It was silent at night, and the lights were soft, while many people’s hearts were tense.

Chen Mukuan snorted and said in a braying voice, “It turns out that he has come, too. Dudes, do you think that we should admit defeat or play with him?”

Jiang Cheng frowned slightly. “It appears that Jiang Suiyun is determined to win.”

“Jiang Suiyun?” Yang Ning turned to Yuan Rong and asked, “Who is he?”

Hearing Yang Ning’s question, the others couldn’t help but look at him in astonishment. It seemed that they should know Jiang Suiyun, while this question was surprising.

Yuan Rong explained, “Young Master Jiang from East Sea, Jiang Suiyun is from the Jiang family on East Sea. The Jiang family does business on the sea. The family master Jiang Xiaoqing has a boat team with dozens of boats. If there is a family with more money than the country in the Chu State, it must be the Jiang family.”

“They have more money than the country…” Chen Mukuan sneered. “If any of us competes with him alone, I admit that we are not his opponents, but…we join hands. What the hell is Jiang Suiyun then?” He looked at Zhu Yuchen. “Zhu, since he wants to have fun, we will play with him. We will compete with him in your name. What do you think?” Then he turned to Qiu Fang and Jiang Cheng, asking, “Do you want to back off?”

Jiang Cheng hesitated, while Qiu Fang smiled calmly. “Chen, if you want to have fun, I won’t remain unmoved.” He shouted, “Send my two roots of old ginseng in the name of Master Zhu.”

Chen Mukuan got excited at once and shouted, “Send the tea set I brought in the name of Master Zhu.”

After a moment of hesitation, Jiang Cheng stated at last, “Send five hundred taels of gold in the name of Master Zhu.”

Zhu Yuchen laughed. “Since all of you support me, I certainly can’t admit inferiority.” He said in a deep voice, “Send eight hundred taels of gold.”

The small boat soon floated to the boat king.

Yang Ning thought that he didn’t understand the rich men’s world. They spent so much in an instant surprisingly just to compete against Jiang Suiyun.

Soon, the voice from the boat king was heard. “Master Zhu from the cloth shop of the Zhu family gave Shen Jiaonu one thousand three hundred taels of gold, two roots of old wild ginseng of the best quality worth eight hundred taels of gold, one ancient tea set worth six hundred taels of gold. It’s two thousand seven hundred taels of gold in total. Master Zhu has sent three thousand taels of gold till now, winning the first place.”

There was an uproar around.

Yuan Rong had known these people earlier, yet he was shocked to see how much they spent. They had thrown four thousand taels of gold, which was enough for five hundred ordinary families to use for at least one year. They spent lavishly on a prostitute just to save face. He shook his head secretly and cursed in secret that they were wealthy but stupid.

After those were sent, nobody around sent gifts or money anymore.

These noblemen and rich merchants were clear that it was a competition between the Jiang family on East Sea and the Zhu family from Hangzhou. Both of them were among the wealthiest families in the Chu State. The others sent gifts earlier in order to join the fun and try their luck to see if they had a chance to hug Shen Jiaonu.

Since the two young masters came out, it was unnecessary for the others to give more gifts. No matter how generous they were, they couldn’t defeat the two. Shen Jiaonu’s first man could only be one of the two in the end.

The speaker in the boat king declared for three times, but nobody sent money or gifts, and Jiang Suiyun seemed to cease fire.

Seeing that, Chen Mukuan got excited and rubbed his hands, saying with a smile, “It turns out that Jiang Suiyun is just so-so. Zhu, that guy is a smart man who can retreat before the impossible.”

According to the rules, after it was declared for three times, if nobody sent gifts, they could announce the result. Shen Jiaonu was the last one to perform, and the gifts of the eight beauties had been confirmed, so they could announce the winners of the beauty queen and two concubines and then the name of the most generous benefactor.

However, after a while, there was no sound from the boat king.

Although Yang Ning didn’t join it, he sensitively felt that there was something wrong.

At the moment, they heard footsteps downstairs, and then somebody exclaimed, “What are you going to do? You can’t break in.”

Then somebody shouted in a cold voice, “Step aside, all of you. Anybody who dares to be in the way will be killed.”

Hearing the voice, Zhu Yuchen and the others turned pale with fear.

They heard the footsteps by the side of the boat, and soon there were sounds on the stairs. Just in an instant, a group of people rushed out of the staircase. The one in the front was dressed in black clothes, with five or six people following him. Each of the followers wore cyan clothes and had a cyan belt on the head.

After the man in black came up, he stood there and looked around, like a ghost in the darkness at night, with a mysterious and cold aura. His eyes were grey.

Zhu Yuchen and the others were young masters from extremely wealthy families. In the beginning, nobody knew if the man in black knew them, and there was disdain in his eyes unexpectedly.

He walked forward slowly, while Yang Ning felt that somebody suddenly approached him. He turned around, to see that Duan Canghai had moved close to him, grabbing the handle of the saber on his waist.

“Who is Zhu Yuchen?” The eyes of the man in black swept around them like blade points, and his voice was piercing.

Zhu Yuchen frowned and hesitated for a moment. Finally, he stepped forward and cupped his hands. “I am Zhu Yuchen, what can I do for you, sir?”

He was certainly clear that this man came with evil intentions, so he said cautiously.

“You must be Jiang Cheng from the Songjiang Tea Shop and Chen Mukuan from the Weitang Porcelain Shop…” The man’s eyes rolled. “My master told you to go to see him.”

His voice was cold and impolite.

Chen Mukuan couldn’t help but ask, “Who are you? Who is your master? Why should we go as you said? Since your master wants to see us, just tell him to come. We are too busy to go.”

The man in black expressed casually, “If you don’t go now, you will have no chance to go.”

“Are you threatening us?” Zhu Yuchen questioned in a deep voice.

The man in black snorted and said, “You are clowns and don’t qualify to be threatened by me.” He raised his hand. “The boats are waiting for you below. Go now…” He added, “All people here should go.”

Duan Canghai stepped forward, while Yang Ning raised his hand and stopped him, saying with a smile, “Since somebody invites us to drink wine, why not go? Let’s go and see who likes ostentation so much.”

The man in black stared at Yang Ning and then glanced at Duan Canghai. He paused for a moment yet didn’t say more. Then he walked to the side of the boat and raised his arms, jumping up, like a hawk. Then he fell in the small boat below steadily, which didn’t even shake.

The people who followed the man in black up immediately divided into two rows and stood at the staircase. One of them said in a deep voice, “Go.”

Zhu Yuchen hesitated for a while and took the lead to walk over in the end. The others had to follow him. Yuan Rong looked at Yang Ning and prepared to speak, while the latter shook his head with a smile and motioned for him not to say more. Then Yang Ning followed them.

There were several small boats waiting next to this pleasure-boat. They got into the boats and soon came near a gorgeous pleasure-boat, which was much more exquisite and beautiful than the pleasure-boat where Pearl was. Although it was not as huge as the boat king, it was decorated more luxuriously than the boat king seemingly.

As soon as they got into this pleasure-boat, they saw that there was a man in cyan with a saber every few steps away by the side of the boat around. They didn’t know how many guards there were.

Each of the men in cyan had a saber and looked cold and serious, remaining still like a stone.

This pleasure-boat was like a military boat, filled with killing intent.

After Zhu Yuchen and the others got into the pleasure-boat and saw that, they knew that the master of the man in black must have a powerful background, so they felt scared and greatly alarmed, and even Yuan Rong furrowed his brows. Only Yang Ning looked calm and put his hands behind his back, looking around at leisure. He seemed to check the decoration of this pleasure-boat, while Duan Canghai with a saber followed him and looked serious.

“Hand over your weapon.” All of them walked to the staircase led by a man in cyan. After the others went upstairs, Duan Canghai prepared to go up, but he was stopped by somebody.

Duan Canghai expressed casually, “Try to get it in person.”

The man in cyan looked cold and reached out his hand to grab the saber on Duan Canghai’s waist. Before his fingertips got close to the sheath, he felt that something with a gust of fierce and strong wind attacked his forehead. This man reacted quickly and stepped backward in a hurry. When he raised his head, he found that a forceful fist was only a few inches away before his eyes and his face could be hit as long as the attacker moved it forward.

“Clank…”

The sounds of drawing sabers appeared repeatedly as several men in cyan aside came up quickly and surrounded Duan Canghai, with all their cutter points aiming at him.

Yang Ning looked back and smiled faintly. “They want to grab your saber. Just cut them as many as you can unless you die. After you kill some people, I will take the responsibility.”

Hearing the sounds from behind, Zhu Yuchen and the others stopped and turned around, looking down, to see that several people with sabers surrounded Duan Canghai. All of them turned pale with fear and got struck dumb after hearing Yang Ning’s words. Under the situation, the other party had many people, and their master was powerful obviously, so they were in a dominant position. They had never expected that Yang Ning dared to say that under the circumstances.

They just knew that Yang Ning was Yuan Rong’s friend and might have high social status, but after all, they didn’t know his real background.

Under Yang Ning’s order, Duan Canghai’s serious face softened, and he laughed. “These bastards are not difficult to deal with.”

The men in cyan looked ferocious, and somebody howled, “Capture him first.”

Then some people were about to rush up with their sabers, but they heard a cold voice. “Stop. Let him come upstairs.”

Yang Ning raised his head and saw that the man in black stood at the staircase. The men in cyan were in awe of him evidently and retreated and scattered as soon as he ordered.

Yang Ning walked upstairs slowly and wondered why there was such a showy pleasure-boat on the Qinhuai River. He had doubted that it was Jiang Suiyun who told Zhu Yuchen and the others to come, but even if he was the richest in the world, he couldn’t have the nerve to act ostentatiously on this river in the capital city. It was fine if he showed off wealth, yet he just courted death as he brought many guards with sabers.