Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
From the peak to the gutter, and then from the gutter back to the peak. Evan after having survived various crises in her life, Madam Meng’s looks hadn’t changed much.
She was not the kind of woman who would make concessions to ask for forgiveness. Even at her most miserable, she still refused to sacrifice her looks. Another She had the least faith in the so-called husband-wife relationship. Having been living with the Unique King for many years, she was very sure of one thing: as long as she was still useful, the Unique King would never let her go.
Madam Meng’s value lay in her cleverness and family name.
Before her sat two men. One of them was her natural-born son who had been separated from her for many years, who was her hope, her everything, and the only one in the world that she had genuine emotional attachment towards. The other was the Dragon King, who was currently disguised, and whose feature and disposition were different from those in Madam Meng’s memory.
A lot of effort had been put into arranging this meeting. The Dragon King didn’t have much trust in Madam Meng and her son. As such, Shangguan Fei had to make a series of guarantees and had even offered to stay beside the Dragon King as a hostage. Meng Mingshu played the role of intermediary and offered his private mansion as the meeting place.
First, Madam Meng had paid a visit to Meng Yuzun and entered into a small verbal conflict with him. She had assumed an air of anger when she left the Bodhi Garden, which let her naturally progress to visiting Meng Mingshu’s private mansion to spill out her “grievances” to the heir of the Meng family.
“Five years,” Madam Meng couldn’t help sigh. “The Dragon King won’t mind me reminiscing about Servant Huan briefly just now, would you?”
Gu Shenwei shook his head as he answered, “I myself have never forgotten my past.”
Madam Meng smiled and asked, “Did Fei’er convey my gratitude to you? The Dragon King provided shelter to my son and daughter in spite of the grudges between us. I’ll never forget your great kindness and all the favors you’ve help us with.”
The last time they had met, Madam Meng had been a superior Mother Lord, and Gu Shenwei a vicious killer. Now, their status had changed, and Madam Meng’s attitude had changed correspondingly. Gu Shenwei knew that she was sounding him out.
Madam Meng had heard a lot of rumors, but she still needed to confirm this through a face-to-face meeting and determine for herself whether or not the Dragon King was powerful enough to fight against the Unique King, as well as whether or not the Dragon King was trustworthy.
The ones who were truly powerful all shared some common traits, which Madam Meng believed she had the insight to identify.
Gu Shenwei glanced at Shangguan Fei and responded, “You don’t have to be thankful to me, Madam Meng. Your son and daughter have been of great help to me in their own right.”
Shangguan Fei had developed a habit of observing the Dragon King at all times and so he didn’t miss the glance that the Dragon King gave him. Immediately, he added on, saying, “The Dragon King has taken very good care of me and my younger sister. We learned a lot from the Dragon King that we could have never learned if we stayed in the Stone Castle.”
Upon seeing her biological son flattering a former servant, Madam Meng felt a sharp stab of emotion, but in the meanwhile, she was convinced that the Dragon King must be somebody, so she stopped smiling, ready to move onto the main topic. “Fei’er, leave us.”
Shangguan Fei was a little surprised. He had thought that it would be the Dragon King who would ask him to leave, but he was more sophisticated now, so he smoothly said “Yes,” bowed to the Dragon King, and then left.
“I want to know just how far you’re willing to go to get your revenge. There’s been some rumors that everything you’ve been doing is just expedient and that you will eventually kill every member of the Shangguan family to avenge the death of your family members.”
Facing Madam Meng, Gu Shenwei knew that a simple promise wouldn’t work, so he straightforwardly replied, “That’s indeed my plan.”
Madam Meng squinted slightly. “Then why should I ally myself with the Dragon King? I’m the Unique King’s wife. All of my children are surnamed Shangguan.”
“I’ll change my plan under two concurrent circumstances. One of them has already happened. As for the other one, I’ll need Madam Meng’s assistance.”
Madam Meng smiled again and replied, “To be on the safe side, I’d like to hear about the one that has already happened.”
“My military counselor told me that if I wanted to compete with the Unique King, I must not become the second Unique King. Instead, I have to be the opposite of him. If I’m to be the true King of the Western Regions, I have to put aside my personal affairs. Revenge is personal. It can help me gather some like-minded companions, but in the end, it will scare away far more people whose total power might be ten times greater.”
“You have an excellent counselor,” Madam Meng praised after pondering his words for a while. “But this boundary is very easy for you to cross. All you need to do is provoke the King Lord and lure him in. And when he goes too far, more people will be willing to help you eradicate the Shangguan family.”
“I might do that.”
“And what about the second condition that hasn’t been fulfilled yet?”
“The Unique King is just a killer, and someone paid him to kill. If I find out the mastermind behind the scenes, I can transfer my hatred. With regards to Golden Roc Castle, Shangguan Fa is the only one who must die.”
Madam Meng narrowed her eyes even more. In her eyes, the second condition was more reliable than the first one. “You have no clues about who was behind all that?”
“I checked that year’s records in White Clothes Yard, but the case of the Gu family was not there.”
Madam Meng knew well how the Golden Roc Castle operated and said, “If the customer’s special, there wouldn’t be any written records, and the King Lord might be the only one who knows the details.”
“That is the reason why I shall show mercy to the rest of the Shangguan family. Or you can call it a condition. And I believe that nobody’s more capable of doing this than you are.”
Madam Meng didn’t like the words “show mercy,” but she managed to hide her distaste. “The Dragon King used to be a killer, too, so you should know that killers can be very stubborn in certain respects. The King Lord won’t ever say anything about this. Even if the Stone Castle fell and you put a knife to his throat, he still won’t say a single word.”
Gu Shenwei nodded in understanding.
Then Madam Meng pondered awhile more before saying, “But the King Lord’s not just a killer. He knows that he should always keep some dirt on all his customers in case he might need it someday. So he must have kept some evidence which can prove the identity of the true mastermind.”
“That is exactly what I want.” Gu Shenwei had to admit that he liked this kind of simple and direct negotiation with Madam Meng. Mutual understanding was the crucial part to any form of cooperation.
“I think I can do it,” Madam Meng said positively.
“I’ll spare all the other Shangguan family members once I receive the evidence – as long as they don’t make enemies of me, of course,” Gu Shenwei said, waiting for the other side to state her terms.
“Of course. To be honest, except for Fei’er and me, the Dragon King can do whatever you want to rest of the Shangguan family members.”
“Hmm, I’m not going to change my mind.”
“Speaking of Fei’er, he told the Dragon King of my request, right?”
“He did.”
“Fei’er will be the next Unique King and inherit Golden Roc Castle along with all of the other properties.”
“I don’t want to hide this from you, Madam Meng, but I’ve already promised Golden Roc Castle to someone else. So, I’m afraid that the new Unique King will have to find a new dwelling place.”
Madam Meng smiled, knowing that her son must have spilled the beans and that was why the Dragon King was so confident, “All right. I know that plenty of people have been coveting the Stone Castle, so it might be difficult for you to decide on who the owner should be. The Shangguan family has some properties in Jade City as well as some other places of the Western Regions. I’d like Fei’er to have those. Would you mind?”
“Not at all.”
The alliance was thereby formed. Madam Meng called Shangguan Fei and Meng Mingshu in for a consultation on the current situation.
Meng Mingshu knew that his father had been murdered and that the one in the Bodhi Garden was just a puppet. He expressed his indignation moderately, but Madam Meng reminded him, “Mingshu, you’re the actual patriarch of Meng family now and the owner of assets worth billions, so you have the right to decide on what you want to do with it.”
Meng Mingshu had been contemplating this issue for the last few days, and he immediately replied, “The Unique King murdered my father. Our wealth must never fall into the enemy’s hands and serve his evil purpose. I’m willing to loan the money to the Dragon King. It’s just that… I’m afraid it’s not that easy.”
Meng Mingshu put an emphasis on the word “loan.” Gu Shenwei knew his concerns and consoled him, saying, “Second Young Master Meng worries that the large amount of gold and silver will be difficult to deliver out of Jade City, right?”
“I do. This is a lot of money, and Golden Roc Castle’s men are everywhere. It’s nearly impossible to completely evade their surveillance.”
“I’ll handle it,” Gu Shenwei said firmly, “All you need to do is stockpile the gold and silver in several spots and give me the detailed information about them.”
Shangguan Fei felt that he had to back Dragon King up and added on, saying, “Rest assured, Second Young Master Meng. The Dragon King’s capable of many things. If he wants, he can even move all the houses of the Meng family along with the land out of Jade City.”
Meng Mingshu nodded with a smile. He had another agreement with the Dragon King and he didn’t want to mention it before a third party.
Madam Meng watched her son with a tender look, feeling startled about the changes she observed – he was the Ninth Young Master of the prestigious Golden Roc Castle, and yet he was now flattering Dragon King like a seasoned sycophant. She wondered who had taught him this.
Gu Shenwei then asked about the Heavenly Mountain Sect and the people from the Central Plains. Meng Mingshu knew little about them though Madam Meng provided some information, “The King Lord didn’t tell me the details of the plan, but I have this feeling that he doesn’t want to make an enemy of the Central Plains. That’s why he’s using the Heavenly Mountain Sect to deal with people of the Central Plains. He seems quite sure that Golden Roc Castle will have the unanimous support of Norland and the Central Plains.”
“That’s not possible,” Meng Mingshu said without a second thought. “The Central Plains and the Norland are irreconcilable enemies. Now that the Norland is in total chaos and the Central Plains has every advantage over Norland, why would the Central Plains support Golden Roc Castle alongside its long-time foe?”
“It’s just a feeling. The King Lord doesn’t reveal his true intentions easily.”
Gu Shenwei tended to believe Madam Meng’s gut instinct. After all, the Unique King was a killer, and he couldn’t fully remove his killer’s habits even when he was fighting for supremacy. He would either strike with his full strength or stay hidden. It’d been more than half a year since the war of Xiaoyao Lake ended, but Golden Roc Castle still hadn’t made any moves. There must be a reason for this.
“What happened to Shangguan Yun? He seems to be locking horns with the Unique King,” Gu Shenwei asked. This was not the most important issue, but he didn’t forget to mention it nonetheless.
Madam Meng and Meng Mingshu briefly exchanged a glance, and then the latter answered first, saying, “Shangguan Yun once wanted to borrow money from me, a lot of money. He said that it was for enhancing the Xiaowan Kingdom’s defense facilities, but the Unique King didn’t vouch for him, so I declined. At that time I was very surprised at why he didn’t ask my father instead. Now it seems that he was favorably trying to remind me of the truth.”
Madam Meng added, “The thing about the loan is true. The King Lord was very unhappy about it, and he even threatened to disinherit Shangguan Yun and give Golden Roc Castle to that woman’s son instead.”
Madam Meng had always been calm, but deep hatred appeared on her face when she mentioned “that woman.” Suddenly, she said, “Right, Luo Ningcha has changed her profession and become a prostitute. Did you know about this?”
“What?” Gu Shenwei and Meng Mingshu simultaneously asked in shock. Luo Ningcha had a reputation of being loose, and even Meng Mingshu was fairly interested in her.
Madam Meng blandly explained, “She didn’t come back to Jade City, and instead stayed in Thousand Horsemen Pass, mingling with a bunch of men from the Central Plains. How’s that any different from being a whore? What’s ridiculous is that the King Lord doesn’t think that what she’s doing is shameful. Maybe he still wants to use her to please the Central Plains.”
Gu Shenwei didn’t care about her very much. He knew Luo Ningcha’s personality well. Someone of high status must have caught her eye once again – not a bunch of men.
The discussion about Shangguan Yun and Luo Ningcha was over. The four consulted for a while, and then Gu Shenwei was about to leave. At this time, he said, “I may have to return to Heaven’s Pass, and Shangguan Ru’s still there. Do you want me to bring a message for you, Madam Meng?”
The look on Madam Meng’s face changed slightly. “No, thanks. My daughter’s better off than my son. Even the King Lord couldn’t help but praise her, so I have nothing to worry about.”
As a mother, Madam Meng’s tone indicated that she didn’t care much about her daughter. It seemed as if Shangguan Ru was more even hated than Luo Ningcha in Madam Meng’s eyes. “But I do have to remind you, Dragon King – every daughter is close to her father. You should be careful.”
