Chapter 385: Tang Yuan’s Strategies
Translator: Novel Saga Editor: Novel Saga
Each powerful family had its own method of dealing with that rumor. The other candidates for the position of the family’s lord were quite confident in their abilities. However, this rumor had still left them worried a bit. This rumor had faded away quite quickly, but it had done it job by creating mistrust. Consequently, many people had moved into action. And, the frequency of their campaigns had been increasing at a steady rate…
Some people knew that the rumor was probably false. But, they still intended to take advantage of that opportunity to place their sons… or maybe their fathers on top. Therefore, they began to scheme in secret as well.
These families seemed peaceful on the surface, but violent storms were raging in the dark of secrecy. Everyone was in a hurry. They’d move like the wind in a messy manner. Yet, they were also very cautious for the fear that they’d act carelessly and create a mess…
The only families which managed to remain aloof to this situation were the Jun and the Dugu Families. The later generations of these two military families weren’t present there. Therefore, the existence or absence of such rumors didn’t have any effect on them. These families were like a solid block on the inside. Water may be present there, but the container was water-tight.
The two families weren’t affected by these rumors. Therefore, they had maintained their internal stability. However, the same couldn’t be said for their military might. And, that was because their most trusted military subordinates had been dispersed along with other old officers. Plus, the followers of these two families had also started receiving a treatment that was different from the one that was dished-out to the followers of the other families. This was conclusive proof of what was coming. And, the two families couldn’t get any opportunity to reverse the situation. They had been rendered defenseless as a result. It was almost as if they had been banished.
The Murong Family, the Meng Family, and the Tang Family were "great" families of Tian Xiang. And, the elderly of these families were obviously the same as well. However, they’d seem idle and bedridden in the face of this chaos. In fact, the juniors of these families were very respectful and dutiful on the surface. But, they were similar to a double-edged sword in secret. Thus, these families had caused a lot of blood-shed.
There was another family that had remained considerably calm. And, that family was the Li Family. But, they had the great genius Li You Ran as their Eldest Young Master. So, the other youngsters of the family didn’t dare to compete against him. He had used very heavy methods to suppress them early on. Therefore, the rumor of this battle for an heir was the least effective in the Li Family.
It was only obvious that some major forces had remained unaffected by this gust of wind.
For example…
The Proprietor of the Aristocratic Hall — Tang Yuan — had ignored these foreign affairs. He had only cared about the advancement of his establishment… and earning profits. So, it was becoming increasingly prosperous with every passing day. He had held several auctions, and had earned huge pots of gold every time. Jun Mo Xie had given many effective medicine bottles to Fatty Tang before he had left. And, Fatty’s method of conducting business was exceptional. He had auctioned the first batch of those medicines, and their results had caused a huge sensation in the Capital City.
After that, Fatty had started to limit and control the sales. He would only sell 20 pellets of each medicine in one batch. And, one individual could only buy a maximum of 5 pellets. Moreover, the reserve price of the auctioned items had continued to increase. However, the number of people who would arrive for these auctions had also continued to increase.
The prices of these goods had soon started to reach frighteningly high levels because of their sensational popularity. But, the line of people of coming to buy these products was still endless. In fact, the customers would be willing to spend to any extent inside the Aristocratic Hall. And, the ones who didn’t have hundreds of thousands… or millions… were only left to face embarrassment, and would remain tight-lipped as a result.
Fatty Tang gave the medicines very pleasant and trendy descriptions as he gave them out. He gave the Mysterious Yang Dan a very glorified description, "Even the impotent men would have the sturdy strength of 500kg with the help of this thunderous Mysterious Yang Dan!" It had almost sounded as if he was offering impotent men an aphrodisiac. In fact, he had said that it would give them much more than that…
There was this so-called ‘poem’— The young buy wine and romance. The fifty-year-olds settle into their marriage. But, even the eighty-year-olds’ crotches would still seek more.
And, he gave the Missing Yin Pill an even more enchanting name; "It improves one’s appearance and makes the skin like that of a divine beauty that has maintained the countenance of a flower. Even a little amount of this will change an ugly woman into a beauty who can reverse the flow of a mighty river and move the stars — the Missing Yin Pill!"
Tang Yuan had seemed like a travelling performer who was selling sham when he had given such descriptions to these two medicines.
These two extremely trendy, awkward and vulgar sounding medicines had soon come to be known as the Divine Pills of the Tian Xiang City.
The descriptions didn’t exactly roll off one’s tongues. In fact, they were unreasonable. Most people would stutter at first. However, people soon started to recite these descriptions in a fluent manner. And, this was the effect that had been created on the people who hadn’t even consumed these medicines. Who knows what would’ve happened if they had actually consumed these ‘Divine Pills’?
Later, Tang Yuan cited that the establishment lacked sufficient manpower. He then used his official authority for private interests, and arranged for his fiancée Sun Xiao Mei to lend him a hand at the Aristocratic hall. This left Hai Chen Feng and Song Shang — the two Sky Xuan experts — to complain endlessly.
The two experts had revolted against Fatty’s display of authority several times from the start. [Your entire Tang Family doesn’t have a single Sky Xuan expert. Yet, you dare to incite us like this. Who do you think you are?]
However, Tang Yuan gradually figured a way out. He was dealing with Hai Chen Feng one day, and he simply spoke this line, "Third Young Master said that you’d be the most suitable person for this job." Hai Chen Feng got to work the moment those words exited Tang Yuan’s mouth. Moreover, he was sharp, swift, and decisive in his actions. In fact, he seemed afraid of being slow.
This left Fatty to reconsider his approach. He was in a similar situation with Song Shang the other day. And, he applied the same method with him as well. And, the result was the same. Therefore, Tang Yuan assumed authority without proper pretext from that day onwards, and started to act in a tyrannical manner — [I don’t think anything of who I am. I’m only Elder Brother Mo Xie’s spokesperson in Tian Xiang. I merely handle Elder Brother Mo Xie’s affairs. You obey whatever I’m telling you. Otherwise, I’ll tell Elder Brother Mo Xie about you!]
This resulted in one thing — the two Sky Xuan experts fled whenever they saw the Fatty. They’d never come face to face with him. [I can’t refuse him. But, that doesn’t mean that I can’t avoid him, right?]
However, Fatty Tang had a strategy to deal with this as well. He stipulated that they must come to the Aristocratic Hall once a day. And, he assigned them an office each. He would stick a three-meter-wide paper sign on the entrance in case he wanted to assign them some task. And, that paper would inevitably start in the following manner, "The Third Young Master has said…"
And, then there was the young prince — Yang Mo. Tang Yuan obviously wouldn’t allow him to sit idle either. The Little Prince had given them a huge amount of money when the establishment had opened. And, this had left the money-strapped Tang Yuan to pile praises on Jun Mo Xie for garnering such valuable support. After all, that money had arrived in a very timely fashion.
However, the Aristocratic Hall was trying to make more gold at this time. But, the Prince’s mansion had merely stretched its hand in wait for their share of the money. Tang Yuan had obviously been left to feel seething pain because of this. So, he started to cuss about it every day, "I run, and deal with everything until I run myself ragged every day… like a monkey… only to provide for these freeloaders."
Tang Yuan had obviously forgotten his roots by now. Moreover, he had forgotten the challenges they had faced in the beginning… and the family which had financially supported his organization when he had needed it the most. So, he could only see his hard-earned money flowing-out like gurgling like a stream at this time. And, he’d feel as if he were losing a part of his flesh…
Tang Yuan’s hand would tremble every month when he’d gave-out the shares in profits. In fact, his eyes would become red, and his flesh would start to twist. [The Third Young Master has done all this. So, this belongs to him. You just come here to rest and have sweets, you brat! Yet, you also get the money. And, so much of it at that! Why?]
Thus, Fatty Tang’s mind was in a complete disequilibrium!
Moreover, Tang Yuan was determined to deal with all troubles even if Jun Mo Xie hadn’t specifically asked him to. However, Little Yang Mo had several aunts and uncles. And, they were obviously princesses and princes. Some of them arrived one day by a matter of chance. Tang Yuan had obviously rolled his eyes at this. However, Little Yang Mo wasn’t able to do much when Tang Yuan rolled his eyes at their arrival during the auctions, [Ah, more members of the Royal Family! This business is only meant to benefit them! Who doesn’t want more of them here?]
The little boy didn’t seem to have any feeling of self-respect in the beginning. So, he obviously suffered many losses. Moreover, Tang Yuan wouldn’t divide the shares in a proper manner. He’d calculate the share in profits. Then, he’d deduct any loses the Aristocratic Hall would suffer due to the Royal Family from the Prince’s share. [You have to pay on behalf of the Royal Family! In any case, your self-respect isn’t worth the money!]
And then, finally…
That shy little boy eventually started to become anxious for the sake of his own interests.
The little boy would look at the daily transactions of the Aristocratic Hall. The money was crashing-in through the door. In fact, that pile of paper-money had soared to the sky. However, he could only stare blankly at it since none of it belonged to him. Sometimes he’d even do some accounting. But, he’d come to realize that he was losing money instead of making it… who could ever bear such an intolerable thing?
Therefore, the little boy became clever and alert. He wouldn’t yield even a little money. In fact, he had soon started to haggle over every coin. He almost resembled a little rooster from a cock-fighting match at times. In fact, he soon started pulling an occasional trick or two of his own… [I could get some extra rewards if an elder from the Royal Family visits the Hall. I’m only a child. So, making them get me something small wouldn’t be out of the question, right?]
However, the royal intermediaries were good at sweet talking as well. So, it was only natural that contradictions would occur. But, the little boy would remain strict and impartial. He would give priority to the money above everything else. In fact, even the boy’s father would’ve collapsed on the spot if he had seen the manner in which his little son had started to talk…
The Princes… the members of the Royal Harem… and their intermediaries soon started to find it increasingly difficult to take advantage of the Aristocratic Hall upon their visits. In fact, members of the three Princes’ factions were the worst off. Consequently, the three Princes got extremely angry, and decided to visit the establishment themselves. They had obviously arrived with the intent of inflicting losses to the little boy. And, the little boy ended-up suffering losses after losses… How could a small arm ever twist a big leg…? Moreover, three pairs of fully-grown legs…?
Then, Tang Yuan and Song Shang made an evil plan one day. And, they filled the little boy’s cup with wine at the evening banquet. The young boy was very striking to the eye, but his capacity to drink wasn’t striking to say the least. Moreover, he was very anxious at that time. He was pained, and couldn’t help but recall what his Elder Brother Jun Mo Xie had said to him in this moment of helplessness, "Your father isn’t the Emperor. How can I help you? Helping you will mean going against the Emperor’s son. And, that’s the same as going against the Future Emperor. Will I be allowed to live if I did that?"
There’s a so-called saying ‘wine won’t get the anxious drunk’, but it got him drunk. Moreover, the young boy had gotten completely drunk. In fact, he was sloshed! And, he started to chant in his drunken stupor. He wine obviously didn’t suit him. In fact, it nearly made his crazy. Moreover, the intoxication didn’t allow him to sleep properly. So, he got out of the bed at night, and shouted loudly in his childish voice, "I want to become the Emperor! Fu*k! I fu*king want to become the Emperor! I will revolt! I want to be an Emperor so that my children don’t have to get bullied!"
He was a young boy at this time. However, he had already figured that his son would have to face bullying someday. One could say that the boy had surpassed Dugu Xiao Yi’s levels…
That shouting in the middle of the night scared Tang Yuan. So much so that he soiled his pants. However, he didn’t dare to intervene for the fear that some outsider could’ve been listening to this in the middle of the night. In fact, Tang Yuan had been terrified to such an extent that he was more likely to forget his own surname than this night…
[This is a crime worthy of a family’s extermination!]
Tang Yuan suddenly decided that he would never get that little boy drunk. [I will get others drunk. Maybe I’ll get drunk myself. But, getting this kid drunk can put my life at risk as well! It’s too damn risky!]