Chapter 278 Friendship of Interest
The Xianwang Mansion, the central hall.

"Ha ha……"

When Luo Tianjin and Shen Dongshan met, neither of them exchanged too many pleasantries. Instead, they looked at each other for a moment under the puzzled gazes of others, and then burst into laughter together.

"Master Shen, since you are already a lobbyist for the court, why are you coming to my Xianwang Mansion today?"

"Yu'er, don't act rashly!"

Facing Luo Ningyu's sarcasm, Shen Dongshan hadn't spoken yet, but Luo Tianjin's face darkened and he scolded her first: "Don't forget that Master Shen saved your life when he was in Hexi. Apologize to Master Shen quickly."

"Father, I..."

"Miss Luo doesn't know the reason, so it's normal for her to have misunderstandings. It's okay! It's okay!" Shen Dongshan waved his hands and said with a smile, "Now, it's not just Miss Luo who has misunderstandings about Shen. Compared to some people's dirty words that are hard to hear, Miss Luo's words are already very polite. Haha..."

"Mr. Shen endured the humiliation and bore the heavy burden. Luo was deeply moved."

Luo Tianjin smiled slightly, and the two exchanged a few words, then sat down as host and guest.

At this moment, in addition to Luo Tianjin and Shen Dongshan, there were also Liu Xunyi, Luo Ningyu, Ling Xiaoxiao, Xunzhen, Xie Xuan, Huang Yulang and others present in the central hall.

"We are all old acquaintances, so I won't introduce you one by one." Luo Tianjin picked up the teacup, bowed slightly to Shen Dongshan, and said with a faint smile, "Master Shen, I didn't have the chance to thank you for the last matter of Yingchuan Pan family. This time, you have taken so much trouble in Xijing. I am ashamed that I can't repay you."

"Lord Luo is too polite! It is a blessing for me to share the worries of the Northern Sage King."

Luo Tianjin smiled bitterly and said, "Master Shen is the richest man in the world, well-informed and wealthy enough to rival a country. All the rare treasures in the world will pale in comparison once they are presented to Master Shen. I am very distressed and don't know how to repay Master Shen's kindness."

Shen Dongshan waved his hands repeatedly and said, "Lord Luo is too polite! What is the relationship between you and me? Our friendship is as high as the sky and as deep as the sea, how can it be tainted by those vulgar things? Lord Luo told me this, isn't he treating me, Shen Dongshan, as an outsider?"

"Really?" Huang Yulang asked in a bad tone, "So, Mr. Shen really regards my master as a friend?"

"Oh?" Shen Dongshan was thoughtful and noticed the strangeness in Huang Yulang's words. He was secretly surprised, but pretended to be confused on the surface and said blankly, "Does Mr. Huang Liu think that Lord Luo and I are not friends?"

Huang Yulang had no expression on his face, and replied calmly, "I'm just a little curious, how many friends does Mr. Shen have whose friendship is as high as the sky and as deep as the sea? If my master counts as one, I wonder if Jin Fuyu from Jinjianwu... counts as another?"

"hiss!"

Wong Yuk-lang came straight to the point and pointed out the doubts in his heart, causing the faces of the others present to change slightly.

"What do you mean, Mr. Huang Liu? Why do I become more and more confused the more I listen?" Shen Dongshan remained calm and asked calmly, "Don't you believe me?"

Having said this, Shen Dongshan turned his gaze to Luo Tianjin and said with a smile, "Master Luo, have you forgotten? I did not take the initiative to intervene in the affairs of Xijing. I was invited by you to help you without fear of death or reputation."

"Master Shen, please don't misunderstand. Huang Yulang has an upright character and is always quick to speak, but he has no ill intentions." Luo Tianjin smiled calmly, "He just has doubts in his heart and wants to ask Master Shen for the truth to put his mind at ease."

"What truth?"

"Did Mr. Shen and Jin Fuyu... ever discuss the matter of 'Leader of the Martial World' in advance?"

Faced with Wong Yuk-long's aggressive questioning, an indescribable embarrassment finally emerged on Shen Dongshan's face.

Under the curious and nervous gaze of everyone, Shen Dongshan slowly took out a letter from his arms.

"Master Shen, this is..."

"To be honest, this is the secret letter that Master Jinwu wrote to me." Shen Dongshan said frankly, "In fact, not only did Master Jinwu write me a letter, I also wrote him a letter in reply. The content of the letter was exactly the proposal to elect the leader of the martial arts world. However, although I informed Master Jinwu of this matter in advance, he did not give me a clear answer. Until the second day of August, I was not sure what Master Jinwu was thinking."

"This……"

Seeing Huang Yulang's doubt, Shen Dongshan waved his hand and said with a smile: "In fact, I came here today to inform Lord Luo of this matter, but I didn't expect that Mr. Huang Liu would take the initiative. Haha..."

"Master Shen, since he has colluded with my master, how could he secretly communicate with Jin Fuyu?" Xie Xuan asked in displeasure, "Master Shen, you treat the friendship between us as a business, and you want to have the best of both worlds?"

"Thank you, Master. That's wrong!"

Shen Dongshan shook his head disapprovingly and said, "Although it was Shen's idea to recommend the leader of the martial arts world, I had discussed it with Mr. Huang Liu as early as when I was in Jinling, and I sent a pigeon to inform Lord Luo of the Luo Mansion, and got his consent, so I did not make the decision on my own. Afterwards, Shen decided to write a secret letter to Lord Jinwu for safety. The reason why I replied was not to collude with Jinjianwu secretly, but to smoothly promote the recommendation of the leader of the martial arts world. Lord Luo's status and prestige in the six major sects are self-evident, but if only you agree to this matter, and Jinjianwu and the four major families strongly oppose it, how can the result be achieved? Therefore, in order to achieve my goal, I had to do everything possible to persuade the four major families, and the best way to persuade them was not for me to speak, but for Lord Jinwu to speak. It happened that Lord Jinwu sent someone to deliver the letter, so I took the opportunity to propose this matter to him. In this way, we can have the best of both worlds, so why not do it?"

Ling Xiaoxiao thought for a moment and nodded, "Mr. Shen is right! In order to achieve our goal, it is not a bad idea to include Jin Fuyu as part of the plan."

"Who can guarantee that we are part of his and Jin Fuyu's plan?" Huang Yulang shook his head. "If Mr. Shen really regards us as friends, why didn't he tell us about this in advance?"

"Shen has already explained that until the second day of August, Jin Fuyu did not give me a clear answer." Shen Dongshan said seriously, "Jin Fuyu was indecisive, how could I blindly tell Lord Luo about this? What if Jin Fuyu cheated in the middle, wouldn't Lord Luo doubt Shen's sincerity?" "Mr. Shen's explanation is a bit perfunctory..."

"That's enough!" Without waiting for Huang Yulang to continue pestering, Luo Tianjin suddenly waved his hand and said loudly, "Xun Yi, bring the letter here!"

Liu Xunyi, with a solemn expression, quickly handed the secret letter written by Jin Fuyu to Shen Dongshan to Luo Tianjin. In front of everyone, Luo Tianjin threw the secret letter intact into the candlelight. Under the astonished gaze of everyone, the secret letter burned to ashes in an instant.

This situation left everyone puzzled, but Shen Dongshan showed a hint of gratitude.

"Palace Master, what are you doing..."

"Mr. Shen and I have known each other for many years. He is not a gangster, so his methods are not as rigid as ours." Luo Tianjin said seriously, "Mr. Shen is a businessman, so he will naturally do things in a businessman's way. Even if he has to do whatever it takes, he will never betray his friends. So, no matter how many concerns you still have? How many dissatisfactions you have? From now on, don't mention a word. I believe in Mr. Shen!"

"Yes!"

Although Huang Yulang was unwilling, he had to obey Luo Tianjin's orders.

"Lord Luo is so righteous, I admire you!" Shen Dongshan said with a bow. "In fact, in addition to this secret letter, there is another thing that I facilitated behind the scenes."

"Oh?" Luo Tianjin feigned confusion and exclaimed, "One more thing?"

"Yes!" Shen Dongshan nodded and said, "Xijing General Sui Zuo, I deliberately tipped him off and tricked him into sending troops to attack the Qin Mansion."

"Haha..." Luo Tianjin laughed when he heard that. "I have been puzzled by this matter for a long time. I wonder how there can be such a coincidence in the world. It turns out that Master Shen is behind all this. Good! Very good!"

Shen Dongshan smiled calmly, and glanced at Luo Ningyu inadvertently. A hint of suspicion appeared in his eyes. After hesitating for a long time, he asked Luo Tianjin: "Lord Luo, I also have something unclear, but I don't know... should I tell you?"

"Master Shen, please feel free to speak."

"Your daughter... was held hostage by Long Yu in the middle of the night on the first day of August. I am very curious, if I had not happened to meet them that day and failed to rescue Miss Luo... I wonder if Lord Luo would have acted according to the plan on the second day of August? Or would he have gone along with the mistake and started a war as Long Yu requested?"

Shen Dongshan's question was obviously ill-intentioned and had a bit of a "tit-for-tat" connotation.

He asked Luo Tianjin to make a choice between Luo Ningyu and the morality of the martial arts world. If he chose to "follow the plan", it would hurt Luo Ningyu's heart. But if he chose to "make the best of a bad situation", he would lose face in front of everyone.

After thinking about it, it’s really a dilemma.

"Of course I'll follow the plan!"

Before Luo Tianjin could try to evade the question, Xunzhen suddenly said, "This is about the life and death of the Central Plains martial arts community. How could Lord Luo make such a mistake for his own selfish reasons?"

Having said this, Xunzhen turned his gaze to Luo Ningyu and said with a meaningful smile, "Moreover, Miss Luo would never want her biological father to be branded as unkind and unjust and a traitor. Miss Luo, am I right?"

"Not bad!"

Luo Ningyu reacted very quickly, and understood everything at once. She nodded quickly and said, "In fact, that night I asked Liu Xunyi to go back and tell my father not to worry about my life or death, and never go against the moral code of the martial arts world, and not to be threatened or driven by that bastard Long Yu. I am the daughter of the Northern Sage King. It is unfilial for me not to share my father's worries, so how can I become a burden to him?"

"Women are indeed as good as men. I admire them!"

Shen Dongshan knew that Xunzhen and Luo Ningyu were trying to help Luo Tianjin out, and his "difficult problem" just now also made Luo Tianjin feel "caught in a dilemma", so he thought it was "an eye for an eye", so he stopped asking questions.

A few people smiled at each other pretending to be calm, and no one bothered him anymore.

"I've heard that Mr. Shen is a man of swift action and has done business all over the world. Wherever he goes, he does business there. Even if he just passes through a place, he wants to leave his name and leave a legacy, and settle down an industry. Now that you've come to Luoyang City, what kind of business do you plan to do?" Luo Tianjin changed the subject and asked with a smile, "Whether you want a house, land or money, as long as Mr. Shen tells me, I will do my best to help you, to thank you for everything you've done in Hexi."

Shen Dongshan waved his hand and smiled, "Shen already has a lot of businesses in Luoyang City, and usually relies on the protection of the Lord of Luo Mansion. Therefore, this time I come here, I don't plan to do business again, and I don't want a house or land, and I have no interest in money."

Luo Tianjin heard the hidden meaning in Shen Dongshan's words and asked, "I wonder what Mr. Shen wants?"

"To be honest, I do have a favor to ask of you today." Shen Dongshan smiled mysteriously and said bluntly, "I want to ask Lord Luo for someone."

"You want someone?" Luo Tianjin was stunned when he heard this, and asked in astonishment, "Who?"

"The prisoner of the Xianwang Mansion, Tang Afu!"

……

(End of this chapter)