Rebellious Contract Beast

The horse-drawn carriage carrying goods was bumpy all the way, and Yang Bayuan arrived at the gate of Peng's mansion with a nervous mood.

"Manager, we're here."

The carriage stopped and Li Rong's voice came from the front, bringing him back to his senses: "We're here, are we?"

"Correct."

He was not the only one. After getting off the car, the two guards Yang Bo and Li Rong also looked around nervously, as if they were afraid that a vicious beast would suddenly appear from somewhere and eat them alive.

Yang Bayuan jumped down from the carriage. He didn't know if it was because the weather was too cold or what, but he kept shivering. He took several deep breaths of cold air before he calmed down.

In front of the gate, several ferocious-looking Tiger Gang disciples were standing on both sides of the door, chatting intermittently, paying no attention to the three people not far away.

Suddenly Yang Bayuan said "Huh?" and shouted, "Yang Bo! Yang Bo!"

"What's wrong, steward?"

"You're not in the wrong place?"

"No." Yang Bo scratched his head and looked around. This was Peng Mansion, the lair of the Tiger Gang.

At this moment, Yang Bayuan's eyes were on the plaque on the gate. He had been to this place before, and he couldn't say how familiar it was, but at least he had some understanding of it.

The plaque that originally read "Peng's Mansion" has disappeared, and was replaced by four large gold-plated characters "Shen's Mansion".

"We are in the Peng Mansion. Take a good look at that word. Is it the word Peng?"

"Steward, the Peng Residence is right here. We are not mistaken. Besides, I can't read, so how would I know if it is the word Peng?"

"Yang Bo is right. Are you dazzled? We have not come to the wrong place at all. The Peng Mansion has always been here. Look, that door is very familiar to me!"

"I told you two you're stupid and you don't believe me. That character is not pronounced Peng, it's pronounced Shen! This is Shen's Mansion, not Peng's Mansion!"

"what!"

"What's going on? We're not wrong, this is the place!"

"Manager, if this is not the Peng Residence, then why are there people from the Tiger Gang at the door?"

"This..." Yang Bayuan was speechless for a moment. He was too nervous and kept trying not to look at those Tiger Gang members, causing him to subconsciously ignore them.

"Manager, we are not in the wrong place. What if someone inside changed the door plaque?"

"Why would they change the door plaque for no reason?"

"..."

While the three were discussing, the Tiger Gang members guarding the door of Shen Mansion had already noticed them. After looking at each other, they all came over.

"Hey! You three! What are you talking about here? Get out of here right now!"

"Did you hear that? I'm talking about you!"

Yang Bayuan was startled and looked forward quickly. The Tiger Gang disciples who came from the direction of the gate had already surrounded them.

Yang Bo and Li Rong also became panicked all of a sudden, and subconsciously reached behind their waists to take out their weapons, but were stopped by Yang Bayuan.

"Don't worry, don't worry! Brother, the three of us came here for no other reason..."

"Who calls you a brother? Don't you understand what I'm saying? Get out of here!"

A member of the Tiger Gang with a scar on his face had a ferocious look on his face. He pushed Yang Bayuan without giving him time to finish his words, and the others also looked at him unfriendlyly.

Yang Bayuan staggered and almost fell to the ground, but fortunately, Yang Bo and Li Rong were beside him and supported him before he fell.

After he stood firm, he did not dare to get angry, but raised his hands and shouted, "Don't push, don't push! The three of us came here for something! We need someone to complain to!"

As soon as the three words "Qu Xiangui" were shouted out, all the Tiger Gang members around were stunned and stopped pushing each other.

"What did you say, who?"

"Qu, Qu your Excellency!"

"Looking for Master Qu? Who are you?" A slightly older member of the Tiger Gang came forward and asked.

Yang Bayuan hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "My name is Yang Bayuan, and I am the manager of Luoxiangzui Winery. I am here on the orders of my young lady to discuss important matters with Hall Master Qu."

The Tiger Gang members around looked at each other, and finally the older member broke the silence: "So it's you who are stupid. You should have said no earlier. Come on, follow me. The hall master is waiting for you."

As he spoke, he waved his hand and walked towards the gate of Shen Mansion.

Seeing their change in attitude, Yang Bayuan breathed a sigh of relief, looked at Yang Bo and Li Rong, signaled with his eyes, and followed the man.

Walking through the gate, he asked, "Hey brother, who is your Hall Master Qu?"

"Master Qu, he is now the acting master of the Fuhu Hall of our Tiger Gang."

"Acting Hall Master?"

"Something happened in our Tiger Gang. It seems that the leader has changed. The former leader went to Yanzhu City for something and will not be back for a while. So, Leader Qu will temporarily take charge of all the affairs of the Tiger Gang."

"Oh, I see... But I remember this place wasn't called Peng Mansion, why did it become Shen Mansion?"

"This is what the gang leader meant." The older Tiger Gang member said without turning his head.

Yang Bayuan looked left and right. As soon as he entered the Shen Mansion, the other party took him to the archway on the right. There were no people around, but noisy sounds came from the Peng Mansion from time to time, and he didn't know why.

After passing the archway, he followed the other person's footsteps all the way deeper, through the lobby used for Tiger Gang meetings, and came to a door at the end.

"Brother, do you know what important matter Master Qu is going to talk about?"

"You do not know?"

"I don't know. My lady didn't tell me much."

"Manager Yang, to be honest, I don't know either. You'd better not ask me. What is the big deal? You will know it when you meet Hall Master Qu."

As he was speaking, the Tiger Gang disciples who were leading the way had already opened the door and made a "please" gesture to him.

The three of them stepped over the threshold one after another without hesitation. They thought that the Tiger Gang disciples behind them would follow them, but when they looked back, they saw the door was closed with a "click"!
"Hey! Wait!" Yang Bayuan's face changed and he hurriedly knocked on the door, but there was no response from behind the door.

At this time, they were in the martial arts training ground behind the Shen Mansion. The ground was full of Tiger Gang disciples. With the sound of the three of them knocking on the door, countless pairs of eyes immediately looked over.

There was no choice but to turn around and move forward. Fortunately, when they started to ask questions, no members of the Tiger Gang in the martial arts training ground made things difficult for them. Instead, they pointed ahead and told them where Qu Xiangui was.

This put the three of them at ease, and they began to look at the Tiger Gang disciples in the martial arts training ground.

"What are they doing?"

"You can tell at a glance that he is practicing martial arts."

"What kind of martial arts are they practicing? Look at the clothes they are wearing."

The area of ​​the martial arts training ground was not very large. At a glance there were about two to three hundred Tiger Gang disciples standing on the ground. The strange thing was that they were wearing red clothes on the top and black on the bottom, which gave people a very festive feeling. If you didn't know, you would think they were hosting a wedding and invited so many people to create a big scene.

When Yang Bayuan was puzzled, a Tiger Gang disciple sitting in the stands not far away shouted, "You three!" "?"

"Yes! It's you!"

"What's the matter?"

"Are you looking for Master Qu?"

"Correct."

"The hall master is over there, the one wearing black clothes. He's not far away. Come over quickly."

"Thank you!"

After clasping his fists and expressing his gratitude to the Tiger Gang disciples who had shown the way, Yang Bayuan, along with Yang Bo and Li Rong, quickened their pace and soon saw Qu Xiangui, who was wearing black clothes.

"You are, Mr. Qu Xiangui, the leader of the Qu Hall?"

"It's me, you?"

"I am Yang Bayuan, the manager of Luoxiangzui Winery. I am here on the orders of my young lady to meet with Hall Master Qu to discuss important matters. If you don't mind, you can just call me Old Yang."

"Oh, it's you. Come on, follow me." Upon hearing that Yang Bayuan and the other two came from Luoxiangzui Winery, Qu Xiangui immediately stood up and led them to a higher place.

After getting on the stands, he could see all the Tiger Gang disciples in the martial arts training ground below. At this time, Qu Xiangui asked with a smile: "Brother Yang, what do you think of these people?"

"Hmm?" Yang Bayuan was slightly stunned, but soon realized that the other party was referring to the disciples of the Tiger Gang who were dressed in festive clothes, so he nodded and praised: "As expected of the disciples of the Tiger Gang, they are like wolves and tigers, full of energy, not bad."

"Brother Yang, thank you for the compliment."

No one knew whether Yang Bayuan's praise was insincere or not, but when Qu Xiangui heard him say that, he seemed very happy.

After that, the two of them exchanged pleasantries and chatted for about an incense stick of time. Finally, Yang Bayuan asked, "Master Qu, my lady asked me to come here in the letter. What is it about?"

“Of course it’s a big deal.”

"What's the big deal?"

“Big money-making thing.”

Yang Bayuan's eyes lit up and his breathing became rapid. The word "making money" really touched his heart. He disliked nothing else in his life except making money.

"Please tell me more in detail, Master Qu."

"No hurry, Brother Yang, let me ask you first, when will your Luo Xiang Zui open for business?"

"It was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but the lady wrote to me asking me to postpone it for a few days so that I can see you first before making any plans."

"I see. Come to think of it, all I did was decided by the new gang leader."

"what?"

"Forget it, let's not talk about this for now. Brother Yang, if you think it's okay, we can set the opening time of Luoxiangzui to five days later. How about that?"

"Forgive me for my stupidity, Master Qu, can you explain why this is happening?"

"Before Luoxiangzui opens, I will order the idle disciples in the gang to go from street to street and inform the people of the whole city of this news... (500 words omitted)"

"Brother Yang, you are a businessman, so you should understand better than me. The more people know about Luozui Xiang Jiuniang, the better the business will be. If everyone in the city hears about it, when the business opens in five days, won't it be a huge source of income? Our gang leader said that this is called something... Oh~ corporate publicity! Brother Yang, you and I are not from the same underworld, so I don't know the details, so let's stop here."

Qu Xiangui spoke a lot of words in one breath, and after listening to him, Yang Bayuan was stunned.

The words "corporate publicity" sounded unfamiliar to him, but he could understand the general meaning of the other party's words.

To put it bluntly, it is a gimmick, a common method used by businessmen, and if done well, it can indeed make business prosperous.

Yang Bayuan disdains to do so. After all, in the city, those big shots directly monopolize the family business and will not give others the opportunity to share the cake.

However, special circumstances call for special measures. As the manager of Luoxiangzui Winery, he would naturally be happy to see anything that could improve the business, and of course he would not refuse.

Similarly, he also began to be alert, because there is no free lunch in the world. The Tiger Gang helped Luoxiangzui Liquor Industry to create such a big gimmick for no reason. It was hard for him not to suspect that the other party had other bad intentions.

“Isn’t five days enough?”

"Brother Yang, you don't have to worry about this. The people you see now are just a small part of them. There are thousands of disciples in other halls. Five days are enough for them to visit every corner of Jiangzhou City. Also, Brother Yang, come with me. I will take you to see a place." Qu Xiangui said, and without waiting for his reply, he led them down from the stands and came to the small courtyard next to it.

This is a temporary dyeing workshop. Disciples of the Tiger Gang keep bringing in batches of plain-colored cloth from outside. The workers in the workshop then wash the cloth and dye it red in dye vats. After the dyeing is completed, the cloth is dried and cut into banners by the workers. The finished products are placed not far away.

When he walked in and took a look, Yang Bayuan's eyes twitched involuntarily.

The banners are all filled with advertisements, such as: Take good wine, treat good friends, and carefully select the fragrant wine to get drunk!

The fragrance of the courtyard, two or three old friends, it is worth living a drunken life!

Luo Xiang Zui wine contains the essence of forty-two kinds of herbs, which can strengthen the body and prolong life!
Good wine, good people, good life!
A pot of fine wine passes through the intestines, and yesterday's worries are blown away by the wind. The carefully selected fine wine with fallen fragrance is intoxicating!
Minors are not allowed to drink alcohol.

……

"Brother Yang, what do you think?"

“Who wrote these?”

"Of course it was done by the gang leader."

"Uh... condensing the essence of forty-two kinds of herbs... isn't this a bit exaggerated?"

"I don't think so. Since alcohol doesn't kill people, who knows?"

"What Hall Master Qu said makes sense, but we should not accept rewards without merit. It is better for the Tiger Gang to speak directly about what they want."

"Brother Yang, you misunderstood. The Tiger Gang doesn't want anything. This is the determination of the gang leader. Perhaps our new gang leader intends to have some kind of relationship with the young lady you mentioned."

"..." Yang Bayuan was silent for a moment, then asked, "Who is your new gang leader?"

"It's better not to ask about this issue."

"That's right, but I, Yang, come to the Shen Mansion as a guest, so I have to follow the proper etiquette. Can I pay a visit to the new gang leader?"

"Hey~ Brother Yang, it's not that I don't want you to go see the gang leader, it's just that the gang leader said that he won't see any guests during this period. I think it's better not to disturb him. But don't worry, the Tiger Gang will never have any ill intentions."

Seeing Qu Xiangui say this, Yang Bayuan had to suppress his emotion, without any strange expression on his face, and said, "Yang believes in the character of Master Qu. Since you said so, I am relieved."

"That's good, but I have a question here, can Brother Yang answer it for me?"

"Master Qu, please ask."

"Does your young lady know a person named Shen?"

"Shen?" Yang Bayuan was puzzled for a moment, but soon figured it out. He rolled his eyes and said, "I think it would be better for Hall Master Qu not to ask too much about this matter."

...(End of chapter)