“Hey isn’t your drawing of the chest area too exaggerated? Whose breasts can be so big?”
The triangular-eyed guy looked at the drawing. The girl looked very cute, but her chest area wasn’t realistic enough. Such a young girl should have small chests like pigeons
This Sun Mo was clearly a rookie who hadn’t touched a girl’s chest before.
Li Ziqi threw a glance at the triangular-eye guy, thinking, (you’re considering this surprising only because you haven’t seen them before.)
Pa!
Old Wolf Ren lashed out a slap toward him. (Why are you shooting your mouth off? If he wants us to search, then just do it. At most, you guys can stuff two papayas in the girl’s clothes after finding her.)
“Teacher Sun, please go back. I’ll bring you news within three days.”
Old Wolf Ren smiled apologetically.
“No, that’s too long. I want it by tomorrow morning.”
Sun Mo urged.
“Isn’t that too much of a hurry?”
Old Wolf Ren frowned.
“Mobilize all of your forces and go all out in the search. I’ll fork out all the expenditures.” Sun Mo had the spirit gathering potted plants and could also draw high-grade spirit runes. Therefore, his words were backed by confidence. “Take this first!”
Li Ziqi handed a purse filled with golden leaves to Old Wolf Ren.
Old Wolf Ren took it and opened it up. He was instantly dumbfounded.
“There’s so much?”
The bulging purse was stuffed with golden leaves. This bag alone, if changed into silver, would probably amount to tens of thousands of taels.
“F*ck!”
The underlings also saw the golden leaves under the moonlight and lanterns. They gulped and then started to feel some fear. A girl who could bring out so much money must be very rich. They couldn’t afford to offend someone like her. Otherwise, they should be prepared to get down on their luck!
Old Wolf Ren was a smart guy as well. He noticed Constable Zhang’s wary gaze and then looked at these golden leaves. He didn’t dare to accept them and handed them back.
“I can’t accept this!”
Old Wolf Ren put on a magnanimous act, saying, “It’ll suffice for Teacher Sun to be able to treat my old injuries as per the agreement after we find the person!”
After saying that, Old Wolf Ren didn’t wait for Sun Mo’s reply. He called a few underlings over and whispered instructions to them. They then left quickly. Ding!
Favorable impression points from Old Wolf Ren +30. Prestige connection was initiated. Neutral (30/100).
Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.
By the time the Zheng Clan’s butler rushed over to the Zhao Clan’s manor on his horse, Old Master Zhao had already gone to sleep as it was late. Even if Jinling’s magistrate were to come, he wouldn’t be able to meet Old Master Zhao. However, the butler was allowed in and brought into the inner residence.
“What’s the matter? Why are you in such a hurry?”
Old Master Zhao was also an old official who had achieved great merits. Back in the days, he and Zheng Qingfang were colleagues who were on friendly terms.
“Our Old Master would like to ask for your help to look for someone!”
The butler said respectfully.
“You’re using ‘ask’ and ‘your’ (2]? If you continue to act so distant, I’ll throw you out.”
Old Master Zhao pretended to be angry. “This matter is of great urgency!”
The butler cut to the chase and opened up Sun Mo’s art piece.
The Zhao Clan was also an old and well-known aristocratic family. At night, they’d light cow fat candles, and the hall was lit up very brightly. However, at the instant the Young Lady Spring Rain Portrait was opened up, all those lights lost their glow in comparison.
Due to the spirit qi’s adherence, this drawing was like a night pearl. It naturally emitted light and was filled with beautiful bright colors.
“A famous painting?”
Old Master Zhao quickly shot up from the Taishi chair [3] and darted over in a few quick steps. He admired it carefully. “Quick! Bring me my eyeglasses!”
Eyeglasses were just presbyopic glasses, imported from the Western Country. They were very expensive and ordinary families wouldn’t be able to afford them.
“This Zheng Qingfang. He actually wants to show off after obtaining a famous painting.”
The Old Master was a little angry.
“Old Master, you’re mistaken. The person we’re looking for is this young lady in the drawing!”
The butler was sweating profusely.
“What?”
Old Master Zhao frowned and started cursing. “There’s no need to bring a famous painting for that. Wouldn’t an ordinary portrait do? What if it was damaged?”.
“This is the only one there is!”
The butler explained.
“Uhh!”
Old Master Zhao was stunned, and he soon noticed a problem with the painting as well. This scroll looked very new. It couldn’t have been newly painted, right? “What is this girl’s background? A princess from another country?”
“No!”
The butler shook his head.
“Is she some respectable princess?”
Old Master Zhao guessed.
“That’s not it either!”
The butler continued to shake his head. Could Old Master Zhao quickly send out his men to look for her? However, he didn’t rush Old Master Zhao.
“Then who is she?”
The Old Master was curious.
“She’s just an ordinary student from the Central Province Academy!”
The butler replied patiently.
“Who are you kidding?”.
Old Master Zhao retorted right away. (Do you guys have nothing better to do that you went to look for a famous artist to draw a ‘Wondrous Blossom’ picture to find an ordinary female student?)
(This famous painting can’t be bought without at least a several hundred thousand to a million taels. If that girl’s value isn’t several tens of times more valuable than this painting, would she be worthy of it?)
“Old Master, it’s the truth.” The butler was left with no choice and could only summon his courage to urge him. “Please hurry up. Our Old Master will definitely offer great thanks.”
“I’ve got it!”
Seeing that the butler was really anxious, the Old Master patted his forehead, feeling vexed. He had only himself to blame. He had gotten a little excited after seeing the famous painting that he had forgotten about everything else.
“Men!”
The Old Master called over his two most-capable butlers and got them to listen to Butler Zheng’s description and take down the records. They would then mobilize all of their connections to search for the girl.
After Butler Zheng finished explaining everything, Old Master Zhao couldn’t hold it back anymore. “This famous painting…”
“Old Master, I only have this one portrait. I’ll still need to go to other people to ask them for help!”
The butler smiled bitterly.
“I understand. I won’t hold you back anymore. Quickly go on!”
Old Master Zhao also knew that the situation was serious and didn’t say any more crap. However, after the butler left, he lay back on his bed, unable to return to sleep.
To someone who loved paintings as much as his life, having seen a famous painting but being unable to admire it felt really horrible. After tossing and turning for an hour, Old Master Zhao crawled up. “Men, come change my clothes!”
Old Master Zhao decided to head to Zheng Qingfang’s place to wait. After the butler had visited everyone, he’d definitely head back home. He’d then be able to take his time to admire that famous painting.
Old Master Zhao felt very unsettled while in his horse carriage. After all, Zheng Qingfang was looking for the person. Would it be bad to be going to his place to admire a painting? However, after he entered the Zheng Clan’s manor and was led into the living room, his uneasiness disappeared.
Damn, quite a number of their old friends were here. Clearly, everyone had the same objectives.
Middle-Earth Nine Provinces were like ancient China where there was an extreme lack of entertainment activities. These people were old and couldn’t have fun with women anymore; they were unable to do any intense exercise either. Therefore, they could only do things that cultivated their moral character.
Moreover, it would look very cool to do things like pretending to be cultured, reciting poems, and painting art pieces. These old officials who boasted themselves as men of literature and writing would naturally like it a lot.
“Old Li, you are a coarse guy who doesn’t like paintings. Why have you come running
over?”
Old Master Zhao spurted.
“There’s no need to like famous paintings. I can just look.”
Old Master Li said confidently. Moreover, he wasn’t wrong. It was because the famous paintings were of the Wondrous Blossom realm and thus even if one didn’t know how to admire art pieces, they’d be able to appreciate their beauties.
“Tsk, it’s really tainting the famous painting to let your eyes, which only know how to look at women, see it.”
Old Master Zhao sneered.
When the female attendants who were serving them at the side heard these old men scolding and rebutting each other, they continued to wear an expressionless face. After all, they had gotten used to this.
Those who could come to the Zheng Clan’s manor were all close friends. Their rebuttal at each other was just them joking around.
Not long later, Zheng Qingfang came back. “I’m sorry, I just went to pay a visit to Jinling’s provincial governor!” Zheng Qingfang apologized. Jinling’s provincial governor was the official with the greatest authority within Jinling. He was truly an important character that held actual power, being a third-rank official who governed over 10,000 citizens and 1,000 soldiers.
“She’s not found yet?”
Old Master Zhao frowned.
“Not for now.”
Zheng Qingfang sighed. Given the power of the people in this room, they’d definitely be able to find the girl eventually. He was just afraid that she might suffer from irreversible harm. That’d be bad.
“B*stard. If I were to find out the person behind this, I’ll pull their skin off!”
Old Master Li had a fiery temper and was the closest to Zheng Qingfang. He was even more anxious than Zheng Qingfang was.
At a time like this, no one mentioned the famous painting anymore. After all, no matter how valuable the famous painting was, how could it be more so than a human life? However, they were also very curious about the identity of that girl. How could she make Zheng Qingfang so nervous?
At the Plum Blossom Alley.
The triangular-eyed guy, who had been out searching for the entire night, appeared very nervous. “Boss, things aren’t right.”
“What happened?”
Old Wolf Ren yawned. He hadn’t woken up completely. “A lot of people are looking for that girl.” The triangular-eyed man was very nervous when saying this.
“How many is a lot?”
Old Wolf Ren rubbed off the crust in his eyes.
“The Zheng Clan, Zhao Clan, Li Clan, Wang Clan, Cai Clan… All the wealthy clans that you can name have all been mobilized. Oh right, although Jinling City hasn’t imposed emergency measures, the checks when leaving the city have become a lot stricter.”
The triangular-eyed man was a little anxious.
“What?”
Old Wolf Ren shot up in surprise. He had wanted to go relieve himself, but now, he lost the feel to do so. The names that the triangular-eyed guy had mentioned were all the influential clans in Jinling. Just one clan alone had terrifying powers. If a few of them were to make a move…
My god, what background did the girl who had disappeared have?
“Boss, should we drop out?”
The triangular-eyed guy was really scared. They were just the Three Fish Association that relied on selling information for a living, the dregs at the very bottom of the hierarchy. If they were to be implicated in this great dispute, they might just lose their lives from being brushed by the wind.
Old Wolf Ren wore a struggling expression, his countenance changing non-stop. He paced around in the room for over ten minutes and finally smashed a fist onto the wall.
“No, mobilize all our people, get everyone you can. This is a good opportunity to curry up onto important people. It’s a rare chance. If we were to miss it, we’d definitely regret it for life.”
As Old Wolf Ren said this, he suddenly felt very regretful.
What attitude did he show last night? He hoped that Sun Mo wouldn’t be angry. And that girl, they must find her. Otherwise, if Sun Mo were to vent his fury on them, then they’d be dead meat.
Ding!
Favorable impression points from Old Wolf Ren +50. Neutral (80/100).
As they specially dealt in the trading of information, he knew how terrifying Sun Mo, who was able to stir up such a great commotion, was.
Thereafter, he started to silently mourn for the guys who had kidnapped the big-breasted girl. (You guys are dead. Even your entire family might be implicated.) This time around, Old Wolf Ren went out personally, bringing out all his prized influences. If he wished to get the merit, he’d have to be faster than anyone else.
[1] The deer here is a word pun. Lu Zhiruo’s surname is the same word.
[2] A more respectful version of ‘you’ was used.
[3] chair for people in official position link: https://www.google.com/search?q=%E5%A4 %AA%E5%B8%88%E6%A4%85&rlz= 1C1ASUM_enSG842SG842&oq=%E5%A4%AA %E5%B8%88%E6%A4%85&aqs=chrome. .69i57jol7.257joj7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF -8
