Chapter 166: The Commission Is Too Easy—Can

The three, equipped with human-skin masks, entered Lin Yuan City without incident.

【Task completed. You have received: Paradise Points ×10000, Attribute Points +4】

Liu Bai's side quest was also successfully completed.

Chu Danqing did not choose to go with them; he was a focal figure among Lin Yuan City's elite.

If he entered the city with these three strangers, Chen Jiunan and the others would inevitably draw attention.

There was even a risk of their identities being exposed.

Chu Danqing knew nothing of the Zhao Ming Society's situation, but they had paid him to work for them—he still had professional ethics; he couldn't drag them down because of his own affairs.

Then Jia Simou came to visit him.

"Young Master Chu, was today's matter handled smoothly?" Jia Simou did not come empty-handed—he carried a box of pastries.

Upon seeing Chu Danqing, he immediately asked.

They assumed Chu Danqing had left the city to contact the capital.

That was why they were so eager to know the outcome.

"Get ready to receive them," Chu Danqing replied.

Hearing this, Jia Simou's expression brightened: "Is Master Ma coming?"

He had received the news earlier, but confirmation from Chu Danqing's lips made it real.

In fact, Chu Danqing himself didn't know.

"Assuming nothing goes wrong," Chu Danqing added.

He said it to keep deceiving the man, laying groundwork for the eventual non-arrival of this so-called Master Ma.

"Then I thank you for your guidance, Young Master Chu," Jia Simou smiled. "Once I've escaped unscathed, I shall repay your kindness with my life."

"No need. Just take care of yourself," Chu Danqing said. He was cornered too—he'd been speaking nothing but vague lies.

It wasn't hard to uncover the truth; all it took was a letter sent to the capital for verification.

Fortunately, Chu Danqing had banked on this information gap.

"Rest assured, I'm merely a lowly servant running errands for His Majesty—I have no connection to the Empress Dowager," Jia Simou hurried to declare his loyalty.

After more chatting, Jia Simou finally left.

Chu Danqing, meanwhile, realized he needed to act quickly.

"I need to find a legitimate way to get this gang of corrupt officials dead," Chu Danqing muttered to himself.

He could just kill them outright—but then what?

Lin Yuan City had hundreds of thousands of people; if he killed every official, what would happen next?

He couldn't manage a city this large alone.

It would only create greater chaos and more losses.

In the end, the common people would suffer.

Who else would bear the cost?

Chu Danqing aimed to resolve this as smoothly as possible.

Otherwise, if he relied purely on killing, he'd have to eliminate not just the administration but also the White Tiger Hall, Vermilion Bird Tower, and Black Tortoise Gate.

His destruction of the Green Dragon Society had already disrupted Lin Yuan City's grain transport; prices had risen sharply over the past three days.

The gangs were used by Lin Yuan's elite as economic arteries to siphon wealth; wiping them out without preparation would collapse civilian livelihoods.

Destruction is easy; creation is not.

Fortunately, since grain transport touched Lin Yuan City's purse strings, the disruption was quickly contained.

Yet the damage and ripple effects had not ceased—they continued to spread.

To fully quell them would take three to five months.

Even Jia Simou, if he wanted to replace his puppet, wouldn't choose such a brutal method as outright eradication.

He would use a prolonged process of support, absorption, and substitution to ensure civilian stability in Lin Yuan City.

Civilian livelihoods affected taxes and profits; Jia Simou wouldn't act rashly.

"So 'Master Ma' isn't a name—it's a surname plus a title?" Chu Danqing had assumed "Master Ma" was a person.

His intelligence was severely lacking, and once his persona was established, he couldn't casually ask questions.

How could a former Imperial Green Robe Battalion Commander from the capital, secretly dispatched by imperial decree, not know this much?

It had its advantages and drawbacks.

After Jia Simou left, Liu Bai sent a formal invitation, inviting Chu Danqing to a banquet at his residence.

Chu Danqing glanced at it, accepted the invitation, and told the messenger he'd arrive on time.

It wasn't an invitation without cause—it almost certainly involved Chen Jiunan.

They simply wanted his strength and his forged identity.

All under heaven bustles for profit; all under heaven throngs for gain.

Chu Danqing wasn't above such baseness—how could others be?

"Da Bao, tonight you can eat your fill," Chu Danqing said with a smile.

Banquets were wonderful things.

The taste and texture certainly couldn't match the meals prepared by the Paradise's Life Envoys, but they were free.

"Hehe, eat!" Da Bao had few hobbies—besides watching cartoons, he only loved eating.

As for combat? Who in their right mind turned work into a hobby?

Da Bao was skilled—he didn't enjoy it.

Chu Danqing didn't enjoy fighting either.

Time passed swiftly; night fell. The entire afternoon, Chu Danqing had been educating Da Bai through playful lessons.

Compared to Da Bao, Da Bai's education and cultivation were far more troublesome.

He was being built from scratch, step by step—the effort involved was unimaginable.

Being young, he required not only proper growth in personality and thought, but also a process that wasn't dull.

Da Bai was happy; the hard part fell entirely on Chu Danqing.

"Alright, we're off to the banquet," Chu Danqing said, boarding the war chariot and casually grabbing two Spirit Beasts, chopping them up to cook dinner for Da Bai.

Da Bao still walked on foot, but the chariot moved slowly, and curfew hadn't begun—there were still pedestrians on the streets.

Upon arriving at the Liu residence, the steward was already waiting and immediately ushered Chu Danqing inside.

Chu Danqing was the last to arrive; as soon as he entered, the gates were shut.

If not for Bai Xiaohe and Yang Wenju still seated inside, he'd have suspected a Hongmen Banquet.

Who else would shut the gates at a banquet? Well—the Zhao Ming Society was officially branded as rebels by the Da Shuo court; closing the gates made sense.

After Chu Danqing arrived, the banquet began, and the atmosphere was far more relaxed than Jia Simou's previous gathering.

At least Da Bao was seated, and Liu Bai knew his appetite—he'd prepared an abundance of food.

Da Bao's plate never ran empty.

"A secret message from the Society reports: Master Ma will arrive in Lin Yuan City in three days."

"Master Ma is a thorn in the Empress Dowager's side; this journey will likely be dangerous."

"Especially Jia Simou—he seems intent on defecting as an inside agent." Once they'd eaten enough, Chen Jiunan set down his cup and turned to serious matters.

Chu Danqing hadn't eaten much—he'd been feeding Da Bao—so he paused his actions.

Liu Bai turned to Chu Danqing and said: "I'd like to hire Young Master Chu to protect Master Ma. What's your price?"

In business, words alone won't move Chu Danqing.

Chu Danqing didn't respond immediately—he waited for the Paradise's side quest.

For nearly ten seconds, the Paradise gave no reaction.

This meant the commission didn't meet A-rank side quest standards.

He'd also suspected that escorting Chen Jiunan into Lin Yuan City hadn't matched A-rank difficulty either.

He suspected the true difficulty would only manifest after completion—like the thirty Ironclad Guards he'd killed.

That had given the Empress Dowager a breakthrough in Lin Yuan City.

"Let's not discuss that yet," Chu Danqing said. "I want to know: what are you planning to do in Lin Yuan City?"

Hearing this, Chen Jiunan immediately replied: "Da Shuo has stood for three hundred years. In the time of our founding Emperor, our nation was mighty."

"Now? The people are weak, the state is poor, the army is decayed—we stand on the brink of collapse."

"The reformers propose two laws: first, enlighten the people; second, strengthen the nation," Chen Jiunan poured out his plan's outline to Chu Danqing.

Lin Yuan City's current chaos was the perfect moment to act.

Next, they'd purge the officialdom, starting with Governor Jia Simou and his entire faction.

Then they'd seize control of the salt, iron, and grain transport systems, currently monopolized by the four gangs.

Chu Danqing didn't fully understand what came after, but he understood "enlighten the people."

No wonder the reformers were hunted down—Zhao Ming Society was branded a rebel gang for good reason.

This didn't just threaten the Empress Dowager's interests—it threatened the entire court, the nobility, and the scholarly class.

To enlighten the people meant teaching them to read and write.

"What about the Emperor?" Chu Danqing asked.

"The Empress Dowager will return power to His Majesty; reform and renewal will face no obstacle," Chen Jiunan replied, not grasping Chu Danqing's point—wasn't the Emperor still the Emperor?

Chu Danqing quickly spotted the blind spot: he'd assumed a constitutional monarchy, but it wasn't—these people only changed what benefited imperial power.

It is still a feudal dynasty.

"Alright, I understand," Chu Danqing replied. "But I must say this upfront."

Chu Danqing took on the job—enlightening the people was a good thing, after all, you can't eat a fat man in one bite.

He recounted how he had deceived Jia Simou and the man's shift from arrogance to obsequiousness.

Since we plan to cooperate, there's no need to hide anything.

He added, "Then you must settle the remaining payment for this item before we begin our next collaboration."

He placed the Level-B Exchange Token from the Zhaoming Society's treasury on the table and stated his demand.

He requested items related to exchange and summoning.

Otherwise, if the selection is narrowed down, there must be compensation.

"Chu Young Master is straightforward," Chen Jiunan replied, then proposed an alternative: "This Level-B token is too low."

"If Chu Young Master agrees, we can replace it with a Level-A token as payment for both deals."

"I'll immediately send word to headquarters; they'll rush your requested items here by fast horse. What do you say?"

Chu Danqing narrowed his eyes—Level-B tokens were for Excellent-tier exchanges; Level-A must be Fine-tier.

Even if not Fine-tier, it must be something like the Three Mountains Sword or the Suspended Heart Sword—top-tier even among Excellent-tier items.

"Fine," Chu Danqing accepted the exchange, but added a condition: "But the item must satisfy me—if not, I'll return it and swap again."

(End of Chapter)