CLS-Chapter 432

Chapter 432:

Zhuge Wen-in looked at Wei Yan-ho with bewildered eyes.

‘Kids who are being held captive?’

Why was he asking about that?

First of all, he didn’t particularly like the phrase “being held captive.”

How could this be considered holding them captive?

These were children with nowhere to go, children who would have starved to death on the streets. Weren’t they feeding them, giving them shelter, and even providing them with lifelong work?

Of course, he acknowledged the fact that they weren’t paying them proper wages, but if they hadn’t taken them in like this, these people would have suffered even worse fates. How could taking in and feeding such people be considered a crime?

Why had they taken hostages?

If they didn’t, wouldn’t these ungrateful, treacherous wretches who didn’t know kindness just run away?

He could understand them running away.

But if they didn’t take hostages, when the informants were captured by enemies, they would spill all of the Zhuge Family’s secrets.

That’s just how informants were treated from the beginning.

Even if Zhuge Wen-in were captured by the Righteous Martial Alliance, he wouldn’t be tortured. If he lost his life in battle or was taken prisoner, he could just enjoy prison life.

This was because if rumors spread that they had tortured someone, public opinion would turn negative, making it difficult to choose such methods easily.

But exceptions applied to informants.

Dealing with information always meant sneaking into the most secretive places that opponents least wanted exposed, and those caught in such places couldn’t even announce the fact that they’d been captured. Even if they could announce it, infiltrating to extract information carried the implicit agreement that one was prepared for any consequences if discovered.

So they had to prepare for such possibilities, didn’t they?

And yet he was harping on about this.

“No, young brother. That’s not what I meant…”

“Our father is quite an upright person.”

“Huh?”

“It’s really hard to understand when you look at it, but even though I sometimes go around saying I’m from a backwater rural family, in Guangdong, people recognize the Wei Family name, you know?”

“Huh?”

Zhuge Wen-in made a blank face.

Why did this guy always go off on tangents?

“He became the head of the Wei Family at a young age, and his face is pretty handsome by those standards. On top of that, he was a young master with the cool alias ‘Righteous Hero Sword,’ so you can imagine how many women followed him around.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“But even so, he doesn’t look elsewhere and remains devoted to my mother who only scolds him every day. I respect that aspect of him, so please don’t create unnecessary brotherhood relationships.”

“That’s not what ‘young brother’ means!”

“Then what does it mean?”

“Well, that’s…”

As Zhuge Wen-in stammered, Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders and said:

“No need for long explanations. Pay the overdue wages to those currently held captive at the Zhuge Family and being used as informants. One nyang per year should be enough.”

“O-one nyang?”

Zhuge Wen-in screamed in shock.

Giving ten gold nyang to one person wasn’t a big problem. But was he telling them to give that money to all those many informants?

No matter how enormous the wealth the Zhuge Family had secretly accumulated, this would be an expenditure that would nearly uproot their foundation.

“You’ve been using them without paying until now, so isn’t that much natural?”

“Who in the world pays that kind of money to use informants?”

“Who indeed? The benevolent Zhuge Family.”

Wei Yan-ho grinned.

“It’s better to become a model for others than to be pointed at with fingers. Or try enforcing it by force once? That would be better than having the family head dragged away. I think the bribes you’d have to feed to your superiors would cost more than that money. Oh dear, if I step forward, that stubborn old man will definitely come out, and then there’ll be no answer, right?”

“Stubborn old man?”

“The Director of the Censorate.”

“…L-Lee Wang-ya?”

“Yes.”

Lee Wang-ya…

Zhuge Wen-in laughed because it was so absurd.

That Lee Wang-ya he was talking about couldn’t be referring to Zhu Lun, could it?

“Are you talking about the Director of the Censorate who is as strict as a sword and is like the Grim Reaper to government officials?”

“Ah, right. Now he’s not the Director of the Censorate but the Director of the Investigation Bureau. I keep making mistakes because I’m not used to it. Yes, that gentleman.”

Wei Yan-ho smiled brightly.

“Come to think of it, this is exactly the kind of work the Investigation Bureau handles. He was just holding a position without doing anything anyway, so if he scores a big case with this opportunity, the Director of the Investigation Bureau would be pleased too.”

“…”

Zhuge Wen-in’s eyes trembled.

The Investigation Bureau!

Not many people knew that name yet, but those who did know how terrifying that name was.

After the struggle between the Eastern Bureau and the Censorate that had divided the imperial palace’s power, the Censorate won and completely absorbed the Eastern Bureau, creating the Investigation Bureau. The Investigation Bureau was the one and only inspection agency that had the emperor’s trust.

Moreover, Lee Wang-ya Zhu Lun, the Director of the Investigation Bureau, was like the Grim Reaper to government officials.

He was famous for not hesitating to travel a thousand li to punish officials if there was anything that harmed the common people.

“Are you perhaps also affiliated with the Investigation Bureau?”

“Yes.”

Of course.

Everyone who knew anything knew that Wei Yan-ho had the trust of the former Director of the Censorate. That person who should now be called the Director of the Investigation Bureau.

So… if Wei Yan-ho said even one word to the Military Commissioner of Sichuan Province in Chengdu that human trafficking was occurring at the Zhuge Family, a major incident would explode.

To avoid the inspection of the Investigation Bureau, whose blade was so sharp it seemed necks would fall just from looking at it, the Military Commissioner would shake down the Zhuge Family until not a speck of dust remained.

While the Zhuge Family wasn’t more corrupt than other sects, honestly, where was there a place that wouldn’t produce dust when shaken down?

If they started nitpicking about things that had happened as a matter of course, it wouldn’t end with just one or two people losing their heads.

‘What the hell is this!’

Zhuge Wen-in newly realized just how difficult Wei Yan-ho was to deal with.

The world was fair in a bad way.

Heaven was spiteful and didn’t give everything to one person. If there was one advantage, there was usually a corresponding disadvantage. In particular, it never concentrated power in one place.

Look at the Zhuge Family.

If the Zhuge Family members’ bodies had supported them even half as much as their intelligence, the Zhuge Family would have become the greatest family in the martial world by now. But the reality was that their sickly bodies were barely sustained by martial arts.

If the Zhuge Family’s ancestors hadn’t devoted themselves to martial studies early on and had tried to remain as strategists, the Zhuge lineage might have ended by now.

Their weak bodies were like their destiny. Sometimes he was dissatisfied with such bodies, but knowing that heaven doesn’t give everything, he tried to live gratefully for what was given…

‘What the hell is this guy!’

His martial arts could take on the Zhuge Family alone, his wealth could steamroll the Zhuge Family by himself. On top of that, didn’t his power reach the heavens?

It was infuriating.

If an elderly man of advanced years had possessed all this power, Zhuge Wen-in would have respected him with a humble heart. But seeing someone younger than him possess such power made his stomach twist.

Moreover, the things Wei Yan-ho had obtained had nothing to do with his family. They were things he had built up entirely with his own power. That fact was even more irritating.

“What are you thinking about?”

“…Nothing.”

“No need to think long about it. Will you do it or not?”

“…”

Zhuge Wen-in let out a deep sigh.

‘They say the most frightening power in the world isn’t wealth or violence, but political power…’

No matter how great the Zhuge Family was, it would be difficult to survive in the Central Plains after causing friction with the Investigation Bureau. In other times, they might somehow get through it, but now was the time when the Investigation Bureau’s power was at its peak and they were overflowing with motivation.

There was no need to throw themselves to a pack of hungry wolves.

“I’ll pay.”

“How generous.”

“But!”

Zhuge Wen-in set a condition.

“This isn’t something I can decide alone. I’ll convey your intentions to the family head.”

“Yes. That’s fine then. And instead!”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t think about distributing that money directly—bring it to me.”

“…To you?”

“Yes. I need to confirm that it’s being paid accurately.”

“Are you saying you don’t trust us? I’m the vice head of the Zhuge Family. Do you think I’d say two different things with one mouth?”

“No.”

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho grinned and said:

“I don’t distrust you specifically—I don’t trust anyone. I even manage the money I earn separately from the family money. Even when my father told me to bring the money because he’d spend it all if I left it with him, I didn’t give him a single pun. You’re not going to tell me I should trust you more than my own father, are you?”

There was nothing to say.

What could you say to someone who didn’t even trust their parents?

You could argue about honor with someone who cared about honor, but what honor could you argue with such a scoundrel?

“So bring every last pun to me without leaving anything out. I’ll calculate it clearly. You understand what I mean, right?”

“…”

Zhuge Hui’s shoulders sagged.

Complete defeat.

It had been good up to charging in with high spirits. But in the end, it had come to this.

‘This wasn’t how it was supposed to be…’

Zhuge Hui clenched his fist tightly. The picture he had drawn wasn’t this. He might have seemed to charge in because he was very angry, but inside, he had been coolly composed.

The Zhuge Family had already gone to an irreversible point. From the moment Wei Yan-ho, whom he should have monitored and restrained, had escaped and turned the family upside down, he could no longer intervene in this matter. Moreover, rumors were spreading that the family had been ruined by some mysterious assailant.

There was only one way to reverse this situation. He, as the vice head, would personally charge in, get beaten by Wei Yan-ho, get injured, and be carried out.

Then sympathetic public opinion would instantly focus on them. If he revealed that the mysterious assailant’s identity was Wei Yan-ho, he could create a situation where all of Sichuan’s martial world would target Wei Yan-ho simultaneously.

Right now, people were hesitating because they didn’t want to be the one to bell the cat, but if the will of Heaven’s Alliance was united, eliminating that one Wei Yan-ho wouldn’t be a big deal.

But then…

‘Why won’t you hit me, damn it!’

Wei Yan-ho’s temperament was explosively volatile.

From the outside, he might seem like he’d be slow because he was lazy, but if you carefully considered his track record, he was someone who didn’t look back when he stepped forward.

Rather, Wei Yan-ho was someone with such boldness that you’d wonder if it was okay to handle things so urgently. So he thought Wei Yan-ho would naturally attack if provoked just a little, but how had it come to this situation?

With Wei Yan-ho stepping forward to resolve this matter by mobilizing the government, any further provocation would only be a bad move. While there were people in the world who sympathized with the weak who got beaten, there was no one who sympathized with those who used people with nowhere to go as servants. Especially when there were even hostages…

“…I’ll withdraw for today.”

The moment Zhuge Wen-in quietly turned around to retreat for reorganization, a cold voice came from behind him.

“And…”

That voice was like the voice of an evil spirit flowing from the underworld. Zhuge Wen-in’s body froze in place.