Chapter 87: The Person in the Shadows

Watching Nie Hu look fierce and menacing, clutching his bowl and glaring, the surrounding gang members also quieted down one after another, waiting for Cheng Feng to answer.

It seemed that if Cheng Feng's answer was unsatisfactory, he would be attacked by the group the very next moment.

Cheng Feng looked at the crowd from the Hutou Gang and was quite satisfied; at least these people had some sense.

Cheng Feng smiled slightly, but that smile carried a hint of dismissive contempt.

He gently set down the chopsticks in his hand and slowly stood up; the clothes on his body seemed to be lifted by a gust of wind, exuding an indescribable air of nonchalance.

"Nie Hu, you are merely trying to probe my background." Cheng Feng's voice was calm and firm, as if it could pierce through a person's heart, "But I tell you, I, Cheng Feng, am neither a soft persimmon nor a rootless tree. Since I dared to come here alone, I naturally have my own confidence."

Nie Hu's expression changed slightly; he had not expected Cheng Feng to expose his intentions so directly.

He gave a cold snort and said, "Cheng Feng, stop putting on an act here. If you don't give me a satisfactory answer today, my brothers in the Hutou Gang are not so easy to deal with."

Cheng Feng smiled slightly and said, "An answer? What kind of answer do you want? Do you want me to bow my head and admit my mistake, or do you want me to surrender?"

Nie Hu's face darkened, and he said, "Naturally, I want you to give us an explanation, otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?" Cheng Feng interrupted Nie Hu, his voice revealing a hint of impatience, "Although you, Nie Hu, have some influence in this city, don't forget that the Jianghu is vast, with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Do you think your Hutou Gang is an invincible existence?"

Nie Hu was so angry at Cheng Feng's words that his face turned red. He slammed the table, stood up, and roared, "Cheng Feng, don't be too arrogant! My Hutou Gang is a famous gang in this city. Who do you think you are? How dare you look down on us like this?"

Cheng Feng smiled slightly and said, "I look down on you? You aren't even worth my notice. I just want to let you know that it isn't only your Hutou Gang that calls the shots in this Qingxi County. Your tone sounds as if the four major gangs are all dead."

Nie Hu was so angry at Cheng Feng's words that he almost vomited blood. He roared and waved his hand, saying, "Brothers, get him! Today, let this ignorant fellow know the power of our Hutou Gang!"

Following Nie Hu's order, the Hutou Gang members stood up one after another, preparing to take action against Cheng Feng. However, just at this moment, Cheng Feng suddenly moved.

His figure seemed to turn into an afterimage, instantly rushing in front of Nie Hu. Nie Hu only had time to let out a cry of surprise before Cheng Feng grabbed him by the collar. Then, Cheng Feng gave a forceful flick and threw Nie Hu out.

"Bang!" Nie Hu's body slammed heavily against the wall, making a loud noise. He clutched his chest, in so much pain he could barely breathe. The other gang members were also stunned by this scene and stopped in their tracks.

Cheng Feng looked at Nie Hu, who had fallen to the ground, and said indifferently, "Nie Hu, remember this. The waters of the Jianghu are deep. If you dare to provoke me again, don't blame me for being impolite."

After speaking, Cheng Feng turned and left, leaving behind only a scene of astonishment and shock.

Cheng Feng secretly sighed to himself that he had put on quite a show.

In fact, it wasn't that Cheng Feng didn't want to kill, but that he had sensed a faint gaze from nearby.

Cheng Feng did not know if it was a helper of the Hutou Gang or a passerby.

But as long as it was something that could make Cheng Feng feel a bit of danger, adhering to the principle that a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall,

Cheng Feng decisively chose to leave first.

The members of the Hutou Gang helped Nie Hu up. Nie Hu's face was covered in blood and looked lackluster, so he had to return to his room to recover from his injuries.

The gathering naturally could not continue, and everyone left one after another, leaving only Nie Hu's close subordinates to protect him.

At a high platform around the corner where Cheng Feng could not see, an old man with white hair watched all of this quietly.

As Cheng Feng retreated decisively, the old man chuckled, "This young man is quite alert! Should I follow him? Forget it, he probably doesn't know about me yet."

Before the voice had even faded, the old man's figure was gone from the high platform at the corner.

Cheng Feng walked quickly; just as he was about to take action against Nie Hu, his entire skin had felt a slight tingling sensation.

This was not something Nie Hu could possess; it was someone else interfering.

Perhaps the person behind Nie Hu needed Nie Hu to do something.

What a pity.

Squeezing the prepared trade goods in his bosom, Cheng Feng sighed inwardly.

In order to find a helper to make money, Cheng Feng had listed a whole bunch of money-making methods he was capable of and wanted to do, based on his knowledge from his previous life.

Later, he crossed them out one by one based on his actual situation.

Then, selecting the best from the good, he crossed out all those with major side effects, those that were inconvenient to operate, those with low profits, and those with no prospects.

The result was just a few popular ones left.

Blacksmithing and making weapons was one path, but Cheng Feng lacked experience and had to go learn; the advantage was high profit.

The sex trade—the advantage was high profit, but Cheng Feng didn't want to be a pimp, and the initial investment was not small.

Gambling—find a place, set up a stall, and you could do it, but Cheng Feng would have to invest Fortune Points to learn the techniques to control the whole scene.

At the same time, there were taboos; those in this line of work basically had gang backgrounds, and competitors were enemies; it was hard to say when someone might come to smash the place.

Another path was salt. In ancient times, coarse salt was prevalent, and fine salt was basically only supplied to high-ranking officials and nobles, and even that wasn't enough.

Salt was also firmly controlled by the government, but this stuff could be sold in small bags, and it was easy to hide and easy to sell.

It was what Cheng Feng chose after careful consideration.

The input-output ratio wasn't huge, but he couldn't be caught with evidence.

With Ba Bai, this was a robot that would absolutely never betray Cheng Feng.

It had a natural advantage; he could prepare a few more cellars or vaults, and even if discovered, it could hide without needing to eat until the heat died down.

On-site trading, plus the guarantee of strength, was truly the first choice.

Transportation, trading, and evasion had all been carefully considered by Cheng Feng, and there were no major problems.

And Cheng Feng only needed to process it a little, just like brewing wine.

It was a principle similar to distillation.

The venue was the original Room One; after Cheng Feng's family moved over, they left it there to store some miscellaneous items.

Room Two was returned directly, and he got back nearly two taels of silver, which included a one-tael deposit; Cheng Feng gave it directly to Cai'er for household expenses, as firewood, rice, oil, and salt all required money.

Cheng Feng kept one tael for himself, and the remaining three taels were all taken out to purchase coarse salt.

In Room One, Cheng Feng tried hard to recall the little bits of knowledge he had seen in his previous life.

Cheng Feng stood in front of the familiar kitchen, holding the filtering tool he had just made, his gaze firm and focused.

Before his eyes was the coarse salt bought with those three taels of silver.

The market price for coarse salt was five copper coins for half a catty, one tael of silver for one catty; three taels of silver was three catties, the kind that came in big chunks.

Ordinary families would break it up themselves and crush it into powder to eat, which was mixed with impurities and tasted salty with a hint of bitterness; even so, many people only put a little bit in each meal to add that tiny bit of saltiness.