Chapter 30: Professional Manager

Zheng Fan sat in the seat of honor.

At that moment, he seemed like the Eight-Virtues Prince, Xuan Ye, and Emperor Gaozu of Han all rolled into one.

But to an outsider, the atmosphere probably looked more like this: chuunibyou dialogue, chuunibyou expressions, chuunibyou clothing, and real leather plus a group of chuunibyou subordinates who loved doing chuunibyou things.

This was a blood-soaked residence.

Not long ago, the blood of the Hyena Gang’s members had drenched the place.

But at this moment, the sheer concentration of chuunibyou energy inside the residence had completely suppressed even the smell of blood.

Of course, even if this haunted residence truly produced some bizarre supernatural event, the people living here probably would not be the ones frightened.

After all, the house already contained vampires, zombies, and all sorts of other things.

If anything, the “ghosts” would probably be the ones who should feel afraid.

So at least among everyone present, not a single person felt there was anything inappropriate about Zheng Fan’s current behavior.

To them, life was perhaps more like a game.

Their madness and utter lack of restraint might look somewhat psychotic to ordinary people.

But precisely because they had never planned to die peacefully in bed or retire into seclusion in the mountains, they were able to preserve the sort of true freedom and passion for life that ordinary people could only envy.

The Blind Man Bei took out a small box.

While recounting everything that had happened during Zheng Fan and the others’ absence, he removed the deeds, valuables, indenture contracts, and other documents from inside one by one.

He looked like a loyal, diligent professional manager reporting revenue and assets to the true owner of the business.

Zheng Fan passed the documents through his hands one by one.

In truth, the money and goods amounted to quite a lot.

But compared with the actual monetary value of the wealth, what truly intoxicated him was the feeling of slowly piling up and storing one’s possessions like a little squirrel hoarding pinecones.

Arriving in this unfamiliar world, slowly accumulating a foundation of his own, growing one step at a time, becoming stronger bit by bit perhaps this was the pleasure of “kingdom-building.”

After the Blind Man Bei finished speaking, it was Xue San’s turn to recount everything that had happened after they went out as civilian laborers.

During the peaceful half year before this, Xue San had often performed storytelling onstage.

So there was no questioning his eloquence.

And during his account, he especially emphasized Zheng Fan’s critical role in the entire affair.

For example:

Fortunately, Master had served as the anchor that stabilized everything.

Fortunately, Master’s eyes were like torches and he had long since seen through the entire situation.

Fortunately, Master remained calm and steady.

Fortunately, Master adapted at the crucial moment and turned the tide!

Every few sentences, Xue San made sure to circle back and underline the key point.

Even Zheng Fan, dressed in leopard skin, found his face growing hot.

He lowered his head and drank tea to conceal his embarrassment.

As for the three who had not gone the Blind Man, A’Ming, and the Fourth Lady every time they heard one of these key points, they cooperated with Xue San by nodding with complete seriousness.

Their mouths even formed the appropriate responses:

“Oh.”

“Wow.”

“As expected.”

“Indeed.”

“Worthy of Master.”

“Precisely.”

It was as though, in their eyes, Zheng Fan serving as the central pillar in absolutely everything was the most natural fact in the world.

For the first time, Zheng Fan experienced a kind of sorrow belonging only to those in high positions.

With people licking your boots like this, it really was no wonder some emperors in ancient times had ended up making such ridiculous fools of themselves.

After Xue San finished, he slammed his teacup onto the table with a loud smack, as though striking a storyteller’s block.

“To know what happens next, listen to the next installment!”

The Blind Man Bei immediately turned toward Zheng Fan.

“So, Master obtained an official appointment.”

“It’s only an empty shell with a title.

“When I returned, I met the county magistrate and the Pacification Commissioner of Tiger Head City.

“My impression was that they treated me as someone who barely mattered.

“They didn’t mention a single thing about weapons, provisions, or personnel.”

In truth, this was simply a game of passing the buck.

The Blind Man Bei, however, smiled.

“Many times, having no title at all is what truly makes things difficult.

“Before this, I had only planned to integrate and unify Tiger Head City’s underground forces.

“Once that was done, we would build our own merchant caravan and begin accumulating our first real capital.

“After that, we would establish a force that truly belonged to us.

“My original idea was to secretly organize a mounted bandit force outside Tiger Head City.

“But now that Master has obtained an officially recognized establishment, this is an enormous help.”

Hearing the Blind Man Bei put it that way, Zheng Fan suddenly felt somewhat better.

There was a feeling of oh.

So the piece of garbage I picked up actually has some value.

Thinking about it, that made sense.

For anyone else, this empty Lieutenant Commander post would probably be nothing more than a sinecure.

At best, they might collect some pay.

Nobody above or below would care much about them.

And if the Marquis of Zhenbei’s line truly ended up being stripped of its feudal power in the future, the mark tying them to the Marquis’s faction could even drag them down with it.

But Zheng Fan had a whole group of Demon Kings under him.

From making money, to organization, to troop training, to commanding soldiers he had talent for all of it.

And not merely talent.

Top-tier talent.

“We cannot waste this authorized establishment of three hundred cavalry,” Liang Cheng said.

He had fought wars before.

Barring anything unexpected, this three-hundred-man cavalry force would nominally be under Master’s command, but in practice Liang Cheng would likely be the one actually responsible for it.

“Of course.

“From this point on, our work should focus primarily on this.

“Whether men, horses, weapons, or equipment, we must make them the best possible.

“And most importantly—this force can nominally belong to the State of Yan, but in reality, it must be loyal to us.”

“Loyal to Master.”

Xue San corrected him.

“Yes.

“Yes, loyal to Master.”

“So what do we need to do next?”

Zheng Fan spread both hands and asked for everyone’s opinion.

In truth, he was still looking toward the Blind Man Bei.

Because of the relationship between Zheng Fan and these Demon Kings, he did not need to worry about subordinates becoming so accomplished they threatened their lord.

So there was no need to posture or pretend.

Frankly, he was quite happy serving as a mascot.

“The Brotherhood Gang and Cart Gang need another round of consolidation.

“Now that all of you are back, we also have more hands available.

“As for the Cart Gang—

“Xue San, you and Fan Li handle it.

“The current leader of the Cart Gang is a very interesting fellow.”

“How interesting?” Xue San asked curiously.

“He killed his own father right in front of the Fourth Lady.”

“Oh.

“Interesting, interesting.”

“That man is ruthless enough.

“There’s no need to rush to remove him.

“Use him for now.”

For an ordinary person in power, it might be difficult to tolerate a subordinate like that.

If he could kill his own father, wouldn’t betraying you someday be perfectly normal?

But to the Demon Kings sitting here, Tiger Head City was only the first step.

A mere leader of the Cart Gang—even one with a terrifying temperament—was not enough to make them particularly concerned.

At least, they were not going to eliminate him in advance merely for the sake of caution.

“Got it.

“Tomorrow Fan Li and I will go take a look around the Cart Gang.”

The Cart Gang would be the first step toward establishing their own merchant caravan.

It had to be thoroughly reorganized.

After arranging that matter, the Blind Man Bei turned toward Feng Siniang.

“Fourth Lady, you handle training those young women.

“You can select several with the best natural potential and give them specialized training.”

Feng Siniang stretched lazily.

At the same time, she activated the skill known as “making eyes at a blind man.”

Then she nodded.

The “aunties” who had originally worked at the inn had already been dismissed.

Naturally, they still intended to continue the business of beauties and pleasure.

But it would no longer be the same crude flesh business as before.

After destroying the Hyena Gang this time, they had taken over a group of young women.

The inn would not sell them onward.

But the inn did not support idlers either.

Handing them to the Fourth Lady for training was the best way to put them to use.

Whether they later became madams capable of managing establishments on their own, or were trained into a group of female agents like Hongfu either outcome would be far more worthwhile than simply selling them or sending them out to receive customers.

For the girls themselves, their fates would also be far better.

Born into such a world, sold by their own families, their indenture contracts already signed there was very little more they could reasonably hope for.

“Oh, right.

“A’Ming, I want that maidservant of yours,” Feng Siniang suddenly said to him.

“Take her if you want.”

That maidservant was the young girl A’Ming had encountered outside the Hyena Gang headquarters on the day he went to destroy them.

Their relationship was very close.

After all, nothing forged a bond quite like the hatred of having one’s father killed.

“You’re willing to part with her?” Feng Siniang teased.

“Take her.”

A’Ming truly did not care.

He had very little interest in women.

That simply was not where his desires lay.

He preferred red wine and fresh blood.

The only problem was that after the girl had been brought back, she kept running into his room whenever she had the chance.

A’Ming found it extremely annoying.

“I like her temperament.

“If she’s properly polished and trained, there’s a very good chance she’ll become useful in the future.

“She might look like a northern girl now, but once she’s properly cared for and her skin is nourished, she won’t be any worse than those young women from the south.”

The Blind Man Bei crossed his hands.

After Feng Siniang finished speaking, he turned toward Liang Cheng.

“Liang Cheng, Master happens to be on leave for the moment.

“There is still some time before he has to report to the yamen.

“You can spar with Master during this period.

“Let Master give you some guidance in martial arts.

“Even if he only points out one or two things, it will benefit you for life.”

“...”

Zheng Fan fell silent.

Liang Cheng took a deep breath and nodded with tremendous force.

“Indeed.

“I’ve been looking forward to it.”

“Uh.

“Fine.”

Zheng Fan nodded as well.

He understood that the Blind Man Bei was arranging for Liang Cheng to teach him martial arts.

After this trip outside, Zheng Fan had also realized very clearly that learning more fighting skills was absolutely necessary.

What Zheng Fan did not realize, however, was that the Blind Man Bei was not merely thinking of having Liang Cheng teach him some basic women’s self-defense techniques.

From Xue San’s earlier account, the Blind Man Bei could naturally distinguish between bootlicking and information that actually mattered.

Vaguely, he had begun to form a hypothesis about the relationship between Master and the rest of them.

“Master, I’ve finished speaking.

“Please correct anything improper.”

“Mm.”

Zheng Fan waved a hand.

“What I wanted to say, you already said.”

Zheng Fan felt that the longer he stayed with this bunch, the thicker his skin became.

“What about me?”

A’Ming called out in confusion.

Everyone else had something to do.

What about him?

The Blind Man Bei seemed to have just been reminded.

He turned toward A’Ming.

“Your task is the most important.”

“If it’s the most important, how did you forget it?”

“I have eyes but failed to see.”

“...”

A’Ming fell silent.

“We need money.

“A great deal of money.

“Three hundred cavalry—from the men themselves, to their equipment, to the cost of maintaining them afterward—will require an enormous amount of silver.”

“So what do you need me to do?”

The Blind Man Bei’s lips moved slightly.

Then, with an utterly serious expression, he said, “Go pick up the soap.”

“...”

A’Ming fell silent.

(End of Chapter)