Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 313: Chen Family Restaurant

At night, Zhao Changhe changed back into Wang Daozhong’s attire, applied the disguise, and returned to Yang Qianyuan’s inn.

Hmm, Snow-Treading Crow seems to have been well taken care of. Nobody dared to try anything. Not bad, not bad.

The inn was still lit, and Yang Qianyuan was pacing around anxiously. Surprisingly, his appearance had changed back into the young master on the wanted posters. He was clean-shaven and neatly groomed, no longer the rugged man from their first meeting.

Seeing “Wang Daozhong” return, Yang Qianyuan rushed up to him like he had seen a relative. He hurriedly greeted him, “Senior, where have you been...”

Zhao Changhe glanced at him curiously and then said with an indifferent expression, “Why, do you think you have the right to know where I go?”

“No, no, not at all,” Yang Qianyuan replied with an apologetic smile. “There was an incident at the brothel you were at. The madam was assassinated! Since you just so happened to leave at the same time, they suspected that you were an accomplice and went around asking about you. Someone had seen me take you to that street, so they also came here to ask me questions.”

Zhao Changhe squinted at him. “What did you tell them?”

Yang Qianyuan said, “I had no choice but to reveal your identity, telling them that you’re the esteemed Wang Daozhong. I told them that if you wanted to kill a mere brothel madam, you would not need to go to the neighboring room to eavesdrop. It must have just been a coincidence. Please don’t blame me. Only by telling them about who you are could I shut them up. Of course, I planned to immediately report this to you when I saw you...”

Zhao Changhe sneered. “I’m guessing you said more than just that, right?”

Yang Qianyuan smiled apologetically and said, “Yes... Since you sat in the neighboring room listening for so long, just telling them about your identity was not convincing enough. I told them that you were actually targeting that young master and probably left to chase after him. Only then did they believe me. They might come tomorrow to ask you about that young master’s whereabouts.”

Zhao Changhe’s expression turned displeased. “I did have my eye on him, but I didn’t get to have him.”

These words were sincere, and regret was clearly evident in his voice. His words were more genuine than pure gold.

Yang Qianyuan observed his expression. “Senior, if that’s what you’re into, would you like me to look for a pretty boy to serve you?”

“I’m tired. We’ll talk more later.” Zhao Changhe headed upstairs, looking like he wanted to rest.

Yang Qianyuan hurriedly said, “Senior, senior, our gang leader wishes to meet you...”

Zhao Changhe was furious. “You brat. You revealed my name without permission. You’re just lucky that I’m too lazy to deal with you, and you’re still not done?”

“Senior, please calm down. Please hear me out.” Yang Qianyuan looked around and whispered, “Recently, our Jinqian Gang has had some conflicts with the Yukun Gang over some businesses. We agreed to meet for negotiations at noon tomorrow... Well, actually, our gang leader has no plans of negotiating. He wants to take over the Yukun Gang. As long as we kill Tian Lingzi during the negotiations, the rest of the Yukun Gang won’t be a threat, and we can probably swallow them whole.”

Zhao Changhe said coldly, “Good for you. What does this have to do with me?”

“Senior, you might not know this, but the Yukun Gang has many rare treasures. Although they’re rumored to be backed by the Thieves Guild, there hasn’t been any concrete evidence. It’s likely that they’re only working with the Thieves Guild to sell stolen goods. However, even the Thieves Guild would not have so many weird and exotic items. Where would they have found so many such things to steal? We suspect that the Yukun Gang has actually discovered a secret realm in the Kunlun Mountains. We believe that they’re just pretending to sell stolen goods while actually selling treasures from the secret realm they discovered. Our gang leader is interested in taking over this secret realm.”

Zhao Changhe made it look like he became interested. “So are you saying that you’ll be sharing this secret realm with me?”

Seeing that Wang Daozhong had indeed become interested, Yang Qianyuan sighed with relief and smiled. “Our gang leader said that if you’re willing to help us out tomorrow, you can take one item of your choosing from the secret realm...”

Upon hearing the last part, Zhao Changhe’s expression changed drastically, and he stared at Yang Qianyuan with an extremely cold gaze. “Does your gang leader think that I’m some beggar?”

In reality, Gang Leader Qian had said that Wang Daozhong could take whatever he wanted from the secret realm.

However, when Yang Qianyuan relayed the message, he twisted it and completely changed its meaning.

If the real Wang Daozhong were here, he would have been deeply insulted. Fortunately, this was Zhao Changhe, and Wang Daozhong being insulted had nothing to do with him.

Yang Qianyuan sighed and said, “Senior, please don’t blame Gang Leader Qian for being a bit stingy by nature... If it were up to me, I would have given you the entire secret realm...”

Zhao Changhe looked at him with a half-smile. “Oh? And when could you make such a decision?”

Yang Qianyuan lowered his voice. “With your support, senior, it would be easy.”

Honestly speaking, having an expert on the Ranking of Earth give a helping hand to a mere city-level gang was like taking candy from a baby. The expert would not even need to support the gang openly. As long as they let others know that they favored someone within the gang, that would be enough. Zhao Changhe instantly understood what Yang Qianyuan was plotting and could not help but feel amused.

You’ve only been here for less than a year and you’re already thinking of taking this opportunity to get rid of the gang leader and take over. As expected, this place is really twisted! The people here are really evil.

Seeing that the conversation had reached this point, Yang Qianyuan lowered his voice even further and said, “Senior, if you show that you favor me, I’m willing to offer all of the Jinqian Gang’s earnings to you. The Jinqian Gang will serve you, and we will act as your eyes and ears in this city.”

“Do you think I care about the measly profits of a small gang in a city? Eyes and ears? How many people do you even have? Do you really think you’d be able to act as my eyes and ears?”

“We actually have quite a few people... A lot of them have even been here for a long time and are very familiar with the city.” Seeing that Zhao Changhe still seemed uninterested, Yang Qianyuan finally gritted his teeth and said, “If you enjoy the company of men, senior, then I can find them for you. I... I’m willing to serve you as well if you’d like...”

What the fuck?

Zhao Changhe was astonished. He finally understood why Yang Qianyuan had dressed up like a young master from an aristocratic family again.

What a ruthless and vicious man. The Jinqian Gang really picked up a snake. Oh well, sadly for you, you’re Chichi’s target. No matter how ruthless and patient you are, it won’t amount to much in the end.

Zhao Changhe said calmly, “Go tell your gang leader that I will come along tomorrow to have a look. As for anything else... we’ll discuss it some other time.”

*

At noon the next day.

In the eastern part of Kunlun City, at the Chen Family Restaurant.

Conflicts between gangs often lead to negotiation banquets. Such banquets were well known for tables being flipped and blades being drawn, as well as often leading to bloodshed. Both sides thus made thorough preparations before the banquet.

Tian Lingzi held a meeting overnight, while Gang Leader Qian set his sights on “Wang Daozhong.”

Tarantula was likely acting as the oriole, waiting to reap the benefits when the opportunity presented itself.

This small conflict in a corner of the city involved multiple factions, showing internal machinations and appearing like a minuscule version of the greater jianghu.

Ever since coming to this world, Zhao Changhe had seen many similar situations. He knew that this was how the jianghu was, just not the part of the jianghu he liked. Fortunately, he had Chichi by his side this time. Amidst the treacherous turmoil that he disliked, there was a touch of tenderness and warmth, making the harsh wind and snow seem refreshing.

He followed Yang Qianyuan to attend the banquet. What he had to do was quite simple, at least in theory.

Others thought that he was there to help the Jinqian Gang by dealing with Tian Lingzi, while Yang Qianyuan hoped that he would conveniently kill the supposedly disrespectful Gang Leader Qian and support him in his rise to power.

In reality, he was there to help the little witch beside Tian Lingzi ambush Tarantula. As for whether or not he would kill Gang Leader Qian, he was not really thinking about it. Instead, he was more concerned about capturing Yang Qianyuan alive.

However, as soon as he stepped into the restaurant, the owner came up to greet him. “You must be Mister Daozhong! I, Chen One, am honored to meet you. We hope that you enjoy your time here.”

The owner was also quite good-looking. The news that Wang Daozhong enjoyed the company of men seemed to have spread throughout Kunlun overnight, and it looked like it would spread even further. Seeing the owner approach, the others winked and nudged each other, already imagining all kinds of scenarios in their heads.

Sure enough, Wang Daozhong appeared delighted. “I must say, you’re quite charming, unlike many of the unsightly faces around here.”

Zhao Changhe was genuinely delighted. Just from the name and the way the owner of the restaurant approached him, he knew that this was his true collaborator here, a contact from Ying Five’s organization.

The Earth Deer of Liu was not an expert in intelligence gathering, and he was unlikely to know much, but Ying Five’s people were different.

As they appeared to exchange appreciative glances, Chen One whispered a warning, “Gang Leader Qian has additional support, and Tian Lingzi is suspected to be allied with Tarantula. Not a single one of them is trustworthy. Do not trust any of them.”