Breaking the Day-Chapter 246: Boosting Morale
Zhou Guangcai: “Brother Wen, do not play with fire! It’s the Spiritual Mountain Sect! As businessmen, we cannot afford to anger them!”
Wen Hao smiled. “Brother Zhou, as businessmen, we thrive on peace! We’re not going to fight cultivators to death nor rob them, we are just going to negotiate. Their fees… I don’t think it’s necessary to pay every year!”
The few elders nodded in assent. “You’re right!”
“The yearly payments are just ridiculous!”
“These blood-sucking parasites are taking our Qian family’s hard-earned money!”
“Yeah, we work hard all year! What right do they have to take so much from us?”
“Right, they didn’t even do anything!”
Zhou Guangcai said worriedly, “I’m afraid the Spiritual Mountain Sect didn’t come in peace!”
Wen Hao smiled. “Aren’t there Profound Life Sect cultivators staying over at the Zhou Residence right now? WE’RE the ones who should be worried! Old Zhou, just drop the act already! You’re the one who started this, so you need to get us out of it!”
All the other elders shot Zhou Guangcai unfriendly looks.
Zhou Guangcai explained immediately, “I didn’t mean that! I mean, we should negotiate what we can, we shouldn’t disturb the peace!”
“Yeah, we just want to talk to the Spiritual Mountain Sect!”
The elders agreed once more.
These people had found an opportunity amongst the Profound Life Sect’s plans for expansion. If not, these businessmen would never want to offend the Spiritual Mountain cultivators.
Everything was perfectly calculated.
However, they were looking at this from a calculative businessperson’s perspective. They did not know that the visitor was no ordinary man but Cheng’an City’s notorious troublemaker! A man that never acted according to logic!
….
“Talk? What’s there to talk about? We refuse! What’s there to talk about with those businessmen?!”
Within the guest hall, Ouyang Nan and the rest stared at Li Chengfeng, who was nonchalantly munching on sesame balls. He asked anxiously, “Junior Brother Chengfeng, what do you mean? Stop eating already. Why shouldn’t we talk to them? How will we get our money if we talk?”
“If talking works, why did the sect send us? We’re not talking to them, we’ll only fall into these schemers’ trap if we do. You’ll never beat a businessman at talking!” Chengfeng’s mouth and fingers were greasy from the sesame balls. Zhao Xiaobao busied himself with eating too. His master was here, he didn’t have to think.
Su You, Tianjun, Blockhead and Han Tianxing looked at each other as the servant and master wolfed down their food, then picked up their chopsticks. However, the impatient Ouyang Nan grabbed Chengfeng by the sleeve and demanded, “No, explain yourself! Or I won’t be able to eat!”
Chengfeng grinned. “Why can’t you eat? THEY should be more anxious than us!”
Ouyang Nan stared dumbly. “What are you TALKING ABOUT? How could they be more anxious than us? Don’t you know what it means if we don’t get the money in ten days?”
Chengfeng picked up the jug of wine and poured himself a cup. He downed the cup in one go, then frowned, “The worst thing that happens is death. If not, we’ll live!”
Ouyang Nan glared. “So if you know that, why aren’t you in a hurry to get the money back?”
Chengfeng laughed heartily and poured a cup for Ouyang Nan, placing the drink in front of him. “Senior Brother Ouyang, let me ask you, between us and the Zhou clan, who do you think is more afraid of death?”
He paused in confusion. “You mean…”
“There’s a saying: the one who owes money calls the shots. This is true but you’ve got to see who owes WHO money, and what the consequences of owing money are.”
Chengfeng picked up a peanut and popped it into his mouth, chewing as he talked. The people around had their eyes glued to him.
“Why do people pay high-interest loans back? Because they know that not paying in cash means making the payment with their lives.”
Ouyang gasped,”You… What are you planning to do? Spiritual Mountain Sect is ranked third in the world, you can’t do things like that!”
Chengfeng looked at him, musing, “But what if it involves a conflict between clans? Killing a chicken to please the monkey? An act of intimidation?”
Ouyang paused. Although he was impatient, he wasn’t dumb. “You mean… we’ll kill the chicken to please the monkey? Who’s the chicken, who’s the monkey?”
Chengfeng grinned. “The chicken will be a party whose death can successfully scare all the other clans into paying up.”
“Then it’ll be the Zhou clan! They’re the leader of the six great clans in Tong’an!”
Chengfeng looked at him tiredly. “Then we’ll be killing the monkey to please the chicken!”
“The Zhou clan is the most powerful. If we take them down, the others will yield!”
Chengfeng smiled bitterly. “Yeah but that’s a huge bite. Aren’t you afraid of choking on this one?”
Ouyang Nan snickered. “It’s just a trading family. You think I’d choke if I take this bite?”
“What about Profound Life Sect?”
“How did you know Profound Life Sect would be with them?”
Chengfeng didn’t know to cry or laugh. “It’s very reasonable to assume so. If I were the Profound Life Sect and plan to take over Tong’an, I must take the largest clan first! If the Zhou clan is leading a revolt against us, they must have Profound Life Sect behind them! Without such a power, do you think they’d dare miss a payment? Do you think they’re planning a suicide?
“Plus, the Profound Life Sect must also have figured out that the Zhou family is the most difficult to defeat! You must take advantage of them when they’re vulnerable!”
Ouyang Nan slammed a fist into his palm. “So we’ll attack the weakest of the six, the Qian clan!”
Chengfeng sighed. “They’re too weak! Hitting them won’t intimidate the rest!”
“So if neither works, what will we do?”
“I think it’s best we attack Number Two, the Wen clan!”
Ouyang clapped, “Alright, we’ll deal with them first then! Let’s eat, we need full stomachs to fight!”
Chengfeng replied, “Yeah! Let’s eat, we need the strength!”
Morale boosted. Getting the money back didn’t seem so impossible now.
