Chapter 20: Everything Depends on Money (Part 2)

  Three days later, Xiang Xiao Si placed a stack of drawings and a list of materials to be purchased in front of Old Blind Man.

  "Bu Suanzi's eyes widened in surprise as he read through the drafts one by one, his face revealing a hint of astonishment. 'You want to refine the Two Instruments Symbol?'"

  "What is Er Yin Fu?"

  "By fusing two completely different heavenly and earthly spiritual energies onto a single Taoist talisman."

  "Alright then. What's wrong?"

  Bu Suanzi shook his head and said, "I have to admit that although you sometimes see money with eyes wide open like a pig, but when it comes to doing evil things, you are also self-taught. This Zhang Er's token has some meaning."

  "Apprentice, I understand you. You're thinking of seeing money to open your eyes, but unfortunately, no matter how much money is piled in front of you, you still can't open them."

  Ba Suanzi suppressed his urge to beat the person and asked: "Do you have a name for this new talisman?"

  Xiao Si thought for a moment and said: "Since it can hide itself and pass through walls, why don't we call it 'Ghostly Escape Charm'?"

  "Indeed, it's quite fitting. But do you know that since ancient times, there have been many talents who could refine the Invisibility Charm and the Earth Escape Charm, so why has no one ever combined them into one?"

  He slowly said, "Because only a simple ban can make it useless and helpless. And places like the Imperial City are even more heavily restricted, with layer upon layer of copper walls and iron walls, not to mention that even top-grade talismans would be ineffective. So, your clever idea is commendable, but in actual combat, it may not be of much use."

  He thought that after saying this, Xīao Sì would either be disheartened or furious, but unexpectedly the guy just smiled and said: "Do you know how many rich young masters in Chang'an City have nothing better to do than eat and drink? If they had something like this in their hands, they could swagger into the boudoirs of those beautiful young ladies from good families, or... hmm, the bathroom wouldn't be bad either. Just thinking about being able to see beauties undressing without any effort, this symbol is worth three million, not expensive at all."

  He slammed his hand on the draft on the table and said, "Whatever someone wants is my opportunity. As long as there's an opportunity, am I still afraid of not making money? So, I can be the master, but you can only be the apprentice..."

  Thinking of the golden mountains and silver seas that this would bring, Xiao Si's eyes shone brightly with excitement and enthusiasm, but just as he was getting more and more worked up, he suddenly noticed that Bu Zhanzi's face had turned stiff and his sleeves were trembling slightly, as if he was on the verge of exploding or collapsing.

  He finally realized that something was wrong, so he quickly grabbed the drawings and made an excuse to leave. He secretly thanked his lucky stars that he hadn't revealed the origin of the golden idea, or else the old blind man would probably have blown up in anger.

  Then in the following days, Xiao Si devoted himself to the "Ghostly Symbol", with all his thoughts focused on it. During this period, he only went to the Imperial City once, using the Breaking Array Diagram to find Princess Jincheng and exchanged a large amount of refining materials.

  Explosions and fires, these unexpected events have become commonplace, fortunately, the master had anticipated this and set up a ban in Xiao Si's house, otherwise the entire agency would have been turned upside down.

  Time flies, and it's already March 8th, the day of the grand opening ceremony of Tongbao Bureau's Chang'an Branch.

  Xia Peiheng got up early in the morning with a happy and proud look on his face, directing the servants to set off firecrackers at the door.

  Yu Linglong, Geng Shaohua, Yi Bo and others also put on festive clothes, and once again carefully rehearsed the details of the celebration from start to finish, fearing that any mistakes would be unlucky.

  Who would have thought that by noon, apart from the leaders of the Hui Tong Security Bureau and several branches who had rushed over from afar a few days ago, as well as a handful of scattered guests from Chang'an, not a single person came to pay their respects. The large hall was empty and desolate, the atmosphere becoming increasingly awkward and chilly.

  Several guests felt uneasy and excused themselves, saying they had urgent matters at home, leaving their gifts behind as they hastily departed.

  Xia Pei Heng's face grew increasingly awkward, he had thought that Guan Lu Jiao Bureau would definitely make a move behind the scenes, but he did not expect that even the upright people of Chang'an City and the famous wealthy families would be so uncooperative.

  This time, the representative of Jiangzhou Branch who came to congratulate was none other than the Head Escort Geng Nan Yi. Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but ask in a low voice: "Shaohua, have all the guests been notified?"

  Geng Shaohua sighed, "As long as there are famous and well-known families, they have all received invitations. Some households even had Xia Zong and Yu Zong personally visit to extend the invitation."

  Xia Peiheng said with a hateful tone: "No need to ask, this is definitely something Duan Zhentian has done!"

  Unexpectedly, Cao Cao arrived, and outside the main gate of Liu's mansion, two rows of attendants suddenly shouted in unison: "General Guan Yu has arrived!"

  Xia Peiheng let out a low snort, but Yi Bo spat viciously on the ground and said: "The weasel is paying New Year's greetings to the rooster!"

  Yu Linglong hastily said: "A guest is a guest, even if he intentionally came to see our commotion, we absolutely cannot treat him with neglect."

  Xia Peiheng nodded, and together with Yu Linglong and others, they went out to greet him. From a distance, they saw Duan Zhentian leading more than a dozen leaders of the Guanluo Agency, carrying gifts and walking in with a smile on his face.

  After a brief exchange of pleasantries, everyone entered the hall and took their seats for tea.

  Duan Zhentian looked around and saw that the guests he had expected to come were few in number, and couldn't help but sneer inwardly. He asked: "Xia Xian nephew, where is the chief of your noble escort agency? Why isn't he here?"

  Xia Peiheng felt a twinge of annoyance at his words and replied, "Chief Xia has been overworking himself lately due to the escort agency's affairs, so I told him to go back to his room and rest."

  Duan Zhen Tian's face turned solemn as he said, "I've heard that General Xie is young and talented, intelligent and capable, and has earned the favor of Princess Jin Cheng. I've admired him for a long time. Would you be willing to trouble yourself to invite him out to meet me?"

  Xia Peihengming knew that Duan Zhentian was so arrogant and self-opinionated, but he couldn't help feeling a little jealous of Xiao Si. He turned his head and ordered: "Yi Tuo, go see if the leader of the Duan family has woken up yet?"

  Yi Jun led the order and left, and the hall fell silent again. Duan Zhentian slowly sipped his tea, showing a clear attitude of watching from the sidelines.

  Xia Peiheng was secretly annoyed but had no choice, waited for a long time and still didn't see Yi Jun come back, so he could only ask Geng Shaohua to invite him again.

  It was Long Zhenwu who brought his son with gifts to the Liu Garden, pulling Summer Peiheng and Mrs. Geng into a long conversation, which was nothing more than an apology for the previous incident, saying that he had no choice but to ask Summer to forgive him.

  Long Chouyuan took the opportunity to get close to Wanyu, but before he could speak, someone coldly laughed and said: "That's my position."

  Long Chuyuan didn't need to raise his head to know that it was Xiao Si who had arrived. Instantly, the enemy's face turned red as they faced each other. He completely forgot the warnings from Long Zhenwu before he came and stood up in anger, saying: "What do you want?"

  Xiao Si smiled and grabbed the chair behind Long Zhao Yuan's back, plopping herself down with a thud, saying: "After you!"

  Long Chouyuanjun's face turned iron-green, just wanting to fight back for his seat, Duan Zhentian had already walked over with a loud laugh and greeted Xiaosan with a bow: "Xiao brother, I've long heard of your great name, today I'm lucky enough to see you!"

  Xiao Si sat still with an air of superiority, sizing up Duan Shenyi and asking, "Who are you?"

  This sentence hurt more than anything, Duan Zhen Tian's smile on his face suddenly stiffened, and then he smiled again: "I am Duan Zhen Tian, the leader of the Guanluo Escort Agency."

  Xiao Si said with a smile, "Sorry, Old Duan, I'm afraid that if I stand up, someone will snatch the seat under my butt. I can only sit here and greet you."

  Duan Zhen Tian suppressed his anger and deliberately swept a glance around the hall, saying: "The time is not early, can we start the celebration ceremony now?"

  Xiao Si said calmly, "Don't rush, I have a few more friends who will be arriving soon."

  Duan Zhen Tian smiled and said: "The friend you mentioned, Brother Xie, isn't it the red boss of Wenxiang Tower or that beggar leader Huang Shu Jun?"

  Before he had finished speaking, a loud laughter was heard from outside, "Sorry about that, Xiao brothers, I brought a few more friends at the last minute and we're running a bit late, hope you guys didn't have to wait too long?"

  Along with the sound of voices, Fang Mingzu, the leader of the Long'an Gang, led his subordinates, the bosses of various docks, casinos, wine houses, and rice shops, as well as a large group of high-ranking officials from Chang'an City, into the Liu Garden.

  Xiao Si lightly laughed and said: "Old Fang, you're clever. If you came any later, I would have burned down your doghouse!" He stood up to welcome him in.

  Long Zhao Yuan had finally waited for the opportunity and said that he would rush forward to occupy the seat as soon as possible.

  Before he could even open his mouth, Wanyu had already let out a cheerful shout and welcomed them in, smiling sweetly: "Hong Jie, Li Dage, you've come too!"

  Long Chouyuan was stunned, staring blankly at Yuanyuan as she followed Hongzhu and Li Jing into the room, chatting and laughing with a face that turned white one moment and red the next.

  In comparison, Duan Zhen Tian was still calm and composed. These two groups of guests were within his expectations. After all, one was a brothel and the other was an underworld organization, and neither would bring honor to Tong Bao Bureau's face.

  Just as he was feeling good, he heard a loud voice outside the door saying: "The Right Martial Guard General Qu Dajiang of the Forbidden Army has arrived!"

  Only to see Qu Tui walking into the hall with a horizontal plaque wrapped in red cloth, laughing and saying: "Xiao brother, I've just come out of the palace, this is a gift from Princess Gong to Hui Tong Baoju."

  After that, he carefully lifted the red cloth covering the horizontal board in front of everyone, and saw that the four characters "Protecting the Country and Guarding the People" were written in cursive script with silver hooks and iron strokes.

  Xia Peiheng cried out in a loud voice: "This... this is the Emperor's own handwriting!"

  Kui Tu Tong nodded his head and said: "That's right, this is the imperial decree personally written by Her Highness the Princess for Your Majesty!"

  The hall was filled with exclamations of admiration, and everyone was delighted. Only Duan Zhen Tian's old face turned ugly, to think that he had spent countless thoughts and wealth to get a handwritten plaque from Xu Guo Gong Yuwen Shu, but someone else got a plaque written by the Emperor himself without spending a penny, and it was given by Princess Jincheng, which completely overshadowed the Kuanluo Guard Bureau.

  Hong E's smile was shallow as she said, "General Qu's move is not ordinary, it makes me embarrassed to give you the gift I prepared. Fortunately, I also have a gift from Princess Nanyang, please accept it, Chief Xia."

  As she spoke, she pulled out two scrolls from her sleeve and opened them with a "whoosh", revealing a pair of couplets written in the handwriting of Princess Nanyang.

  Before everyone could recover from the shock, the outside runner shouted loudly again: "Tang Guogong's son Li Jiancheng and Junma Chai Shao have arrived!"

  This sudden scene completely stunned everyone, and as they watched Li Jiancheng and Shi Shao walk shoulder to shoulder into the hall, their hearts were filled with mixed emotions.

  Someone patted him on the back and said, "Excuse me, help me get a piece of pastry, and add a handful of peanuts."

  Duan Zhen Tian suddenly became furious, thinking to himself: "I'm so unlucky that even drinking a mouthful of cold water gets stuck in my teeth. Which blind fool actually took me for some tea-serving, water-carrying little servant?"

  He turned around, about to shout at him, but the words reached his lips and were swallowed back into his belly. There stood a black and fat middle-aged Taoist priest with a smile on his face, not a world-renowned orthodox champion, but who else could it be if not one of the five true ones of Zhongnan, the master of Chunyang Temple, Ye Fashan?

  In an instant, Duan's face twisted and his three views collapsed. He stared intently at the serious-looking Xiao Si, feeling a terrifying pressure from him for the first time.

  After dominating the Guanluo for decades, he finally encountered a truly powerful opponent.

  Just as he was about to leave, the hall door was suddenly heard. The one who had been regarded by himself as his arch-nemesis, the leader of the escort agency, faced the two rows of eight jade screens carved with the private seal of Tang Guogong Li Yuan, which were given by Li Jiancheng and Chai Shaolong, and let out a mournful cry: "Why are the things you sent only good-looking but useless? Why can't I sell them? Why couldn't you just send me a silver bill directly?"

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