Chapter 603 — Followed Again
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Gu Pengzhan had said nothing outright, yet his words had been laced through and through with rebuff and a wish to keep Li Cihua at arm's length. But even the wisest can slip once in a thousand thoughts — it never crossed his mind that in the very sentence with which he turned Li Cihua away, Li Cihua had caught wind of something.
Gu Pengzhan had said he could not "invite him over," not that he could not "fetch him." Which meant Wei Zhao must be alone — there was no fellow disciple, no sect behind him. And if that was so, there would be no rear guard to worry about when they moved against Wei Zhao.
Li Cihua was exultant. Old fox Gu Pengzhan — you never saw it coming, did you? I did not come here to poach your people, nor to hire another bodyguard for Young Master Bing. I came here for one reason only: to fish for information!
Having gotten the answer he wanted, Li Cihua did not linger. He took his leave at once, and Gu Pengzhan, making no move to see him out, watched with a cold smile as Li Cihua walked out of the office.
In his heart, Li Cihua had already come to loathe Gu Pengzhan. In truth, even without this business, he would have moved against Gu Pengzhan sooner or later — he simply had not found the time. The Gu family's wealth, if it fell into the Zhao family's hands, would be a meritorious deed of the first order!
The so-called hidden houses, though all of them mysterious clans of the ancient martial arts, each possessing masters of absolute caliber, were in fact often less wealthy than the ordinary great houses. Their pursuits differed: the hidden houses sought the pinnacle of martial study, while those other houses sought power and money.
The two were fundamentally different. Yet the hidden houses also bore formidable reputations — not only were their masters as numerous as clouds, they also counted many skilled physicians among them. It was this that the ordinary houses envied...
This was no longer the ancient world; firearms existed. But guns could still threaten an ordinary man, whereas a true master — a master of the Yellow rank or above — could dodge a bullet with ease, or kill a man before he ever pulled the trigger.
So firearms meant nothing at all to a master. Cannons, rockets, armored vehicles were another matter entirely — but such things were hard enough for ordinary houses to obtain, let alone the houses of the underworld.
And the hidden houses needed money to sustain themselves and grow — which was precisely why Li Cihua earned his living on the outside! So even without Young Master Bing's business, Li Cihua had long cast a covetous eye upon the Gu Group...
Once out of the Gu Group building, Li Cihua called Young Master Bing and passed on the good news. As for how to deal with Wei Zhao, that would need further discussion with Uncle Zhu and the Medicine King. There was no rush now — knowing that Wei Zhao had neither background nor patron was enough.
One matter settled, Li Cihua felt much lighter of heart. Without pause he went straight to round up a crew to raise the tower. Putting up a building in a few days was impossible, true, but with twenty days of round-the-clock labor, the tower ought to be finished!
Only, the wages would double — building by night and building by day did not come at the same price! But Li Cihua had no choice. Young Master Bing had handed down an iron command; fail to carry it out, and there was no telling whether the young master's wrath might be stirred.
Li Cihua could only dip into the treasury he had set aside to hand over to Zhao Guangyin. It was, after all, for Zhao Guangyin's own son — even if Zhao Guangyin found out, he would say nothing.
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Wei Zhao had meant to visit Tang Zhi in the hospital today, but early that morning Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu roused him from bed.
"Wei Zhao, come with us to the bookstore today to buy some review materials!" Gu Mengyao said.