Madmen don't keep diaries

Chapter 422 421 The Arena of Fame and Fortune and the Fishing Ground
Faced with Feng Xiuhu's accusations, Xu Liansheng was not angry at all, but just covered her mouth and chuckled.

"Second Master's words are biased. What's wrong with pitcher plants? There are always people who like them."

"They couldn't help but crowd around me, and I couldn't stop them. Second Master's words have condemned me as a shameless vixen, but why don't you point out the reasons of those men? Little do you know that in all these years in Qianyu City, there are those who genuinely admire me, but there are also those who covet my body, those who are greedy for my money, and those who covet my family background. Such is the nature of human nature, which is why Second Master sees the situation of a swarm of fish fighting for food today."

She glanced up at me, her tone revealing a clear conscience: "I was merely going with the flow."

Feng Xiuhu neither confirmed nor denied it, but gave her a thumbs up: "You know how to fish."

Xu Liansheng didn't understand the joke, so she replied casually, "Fishing is forbidden in Qianyu City. The fish were caught by Jinlou Village and are eaten by high-ranking officials and nobles. I have not violated any taboos."

She didn't break any taboos—fishing is forbidden in Qianyu City, but it doesn't say you can't fish for men.

The entire arena of fame and fortune in Qianyu City is Madam Xu's fishing ground all to herself.

Feng Xiuhu waved his hand, not wanting to argue with her about this issue, and continued talking.

“You are cautious and discreet. You turned the government office into a puppet in your hands so that you could stab the Duke in the back at every crucial moment. So most of the time, you just quietly maintained your relationships with these men and did not use your power to satisfy your own desires.”

"The reasoning is simple, and you know it well. This way of influencing the government by manipulating people's hearts will not truly make the government your property. It's like there's always a string between you and a puppet. If you manipulate it too much, the string will easily break and you'll hurt your hand."

"So, to be on the safe side, you will only exert your influence when targeting the Grand Duke."

"The Duke of Daguo wants to build a shipyard in Qianyu City. This is the most important part of his next plan. You saw through this, so you are doing everything you can to stop it."

"If the government and the Grand Duke were to fight this matter, they could only delay the progress at best. So you came up with a radical solution—inciting the owl people to go on strike."

"I don't know how you got in touch with Da Shuanzi, but it's probably similar to how you got close to me and Ye San."

"But you overlooked one thing: Da Shuanzi, in order to show off, revealed that you and he were on good terms."

"By the time you find out and try to make amends, it's too late. You can't silence the gossip, and the news still reaches Wells' ears."

Feng Xiuhu clapped his hands with a smile: "At this time, the advantage of you staying behind the scenes has become apparent. Even though he suspected that the owl strike was related to you, Wells still did not connect you with the government. In his view, 'government delays' and 'owl strikes' are still two different things."

"So after failing to resolve the situation at the government office, Wells focused his efforts on resolving the owl strike first. As a result, he kept looking for an opportunity to speak directly with you, but you always managed to deflect the question."

"What Wells didn't know was that you were already feeling the urgency—although Qianyu City didn't have the support of the Grand Duke for the foreigners, Wells still had the Church of the Mist behind him. If the problem couldn't be solved, he would eventually bring out the church to put pressure on them."

"And this is the last thing you want to see, so you have to take the risk and kill Wells to silence him before he can connect all the clues."

“But Wells’s identity is special. If he dies, it will only bring bigger trouble, and the Church of the Mist will directly intervene. You can’t take the blame for this, so the problem you need to solve right now is—how to completely cut yourself off from this big trouble.”

Feng Xiuhu pointed to the balcony—Shunzi had been standing there silently ever since he entered the house, gazing at the distant cityscape in a daze.

"It was at this time that Ye San came into your view." "No one was more suitable to do this than him."

"So you deliberately approached us, gained our trust, and then created an accident so that Ye San would kill Wells and take all the blame upon himself."

“Once the Church of the Mist gets involved, it will naturally learn of Ye San’s identity as the proxy. From that moment on, this matter becomes an internal conflict of the Church of the Mist. Whether the Holy Church is wary of the proxy and chooses to let the matter slide, or the Holy Church will eventually punish Ye San, these are all matters that the Church of the Mist handles behind closed doors.”

Xu Liansheng nodded frankly: "That's right, I can't take the blame, but Third Master can. No matter what the final outcome is, Third Master won't be in any danger, at most he'll be punished—so I don't understand, why did you kidnap him before Third Master entered the Holy Temple? Just to make me unhappy?"

Feng Xiuhu nodded in agreement: "That's right, I just want to make you unhappy—seeing you unhappy makes me extremely happy."

He didn't say the real reason—his and Shunzi's credentials were genuine, but they belonged to Feng Xiuhu and Feng Dashun. If they really entered the Holy Temple, the identities of Ma Erye and San wouldn't stand up to scrutiny.

Xu Liansheng smiled helplessly: "Second Master really is... still a child at heart."

She meant to say "childish".

Feng Xiuhu asked, "But there's a question I don't understand. Our appearance was just a coincidence, but you're facing an urgent situation that you have to resolve—so if it weren't for Ye San, how would you have dealt with Wells?"

Xu Liansheng uttered the words calmly: "Big Foot Shi."

"In the original plan, this was supposed to be his job. We could just find some excuse, like the iron boats would affect his livelihood, and the church could easily fool us."

"Moreover, Shi Daben was a bandit. After he dies at the hands of the church, I will take the initiative to donate money to the church and say that I will fund their efforts to suppress the bandits. At that time, the church will get its revenge and gain a good reputation. I can also establish a relationship with the church and thus extricate myself smoothly."

Feng Xiuhu couldn't stand Xu Liansheng's nonchalant attitude, so he reached out and pinched her cheek, pulling it: "Your heart is really dirty."

Xu Liansheng's face was pinched until red marks appeared, and she gasped in pain.

She didn't resist. After Feng Xiuhu vented his anger and let go, she gently rubbed the red and swollen area: "Second Master, are you standing up for Shi Dajiao? Is he some kind of good person? During those years of highway robbery, quite a few people died at Shi Dajiao's hands."

"You have a point."

Feng Xiuhu nodded: "But his bad behavior is his own business. He's working for you now, so it's wrong of you to sell him out."

“Since he devoted himself to you, Shi Dajiao has never robbed anyone again—the only time was when he was putting on an act for me.”

Xu Liansheng looked at him in surprise: "Second Master, you noticed?"

Feng Xiuhu shook his head: "I didn't at the time; I only figured it out later."

(End of this chapter)