Chapter 176: Is It a Coincidence?

Zhao Jin's face was grim as he listened. He suddenly slammed the table and shouted, "Bingfeng and Dalei, you two ride to Longsheng right now and drag that manager out. If he's not at the shop, go to his house!"

Dong Bingfeng and Sun Dalei froze for a moment, then understood. They hurriedly got up and rushed out. Zhao Jin paced a couple of steps inside the room and said with some chagrin, "I was too cautious. I should have grabbed that manager first."

By the time Chen Sheng returned to the distillery, it was already deep into the night. When Dong Bingfeng and Sun Dalei rode back, it was past the third watch, and both of them looked thoroughly disgusted.

They had first gone to Longsheng and had the door opened, but the clerk said Manager Yu no longer lived there. He then led the two of them to find him. Manager Yu had bought a house in a good part of the east side of the city. As it turned out, they found Manager Yu's corpse on a street just outside that residence — his head had been cleanly chopped off.

In the pitch-black night, they wouldn't have seen it, but the clerk leading the way nearly tripped over it. Only when he held up a lantern to look did they discover it. The clerk was scared half to death.

Sun Dalei and Dong Bingfeng had initially wanted to just leave, but to be safe, they went and called the constables. The men from the constabulary were already busy with the physician's murder case. Hearing of another homicide, they could only give a bitter laugh. They knew Sun Dalei and Dong Bingfeng were Zhao Jin's men, so they felt obliged to add, "There was no need to inform the yamen about this. Just find a place and bury him. Who in this city dares to interfere with Master Jin now?"

It took the two men a long, confused moment to figure it out — the constables had assumed Zhao Jin was the killer. Thank goodness for that clerk as a witness; otherwise, they really wouldn't have been able to clear things up.

Only after confirming that Zhao Jin's people were not responsible did the constables and runners start taking things seriously. Besides, the deceased was the manager of Longsheng. A grain business like that was always flush with money, and cases connected to it always yielded some profit.

They led the men there, then were questioned at the yamen before finally being allowed to return. Although the yamen staff were very polite, the whole night had been a wasted trip, and both men's expressions were sour.

Not just them — Zhao Jin's face had turned utterly dark. That informant manager tonight could have unraveled many mysteries. He never imagined that his own momentary caution in letting the man go would result in a violent death just a few hours later.

"It seems they were already planning to silence him!" Zhao Jin said coldly.

The others were equally dejected. They had thought they had a breakthrough, only to end up with nothing.

No one slept well that night. But at the distillery, sleeping in was difficult anyway. At the first light of dawn, merchants were already waiting outside to pick up their liquor, as bustling as a market fair. Many had entered the city the previous night just to wait.

Fortunately, the area around the distillery had been quiet all night, with no more arson attempts or harassment. After breakfast, Liu Yong's men began feeding back reports. Two pieces of news were spreading through the city. One was the reward Zhao Jin had posted — four hundred taels was a price that could buy a life, several lives even. People from all walks of life were stirring, trying to see if they could claim that money. The second was the news of those two deaths the previous night. Everyone was speculating whether Zhao Jin's side was connected. Even if Zhao Jin's people hadn't done the killing, the fact that Zhao Jin's side had discovered both was far too coincidental.

In contrast, Zhao Jin's declared intent to move against Yan Blackface was treated as mere gossip. Yan Blackface had hired desperate blades to go after Zhao Jin, and dozens of lives had been lost that time. Wasn't it only natural for Zhao Jin to go after him? It would have been strange if he'd let him live this long. Of course, everyone also understood that Cloud Mountain Temple's influence was involved, and Zhao Jin hadn't been able to strike immediately back then.

Still, someone from Cloud Mountain Temple did come calling — it was Li Shun, the second manager of Cloud Mountain Trading. Zhao Jin had dealt with Monk Ruhui, Cloud Mountain Trading, and Cloud Mountain Tower before. All three were connected to Cloud Mountain Temple, yet they gave each other no face whatsoever. It didn't take Zhao Jin long to figure it out: wasn't this just like the old relationships between headquarters and branches, and between the branches themselves? The three parties belonged to different factions within Cloud Mountain Temple, which was perfectly normal.

Zhao Jin had dealt several times with both Cloud Mountain Trading's head manager Xue Xiaozong and this second manager Li Shun. Both men were under thirty and acted with outrageous arrogance. They didn't seem like businessmen at all, but more like young masters from official or gentry families. Still, the two of them knew to mind their manners in front of Zhao Jin.

This time, Li Shun had come to demand an explanation. The moment he sat down, he came straight to the point: "Young Master Zhao, Layman Yan is utterly loyal to our temple, and our temple cherishes such a devout follower of the Buddha. Yet Young Master Zhao intends to harm him. By doing this, where do you place the entirety of Cloud Mountain Temple?"

Normally, such a question would be a prelude to falling out. But Li Shun had requested a private meeting during his visit. When such words were spoken one-on-one, the implications were many.

Zhao Jin smiled and countered, "I am definitely going to deal with Yan Blackface. Letting word out in advance was already giving face to Cloud Mountain Temple. What exactly does the second manager want?"

"Our temple has nearly ten thousand monks. Young Master Zhao, for all your heroic prowess, you cannot stand against that. However... if Young Master Zhao could sell Cloud Mountain Trading one hundred jars a month, then Layman Yan's grudge can be settled by his own side." In less than three sentences, Li Shun revealed his true purpose.

In business negotiations, Zhao Jin had seen this kind of scene many times. Such threats were merely meant to force the other party to concede. If Zhao Jin were to play the same game, he would be a hundred times more skilled than his opponent.

Still, the way Li Shun pivoted without the slightest hitch made Zhao Jin laugh. He waved his hand and said with a smile, "Your Cloud Mountain Temple only gets two hundred jars a month, and even that's not guaranteed. Your Cloud Mountain Trading already picks up a few dozen jars here and there. Is that still not enough? Besides, you and Cloud Mountain Temple are one family — can't you just allocate some between yourselves?"

"This liquor is selling wonderfully right now. Everyone wants to stockpile more before the New Year. The price in the twelfth month is bound to go up again." Li Shun answered with a smile, then added with a bellyful of resentment, "Those old fogeys at the temple are raking it in for themselves. Where's our share? Profit-sharing? We're lucky if we don't have to hand over our own!"

Li Shun spoke without any inhibitions. Perhaps he hadn't detected Zhao Jin's probing intent, or perhaps he had but simply didn't care.

"Thirty jars a month. That's the number I can squeeze out. I can also do you a favor — fifty wen per catty," Zhao Jin said.

At these words, Li Shun stood up, his face beaming, and cupped his hands repeatedly in thanks. Hanjing Famous Liquor was already at eighty wen per catty and effectively unavailable at that price. The profit Zhao Jin was conceding was an enormous favor, nearly doubling their earnings.

Zhao Jin's smile remained unchanged as he continued, "I'll be frank. I'm offering this because I'd like Manager Li to keep me informed when you hear any news. Mutual convenience."

No favor came without strings, and Li Shun understood this in his heart. He was quite open about it, saying cheerfully, "Easy, easy. Young Master Zhao has given me such great face, so I, Li, will speak freely. That Yan Blackface is holed up over at Balipu. He still has thirty-some men of his own, plus another thirty-some from the temple. If Young Master Zhao finds that inconvenient, I, Li, can find a way to transfer those temple men away."

Every one of these Cloud Mountain Temple people was out for their own private gain. No one gave a thought to the temple's interests. Zhao Jin had already anticipated this. When Manager Li delivered himself to his door, Zhao Jin naturally had to cultivate the connection. But he hadn't expected the man to be so utterly shameless — selling out Yan Blackface so cleanly and efficiently.

Li Shun acted as if this were the most natural thing in the world. Zhao Jin, on the other hand, coughed twice and said, "I wonder how Master Ruhui will react. He was the one who came forward to negotiate both the peace and the liquor purchases."

At the mention of Ruhui's name, Li Shun let out a scoff. "Ruhui? He doesn't care about any of this. He didn't become abbot, and he's nursing a huge grudge!"

"Could Ruhui even become abbot? He doesn't have the seniority, does he?" Zhao Jin asked, surprised. A colossal entity like Cloud Mountain Temple surely had strict rules, with clear protocols for promotion and succession. Seniority and rank were unavoidable. Monk Ruhui wasn't even forty, yet he had set his sights on the abbotship. That seemed far too absurd.

Li Shun was indeed speaking freely. He sneered again and said, "He's the son of the previous abbot, Qingzhi. Originally, before Qingzhi died, he wanted to have a sudden enlightenment and transmit the Dharma, handing Cloud Mountain Temple over to him. But with such a vast estate and so many people, it wasn't something you could just hand over. At the time, the temple overseer led the monk soldiers to surround the main hall and forcibly seized the position of abbot. Otherwise, could Old Xue have become head manager?"

Seeing Zhao Jin's face full of confusion, Li Shun said with surprise, "Young Master Zhao didn't know? Our head manager is the abbot's son. But Ruhui isn't alone either. The abbots of several subordinate temples protect him. That's the only reason he can stay in the guest reception post. Otherwise, he'd have been driven out long ago to beg for alms."

After seeing Li Shun off, Zhao Jin sat quietly by himself for a while upon returning. That conversation had truly been an eye-opener. Cloud Mountain Temple was clearly run like a great magnate's estate, with so many inner workings. What shocked him even more was that this whole group of people who had grown prosperous thanks to Cloud Mountain Temple cared not a whit about the temple's life or death, only about their own benefit. But after thinking it over, Zhao Jin felt it wasn't so shocking after all — he had seen plenty of such things before.

After Li Shun left, the distillery's shipments for the day were also finished. Lu Xiangjiu came to report that the cold weather meant the grain for fermentation needed several extra days. With this delay, they only had enough for two stills to produce liquor, and output would have to be reduced. They had originally hoped to store some stock for sale in the twelfth month, but that was probably impossible now.

Just as Lu Xiangjiu finished speaking, Chen Sheng returned from the yamen. The loose ends of both cases there were connected to Zhao Jin's side, and since Zhao Jin couldn't leave, Chen Sheng had gone to keep an eye on things.

"The pouch and the gold ingots are all gone. I also asked the people at the yamen. They said if something's taken, it's taken. We only wanted the pouch; they could split the gold ingots among themselves. The man handling the case swore oaths that he didn't have them. It probably wasn't anyone from the yamen who took them." Chen Sheng explained clearly. When constables handled cases, making money came first. They would strip every bit of valuables from a corpse and split it among themselves. But with Zhao Jin and Chen Sheng's standing, and with things stated so plainly, there wouldn't be any concealment.

After saying this, Chen Sheng added doubtfully, "Could it have just been murder for money? Just a coincidence?"