Joy of Life: Starting from Teacher Fan Xian

Chapter 151 No Cooperation
The lower reaches of Yingzhou, on the edge of the Ku River, are surrounded by towering mountains and dense forests.

As we go deeper, a small village hidden in the mountains comes into view.

There is a back garden in the village. Boss Xia, the famous boss of Jiangnan Water Village, is currently sitting in the pavilion, resting with his eyes closed.

He was only about thirty years old, but his face looked weathered and exhausted.

"No one's gone? Are you sure there's no movement at all?"

"Yes, boss. After the operation, my subordinates have been watching at the dock. After Sister Guan and her men sneaked onto the ship, there has been no movement." The spy reported.

"Is there really no sound of fighting?"

Xia Qifei couldn't help but ask again.

The spy nodded with great assurance.

"It looks like we've been tricked. Pass the order down. Intercept along the river at all costs. We must stop the boat."

"Guan Wumei is still up there. If she reveals any secrets, it will be troublesome." The leader of the water fort felt worried. Even though she had been with him for decades, he could not trust her absolutely.

The spy received the order and was about to leave when Xia Qifei stopped him.

"What's the situation with the Yingzhou navy? Didn't they say they would come over today?"

The spy shook his head and said helplessly, "The spy at the road entrance reported that the naval garrison visited the imperial envoy who went south, and he never left the house after returning home."

Xia Qifei closed his eyes again, feeling more and more uneasy.

Three years ago, he was driven out of the Ming family and had to join the Jiangnan Water Stronghold. Using the Ming family's internal industrial information as a base, he made plans and finally took the position of the head of the Water Stronghold.

In the past, the Jiangnan water forts were nothing more than a group of bandits who did shameful things on the water to make a living and earn a little profit.

After taking over, Xia Qifei brought the water fort out into the open, using the large number of people to start a water transportation business, reaping considerable rewards.

Afterwards, he took over all the businesses that were strictly prohibited by the government, such as smuggling salt and tea, and trading in horses, but were quite profitable.

In order to make the big business in secret run smoothly, Xia Qifei spent a huge amount of money to build good relationships everywhere, and became brothers with officials at all levels in Jiangnan. Finally, a gangster group of collusion between officials and bandits was formed, which was powerful in both the black and white worlds.

Today, the waterways in the south of the Yangtze River are basically controlled by water forts.

But even so, in the confrontation with the Ming family, Xia Qifei still inevitably ran into obstacles and suffered a lot of losses.

After all, the market generated by the inner treasury business is too large, and the Ming family can continuously draw wealth from it, but Xia Qifei is unable to do this.

In the huge vortex of business war that burns money, it is completely impossible to compete with the stable Ming family for a long time.

Therefore, Xia Qifei had no choice but to extend his hand to Yingzhou area and resume his old business of robbery. He amassed a lot of wealth in a short period of time and solved his urgent problem.

But up to now, Yingzhou's water transportation has declined and robbery is no longer effective.

Before Xia Qifei could let go, he was targeted by someone.

Xia Qifei was in deep thought, studying the possible enemies. Only the imperial envoy heading south could be so cautious that the naval garrison could stay indoors.

The deficit in the inner treasury would be a great opportunity to bring about the downfall of the Ming family, and Xia Qifei would not let it go.

He had long wanted to win over the imperial envoy, but now it seemed that this young man from Beijing also wanted to take action against him.

"Boss, there's a letter from the navy." A bandit trotted into the back garden.

Xia Qifei took the letter and thought of the most desperate outcome. If the imperial envoy really wanted to attack him, his revenge plan against the Ming family would fail. Xia Qifei could not accept the result of the failure. His face darkened. He opened the letter and read the contents.

After reading it, he sat at the table with a sense of relief, thinking that if this was really an accident, the bandits under his command had only rashly disrupted the imperial envoy's surprise attack in the south of the Yangtze River.

There is undoubtedly room for recovery.

However, if he did not want to make enemies with the Imperial Envoy, he would have to abandon the business in Yingzhou.

Thinking of this, Xia Qifei came up with an idea. If he presented the destruction of the water fort in Yingzhou as an achievement to the imperial envoy, there might be an unexpected surprise.

But first he had to get himself out. Xia Qifei couldn't be sure that Guan Wumei's mouth would remain tightly shut, so he couldn't help but feel worried.

"Don't intercept the boat yet, just keep an eye on it. If there is any movement along the way, report it to me immediately." Xia Qifei made the decision that no matter what, he could not continue to offend the imperial envoy.

After the spy left, the back garden fell into peace again. Just as Xia Qifei was thinking, another bandit trotted into the garden.

"Boss, Sister Guan is back."

Xia Qifei was suddenly startled, and his calm heart began to beat again. Could it be that the imperial envoy intended to let him go?

"She alone?"

"No, there are two men following behind." The bandit replied, "Also, Sister Guan is missing one of her hands."

Xia Qifei's expression hardened: "Gather the men immediately."

On the path that led into the forest from the waterway, many bandits had gathered there before we knew it, with murderous intent in their eyes.

No one knew the location of the water fort except the Yingzhou navy garrison.

The village has a rule that outsiders are not allowed into the mountain, so facing the two people in front of them, the bandits have enough reason to suspect that Sister Guan has betrayed them.

However, they looked at the river for a long time but did not find any hidden ships, and doubts arose in their hearts.

"I want to see the master?"

"Sister Guan, please tell me who the two people behind are. The village has a clear rule that outsiders are not allowed into the mountains."

Guan Wumei, whose hand was broken, was covered with scars, but her mental state improved very quickly. She said with a fierce look, "If you want to see the King of Hell, I can tell you the identities of these two people."

The group of bandits were frightened and began to waver in their determination.

Suddenly, a long knife stretched out from behind Guan Wumei and stabbed straight into the chest of the leading bandit. The white knife went in and the red knife came out, and blood rushed up.

The bandit fell to the ground with a cry. The rest of the people reacted and attacked him relying on their numbers, but they were powerless to resist and retreated all the way to the mountain gate like they were being chopped up.

The bodies of the bandits were lying all along the way. Guan Wumei's tense emotions got out of control: "You're crazy. The master won't cooperate with you like this."

"Really?" Lin Ruo looked at Zong Zhui's fighting figure and just smiled, "I'm sorry, I didn't intend to cooperate with your master."

Guan Wumei felt a sense of loss as if she had been deceived. She gritted her teeth and said, "Then don't even think about leaving this village."

"Miss Guan, please be patient. I haven't finished what I want to say yet."

Lin Ruo folded his hands, and said in a rather leisurely manner: "Cooperation has never been what I seek. My real purpose is to subdue your master and use him for my own benefit, just like the relationship between Miss Guan and your master."

“This deal was never an equal one.”

(End of this chapter)