Chapter 189
Chapter 189
No one would ever forget this moment for the rest of their lives.
Even Shen Lang, who had planned and orchestrated the entire spectacle, felt a profound thrill. The scene unfolding before him was so magnificent, so heart-shaking, that he knew he would never forget it.
Seven hundred thousand gold coins and one hundred and twenty thousand *liang* of gold nuggets rained down.
It was an incredible sight.
In the films of later generations, one might see extravagant scenes of champagne showers, rivers of chocolate, or money scattered across the sky.
But none of that could compare to the golden downpour before them.
Shen Lang, Mulan, and Jin Mucong had already anticipated being buried in gold and had quickly stepped aside.
However, the creditors standing there—Seo Baek-do and Shu Tingyu of the Hidden Yuan Society, Xue Pan, the heir to the Count of Wu'an's Estate, Wu Yuanhua, the heir to the Count of Jing'an's Estate, and the young pirate lord Qiu Xiao—were caught in the rain of gold, unable to move.
They could have easily retreated from the shower of gold, but they did not.
They simply stood there, stunned, as the endless stream of coins and nuggets cascaded down upon them.
Each gold coin weighed about thirty-five grams, so falling from a height of four or five meters wouldn't cause injury.
The gold nuggets, however, weighed several *liang* each and could cause serious injury, if not death, upon impact.
Still, several among them were martial arts masters; they were hardly at risk of being injured by falling gold.
They remained motionless, waiting for the golden deluge to end.
The downpour lasted a full thirty seconds.
The sturdy table, unable to bear the weight of the cascading gold, collapsed.
The five creditors were buried in coins and nuggets. After the last of the gold had fallen, a profound silence enveloped the grand hall.
No one could believe what they had just witnessed.
The scene was surreal, almost frighteningly so; it felt like a dream.
Eight hundred thousand gold coins!
An amount double the entire tax revenue of Tiannan Province, procured in less than a month by Shen Lang, the live-in son-in-law of the Count of Xuanwu's Estate.
*How… how is this possible? Is this really not a dream? Even if the sun were to rise in the west and the seas were to turn upside down, Shen Lang should not have been able to procure this money.*
But everything before their eyes was real.
*Is… is he an immortal? No, a god?*
Everyone was too stunned to make a sound.
It was as if their senses were paralyzed, and only after a long moment could they begin to accept the reality before them.
"Agh!"
Jin Mucong suddenly cried out.
A gold nugget had landed on his foot.
But intimidated by the atmosphere, he quickly clamped a hand over his mouth.
His brother-in-law had gone to great lengths to prepare this grand, breathtaking performance to showcase his achievements. If he ruined even a tiny part of it, he was a dead man.
His brother-in-law probably wouldn't actually kill him, but the thought was still terrifying.
***
At that moment, Shen Lang felt only one thing.
*Exhilarating! This is absolutely exhilarating!*
This world was truly wonderful.
In ancient China, how could Shen Lang have ever staged such a magnificent performance?
During the Western Han Dynasty, the entire imperial treasury, holding all the gold in the nation, contained a mere two hundred tons. How could he have possibly made gold rain from the sky?
Thinking about it again, Shen Lang found his actions so gratifying, so thrilling, that the hair on his arms stood on end.
He glanced condescendingly at everyone in the hall and spoke calmly.
"Shu Tingyu, Xue Pan, Wu Yuanhua, Qiu Xiao. This pile of gold is certainly more than eight hundred thousand coins. Count it yourselves and carry it away!"
The five men Shen Lang had named stood frozen in the pile of gold, their faces pale.
Shen Lang continued, his tone dripping with contempt.
"You all spoke of grand schemes, of attacking the Count of Xuanwu's Estate from all sides, of trapping us in a net and strangling us to death.
You mobilized countless censors and manipulated public opinion.
At a glance, it seemed like a terrifying plot, but in reality, it was nothing more than a shallow, ineffective trick.
In the end, it was all just petty scheming!
It was only seven hundred thousand gold coins, wasn't it?
To think you would presume to decide the fate of our estate over such a paltry sum. It's laughable.
Is this truly the extent of your abilities?"
*Only seven hundred thousand gold coins? Do you have any idea how much money that is? Do you know what can be done with it? The previous Count of Xuanwu used one million gold coins to hire three thousand warriors, expand his fief's private army to five thousand men, and commission a fleet of several hundred warships. Even then, he didn't spend the full million, and most of the remaining funds were used as compensation for the families of his soldiers after the army was annihilated.*
But as Shen Lang flaunted eight hundred thousand gold coins right in their faces, Shu Tingyu and the others could not utter a single word in rebuttal.
Shen Lang continued his scornful tirade.
"Shameful, truly shameful! What did the censors attack me for every day? For living a life of luxury, for wearing a single set of clothes worth three hundred gold coins?
That's not true. Don't slander me with such false accusations. My clothes are clearly worth five hundred gold coins.
And I have eight sets like this made at a time.
By devaluing such fine garments to a mere three hundred gold coins, you have insulted my standards.
All of you, be my witnesses. If I ever wear the same outfit in front of you again, I'll be your grandson.
And you claimed I have a hundred fish served at every meal?
How absurd, how utterly disgraceful!
I have hundreds of thousands of fish served at every meal.
Because I love to eat caviar, and I devour more than half a catty in a single sitting.
Every one of you is so narrow-minded.
Trying to drive our Count of Xuanwu's Estate to ruin with a mere seven hundred thousand gold coins.
Pfft! If there's one thing I, Shen Lang, have in abundance, it's money.
And our estate has more than enough of it!
I can produce not just seven or eight hundred thousand, but a million, even two million gold coins.
Now, creditors, take your share and get the hell out!"
***
Then, Shen Lang walked over to the assembled dignitaries.
"Your Highness the Prince-Uncle, Lord Minister, Lord Governor-General, Censor-in-Chief, you are all here as witnesses, so allow me to ask.
Has the Count of Xuanwu's Estate now repaid the seven hundred thousand gold coins it owed to the Hidden Yuan Society?
There will be no further disputes regarding this debt, correct?"
Shen Lang had deliberately omitted the Sixth Prince Ning Jing, and the prince's gaze instantly turned cold.
*Shen Lang, you mere live-in son-in-law, do you dare to disregard me, the Sixth Prince?*
The Prince-Uncle Ning Ji narrowed his eyes, truly taking notice of Shen Lang for the first time.
He was utterly astonished.
In the previous dispute over Gold Mountain Island, Shen Lang's strategy had allowed the Count of Xuanwu's Estate to turn the tables and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
But no matter how brilliant one's talent for scheming and strategy, that alone wasn't enough to be considered truly remarkable.
However, the ability to generate such an astronomical amount of wealth was a truly rare and formidable talent.
He couldn't even begin to imagine how Shen Lang had produced eight hundred thousand gold coins in less than a month.
He was deeply impressed by Shen Lang.
"That is correct. The debt between the Count of Xuanwu's Estate and the Hidden Yuan Society is officially settled."
"Then the Hidden Yuan Society no longer has any claim to Mang'ae Island, and no one else can demand that our family surrender it, correct?"
The Prince-Uncle Ning Ji's face twitched slightly before he nodded.
"Indeed. Mang'ae Island belongs to the Jin Clan."
Shen Lang turned to Shu Tingyu of the Hidden Yuan Society.
"Did you hear that, Shu Tingyu? Our debt is settled.
Daring to try and seize Mang'ae Island from our family... you were dreaming with your eyes wide open.
That is an island of gold..."
He stopped short, quickly covering his mouth.
"Ah, never mind. I am a very busy man, so I'm afraid I cannot entertain you any longer!"
Shen Lang departed as swiftly as a bird taking flight.
Jin Mulan and Jin Mucong immediately followed him.
The people remaining in the hall looked at one another.
The Prince-Uncle Ning Ji, the Minister of Revenue, and the Censor-in-Chief exchanged several glances before leaving without another word.
They had only been involved to carry out the King's command, but today, they had lost all face.
Governor-General Zhu Rong departed next.
The Sixth Prince Ning Jing suddenly sneered.
"Interesting, very interesting. For a mere live-in son-in-law to be so arrogant... I suppose getting his hands on so much money has made him careless with his life."
The Sixth Prince also left the estate, his heart filled with animosity.
Only the people from the Hidden Yuan Society and a few of the creditors remained.
Shu Tingyu spoke up.
"Everyone, please take your share of the gold. I will have men load it onto carriages."
Wu Yuanhua, heir to the Count of Jing'an's Estate, glanced at the piles of gold on the floor and left immediately.
Xue Pan, heir to the Count of Wu'an's Estate, followed suit.
He too left behind his tens of thousands of gold coins.
They hadn't come simply to collect a debt; they had intended to use this opportunity to drive the Count of Xuanwu's Estate into a corner and seize all of its fertile lands.
But Shen Lang's ploy had foiled their entire plan. What mood were they in to collect the money now?
In the end, only the Hidden Yuan Society and the young pirate lord Qiu Xiao remained in the hall.
"Young Lord, please take your nine thousand gold coins."
The young lord Qiu Xiao didn't respond to Shu Tingyu. Instead, he picked up a gold nugget from the floor, examined it, and then grabbed a handful of coins.
"From what I can see, these gold coins are newly minted. The purity is very high.
But they're crudely made, with no designs or characters stamped on them.
Hey, was this gold just produced?"
Shu Tingyu nodded in response to Qiu Xiao's question.
Qiu Xiao examined the gold nugget in his hand more closely.
"This nugget was smelted recently, and it hasn't even undergone the final refining process."
Shu Tingyu nodded again, confirming his observation.
The pirate king's heir, Qiu Xiao, revealed an intensely greedy look in his eyes.
"Hehehe, does this weakling not understand how foolish and pathetic it is to hoard precious treasures without the strength to protect them?
The Count of Xuanwu's Estate, with a mere two or three thousand private soldiers, dares to hold such immense wealth.
It seems they have no fear of their entire clan being annihilated."
He certainly wanted the gold, but not just nine thousand coins. He wanted all of it.
"Hahahaha... Slaughtering the entire family and taking their fortune? How amusing. Hahahaha."
Muttering these dreadful words, the young pirate king Qiu Xiao left the estate.
Shu Tingyu glanced at Seo Baek-do and said quietly.
"There's going to be trouble. A war is about to break out."
Seo Baek-do nodded, but his words were purely practical.
"Men! Sort through these coins and carry away seven hundred thousand of them!"
The many powerful figures in Xuanwu City were eagerly awaiting thunderous news.
The moment Governor-General Zhu Rong's army would storm Mang'ae Island and sever the Count of Xuanwu's Estate's economic lifeline!
They waited for the Jin Clan to come crashing down.
Some of these influential figures were sharpening their knives, waiting for the moment to carve up the Jin Clan's corpse, while the majority were simply waiting to witness a great spectacle, the likes of which came once in a lifetime, or even a century.
The fall of a century-old noble house—how thrilling and exciting that would be!
After the Count of Xuanwu's Estate collapsed—or so they thought—the powerful figures who had planned to divide the spoils all gathered at the Xuanwu Prefect's Mansion.
An envoy from the Count of Jinhai's Estate, Zhu Wentai, the heir to the Viscount of Nanshan's Estate, Xuanwu City's new Master Zhu Wenhua, Young Lady Chi Yu of the Ji Clan, an envoy from the Marquis Zhenyuan's Estate, an envoy from the Marquis of Zhenbei's Estate, and so on.
By now, Zhu Wenhua was certain that the smallpox Shen Lang had supposedly contracted was fake.
Of course, he had suspected it was fake even then.
*It doesn't matter how much you act, Shen Lang. You cannot change the final outcome—the destruction of the Count of Xuanwu's Estate.*