Chapter 38: Sealing and Confiscation

  For the next dozen or so days, Yang Yun's life was extremely regular. During the day, he went to the Cangshulou to "move books" into the sea of recognition. Occasionally, relying on Sun Ye's news, he would attend a class at the school. In the first half of the night, he would go up the mountain to practice the Moon Flower True Classic. In the second half of the night, he would either practice his hidden weapons or ponder the life-saving techniques of the Jingyuan Huajing Jue. As for his three meals a day, they were all taken care of at the restaurants outside the academy.

  The owner of the restaurant saw Yang Yun, and was as enthusiastic as if he had seen a close relative. No wonder, Yang Yun ordered delicious dishes and ate a lot, making more money from him than from seven or eight other customers.

  Just as they were about to have lunch, Lian Pingyuan came to the door, and the three of them rushed into a small restaurant together with Meng Chao.

  "Yang Xiuzai has arrived?" The boss's face lit up with a smile like a flower.

  "Please sit down, the best seat is reserved for you." The boss led the three of them to a table and personally wiped it clean with a cloth again.

  "Wait a moment, I'll bring you the dishes right away."

  Yang Yun thought ordering was a hassle, anyway there weren't many dishes in this small restaurant, so later on she simply let the boss decide, after all Yang Yun could eat anything.

  Before long, a table of dishes was set out and the boss brought over another jar of wine.

  "This is a famous local Shaoxing wine, Yang Xiuzai has guests, this jar of wine was invited by me, and it's on the house."

  "Hehe, thank you Boss Zhang."

  Three people poured wine, first pushed cups and plates around, then started chatting casually.

  "Has your brother been busy with business these days?" Yang Yun asked.

  Lian Pingyuan wiped his mouth and said: "I was just about to mention this matter, I chartered a boat back to the island, but it's already been bought by someone who collected money to buy the Changfu number."

  "Oh? Brother Lian is really quick with his hands." Yang Yun said.

  It's been only a dozen or so days, and this campaign has already achieved remarkable results. The islanders of Xiadao Island have received a large amount of silver as spoils from the elimination of the pirates, totaling around 7,000 to 8,000 taels. The Changfu ship is almost new, but it's estimated that they can get around 3,000 to 5,000 taels from it.

  "Hmm, because the sailors made a fortune and quit their jobs together with the captain, and this voyage also damaged the ship, which needs to be repaired at a cost. The boss felt unlucky, and I happened to find him, so he didn't raise the price much and sold it to me."

  "Then your business can start soon, congratulations." Meng Chao said.

  Lian Pingyuan smiled wryly and said, "But now we've run into some trouble."

  "What's wrong?"

  "Have you guys heard of Four Seas Alliance?"

  "What's Four Seas Alliance? Is it a martial arts sect?" Yang Yun had never heard of it, and turned his head to ask Meng Chao.

  Meng Chao also shook his head. Although he had practiced the family's traditional martial arts, his father had long since stopped running the escort agency, and his knowledge of the martial arts world was limited. He had never even heard of the Four Seas Alliance.

  "I heard it's a gang that has risen in the past two years, with great power. The Fengming Prefecture here is just a branch. This time I brought out more than a dozen brothers from the island and leaked some words about going to trade, and people from the Four Seas Alliance came to collect money. At first, I didn't take it seriously, but one of my brothers had a bad temper and offended some young master, they claimed that they would not let my ship leave the sea."

  "How arrogant is this? It's unlikely, this is the imperial city, a Jianghu gang can cause some trouble, but where can they let the ships not go out to sea?" Meng Chao frowned.

  "I think so too, but it's also a disgusting thing. Now there are no sailors willing to come on board, which is not a big deal, my brother from the island and I can still get the ship moving, but now the dockyard is unwilling to repair our ship, which is a bit of a hassle."

  "How can this Four Seas Alliance be so powerful?" Meng Chao exclaimed in surprise.

  Yang Yun furrowed his brow, the shipyard of Fengming Prefecture obviously couldn't be without a backing, but because of this trivial matter and a single sentence from the Four Seas Alliance, they could refuse to take on the ship repair business, which made things not so simple.

  Just then, a shout came from outside.

  "Brother Lian! Brother Lian!"

  Lian Pingyuan exclaimed in surprise, "It seems to be our island's Xiao Zhou." He got up and walked to the entrance of the restaurant, looked around, and called out, "Xiao Zhou! I'm over here!"

  Xiao Zhou rushed in hastily, his face covered with sweat, "Lian Ge is in trouble! The government wants to seize our boat!"

  "What!" Lian Pingyuan was shocked.

  "Let's go take a look." Yang Yun regretfully glanced at the half-eaten dishes on the table, and went out with Lian Pingyuan.

  On the way, they came across a horse-drawn carriage. Yang Yun hailed it and several people got on together, heading in the direction of the dock.

  Sitting in the carriage, Little Zhou told them about what had happened. It turned out that as soon as Lian Pingyuan left the house today, officials came to the door and said that the owner of the Changfu ship, which they had sold to them, was involved in a lawsuit and they needed to temporarily seize the Changfu ship.

  Lian Pingyuan was not around, and several islanders were at a loss, so they had to send out Xiao Zhou to look for him.

  Xiao Zhou only knew that Lian Pingyuan went to the Haitian Academy to find two scholars with the surname Yang and Meng, and after inquiring with several people, he finally found the restaurant.

  When such a thing happened, even Pingyuan was flustered and returned to the dock with anxiety. He saw that the sails, oars, ropes and other shipping equipment of the Changfu ship had been removed from the ship, and more than a dozen porters were moving them into the warehouse, with an official directing beside them.

  "Excuse me, sir, may I have a word with you?" said Ryōhei Kon, approaching him with a smile.

  The officer gave him a slanted glance, "Can't you see there's trouble here?"

  "I am the owner of the Changfu No., can you tell me clearly why you want to seize my ship?"

  "So you're the boat owner, where have you been running to for half a day? You've come just in time, this is the seizure notice, take it." After finishing speaking, he pulled out a piece of paper and stuffed it into Lian Pingyuan's arms.

  Lian Pingyuan didn't recognize many characters, and seeing a pile of big words on the white paper, as well as the bright red seal, he was completely bewildered, so he could only look to Yang Yun for help.

  Yang Yun took over the notice and read it, gradually frowning, things got complicated.

  According to the notice, the original owner of the ship had already mortgaged it to someone else before selling Changfu. Due to non-payment of debts, the creditor sued the original owner and demanded that Changfu be seized to pay off the debt.

  Just looking at the notice, there's nothing wrong with it, but one can only resent the original owner for being ruthless. However, things are so coincidental that just as the Four Seas Alliance issued a threat, the government came to seal off the ship, which cannot help but raise suspicions.

  "Where is the deed of mortgage for the Changlehao?" Yang Yun asked.

  The officer looked at Yang Yun wearing the blue robe of a scholar and reluctantly replied, "It has been included in the case files, if you want to investigate, go to the Criminal Department."

  "What about the original ship?"

  "On the run, whereabouts unknown."

  This is getting troublesome, Yang Yun also has a tricky feeling.

  "Has the Changfu been mortgaged to the Four Seas Alliance?" Yang Yun asked again.

  "What's this 'Four Seas Alliance'? Never heard of it. Go ask the authorities at the prison yourself."

  At this time, the runners brought the sails into the warehouse, slammed shut the big door, and pasted a seal with the official seal on the door.

  The officials and clerks saw that things were done, no longer paying attention to this side, and took the yamen runners away with them.

  "What's to be done? Brother Lian." The islanders gathered around, all looking at Lian Pingyuan for a decision.

  Lian Pingyuan was somewhat brave, but he had never experienced such a thing before and could only look at Yang Yun for help.

  "When buying Changfeng No., was it a white contract?" Yang Yun asked.

  Lian Ping nodded, the so-called white contract refers to a private contract that is not stamped with an official seal. For things like boats, ordinary people usually don't go through official channels when buying and selling, which can save them a contract tax.

  Although the white contract is not formally recognized by the authorities, in practice, if a dispute arises, the white contract is generally still valid. Lian Pingyuan can use this to declare his ownership of the Changfu ship and ask the authorities to lift the seizure.

  But doing so is not safe, the government can find some reason to sue you at will. If you encounter corrupt officials, it depends on who has a stronger relationship and spends more money. As the saying goes, "official words are double-edged, both sides have their reasons."

  "Alright, Old Meng, you take Lian brothers to the prison department to investigate, I'll go somewhere else to think of a solution." Yang Yun said after thinking for a moment.

  "Alright." Meng Chao replied, he was also a scholar and took Lian Pingyuan and the others to the prison office, at least they could guarantee that they wouldn't suffer any losses on the surface, as for what the Four Seas Alliance would do secretly in collusion with corrupt officials, he couldn't do anything about it.

  Although Meng Chao didn't know Yang Yun for a long time, he knew that Yang Yun was a reliable person. Since he said there was a way to think about it, it wasn't just nonsense. Watching Yang Yun's departing figure, Meng Chao curiously thought, what method could Yang Yun possibly have to solve this matter?