Chapter 95: Bad Luck Strikes

An exciting moment was approaching. Although Liu Chuanxiang still feared Lin Dong, who even made the plague god Lián Qiáo tremble in fear, he changed his plan of moving further away. He stepped back a little more, keeping a vigilant eye on Lin Dong while occasionally glancing eagerly toward the entrance of the inn.
“Huh?”
After several instances like this, Liu Chuanxiang could no longer pay attention to whether Lin Dong might launch a sudden attack. He saw that although the officials came out whole, they didn’t stay at the entrance, let alone turn around to close it and seal it—instead, they headed straight onto the street.
“Shopkeeper Liu, what’s wrong?” Lin Dong asked with a smile.
“N-Nothing,” Liu Chuanxiang replied, shaking his head with suspicion. He scanned the group of officials before fixing his gaze on an old man in a green robe at their center.
This old man was his trump card.
After spending five thousand taels of silver to persuade Zhou Zhengye to send more officials to take a chance, Liu Chuanxiang realized it wasn’t enough on the way back. Even if this customer from Lin’s Inn, Jiang Zhen, wasn’t a warrior and might not dare attack the officials, having fought them once, he surely wouldn’t be afraid to fight them again. Although Zhou Zhengye had agreed to send over sixty officials from the county government, who knew if they could defeat this Jiang Zhen? If not, all this effort would be in vain.
Liu Chuanxiang wasn’t in such a hurry—after all, it would only be a day or two. What he feared was that the authorities might run out of officials and Zhou Zhengye would have to call in the city guards. To mobilize the city guards, they would need to frame Lin’s Inn for rebellion—a matter that could go either way. A single mistake could lead to even greater harm than hiring bandits and scoundrels.
If bandits were involved, it would only damage the reputation of all Fenglin Restaurants. But framing a competitor for rebellion and deploying the city guards—if the higher-ups managed to cover it up, that was fine. If not, and it was uncovered, even Fenglin Restaurants’ backers would be affected.
After much deliberation, Liu Chuanxiang gritted his teeth and went to the Military Assessment Institute overnight. Since the Liu family was unreliable, in Xilan City, only the director of the Military Assessment Institute could reliably deal with someone whose strength was second only to that of a warrior.
The old man among the officials was the director of the Military Assessment Institute—a high-ranking figure whom Liu Chuanxiang had spent ten thousand taels of silver to recruit.
Today, Liu Chuanxiang was ready to go all out and was determined to succeed. After thinking all night, he was sure nothing had been overlooked.
But the question remained: Why hadn’t the inn been sealed?
Liu Chuanxiang wanted to ask, but Lin Dong was right beside him, so he had to wait patiently until Lin Dong left before approaching.

Unfortunately, Lin Dong showed no awareness of the situation. With officials coming in and out of the inn, he had no intention of going up to ask why. This shopkeeper Lin was too dull—how could he not realize what was different this time from before? Liu Chuanxiang was so anxious that he rubbed his palms together, but could only do nothing but worry. Across the way, the group of officials walked out of the gate in large numbers and headed toward the end of the street. The sight of over sixty officials together immediately attracted the attention of many passersby. Among the crowd, Ren Qingsong had better eyesight. After spotting Lin Dong and the other person from the teahouse, he strode over. “Shopkeeper Liu…” Ren Qingsong called out from afar. Liu Chuanxiang felt like an ant on a hot pan and frantically signaled to Ren Qingsong. But Lin Dong simply smiled calmly—he understood that Ren Qingsong’s call was a reminder to pretend not to know him later. Clearly, Ren Qingsong misinterpreted Liu Chuanxiang’s signals and stepped closer, not even glancing at Lin Dong, before bowing to Liu Chuanxiang and saying, “Shopkeeper Liu, you’ve fulfilled your mission!” Liu Chuanxiang felt relieved—did that mean things were going well? His tense mood eased instantly, and his mind became clearer. He suddenly realized that with the head of the Military Assessment Institute around, no matter how fierce this shopkeeper Lin was, what could he do to him? Smiling broadly, Liu Chuanxiang bowed repeatedly, saying, “Head Ren is so busy with official duties yet still took the time to deal with such a trivial matter for me. Thank you so much, Head Ren.” “Oh, it’s nothing. Ten thousand taels of silver is quite a amount of spirit stones,” Ren Qingsong said with a smile. “Head Ren? Isn’t the new head of Qiushui Academy surnamed Wang?” Lin Dong muttered from the side. “Aren’t you a martial artist, Shopkeeper Lin? Didn’t you go to the Military Assessment Institute for the annual assessment and realm advancement?” Liu Chuanxiang asked cheerfully. “Of course I had to go to the Military Assessment Institute,” Lin Dong said, suddenly realizing something. He turned sharply to look at Ren Qingsong and exclaimed in surprise, “Are you the head of the Military Assessment Institute?” Ren Qingsong nodded modestly, seemingly a bit disdainful of having to be polite to Lin Dong. “So, Shopkeeper Lin, you’ve never met Head Ren before! No wonder. The registration for the annual assessment and realm advancement is handled by dedicated staff—there’s no need for Head Ren to get involved personally. You’re quite lucky today, Shopkeeper Lin! Otherwise, only those with enough strength to hope to break through to the Lingdong stage might have a chance to meet Head Ren,” Liu Chuanxiang said with a nod. “Indeed, Head Ren. It seems you just came out of Lin’s Inn. I’m the owner of Lin’s Inn. It’s a grave mistake that I didn’t greet you personally.”

Lin Dong had no choice but to continue acting. After all, although Ren Qingsong was different from Zhou Zhengye, if Liu Chuanxiang found out about their relationship, Lin Dong feared he might assume Zhou Zhengye also had some connection with him. With the financial power of Fenglin Restaurant, it might be impossible to bring down a warrior like Ren Qingsong in Tianwei Pavilion, but knocking out Zhou Zhengye would be easy enough.
“No need,” Ren Qingsong still didn’t bother to look at Lin Dong and bowed again to Liu Chuanxiang. “Shopkeeper Liu, I need to return to the Military Assessment Institute to train. You go ahead!”
“Take your time,” Liu Chuanxiang said, his back bent and a proud smile on his face, like the sunlight in the sky.
Look, both are shopkeepers. Why does President Ren, a fifth-rank official, treat me differently? That’s the difference between status and rank.
“Oh! Right!” Suddenly remembering that no seals had been placed, Liu Chuanxiang hurried after Ren Qingsong and asked, “President Ren, why aren’t I seeing the yamen officials putting seals on the inn?”
“Seals?” Ren Qingsong was puzzled. “Jiang Zhen said he likes the braised tofu at Lin’s Inn. If anything happens, he’ll take responsibility. Why seal the inn?”
“Huh?”
Liu Chuanxiang thought he heard wrong and asked in confusion, “President Ren, what are you talking about?”
Ren Qingsong replied calmly, “I mean, Jiang Zhen is a warrior. Warriors have the privilege to vouch for others. Since he guaranteed that Lin’s Inn wouldn’t use drugs to sedate guests and steal their money again, it’s natural they can’t seal the inn.”
“A warrior? He’s a warrior?”
Liu Chuanxiang felt as if struck by lightning, completely stunned. He had lost this gamble. There really was a warrior staying in an inn in a small county.
“P-President Ren, but didn’t you just say…?” Liu Chuanxiang forgot about propriety and rushed to say, “Didn’t you say you’d fulfill your duty?”
Ren Qingsong’s expression darkened; he was clearly annoyed by Liu Chuanxiang’s questioning.
“Shopkeeper Liu just asked me to follow the yamen officials to the inn. When someone tried to attack them, I helped deal with that person. When we arrived at the inn, a few employees tried to stop the officials from doing their job in panic. Although I didn’t use excessive force, it was enough to keep them out of action for a few days.”
Liu Chuanxiang was sweating profusely. So this was what it meant to fulfill one’s duty.
“I’m leaving!” Ren Qingsong still seemed angry at Liu Chuanxiang’s questions. Without even giving a proper bow, he turned and walked away.
Liu Chuanxiang watched him go in confusion, his mind in chaos. He didn’t have the energy to explain his earlier attitude to Ren Qingsong.

“Master Liu, what’s wrong?” Lin Dong stepped forward and asked kindly, “Is it because of the cold weather? Look at you trembling—should you go to the inn for a while? I can ask the staff to make you some ginger soup.”
“No, it’s okay,” Liu Chuanxiang replied with trembling teeth.
“Alright then, I’ll head back to the inn first.”
Lin Dong didn’t say anything more. He had planned to reach the fifth level of the Lingdong phase before the inn upgraded to level 4. With the inn about to upgrade in three or four days, he needed to hurry if he wanted to reach that level by then.
Liu Chuanxiang stood there in a daze, unable to understand what bad luck had befallen him. He had already spent over 30,000 taels of silver. It was one thing to be avoided by Lin’s Inn, but even such a determined attempt was easily thwarted by them.
Thinking of the silver, Liu Chuanxiang looked toward the end of the street—there was not a trace of Ren Qingsong in sight. All he could do was sigh bitterly.
It was absolutely impossible to get the silver back from Zhou Zhengye, as he had also taken great risks. Now that Jiang Zhen was confirmed to be a warrior, if he was unlucky enough to be a warrior loyal to the court, he might even lose his position. Trying to get the silver back would surely provoke a fierce retaliation from Zhou Zhengye at any cost.
As for Ren Qingsong, it was even less likely to get the money back. He considered himself fortunate to have completed his mission. If he went to demand the money, in his anger, even if he destroyed Maple Forest Restaurant, no one would dare to intervene.
It was a true warrior loyal to the court, and even the owner of Maple Forest Restaurant wouldn’t want to provoke him easily.