Chapter 834 - 837: Loss

Chapter 834: Chapter 837: Loss

Meng Haotian nodded and left with his men without looking back.

Li Cong wanted to ask a few more questions, but Wu Nanping merely cupped his hands in farewell and departed as well.

Li Cong stood rooted to the spot for a moment. Once everyone was gone, he beckoned to his subordinates. "Stick to the route we discussed earlier."

It was a game of smoke and mirrors anyway; everyone was keeping an ace up their sleeves.

As mere merchants, they couldn’t possibly go up against Gu Wenheng without some preparation.

This entire venture was just a massive gamble. If they won, they would get a slice of the pie. If they lost, they had already secured their escape routes.

As for Marquis Bai, who had already invested a massive amount of manpower and wealth, they couldn’t care less about him right now.

To leave or not to leave was actually a simple choice. They had already offended both sides to the bitter end. Pulling out now might just leave them with a sliver of hope for survival.

"Mr. Li, what if Marquis Bai comes after us?" one of his men asked.

Li Cong, who had appeared somewhat slow-witted earlier, now wore an expression of sharp shrewdness. "On what charges?

"Even if he tries to make a move in the shadows, by the time he figures it out, it’ll be too late.

"Never mind future retaliation—he’ll be lucky just to save his own skin this time.

"He screwed our families over back in the day, so consider this tit for tat.

"Notify our people to sell off the shops they have on hand as quickly as possible, and head toward Hai Province in batches."

Gu Wenheng and Jin Qianqian exchanged bewildered glances upon receiving the news. They hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly this time.

According to their estimates, the area around Shangjing was supposed to bear the brunt of the impact, inevitably suffering some losses.

Yet, now their personnel and wealth had returned unscathed. It seemed someone had given them a push from behind the scenes.

"Could it be the Holy Emperor?" Jin Qianqian asked.

He seemed to be the only one capable of executing things to such a degree. He must have anticipated this long before they even entered the capital. The only thing he hadn’t foreseen was Gu Dashi’s sudden passing, which gave those people an opportunity to strike early.

They had prepared themselves to take a hit, yet to their surprise, they had emerged completely unscathed.

Gu Wenheng shook his head. "We’d be lucky if he just stood by and watched the show. Why would he lend a helping hand?

"Whoever it is, whether friend or foe, we’ll find out in a few days. With such a huge favor owed, I doubt the other party will just let it go quietly."

Jin Qianqian thought his reasoning made sense. "I just hope it isn’t someone difficult to deal with. Ideally, not someone from the Imperial Family."

In this era of imperial power, members of the Royal Family were always the most troublesome.

Unfortunately, they were destined for disappointment. The very next day after the incident blew over, a letter dispatched from the Central Palace appeared before them.

The couple fell silent for a moment before speaking up simultaneously.

"Well... this is certainly a hassle," Gu Wenheng muttered.

"What do we do now?" Jin Qianqian asked.

Gu Wenheng sighed. "For the Crown Prince to boldly send a letter like this to our door at a time like this, it seems he has the Holy Emperor’s permission.

"We have no choice but to acknowledge this favor."

"Heh," Jin Qianqian scoffed. "This father and son duo really have you tightly bound. They sell you a favor now, and you’ll likely have to dedicate the rest of your life to paying it back."

Gu Wenheng was speechless. He thought, "She doesn’t have to be so brutally honest."

"It’s not entirely bad news," Gu Wenheng said, taking a deep breath to comfort both Jin Qianqian and himself. "It seems the Crown Prince has deeply won the Holy Emperor’s favor. This means the imperial court will be much more stable."

"That is indeed good news," Jin Qianqian agreed.

For some, however, this was absolutely devastating news.

When Bai Jinglie received the news, he was completely dumbfounded.

Had he just been played by a few merchants?

Overnight, all of them had vanished without a trace, leaving him with an utter mess.

To suppress Jin Qianqian as quickly as possible, he had forked over more than half of his entire fortune.

Now, he was stuck sitting on a bunch of shops bought at exorbitant prices, having deployed all his men, only to end up with this pathetic result.

What troubled him even more was how he was supposed to explain this to the Xu Family.

He wasn’t afraid of the Xu family themselves, but with the Fifth Prince and Noble Lady Xu backing them, he had to tread carefully.

"Send men to go after them immediately. No matter what, you must find those merchants for me," Bai Jinglie ordered through gritted teeth. He never imagined he could be made a fool of by those men.

They had made such solemn promises to him and even haggled for so long, only to play such a massive joke on him.

"Marquis, I’m afraid we won’t be able to catch them. They disappeared two days ago, but the men they left behind kept us distracted with false compliance. Even if we rode after them at top speed, we have no idea which direction they took," Ye Yi reported. He had sent people to give chase the moment he found out, but they had completely lost the trail.

"Arrest the men they left behind! I refuse to believe we can’t interrogate the answers out of them."

Even as Bai Jinglie spat out the vicious threat, he held out no real hope in his heart.

Anyone left behind was clearly a discarded pawn. Interrogating them would merely be a way to vent his anger; there would definitely be no useful information to extract.

Over the years, he hadn’t dared to expand his power outward. Once those merchants slipped past the borders of Shangjing, there was nothing he could do to them.

It was apparent that these people had done their research beforehand, which was why their departure was so sudden and flawless.

"Marquis, the Xu Family came by again today. What should we tell them?" Ye Yi asked, offering a quiet reminder. Those merchants from Yi Province might be out of reach, but there were more pressing matters at hand.

"Prepare the carriage," Bai Jinglie said. "I’ll make a trip to the Xu Family’s home myself."

With things having reached this point, he naturally couldn’t hide it any longer. It seemed he was about to make another enemy.

Xu Yangguang stared coldly at Bai Jinglie. "You certainly have some nerve, Marquis Bai. Are you trying to make a fool out of the Xu Family?

"We bought all those shops at astronomical prices and called in so many favors. Now, you think you can just brush the whole matter aside with a flimsy apology?"

The Xu Family had gathered a faction of supporters over the years. They thought they could achieve something monumental this time, but now, it looked like a complete farce.

How was the Xu family supposed to command respect from now on? How could they reassure the officials who wanted to throw their support behind the Fifth Prince?

"There was nothing we could do to prevent this outcome. I suspect Gu Wenheng and his people noticed our movements early on, which is why our plan failed," Bai Jinglie said.

"If everything had gone according to our original plan, we would have gathered all their shops into our hands. With a little extra pressure, those craftsmen definitely wouldn’t have dared to keep the secret recipes hidden.

"For the other party to withdraw so silently and offload their shops so quickly, they must have made preparations long in advance. Otherwise, they couldn’t have pulled it off.

"Mr. Xu, this time, we both walked right into Gu Wenheng’s trap."

Bai Jinglie deliberately avoided mentioning Meng Haotian and the other merchants. If he brought them up now, the Xu Family would only think he was unreliable for trusting the schemes of lowly merchants.

"Gu Wenheng..." Xu Yangguang muttered. He had never interacted with the man personally. He had spent the past few years stationed in various posts outside the capital, and all he had heard were reports of Gu Wenheng’s continuous promotions.

Even the family patriarch, Xu Zhiwen, didn’t hold much prejudice against the man, at most calling him stubborn and eccentric.

Over the years, they had tried to rope him in and offered him favors. Not only had he played deaf and dumb to their overtures, but he had even taught them a few minor lessons in return.

"I don’t care about any of that. Because of this incident, you’ve put me in a very difficult position, and I won’t just let this slide.

"Marquis Bai, I won’t make things too hard on you. I’ll have someone draft a list of all the losses we incurred in this venture, and you will compensate us for them."