Chapter 1029: Inevitable Clash

The group returned to the temporary residence and reported about the information they had received.

Sang Hong wasn’t the slightest bit concerned with Chen Zhou and Pink’s story. All of his attention was focused on the key. It was a bit larger than most commonly seen keys, and its shape was a bit strange. The lock it was designed for was definitely not an ordinary lock.

Their attention shifted to the small characters engraved on the key: Jia. Zi. 1204.

“It seems to be a sexagenary cycle[1]. Is it referring to a specific time?” Sang Hong stroked his beard as he thought to himself.

“But it isn’t the year of Jiazi[2]! And what does 1204 mean?” Gao Ying voiced his doubts.

“It seems to be a number. Could it be that it refers to a specific location?” Pei You was an outstanding genius from the Pei Clan. There was more in his head than just matters of the pleasure quarters.

Zu An thought of something and remarked, “Perhaps it’s the key to a safe deposit box?”

“A safe deposit box?” Sang Hong and the others were a bit confused. They had clearly never heard that term before.

Zu An gave them a rough summary of what the term meant. He had watched so many movies in his previous world depicting Swiss banks, and they all had personal safes for their clients. They always made the process seem all high-end and classy.

“There is a chance!” Sang Hong’s eyes lit up. “Hurry and bring Sir Xiao here.” During their time together, he had also learned that Xiao Jianren had a bit of knowledge regarding all kinds of crazy and bizarre things.

Sure enough, Xiao Jianren had an idea after giving it a look. He said,“As for the safe deposit box Sir Zu talked about, there should be two possible powers in Cloudcenter Commandery who have enough wealth and authority to have such places. The largest is the Zhenyuan Merchant Group, while the other is the Pegasus Merchant Group. Even though the latter can’t compare to Zhenyuan Merchant Group, they should be able to offer such a service.”

“Zhenyuan Merchant Group?” Zu An was alarmed. This was the second time he was hearing that name. Chen Zhou had been investigating the Zhenyuan Merchant Group before something happened to him.

“Then we’ll split up into two groups. One group will proceed to the Zhenyuan Merchant Group, and the other to the Pegasus Merchant Group!” Sang Hong quickly gave the order.

His objective was clear. At the moment, many people were paying close attention to their movements, and someone needed to remain present to oversee the temporary residence. That was why he couldn’t move about randomly.

Zu An’s cultivation was high, so Sang Hong didn’t need to worry too much about him. He could take care of Zhenyuan Merchant Group’s side on his own. Gao Ying and Pei You would work together to take care of Pegasus Merchant Group’s side.

After they left the temporary residence, the groups went on their assigned paths. They were already used to making detours to avoid attracting attention.

After making seven or eight turns to throw off their pursuers, Zu An hurried to the Zhenyuan Merchant Group. Even though it hadn’t been long since he came to Cloudcenter Commandery, he had already heard about the Zhenyuan Merchant Group’s great reputation.

Zhenyuan Merchant Group was the largest merchant group in Cloudcenter Commandery, or even the entire northwest. They were involved in all kinds of matters ranging from food, housing, and transportation. Every single person in Cloudcenter Commandery would use some of Zhenyuan Merchant Group’s services in some way during their day. The influence of Zhenyuan Merchant Group on Cloudcenter Commandery was just like Tencent in Zu An’s previous world. It was easy to imagine just what kind of scale it operated on.

Zu An followed Xiao Jianren’s instructions straight to Zhenyuan Merchant Group’s general headquarters. That was also where the Zhenyuan Bank was. He didn’t expose his identity and only entered the bank as if he were just a normal client.

…

On the bank’s second floor, a beautiful silhouette sat, leisurely sipping on some black tea. She was dressed in a warm yellow dress, draped in a white fur-trimmed sleeveless jacket. Her sitting posture was graceful and elegant. There wasn’t the slightest flaw that could be picked out of anything she did.

A tall and slender middle-aged man stood properly off to the side of the table. Anyone who saw that would definitely feel their jaw drop, because that man was the Head Banker Qian Dong of Zhenyuan Bank.

Normally, there were many people who wanted to meet with him, and yet wouldn’t get the chance. He was someone who would be treated as an honored guest even in the Civil Affairs Manor. But today, he was standing respectfully next to a young lady who was leisurely sipping on some tea, and yet both of them felt that was completely natural and appropriate.

“First miss, these are the last two years’ account lists from our bank.” Qian Dong handed over a booklet.

“Alright. Uncle Qian can leave that here; I’ll slowly look over them.” The woman showed him a sweet smile.

Even though he already knew that the young lady’s smile was a weapon, Qian Dong was still left stunned by that sweet smile. However, he snapped out of his daze after a moment, his face heating up. He coughed and said, “First miss, I should not be saying this, but I still wish to remind your respected self to not play those games. If there were an accident, I would not know how to explain things to the master at all.”

“I know that already! I’m so smart, so how can there be any accidents?” The young lady suddenly paused when she said that, because the scene of that man ‘threatening and tormenting’ her reappeared in her mind. Her pretty face turned red.

“That scoundrel is the worst. Hmph, he actually tried to scare me? What Brain Parasites Pill and Pill of Alteration? There are no such things in this world!” she mumbled to herself. She really had been scared badly that night. She had immediately used all of her resources to search for those two kinds of poisons as soon as she returned. In the end, her uncle had come back to tell her that those two poisons didn’t exist in this world at all.

With her uncles’ knowledge and experience, if they said the poisons didn’t exist, they didn’t exist. But she still hadn’t felt at ease, so she had asked several of her uncles to check her pulse. They had all said that her body was extremely healthy and that there weren’t any strange poisons inside of her at all. When she learned that truth, she knew she had been duped by that man. She was furious, and yet also found it ridiculous.

“Damn brat, you better not let me see you again, or else…” She was mumbling to herself when she saw a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye. Her expression froze. She quickly stood up and looked down. Sure enough, those eyes, those brows, and that faint smile… Who else could it be but the one who had left her with a nightmare all this time?

The other party seemed to have sensed something and turned around. The young lady jumped in fright and quickly hid behind the pillar behind her.

Qian Dong was a bit surprised when he saw how she was acting, asking, “Young miss, what is wrong?”

“It’s nothing. I just saw an enemy of mine.” The young lady harrumphed. Why would that guy show up?

She actually knew that the other party had come to Cloudcenter Commandery. After all, he was part of the imperial envoy; their whereabouts had already been decided ahead of time. Whether she had come to Cloudcenter Commandery for the first time ever because she really wanted to look over the accounts or because of something else, even she herself might not know if one asked her.

She thought, But why did that guy come to the Zhenyuan Merchant Group?

“An enemy?” Qian Dong’s bowed figure immediately straightened up. “Who in the world is so bold as to dare to offend the young miss, and even come here?” He was already rolling up his sleeves, prepared to help her with this problem of hers.

The young lady was startled. She quickly stopped him. “Stop, stop, stop! That guy is really strong; you’re not a match for him.”

Qian Dong frowned and said, “Even if I am not his match, this is our territory. We can call over as many experts as we want. No matter how formidable that man is, there will only be death awaiting him. Young miss, you need not be scared.”

The young lady quickly waved her hands and said, “Don’t surround him with cultivators.” When she saw the other party’s confused expression, the young lady realized that she was acting out of character. She coughed lightly and recovered her usual calm demeanor, saying, “I can deal with this person myself.”

“Oh…” Qian Dong’s expression became strange. He recalled how the young lady’s expression didn’t seem right previously. That young man was quite handsome-looking too. Don’t tell me…

A strange expression flickered in the young lady’s eyes as she said, “You should go and take a look. Why is he here?”

“Yes, young miss!” Qian Dong bowed, then quietly left.

…

Meanwhile, Zu An looked upstairs in puzzlement. He seemed to have sensed that someone was spying on him a moment before. But he didn’t see anything when he turned around. He obviously wouldn’t think it was just a misperception. In his cultivation realm, cultivators were especially sensitive in that respect.

But that spying feeling had already disappeared. As such, he concluded that it was probably the bank’s experts examining the guests who were coming and going.

A servant quickly came out to welcome him, asking, “Has this guest come here to deposit or withdraw silver?”

Zu An took out a key and dangled it in front of him, saying, “I came to take out what was stored here.”

He was a bit nervous. If the other party said they didn’t have anything, he had to immediately deliver the key to Gao Ying.

Fortunately, the servant smiled when he saw the key, saying, “Respected guest, please come inside.”

Zu An soon followed him into a private room inside. After confirming the number on his key, the servant fiddled with the mechanisms on the wall. Soon afterward, gears spun and a case came out from the hole in the wall.

“Respected guest, please help yourself.” The servant left and closed the door after completing his task.

Zu An sighed in amazement at the high level of technology he had witnessed. He quickly opened the case, seeing a booklet inside. It was one of the booklets the guards kept at their side.

He immediately opened it. When he read the contents inside, his expression changed greatly.

1. The sexagenary cycle, also known as the ‘Stems-and-Branches’ or ‘ganzhi’, is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year and thus a total of sixty years for one cycle. It was historically used for recording time in China ☜

2. The Chinese 60-year calendar cycle is based on the combinations of a cycle of ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches. Each year is named by a pair of one stem and one branch. The Year of Jiazi (Jia from the heavenly stems and Zi from the earthly branches) is the beginning of the sexagenary cycle. The next Jiazi Year will come 60 years later. ☜