Chapter 116
Chapter 116
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: Fury of the White Clothes Gate Leader
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Those who stand above must maintain decorum.
Face and decorum are important standards that distinguish superiors from inferiors.
But the leader of the White Clothes Gate had no choice but to leap to his feet the moment he finished reading the letter.
"What the hell is this nonsense!"
The Changil Escort Agency was the largest escort service in Nanchang, and just a few days ago, it had been actively handling commissions from the White Clothes Gate.
Business closure? Suddenly? Why?
"Hey, you! Send someone to the Changil Escort Agency right now and find out exactly what's going on!"
"Yes, Gate Leader!"
The White Clothes Gate Leader slumped back down, gnashing his teeth.
Even though it was a high-end chair bought for two thousand silver taels, it felt anything but comfortable.
'What the hell is going on!'
The Changil Escort Agency was one of the key pieces in the grand plan the Gate Leader had devised.
As the one handling the very first step of that plan, if it shut down, everything would crumble.
And that wasn't all.
"Grind!"
He ground his teeth, lost in thought.
'If something happens to the Changil Escort Agency, those elders will tear me apart. I have to deal with this.'
The organizations friendly to the White Clothes Gate each had their own lines to pull.
With the deep-seated conflict between the Gate Leader and the Elder Council well-known, everyone was lining up for greater gains.
And the Changil Escort Agency was the biggest faction among those aligned with the Gate Leader himself.
In other words, the moment it hung up its closure sign, the Gate Leader's own power would weaken.
Fury boiled over.
The letter in his hand crumpled viciously.
'How dare they pull this crap without even asking permission?'
Closing the escort business? Who the hell decided that?
Nearly half of the Changil Escort Agency's revenue had come from the White Clothes Gate all this time.
So, in a way, half of it belonged to the Gate Leader himself.
'I need to make them change their minds. No, this is my chance to take full control of the Changil Escort Agency.'
Shutting down the escort business? Perfect timing.
Unless they were idiots, they'd sell it off to someone for money.
He'd use the White Clothes Gate's influence to snatch it up at a bargain price.
He'd been secretly amassing wealth behind the elders' backs, so he had plenty of funds.
And since he'd make them pay for their insolence, he wouldn't even need to pay much.
'Yes. Turn this crisis into an opportunity.'
It was just as the White Clothes Gate Leader's lips curled into a smirk with that thought.
"Gate Leader!"
"You're here. What did the Changil Escort Agency say? Why the hell are they talking about closing shop?"
"Pardon?"
His subordinate wore a baffled expression. Come to think of it, this wasn't the same guy he'd sent out.
He hadn't paid much attention to his underlings, so he'd overlooked it.
"That's not important right now, Gate Leader!"
The White Clothes Gate Leader frowned at his subordinate's urgent tone.
"Not important? Then what the hell is?"
"Word is, Baek Clan Manor has bought up all the slums around the North Gate Avenue!"
"What?!"
Nanchang's central commercial district was formed around its four main avenues.
Among them, the bustling area around the East Gate Avenue, known as Eternal Glory Road, was one of the White Clothes Gate's main sources of income.
"Are the Baek Clan Manor bastards all idiots? What do they plan to do with land full of paupers!"
"According to the laborers cleaning up the area... they say they're going to create a street that surpasses Eternal Glory Road..."
"What?!"
The Changil Escort Agency issue truly wasn't important anymore.
Bolts from a clear sky had struck.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Fwoosh!
A messenger pigeon swooped down from the high sky and landed in Yang-hui's outstretched hand.
He untied the note from its leg and unfolded it, then looked at Madam Yeo.
"As promised, the reform division from the main house has begun the cleanup. They estimate it'll be finished in about a month."
"Heh. Just a month? Impressive efficiency."
"They're from the Black Path, so they're experts at this sort of thing."
"I'd heard about it. Baek Clan Manor is famous even among Black Path ruffians for giving them a chance to correct their mistakes and live right."
Yang-hui shrugged in lieu of an answer.
'Not exactly.'
In the early days, taking in Black Path members had been purely to swell their ranks quickly.
Since they'd already brought in Blood Lord Gu-ak, they figured they might as well make full use of him.
'Who knew it'd lead to perks like this.'
He lifted his cup and gazed down at the scenery below.
From the top floor of the tallest tavern near North Gate Avenue, the nearby slums were in full view.
"That said, young master Baek certainly thinks big. Who else would buy up Nanchang's headache of a North Gate Avenue and clean it up?"
The bigger the city, the more poor folk it attracted.
To scrape together even scraps to survive, they had to live where the wealthy gathered.
The slums formed by those flocks were one of Nanchang's major headaches.
"No martial sect in Nanchang has ever dared to clean up the slums. Give them carrots, and they eat and run; swing the whip, and they hide only to pop up again."
But Baek Clan Manor was different. They were cleaning up the slums far faster than even Madam Yeo had expected.
A good number of the reform division came from poor families themselves, so they understood the slums' inner workings.
"You can save the poor, but clearing out a slum is another matter entirely. Truly impressive."
"Not at all. It might be tough for a typical White Path sect, but for the main house, it's no big deal."
"That's exactly what makes it impressive, haha!"
Madam Yeo burst into laughter, then lowered her voice to continue.
"That aside, I wonder how the White Clothes Gate will react."
The slums were right next to Eternal Glory Road, which the White Clothes Gate had built and nurtured.
Once the slums were cleared and turned into a proper street and commercial district, Eternal Glory Road's influence and profits would plummet.
"They'll surely try to interfere, so we should think ahead about their moves and prepare countermeasures."
"Madam Yeo's insight is as sharp as ever. Exactly. Better safe than sorry."
"Haha, I'm no longer National Lord. Just call me Madam Yeo of the branch. And from now on, I'll address you as Young Lord Baek."
Yang-hui smiled faintly in response.
"As you wish, Madam Yeo."
"Haha, even demoted, it sounds better. Strange, isn't it, Young Lord?"
Madam Yeo stroked her beard and pressed on.
"Anyway, let's discuss what tricks the White Clothes Gate might pull and how to counter them."
For reference, the reason Madam Yeo was so invested in Baek Clan Manor's project was simple.
It wasn't someone else's business.
'She invested three thousand gold taels, so she's probably worried sick about any mishaps.'
A few days ago, during their first meeting, Yang-hui had handed over three thousand gold taels to Madam Yeo along with a proposal.
A sweet temptation: crush the White Clothes Gate and claim the top spot in Nanchang.
'Watching the sister-in-law and brother-in-law, eating both the pheasant and its eggs. My head's on straight, after all.'
Cleaning up such a vast slum required enormous funds.
At least five thousand gold taels by conservative estimates.
Upon hearing Yang-hui's proposal, Madam Yeo had returned every last bit of the three thousand gold.
To climb higher and reap even greater rewards.
That was why Madam Yeo was even more proactive about the slum cleanup than Yang-hui himself.
"We must prepare thoroughly. We're doing this under the banner of aiding the poor and beautifying the street, but make no mistake—this is war between the White Clothes Gate and us."
War. Spot on.
Instead of clashing swords and spears, they'd wield money and power, but a war was a war.
A fight between White Path factions, not the black-and-white struggle where force could be unleashed on any pretext.
Yang-hui tapped his cup thoughtfully.
'White Clothes Gate... For the future, I need to reduce them to near-destruction levels.'
The reason for treating the White Clothes Gate differently from Jeongwol Gate, which he planned to absorb into the main house, was straightforward.
Its longer history had entrenched its influence too deeply, and its ambitions were excessive.
"Once we clear the slums and build the new street—let's call it Eternal Bliss Road for now?"
A street of eternal pleasure. A direct shot at Eternal Glory Road.
"We'll use Eternal Bliss Road to crush Eternal Glory Road and slash the White Clothes Gate's power in one go. The cards they can play to stop us are."
Interference through accumulated connections and strings.
Brawls funded by their hoarded wealth.
"I've already thought through their specific moves, but it's too early to spell them out now."
"Haha, you're teasing this branch leader's curiosity."
Yang-hui chuckled and pulled out brush and ink.
"Since things have come to this, shall we recreate an old tale?"
"An old tale?"
"You know the one. About Kongming."
"Ah! You mean the Sealed Stratagems?"
"Exactly."
In the past, Zhuge Liang had worried about what came after his death and written various stratagems, sealing them in envelopes to pass to Jiang Wei.
The miraculous ingenuity of those Sealed Stratagems had prolonged Shu Han's fate several times.
"Sounds fun. If you're the Crouching Dragon, then I'm Jiang Wei, eh? Haha."
"How could I compare Madam Yeo to Jiang Wei?"
He flattered just enough while filling the paper.
Then he cut it into pieces and folded them neatly.
"There may be times when I have to step away. Open them when trouble arises."
"Hahaha, facing crisis yet finding joy. Priceless."
The two shared a hearty laugh, gazing at each other.
That was when the tavern room door burst open.
"Madam Yeo!"
The furious newcomer was none other than White Clothes Gate Leader Gong Ya-hyeok.
Madam Yeo paled at the sight of him.
"Gate Leader Gong. How did you... no, why...?"
"Is that what matters right now?! You pulled that stunt on me, and that's the first thing you say?"
"That was..."
Seeing Madam Yeo fluster before Gong Ya-hyeok made Yang-hui smirk inwardly.
Madam Yeo had switched from the White Clothes Gate to Baek Clan Manor.
And invested three thousand gold taels to boot.
Yet she still reacted like that to the Gate Leader.
Well, shaking off decades of ingrained master-servant dynamics wasn't easy.
"Gate Leader of the White Clothes Gate. Looks like you don't even see me."
"Get lost, brat! I'll deal with you properly after I settle with her!"
Brat. Hearing that from a shriveled old geezer half a head shorter was kinda funny.
"I don't think I can. Since when does a guest tell the host to scram?"
"What?!"
The White Clothes Gate Leader glared at Yang-hui.
"Host? Whose damn host are you?!"
Yang-hui tilted his head slightly.
The slums under cleanup. Next to them, the East Gate Avenue and the Changil Escort Agency compound.
"Take a look."
Perfectly timed—below, laborers were swapping out the signboard.
The Changil Escort Agency plaque came down from the main gate, replaced by a new one.
[Heaven-Covering Escort Agency Nanchang Branch]
"Heaven-Covering Escort Agency? What the...?"
Yang-hui grinned at the White Clothes Gate Leader's dumbfounded expression.
"What, you didn't know?"
He'd assumed the guy had pieced it all together by now, but apparently not.
This fool's dumber than I thought.