu asked in bewilderment, “Haven’t you heard the news?”
“What news?” Shangguan Fei asked. He and Long Fanyun had spent more than half a day waiting for Meng Mingshu, so they had not heard anything from the outside.
“The latest news said that the Dragon Army lost their first battle and the Golden Roc Army is continuing their chase. In a few days, the Dragon King will have no way to escape,” Meng Mingshu explained.