Chapter 461.2: Hong Yings Eyes (2)

Chapter 461.2: Hong Ying's Eyes (2)

Li Banfeng arrived at Northern Bridge and bought a jianbing guozi[1] from a roadside stall.

Everyone said that the local merchants of Yellowclay Bridge were unscrupulous, so Li Banfeng was prepared for the man to demand an exorbitant price. But this jianbing vendor used good flour and fresh eggs, with generous portions throughout. There were no fake ingredients, no cutting corners. The first bite filled Li Banfeng's mouth with a lingering fragrance. Yet, the vendor charged only two yuan for a jianbing guozi.

Seeing that the vendor was a decent businessman with integrity, Li Banfeng gave him one hundred yuan and asked him for some information. The vendor told Li Banfeng that in the Northern Bridge, the biggest coal-mine owner was surnamed Hu Manchun. His home was the three-story building standing three hundred meters east of the bridgehead. Song Shilong, Tang Dongsheng, and Yue Sicheng were among the other coal-mine owners in the Northern Bridge.

Li Banfeng went to find Hu Manchun first. When he arrived at the three-story building, he knocked on the front gates, and a middle-aged man opened them. The middle-aged man was dressed in a white shirt, had a mustache shaped like 八, and wore his hair combed in a swept-back hairstyle.

"Whom are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for Shopkeeper Hu."

The man looked Li Banfeng up and down before replying, "I am Hu Manchun. What can I do for you?"

"I've come to buy coal."

The man quickly stepped aside from the gates and gestured inside. "Please, come in."

Something's not right.

In Li Banfeng's mind, the Yellowclay Bridge's biggest coal-mine owner should also have been Yellowclay Bridge's most tyrannical merchant. Yet, judging from Hu Manchun's attitude and demeanor, there seemed to be nothing tyrannical about him.

And why doesn't his house even have a guard?

After entering the sitting room, Li Banfeng saw that the furnishings were very simple and old-fashioned. There was a table with two benches, and the two of them sat facing each other.[2] Hu Manchun called for someone to bring tea. An old woman brought over a teapot and poured each of them a cup. That was the extent of the tea service.

Li Banfeng felt less like he had arrived at a coal-mine owner's home and more like he had walked into Feng's General Store.

Hu Manchun asked, "How should I address you, sir?"

Li Banfeng answered, "My surname is Li. I'm from Greenwater City, and I'd like to buy some coal from Yellowclay Bridge. I heard Shopkeeper Hu is in charge here in Yellowclay Bridge, so I came to ask about the price first."

"I couldn't possibly claim that. I just run a small business. Trader Li, let's be clear about this from the start. Judging by the way you're dressed, you're clearly no ordinary person. If you're looking to make a big business deal, I don't have that kind of supply. If you just want some loose coal, I can scrape together one or two train cars' worth of coal at most."

"Isn't that quite little?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this is the extent of what I can manage. I truly can't supply any more. But our prices are cheap, twenty percent lower than those at Blackstone Slope. We just can't do anything about the freight fee. You'll have to cover that yourself."

Then Hu Manchun had someone bring over coal samples. The varied grades of coal each had a different price.

Li Banfeng placed an order for two train cars’ worth of high-grade bituminous coal and drew up a contract with Hu Manchun. The order would be delivered to the train station tomorrow evening.

Li Banfeng was prepared to pay half as a deposit, but Hu Manchun waved his hand, dismissing the notion. "Here in Yellowclay Bridge, we do business by trusting each other to abide by the contract. There's no need for a deposit. We'll exchange the money and the goods at the train station."

Just like that, the deal was made.

Li Banfeng was about to leave when Hu Manchun rose to persuade him to stay.

"Trader Li, if you don't mind, have a simple meal here tonight. I'll have Auntie Liu make something good."

"No need to trouble yourself. I have other plans tonight."

"Miss Qin across the street sings beautifully. I can call her over to sing a few songs for you and have a couple of drinks with you?"

"Shopkeeper Hu, let's talk another day. I really have something urgent to attend to."

"Then at least finish your tea before you go."

Li Banfeng did not drink the tea and headed out.

He's an honest and decent businessman. It seems my earlier judgement was wrong. But if all the merchants in Yellowclay Bridge are this honest, how did the place become this run-down?

Perhaps Hu Manchun knew I was coming and deliberately put on an act for me. My outfit makes me far too easy to identify. I need to go home and change my clothes.

Li Banfeng returned to the Pocket Dwelling, and Hong Ying eagerly came to greet him.

"Darling Qi, you're back."

Li Banfeng smiled at Hong Ying. "I'm back."

"Darling Qi, you... Oh, you... Tsk. You're not even that handsome..."

Li Banfeng turned to the Gramophone, his smile widening slightly. "Beat her to death!"

The Gramophone pinned Hong Ying down and beat her up.

Hong Ying yelled, "If you're not handsome, am I not allowed to say so? You're having me beat up over this?!"

Li Banfeng took out the Blood-Drinking Pendulum to have her change his appearance.

The Blood-Drinking Pendulum asked, "Master, what kind of appearance would you like?"

Li Banfeng thought about it, but he drew a blank.

Rubbing her peach, Hong Ying said, "Darling Qi, that Film Projector of yours is no simple fellow. He's a powerful figure in our Daoist path, and his cultivation level may even be higher than mine."

Li Banfeng was in disbelief. "You're saying the Film Projector is a Wanderlust Cultivator?"

"His ability can turn things he imagines into real people. His combat power may be lower, but that ability of his really is quite similar to the ability False Manifestation."

Li Banfeng waved his hand. "We can't just speculate about this. I'll ask him another day."

Hong Ying sneered. "Even if you ask him, will he tell you the truth?"

Li Banfeng did not bother responding. Instead, he went straight to the fifth room to bring the Film Projector over.

Hong Ying thought they were about to confront the matter openly, so she unleashed her full imposing aura.

The Gramophone scolded her, "Don't act recklessly. Wait for my husband's instructions."

Li Banfeng looked at the Film Projector. "Brother, you've seen Pan Dehai before, right?"

The Film Projector said, "I have his image, yes."

The Film Projector had indeed recorded a scene with Pan Dehai in it.

Looking at Pan Dehai on the screen, Li Banfeng said to the Blood-Drinking Pendulum, "Make me look like him."

Hong Ying looked at the screen and sighed. "He isn't handsome to begin with. Won't making him look like that man just make him uglier?"

Li Banfeng looked at the Gramophone and smiled even wider. "Keep beating her!"

Amid the crisp sound of the paddle striking skin, the Blood-Drinking Pendulum swiftly finished applying Li Banfeng's makeup. When Li Banfeng looked in the mirror, he saw that he bore a resemblance to Pan Dehai of around seventy to eighty percent.

Pop... crackle... pop...

The Gramophone laughed. "Husband dear, this makeup is enough to fool ordinary people, but if you run into someone with a high level of cultivation, they'll still be able to spot the flaws."

"A few flaws don't matter. I'm not trying to impersonate Pan Dehai. As long as people can't recognize me, that's enough."

"Husband dear, I've recently learned a few disguise techniques. We might as well give them a try. I'll also need Little Sister Hanxue to lend a hand."

The Blood-Drinking Pendulum naturally understood what was expected of her and hurriedly bowed. "It is my good fortune to learn these skills from you, Madam."

The Gramophone mixed clay with pigments in a bowl, turning the mixture into a sticky paste. Then, using Pan Dehai's appearance as the reference, the Gramophone and the Blood-Drinking Pendulum worked together to paint Li Banfeng's face carefully, stroke by stroke.

Once they were done, the Gramophone blew a mouthful of steam at Li Banfeng, and the clay adhered to his face like a layer of flesh and skin.

Li Banfeng looked in the mirror. He now had a broad, square face, a large nose, a wide mouth, and a small mustache, all of which made him look identical to Pan Dehai.

"Husband dear, use my ability to change your voice."

Li Banfeng cleared his throat, recalled Pan Dehai's voice, and tested out a line. "I am the Great Moral Paragon."

The Film Projector said, "Director Qi, it's not quite right. Raise the pitch a little. And when Pan Dehai speaks, he has more authority in his voice than that!"

After several adjustments, there was almost no difference between Li Banfeng's voice and Pan Dehai's.

The Gramophone took some fabric and quickly made a changshan, then she added a small dome cap. Now dressed in the changshan and the dome cap, Li Banfeng looked exactly like Pan Dehai.

"Husband dear, you're quite a bit thinner than the old fellow was. We'll have to add some padding."

The Gramophone stuffed more of the sticky clay under Li Banfeng's clothes, onto his abdomen. Unless it was someone who knew Pan Dehai extremely well, they would never be able to tell it was not Pan Dehai. However, what if Li Banfeng were to encounter a Spycraft Cultivator?

"Don't worry, husband dear. Spycraft Cultivators below level six won't be able to spot any flaws. Even if you encounter a Spycraft Cultivator above level six, you don't need to worry too much. Homebound Cultivators aren't conspicuous, so the other party won't notice even if there are a few minor flaws."

The Gramophone took a piece of wood. She scraped it, shaved it, and then aged it. The final product was a cane for Li Banfeng.

Disguised as Pan Dehai, Li Banfeng left the house. Using the cane to support his weight, he deliberately walked with a different gait as he headed to another building. Upon arriving there, he knocked on the entrance gates.

An elderly man, who looked to be around sixty, came out and asked, "Who are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for Song Shilong, Boss Song. I'm here to buy coal."

The old man was Song Shilong himself. He quickly gestured for Li Banfeng to enter. "Please, come in."

The furnishings in Song Shilong's house were much the same as those in Hu Manchun's. After some tea was poured, the two men began discussing business.

Song Shilong asked first, "How should I address you, sir?"

Li Banfeng had no intention of impersonating Pan Dehai, so he casually made up a name. "My surname is Wu. Wu Dade[3]. I'm from the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs."

"You came all this way to buy coal from me?"

Li Banfeng nodded. "I heard about you from a friend. He said that Boss Song is a virtuous man. Doing business with a virtuous man puts my mind at ease."

Song Shilong clasped his fists. "You're too kind. I wouldn't dare claim to be virtuous, but I do know how to conduct business properly. Let me make one thing clear from the outset. I can't supply large orders. At most, I can arrange some loose coal for you."

These words sound awfully familiar. Hu Manchun gave me the same spiel.

"Loose coal is fine."

"Please take a look at the coal samples first!"

The coal samples were no different from those Li Banfeng had seen at Hu Manchun's house. Just like with Hu Manchun, Li Banfeng placed an order for two train cars’ worth of high-grade bituminous coal and drew up a contract. Song Shilong refused the deposit as well, saying he would wait to collect payment at the station.

As Li Banfeng was leaving, Song Shilong first invited him to dinner and then invited him to listen to some music.

Li Banfeng waved his hand. "When I do things, being virtuous comes first. You shouldn't even be mentioning such things to me."

Song Shilong laughed. "Boss Wu, you've misunderstood. Miss Qin only sings. She doesn't stay the night. She's just there to entertain you."

Li Banfeng politely declined anyway and left Song Shilong's house.

Another honest and decent businessman. Even the way he spoke was nearly identical to Hu Manchun. It's as though they had all been taught by the same teacher.

After that, Li Banfeng visited more than a dozen households in succession. He changed his appearance five times, but no matter what he looked like, every coal-mine owner he met gave him the exact same spiel.

Could the businessmen here really be this decent? Could the local customs really be this simple and unpretentious?

Li Banfeng left the Northern Bridge and saw a rickshaw driver staring at him from the roadside.

Li Banfeng greeted him with a smile. "Driver, heading to the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs?"

The rickshaw driver wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Brother, you scared the life out of me. I thought that virtueless bastard had come. Hurry, get in and talk. You're coming back from the Northern Bridge?"

"Yes."

"Did you find the one causing all the trouble?"

"Almost. We'll see tomorrow night when we collect the goods."

The rickshaw driver took Li Banfeng back to the mine.

The following evening, Li Banfeng sent Ma Wu to collect the goods while he and the rickshaw driver waited outside.

When Ma Wu arrived at the station, he first encountered Hu Manchun. Hu Manchun had brought two train cars’ worth of high-grade bituminous coal. The quality was good, and the price was low. The money changed hands for the goods, and the deal was concluded.

Hu Manchun still did not forget to make a polite offer. "Shall we go listen to a song from Miss Qin?"

Ma Wu was actually interested, but he could not let it distract him from business. "Let's call this deal a start. We'll go next time we do business."

Hu Manchun laughed. "Let me say this again, just to be clear. I can't handle large orders. I can only make a little money from these small deals."

Ma Wu clasped his fist and bid him farewell before leaving to collect coal from the other mine owners.

By the end of the night, he had collected more than twenty train cars’ worth of coal. The quality was the same from every mine, the prices were the same, and even their explanations were the same.

Ma Wu was a businessman. He knew this could not be a coincidence.

He walked out of the train station and found Li Banfeng and the rickshaw driver in an abandoned restaurant nearby. "The one causing trouble is among them, or else he's connected to all of them. They're definitely in cahoots. Otherwise, they wouldn't all be saying such similar things."

Li Banfeng said nothing.

Beside him, the rickshaw driver spoke up. "We can't just kill them all, can we? The Northern Bridge is all that's left of Yellowclay Bridge's human presence. If we kill them all, this place really will become an Old Land."

Ma Wu asked, "What are we going to do with these twenty-odd train cars’ worth of coal?"

Li Qi answered, "Ship them out. Isn't this the start of our business?"

"What about the coal at the mine?"

"Ship that out too!" Li Banfeng lowered the brim of his hat. "I'll find a way to draw out this Chaos Cultivator."

1. Basically a savoury stuffed Chinese crepe/pancake type thing. The main version is stuffed with deep-fried dough sticks (youtiao). Pic in translator's thoughts. ☜

2. This is significant because it shows Hu Manchun does not care about dominance and treats his guests as equals, rather than having a seat for the head of the household and seats for guests, which is traditionally the norm. ☜

3. "Dade" means "great virtue". ☜