Chapter 78: with translation of chapter title

After Yang Hongyue finished speaking, she pushed Yue Qingxue and Shen Tianxing out the door, quickly ushering them out of the annex.

Entities: Yang Hongyue, Yue Qingxue, Shen Tianxing. Also maybe "annex" is not a named entity (just "separate courtyard").

Shen Tianxing, the house we bought after we entered the city, we and Grandpa will go back there later.

Entities: Shen Tianxing (nickname used as name). Also maybe "city" is generic. No other.

Yang Hongyue gave a warning, then shut the door. Left alone, Shen Tianxing and Yue Qingxue stared at each other, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

Entities: Yang Hongyue, Shen Tianxing, Yue Qingxue.

Leiming City Governor Jiang Bufan was Sun Zhongquan's former subordinate; originally he was the commander-in-chief of Leiming City, also considered a talent both literary and martial, and with Sun Zhongquan's help he became the governor of Leiming City.

These past few days Jiang Bufan has been a bit annoyed; Yue Yunyang sent several batches of people, ostensibly to look for his daughter, and although several batches have already left, one batch remains in Leiming City, refusing to depart.

Jiang Bufan wanted to drive them away, but considering that Yue Yunyang, at least nominally, was his superior, and before Sun Zhongquan gave a direct order, he could only temporarily endure.

"My lord, great joy! Yue Yunyang's daughter has been found and sent back; two of Yue Yunyang's ten-thousand commanders are leading men to welcome her—should we also go over and quickly send these plague gods away?"

Steward Old Xu ran in excitedly, explained the situation, and Jiang Bufan was overjoyed.

"Go, we definitely have to go, and we must properly thank the person who brought Yue Qingxue back; these few rascals sent by Yue Yunyang are about to drive this official crazy."

Every few days they come early in the morning to find this official and go together to look for Yue Qingxue, coming and going as they please, showing no regard for this official; if it weren't that Yue Yunyang is hard to deal with and the superior hasn't given orders, this official would not have tolerated this for so long.

Old Xu nodded repeatedly, then immediately gave orders to prepare the sedan chair; Jiang Bufan had just sat in the sedan when the party had only gone ten or twenty feet when Shen Tianxing, Yue Qingxue, and the two ten-thousand commanders of Yue Yunyang with a few soldiers on horseback arrived.

"Governor, where are you headed?"

The speaker was He Peng, a ten-thousand commander under Yue Yunyang, but he had the strength of Fifth Grade Sixth Layer; this is the Yue Family Army—ordinary soldiers have Second-Rank strength, and only those of Second Rank Sixth Layer can become a Ten-Soldier Captain, so a ten-thousand commander can only be Fifth Grade.

"Isn't it because I heard Miss Yue had returned? I wanted to go welcome her, but I didn't expect you to already be here—then please accompany this official to the manor; this official will set up a banquet to welcome and cleanse Miss Yue."

Jiang Bufan stepped down from the sedan, his face full of smiles; hosting a banquet to welcome and cleanse was from the heart, of course he knew they would surely refuse, which would save a lot of trouble.

"Governor Jiang, you're too polite; it's this young lady's lack of sense that has caused you all so much trouble—let's forget about the welcoming banquet."

However, this Master Li saved my life, and I also wish to repay his lifesaving grace, but I have little silver; I don't know if I could borrow some silver from you, sir, so that this young lady can repay Master Li's great kindness and take her back, after which her father will return the silver to Governor Jiang.

Jiang Bufan guessed the beginning but not the end, yet he still had to smile and nod.

"May I ask how much Miss Yue needs?"

"I was thinking of giving fifty thousand taels of silver—I figure I'm worth that much—but I also know I shouldn't make things too difficult for Governor Jiang, so I'll offer twenty thousand taels; that's roughly fair, though I don't know if Governor Jiang is willing to help me with this."

Jiang Bufan's expression shifted unpredictably; hearing the end, his face almost turned black—he had thought it would be a matter of a hundred or eighty ounces to settle, but instead they demanded twenty thousand ounces of silver—has he gone mad? Taking him for a sucker!

"Why aren't you speaking, sir? Perhaps you think it's too little, not befitting Miss Yue's status; if so, that's fine—we can go with what Miss Yue said earlier, fifty thousand taels is also acceptable."

Shen Tianxing wore a faint smile, and Jiang Bufan also managed a strained grin; fifty thousand ounces wasn't especially much in his eyes, but he simply disliked the feeling of being swindled.

"Sir, isn't this a good opportunity? You shouldn't just lend; you should directly lend him 100,000 taels—then, if Yue Yunyang can repay the silver, it will definitely be embezzlement of military funds, giving us a perfect excuse to take him down."

But if he can't repay this silver, we can also use this as an excuse to go demand payment from him, letting him settle the debt with military supplies; without military supplies, handling the Yue Family Army wouldn't be easy, would it? And if the superior finds out, he might just give you Leizhou at that time.

Furthermore, even if we take the silver, what then? After he leaves, we'll have someone watch him, and on a night dark and windy, we'll kill him and seize his silver notes—then we'd suffer no loss at all, right?"

Just as Jiang Bufan was thinking about how to refuse without losing face, Old Xu whispered this into his ear, and Jiang Bufan immediately broke into a delighted smile.

"Fifty thousand taels isn't enough—Miss Yue is the daughter of General Yue, worth at least a hundred thousand taels of silver; these are silver notes, please accept them."

Everyone was surprised, even Shen Tianxing found it hard to believe; he had originally planned to swindle some silver before taking Leiming City to use as military funds, and earning a mere one or two ten-thousand taels of silver would already be nice.

Now it's great—hundred thousand taels just landed in his lap, and Jiang Bufan is overjoyed; to say there's no scheme behind it—who would believe that?

"Governor Jiang, you're truly generous—thank you; the person has already been sent over, so I won't overstay, I'll take my leave now."

With the silver in hand, Shen Tianxing naturally ran off quickly; moreover, he heard the system's notification tone in his ear.

"The system detected that Leiming City Governor Jiang Bufan will send assassins tonight to kill the host; it has issued a counter-kill mission: slay all incoming assassins, completing the mission rewards 100,000 Killing Value, increases Martial Arts Experience by 10%, provides the blueprint for crafting Medium-Grade Ten-Refined Armor, and grants 10,000 taels of silver."

The mission is quite simple, and the rewards are not insignificant; Shen Tianxing is most interested in the blueprint for Ten-Refined Armor, which can be given to a blacksmith to craft, and in the System Mall it would cost 500,000 points of Killing Value.

Shen Tianxing can also craft it himself; the Divine Crafting Manual he previously obtained already contains the crafting of equipment, and he can personally make all equipment of Superior Grade and below.

Furthermore, it's not that difficult—just find the materials and then perform system synthesis; besides the 80% success rate for Superior Grade, all equipment below that has a 100% success rate.

However, these materials currently require a lot of silver to purchase, unless one occupies some iron or copper veins to extract metal, enabling mass production.

Ten-Refined Armor is a relatively simple Medium-Grade piece of equipment, usable only by soldiers; it mainly involves forging refined iron armor, then adding some purified copper-iron, and the silver cost is not high.

Seeing Shen Tianxing just leave like that, Jiang Bufan immediately gave steward Old Xu a look; Old Xu instantly understood, ran to the back and ordered a few servants, who also hurriedly departed to follow Shen Tianxing.

Yue Qingxue also saw this, but she clearly knew Shen Tianxing could handle it, so she paid no heed, instead turning to Governor Jiang and cupping her hands, saying:

"Thank you, Governor Jiang, for your generosity; I will now draw up a promissory note for you, and once I return I will have someone send the silver over, then we will retrieve this IOU."