Rebirth As a Fatuous and Self-indulgent Ruler
Chapter 83: A Greater Danger Was Neglected While They Were Pursuing A Narrow Gain (I)

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

Long’s idea was really brilliant.

He ordered a Shadow Guardian to be disguised as a rich businessman and then asked a woman in the brothel to act with him.

The play went like this.

The rich businessman from other places took a fancy to a woman in the brothel here. Although that woman wasn’t the most stunning one at the brothel, the rich businessman really liked her a lot!

So the rich man bought back her freedom and planned to take her in as his concubine.

But the man’s home was a little far away. Therefore, he planned to spend some time here with his future concubine before leaving.

The woman was a native. She had always liked the Fenghuang Mountain, hoping that she could be as lucky as the empress in the previous dynasty.

The man loved his new concubine very much, so he took her to Fenghuang Mountain.

However, when they were on the mountain, the woman lost a jade pendant, which was a token of affection bought by the rich businessman. That was a token of affection!

The woman got in a flap, but she didn’t find it after looking for it for a long time!

She felt so anxious that the man really worried about her.

The rich businessman deserved his reputation. He recruited people in the city and ordered them to look for the jade pendant on Fenghuang Mountain!

That mountain was very big and the two of them also went to many places that day.

The businessman didn’t care about how much money it would cost, so he hired 100 people!

Then, 100 people went to search Fenghuang Mountain…

Zhou Hengliang was shocked when he received the news. “What? 100 people went to Fenghuang Mountain? Why?”

His subordinate reported, “It’s said that a concubine of a rich businessman from other places lost her jade pendant there.”

“Lost her jade pendant?” Zhou glared. Instinctively, he thought there was something fishy.

However, he didn’t know exactly what happened.

Zhou wouldn’t let others know the secrets of Fenghuang Mountain.

If there were only a few people, he would find someone to get rid of them secretly or send them away.

But there were 100 people and the point was those people were not from the martial arts world. How would he deal with them?

After thinking about it, Zhou still decided to take action. He would say that the mountain was in the charge of Tianyin post. As for others, he would play it by ear!

Tianyin post’s influence in Shuanghua City was needless to say. If those people wanted to stay in the city safely, they definitely couldn’t, and wouldn’t have the guts to offend Tianyin post.

Zhou believed that since he had had gotten the news, then the Tianyin post must have known that, too!

He bet that Tianyin post must have taken action by then!

Thinking about that, Zhou felt more relieved. Then, he led his men and rushed to Fenghuang Mountain.

Sky Hermit Fort did have gotten the news then. Their leader Fang Qiuhua was stunned at first, and then he also felt a little worried. However, he immediately thought of a way.

Tianyin post didn’t make Fenghuang Mountain as their own property because it was so barren that it was just a useless mountain. Even farmers wouldn’t go there to cut firewood.

So Tianyin post didn’t bother to turn the barren mountain into their private property. They didn’t want to attract others’ attention.

Otherwise, people would be curious. It was just a barren mountain, but why did Tianyin post spend a lot of money to buy it from the government?

Yes, Fenghuang Mountain belonged to the government. In other words, it belonged to the court.

To buy a mountain from the court, one must deal with the local government. In fact, the local government had no right to buy or sell it directly. It needed to be reported to the court and someone would be sent to audit it.

Since they didn’t want to attract the court’s attention to that area, naturally they wouldn’t buy a barren mountain.

However, the situation was different now. So many people had gone to Fenghuang Mountain to look for things. If they accidentally found out the secrets of Fenghuang Mountain, wouldn’t it be a disaster?

Therefore, Fang Qiuhua quickly took his men there.

However, Fang Qiuhua and Zhou Hengliang hadn’t expected that Long Xiaoyuan had already gotten an important helper.

That was… the local government!

Although the government of Shuanghua City almost had no real power, and if there was any problem and dispute, people of Tianyin post would solve it, the government represented the court after all!

The rich businessman not only hired a lot of ordinary people, but most importantly, he also asked the government for help!

Not long after those 100 people went to Fenghuang Mountain, the prefect also went there with soldiers.

Zhou Hengliang and Fang Qiuhua were late.

Therefore, when Zhou and Fang arrived there with their men, the mountain was already full of people.

Just then, the county magistrate, Mister Wang, who came a bit later, just got to the foot of the mountain with soldiers.

Mister Wang was surprised when he saw Zhou and Fang.

“Oh? Lord Fang, Mister Zhou? Why are you here?” While asking, Mister Wang looked at Fenghuang Mountain behind him. Naturally, what he saw was that those people were looking for the jade pendant on the mountain.

Obviously, Mister Wang misunderstood that the two of them also came to help to find the jade pendant, which embarrassed Fang and Zhou for a moment.

Then, Zhou opened his mouth. “Mister Wang, you’re mistaken. We didn’t come here to help someone to find something.”

“Hmm?” Mister Wang was even more surprised after hearing that. “Then why did you come to this barren mountain?”

Whether it was intentional or unintentional, Mister Wang stressed the words “barren mountain”.

Zhou met Fang on his way there. After deliberation, the two of them reached a consensus.

So, Zhou said, “Mister Wang, in fact, Tianyin post and I wanted to do something together on Fenghuang Mountain and make it not so desolate. We were going to tell the government about buying the mountain, but unexpectedly, we heard that you have brought some people here. So we came to have a look.”

“Oh. Tianyin post wants to buy the barren mountain? Why?” Mister Wang looked at Zhou and Fang, as if saying that “Are you really that loaded? Do you want to get some fun by burning money?”

The strange looks in his eyes suddenly made Zhou and Fang, who were actually two old foxes, a bit uncomfortable.

“Ahem, ahem.” Fang coughed. “Mister Wang, we want to make use of this barren mountain to do some business, so as to benefit the people of Shuanghua City.”

“Lord Fang, you really care for the people.” Mister Wang was touched. He looked at Fang with admiration. “I wonder what business you want to do with this barren mountain, Lord Fang.”

“Well…” Fang hesitated.

The incident happened so suddenly that he hadn’t fully thought about it. However, his hesitation could also be regarded as some protection for the trade secrets. If he told others, he’d lose the initiative, wouldn’t he?

In that case, he would lose money!

Mister Wang said, “Lord Fang, I understand. Businessmen should always seize the initiative. However, if you really want to do business on Fenghuang Mountain, I must report to the court first. By then, whatever business you’ll do on this barren mountain, it’ll be needed to be recorded in the archives of the court.”