Chapter 518

He Lingchuan smiled: "Let's say it first, I don't accept shark beads. You can produce that thing yourself, as many as you want."

The allusion of mermaids weeping into pearls is a naked irony at this time.

Zhongsun Mou glanced at him, his eyes cold, but what he took out was not a magic treasure, but a stack of treasure notes: "Fifty thousand taels of silver."

This stack of silver notes, the smallest denomination was three thousand, and the largest was ten thousand.

As soon as he slapped the treasure notes onto the table, the noisy Chaohu Tower fell silent.

A stake of fifty thousand taels?

This was a record-breaking bet at the Lotus Fragrance Festival in Bai Sha.

"It's your turn." Zhongsun Mou was leisurely, wanting to see how He Lingchuan would respond. "If you can't come up with the money, you can also put up that round shield."

"My shield?" He Lingchuan was startled; this guy actually took a fancy to the Soul-Absorbing Mirror? That's right, he had been using this mirror to detect supernatural mechanisms recently.

The mirror screamed in his ear: "Don't! Don't! I don't like soaking in water!"

Zhongsun Mou was a merman, spending at least half his life soaking in water. It was a mirror, and it hated rust spots! Of course, its screaming could only be heard by He Lingchuan, who reached into his bosom and stroked the mirror for a long time, his face showing hesitation.

Seeing him so pained, Zhongsun Mou sneered inwardly. A poor ghost from out of town, holding Fushan Yue's token and wanting to act like a big shot? I'll beat him back to his original form in one move.

But he finally took out the mirror and handed it forward: "Are you talking about this?"

Zhongsun Mou took it naturally and examined it carefully.

The mirror surface was as bright as a person, the style was ancient and simple, not a contemporary magic treasure, and it was a bit damp; could it be that it was stained with this guy's sweat?

Zhongsun Mou reached out and wiped it on his trouser leg with disgust.

"Yes..."

Actually, he couldn't put it down once he held it. But he had only flipped through it twice when He Lingchuan snatched it back.

Fan Sheng stood behind Zhongsun Mou and was blocked by him, unable to stop it in time.

"Forget it, this treasure is too valuable; even if you bet three fifty-thousands, it wouldn't be worth it!" He Lingchuan went back on his word on the spot and dug in his bosom for a long time again.

Zhongsun Mou stood with his hands behind his back and mocked: "If you can't afford to bet, forget it; I won't force you."

Cen Boqing smiled: "Special envoy, shall I lend you some first?"

The nobles watching the fun on the side were also pointing fingers privately.

There were elites from Lingxu City in the tower, as well as old gentlemen from the Chi Yan Kingdom; everyone had different positions and identities, so their gazes at He Lingchuan were very complex. The people from Lingxu City echoed Cen Boqing, ignoring everyone; the people from the Chi Yan Kingdom had worried faces, secretly resenting him for coming out to stir up trouble and then not being able to finish it.

Fifty thousand taels. Although there were many wealthy people here, who would carry fifty thousand taels on them when going out? That's fifty million big coins! Xiang Yan couldn't stand it and coughed lightly, about to speak. He Lingchuan waved his hand and finally took out three fist-sized, deep red mysterious crystals from his bosom! He also looked like he was relieved: "There are too many things, I had to flip through them for a long time to find these small ones. If they are valued at eighty thousand taels, I'll convert them into fifty thousand to bet against you."

The buzzing discussion around them stopped abruptly.

Jiao Yu grinned; others wouldn't know it was laughing if it didn't make a sound, but Commandant Lu gave a thumbs up directly: "Special envoy!"

He Lingchuan placed the mysterious crystals on the table, and the Magistrate of Bai Sha said: "Magistrate Tian, please be a witness."

Magistrate Tian nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "Can do, can do, don't worry!"

Once this hard currency of mysterious crystals came out, even Zhongsun Mou had nothing to say.

Both of their stakes were placed on the table, and Magistrate Tian immediately sent his subordinates to guard the surroundings, not allowing anyone to get close.

Every year at the Lotus Fragrance Festival, big shots fight over wealth, but none of them compare to this year; one is more extravagant than the other.

Bets placed, He Lingchuan went over and gave two sentences of instructions to Jiao Yu and Commandant Lu.

Then, he jumped off the high tower directly and landed in the water.

Everyone saw him splash and paddle in the lake water, take a horse from an official at the shore, and gallop all the way to the pebble beach.

He lowered his head and said to the divine bone necklace, "It all depends on you, work hard later."

Those few mysterious crystals were the salary Fushan Yue paid He Lingchuan in advance.

The divine bone necklace naturally wouldn't have any reaction, and He Lingchuan took it as if it had heard.

There were two of Commandant Lu's subordinates sitting on boat number ninety-seven; hearing He Lingchuan explain his intention, one jumped off immediately, giving up his seat to him.

Originally, the tiger Jiao Yu also wanted to join in the fun, but tiger claws were inconvenient for rowing, and it was too heavy, affecting the speed, so it had to stay in the tower to watch the fun.

But as soon as it turned its head, it saw Zhongsun Mou and Fan Sheng whispering, and then they went to find Cen Boqing together.

What bad things did these three want to do? It felt something was wrong.

Sure enough, Fan Sheng then found Magistrate Tian, pointed to the six or seven people behind him and said: "We are also participating in the lotus picking competition."

Magistrate Tian was startled: "You, you are all participating?"

Fan Sheng said loudly: "Right. Can't I?"

"Uh, but, but..." Magistrate Tian stammered. Each racing boat carries two people, so these seven or eight people joining would mean adding four more boats. Everyone on and off the tower had basically placed their bets, but the participating teams were adjusted temporarily; if this got out, there would be complaints.

At that time, the one being complained about wouldn't be Fan Sheng, but him, Magistrate Tian.

And Magistrate Tian wasn't stupid; he could see at a glance that these people going down were aiming at the Crown Prince's special envoy.

Wanting to bully the few with the many on the territory of the Chi Yan Kingdom and openly plotting against the Crown Prince's special envoy was not taking Chi Yan seriously at all.

"The special envoy was right." The tiger stepped on Commandant Lu's foot. "You go!"

Commandant Lu immediately squeezed into the crowd and shouted: "Magistrate Tian, my thirty people also want to join!"

"Thirty..." Magistrate Tian was overjoyed in his heart, but on the surface, he had to be dumbfounded. "Oh my, that would be another fifteen boats! Besides, where can I mobilize so many boats temporarily?"

Actually, there were more than a hundred small boats participating in the Lotus Fragrance Festival, and there were usually more than a dozen spares. Bai Sha is a land of fish and rice; saying there were no boats was a joke, it was just a matter of taking a long time to mobilize.

But Magistrate Tian, as the host, insisted there were none, so what else could others say?

Commandant Lu let out a "hehe": "I don't care, we want to go too."

Why could Fan Sheng and his subordinates go, but he couldn't?

The guests in the back were also discussing, the Lotus Fragrance Festival had been held for many sessions, and they had never encountered such a thing.

Xiang Yan stood out and said: "Two lords, this activity is just for celebration and good luck. If both of you go, won't you scare the other teams?"

Another guest from Lingxu City helped: "It's best to keep it as it was, don't add extra branches!"

"Yes, don't waste time, hurry up and start!"

People who could stay in the tower weren't stupid; they could see that these two sides intended to fight in the Hegong. It sounded lively, but the Hegong was so far away and the lotus walls were so high that those present couldn't see it at all.

If they couldn't see it, it had nothing to do with them.

Besides, the bets were already placed; adding variables temporarily, who could be happy? Isn't this just an opening activity, keep it simple, don't make it too complicated, okay?

The complaints of the guests came early, and Magistrate Tian was overjoyed in his heart.

Fan Sheng whispered a few words to Cen Boqing, and Cen Boqing coughed lightly: "It is indeed inappropriate to add boats temporarily. Then how about this, the number of original boats remains the same, if Lord Fan also wants to play, just change people in my team."

He looked at Commandant Lu and said: "The special envoy changed your team member, Lord Fan changed mine, is that fair?"

This meant changing one member each, Commandant Lu, you don't go down.

There were nobles everywhere, all with impatience on their faces. Commandant Lu didn't want to be stubborn and make trouble, so he took the slope and said: "Fine, I think it's fine."

Therefore, the final result was that Fan Sheng went alone, not bringing a single guard.

He also jumped off the tower and hurried to the pebble beach by horse.

This guy wasn't here for the competition, but to kill. The tiger Jiao Yu and Commandant Lu looked at each other, both seeing the other's worry.

Special Envoy He had foreseen this early on, and whispered in their ears before leaving:

"If they want to group up, you come too."

Commandant Lu stirred things up like this, and the best result was forcing Fan Sheng to go alone.

Fan Sheng was clearly very confident about cleaning up Special Envoy He alone.

He should be confident; his martial power was a big cut above everyone present, including Jiao Yu and Commandant Lu.

Last time Jiao Yu and Special Envoy He fought two-on-one, they didn't beat him. This time Special Envoy He wanted to single-handedly fight Fan Sheng, could he do it? Jiao Yu was glad that the special envoy had participated suddenly, catching Cen and Fan off guard.

It was very certain that He Lingchuan had been prepared, while Fan Sheng had participated in a rush.

Hopefully, the special envoy could regain some advantage in this regard.

By the time Fan Sheng also rushed to the pebble beach and sat on Cen Mansion's small boat, Magistrate Tian started ringing the bell.

This time, the bell sound was exceptionally urgent—

This was the signal for the start of the competition.

A hundred boats suddenly appeared on the beach, flying towards the Hegong.

He Lingchuan had already washed his mirror and hands in the lake water several times, still not at ease, and rowed his boat away from the shore quickly.

Just then, he heard a familiar tiger roar, majestic and distant.

A tiger roar can travel extremely far; residents in the mountains might not necessarily be afraid when they hear it, because it might come from a distant mountain on the other side.

He Lingchuan looked back at the Chaohu Tower, knowing that it was the signal Jiao Yu sent him, his face sinking slightly.

Fan Sheng really didn't let go of this opportunity; what should come had come.

Zhongsun Mou stood beside Cen Boqing, looking at the boats starting together below, silent and gloomy.

Cen Boqing looked left and right, seeing that others were blocked outside by guards, and whispered: "Searched the city, none; checked nine townships outside the city, only two left. I think it's soon, at the latest tomorrow or the day after there will be good news."

He sneered coldly: "You also submitted a complaint to Lingxu City, right? The Crown Prince's special envoy of the Chi Yan Kingdom robbing a major criminal, this is truly a strange story."

"Submitted, no reply yet. It's best if I can find Fu Songhua, send him back to report for duty as soon as possible, dead or alive." Zhongsun Mou felt irritable whenever he thought of Fu Songhua being robbed. He originally thought the hard battle he had to fight would be in Lingxu City, but he didn't know the plan was perfect, and the first step was frustrated in Bai Sha.

This wasn't a good sign. "That Magistrate Tian is also not sensible, disobeying in public and complying in private."

(End of chapter)