“Young master.” The housekeeper quietly called outside the door.

Jing Yang opened his eyes. “Come in.”

The housekeeper pushed open the door and walked in, followed by several servants carrying a washbasin and towel such types of items for washing up.

Jing Yang rinsed his mouth and washed his face, and after the several servants withdrew, the housekeeper asked, “Young master, are you going to go take a look at the store?”

“I will first go see the opium den.” Jing Yang went behind the screen and changed into a cheongsam for going out. Right now the opium den was still being decorated and renovated and still had not officially opened yet. Even though it was said that the opium had already been stocked, there was still time for everything.

Originally Cheng Jiaming was also a pathetic person who had been abandoned by his mother, but this didn’t mean that he didn’t need to pay the price for all of those hateful things that he did. For what reason did he do so many wicked things, yet was still able to enjoy unlimited scenery in the end? Since now he had replaced Cheng Junxi, then on his behalf, he would accomplish all of the wishes that Cheng Junxi had made before dying. He would take back the Cheng family business and let Wei Tianxiong and Cheng Jiaming both pay the price.

He used the system to check the ending of Xu concubine. She had been sold by that businessman’s wife to the filthiest brothel and later died of an infectious illness. She deserved this kind of result, so he didn’t need to trouble himself over changing anything.

Jing Yang went to the opium den to check the opium, the amount was actually not small. He told the housekeeper that the opium den would not open for the time being and to transport these opium to the coast of Bincheng, get a pool, and then pour in the opium with seawater and calcium oxide. Then these opium would all be destroyed.

“Destroyed?” The housekeeper widened his eyes in disbelief. “These opium were bought with real gold and silver ah, you spent quite a bit of money on this, how could we just destroy it like this?”

“This is not some good thing, just leaving it would harm others as well as myself.” Jing Yang responded calmly. “If the money was spent then that’s it, in the future we can always earn it back.”

“But…, if the den doesn’t open and Wei officer’s side starts asking questions, that won’t be easy to explain ah.” The housekeeper was still somewhat hesitant.

“The den definitely cannot be opened, it will definitely cause retribution. First just delay Wei officer’s side, if we can drag one day then drag one day.” Jing Yang looked all around and whispered, “You must make sure to find people you can trust to do this task, we definitely cannot let Wei Tianxiong know about this right now.”

The housekeeper was quite trustworthy, he was completely devoted to the Cheng family and to Cheng Junxi. The old housekeeper who had chased Xu concubine out of the house was his father, later the housekeeper also suffered Cheng Jiaming’s retaliation, and his end was very miserable.

The housekeeper looked at the back of Jing Yang leaving with his hands clasped behind his back and vaguely felt that his family young master seemed to have turned more profound. He shook his head and hurriedly followed up, this was definitely an illusion.

“Young master, Zhang housekeeper.” The restaurant shopkeeper saw the two men walking over from far away, and walked over to receive them.

The Cheng family’s restaurants had decreased to two stores from the original five, and the teashops had turned to three stores from the original six. The other shops like the clothing workshops were completely gone, they had all been used as gifts for Wei Tianxiong and had turned into his possessions. Even if it was like this, Wei Tianxiong and Cheng Jiaming were still not satisfied.

In the first floor hall, a few guests were sparsely spread out. Jing Yang took a glance, walked in and sat down. The shopkeeper took out the account books and wanted to say something but hesitated.

Opening the account books, Jing Yang’s finger stopped on a certain page and tapped on it.

The shopkeeper finally started speaking. “One of the aides of Wei officer gave his mother a birthday feast, he reserved 50 tables…, he said that the money would first be owed and then he would return it when he had it. This is already the third time this month, we are only a restaurant, we are really unable to withstand Wei officer’s aides any more like this.”

Jing Yang had plenty of methods to make the restaurant’s business improve, but looking at the current situation, no matter how good the things he could take out were, they would only be given to other people. There would be no way for himself to benefit.

“Young master…”

The shopkeeper still wanted to say something, but he was interrupted by the housekeeper. “That’s enough lao Huang, young master already knows about this matter, you don’t need to keep mentioning it.”

The housekeeper was very clear, the young master must be very helpless in his heart, but right now he also had no methods.

Jing Yang shook the teacup in his hand and didn’t say anything. For the time being he could only let them freeload, as long as Wei Tianxiong this cause of trouble wasn’t solved, he would have no way to free himself. If he wanted to wait for that Yang commander to dispose of Wei Tianxiong, that would already have been several years later, who knew whether other accidents would occur during this period of time. Sitting there to wait for death didn’t conform with his personality, taking the initiative to attack was his style.

Returning to the Cheng family, Jing Yang started pondering about his later plans. Killing off Wei Tianxiong was his best method, but this person’s personality was paranoid, his guards never left his side. Besides “affairs,” even when he was sleeping at night his guards still kept watch inside the room, if he wanted to go close and kill him off, the difficulty was quite high.

But that didn’t mean there wasn’t any point of breakthrough, Wei Tianxiong was an opera enthusiast, almost to the point of addiction, and was also a homosexual. Or else with his greed, he would not have given the Cheng family assets in his hand to Cheng Jiaming, and satisfied all sorts of his requests.

This point that Wei Tianxiong was an opera addict was actually something he could exploit to get close to him, then what would he do after getting close? How he could dispose of him and still not stir up trouble for himself, and also not be taken advantage of by him… The best way was to use drugs, he needed a drug that could cause hallucinations and a slow-acting poison that was incapable of being diagnosed with the current medical expertise. After he searched a bit in the system, Jing Yang smiled, this method seemed to be not bad.

Jing Yang let the housekeeper invite the Park troupe master Wu. In Li city, the Wu family troupe had once been . But at that time the famous singers had become old or left, and over the years he hadn’t been able to cultivate out any especially great apprentices, and slowly declined. The number of people who requested them decreased, and the number who went to Fairview Park to see them perform also decreased.

After Cheng Jiaming came to Li city, he had unlimited scenery for a while, every time he performed it would be a , and the number of people who went to Fairview Park became even fewer. The Wu family troupe was now only surviving with difficulty and would dissolve in less than two years. Later on when Cheng Junxi was wandering the streets, Wu troupe master thought he was pitiful and would often bring him some food from home. Now, Jing Yang wanted to repay this grace on Cheng Junxi’s behalf.

When Wu troupe master had suddenly been called to the Cheng family, he had thought that the Cheng family wanted to request them for a performance. He had thought that there finally was someone willing to invite them and had been very happy in his heart.

The housekeeper brought Wu troupe master into the study and then left, closing the door behind him. Jing Yang lifted his hand. “Please sit.”

Wu troupe master and sat down on the right side of the next to the window.

Jing Yang took out a small wooden box and sat down on the left side of the arhat bed. He placed the box on the low table between them. “This is 200 silvers.”

“This…” Wu troupe master looked at the silver and then looked at Jing Yang. “We don’t need this much, my troupe currently doesn’t have famous singers. Cheng young master giving us half of this would already be thinking highly of us.”

“Wu troupe master has misunderstood, I don’t want to invite you to come perform.” Jing Yang said.

“You’re not inviting us to perform?” Wu troupe master froze, and looked at the silver doubtfully. “Then this…”

“I want to go perform at your Fairview Park.”

“Sing…, you know how to sing opera?” Wu troupe master was shocked, and didn’t understand how he would say this kind of words.

“No mistake, I will pay you money and go to your place to perform. Every time I sing, I will pay you 200 silvers, the revenue could also be given to you, I don’t need a cent.” Jing Yang lightly tapped his finger on the table.

Wu troupe master fell silent, the Wu family troupe truly really needed money right now, but this Cheng family young master, how would it be possible for him to know how to perform, it would be even more impossible for him to be able to sing well. In all likelihood he would only want to spend money to play a little. But this would definitely damage the Wu family troupe’s reputation, and later on there would be even less people willing to go listen at Fairview Park. For this money, it was not worth it ah…

Jing Yang raised his teacup and leisurely took two sips, and then leisurely placed the teacup back down. He continued, “In the future, every month, I will give your Wu family troupe a sum of money, I can ensure that you will not collapse because of not having enough money, until you cultivate the next famous singer.”

Wu troupe master was moved again, Jing Yang’s promise, for him, was undoubtedly a tremendous enticement.

“Cheng young master wants to sing how many stages?” Wu troupe master asked.

“It depends, I am unable to say for certain right now. But I can make a guarantee, after I sing the first stage, if the reactions are not good, then I will not go sing again later on. But the subsidy that I agreed to give you, I will still give you as before.”

“Good!” Wu troupe master and agreed. If it was only one stage, the influence shouldn’t be too big, in any case not many people came to Fairview Park right now.

Jing Yang smiled. “However, I have a condition.”

“What condition?” Wu troupe master immediately looked at him.

“Before I am willing to expose my identity, no matter who asks you for my identity, you cannot tell anyone about my identity or about the matter of me going to sing opera.”

“This is not a problem, then I will first thank Cheng young master. If in the future our troupe can be revitalized, I will definitely return you all of this money.”

Jing Yang thought, Wu troupe master’s this good person temperament who was unwilling to take unfair advantage of other people, should also be one of the reasons that the Wu family troupe had still not collapsed ba. But according to the ways of this world, for what reason did the good people all not have good days. He wanted to give these good people a way to survive.

Cheng Jiaming came out of the officer’s residence, holding a small wooden case in his hands. Once he got on the car he couldn’t wait to open it and take out the property deeds and banknotes, carefully looking over them one by one. These were all the Cheng family’s things and were now in his hands. Only at this moment, he finally felt that price he paid was all worth it.

Wei Tianxiong that boorish fellow was both beefy and fat, and even had some special hobbies. Every time Cheng Jiaming had sex with him, he would always feel completely disgusted. But as long as he could achieve his goals, he could endure all of these, to say nothing of all of the benefits Wei Tianxiong could give him, not just limited to getting all of the Cheng family property. With Wei Tianxiong this layer of relationship, he could in Li city, no one dared to offend him.

The car passed by the entrance of the Cheng residence, Cheng Jiaming raised his head to look at the Cheng residence sign that had flashed by. He hooked up the corners of his mouth with a slight smile, the Cheng family, sooner or later would all belong to him. Cheng Junxi had enjoyed it for so many years, it should be enough, the things that belonged to him, he would take them back personally.

“You finally came back.” Liu Er ran out to help Cheng Jiaming open the car door. He was the steward that Cheng Jiaming had invited, and only helped him manage the Cheng family troupe and Ya Garden. “A full audience is all waiting for you to go on stage.”

“I’m not singing today.” Cheng Jiaming got off the car and walked inside.

“Not singing? But all these people came for you ah.”

“Not in the mood, you see how to arrange ba.” Yesterday night he had accompanied Wei Tianxiong to play for an entire night, now his waist was almost broken, where would he have the energy to go on stage.

Liu Er was helpless, he could only help him fix the mess, Cheng Jiaming did as he pleased like this, if he didn’t want to sing then he didn’t sing, it also wasn’t the first or second time. The news had already been sent out saying that tonight the Cheng boss would be going on stage, and now he was not singing again, those people who had paid money to come in would definitely not be happy.

But fortunately no one dared to make trouble in Ya Garden, they all knew it was supported in the background by Wei officer. Next time they spread the news that the Cheng boss would perform, those who would come would still come. Who let only Cheng boss have the best opera skills in Li city.

———

[1] – 白吃白拿, literally means purely eating and drinking

[2] – 錦繡, means beautiful, but MTL translates this to Fairview, and I like that better than Beautiful Park

[3] – 紅極一時, but no longer

[4] – 座無虛席, literally means a banquet with no empty seats

[5] – 欠身, a polite gesture, though that doesn’t make sense bc he wasn’t sitting…

[6] – 羅漢床, an interesting type of furniture, basically a Ming-dynasty style sofa, you can lie on them like a “reclining Buddha”

[7] – 把心一橫, literally means to make his his mind horizontal/harsh

[8] – 橫著走, basically means he could do anything he wants