Chapter 610

Hai Guanjia seemed deeply attached to Chunuan City; when he spoke these words, his tone carried pride.

Fang Yue thought for a moment and understood: just as Gu Yue Cun was his own cherished white moonlight, Chunuan City was Hai Guanjia's hometown—and when one's hometown grows better and stronger, its people naturally feel a sense of honor.

"Then how do you handle public order? What if a thousand people riot and smash things?"

"That brings us to another pillar industry of Chunuan City."

Hai Guanjia pointed ahead.

Beyond the city gate of Chunuan City lay a main street.

On both sides of the main street ahead stood a crowd of people.

Upon noticing Fang Yue's group entering the city and passing through the gate, they immediately rushed over, holding up papers adorned with illustrations and text descriptions.

"Brother, need guards?"

"Big Brother, Xiantian Realm guards—today's discount is ten percent off!"

"Hey! Isn't that Hai Guanjia? You've got quite a bit of cargo this time—need some guards? These newcomers are all Hou Tian Realm experts, young and strong, each one a top-notch fighter."

"Hai Guanjia of the Dayang Merchant Caravan? Then the lady beside him must be… Yang Hongxia, the beauty who could topple nations and captivate cities?"

Topple nations and captivate cities?

Fang Yue glanced skeptically at the young lady beside him—her looks were fine, sure, but was the standard of beauty really this low?

The young lady ignored his gaze with a blank expression, pretending not to hear.

"Seven percent off! I'll give you seven percent off market rate, Hai Guanjia—let me escort you!"

"Me too! Me too!"

"Young Lady, when's the next martial arts matchmaking event? I'm signing up!"

Hearing their words and seeing the young lady's darkening face, Fang Yue finally understood.

There was a dark history here—she'd once played the martial arts matchmaking game.

Wait, with her strength, shouldn't she have already married herself off by now?

"All of you, disperse! The guards we hired are already with the caravan—can't you see?"

Seeing the situation turning sour, Hai Guanjia barked two orders and gave a glance to the team's guards.

Two Xiantian Realm guards stepped forward.

"Whoa— isn't that Feng Bai of the Feng Di Tui?"

"Yun Tian of the Lai Yun Palm!"

"Who would've thought such a small Dayang Merchant Caravan had two dragons among its ranks—no wonder they never took our offers."

Seeing the two guards in the group, the crowd quickly dispersed.

Fang Yue glanced at the two men curiously.

"So you two are pretty famous?"

Both immediately bowed low, smiling obsequiously: "All empty praise, all empty praise—Night Master is our true pillar."

Though classified as Xiantian Realm, their actual strength barely scraped into the realm—they were at the very bottom.

Slightly stronger, and they might land guard jobs in major merchant caravans.

Slightly weaker, and they'd be stuck in stagnation for life, with no chance of fortune.

Stuck right in this limbo, they sold themselves to the Dayang Merchant Caravan as private guards.

Even so, they nearly got wiped out—if not for Fang Yue, the whole caravan would've been dead.

"The Hu Wei Hang is a massive industry pillar in Chunuan City, entirely backed by the Tian Shang Meng."

Because Chunuan City sees enormous foot traffic, and with Qingsi and Lanshan both adopting a policy of turning a blind eye before incidents and cracking down hard afterward, anyone wanting personal safety—whether a merchant or individual—will always be right to hire from the Hu Wei Hang.

Though their recruitment tactics are crude and Unranked, those who hold prime spots on this street are all major Hu Wei Hang operations.

The further back you go, the smaller the Hu Wei Hangs become, the lower the quality of their guards, and the cheaper their prices.

Occasionally, you might stumble upon a hidden gem of a small Hu Wei Hang and save yourself a lot of money."

Hai Guanjia knew Fang Yue knew nothing about Chunuan City, so he explained in great detail.

Simply put, unlike Qingsi County's Qingsi, which enforced a cold, rigid standard—tight external defense, thorough internal searches, zero tolerance for anomalies, summary executions for criminals—resulting in steadily rising public order and everyone behaving themselves, with nights as silent as water—

Chunuan City's standard was clearly that of a warm-hearted deadbeat.

It opened its arms to outsiders, allowed free movement within, and even hosted parties at night that raged until dawn.

In short: do whatever you want, I don't care—I just warm you up.

Provided you don't cause trouble in daylight Chunuan City, you can do anything you like; otherwise, you'll face strict investigation by the Government and even the Tian Shang Meng.

After all, daytime foot traffic and trade volume are Chunuan City's true foundation; as for nighttime, a tacit understanding has formed, so no one cares anymore—those who understand, understand; newcomers who die at night? They just paid protection fees.

Fang Yue understood the Government's strategy: lax before incidents, strict after—when manpower is scarce, this approach concentrates and maximizes efficiency.

For ordinary people to protect themselves in this environment, they must hire warriors from the Hu Wei Hang.

Over the years, the Tian Shang Meng's heavy support had formalized and scaled up the Hu Wei Hang; in exchange, the Hu Wei Hang provided warriors to the Tian Shang Meng at preferential rates and prioritized them before other organizations and independents.

One behemoth had nurtured another.

Together, they were tightly bound, firmly seated as the dominant power of Chunuan City.

Of course, this didn't mean the Tian Shang Meng was weak—according to Hai Guanjia, the Tian Shang Meng was the strongest organization in Chunuan City, its overall strength one level above all others.

But externally, others saw the Tian Shang Meng primarily as merchants, and similarly, they saw the Hu Wei Hang primarily as warriors.

Moreover, the Tian Shang Meng now intervened less frequently, leaving investigations mostly to the Government, with the Hu Wei Hang assisting.

As the two realized this, the Dayang Merchant Caravan's outpost ahead was already faintly visible.

It was a large mansion, appearing very grand.

Someone at the gate had spotted their arrival and came out to greet them.

They gave the black-robed black mist figure that was Fang Yue a second glance but asked no questions.

Fang Yue, however, asked casually, "By the way, what was that thing they mentioned earlier about the eldest young lady's martial-arts tournament for choosing a husband?"

Everyone's expression stiffened at once, and no one spoke up to follow up.

The eldest young lady, however, glanced at him and said, "You want to marry me?"

Huh?

Fang Yue was dumbfounded for a moment, but then saw the eldest young lady continue, "If you want to marry me, I'll discuss it with Father tonight, and we can be wed and consummate the marriage tomorrow."

Fang Yue's expression stiffened, and he shook his head repeatedly.

"Eldest young lady, that's a huge misunderstanding…"

"Then please, Lord Ye, don't bring this matter up again."

After a pause, the eldest young lady glanced at the dirty handkerchief wrapped around Fang Yue's right hand, said nothing more, and entered Dayang Fu first.

(End of chapter)