I run a casino in the immortal realm.

Wei Jun had been working at Shunfeng Wharf for over a decade and knew the terrain and the local forces inside and out.

Instead of wandering aimlessly through the streets, he went straight to the compound of the Grand Canal Gang.

Lei Hu, the deputy leader of the Cao Gang, was supervising his gang members' martial arts practice in the courtyard when he heard his subordinates report that Wei, the deputy head of the police station, had arrived. He quickly went out to greet him.

"Hey, Brother Wei, what brings you here? Does Lord Zheng have any instructions?"

Lei Hu is now being very polite to the police station, having experienced Zheng Yifei's methods firsthand.

Wei Jun didn't stand on ceremony and directly stated his purpose: "Vice Chief Lei, Constable Zheng wants to find a shop near the dock to do some business, and he needs to find a large place to set up a workshop. I was thinking that our Canal Gang has many businesses at the dock, so I came to ask you first."

Upon hearing this, Lei Hu's mind raced. Officer Zheng wanted to open a shop?

This is a golden opportunity! If we can use this opportunity to get closer to Constable Zheng, won't the canal gang be unstoppable at the docks in the future?

"Brother Wei, you've come to the right person! Come, I'll personally show you around. Our canal gang happens to have a three-story shop vacant, originally intended to be a restaurant. Since Lord Zheng needs it, we must give it to him!"

Lei Hu led the Wei army to Chang Le Street. The shop was indeed impressive, with a small courtyard in the back. It was in an excellent location with a huge flow of people.

Wei Jun was quite satisfied: "This place is good, Vice Chief Lei, how much is the rent?"

Lei Hu waved his hand and said generously, "It's an honor for our canal guild that Lord Zheng has taken a liking to this place. What's the point of talking about rent? It's free for you to use!"

Wei Jun shook his head: "Vice Chief Lei, Lord Zheng instructed that we should calculate it exactly as it should be, and we cannot break the rules."

Lei Hu pondered for a moment, then held up one finger: "Then let's just take a symbolic amount, ten thousand silver coins a year, no more than that."

Wei Jun gasped inwardly.

In this location, such a large three-story building would have a starting rent of at least 100,000 silver coins.

Lei Hu was practically giving it away for free, but since Lei Hu was willing to do this favor, the Wei army was naturally happy to accept it.

The shop has been secured, but the workshop is still undecided.

The news spread very quickly.

When Zhou Heihu, the leader of the Black Tiger Gang, heard that the Cao Gang had sold or given away his shops on Chang Le Street to Zheng Yifei, he became anxious. He knew he couldn't let the Cao Gang flatter him so much.

Black Tiger personally went to the police station and found Zheng Yifei.

"Lord Zheng, I heard you're looking for a place to set up a workshop?"

Black Tiger smiled broadly, bowing and scraping.

Zheng Yifei looked at him: "What, does the Black Tiger Gang have a suitable place?"

"Yes! Absolutely!"

Black Tiger quickly said, "Our Black Tiger Gang has an abandoned warehouse on the west side of the dock. The place is very large and there are not many residents around. It is very quiet. If we clean it up a bit and partition it off, it will definitely be the best place to set up a workshop."

If you need it, please feel free to use it; it won't cost you a penny!

Zheng Yifei personally accompanied Black Tiger to see the warehouse. The warehouse was indeed very large, covering several thousand square meters, and was built with solid bluestone.

"Good, I've requisitioned this place."

Zheng Yifei nodded in satisfaction: "However, the rent still needs to be paid, 20,000 silver coins a year. I'll have Wei Jun deliver the contract to you tomorrow."

Black Tiger thanked him repeatedly, his heart filled with joy. Although 20,000 silver coins wasn't much, it meant that the Black Tiger Gang had finally made contact with Constable Zheng.

After the shop and workshop were finalized, the entire team entered an extremely busy preparation phase for the next month.

Zheng Yifei will use the hundreds of thousands of gold coins he won from the casino as seed money.

The warehouse was divided into four separate areas: the alchemy workshop, the weapon crafting workshop, the talisman workshop, and the array weapon workshop.

Ouyang Tian and Wang Changsheng set up multiple arrays inside and outside the workshop. There were soundproof arrays to isolate sound and spiritual energy fluctuations, spirit-gathering arrays to gather spiritual energy, and fireproof arrays to prevent fires caused by furnace explosions.

Even around the workshop, a small killing formation was set up to prevent anyone from sneaking in and causing damage.

After the workshop was renovated, Zhao Ling, Murong Hao, and Xu Tianyang, father and son, immediately moved in.

Through Wei Jun, Zheng Yifei purchased a large quantity of basic spiritual herbs, ores, talisman paper, and cinnabar from the market.

After the materials were delivered to the workshop, the workshop doors were tightly closed, and it began operating day and night.

Every day, wisps of blue smoke could be seen rising from the warehouse's chimneys. These were waste gases produced during alchemy and weapon forging, which were then filtered through an array before being released.

Over at the shop, Su Wanqing, along with Xu Muyao and Li Jianfeng, directed the craftsmen to carry out the renovations.

The lobby on the first floor is spacious and bright, with rows of display cabinets made of rosewood.

The second floor was divided into several elegant private rooms for receiving important clients;

The third floor serves as a rest area for internal staff and a place to store valuables.

The backyard contains the kitchen, toilets, and staff quarters.

The plaque has also been made, using the finest golden nanmu wood, with five large, elegant characters carved on it: "Nanyu Duobaoge" (Southern Region Treasure Pavilion).

Every day after finishing his shift at the police station, Zheng Yifei would lead Night Owl and Ouyang Zhan to patrol between workshops and shops, resolving various unexpected problems.

For the past month, the underground forces in Liuhua County have been unusually quiet. Everyone knows that Officer Zheng is busy running his shop, and no one dares to provoke him at this time.

The three major families of Liuhua County—the Zhang family, the Li family, and the Zhao family—naturally heard the news as well.

However, they didn't take it seriously at first.

In their view, what kind of trouble could a small-time constable from out of town possibly cause, even if he gathered a few rogue cultivators and opened a general store?

The art of alchemy and weapon crafting requires decades of experience and a vast accumulation of resources to produce anything of value. They simply assumed Zheng Yifei was dabbling in these crafts.

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

Nanyu Duobaoge finally opened for business.

On this day, the streets of Changle near Shunfeng Wharf were packed with people and filled with the sounds of gongs and drums. The three-story building of Duobao Pavilion was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, with a long red carpet laid out in front of the door and flower baskets from various merchants displayed on both sides.

At 3:45 AM, the auspicious time has arrived.

Zheng Yifei changed into a dark red brocade robe, looking quite energetic.

Night Owl and Ouyang Zhan, dressed in brand-new yamen runner uniforms and with swords at their waists, stood on either side of the gate like two guardian deities, their cold eyes sweeping over the surrounding crowd.

A commotion arose in the crowd as a small blue sedan chair came to a stop at the street corner.

The sedan curtain was lifted, and County Magistrate Liu Zhengyi, dressed in plain clothes, and Registrar Wang Bo walked over with beaming faces.

The onlookers and merchants were all shocked to see the county magistrate arrive in person.

When a constable opens a shop, the county magistrate personally comes to congratulate him—that's an incredible honor!