Chapter 940: Shutting Up

Both the slaughter that had taken place in the underground maze of the Bodhi Garden and the death of Wild Horse had barely had any effects on Jade City. Not many people knew that a top kung fu expert had become a mere flash in the pan, someone who died due to “unduly powerful internal energy.”

By comparison, Meng Mingshu’s brief audience with the Dragon King outside the Bodhi Garden was much more of an interesting topic for the residents. Once again, with great enjoyment, many people started speculating about where the Dragon King was hiding the money of the Meng family. The death of the sect leader of the Heavenly Mountain Sect, Du Jian, was also one of the hot topics circulating around. Many residents suspected that there was going to be another battle between Golden Roc Castle and the Waning Moon Hall.

There had been too many killings in Jade City, so the residents had already become desensitized. Currently, they were adjusting their mentality quickly, preparing themselves for the next bout of chaos that might start at any moment. A small number of residents of northern Jade City had already transferred to somewhere else, but southern Jade City was busier and more crowded than ever, with large numbers of newcomers flooding into it, most of whom were from the Central Plains.

Central Plainsmen were very popular here. Though they were usually experienced, there were still some rules of Jade City that they were fairly unfamiliar with, which meant that they were more prone to being duped than the locals.

The only shortcoming of the Central Plainsmen was that they were not as rich as the locals as people had imagined. Most of them were constantly surprised by the price of things and services in southern Jade City. On this kind of occasion, a cunning merchant would always say, “The Central Plains is now a common governor of all countries. Even the Norland was defeated by you. Why do you care about this petty amount of money?”

Once merchants brought up the status of the Central Plains, these Central Plains guests would always blush and accept the price before enjoining the merchants in a low voice to not mention their looks and names to anybody, though they were already using pseudonyms.

Because of these ideal guests, the residents of Jade City even grew fonder of the Central Plains armies stationed outside the city, hoping that more troops would be dispatched here.

The army of the Shule Kingdom and the Golden Roc Army were also sources of guests, but they were all experienced soldiers who knew how to bargain. Under the identity of being service men, they bought things on credit from time to time and some of them even refused to pay. Only the merchants who had backers could get their money back.

As for the Dragon Army, the merchants of southern Jade City shook their heads repeatedly. “I hung a sign outside my shop offering a fifty percent discount to troops of the Dragon Army, but none of them came, and then soldiers of the Golden Roc Army broke the sign. Alas, it’s bad luck. I’m only telling you this in private – the Dragon King is somewhat ungrateful. Back then, he kept a whore in Retention Alley. Now that his status is different, he should have helped our business…”

Some Central Plainsmen liked the stories about the Dragon King’s previous life, so some merchants catered especially to their pleasure. People living in Retention Alley had a huge advantage in this aspect, especially a prostitute named Yoyo whose house had an extra edge over those of the others. Every time she had a guest who was interested in the Dragon King’s past, she would push open the small window, point at the building diagonally opposite her own, and say, “Look. The Essence Pavilion opened for business merely two days ago, but it closed down without a single customer ever coming to hire those killers. Fortunately, I was smart enough to decide to stay. Xiao Fengchai used to live there. With the support of a couple of guests that she once served when she was young, she has occupied the best position of Retention Alley for a very long time, and she didn’t move until she’s old. Um. That’s right. The Dragon King was one of her guests. It is said that Xiao Fengchai is now managing money for the Dragon King. I’m still young, so I didn’t see many of these things with my own eyes. This is just what I heard – back then, the Dragon King preferred old women.”

After she was done talking about Xiao Fengchai, Yoyo would point at building directly opposite it, saying, “You see? That place used to be run by the Dragon King. What was the name of that bitch? Xu… Xu Yanwei. She was even worse than Xiao Fengchai. Her business was very poor. Very few customers came for her. But she didn’t care about that. As long as the Dragon King liked her, her life was pretty good. It is said that the Dragon King forced a prince into marrying Xu Yanwei. Alas, I think that this is what people call destiny.”

If the guest was still interested and Yoyo had run out of exclusive anecdotes about the Dragon King, she would shut the window and size up the guest with a seductive look in her eyes. “I like kung fu practitioners from the Central Plains in particular. Your bodies are so strong. Those sabersmen of Jade City who like drinking and bragging always finish in two or three moves. Isn’t there a Luo village or something in the Central Plains? There used to be a guy named Luo Qibai. I was his favorite. It’s a petty that he died. Otherwise I would have introduced him to you.”

Most Central Plainsmen were also interested in Luo Qibai. And their excitement usually doubled when they knew that the woman they were about to sleep with used to serve a famous swordsman of the Luo family. They also paid more for the service, and they always asked, “I was not worse than Luo Qibai, right?”

Panting for breath on the bed, Yoyo would say in a feeble and shy voice, “You… You were so good. Your kung fu… must be even better than that… white camel… “

The moment the guest left, Yoyo would quickly jump off of the bed and start counting the money he left. Under normal circumstances, she would give a big smile at the end.

Gradually, her stories about the Dragon King and Luo Qibai became more and more detailed. Since the Dragon King was still alive, she didn’t dare fabricate anything too dramatic, and in most cases, she just despised her former colleagues. But since Luo Qibai was already dead, she felt that she had nothing to worry about. As long as the guest was interested, she could offer details that were more than enough to convince her listener.

One night, Yoyo, who was dressed up, had an eccentric customer who was in plain clothes – short jacket, long pants and leather boots. His face was slightly dark with a seemingly miserable look on it, which made him look like a common soldier dressed in civilian clothes. In most cases, Yoyo refused to serve this kind of customer, but this one was different. He had a sword fastened to his belt.

According to Yoyo’s previous experience, there were only two kinds of people who carried a sword. The first kind was true kung fu experts, and the other kind was those who thought they were true kung fu experts. But both kinds of them were rich and vain, so after a brief moment of hesitation, she led the customer upstairs with hospitality.

The dark-faced swordsman refused to say his name, and he didn’t even use a pseudonym like the other customers did. Of course, Yoyo didn’t care. She just beat around the bush, implying that this was not a cheap brothel.

The customer fished out four gold ingots. Yoyo immediately rejoiced, realizing that she had to outdo herself tonight. “Wow, I can see that you’re no ordinary customer. There are indeed many rich people in Jade City, but not many of them can fish out gold ingots. You’re one of them, and the Dragon King is another one… ”

The customer showed no reaction on his face. Yoyo switched topics immediately. “But you Central Plainsmen are different. My guest, you’re from the Central Plains, right? Stories of the Central Plains are my favorite. In those stories, there are the Emperor, imperial concubines, and several famous sects. There’s even a spot named the Luo Village which I hear is very famous in the Central Plains. Is it true?”

“The Hedong Luo Village is the head of the nine major sects in the Central Plains.” The customer finally responded.

Seeing that her unique skill had worked, Yoyo became relieved, and pretended that light had suddenly dawned on her. “Oh, I see. One of my previous guest claimed that he was from the Luo Village. His name was Luo Qibai or something, and he said a lot of things about the Luo Village. I thought that he had merely been bragging.”

“Luo Qibai came here?”

“Sure. He used to be one of my regulars. He walked around Retention Alley and finally chose me. Little Bai was a good man. He was sympathetic to poor people like me and always gave me a lot of money after enjoying my service. His kung fu was also top-notch. Heh-heh, you know what I mean… ”

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Yoyo leaned towards the customer but was pushed aside. For the sake of the four gold ingots, she didn’t take offence at all. “Do you know Little Bai, my guest? I heard that he was very famous in the Central Plains.”

“I do. We were close. I’m his elder brother.”

“Really?” Yoyo didn’t sense any danger at all. Instead, she became extremely excited. After peering at him for a while, she said, “To be honest, you two are not quite alike.”

“We were half-brothers.”

“Oh, I see. People keep saying how famous the Luo Village is. I never expected that I would have the honor to serve two guests from the Luo family. It must be my good karma from my last incarnation. Alas, what a shame it is that Little Bai died at such a young age. Otherwise, the three of us would have been able to have a very good time.”

“Members of the Luo family set great store by our reputation.”

All Yoyo was thinking about now was the four shiny gold ingots. She blurted out, “Then you’ll have to thank me. I’m the one who’s been spreading the reputation of the Luo family in Jade City.”

“I’ve heard about it.”

Yoyo suddenly understood. She pointed at the gold and said, “No wonder you’re so generous, my guest. Ha-ha. There’s no need for you to be so polite. No matter what, I count as half a member of the Luo family.”

The customer shook his head with a serious look. “You don’t.”

Yoyo was stunned. She hadn’t made that remark seriously. Even if the Luo family was willing to acknowledge her as a member, she might not accept the offer. But compared to those gold ingots, this petty humiliation was nothing. In order to survive in Jade City, she had been through all kinds of grievances.

“You miss your younger brother, right? It’s called the ties of brotherhood. I understand. I wish that there’s something I could do for you. I really do.”

“Shut your mouth.”

“What?” Yoyo was a little confused and also a little annoyed. She didn’t mind being humiliated, but this customer had been cold to her this whole time no matter how hard she tried to please him. He didn’t seem like a whoremaster but rather more like a troublemaker. “Do you want me to take my clothes pff right now?” Yoyo was still trying to figure out what this customer was thinking about.

“No. I want you to stop lying about Luo Qibai having been your customer.”

If the customer hadn’t mentioned the word “lying” and there was more gold on the table, Yoyo would have maintained her hospitality. However, this dark-faced swordsman had clearly underestimated the charges for services provided by prostitutes in Retention Alley. Yoyo felt like she had neem scorned. “Wow, what you said was not true, my guest. The army of the Central Plains is right outside the city, and the Luo family is so famous. How dare I lie about that? Every word that I said was true. I even know how many moles he has on his butt, and I also know many other things about him that even you, his elder brother, might not know.”

“So you won’t shut your mouth?”

“How am I supposed to eat and do business if I shut it? I need my mouth to do some other things besides just talking. How about you give it a try? Your younger brother loved this… ”

In most cases, those who were good at pleasing others were also good at satirizing people. Yoyo didn’t like this customer, so she had made up her mind to take the money and ask him to leave.

Luo Qikang stood up. This was a downside of Jade City. Nobody here knew about the true status and strength of the Luo Village, so hardly anybody here respected it. But Jade City also had its own merits. In the Central Plains, people had to think twice before pulling out their weapons. But here, people had nothing to worry about. At least, that was the case according to those rumors.

Luo Qikang unsheathed his long sword, planning to find out whether those rumors were true.

Yoyo stared vacantly at the sword, wondering which remark of hers had offended this customer. In Jade City, it was a honor to be able to afford the service of prostitutes in Retention Alley. It was a symbol of status. Even the Dragon King had used to run a brothel. What could this Central Plainsman complain about? So she put on a seductive smile. “There’s no need for this. I don’t know anything about kung fu… ”

The sword stabbed forward right into her opened mouth. It was so quick that Yoyo didn’t even feel anything. The smile on her face froze. In the last moments of her life, she still thought that this customer was just kidding.

Luo Qikang fished out a handkerchief, wiped the sword clean, sheathed it, and went downstairs.

A couple of handmaids and a procuress seemed to have realized what had just happened upstairs. They neither yelled for help nor fled but instead automatically stepped aside, silent. Luo Qikang thought that those rumors were probably true.

He walked onto the icy cold street, terribly disgusted by this ugly, dirty city. But he had already made a resolution. Now that he had come to the Western Regions, he would make the Luo family known to everybody in this exotic region.

That prostitute Yoyo had just been the insignificant beginning.