Although Zhou Qingfeng had appeared in public, his control over the west side of Fushun City was still tight on the inside. After the Lin Family Inn was attacked by the assassin, he was not as exasperated as others thought. Instead, he completely blocked the news as if nothing had happened.
To Wang Kai and Wong Yuanwai, this matter was a bit unfathomable.
"That guy called 'Phantom Sting' hasn't returned yet?"
Yesterday, there was a lot of noise in the west side of the city. The news of Zhou Qingfeng's public appearance was reported to 'Phantom Sting' by Wong Yuanwai. Although 'Phantom Sting' did not say when he would act, Wong Yuanwai waited in his house for news the whole night. The next day, 'Phantom Sting' did not return, nor did he hear the news of Zhou Qingfeng's death.
Even a fool would know that something must have happened.
"Master, the guest room in the west building went out last night. I haven't seen her today." A servant bowed in front of Wong Yuanwai.
"What's happening in the west side of the city?" Wong Yuanwai sat in the main hall of his house, still touching his purple clay teapot, and asked with a frown.
The servant was also embarrassed and said nervously, "Master, there is news that there is a plague in the west side of the city. More than a dozen streets are all closed. Other than the people inside who come out to buy, outsiders are not allowed to enter. I specifically asked a few people who came out to buy vegetables in the west side of the city, but they either didn't say anything or shook their heads. There really is no movement at all. "
The plague had caused the entire city to be in a state of panic. Even Wang Yuanwai's shops had suffered from poor business. When foreign merchants heard that there was a plague in the city, many of them were so scared that they didn't enter the city. They turned around and went back to Shenyang or Tieling.
"It's all Hua Niang's dirty work. Now the whole city is in an uproar, but she didn't end up well. Now everyone in the city is scolding her, including me. "Wong Yuanwai was so angry that he slammed the table.
The servant next to him spoke of another matter, "Master, although I was unable to enter the western part of the city, I managed to obtain some information from the western gate. The soldiers guarding the city said that early this morning, the bailiffs from the west of the city escorted several carts out of the city. The soldiers said that there was a strong smell of blood on the carriage. There must be dead people, and a lot of them. "
"Dead?" Wong Yuanwai and the butler looked at each other, taking this news seriously. "Go on, what happened to the dead man?"
Seeing that the master attached importance to this matter, the servant couldn't help but say proudly, "This lowly one specially asked the soldiers at the city gate. Ever since the west side of the city changed its master, the number of people dying of starvation and cold has decreased a lot. Not even one in the past few days. "
It was winter now. A drop of water in Liaodong would turn into ice. Even a pee could be frozen into a popsicle. There were tens of thousands of people in Fu Shun, and every year hundreds or thousands of them would die during the winter. Most of the poor men in the west of the city had died. Almost every day, Li Zheng would send people to transport the corpses to the cemetery in the Leaky Garden outside the city to be buried.
But this year, there were actually many days where no one died. This was strange news.
Wong Yuanwai also had some news. It was said that someone spent money to raise those poor men. Needless to say, this person was Zhou Qingfeng. Although he didn't understand why Zhou Qingfeng would do this? But Wong Yuanwai didn't intend to care.
The servant continued, "The dead that were sent outside the city naturally have to be buried. This lowly one specially went to the cemetery in the Leaky Garden and asked the gravekeeper there. Only then did I know that the corpses sent to the west of the city were assassinated. Every corpse had a cut on their neck. It was said that the knife was fast and sharp, and the cut was very deep. "
Needless to say, this was the work of the 'Crafty Thorn'.
But Wong Yuanwai didn't look happy. He looked at his butler. The butler shook his head slightly and said, "Master, I'm afraid that the person sent by Hetuala didn't succeed. Once someone in this line of work fails, they won't show themselves easily. I'm guessing that he's injured and hiding somewhere. "
Wong Yuanwai nodded slightly, agreeing with the butler's judgment.
The butler continued, "I specifically asked a few cultivators in the city. This' Master Crafty Thorn 'has quite a reputation. His cultivation isn't bad, and he's killed a lot of tough people. He's quite expensive in the underworld, and he's not easy to get along with. But this person actually returned without accomplishing anything. I'm afraid that Zhou Qingfeng's side is more troublesome than we thought. "
Wong Yuanwai nodded again and sighed. "As the saying goes, 'a strong dragon can't suppress a local snake'. This Zhou Qingfeng is really difficult to deal with. What do you want me to do in this situation? "
As a businessman, it was normal for him to be two-faced.
Wang Kai Wong Yuanwai didn't want to personally deal with Zhou Qingfeng, so he pushed the assassin and subordinates sent by Hetuala out. But now, the assassin had failed and disappeared, and his subordinate, Hua Niang, was unable to accomplish anything. He wanted to spread a rumor to bring down Zhou Qingfeng, who was entrenched in the west of the city, but now he was being used by Zhou Qingfeng.
Now, Wong Yuanwai had to worry about Zhou Qingfeng's revenge. He was a wealthy businessman in Liaodong. He had a lot of industries and people under him, so he was full of flaws. If Zhou Qingfeng wanted to mess with him, he could also make him suffer. "Alas, we can't compare with those barefoot people. Since Zhou Qingfeng has some ability, we might as well give in. "
Hearing Squire Wang's words of 'boosting the prestige of others and destroying his own morale', the steward at the side knew that his master was afraid. He quickly followed up and said, "This Zhou Qingfeng is indeed capable. He took in those poor people in the west of the city, and maybe he can really make a career. Not long ago, he asked Han Gui to pass on a message that he wanted to buy grain at half price. We might as well agree to sell him fifty dans first as a favor. "
Zhou Qingfeng had wanted to pull Wang Kai to work together to open up wastelands around Fushun, but Wang Kai simply ignored him. But now that Zhou Qingfeng had shown his strength, it was Wong Yuanwai's turn to take the initiative to build a relationship.
Thinking that fifty dans of grain wasn't much, Wong Yuanwai simply slapped his thigh and said, "Alas, it's better to squash enmity than keep it alive. What half price? We might as well give fifty dans of grain to Zhou Qingfeng. If we can't afford to provoke him, we'll do him a favor. Let's say that we're willing to work together with him to open up fertile land, and at the same time, test his background. This can be considered as spending money to avoid disaster. "
Wong Yuanwai was greedy, but he was very slippery. As soon as he saw that the situation wasn't right, he immediately adjusted. After getting his approval, the butler turned around and went to make friends. At least, he had to stop Zhou Qingfeng from using his family as a target to attack.
As soon as the butler left, the servant in charge of reporting also retreated. Before leaving, the servant wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, he didn't dare to open his mouth. He left in front of the master and came out from the back door of the Wang family's mansion. There was a small sedan parked outside the back door. The curtain of the sedan was lifted, revealing half of the face of the brothel keeper of 'Elegant Spring Brothel', Hua Niang. "Brother Wang, is the master free?"
The servant who came out had a wretched look on his face. He didn't even bother to approach the sedan and waved his hand, shouting, "Hua Niang, you've messed up. The master is in a rage right now and doesn't want to see you. You don't have to come for the next few days. "
After saying this, the servant turned around and retreated to the back door of the Wang family's mansion. With a clang, he even bolted the door. Inside the sedan, Hua Niang only had time to let out a sigh before she couldn't even see the person in front of her. She angrily slapped the sedan window and cursed, "These bastards deserve to die with a thousand knives. They took two taels from me and only gave me half a sentence. He definitely didn't even notify me. "
Hua Niang was furious, but there was nothing she could do. She then scolded the Master Gui who went to cause trouble yesterday, "I told that idiot to throw a few dead people, but he actually threw himself away and was even captured alive. Now the whole city is in an uproar. I'm being pointed at even when I go out. "
The brothel keeper of 'Elegant Spring Brothel' had become a street rat. Now that she knew fear, she hurriedly came to the Wang family's mansion to beg for Wong Yuanwai's protection. Who knew that Wang Kai would be so angry at home that the servants didn't dare to pass on a message for her. Now that she couldn't even see him, she could only take the sedan back to 'Elegant Spring Brothel'.
'Elegant Spring Brothel' was located in a good location in the city. Usually, rich merchants and rich guests came and went. Hua Niang's' daughters' would open the window on the second floor to solicit business. It wasn't cheap to spend a night there. But today, the doors and windows of 'Elegant Spring Brothel' were tightly shut. Not even a ghost could be seen in front of the door. When the neighbors saw her sedan coming back, they all cursed her, hoping that she would die early from the plague.
Hua Niang came back in a huff. All the 'daughters' at home saw that she didn't look well and all kept quiet out of fear, not daring to say anything. Usually, these 'daughters' suffered a lot from Hua Niang's torture. Starving and being beaten was a small matter, but being pricked by needles and iron branding was the scariest. The brothel of ancient times was not a romantic place for romance.
After the 'corpse disposal' plot failed, Hua Niang was also afraid of Zhou Qingfeng's revenge. Now that her backer, Wong Yuanwai, didn't show up, she could only close 'Elegant Spring Brothel' and spend money to find someone to back her up. However, after two days, Hua Niang suddenly fell down with a high fever.
This gave the people in the Elegant Spring House quite a fright. The news of typhoid plague breaking out in the city had spread far and wide, and everyone was frightened. As the source of the outbreak in 'Elegant Spring Brothel', several old prostitutes also developed symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea after the high fever. In the end, they had diarrhea to the point of incontinence, so they were sent by Hua Niang's subordinate, Master Gui, to dispose of their corpses.
After Hua Niang fell sick, the other people in 'Elegant Spring Brothel' did not dare to stay any longer. They packed up their belongings and fled. Those who had a home to escape to fled back home, while those who had no home to return to ran to seek shelter in the west of the city. The cause of the whole incident was that 'Elegant Spring Brothel' had recently bought a few 'daughters' who fled to the west of the city.
That night, Hua Niang, who was weak from diarrhea, fell on her bed and kept cursing. At this moment, she was filthy and stinky like the prostitutes who were disposed of a few days ago. Once typhoid fever broke out, if it wasn't treated as soon as possible, the patient would lose the ability to take care of himself in a very short time.
As Hua Niang was cursing, she suddenly found that the light in the room was turned on. She opened her eyes slightly and saw that one of the 'daughters' who ran away a few days ago had come back with the light on. She didn't know the reason and hurriedly reached out to call for help. But behind the 'daughter' stood a young man.
The 'daughter' pointed at Hua Niang and said to the young man with hatred, "It's her. She bought us from the traffickers and began to starve us, beat us, scold us, and even asked Master Gui to strip us naked on a snowy day. She said that if it weren't for the fact that virgins could be sold for more money, she would have asked more than ten men to take turns to kill us. Now this evil person finally got what she deserved. "
Someone came in from behind the young man and whispered, "Boss, there are four or five sick people in the other rooms of 'Elegant Spring Brothel'. There are men and women, how should we deal with them? "
The young man sneered and said, "Let this girl identify them. She said that if they are good people, she should feed them medicine and take them away. She said that if they are bad people, we don't need to care about them. "
Throughout the whole process, Hua Niang kept reaching out with her hands, and her mouth kept shouting. But the young man quickly left. The 'daughter' who was holding the oil lamp spat at her and scolded, "You black-hearted filthy thing, stay here and wait for your death."
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