Simple and Crude Methods

The Earl's gaze softened, and he said earnestly, "Lang, you can't do it. Times have changed. Under the New Policy, old noble families like ours are swaying in wind and rain, terrified of making a mistake and having someone seize upon it. In just these three years, three noble families have had their fiefs confiscated and their titles stripped away. One of them even lost his life."

At this, the Earl wore a grief-stricken expression.

All he wanted was to preserve the foundation left behind by his ancestors. What was wrong with that?

He continued, "In the past, I could have disposed of someone like Tian Heng without breaking a sweat. But now, let alone you, even I would find it difficult to bring him down in one stroke. He holds an official post from the court, after all. Nobles are forbidden from interfering in local government affairs. Once we break the rules, the consequences will be unthinkable."

At that moment, Shen Lang deeply felt the helplessness in the Earl's heart.

Never mind whether this New Policy was good or bad for the Yue Kingdom. At the very least, it now ran counter to Shen Lang's interests, which made it bad.

The Earl said solemnly, "Lang, I promise you that within half a year at most, I will bring down Tian Heng and seek justice for you!"

With the power in the Earl's hands, destroying Tian Heng was naturally not difficult.

The difficult part was doing it in accordance with the law and avoiding any incriminating evidence. That was harder than climbing to heaven.

Yet the Earl still made Shen Lang that promise.

Shen Lang's expression turned grave, his gaze sincere. "Father-in-Law, Tian Heng, the Xu Family, and the Lin Family all bear grudges against me. I must take this revenge myself, or I will never be able to hold my head high for the rest of my life. By marrying into the Earl's Manor, I have already gained an enormous advantage. Those three families would not dare touch even a hair on my head."

Shen Lang paused briefly, then continued, "I have rendered no service to the Earl's Manor, so I have no right to waste any of its resources, especially its political resources. If even my revenge must be taken by you, then I am unworthy of being MuLan's husband. I should just go home and live off my parents."

The Earl was greatly gratified upon hearing this.

He felt that Shen Lang had finally opened his heart to him for the first time.

"I admire your resolve," the Earl said. "But you truly cannot defeat them. Child, Xuanwu City is no longer our territory. It belongs to the court now. It belongs to Liu Wuyan and Zhang Jin. Both of them are Tian Heng's backers. You cannot defeat him."

Shen Lang said, "Then do they dare kill me? Do they dare hit me?"

"Who would dare?" the Earl said coldly. "We may not be able to stir up trouble now, but our family still has two or three thousand troops. If anyone dares harm a member of the Earl's Manor, they can wait for our army to trample them flat and slaughter them to the last."

Shen Lang bowed and said, "Father-in-Law, I swear to you here that I will make Tian Heng cut off his own arms and lose all face, all within the law and without leaving behind a single shred of evidence. Please believe me."

The Earl asked, "Then what is your plan?"

"I cannot say. It would not be appropriate to say," Shen Lang replied. "Some things can only be done, not spoken."

In truth, Shen Lang did not dare say it. He was afraid his father-in-law would beat him up.

The Earl asked, "Do you know what the consequences will be if you lose?"

Shen Lang said, "My reputation will be utterly ruined. From then on, the moment I set foot in Xuanwu City, people will mock me."

The Earl hesitated for a long, long time, then suddenly gritted his teeth. "You are a man with your own ideas. If you insist on going, I cannot stop you."

"Thank you, Father-in-Law," Shen Lang said.

The Earl said, "You must remember this. Never violate the laws of the kingdom, and never leave behind any evidence. Do not worry about winning or losing. You are still young; losing once is no great matter. Even if your reputation stinks and you lose face, it does not matter."

Shen Lang bowed once more. "I will certainly heed Father-in-Law's teachings. Besides... I will definitely win. Even if Tian Heng has the City Lord's Manor and the Prefect's Manor behind him, this time I will make him suffer a crushing defeat and strip away every last shred of his swagger."

"Your son-in-law shall take his leave," Shen Lang said.

When the sun rose, he left the Earl's Manor in a carriage and headed for Xuanwu City.

What method should one use against someone like Tian Heng? What scheme? To be honest, it was difficult! The Earl had already said it: bringing Tian Heng down while staying within the law and leaving behind no evidence was extremely difficult.

That was right. Tian Heng's crimes were countless, and heaven knew how many lives he had taken. Those crimes alone were enough to send him to the executioner's block.

But the Earl's Manor could not interfere in local government affairs.

Arresting Tian Heng and putting him on trial were powers belonging to the Xuanwu City Lord.

Unless Tian Heng committed a crime within the fief of Xuanwu Earl's Manor, taking him down would be effortless.

But he was not that foolish.

That was why the Earl said Shen Lang could not win or contend with Tian Heng. Behind Tian Heng stood the Xuanwu City Lord and Zhang Jin.

Shen Lang thought of many methods and schemes—mysterious upon mysterious, intricate beyond measure. Some even looked as splendid as Zhuge Liang's schemes in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, carrying the air of wisdom bordering on demonic.

However... none of them would work.

The more complicated the scheme, the greater the chance of failure.

What kind of method worked best?

Simple and crude methods worked best!

And the method Shen Lang had prepared for dealing with Tian Heng was simple and crude enough—so simple and crude that it was practically shameless!...

Tian Heng ran many businesses: gambling houses, brothels, moneylending, and so on.

Which one made the most money?

Naturally, it was the gambling houses. They truly brought in gold by the day, accounting for more than sixty percent of his income.

His lavish lifestyle, as well as the several hundred brothers under his command, depended to a certain extent on the earnings of the gambling houses.

Throughout Xuanwu City, Tian Heng operated five gambling houses, giving him an outright monopoly.

Did others want to open gambling houses? Before Tian Heng's brothers could even come knocking, people from the City Lord's Manor would arrive to seal the place shut.

Prosperity Place was the name of Tian Heng's gambling house.

It was decorated in magnificent splendor and occupied three entire floors. Food, drink, entertainment—it had everything inside.

Even pawnshops and brothels had been opened within the gambling house itself.

So Shen Lang's method for dealing with Tian Heng was simple: go to his gambling house and win money. Keep winning, keep winning, keep winning!

Win until he far surpassed Tian Heng's limit, beyond what the backers behind him could bear.

For someone like Tian Heng, what mattered most?

Loyalty?! What a joke. Of course it was money!

Only money could allow him to bribe the City Lord's Manor and bribe the garrison troops.

With money came backers. Without money came no backers.

Shen Lang dared conclude that the Xuanwu City Lord, and even the Nujiang Prefect, took money from Tian Heng's gambling houses.

Once the money Shen Lang won exceeded the psychological breaking point of those powerful figures, everything would no longer be up to Tian Heng.

In the past, before Shen Lang had even won a hundred gold coins, his arms and legs would have been broken before he was thrown into a river to drown.

But now, protected by his status as the Earl's Manor's son-in-law, winning any amount of money in Xuanwu City would not be a problem.

The only thing he had to worry about was whether Father-in-Law would beat him up.

Of course, Shen Lang was not merely going to win money. What came after winning was even more important: the performance that would draw everyone into the trap.

The Earl had dispatched no fewer than four warriors to protect Shen Lang.

Dressed in luxurious brocade robes, wearing a jade crown, and riding in an opulent carriage, he became the center of attention the moment he entered the city.

Countless people pointed and whispered at him.

Shen Lang had already become a legendary figure in Xuanwu City. Even his infamy was legendary.

A useless good-for-nothing who neither studied nor possessed any learning had first become the Live-in Son-in-Law of the wealthy Xu Family. After being thrown out by them, he had become the live-in son-in-law of the Earl's Manor less than three days later? Was that impressive or what? He had soared to the heavens in a single step!

Thus, when they saw Shen Lang dressed in such overwhelming wealth and grandeur, countless people were so jealous they spat blood in their hearts. Turning away, they spat repeatedly. "This useless trash is really arrogant. He only just became the Earl's Manor's live-in son-in-law, and already he is flaunting himself through the streets."

"Yes, yes. Look at those clothes he is wearing. They would feed my family for three years."

"Shameless to the extreme, shameless beyond measure! He does not study properly or farm the land. All he thinks about is living off a woman and clinging to a powerful thigh. The Earl must truly be blind to choose such trash as a live-in son-in-law."

"Just wait and see. Within half a month at most, he will be thrown out of the Earl's Manor. He is far too arrogant!"

Shen Lang was utterly unmoved by these remarks. He even shifted into a more comfortable position inside the carriage.

Upon arriving before the gates of Prosperity Place, Shen Lang got down from the carriage and entered the gambling house.

The expressions of the four Earl's Manor warriors behind him changed at once.

The Young Master was actually going gambling?

How could this be acceptable? The Earl's Manor had strict family traditions. Even a wastrel like the Young Lord would never dare set foot in a gambling house, or the Earl would break both his legs.

Who entered gambling houses? Prodigals! Shen Lang was merely the Earl's Manor's live-in son-in-law. He should have been cautious in every step and conducted himself properly. Yet not only did he flaunt himself through the streets in brocade robes, he even openly entered a gambling house.

However, the four Earl's Manor warriors only had the authority to protect Shen Lang, not the authority to advise him.

More importantly, they had no desire to advise him.

How could trash like Shen Lang possibly deserve Lady MuLan? Since he wanted to court death, they would let him do as he pleased!

It would be best if he lost so thoroughly that he was beaten black and blue, then had his legs broken by the Earl and was thrown out the door.

In the hearts of these warriors, only Lord Jin Shiying was Lady MuLan's ideal husband.

After all, Lord Jin Shiying was their idol, as well as the Earl's adopted son.

At this moment, Tian Shijiu, one of Tian Heng's adopted sons, was overseeing the gambling house.

When he saw Shen Lang enter, Tian Shijiu was first stunned, then overjoyed!

What was a gambling house? A devil's den! Shen Lang had actually walked into the devil's den of the Black Clothes Gang of his own accord. Wasn't this seeking death? "Oh my, isn't this Young Master Shen from the Earl's Manor? Welcome, welcome!" Tian Shijiu said. "Men, serve tea. Serve the finest tea."

Very soon, a servant brought over a pot of the finest tea.

Shen Lang sat upright and slowly savored the tea.

"Young Master Shen, have you come merely to take a look around, or would you like to play a few rounds?" Tian Shijiu asked.

"Since I'm here, naturally I'll play a few rounds," Shen Lang said.

"Welcome, welcome!" Tian Shijiu was incomparably excited.

His adoptive father Tian Heng and Shen Lang had already become enemies, and they had been worrying over how to kill Shen Lang. The other man was the Earl's Manor's son-in-law—who dared touch him? Yet Shen Lang had delivered himself to their doorstep to die! Let him lose ten thousand gold coins, then send the IOU to the Earl's Manor, and Shen Lang would be finished. At best, he would be driven out of the Earl's Manor; at worst, his legs would be broken before he was thrown out.

As for the possibility that Shen Lang might win?! Tian Shijiu had never even considered it.

This was his gambling house, his territory. Even if the Heavenly King himself came, he would still have to lose!