Chapter 926: Coming Out with Power (Part )

Upon hearing this, everyone present changed their expressions and became angry. They wanted to curse at him, but they saw Xunzhen coming slowly like the moon surrounded by stars.

She glanced meaningfully at everyone who was hesitant to speak, then quickened her pace and sat down on the first chair in the hall without any hesitation.

This position should have belonged to Yuan Xiao.

Seeing this scene, the three people sitting on the chairs frowned subconsciously and looked at each other imperceptibly, but no one said anything.

"Yan Shun, Hong Si, Lei Zhen, what are you standing there for? Don't you know the young lady?"

After Yuan Xiao's reminder, the three distracted people came to their senses and quickly stood up and saluted Xunzhen: "Hello, young lady!"

"We only knew that the young lady was coming, but we didn't know she would come so soon. We apologize for not welcoming you in person!" Among the three, a thin middle-aged man with a slender face and a thin body first bowed to Xunzhen to apologize, and then complained to Yuan Xiao in a low voice, "Brother Yuan, why did you keep the young lady's whereabouts a secret and deliberately make us look bad?"

"The situation is chaotic right now, and I am also concerned about the safety of the young lady, so as to prevent the news from leaking out..."

"Everyone knows that Brother Yuan's Shenzhou City is impregnable. No matter how loud the wind or rain is, it can't get in or out. What's more, the eldest lady has already arrived at your house. You could have just stated the reason when you sent someone to call us. Why bother to be mysterious and say something like 'an old friend is visiting'?" Another middle-aged man with a leopard head, round eyes, and a strong build said indignantly.

"Unfair! It's really unfair!" Yuan Xiao looked aggrieved, "It's because the servants are ignorant, not me who is deliberately making things mysterious."

"Yuan Xiao, Yuan Xiao, you really don't want to suffer any loss." The oldest of the three was a dark-faced man with big ears. He seemed very dissatisfied with Yuan Xiao's "sophistry" and said with a curled lip, "Just because I refused to tell you Su He's whereabouts, you sincerely made us look awkward in front of the young lady? You really get more petty the older you get!"

After being teased by this person, Yuan Xiao was in tears and had no way to defend himself. The other two, however, added fuel to the fire and laughed loudly.

The four heads of the four mansions in Shangjing sometimes attack each other, as if they are incompatible. Sometimes they make jokes, as if they are close friends. The previous sentence is tit-for-tat, but the next sentence makes everyone laugh. Such a strange relationship that seems close yet distant, like close yet distant, makes Liu Xunyi quite surprised. He thought to himself, "If the four people in front of me are not as close as brothers and speak without restraint, then they are fighting openly and secretly, and acting according to the situation.

Is it a fight or peace? Liu Xunyi had just arrived and met them by chance, so it was difficult for him to make a judgment.

"The four of you don't need to pass the buck to each other. I won't tell the young king of Qin about this." Xunzhen looked at Yuan Xiao and the other three with interest, and said with a smile, "We are all family, so we can save ourselves the red tape. Let's stop talking nonsense and introduce a friend to you first."

Having said this, Xunzhen gently waved to Liu Xunyi who was standing in the distance, and then said to everyone: "This is the famous Liu Xunyi. There are many uninvited guests outside the Great Wall now, and most of them are coming for him. I don't need to tell you about the various rumors about him. I'm sure you have already heard them all."

After that, Xunzhen ignored the whispers of the crowd and introduced Liu Xunyi: "You already know Master Yuan from the Yuan Mansion in Shenzhou. Back then, he fought his way through the Liaoyang Mansion, where there were many good and bad people, with a big ring knife, and laid a foundation, becoming a well-deserved overlord. The other three are equally famous. The oldest is Hong Si, the head of the Hong Mansion in Taizhou. His Hong family boxing is both internal and external, and it combines hardness and softness. It is quite famous in the Northeast. The thin one is Yan Shun, the head of the Yan Mansion in Jeju. His spear skills are ever-changing and fierce. Twenty years ago, he was known as the "Little Luo Cheng of Jeju". The strong one is Lei Zhen, the head of the Lei Mansion in Qingzhou. His lower body skills are solid and steady, and he is known as the "invincible in the lower three routes." They are the four heads of the four mansions in charge of the Shangjing Prefecture, and they are also the four heroes with the greatest power, the most disciples, the widest network, and the strongest means in the Northeast.

Listening carefully to Xunzhen's introduction, Liu Xunyi's eyes swept over Yuan Xiao and the other three, and carefully memorized their appearance and names. Finally, he said in a humble and polite manner: "I am Liu Xunyi, the 'end of the world'. It is a great honor for me to meet you four today."

"Are you Liu Xunyi?" Lei Zhen looked Liu Xunyi up and down, with a hint of disappointment in his eyes. "Forgive me for being blunt, but I thought that the man who could turn the Song Dynasty and the Central Plains martial arts world upside down must be very powerful. But after seeing him today...it seems that he is not that extraordinary."

When they met for the first time, Lei Zhen spoke rudely, which not only surprised Liu Xunyi, but also shocked Xunzhen, Abaolu and others.

"Brother Lei, I cannot agree with what you said." Yan Shun's eyes moved, and he took the opportunity to refute, "Although Brother Liu is not very old, everything he does is vigorous and earth-shaking, enough to make people like you and me who have lived a mediocre life ashamed. What's more, this is the first time you met Brother Liu today. Wouldn't it be ridiculous to judge him by his appearance?"

"It is obvious to all that Liu Xunyi is the eldest lady's friend. Brother Yan, you are praising others and belittling yourself. Be careful not to be suspected of currying favor with the powerful and fawning on them." Hong Si teased with a fake smile, and then asked Liu Xunyi, "You call yourself a 'last passerby in the world'. It sounds very new to me. I don't know what 'last passerby in the world' means?"

"People who are not tolerated by the Jianghu, people who are at the end of their rope, are the Jianghu's end." Liu Xunyi laughed at himself, "Two months ago, if Miss Xunzhen hadn't saved me without any grudges, I would have turned into a dry bone in the grave... No! I should have died without a burial place, and my body would not even be left."

"Whether it's the end of the road or the dead bones, what does it have to do with us?" Lei Zhen cast a gloomy gaze at the silent and thoughtful Yuan Xiao, and asked with a hint of meaning, "Brother Yuan, our lives have always been peaceful and happy. For many years, we have lived in peace without fighting or competing. But now, because of you, you have attracted the tigers and wolves from the Central Plains, causing unrest in the Northeast. How do you explain this?"

"I..." "Master Lei, you don't have to ask questions that you already know the answer to, or make insinuations." Before the panicked Yuan Xiao could try to explain, Xunzhen spoke softly, "You know that I brought Liu Xunyi here, and it was my idea to ask you for help, so why bother Master Yuan? You can speak frankly about what you want to say. If you want to accuse me... just come to me."

"I dare not!" Lei Zhen rolled his eyes and said, "I am just... a little confused."

"What are you confused about?"

"Young lady may not know, ever since we received the news from Brother Yuan, we have been following Young Lady's instructions. In just a few days, the four prefectures in the capital have encountered more threats and troubles than in the past three to five years. The manpower, material resources, and financial resources consumed in obtaining information from all sides and dealing with various forces are far more than usual..."

"Lei Zhen, what do you mean? What about manpower, material resources, financial resources... Are you trying to collect debts from the young lady?" Abaolu glared at her and scolded her harshly, "Be straightforward! Instead of beating around the bush and complaining, why don't you draw up a list and ask the young lady to compensate you in full?"

"Brother Lei is always quick-witted, and sometimes his words are not clear enough, but you should not just listen to rumors and make assumptions." Hong Si said in a deep voice, "Our annual harvest and expenditure are fixed, and we have reported to the young king of Qin at the beginning of the year to arrange the plan for the whole year. Now, the eldest lady has asked for temporary transfers... and it is a large-scale transfer of manpower, material resources, and financial resources. It is inevitable that we are a little overwhelmed and unable to cope with it."

"What do you mean?" Xunzhen raised his eyebrows and asked unhappily, "Are you using Young Qin Prince to pressure me?"

"Miss, please don't misunderstand me. Even if they are brave enough, they dare not bully you." Seeing that the two sides were not on the same page and the quarrel was getting worse, Yuan Xiao hurried to smooth things over. "Let me explain! For example, the annual harvest of the four prefectures in Shangjing is only one hundred taels of silver, and after deducting daily expenses, there are eighty taels left. These eighty taels are not for our own benefit, but are used to follow the instructions of the young king of Qin and continuously expand our territory and power. Officials, green forest heroes, rich gentry, market hooligans... If we don't take care of any place, it won't work. If we don't take good care of any place, there will be trouble. From top to bottom, inside and outside, it requires huge consumption of people, money, and materials. Day after day, year after year, eighty taels is just enough to barely maintain. If you encounter something temporarily, it's okay to take away two or three taels, but if you use thirty or forty taels at once, and spend more than half a year's expenses of the four prefectures in Shangjing in just a few days, then... We can't continue. Suffering is a small matter, but delaying the plan of the young king of Qin is a big deal."

"That's right!" Yan Shun agreed, "Miss only saw that we spent some energy and manpower, but didn't see the favors we owed. Let's not talk about the distant past. Brother Yuan sent people to pick up Brother Liu from Changbai Mountain and bring him back to Shenzhou. It seemed smooth sailing and almost effortless, but in fact, Brother Yuan had already sent people to take care of things along the way. Every city and town you passed by, every road, was paved with favors. Every favor is like a bottomless pit. Today, people give us a face, and in the future we will pay ten times, a hundred times, or a thousand times the money. In the ways of the world, courtesy and reciprocity, the most feared thing is this kind of favor that is difficult to predict in advance, difficult to change, and difficult to bargain for, but has to be owed."

"besides……"

"That's it! That's it!"

Yuan Xiao straightened his eyes, waved his hand at the indignant Lei Zhen and the other two, and said sternly: "Working for the young lady is working for the young Qin King, why are you complaining so much? Right now, you have done what you should do and spent what you should spend, why do you give yourself a bad reputation of 'shirking responsibility'? You can make up for the things you have missed in the past few days, there is no need to be long-winded! Could it be that you really want to ask the young lady for a debt?"

"This……"

Lei Zhen and the other two's faces changed slightly. After a moment's hesitation, they all bowed to Xun Zhen and said, "We know we were wrong. We hope that Miss will forgive us!"

Seeing Lei Zhen and the other two apologize respectfully, Yuan Xiao's gloomy expression eased a little, and he turned to grin at Xun Zhen and Liu Xunyi, saying helplessly: "Miss, Master Liu, we are poor country folk, stingy and always take advantage of others. It's really... unbecoming. I'm sorry to make you laugh."

Hearing this, an indescribable look of contemplation emerged in the eyes of Liu Xunyi and Xunzhen at the same time.

"This……"

"Ha ha……"

Before Liu Xunyi could speak, Xunzhen, with her brows slightly furrowed, suddenly burst out laughing, shocking everyone in the hall.

Then, she nodded slightly, stood up slowly with admiration in her eyes, walked leisurely to Liu Xunyi's side, and looked at Yuan Xiao, Yan Shun, Hong Si, and Lei Zhen with different expressions together with him.

After a moment of silence, Xunzhen suddenly said something meaningful: "Liu Xunyi, remember what I said? Sometimes, the country folk are not only not easier to deal with than the tigers and wolves in the Central Plains, but are even more cunning than them."

……

(End of this chapter)