Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 403: Special Permit

The caravan had been robbed, dealing the Wei Clan a heavy loss, but even worse was that his attempt to sell illegal goods had been exposed.

This thought instantly filled Wei Danbai with remorse, and he regretted listening to that young Spirit Master’s encouragement to sell Violet Berries. While the profit was big, so was the risk. And now, the entire Wei Clan might be buried because of his idea.

Wei Danbai couldn’t help but thump his chest in frustration.

But despite his regret, what had happened had happened, and over the last few days, he could tell that the mood in Canglong Prefecture had turned strange. Everyone seemed to be looking at him differently.

Whether this was psychological or real, Wei Danbai didn’t know.

He was like a prisoner waiting for his execution, anticipating the day of judgment—the matter of the Violet Berries would come out eventually.

However, when that day came, he was surprised by who was responsible for giving the judgment.

The main hall of the Wei Clan.

Wei Danbai looked down at the seated Gu Liangde, who had brought a pack of his juniors with him. They looked at him with scorn, pride, and amusement, as if they were looking at a dead man.

Composing himself, Wei Danbai used his tea cup lid to nudge aside the leaves on the surface of his tea. Speaking in the calmest tone he could manage, he said, “Patriarch Gu, you seem to have fully recovered. Congratulations on being able to move around. Have you come to visit today to carry out your end of the deal we reached nine months ago?”

Gu Liangde chuckled. “Brother Wei, if you want the casinos, there’s no problem, but when will you have the money for it? I’ve heard that you lost a shipment recently, a rather significant sum.”

Wei Danbai’s hands trembled, causing him to spill some tea onto his leg.

A Gu Clan youth saw this and sneered, “The Wei Clan patriarch’s hands are trembling? It’s just some goods. There’s no need to be so nervous about it, is there?”

Another Gu Clan youth immediately said, “Could there have been something unseemly among those goods?”

Another person piped up, “How could that be? The Wei Clan has always done business honestly and legally. How could they traffic illegal goods?”

The mention of illegal goods turned Wei Danbai ghastly pale.

He didn’t say anything, but the Gu Clan’s people had no intent of letting him go. Another person said, “Even if there were illegal goods, it wouldn’t be a big deal. After all, isn’t the Wei Clan’s Young Master Tianchong a True Inheritor of Sunwatch Peak? With him around, they can resolve any problems.”

“True, true. With the Sunwatch Peak True Inheritor around, selling a few Violet Berries is a trivial matter to take care of. I’m sure the Wei Clan has nothing to worry about. If it were my Gu Clan, it might be completely exterminated.”

“You can’t say that. Sunwatch Peak Master True Person Yan has always been strict on his disciples. He might not offer his protection if he knew what his disciple’s clan was up to. He might even be angered enough to kick his disciple out.”

“It’s possible. I’ve heard that True Person Yan isn’t very happy with this disciple and is always looking for an excuse to kick him out.”

The Gu Clan people brazenly laughed.

“Bastard!” Wei Danbai angrily slapped the table. He was about to call people to drive these people out when Gu Liangde waved his hand and silenced the laughter. He said to Wei Danbai, “The juniors of my clan have too much energy and have been rude with their words, for which I seek your forgiveness. But I’m afraid that there will be no hiding the matter of the Violet Berries. This matter is already the talk of the town, and everyone knows about it. I’m afraid it won’t be long before the Basking Moon Sect and government come to the Wei Clan to ask for an explanation.”

Wei Danbai took in a deep breath. “My second son, Tianchong, is still a Basking Moon True Inheritor. While it is forbidden to trade in Violet Berries, it’s not treason. While there will be a penalty, it’s not like people will be executed over it…”

“Perhaps nobody will die, but the clan will inevitably be broken up,” Gu Liangde replied. “I’m sure everyone knows how things like this are punished. Wei Clan Head, there’s no need to force yourself. To tell you the truth, this old man didn’t come here to make trouble. I just wanted to tell you that the Wei Clan should have a back-up plan for extraordinary times like this.”

“‘A back-up plan’?” Wei Danbai gave Gu Liangde a hard look.

“Yes, you need a back-up plan!” Gu Liangde sternly replied. “After this incident, the Wei Clan’s property is probably going to be seized, and those stores will be no more. Rather than letting the government profit… it would be better to sell off the stores for gold and silver, leaving yourself some foundation. The Gu Clan is willing to buy these stores at a good price.”

Gu Liangde offered a sheet of paper.

Wei Danbai took it and saw that it was a contract to take over the Wei Clan’s properties.

The more he read, the more shocked and angry he became. “Sixteen restaurants, four shipping companies, fifteen cloth stores, eleven inns, three pharmacies, eight clothing stores, four grain stores, and fourteen other miscellaneous stores, and you want that all for only twenty thousand taels of silver? This is outrageous! Any one of my Wei Clan’s stores could sell for this much!”

“It’s already pretty good that we’re willing to give you the price for one store,” a Gu Clan youth coldly said. “If you act now, you can still sell it for something, but once the government comes, it will all be worthless. Right, I forgot to tell you that the government already knows of this matter. They haven’t come yet because my Gu Clan asked them for some time. If you don’t want to, fine. We’ll just go back and report to the government so that they can send people from the sect to seize this place.”

Wei Danbai’s heart went cold.

At this moment, a voice crisply said, “I’d like to see who wants to report my Wei Clan!”

Everyone froze and turned their heads.

Wei Danbai was startled, and then he cried out in realization, “Wife!”

A party walked in from outside, led by a middle-aged woman wearing a large red robe, her hair bound with a double phoenix hairpin. It was none other than Zheng Shufeng.

Behind her were Shi Meng and other servants of the Wei Clan.

Gu Liangde was clearly shocked by Zheng Shufeng’s sudden appearance, but he quickly bowed to her and said, “Ah, so Madam Wei has returned. I hope that your mother has been well.”

Zheng Shufeng ignored him and walked to her husband. Wei Danbai was tearing up as he looked at his wife, who whispered, “Don’t panic. Step to the side and let me handle this.”

Like a drowning man grasping at a rope, when his reliable wife returned, Wei Danbai immediately yielded the central seat, not realizing at all what this represented.

At an extraordinary time like this, this chair no longer held much of an attraction.

Zheng Shufeng seated herself and coldly said to Gu Liangde, “Twenty thousand taels of silver for more than eighty stores of my Wei Clan… such an appetite! I thought that the old wretch from the Gu Clan was a venomous snake, but he turned out to be a ravenous vulture, a starving dog!”

“Foul woman, what did you say?” The Gu Clan youths roared in anger.

One of them said, “Foul woman, rather than looking out for your own clan’s old bastard, you rush to come back and send yourself to death. Don’t think that Wei Tianchong can save you. After this incident, there’s no way he’s keeping his True Inheritor status. Even staying in the Basking Moon Sect will be a problem. When the time comes, we can just spend some money to finish him off, and then your Wei Clan will be finished!”

Zheng Shufeng raised an eyebrow. “A bunch of deranged things. Do you really think that this Violet Berries incident can doom my Wei Clan? Today, I will show you what my Wei Clan is capable of. Shi Meng!”

As she barked, Shi Meng came forward and took out a document.

Shi Meng presented the document to the Gu Clan and shouted, “Look closely! This is a document issued by the Basking Moon Sect, granting my Wei Clan special permission to trade Violet Berries!”

“What?” Gu Liangde paled.

The Gu Clan juniors gathered around and saw that the document really did give the Wei Clan special permission to sell one thousand catties of Violet Berries every year, with exports being reported directly to the local government and Basking Moon hall.

Shi Meng smugly said, “It’s written clearly here in black and white! My Wei Clan has special permission! So what if we were selling Violet Berries? We had permission!”

“No… no!” Gu Liangde shuddered as he pointed at the document. “It must be a fake!”

“‘A fake’, your mother!” Shi Meng kicked Gu Liangde and sent the old man flying. He pointed at the document and said, “Open those useless eyes of yours a little wider! There’s an Immortal art stamp on here. Who would dare to forge that?”

A Gu Clan junior spat back, “Fine, I suppose you’ve got the ability if you were able to get special permission to sell Violet Berries, but that’s a matter of the present, not the past. Selling them before this was still illegal! I don’t believe you had special permission before. Otherwise, why would you have been so secretive about it?”

“Then go ahead and report it,” Shi Meng sneered. He pointed at the document and added, “But let me remind you that it’s clearly written here that the agreement is annual! Any Violet Berry sales that occurred within the present year are legal!”

Upon seeing those words on the paper, the Gu Clan juniors were dumbfounded.

In these circumstances, even with their thick skins, they didn’t dare to stick around. Gu Liangde immediately changed faces, saying with a smile, “Actually, this old man came over because he was truly concerned about the Wei Clan. It is wonderful that the Wei Clan is able to deal in these fruits. This old man is willing…”

“Scram!” Zheng Shufeng icily said.

She didn’t want to hear another word from them.

The clan servants lunged like a pack of wolves and drove the Gu Clan people out.

But everyone knew that the Gu Clan wouldn’t be having happy days much longer.

Now that the storm had passed, Wei Danbai felt his heart relax. His vision suddenly blurred as he fell to his butt.

He looked at his wife and smiled. “You’re always the one with the skills.”

Zheng Shufeng shook her head. “Fool, numerous clans fight over the special permit to sell Violet Berries every year. It’s not something that I’m capable of obtaining.”

“Then who?” Wei Danbai looked at his wife in shock.

Zheng Shufeng sympathetically looked at her husband. “You tell me.”

Wei Danbai was stunned. A name that he wasn’t willing to think about, but had no choice to think about, emerged in his mind.

Shi Meng explained, “In order to get the special permit as quickly as possible, Tang Jie contacted all the classmates who worked with him on the Stone Gate Sect matter. During the Stone Gate Sect matter, everyone paid a large amount of spirit coins for bribes and became acquainted with many new friends. When they heard that Tang Jie was in trouble, many of them were willing to help. With everyone going around, they managed to settle the matter. And Tang Jie still had to spend one hundred thousand coins and even went to ask Headmaster Xie for help. Otherwise, Clan Head, who else do you think would be so capable as to settle this matter so quickly? Neither I nor the young master have the prestige for this. However, Tang Jie said that while he can help once, he can’t help for a lifetime. The Wei Clan requires someone wiser to guide it so as to put an end to the problem once and for all.”

Wei Danbai was startled.

After a while, he finally said, “I understand.”

He stood up and bowed to Zheng Shufeng. “Starting from today, you are the head of the Wei Clan. The Wei Clan is currently in an autumn of many troubles, in dire need of my wife to revitalize it. I trust that with the leadership of my wife and the support of Immortal Tang, my Wei Clan will regain its glory!”

Zheng Shufeng finally becomes the leader of the Wei Clan, and thus ends Tang Jie’s little episode of political scheming.