Chapter 182: Tactics
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Merchants in Jade City sought protection from different forces.
Only a few of them were directly protected by the Golden Roc Fort and the Meng family. These merchants had to pay the two powerful families at least tens of thousands of taels of silver a month in exchange for their protection.
The majority of merchants in Jade City sought protection from young masters of Golden Roc Fort and several other gangs, which were affiliated with the Shangguan or Meng families.
As for remaining small vendors and business owners in the city, they all had their own protectors on the streets as well. Most of these protectors could only be considered as middlemen. They collected money from various small vendors and business owners and used it in turn to pay for the protection of the gangs or the young masters of Golden Roc Fort.
Some protectors, such as Tie Hanfeng and Tuo Nengya, worked independently. These independent protectors did not have their own gangs, but they were in close touch with the Shangguan or Meng family. Sometimes, such an independent protector with connections could be called upon to solve a sticky problem rather than an ordinary gang.
Gu Shenwei spent quite a few days probing into the current situation of South City. Xu Yanwei and Xu Xiaoyi helped him a lot during this process. This investigation revealed that gaining a firm footing and collecting protection money in South City was not an easy job at all.
Traditionally, young masters of Golden Roc Fort had to undergo a one-year probationary period when they turned 13. During this probationary period, they would establish their own gangs and expand their own business in South City. They would return to work in the Stone Castle after finishing their probation. After which, they would assist their father in managing the Golden Roc Fort and partake in the assassination tasks. If a young master performed well at his job, after working two to three years inside the fort, he would be permitted by the Supreme King to strike out on his own outside the fort. As for the young masters who failed to gain their father' recognition within this period of time, they would have to work inside the fort for a longer while, or possibly even spend their whole life inside it.
Usually, the Supreme King would send a young master who had won his approval to another kingdom in the Western Region. The young master and his killers would be stationed in the capital of this kingdom, providing armed escort and mercenary services for the country. One of the Golden Roc Fort's main sources of income was from such activities.
In many kingdoms of Western Region, the nobles and the people in power liked to hire these professional killers to work as their body guards, for fear of being assassinated. They were unable to sleep well at night without some Golden Roc Fort killers standing guard outside their bedrooms.
The young masters could earn a lot of money from their activities in the foreign countries. Compared to that, their business in South City was nothing. However, none of them would easily abandon their gangs and networks in the city.
All the young masters were well aware that their power came from their father, the Supreme King. They needed to plant some loyal servants in the city, who could keep tabs on the Supreme King and update them with the latest news from the city and the fort.
"Lady Meng just sent a maid to give me this task, as if occupying territory and collecting protection money in South City were just a piece of cake for us. Maybe she has no idea how important this city is for the other young masters. Or maybe she just wants to test my ability," Gu Shenwei thought to himself.
Anyhow, he was determined to wage war against the other young masters inside South City. He could not wait to create more conflicts within the Shangguan family.
To achieve that goal, firstly, he had to cheer Shangguan Ru up. Shangguan Yushi's betrayal broke her heart and made her lose interest in gaining control over South City. She still behaved like a child and considered the gang wars as games. She had enjoyed playing this game with her best friend in the past, but now she did not want any part in it after her friend was gone.
Gu Shenwei was a little disappointed. He had once firmly believed that he himself would have become Master Ru's best friend after the death of Master Yu. Beyond his expectations, Master Ru treated him coldly after Master Yu's death. Gu Shenwei was a bright boy, but he really had no idea what Shangguan Ru was thinking now.
Given that, he sent Maid Lotus to help Shangguan Ru overcome her sadness. Shangguan Ru already trusted Maid Lotus very much, and as Maid Lotus was now spending a lot of time accompanying her, she began gradually to treat her like a friend. Soon enough, they began to live and eat together.
Gu Shenwei was amazed by that and could not help wondering, "Will Maid Lotus become another Master Yu?"
Maid Lotus dispelled his doubts by explaining Master Ru's thoughts to him. "What hurt Master Ru most wasn't the collapse of the Kun Society or the fact that Master Yu fell in love with Fifth Young Master Meng. She was particularly saddened by the fact that Master Yu lied to her."
"Are you saying that she feels hurt because Master Yu betrayed her?"
Maid Lotus smiled and shook her head helplessly. She was a little surprised that even a clever boy like Slave Huan could not understand a girl's heart. "No, I'm saying that Master Ru felt hurt because Master Yu lied to her about Mr. Meng Mingshi. Master Ru never despised Master Yu on account of her humble origin. She respected her wholeheartedly and looked upon her as her best friend. She hoped that Master Yu could treat her in the same way. If Master Yu had completely trusted Master Ru and told her the truth in the beginning, Master Ru would've been very happy. She would've even tried her best to help get them married."
Upon hearing that, Gu Shenwei thought of the night when he had come to ask Shangguan Ru for help before casting the rope down the cliff for the Barren Sect. "I had no choice but to trust Master Ru at that time, and she did take my request seriously. After that incident, she seemed to trust me even more. I guess that Maid Lotus does have a point there," Gu Shenwei thought to himself.
He was greatly surprised that Maid Lotus knew Shangguan Ru this well and asked her what she did to figure Master Ru out.
"Only a girl can truly understand another girl," she replied.
Her explanation made Gu Shenwei confused, but after a moment of thought, he came to understand the reason for his bewilderment. He had thought that all girls were like Xu Yanwei and had never looked upon Maid Lotus and Shangguan Ru as girls.
After discovering the cause of Shangguan Ru's depression, Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus still could not figure out a way to help the girl stop feeling sad. When they believed that they had no choice except to let Master Ru recover from her sadness by herself, Wildhorse suddenly volunteered to help Master Ru.
This mute killer had treated Shangguan Yushi as his real master and had done many things for her. No one else in this killer team knew the girl better than him. Gu Shenwei believed that Wildhorse might really know how to help Shangguan Ru make a clean break with the past.
As Shangguan Ru was unable to understand the Snow Mountain Gang's sign language, Wildhorse asked Maid Lotus to work as his interpreter. He sincerely apologized to her for having sent Black Snake to assassinate her. He told Maid Lotus that it was nothing personal but that he was acting on Master Yu's orders.
Maid Lotus accepted his apology and promised to work as his interpreter.
Wildhorse had heard of Maid Lotus and Slave Huan's relationship. He was pretty sure that she would tell Slave Huan everything that he said during his conversation with Master Ru, so he did not ask her to keep the content of the conversation confidential.
At the beginning of the conversation, Wildhorse confessed to Master Ru that Master Yu had gotten in touch with him and some other apprentices long before the gang wars in East Castle and had worked hard to win his loyalty after his duel with Slave Huan. He contended that although he had sworn an oath of allegiance to Master Yu after the duel, he had not done anything for her until joining Master Ru's killer team.
He did not explain why he had chosen to serve Shangguan Yushi at that time. He simply told Master Ru that it was his hatred toward the Tattooed Arm Gang that gradually brought him closer to Master Yu. He admitted that he had assassinated Marquis Gao and had sent some other killers to kill Zhou Huan and Slave Yuan. He also confessed that he had lured Slave Jing into the trap.
After that, Wildhorse risked his life to tell Master Ru that it was Master Yu who had ordered Meng Mingshi to kidnap her. "Master Ru, Master Yu just wanted to frame Slave Huan by doing that. She made Meng Mingshi swear to the gods that he would never harm you before the action began."
Upon hearing that, Shangguan Ru was not irritated. Instead, she was impressed by the mute killer's frankness and believed what he said even more.
Wildhorse went on to explain Shangguan Yushi and Meng Mingshi's relationship to Shangguan Ru. "The Fifth Young Master Meng fell in love with Master Yu a long time ago. He had never seen any girl like her before and was determined to win her affection. He hoped to get close to her by traveling together with us to the camp of the Iron Mountain Gang, however, he ended up losing her respect. Master Yu would never fall in love with a coward like him. She just wanted to use this wealthy young master to actualize her secret plan."
Wildhorse contended that Shangguan Yushi had secretly planned to kill Slave Huan and use Meng Mingshi to swindle a large sum of money out of the Meng family. According to him, she intended to invest the money in the Kun Society to help it become the largest gang in the whole of South City.
"Meng Mingshi never discovered that Master Yu had been lying to him all this time, but Master Yu didn't feel ashamed of her behavior since she believed that a professional killer should try all means to achieve his or her goal. Unfortunately, she never paid any attention to Master Fei and got assassinated by him before she could fulfill her plan. That's why Meng Mingshi still believes that Master Yu loves him."
Wildhorse was also 100-percent sure that Master Yu had never planned to marry Meng Mingshi. He told Shangguan Ru that she had already made a plan to get rid of Meng Mingshi after she got the money. "Meng Mingshi is a faithless man and a frequent visitor to the brothels. Master Yu intended to hire a beautiful prostitute to seduce him after she got the money. She would find a chance to go to the prostitute's place to catch him cheating and break up with him. After that, she would give you the money and tell you her entire plan. Master Ru, Master Yu was only loyal to you. Meng Mingshi said that Master Yu wanted to make you her puppet. That's not true. Master Yu just tricked him into believing that. She just wanted to protect you. In her eyes, you're the only good person in Golden Roc Fort. She hoped to keep you away from this kind of filth forever. That's why she didn't tell you her plan beforehand."
Afterwards Maid Lotus told Slave Huan what Wildhorse had said during the conversation. Both of them reckoned that the mute killer's story was implausible. However, Shangguan Ru believed it and even forgave the mute killer for murdering the members of the Kun Society.
Gu Shenwei was never a close friend to Shangguan Yushi, but he believed that compared to Shangguan Ru, he had more insight into the psychology of Master Yu.
"Shangguan Yushi was a social climber and always felt insecure about her future. She probably did not love the Fifth Young Master Meng, but she was not absolutely loyal to Shangguan Ru either. Wildhorse claimed that Shangguan Yushi just wanted to keep Shangguan Ru away from filth, but all the deals of a gang are quite dirty. Given that, it's just another way of saying she wanted Shangguan Ru to be a puppet." Gu Shenwei thought to himself.
Neither Gu Shenwei nor Maid Lotus believed Wildhorse's story, but they had no chance to dig out the truth now, since Shangguan Yushi was dead already. They guessed that Shangguan Yushi might have lied to Wildhorse. They reckoned that she might have just told everyone what they wanted to hear to safeguard her own interests.
Gradually, Shangguan Ru recovered from her sadness. Gu Shenwei was delighted to see that since he could not wait to return to South City. He had already made a plan to help the Kun Society regain its standing.