A Good-for-Nothing

78. Antecedents and Consequences (2)

Translator: Dragon Rider

Zu family owed their fame solely to the prestige that the Qingwei Sect had among citizens of the Sui City, which also made it very easy for people to forget the fact that Zu family owned an enormous business empire in the Sui City.

Zu family was a large family with very successful family business, so inevitably there were some commercial disputes they had to deal with. In the Sui City, the biggest rival of Zu family was Luo family, who had even built their office building beside that of Zu family. During the past few days, Zu Ming had been having a tough competing with Luo family for a piece of land. That piece of land would be used for a new pilot project in the charge of the municipal government. It was predicted that the price of the land would double several times during the next three years. Zu Ming had put a lot of efforts into this matter and was determined to win the bid for this piece of land, whatever the cost.

Unexpectedly, on the day of the bid, somebody played dirty and invalidated Zu Ming’s bid. In fact, Zu Ming had bribed almost all officials involved in this issue and this kind of thing should never have happened. Having no alternative, Zu Ming had resigned himself to defeat and let it be.

However, after that, Zu Ming had competed with Luo family for several other pieces of land and had been a losing bidder all the time. If he had lost only once or twice, he wouldn’t have suspected anything, but after losing to Luo family so many times, Zu Ming had come to realize that something was not right, so he had grown more cautious.

He had secretly hired someone to inquire into it and the result of the inquiry had shocked him. It had turned out that Luo family had got a helper, who had turned Zu family’s good fortune to the advantage of Luo family, which was why Luo family had been so lucky all the time.

Consumed with fury, Zu Ming had not eaten anything for three consecutive days. When Zu Ming was planning to go up to the mountain to ask his uncle for help, someone paid him a visit.

“Tell him I’m busy.” On hearing that there was a visitor, Zu Ming, who was vexed at how to tell his father about the performance of the company this month, refused without thinking.

The butler was very loyal and always put Zu Ming’s needs first, but that visitor was very strange and the butler couldn’t help but inform Zu Ming, “Young Master, that man said that you’ve been in trouble recently and he could help you.”

After hearing this, Zu Ming, feeling that there was no harm in meeting this man, told the butler to let the man in.

That was a young man. He was wearing a suit and a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles and looked very youthful.

Seeing him walking inside, Zu Ming sitting on a sofa, slid him a sideways glance.

“Mr Zu.” The man appeared very courteous and didn’t seem overcautious in front of Zu Ming.

Zu Ming frowned and sized up the man. When it came to serious business, Zu Ming was a rather reliable man.

“You said that I’ve been in trouble lately and you could help me. Those were quite some big words.”

The man gave a smile. “You’ll know whether I can be helpful or not after hearing my story.”

Somewhat presumptuously, he sat down onto the sofa without Zu Ming’s permission, but his voice was rather soft, which dissipated Zu Ming’s surging anger considerably. “Lately, things haven’t been going very smoothly in your family business. I think you’ve already had someone investigate into it. Your rival hired someone, who resorted to sorcery and turned Zu family’s fortune to Luo family’s advantage.

Mountains affect family number and rivers affect family fortune. The residence of Zu family is situated beside a river at the foot of a mountain. On top of that, your ancestors did a lot of good deeds and accumulated enormous good fortune, which has been benefiting their descendants all along. This year, Zu family’s business must have been thriving and promises to scale new heights.

But someone dammed this river near Zu family, blocking the Water Vein of Zu family (in Chinese geomancy, a Water Vein is a river that is considered to be extremely auspicious and brings people living nearby good fortune.)” The man gave a smile, “I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but did anything happen in Zu family a few days ago and you didn’t pay much attention to it?”

The question brought an involuntary twitch to Zu Ming’s brow. After hearing this man’s words, he recalled that for some inexplicable reason, the embankment of the old reservoir of Zu family was breached about a month before. He had promptly sent some men to fix it, but he was unaware of the progress.

Though deeply shocked, Zu Ming didn’t show any signs of it on his face. He replied, “Wait a minute.”

Upon saying this, he rose to his feet, beckoned the butler over with a wave and asked him something. Then the butler hurriedly went to make a phone call. After half a minute, the butler, with an awkward expression on his face, returned and said in a low voice, “Young Master, this matter had indeed been handled a few days ago, but for some unknown reason, the reinforced embankment was breached again. Some men are trying to repair it.”

Zu Ming’s heart went heavier and heavier. With a sullen look on his face, he sat back into his seat.

The man chuckled, “It seems that Mr Zu has already come to realize the cause of it.”

“Is there a way to solve it?”

If it were any other member of Zu family that was faced with this problem, they would definitely have asked the Qingwei Sect for help. After all, as the saying goes, ‘Under the protection of people of power and influence, one can be profited.’ However, Zu Ming didn’t dare, because he had always been afraid of his uncle – Sect Leader Zu – since childhood. He would rather die than ask his uncle for help.

Under these circumstances, Zu Ming chose to seek help from this young man in front of him. Anything that could be handled with money was no trouble for him.

“The Water Vein of Fortune was sabotaged and needs rebuilding, which requires a lot of manpower and material resources. It’s very tricky.” The man shook his head. Zu Ming’s brow furrowed.

“If that’s the case, why did you brag that you had an idea?”

The man chuckled, “Of course I do.

A few days ago, Mr Zu won the bid for a piece of land, planning to build the Qingmu Edifice there, which will be the highest building in the Qingmu Edifice, right?”

This matter had come to the knowledge of a lot of people, so Zu Ming was not surprised that this man knew about it as well.

“You have great discernment, Mr Zu. Legend has it that there was a Dragon Vein (in Chinese geomancy, a Dragon Vein is a mountain range or similar terrain that is extremely auspicious and brings people living nearby good fortune) buried under the Sui City. The mouth of this dragon is beneath the People’s Garden. The economy of the whole Sui City is in its mouth, which makes that place a land of extraordinarily good geomantic omen.”

Zu Ming’s eyelids involuntarily twitched as he heard this. He had had a geomancer examine that piece of land, who had indeed said that it was very good in geomantic terms. ‘But surely it’s not that good?’ he wondered.

“Bury this thing in the middlemost position of the building’s foundation. This is a South Pearl found in an abyssal pearl oyster, which will help nurture that Dragon Vein and bring increasingly good fortune to Zu family. Compared with that Dragon Vein, the sabotaged Water Vein is nothing.” The man’s eyes were very bright. Zu Ming uncontrollably made eye contact with him.

In the man’s palm, the pitch-black pearl was quietly giving off a faint light. In that moment, as if possessed by some supernatural being, Zu Ming reached out his hand and took the pearl…

After relating the story, with a distressed face, Zu Ming added, “And then, I buried the pearl where the man told me to. The next day, there happened to be a bidding conference and Luo family was our rival. Things went very smoothly that day. I outbid Luo family and won and I was very happy.”

Zu Zhichong’s face had gone livid with rage. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch. How could you accept it?”

Zu Ming was somewhat unconvinced. “I paid for it! Several hundred grand!”

“Idiot! You know very well the fucking market price of a common South Pearl. That one was as big as a fist! You think you can buy it for merely several hundred grand?!” Zu Zhichong reprimanded angrily.

Zu Ming felt extremely aggrieved. “Elder Brother, what’s done is done. Please stop scolding me. Anyway, just like that, I was happy for merely a couple of days and then the accident happened in the construction site.”

In the knowledge that more words wouldn’t make any difference, Zu Zhichong wiped his face. “I’ll fix you later. Now take He Zheng back. Jin Qianlai and I will get that pearl back.”

He Zheng, whose cultivation base was not very firm, had cast a lightning spell during the previous fight. On top of that, he had also done some strenuous running just now. As a result, he was not in a good state. Though he had taken a pill and regained part of his strength, he still looked sickly. He would be more of a hindrance than a help if he went with them.

Zu Ming, too afraid to raise any objections, hurriedly had his bodyguards come to He Zheng’s help and they went back together.