Chapter 955: A Bet

Meng Mingshu still hadn’t decided what kind of face he should put on even when he was already in the hall of the Governor’s mansion. ‘Should I act like a helpless victim or a successor of the Meng family who still has some pride left?’ He thought that this was all Lü Qiying’s fault. That man had listed a series of reasons of why they should side with the Central Plainsmen but he hadn’t told the Second Young Master Meng how he could make this show flawless.

Meng Mingshu knew almost everybody in this hall. When the Meng family had been in its prime, these people had been the circle of friends of his family. They were also the small group of elites of Jade City. Now, they were a group of curious onlookers with rich feelings, who were planning on siding with the one who eventually got the large amount of wealth.

Meng Mingshu moved his eyes aside and saw the Dragon King. He involuntarily felt a cold shiver run through him. The corner of his lips twitched briefly. Now, he had to act like a victim, one that everybody, weak or strong, could bully. And he also had to put on a slightly indignant and sad face. So, he cupped his hands before his chest to pay his respects to these people. When he faced Pang Jing, he gave a special bow.

“Ladies and gentlemen.” When Meng Mingshu uttered the first three words, he found that his voice was just as composed as before, so he was very pleased. Even the panic in him greatly reduced. “With the help of the noble Governor of the Western Regions, I invited you all here because there’s one thing that I need your support with – seeking justice for the Meng family.”

Everybody pretended that they were listening carefully, but they all slightly moved their heads to get a better view of the Dragon King with the corners of their eyes, wondering how this person who had robbed the Meng family of their wealth would react. Pang Jing was the only one who boldly stared squarely at the Dragon King, a smile on the corner of his lips. Luo Qikang was standing beside him with his head down, not looking at anybody.

The Dragon King’s face remained calm. Pang Jing felt a great admiration for this young man who was a couple of years younger than him. He was slightly surprised that this man could still keep his composure even when facing this sudden assault from the successor of the Meng family. But the Dragon King’s body slightly tilted to the left, he exhibited a trace of surprise and vigilance.

Pang Jing took a step backwards, getting closer to Luo Qikang. He believed that the Dragon King was too sensible to do anything reckless, but he still chose to be cautious, just in case.

Meng Mingshu felt fear creep up his spine again. Nobody in the hall gave a responses. Even the Governor of the Western Regions stayed silent. This was not the trap that Lü Qiying had described. Wasn’t the Central Plainsman supposed to step forward now and back him up at this moment? Meng Mingshu gave out two coughs, emboldened himself, and then continued. “As you all know, about a year ago, the Meng family suffered a disastrous loss. My father was murdered. Then the vault of our old mansion as well as our trading companies and banks in various areas of the Western Regions were all robbed.”

Finally, somebody spoke out in Meng Mingshu’s support. As if he could never change his lecturing tone, there was a hint of accusation in Zhang Ji’s voice. “There’s a lord from the Central Plains here. The Meng family has finally found someone who can help the Meng family obtain justice.”

This remark sounded fairly strange, but Meng Mingshu didn’t mind it, and replied, “That’s true. If it weren’t for the Governor of the Western Regions, I wouldn’t have had the courage to come here to seek justice.”

Pang Jing moved his eyes off of the Dragon King. “The Second Young Master Meng is overestimating me. If it weren’t for the fact that the Jade City is leaderless for the moment, the Central Plainsmen wouldn’t have traveled thousands of miles to come here. To be honest, I’ve always been worried that the residents here feel that the Central Plains are being a busybody by trying to take control of this city by force.”

The truth had been revealed in such an explicit way. Over thirty bigwigs in Jade City contradicted him, saying that the Central Plains was the savior as well as the source of stability of Jade City, and that by no means should the Central Plains be deemed a busybody.

Only a couple of them had remained silent out of prudence.

Pledging his allegiance to the Central Plains took Meng Mingshu a short amount of time. After that, he stood there awkwardly, too afraid to look at the Dragon King.

Pang Jing believed that it was time for him to speak. He raised his hand, signaled the crowd to quiet down, and said amiably, “But I’m a little confused. I’ve been in Jade City for over a month. Why didn’t the Meng family ask me to help you seek justice earlier?”

“Because I’ve been trying to find clues and evidence.” Meng Mingshu was relieved. It was not until this moment that he felt that this conference was an actual a trap that had been promised by Lü Qiying instead of a one-man show.

“Did the Second Young Master Meng find the whereabouts of the stolen money?” someone asked. That person had a premonition that this was going to be quite a good show, so he had decided to snatch a role for himself in advance, believing that he might be rewarded afterwards.

“The whereabouts of the money is still unknown, but I finally figured out who robbed my family.” Meng Mingshu had been preparing to make this remark for a long time, so he was able to say this in a firm and positive tone, fully expressing the indignation and sense of justice that a victim should possess.

Nobody dared to ask who that person was. Even those who wanted to most fawn on the Meng family and the high-ranking Central Plains official kept silent at this moment, darting their eyes back and forth. They also tried to get as far away from the Dragon King as possible, preparing the surprised look that they would put on in a short while.

“Who was it?” Unexpectedly, a voice came from the corner. Everyone’s eyes flicked over, wondering who this reckless person was.

Lotus stared back at the crowd. The look in her eyes was so apathetic that it seemed as if they contained the coldness of the winter in Jade City, as if all the trees and grass that her eyes swept across would wither.

‘A maniac.’ This impression of her, which everybody already had, became even deeper. Nobody dared to look her in the eye.

Meng Mingshu’s heart also lurched when he saw her eyes. Horrified, he paused for a quite a while before re-gathering his courage and turning around. First, he told himself to stand steadily, and then he looked the Dragon King in the eyes and said, “Dragon King, please return the money to the Meng family.”

Now, everybody could move their eyes to the Dragon King without any concern. There was a perfectly affected look of surprise on everybody’s face. Someone even dropped their teacup.

Shangguan Ru couldn’t help but let out a laugh, and then she hurriedly turned her head aside and pretended to be coughing.

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As if he had either not heard Meng Mingshu’s words or not have any ideas as to how he should react, the Dragon King just stood there with an expressionless face.

Pang Jing, the Governor of the Western Regions, was the first one to question him, and his tone was stern and formal. “Meng Mingshu, I can understand that you want justice, but I never expected you to make this move. You accused the Dragon King of robbing your family of your money. Are you courting death?”

Surprisingly, the sterner Pang Jing was, the calmer Meng Mingshu became. He gradually became even more concentrated on his performance. Pointing at the Dragon King, he said in a dramatic voice, “The Meng family has been ruined anyway. My life doesn’t matter anymore. Today, I must reveal the truth. Dragon King, do you dare-”

Chu Nanping, the attendant that Gu Shenwei had brought here, took a step forward past the Dragon King, his hand on the hilt of his sword. Taken aback, Meng Mingshu hurriedly put his hand down, and with that, his voice also lowered. “Do you dare to say that the Meng family’s money is not in your hands?”

Gu Shenwei gently waved his hand and signaled Chu Nanping to draw back. “The Meng family’s money is not in my hands.”

Meng Mingshu was stunned. He had predicted that the Dragon King would deny it, but he still felt a little strange that the Dragon King had denied it in such a simple and straightforward way. Soon, he understood that it was because there had been a flaw in his question. “Yes. You don’t have the money because you gave it to someone else to hide. Wasn’t it you who ordered your subordinates to snatch the Meng family’s money in various places?”

“Why don’t you just show us the evidence? That will save us a lot of time,” said Gu Shenwei.

The Dragon King’s composure made the onlookers feel even more uneasy. A lot of people began to regret their decision. All they had thought about was looking on, and they had completely forgotten that the Dragon King was a devil who could kill people without blinking. Certainly, that ban on killing that he had imposed meant nothing to himself.

“Evidence. Yes. Show us the evidence,” somebody yelled before seriously nodding at the Dragon King, trying to indicate that he was on the Dragon King’s side.

“Wait.” Pang Jing walked up to Meng Mingshu, closely followed by Luo Qikang. “Leaving the evidence aside, Meng Mingshu, do you know who the Dragon King is?”

Things were becoming more and more like what Lü Qiying had described. Meng Mingshu even felt a ghost of excitement pass through him. All of the fear and guilt brought on by his betrayal of the Dragon King dissolved. “Of course I do. The Dragon King has the 10,000-strong Dragon Army and the 10,000-strong Shule Kingdom Army outside the city at his command. He’s powerful. Besides the Central Plains, nobody else is his match. But I think that he became a different man after he imposed a ban on killing. The justice that the Meng family wants is very simple – the Dragon King must give us our money back. That’s all. We don’t want him to accept any responsibility for the robbery.”

Pang Jing sneered. “Nobody in all of the whole Western Regions dares to hold the Dragon King responsible for anything, not to mention the Meng family.”

Meng Mingshu raised his head and threw his chest out, his face full of determination and courage to burn his bridge. “From most people’s eyes, I wouldn’t dare to resist even if the Dragon King wanted to kill me. But the Meng family’s money doesn’t belong to me alone. It’s the fruit of generations of hard work of my family members. I can’t just let it disappear under my watch like this.”

“I can understand your pain, but I can’t accept your wild accusation against the Dragon King. This is not how the Central Plains upholds justice.”

Surprisingly, Pang Jing tried to stop Meng Mingshu from presenting evidence. Gu Shenwei knew this was the part where he should step forward and demand the presentation of the evidence so as to prove his innocence, but he instead just stood still in silence, as if the accusation had nothing to do with him at all.

Meng Mingshu waited for a while but there was no response, so he had to stick to the plan. HE said, “Of course accusing the Dragon King is a very risky thing to do. However, today, I’m ready to risk everything. How about this? If I fail to prove that the Dragon King robbed my family of our money, then I’ll give up the claim for it, and the Dragon King can have the money if he manages to find it in the future.”

In front of him was not a closed off alleyway. Gu Shenwei had proof that the robbery had been planned by him and Meng Mingshu collectively, that technically, it was not a robbery at all. That it was actually just a covert transfer of money. But he had no intention of complicating the situation, so he said, “That’s good. You may present the evidence now.”

Things went very smoothly. Meng Mingshu was relieved. Lü Qiying’s prophecy came true. The Dragon King didn’t dare disclose the truth because he wanted to pocket all of the money. Once he stated the context of the robbery, he would have to keep the false promise and return the money. Meng Mingshu believed that the Dragon King still wanted to turn the tide at the last moment.

Pang Jing began to feel uneasy, but he still decided to continue. He withdrew his serious look and burst into laughter. “This is very interesting. An accusation has turned into a bet. Meng Mingshu, listen carefully. If your evidence is problematic, then the Meng family’s money, wherever it is at this moment, will be the Dragon King’s from now on.”

Among all of the details of the whole plan, this was the only one that Meng Mingshu was uncertain of. He had once asked Lü Qiying why he had to make a bet about this, and the answer he had been given was, “It’s impossible for the Central Plainsmen to side with you in public. They have to act impartially.”

That was it. It was too late to regret. He had already offended the Dragon King thoroughly, and there was no more room for maneuvering. “Governor, please have that murderer named Gao Yang brought here.”

“Eek. You’re the one who is supposed to present the evidence. Why are you asking me to do it?” Pang Jing asked in surprise.

“Gao Yang is only one of the witnesses. I have another more important witness to confront him with, which will prove my every word.”

“You may summon your witness here first.”

Meng Mingshu watched the Dragon King, believing that he could endure the look in those frigid eyes, but he overestimated himself. After only a short while, he turned his head aside and loudly said, “Duan Zihua, come in!”

A skinny old man walked into the hall and knelt down before Meng Mingshu with a thud, his face ashen.

A lot of people recognized him. This old steward of the Meng family had been missing for a very long time. Rumor said that it was him who had colluded with the Dragon King and stolen the Meng family’s money.

In fact, Gu Shenwei was slightly surprised. He had thought that the place where he had hidden Duan Zihua was covert enough. Unexpectedly, the opponent had still found Duan Zihua, and he had even totally unaware of it until this moment.