I'm Not Pretending Anymore

Evening, Fenghua Tower.

Xie Xian was drinking with Du Lingfeng.

Over the past few days, the two had grown quite close.

Xie Xian, being a "highly educated" talent who had also mixed with a group of "bandits" in business, naturally developed the skill of speaking appropriately to different audiences.

Du Lingfeng no longer harbored any suspicion, and the two only discussed pleasantries, not business.

After several rounds of drinks, Du Lingfeng's face reddened with excitement as he said. "Brother Xie, your poetic talent truly opens my eyes!"

"I only regret not knowing Brother Xie earlier! But when will you compose a complete poem?"

That depends on when the master writes a complete one!

With such an excellent precedent, if I showed you my own poems, wouldn't I be slapping my own face?!

Xie Xian's eyes darted around as he picked up the yin-yang pot to refill Du Lingfeng's cup, then poured water for himself and quickly drank it.

He waved his hand. "I'm embarrassed! Your humble brother can only compose poetry when inspired by alcohol... alas, I can't hold my liquor!"

"Given the chance, I'll definitely write a complete one! Brother Du, you're drunk. Let's end here for today. I'll have someone escort you home."

Du Lingfeng drained his cup, pushed away the beautiful servant girl in his arms, and smiled. "Alright! It's getting late. This younger brother will look forward to your masterpiece! No need to escort me. I brought people..."

With that, he rose and staggered out of Fenghua Tower.

After he had gone far enough, Xie Xian walked to a meeting room deep within the tower.

At this time, a group of people were eating in the room. Seeing Xie Xian enter, Zhou Tie asked first. "Old Xie, how's it going?"

Xie Xian shrugged. "Same as before."

"I'm saying... is all this trouble necessary?! We could just tie him up and do whatever we want with him." Zhou Tie complained.

"That won't work. What if we alert others? Du Lingfeng may be a private salt smuggler, but I think he's a decent person. I'll be straight with him tomorrow. Let's try to be quick about this."

The next day, night.

Du Lingfeng rode in a sedan chair, heading to Fenghua Tower as usual.

As soon as he stepped through the main door, Xie Xian immediately grabbed his wrist.

Du Lingfeng was startled at first, then looked up to see Xie Xian's serious expression and asked in confusion. "Brother Xie, why are you grabbing me?"

"Come with me!" Xie Xian didn't answer but pulled Du Lingfeng up to the second floor.

Du Lingfeng didn't suspect anything and was directly led into a dark room.

The room had no windows, with only a few oil lamps lit.

After the two were seated, Du Lingfeng finally reacted and couldn't help but laugh. "Brother Xie, what mysterious business are you up to?"

In the dimly lit room, the lamplight flickered on Xie Xian's face as he spoke solemnly. "Brother Du, disaster is about to strike you!"

"What?" Du Lingfeng's face wrinkled, and a hint of caution rose in his heart. "Brother Xie, what do you mean?"

"Brother Du, if I'm not mistaken, you're involved in selling private salt, aren't you?"

At these words, Du Lingfeng's hand instantly slipped into his sleeve while he coldly stared at Xie Xian.

His mind rapidly reviewed his experiences with Xie Xian over the past days.

Searching for any slip-ups but finding none, he calmly said. "Brother Xie, selling private salt is a capital offense! How can you say such things carelessly? I'm in the fur trade, as you well know."

"Fur trade?" Xie Xian smiled cryptically. "If you were in the fur trade, you shouldn't be in Jianjiang now. You should be heading north."

"No need to hide it. You did business with the Sun family before, correct? The head of the Sun family told me this himself."

"Lies! Absolute lies!" Du Lingfeng tightened his grip on the dagger. "Though I don't know why the Sun family would slander me like this, but Brother Xie, have you considered, if they purchased private salt, why would they tell you?"

"Does Brother Du know of Fang Zheng?"

Du Lingfeng frowned. "Of course I know. Fang Zheng came to Jianjiang for disaster relief. Who doesn't know that? Didn't Brother Xie work for Fang Zheng before?"

Xie Xian sighed. "Indeed, I did work for him."

"The Sun family once colluded with Jianjiang Prefect Liu Xun, and Fang Zheng obtained evidence of this. But he didn't report it. Instead, he privately took control of the Sun family."

"When I returned to Jianjiang this time, the Sun family mistakenly thought I was back to work for Fang Zheng, so they revealed this matter."

"Brother Du, do you have anything else to say?"

Du Lingfeng's gaze began to waver. "Since Brother Xie is convinced I sell private salt, what more can I say?"

"If the Sun family's people recognized me early on, why did Brother Xie only approach me privately today?"

Hearing this, Xie Xian's expression suddenly became conflicted, seemingly tinged with pain. "I knew you before learning of this matter two days ago, but I wanted to see what kind of person Brother Du was."

"After knowing you for this long, I believe Brother Du's character is naturally excellent. And after all, this matter is none of my concern. Why should I lose a friend over it?"

Du Lingfeng's expression relaxed slightly, but he remained vigilant. "Isn't Brother Xie working for Fang Zheng? That Lord Fang is renowned throughout Jianjiang for being upright, dedicated to the people. I heard you spent a lot of time with him during the severe disaster."

Xie Xian laughed dismissively. "Hah? That's just an image Fang Zheng projects. Otherwise, how could he have absorbed the Sun family?"

"To be honest, I helped him because he promised me an official position."

"For that illusory official position, this Fenghua Tower now belongs to Fang, not Xie!"

"Oh? What do you mean?" Du Lingfeng showed a hint of interest.

"When I established Fenghua Tower, my intention was to make money. But Fang Zheng found out and used Fenghua Tower to attract wealthy merchants to aid in disaster relief."

"After the disaster subsided, he set his sights on Fenghua Tower's enormous profits... Fang Zheng promised I could become an official in the capital, on condition that I transfer Fenghua Tower to his household servant."

"But after following him to the capital, he made endless excuses and cast me aside. In anger, I left a letter and returned to Fenghua Tower."

"Now, I'm only nominally in charge of the tower. In reality, not a single tael of profit has anything to do with me... Officials speak with forked tongues. I was too naive to believe his lies!"

Next door, a group of people were eavesdropping through the wall.

Zhao Lie muttered. "The young master's gotten bold, daring to make up such stories about the master..."

Beside him, Qian Desheng's eyes lit up with joy as he turned to the table, took paper and brush, and hastily wrote down everything Xie Xian had said.

Zhao Lie curiously approached him, and seeing him writing down Xie Xian's unfavorable remarks, immediately reached out to stop him, saying angrily. "What are you doing?"

Qian Desheng licked his lips awkwardly. "We're out on a mission. I need to report back to the master!"

Isn't that what I always did when serving His Majesty? What's different about serving Fang Zheng? Is he harder to please than the emperor?

Hehe, when we return, with this report, I'll become his confidant!

Seeing the two argue, Zhou Tie also came over and looked at the contents on the paper, sneering.

"You dead eunuch! Still can't change your ways!"

Qian Desheng coldly glanced at him.

Damn Zhou Tie, I'll make sure the master deals with you when we get back! We'll see if the master trusts you or me!

"Tear this up! Don't record such nonsense in the future. We're here to work, not to fight among ourselves." Zhao Lie said sternly.

Zhou Tie pulled him away, whispering. "Why bother with him? When we get back, we'll break this old bastard's legs! No one in the county has dared to tattle for years. If this old turtle isn't afraid of death, let him write!"