Chapter 2729: The Capital (Part 85)

Before he could finish speaking, a wave of dizziness washed over him, followed by a surge of nausea. Li Rufeng stepped forward quickly. "Chief, the drug hasn't fully left your system yet. Drink this soup first and get some rest. You're out of danger now—there's no rush."

Leng Ningyun gave a weak nod. "You're right."

Li Rufeng returned to the office. He dispatched someone to deliver the letter while attending to the matters at hand. The wounded needed a doctor; the two fallen escort masters needed coffins; arrangements had to be made for the authorities to conduct an inquest before the bodies could be properly coffined. Heliansheng had both reputation and connections in the capital—none of this would prove difficult—but proper procedure still had to be followed.

He was in the midst of this work when an escort master approached quietly and whispered, "Chief Escort, Little Bazi is fading. Would you like to see him?"

"I'll go right now."

His heart clenched. He immediately set aside everything and made his way to a side room in the back courtyard.

Little Bazi was propped up on the kang, his upper body bare. Though bandaged, blood was seeping through in dark, spreading patches. The innkeeper's wife sat beside him, constantly wiping the blood foam from the corners of his mouth with a hot towel.

"What's the prognosis?"

"The lung meridians are damaged. Even Hua Tuo himself would be powerless," the doctor said in a low voice. "If not for the wound medicine temporarily staunching the bleeding, he wouldn't have lasted this long."

"The bleeding can't be stopped now?"

"No. With the meridians damaged, even the finest wound medicine is useless." The trauma doctor shook his head helplessly. "If you have anything to say to him, say it quickly. I believe he still has something weighing on his mind."

Li Rufeng nodded and dismissed the doctor, then came to the bedside. The innkeeper's wife explained that Little Bazi's mind was drifting—sometimes lucid, sometimes lost in confusion.

"Did he say anything?"

"He said he wants to see his godmother."

"Anything else?"

"He said his parents are calling him to come over in the courtyard." The innkeeper's wife spoke uneasily. "This child is probably about to depart. He doesn't even have proper clothes."

"Tell the innkeeper to prepare clothes and burial items for Little Bazi. Add one more coffin."

He had still held a thread of hope for Little Bazi's injuries. But seeing the blood foam rising from his mouth, he knew there was no saving him now.

He called softly, "Little Bazi! Little Bazi! It's Chief Escort Li."

To his surprise, Little Bazi actually opened his eyes. They were bright and alert. When he saw Li Rufeng, a look of joyful surprise spread across his face.

"Chief Escort!" he said softly. "Grand Manager Leng..."

"Safe." Li Rufeng nodded, keeping his voice gentle. "How do you feel?"

"Much more comfortable than before. Breathing easier." Even as he spoke, blood foam trickled from the corner of his mouth. Li Rufeng quickly wiped it away. "Just now I dreamed of my parents. They wanted me to come over. I told them, how could that place be as good as Lingao? Lady Sanniang told me Lingao is paradise on earth... ordinary people have food to eat and don't get bullied... My parents even got angry at me..." At this, a faint smile touched his lips.

"Yes, yes," even iron-hearted Li Rufeng felt his eyes grow moist. He knew this was the final rally before death. "When you're better, we'll go to Lingao together and see..." He steadied himself. "In rescuing Grand Manager Leng, you earned the highest merit! If not for you, Senator Leng might have been harmed by those villains. When Liao Sanniang hears about this, she'll be so pleased—it won't have been in vain that she took you as a godson."

"I was just afraid... cough cough cough..." Little Bazi coughed up more blood foam. Weariness clouded his features. "Just afraid, afraid I'd disgrace my godmother..."

Li Rufeng wiped away the blood foam. "Don't worry. With you as her godson, she'll have something to boast about for a long time."

Little Bazi smiled faintly. "That's good, that's good." He closed his eyes. "I'm tired. This time, I earned the top merit..." His voice gradually faded to nothing.

Li Rufeng sat beside him for a long while. He watched as the color slowly drained from his face. He tested for breath at the nose—already stopped. He heaved a long sigh and stood up, just as the innkeeper's wife came in carrying clothes.

"Find two people. Draw a basin of hot water and wash him before dressing him."

"This child—what a pity."

"Being an escort master, a 'striker'—this is the end you get!" Li Rufeng said with deep feeling. "Trading your life for the safety of the wealthy and their money! May he be reborn into a better life."

News of Leng Ningyun's rescue was transmitted within twenty-four hours to all teams operating in and around the capital, and also to Lingao and Guangzhou.

The man was back safely—naturally a good thing. Under normal circumstances, the matter would have ended there. Even without identifying the mastermind, the Foreign Intelligence Bureau had no intention of digging deeper or "eradicating the evil completely." After all, in the current historical environment, such incidents weren't unusual. There was no need to expend excessive manpower and resources to eliminate them. As for the tangled web of relationships involved, they couldn't be bothered to sort it all out.

But Min Zhanlian's squad's discoveries excited both the Foreign Intelligence Bureau and the Political Security Bureau. This matter not only involved political conspiracy but also the "Stone Elder Group" that had long troubled the Senate. Most significantly, there was now direct evidence proving the Stone Elder Group was behind this kidnapping.

With this development, the original Senator kidnapping case was immediately upgraded to an extremely important case. Under orders from the State Council, both the Foreign Intelligence Bureau and Political Security Bureau dispatched additional capable personnel to proceed to the capital for investigation.

Unlike before, when no Senator had been sent, this time it was decided to assign a Senator to come directly to the capital and command operations, using the clues exposed by the case to capture the Stone Elder Group in one decisive sweep.

But for Leng Ningyun, who had just escaped danger, his most pressing concern was restoring Delong's commercial reputation.

After his kidnapping, Wu Kaidi had avoided a run on Delong and prevented its collapse through a "proactive seal." It was a brilliant move.

But the aftereffects were severe. Though the seal had been initiated by the authorities, a manager allowing such a situation to occur could only be called "poor management"—a serious blow to commercial credibility. This was directly reflected in Delong's banknotes. The market exchange rate had fallen to only one-seventh of face value. And it was dropping every day, trending toward worthlessness.

The immediate tasks were clear: first, unseal immediately, resume all exchange business, and rebuild market confidence; second, gather enough silver to weather the coming run.

The latter worried Leng Ningyun more. After years of operation, Delong had outstanding deposit slips and banknotes worth four or five hundred thousand taels. Once they reopened, many depositors, worried simply about Delong's stability, would certainly rush to redeem.

From Wu Kaidi, he learned that during his captivity, Shanxi House had bought over one hundred thousand taels worth of Delong notes at depressed prices. Adding other depositors, a rough estimate suggested that once a run started, they couldn't hope to survive without three hundred thousand taels of silver.

Right now, they had less than half that amount. They needed to gather more silver.

"The one hundred thousand taels in deposits from Eunuch Yang will probably be withdrawn the moment we open." Wu Kaidi smiled bitterly. "He's already sent people to give me a heads-up. In reality, we can only redeem about fifty thousand."

Leng Ningyun's brows furrowed deeply. He said nothing. Though he didn't have the ledgers in hand, he knew the bank's operations by heart. Wu Kaidi ventured, "Should we ask headquarters for help? Get some silver transferred from Tianjin or Dengzhou?"

"I'm afraid headquarters can't help either. Never mind the Tianjin and Dengzhou branches—even if they emptied the Guangzhou vault for me, they couldn't come up with one hundred fifty thousand taels."

"What about the Reserve Bank?" Wu Kaidi asked.

"They're having difficulties too." Though Leng Ningyun wasn't in Guangzhou, he was well aware of the Reserve Bank's current over-issuance of silver yuan notes. They were barely keeping their own heads above water.

But he couldn't say this to Wu Kaidi, lest it shake his nearly blind faith in the Senate.

The two spent hours in the study calculating over and over, racking their brains for any other source of silver. Suddenly, Wu Kaidi spoke up. "I do have one idea, though it's not exactly proper."

"What idea?" Leng Ningyun asked, curious.

"Didn't you once say that the anti-counterfeiting measures on Ming banknotes are beneath contempt?"

Leng Ningyun, clever as he was, immediately grasped the implication.

"You mean counterfeit Shanxi House's banknotes?"

"Exactly! We make a few and show them around. Tell them not to run on us, or we'll flood the market with millions of Shanxi House notes and bring everyone down together!"

"As an idea, it does have merit. But how do we identify which customers are from Shanxi House?"

Wu Kaidi found himself momentarily at a loss.

"This option is only for when we have no other way out." Leng Ningyun shook his head.

"Then what else can we do?"

"There's only one way." Leng Ningyun said. "Go negotiate with them."

"Negotiate?"

"Negotiate." Leng Ningyun affirmed.

"But your ordeal this time—Shanxi House was involved. Now that you've returned safely, they have a chance to bankrupt Delong through a run. Why would they agree? This is seeking skin from a tiger."

"What you say makes sense. But I've returned safely. The conspiracy has failed. This must be a severe blow to the Shanxi men. In the end, they're just after money. Kicking someone when they're down is risk-free. But when it comes to real confrontation, they might not have the stomach for it."

Seeing that Wu Kaidi still didn't quite understand, he continued: "Think about it. How many forces did they secretly mobilize for this kidnapping? And still, I came back. And I'm going to keep running the bank. Aren't they afraid I'll tear off all pretenses with them too? I'm not just some merchant from Guangdong. Behind me stands the Kun!"

"Exactly. It's the same idea as your counterfeit notes. You want to push me into the river; I'll drag you in with me, and we'll all drown together!" Leng Ningyun said fiercely. "Right now, the table is only half-flipped. If they really bring down Delong, aren't they afraid the Kun will retaliate? Perhaps we'll 'invite' them to be our 'Gods of Wealth' too."

At this, Wu Kaidi felt as if the clouds had parted to reveal the sun. He said happily, "You're right, boss! What do we have to fear?! At worst, we send the Special Reconnaissance Team to pull back their covers!"

(End of Chapter)