Outside Six Doors.
Lu Xiaofeng straightened his clothes, tucked the stack of counterfeit banknotes into his robe, and turned back. "You two aren't planning to follow me the whole time, are you? Old Hua being the witness is one thing, but you're my opponent!"
"Who cares? I only came to hear the evidence. Zhu Ting is the only lead we have right now."
Zhou Ming waved a hand. "Since we already know about the other leads, I'll investigate them myself."
With that, he left directly.
Hua Manlou said, "Brother Lu, you'd better put some effort into this. If Brother Zhou uses the forces under his command, he might really beat you."
"What use are numbers?"
Lu Xiaofeng tapped his head. "Investigating cases relies on this!"
"In that case, I wish Brother Lu victory."
"Much appreciated, much appreciated!"
Zhou Ming returned home. Seeing him, Chun Hua asked curiously, "Young Master, weren't you going to compete with Lu Xiaofeng in solving the case? Why are you back already?"
"No matter. Sharpening the axe does not delay the chopping of wood. I'll sort out my thoughts first. Unless it's something important, don't disturb me."
"Yes."
Zhou Ming entered the study and slowly recalled this part of the story.
This story had begun seven years ago.
Seven years ago, Luo Ma was not yet a Gold-Clad Constable, nor had he partnered with Jiang Long. Signs of a plague had appeared somewhere, and he had been ordered to deal with it.
The local plague had not spread, and aside from those severely infected, everyone else could still be saved.
At that time, Luo Ma discovered that Yue Qing, the other inheritor of the Luban Divine Axe Sect, was living in seclusion there with his daughter—and Yue Qing had caught the plague as well.
By then, Zhu Ting had already made a name for himself and had long assisted the imperial court in creating the master plates for Datong Money House banknotes.
Looking at this other inheritor of the Luban Divine Axe Sect, an idea gradually formed in Luo Ma's mind...
He secretly cured Yue Qing, then replaced him with someone else. After that, he took Yue Qing and his daughter away, imprisoned them, and forced him to produce banknote master plates.
At the same time, he approached Boss Qian, the chief manager of Datong Money House's seventy-two branches across the country.
Though Boss Qian was the chief manager and earned an extremely high salary, the daily cash flow that passed through his hands was astonishingly immense. It stirred even greater greed within him.
Thus, he agreed to cooperate with Luo Ma.
Together, they built a den of extravagance in the mountains outside the capital, a place where countless wealthy men squandered money like dirt—Jile Tower.
Jile Tower accepted only genuine gold, silver, or other precious valuables, but what people received in exchange and took away were banknotes.
Naturally, they were the counterfeit banknotes the two had produced.
Those wealthy men would carry the banknotes to every corner of the land. When they exchanged them at money houses, no one could tell real from fake.
With Boss Qian helping to cover things up,
the matter had remained undiscovered until now.
But as more and more counterfeit banknotes were printed, someone was bound to notice something wrong. Besides, genuine banknotes had serial numbers. Even if the craftsmanship, techniques, codes, and methods were all identical, once duplicate serial numbers appeared, one of the two identical notes had to be fake!
Therefore, even without Zhou Ming exposing them, this cover-up could not have lasted much longer.
Once Luo Ma realized the matter had been exposed, he devised a plan... or rather, he had already prepared a way out long ago.
He would make Jile Tower take the blame, allowing himself and Boss Qian to escape.
But as things developed, he realized that might still leave loopholes.
So he decided to throw his partner, Boss Qian, into the water as well.
Naturally, Boss Qian knew nothing of this and continued cooperating. Only at the very end did he understand what was happening.
Of course, none of this escaped Lu Xiaofeng, who was investigating the case.
In the end, Luo Ma fell from power.
Zhou Ming remembered this plot. Working backward from the outcome, finding the evidence and capturing Luo Ma and Boss Qian would be child's play.
So he had been certain to win this contest!
But that had been his previous way of thinking!
Now, a contest?
Contest my ass!
"People have to learn and grow from their mistakes! Lu Xiaofeng, this time, you'll pay for your mistake!"
Mistake: insulting Zhou Ming's fishing skills.
"You can insult my character, but you can never insult my dream!"
Dream: catching a thousand-pound fish.
"So this time... I'll teach you a profound lesson! Hehehehe!"
Outside the study.
Chun Hua shook her head helplessly.
Although her young master seemed quite normal most of the time, every now and then he would suffer a minor relapse and come up with thoughts that nobody else could possibly follow.
For example, one moment he had been talking about Xie Yanker, and the next he had said he wanted to raise a dog.
It seemed he was having another relapse now...
Still, Chun Hua did not find it strange.
Having followed Zhou Ming since childhood, she was already used to such things.
Inside the study.
Zhou Ming paced back and forth.
Though he said he wanted to teach Lu Xiaofeng a lesson, Zhou Ming had no intention of causing him any real harm, much less killing him.
As long as a person was alive... whether enemy or friend, they could create more excitement.
He would rather do to Lu Xiaofeng what he had done to Li Xunhuan before: inflict a severe mental blow.
Do not kill the man; destroy his heart!
However, no matter how badly Lu Xiaofeng was hurt inside, he would never show it on his face. Even if he did show it, it usually lasted only a very short time.
Furthermore, Lu Xiaofeng had been standing nearby when Zhou Ming had spun wild theories to provoke Li Xunhuan.
So he absolutely could not do the same thing again.
Otherwise, not only would it fail to work, Lu Xiaofeng would see through it immediately.
Time was another problem.
The sooner, the better.
Lu Xiaofeng was a wanderer. If Zhou Ming carefully plotted and made thorough preparations, he could certainly make the plan more foolproof, but by the time he was ready to carry it out, Lu Xiaofeng might have wandered off to who knew where.
So it would be best to finish quickly while Lu Xiaofeng was still tied down by the Counterfeit Banknote Case...
Hm?
The Counterfeit Banknote Case?
A flash of inspiration struck Zhou Ming. He picked up a copy of Famous Detective Lu Xiaofeng from the desk and smiled.
This plan... was brilliant!
Elsewhere.
Lu Xiaofeng arrived at Datong Money House and exchanged the counterfeit banknotes in his possession for silver.
At this moment, Boss Qian was busy inside the money house.
Both his partner Luo Ma and the Hua family, the owners behind the scenes, had informed him about the counterfeit banknotes.
As the chief manager, he naturally had to work overtime on the Lantern Festival to deal with the matter.
When he saw Lu Xiaofeng arrive, Boss Qian recognized him at once. He personally came forward to receive him, and though he could see that all the banknotes Lu Xiaofeng was using were fake, he still exchanged them for silver.
"Fourth Brother, come here."
After watching Lu Xiaofeng leave Datong Money House, Boss Qian beckoned his trusted subordinate over and gave him a few quiet instructions.
Carrying the silver, Lu Xiaofeng turned around and entered a large restaurant. He booked the finest private room and ordered the most expensive dishes and wine.
Just as he was about to pour himself a cup of wine, he suddenly paused, set down the wine cup, and said, "Waiter, bring me a pot of tea!"
"Certainly, sir."
The tea arrived.
Now that Lu Xiaofeng had money, he had naturally ordered the finest tea.
Yet no matter how good the tea was, it could never compare to the taste of fine wine.
After drinking a cup of tea, Lu Xiaofeng smacked his lips, set down the cup helplessly, and picked up his chopsticks instead.
Then a wave of dizziness rushed to his head.
Damn it.
He had been poisoned.
Before you continue