Gou Zai Wu Dao Chao Shi Xing Nian Da Gong

Two days passed without any news from Wang Jin.

Zhou Sheng was extremely anxious and went to see him twice, but was told both times that Wang Jin had gone to the Wang Mansion to hand over the goods and had not yet returned.

He then went to Zhou Fugan to discuss the matter. Seeing his anxiety, Zhou Fugan comforted him, saying, "Sheng'er, don't worry. Since Young Master Wang has already agreed to help, we should trust him. Just wait patiently."

"Grandpa is right!" Zhou Sheng realized he was getting a little anxious and took a deep breath.

Zhou Fugan nodded. "Okay. You go back and wait until Young Master Wang returns."

"Okay!" Zhou Sheng got up and left.

As he watched his grandson leave, a trace of sorrow appeared on Zhou Fugan's face.

In fact, he had been inquiring around the city for the past two days about where the river embankment was being repaired, but unfortunately, he hadn't found any information. He was very worried about this, but he was helpless. Being unfamiliar with the city, he had no idea where to reliably gather information.

This also gave him a deeper understanding of the importance of influence and connections. No matter how strong an individual's martial arts skills are, without influence and connections, they can't even get a piece of information!

"Family, family, if my Zhou family were as strong as the Wang family, why would I need to ask others? Oh, then I wouldn't have to perform corvée labor at all," Zhou Fugan muttered to himself.

......

At the entrance of a luxurious mansion in the south of the city, Wang Jin stood respectfully with two guards.

He stood ramrod straight, but with his head bowed, cautiously daring not to breathe. This was because it was a separate courtyard of the Prince Juan's residence.

If we were to name the most powerful force in the Heavenly Scroll Prefecture, it would undoubtedly be the Scroll King's Mansion. Their ancestors were great contributors who followed the founding emperor in conquering the land, and were directly granted the title of Scroll King, a hereditary title, to guard the Heavenly Scroll Prefecture. They were truly the local emperors of the Heavenly Scroll Prefecture.

Even now, despite the weakening influence of successive dynasties that have stripped the power of the Prince of Juan's residence and appointed a prefect to manage all affairs of the Tianjuan Prefecture, making the Prince of Juan's control over the Tianjuan Prefecture far less than before, its influence still extends to every corner of the Tianjuan Prefecture. No one dares to offend it.

After Wang Jin delivered the precious blade that day, he found a restaurant nearby to stay in and waited there every morning, hoping for a reply from the steward of the Wang residence.

Squeak~~

The sound of the door opening rang out.

Wang Jin looked up, his face showing anticipation.

A servant boy emerged from the gate of the villa. He looked at Wang Jin and said, "Young Master Wang, Steward Cui is available today and would like to see you."

"Thank you." Wang Jin's eyes lit up, and he followed the servant through the gate.

Before long, he met Steward Cui.

This steward, Cui, had a fair complexion and no beard. He wore a black gauze hat with gold trim and a bullfighting outfit, and was actually a castrated man.

Wang Jin dared not show the slightest disrespect, stepped forward, and bowed deeply, saying, "This humble one, Wang Jin, greets Lord Cui!"

Manager Cui smiled warmly and gestured with his hand, "Haha, Young Master Wang, you are truly a handsome young man. Please rise."

Wang Jin was somewhat flattered and quickly stood up.

Steward Cui continued, "Haha, the precious blade presented by your Wang family is quite impressive. The young master tried it out yesterday and was very satisfied."

"?? Offer this up? Didn't we agree to buy it?"

Wang Jin sensed something was amiss, but dared not show it, quickly offering a flattering reply: "That is truly an honor for the Wang family. It's all thanks to you, sir!"

"Haha, you know how to talk. Alright then, that's settled. You can go back now." Manager Cui chuckled, actually giving him the order to leave.

"..."

Wang Jin smiled bitterly to himself. He hadn't expected that the prestigious Wang Mansion would actually resort to blatant robbery! But he had no choice; even if it was outright robbery, he had to greet them with a smile and dare not show the slightest dissatisfaction.

Seeing that several thousand taels of silver were about to go down the drain, Wang Jin felt somewhat unwilling and hesitated to leave.

"Hmm? Is there anything else?" Manager Cui's smile faltered as he asked.

Wang Jin naturally dared not do anything wrong, but then he thought about it again and realized that there was indeed something he wanted to ask for help from you, sir. "I dare to ask for your help with something."

"Oh? Go ahead and speak." Manager Cui's tone turned noticeably colder.

"It's a relative of mine. He was away on corvée labor for over half a year and we haven't heard from him since. His family is very worried about him. I inquired and they said he's repairing the river embankment in the prefectural city..."

Wang Jin then told him about Zhou Guangshun's situation. He hadn't been idle these past two days; he had already found out Zhou Guangshun's whereabouts.

About twenty li south of the prefectural city lies Bilian Lake, a place of breathtaking beauty. The Prince Juan's mansion took a liking to it and decided to build a villa around the entire lake. So they hired a group of river workers to build a dam, including a group of people from Qingshan County, among whom was Zhou Guangshun.

Because it involved the Prince Juan's Mansion, Wang Jin had originally planned to tell Zhou Sheng to give up. Unexpectedly, this happened today, so he simply brought it up.

This request is not unreasonable and is within reason; at the very least, we cannot offend Manager Cui.

Sure enough, after Wang Jin finished speaking, Manager Cui smiled again, "Haha, you're still a loyal friend. Here's what we'll do, Xiao Muzi, take him there and get him back."

"Thank you, sir."

"Go."

After Wang Jin left, Steward Cui went to a room. Inside stood a young man dressed in white.

"Brother Zhang, are you satisfied with what I've done?" Steward Cui asked with a slight smile.

"Haha, quite satisfied. This Wang family, relying on their forging skills, has been secretly defying my Zhang family. They'll be next." The young master laughed and said casually.

......

After leaving the palace, Wang Jin dared not delay. He sent someone to inform Zhou Sheng to meet him at the South Gate, and at the same time, he ordered a carriage to take the servant straight to Bilian Lake.

Upon receiving the news, Zhou Sheng immediately rushed to the South Gate and met up with Wang Jin.

Manager Cui's orders were very effective. Zhou Sheng successfully met his father, Zhou Guangshun. He saw that his once robust father had sunken eyes, was emaciated, had a numb face, and no spirit in his eyes.

Zhou Sheng burst into tears, stepped forward to support his father, and cried, "Father! Father! It's me, Zhou Sheng."

Zhou Guangshun finally reacted, looking at Zhou Sheng tremblingly, and two lines of clear tears streamed down his face.

Then, Zhou Sheng went to Wang Jin and knelt down with a thud.

"I, Zhou Sheng, will never forget your great kindness, young master!"

"You flatter me, Venerable Zhou. It was nothing more than a small favor. This is not the place to talk; let's go back and discuss it further."

Wang Jin quickly helped Zhou Sheng up, feeling very gratified.

He lost everything on this trip, his only gain being a favor to Zhou Sheng. Although the favor was very small, seeing that Zhou Sheng knew how to be grateful, he still gained something.

"Yes, let's go."

Zhou Sheng immediately got up, helped his father, and followed Wang Jin away.

He first settled his father in, then used the excuse of going to find a doctor to come to Zhou Fugan and share the good news.

"Very good!"

When Zhou Fugan found out, he was very happy and finally felt relieved.

"Grandpa, should we bring Father over to see you?" Zhou Sheng asked.

"No, you take your father and go directly with the Wang family's ship. I'll go back on my own. It's been so long since we last met, it won't be a problem now."

Zhou Fugan immediately shook his head.

"Alright, Young Master Wang said the ship will be returning tomorrow. We'll be going then," Zhou Sheng said.

Be careful on the road.

"I know."