Chapter 9: The Mayor’s Miscalculation

The Mayor’s Miscalculation

“I don’t understand what you are saying, would you care to enlighten me?” Zhang Li Qing said, with a bemused expression on his face.

Chu Tian cut straight to the point: “From your walking posture, facial expression, and breathing, I could clearly see that you have a bad heart. ”

Zhang Li Qing eyes twitched slightly, and said with a relieved smile : “When you get old, organ failure is unavoidable, there is nothing strange about it.”

Chu Tian continued by saying: “But your strength is not low, your magic power is also quite abundant, and was strong enough to push back the organ failure for forty to fifty years. Now that your heart is failing, it cannot be from natural failure, so there must be other reasons, am I right? ”

“Impressive! So Impressive! Young man you have incredible observations, this senile old man indeed has an illness,” Zhang Li Qing laughed: “However, this old man is still standing strong as before, and does not look like a person on death bed; you might be a bit exaggerated.”

“You yourself are well aware of this. Your life is only hanging on by a thread because you are prolonging it with the heavy consumption of medicine” Chu Tian directly exposed the truth, and continued to state the issues: “Your left wrist has a black tone, caused by a lethal magic poison. At midnight, the poison spreads to the upper body, and you will have chaotic heartbeats. You also feel your tian xi point, tian chong point, tian zhu point, zi gong point, shan zhong point and others being bitten by thousands of ants, am I right?”

Zhang Li Qing whole body shook slightly.

Chu Tian went on to add: “This is heart devouring poison, it has been eating at your heart for around 15 years.”

Nangong Yun looked towards Zhang Li Qing, her face full of surprise.

Although I knew he had a bad heart, I never expected teacher’s body had such an obstinate, violent poison within him.

Is this real?

Zhang Li Qing rose slowly to his feet, tidied his robes, bowed solemnly before Chu Tian, and even changed how he addressed Chu Tian: “Mister is a remarkable person, what you said is exactly correct, about 15 years ago, while I was exploring the ruins, I was careless and got poisoned with heart devouring poison. All these years I constantly used most of my magical power to suppress the poison flaring in my body, but it was to no avail and was unable to purge this persistent violent poison inside of me. I searched all over for famous doctor pharmacists to get cured, but all were helpless, and finally gave up. ”

“You have forcibly suppressed the poison in your body for so long, but did not know to ease it. As a result, the poison has penetrated into your bone marrows, therefore you most likely have two months left to live.”

Zhang Li Qing showed a carefree smile: “At least I had the joy to be able to meet someone as extraordinary as mister before I die.”

Nangong Yin had known all along that her teacher had a bad heart, but she never thought that this poison was the true cause behind his suffering. She had studied under his tutelage for so many years, yet she never had seen her teacher fight. She always thought he was keeping a low profile but instead he was using his strength to suppress the poison. He simply couldn’t spare any magic power to fight with other people.

“Well,” Chu Tian patted Meng Ying Ying who stood expressionless beside him: “Our steak was almost running out and it’s getting late, I think we ought to call it a day and head home.”

Meng Ying Ying grew more and more curious about Chu Tian; how much was this guy capable of?

Both of them started to pack up their stuff.

Nangong Yun hurriedly asked: “Hey, since you could discern the ailment in his body at a glance, do you have any method to completely detoxify the poison?”

Chu Tian turned his head and said: “Yes.”

Nangong Yun’s face lit up in glee: “Really?”

Chu Tian’s tone took a dramatic turn: “But why should I help him?”

Nangong Yun became dumbfounded upon hearing those words.

This was master Zhang Li Qing. If he were to save him, how many rewards would he get? If he didn’t save him, how bad of an enemy would he make?

He didn’t care one bit. It all depended on his interests and he only followed his own ways!

“Let him go.” Zhang Li Qing beckoned with his hand, signalling Nangong Yun to stop: “This person clearly has profound knowledge and wisdom. He neither exalts himself nor strives for fame, yet willingly helps Meng Ying Ying with her homework. Using the intelligence he has at his disposal he could have easily amassed vast riches, and yet he prefers to set up a steak stall. Those hermits of the world are all like this.”

“Old man, this may be our only chance, we should get a hold of him and press him for an answer about the means to detoxify the poison!”

“Yun-er, you are too young; you shouldn’t be reckless regarding this matter. Recklessness would not only damage your morals, but it might also offend some major power. Even your Nangong clan might not be able to handle them.” Zhang Li Qing was not in a hurry; on the contrary, he revealed a wise smile: “Moreover, he is a smart man, if he really doesn’t intend to help me, then why does he trouble himself to tell me? Think about it, with my influence and power in the Tian Nan City, wouldn’t he be getting himself in trouble by going against me?”

“I don’t understand!”

“First, he has had a misunderstanding with me. He blames me for being greedy and ungrateful to him by accepting his large gift yet expelling Meng Ying Ying afterwards, so he wants to show me who is in charge here.”

Nangong Yun interjected quickly, saying: “This is a misunderstanding, the things he wrote had all been burned by those deadbeats.”

Zhang Li Qing continued: “Second, he wanted me to know that he is the only person who can save me. Therefore hereafter, regardless of much trouble he could get himself into or provoke some big shots, I must guarantee his safety.”

Nangong Yun finally came to a realization.

This guy is really as cunning as an old fox.

Meng Ying Ying sat on the beast wagon and asked: “Chu Tian, can you really save Master Zhang?”

“Of course, I can”

“Is it difficult to save him?”

“No, it’s not”

“Then why won’t you save him?”

Chu Tian seemed as if he did not give much thoughts about this matter: “Why are you so anxious? He is not going to suddenly die, let’s just leave him hanging for a while.”

This left Meng Ying Ying completely speechless. She just could not understand Chu Tian’s way of thinking.

Chu Tian suddenly recalled something and immediately sat straight up: “How much did we earn today? Quickly take it out and look; it’s time to split the profits.”

Meng Ying Ying took out her purse and poured out a handful of gold coins. She then began to count the coins one by one: “We only set up the stall for three hours and earned 140 gold coins. According to the agreement that we had made, here’s your share: 70 gold coins.”

Meng Ying Ting quickly handed over half of the gold coins without any hesitation.

The money we have earned this evening, is almost one year’s worth of allowance!

On the first day of business, there wasn’t enough manpower at hand, nor enough material, and there was also a lack of experience; thus, the flow of income was limited. If we managed to build a solid reputation, we could expand by opening new stores; a few hundred gold a day would be considered little!

At that rate, we could easily pocket thousands of gold coins every single month!

Because there was no competition, expanding into other markets would not be a difficult task!

Nan Yun Commerce managed eight shops which generated an average total revenue of around 20,000 to 30,000 gold coins every month, with a net profit of around 10,000 gold coins. If this steak business was managed properly, then we might over take the commerce that JieJie painstakingly manages.

Meng Ying Ying thought, if JieJie knew about this, would she feel happy or depressed?

“Wait, stop the cart!”

“What for?”

“Now that I’ve have some money, I want to buy something.”

Meng Ying Ying said, without thinking: “I will go too!”

Chu Tian wondered: “Why would you want to go?”

Meng Ying Ying blinked: “Because I am curious!”

In the past, a senior had said to Chu Tian that if a woman appears to have a strong curiosity towards a man, then there are only two ways to solve the problem.

First way – Kill her.

Second way – Sleep with her.

(EN: Advice for life right there!)

…………

Tian Nan City, the mayor’s mansion.

A middle-aged man in a purple robe sat before a desk. He had grey temples and a square face. One did not need to see him angry to sense his power and prestige. His brows knitted while looking at the scroll in his hand, as if he had encountered a difficult problem.

He was Tian Nan City’s mayor – Nangong Yi!

The mayor was the most powerful person in a city. The situations in a city determine how hard their lives are. Tian Nan city was located on the outer frontier in the country. Here, there are bandits, beasts, and other races; each by themselves capable of causing trouble for the city. In addition, there were many unexplained mysterious events occurring in the area. All of these had caused Nangong Yi a lot of trouble.

However, what stressed him out until his hair turned white was not the problem with his territory, but with his outstanding trouble-making daughter!

Peng!

The room’s door was brutally kicked open!

Both guards shivered, neither dared to oppose!

“Pop, guess what I brought back?” Nangong Yun kicked open the door, assiduously intruding into the room: “Supper!”

Nangong Yi reluctantly closed the scroll: “What are you up to this time?”

“Hey, what are you saying? Pop is so hard working and has to work late into the night, of course you must eat something to replenish!”

“You can give up the act!”

Nangong Yun opened the bag and brought out all its contents: “Your favourite fairy wine, delicious grilled fish from the south of the city, herbal porridge from the west of the city, and lastly the most amazing…the super outstandingly delicious moonlight yak steak, taste this first!”

Nangong Yi looked at the steak: “Why is half of it missing?”

Nangong Yun blushed and said: “What if someone tried to harm you? As your daughter, I have the responsibility to eat half of it to test for poison! That is not important, hurry up and try it!”

Nangong Yi cut a small piece and put it into his mouth. He closed his eyes and carefully tasted the meat. Nangong Yi was very particular about food; he could immediately taste the meat’s distinct qualities: “This meat is soft and tender, savoury and juicy. To make beast meat taste this good, they are indeed different from others. Where did you buy this?”

Nangong Yun directly held out her hand towards Nangong Yi: “Don’t worry too much, pay up!”

Nangong Yi was not a bit surprised, as if he had known beforehand: “How much?”

Nangong Yun said without even thinking: “50,000 gold!”

This time, Nangong Yi almost choked to death: “cough cough cough…How much? 50,000 gold!”

“Your daughter wants to invest in a big project!”

The countless lessons from the past had taught Nangong Yi not to believe in his daughter’s words: “I can give you at most 200 gold for allowance. This is the last time this month. Regarding the investment, don’t mention it anymore.”

Nangong Yun said anxiously: “Pops, you must trust me!”

“How can I trust you?”

“Tian Nan city raised a genius!”

“So what? There are plenty of geniuses these days!”

“That genius created a frying pan that can cook beast meat, this steak is made with that frying pan, even an idiot can make delicious beast meat with it. Their business just started and they do not have everything up and running yet. I will appear as an angel investor. It is guaranteed to make big money. Within half a year, I guarantee that I will pay back with interest; no, I will pay you back double!”

“Don’t even think about it!”

“I am not lying, haven’t you had enough of being a poor mayor? Trust me, we will be rich in a year or two, and then those snobs from the family clan will all come to lick our feet!”

Nangong Yun’s mouth became dry from talking.

Nangong Yi continued to strongly reject the idea.

“Fool! Retard! Stupid pops! Just wait and regret it!”

“Why are you taking away my supper?”

“Who said it’s yours, this is the snack I bought for Da Bai to eat!”

(TL Note: “Da Bai to eat” in Chinese is 大白吃 which sounds exactly the same as 大白痴 which means retard)

Nangong Yun stormed out of the room. Her mood flipped faster than one could flip a page in a book. Nangong Yi felt helpless regarding Nangong Yun. Even if she had always been mischievous since childhood, there is still a limit on how far you can go. It’s not that the city hall cannot afford tens of thousands of gold, but that it is unacceptable for it to be used by her daughter to squander around!

Nangong Yi might not have realized that at the time, he had really miscalculated!

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