Chapter 65. It will be resolved if you bring it.

Fangzhu Li Shichang of the Baixiang Trading House immediately brought up the story he had heard from Fangzhu Liu Zhishang of the Jianhua Trading House as soon as he met Daxingshou Li Yanfu.

As soon as he heard the words of the Shuolong Hall Master, Li Yanfu's face stiffened.

"Fangzhu, now that I think about it, a caravan that left Zhengzhou four days ago has not been heard from. I was planning to wait until tomorrow, but it seems we should check with the Walong Hall first."

Wrinkles deepened on Li Shichang's forehead.

If it was coming from Zhengzhou, it would have to pass through Jiulong Hall's territory. If what the Shuolong Hall Master said was true, something might have happened at Jiulong Hall.

"We need to catch and question Bai Meizhu."

The two immediately got into the carriage at the trading house and headed for Yanshi.

Lian Wushang and Lian Wuming accompanied Li Shichang and Li Yanfu for protection.

It would take about an hour (2 hours) to reach Yanshi.

Li Shichang, who had been silently looking out the window, turned his head to Lian Wushang across from him.

"Do you know what's going on between Walong Hall and the Luolin bandits?"

"No, I don't."

"Have you been to Walong Hall recently?"

"I went there half a month ago and haven't been back since. Is something wrong?"

"Ha! At Walong Hall... No, never mind. You'll find out soon enough."

Li Shichang gritted his teeth.

Since even the Lians at the Baixiang Trading House didn't know, it seemed they had deliberately kept it hidden.

As Li Shichang was trying to calm down, Li Yanfu said,

"Fangzhu, there are two caravans currently on their way to Luoyang. One has to pass through Jiulong Hall, and the other through Wufeng Mountain Hall and Chifeng Hall."

"I'm going to go crazy."

If even one caravan is lost, it would create a hole in the finances for about three years.

Two would mean at least six years. It means we would have to make up for the losses for six whole years.

We were just about to leap into a major trading house, but it looks like we're going to collapse like this.

'Bai Meizhu, I won't let this woman off...'

Grinding his teeth, Li Shichang hurriedly got out of the carriage as soon as it arrived at Walong Hall.

The moment he saw Bai Meizhu's face, the emotions he had been suppressing for an hour exploded.

"Listen here! I heard something earth-shattering from Fangzhu Liu of Jianhua Trading House today, and you need to explain it properly!"

"W-What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"What do you mean, 'what am I talking about'? Are you really asking this? What happened between Luolin Mountain Hall and Walong Hall! Why did the Shuolong Hall Master suddenly say such a thing!"

Bai Meizhu's heart sank, but she put on a calm face.

"Fangzhu, please calm down and tell me. What exactly did the Shuolong Hall Master say?"

"Jianhua Trading House said that caravans using Walong Hall's guards can no longer pass through Luolin's territory. They even said that the Chief Inspector ordered them to plunder. Is that possible without a major conflict between Walong Hall and Luolin? Come on, let's hear your explanation."

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

"What do you mean, 'what am I talking about'? Are you going to keep dodging? One caravan that should have arrived yesterday is now missing! There's another one on its way to Wufeng Mountain. If something happens to these two caravans, will you take responsibility?"

"Two caravans?"

Bai Meizhu was completely at a loss.

Is it really going as the bandit at Wufeng Mountain said?

Li Shichang, who was well-versed in dealing with people, immediately read something from Bai Meizhu's expression.

"Come on! Your face says it all! What is it? What happened between Walong Hall and Luolin? We need to know to come up with a plan! If you keep lying, I won't forgive you!"

Hesitating, Bai Meizhu sighed deeply.

"Since you can see through it, let's go inside. I'll explain everything."

"Alright. Lead the way."

Bai Meizhu led Li Shichang and Li Yanfu to the guest hall.

"Ha! Have you two ever heard of the Five Heroes of Luoyang?"

Surprised by Bai Meizhu's sudden question, Li Shichang and Li Yanfu shook their heads.

If it was a famous martial artist, they might have known, but it wasn't a name that would reach the ears of a trading house's Fangzhu and Daxingshou.

"It's a group formed by the children of the five martial arts schools in Luoyang to go on adventures."

"Tsk! What does that have to do with Luolin?"

Li Shichang urged her to get to the point.

"The children defied their families and went on a journey. They got into a dispute with Wufeng Mountain Hall and were all taken hostage."

"So?"

"My daughter was one of the Five Heroes of Luoyang. She was also taken hostage at Wufeng Mountain."

Muttering, Li Shichang listened quietly as the story of Luolin Mountain Hall came up.

"One of the bandits at Wufeng Mountain started to torment my daughter. While other martial arts schools paid two hundred taels for ransom, Walong Hall had to pay a thousand taels."

"Wow! Did you manage to gather a thousand taels?"

Li Shichang, who knew the financial situation of Walong Hall, seemed curious even in this situation.

"Fortunately, one of the Five Heroes' families provided the funds. I thought it would end there... but my daughter told me that the bandit threatened to ruin Walong Hall. I didn't believe it at first. There was no reason for Walong Hall and Luolin to have any grudges, so I thought it was just the bandit's angry words."

"..."

Li Shichang and Li Yanfu looked at Bai Meizhu with blank faces.

If her story was true, it would be difficult to hold Walong Hall responsible.

Li Yanfu asked for confirmation.

"Is there really nothing else that could have caused a conflict with Luolin? Think carefully."

"Absolutely nothing. As you know, Walong Hall has never been involved in martial activities. We only have the Qinglong and Baihu teams at the Baixiang Trading House. If there had been a conflict with Luolin, you and Daxingshou would have heard about it first."

Since her story was true, Li Shichang and Li Yanfu couldn't refute it.

After a moment of deep thought, Li Shichang spoke.

"It's like Walong Hall was hit by a bolt from the blue, but since it's come to this, what can we do? We need to resolve it."

"Maybe the caravans are just delayed for other reasons. Honestly, I still can't believe it."

"I've already instructed other caravans to avoid Luolin Mountain Hall. I'm worried about the caravans from Zhengzhou and Tapha, but we'll have to wait and see."

Li Yuanfu added,

"The caravan from Zhengzhou should have arrived yesterday, but we haven't heard from them. The one from Tapha will pass Wufeng Mountain Hall in a few days..."

Bai Meizhu's face stiffened.

"I don't know about Zhengzhou, but Wufeng Mountain Hall might interfere with the caravan. Can we send a message to the caravan from Tapha to take a different route? Oh, maybe it's too late..."

Li Shichang pressed his temples with his left hand and said,

"It's too late. If I had heard this a few days earlier, it would have been better... Regardless of other regions of Luolin, why didn't you tell us about Wufeng Mountain Hall?"

Li Shichang glared at Bai Meizhu.

At the very least, they could have avoided Wufeng Mountain Hall, but they didn't even have that chance.

"As I said... I thought it was just the bandit's angry words."

"Damn it!"

Li Shichang slammed the table.

For a while, the three of them said nothing.

Suddenly, Li Shichang asked,

"By any chance, was there something unspeakable between your daughter and the bandits?"

He thought that Walong Hall had opposed the relationship between the bandits and the daughter, causing a rift.

It didn't make sense that nothing happened between the daughter and the bandits since she was held captive for so long.

Bai Meizhu jumped up.

"Absolutely not! If you know the families of the Five Heroes of Luoyang, you wouldn't think that. Even the bandits couldn't mistreat the Five Heroes of Luoyang."

"What kind of families are the Five Heroes of Luoyang from?"

"Besides my daughter, there are children from Puxian Sect, Dalian Sect, Qiyang Sect, and Yitian Sect."

"Yitian Sect? You don't mean...?"

"Yes. The third daughter of the Gentleman Sword, Li Xiaomin. Now you understand why the bandits couldn't mistreat them, right?"

Li Shichang didn't raise any more doubts.

He couldn't speak lightly about a matter involving the third daughter of the Gentleman Sword. If he accidentally offended the Yitian Sect, it would be hard to survive in Luoyang.

Still, to have the daughter of the Yitian Sect's head as a hostage?

The more he thought about it, the more daring the bandits seemed.

"Ha! I thought the bandits at Wufeng Mountain Hall were gentle... It seems it was just a rumor."

Muttering to himself, Li Shichang asked Bai Meizhu,

"Madam Bai, what do you plan to do from now on?"

"Ha! I don't know. I'm too shocked to think straight."

Li Shichang quickly calculated the pros and cons.

It was clear that the two caravans would return empty-handed, so he needed to find a way to recover the losses.

The only thing that came to mind was the Gongxian Yao of the Sanzhen Trading House.

If they took it, the time needed to recover the losses would be halved.

"Let's do this."

As Li Shichang subtly hinted, Bai Meizhu's eyes lit up.

She had no choice but to accept whatever Li Shichang demanded.

"Walong Hall has no choice but to withdraw from caravan protection. That leaves only the management of the Baixiang Trading House's business premises. Isn't that right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"As you know, the current business premises aren't enough to fully employ the Qinglong and Baihu teams. Moreover, we might lose two caravans, and the responsibility lies with Walong Hall."

Bai Meizhu weakly nodded.

"To recover the losses from the two caravans and to continue employing Walong Hall's guards, the expansion of the business premises is essential. If we bring the Gongxian Yao from the Sanzhen Trading House, all problems will be resolved."

A sigh escaped Bai Meizhu's lips as the long story ended.

It was as if he was asking Walong Hall to bleed.

"Ha! I want to, but the situation is not favorable. How long has it been since we were attacked in Yezhou? To send my disciples..."

"If we can't bring the Gongxian Yao, Walong Hall will have to send the disciples back home. I plan to hire only ten for business premises management, paying one tael of silver per month."

Bai Meizhu's breathing became heavy with shock.

It meant that the total monthly income would be ten taels of silver.

'Even if I give five hundred cash to each of the ten... '

Walong Hall's income would drop to five taels of silver.

That amount wouldn't be enough to feed the forty guards, the Shangsheng Team, and the Zhanlong Team of fifty. In the end, all the disciples under Walong Hall's management would have to be dismissed. The thought of it was disheartening.

"Madam Bai, if we do nothing, we'll have to dismiss everyone anyway. After all the hard work to raise them, are you going to feed them to the dogs? If we bring the Gongxian Yao, we can protect the Qinglong and Baihu teams. What will you do?"

"Ha..."

As Bai Meizhu hesitated, Li Yanfu chimed in.

"Madam Bai, we have the moral high ground, so no one can criticize us. The Sanzhen Trading House has increased in numbers by recruiting wandering martial artists, but how can they compare to Walong Hall?"

Li Shichang wore a calm expression.

He knew that Bai Meizhu would accept his proposal. She wouldn't let go of her disciples, who were her hope for a martial arts family!

"I understand. But it's impossible right now. Let's discuss it again after seeing the condition of the Hall Master."

"Alright. But don't take too long. If the Sanzhen Trading House grows bigger, we might just give up."

Li Shichang subtly pressured her.

Understanding his words, Bai Meizhu gritted her teeth.

Haste makes waste. The priority now was to treat Lian Wu's injuries.

***

Baofeng County.

Xiajia Village.

At dusk, an elegant old man and a beautiful young lady entered the village. They were Yitian Sword Master Li Yizheng and his granddaughter Li Xiaomin, who had set out for revenge.

"Grandpa, that mountain is Wufeng Mountain. It's late, so let's stay at an inn tonight."

"Hehe. Let's do that."

The two then headed to a nearby restaurant to satisfy their hunger.