the immortal emperor returns

Chapter 8 A Lack of Money

“I’ll have to owe Chen Hanlong a favor again.” Chu Xun smiled wryly to himself.

“Can I make a call?” Chu Xun looked at Hong Ling.

“Sure!” Hong Ling nodded. No big deal, just a phone call. He must be going to ask someone for money. If so, she could get more commission.

“May I borrow your cellphone?” Chu Xun walked up to Hong Ling, stretching out his hand.

“Ugh!”

His request struck Hong Ling dumb at once.

When the others seeing this, they were stunned, and then exploded in roars of laughter.

“You poor wretch, don’t you even have a cellphone?”

Hong Ling sobered up soon from her complete state of shock. Watching him with a most curious expression, she said, “Tell me the number. I’ll call!” Her mobile phone stored many secrets about Gujiang City‘s bigwigs. How could she lend it to others casually?

“I don’t know his number. But I think you must have it on your phone.” Chu Xun had already noticed that Hong Ling had her upsides. She must have a broad network of contacts, which could enable her to bring so many wealthy men together to such a small place. Perhaps, many antiques that he saw in Chen Hanlong’s office were from here.

As Chu Xun stopped speaking, everyone present was petrified again. Even Hong Ling got an odd look on her face, as though she had just eaten a pile of shit.

“He has neither a mobile phone nor a phone number. Did this guy escape from a mental hospital?” Someone teased.

Boss Zhou was fuming, suffering from violent stomach pains. He had never expected that a crazy guy could make a fool of him. It seemed to him that his 20 million yuan was certain to be wasted.

Hong Ling’s face also fell. Chu Xun’s perfect composure deceived her, so she let him in without verifying his qualification. She didn’t expect him to make such a farce.

“Merely a phone call, is it that difficult?”

Seeing Hong Ling make no answer, Chu Xun asked emotionlessly.

“Then, who are you calling?” Hong Ling’s tone was sharp with anger.

“Chen Hanlong. Tell him I’m waiting for him here.”

“Chen Hanlong? Chairman Chen of Tianyuan Corporation?” Hong Ling looked at him with astonishment. “Do you know Chairman Chen?”

Chu Xun thought for a while and then said, ‘”I have seen him once!”

Hong Ling’s face turned red as she listened. With anger, she nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Of course, she knew Chen Hanlong, and so did all the people present. Though everybody present had more assets than Chen Hanlong’s, they were very afraid of him for one reason: he controlled half the underworld in Gujiang City even after he gave up the old business.

However, Chu Xun asked her to call Chen Hanlong, even if he had met him only once! It was true that Hong Ling had built a well-connected network among Gujiang City’s bigwigs. But if she offended Chen Hanlong, she knew for sure that few of them would be willing to stand up and speak for her.

“This guy is simply not in his right mind.”

“You brat, I don’t care if you escaped from the mental hospital. Since what you did today cost me 20 million yuan, I hope that you are ready to die!”

“What a shame to have been fooled by such a nut the whole time!”

Hong Ling’s pretty face was ablaze with anger. As this incident today embarrassed these rich people here, it seemed that she had to cost an arm and a leg to restore her relationships with them. Within her, the hatred toward Chu Xun uncontrollably became strong to the extreme.

Hong Ling was going to ask some men to throw Chu Xun out, but the latter first said, “It’s just a call. What if Chen Hanlong comes? Think Twice about it!”

His words put Hong Ling in a dilemma. “He is right. What if Chen Hanlong wants to come? If I throw him out, I’ll offend Chen Hanlong. But if I call, I may also upset Chen Hanlong...”

This situation gave Hong Ling a headache.

“Miss Hong Ling, take it easy. I’m sort of a friend of Chairman Chen. I’ll call him. I don’t believe Chairman Chen knows this guy. Let me expose his lie.” A middle-aged gentleman stood up and said.

“Then thank you, Chairman Li.” Hong Ling was deeply grateful. After all, it would be best if someone else could make this call for her.

“Miss Hong Ling, you’re welcome! But remember to invite me to dinner later on!” The gentleman smiled lightly.

By making this call, he could succeed in doing two things. First, as he solved Hong Ling’s problem, she would be thankful. Second, it was a great chance to show his social circle to others.

For Chairman Li, he did Chu Xun a favor merely in passing.

Chen Hanlong answered the call soon.

“Hello, Chairman Chen! This is Li Tian,” the gentleman man said, smiling.

“Ah, Chairman Li. What’s up?” Chen Hanlong‘s voice passed through the phone.

“Well, I’m now in the House of Treasure. As an interesting thing related to you is happening here, I call you to verify it.”

“Related to me? What’s going on?”

“Here is the thing. A little buddy wants you to come to the House of Treasure. He said he knew you.”

“Does he know me? What’s his name?”

“It seems to be Chu Xun.”

“Chugga... Doo doo doo...”

It sounded that Chen Hanlong slammed the phone down. Then, there left only the beeping tone.

Upon hearing the name Chu Xun, Chen Hanlong immediately threw his cellphone away as if he had gotten an electric shock from it. Like an arrow, he ran out of the door, yelling, “Hurry up! Get a car ready for me!”

Their telephone line went dead. But in a daze, Li Tian still held his phone at the other end of the line. He then called again. However, no one answered.

“What did Chairman Chen say?” someone asked Li Tian.

“He hung up.” After a short silence, Li Tian replied with a puzzled look.

“Chairman Chen hung up. It proves that he didn’t know this guy at all.”

“That’s right. Once again, this crazy man fooled all of us.”

But Li Tian frowned. He always felt that Chen Hanlong’s reaction was a little strange. Why would he hang up in such a hurry after hearing Chu Xun’s name?

“Do you really know Chairman Chen?” Li Tian looked at Chu Xun. He sensed that Chu Xun didn’t lie to them.

But eyes half-closed, Chu Xun made no response as if he heard nothing.

“How dare you still put on a mystic air! Miss Hong Ling, ask your men to throw this guy out quickly.” Someone shouted.

“Miss, how can we trouble you with this kind of rough work? Just leave him to me,” said Boss Zhou, in a malicious voice. Then he took out his phone and dialed a number.

Before long, two burly men in black came in. They went straight to Boss Zhou and asked in unison, “Any orders, sir?”

“Take that guy out. Disable him and feed his flesh to dogs.”

The others looked delighted as if they could derive pleasure from Chu Xun’s misfortune. As Boss Zhou’s anger appeared to be real, this guy was screwed.

The two burly men nodded and came over, staring at Chu Xun with malevolent eyes. In their eyes, Chu Xun was too thin and weak for them to take seriously. They directly reached out to grab Chu Xun’s shoulders, trying to get him out as if they were merely catching a chick.

Abruptly, Chu Xun opened his originally drooping eyes. A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he pointed to the two men with his index fingers without warning.

“Swoosh! Swoosh!”

Two light sounds! It sounded like a sharp blade piercing through the leaves.

The two burly men felt a piercing pain in their palms and looked down. As soon as they found that a finger had run through the center of the palm, they screeched.

“Noisy!”

Chu Xun delivered two violent punches, aiming at the throats of the two beefy men. Their screams stopped abruptly. Meanwhile, the shock of the blows sent them flying out and fell heavily before Boss Zhou. Then they passed out.

Boss Zhou’s pupils dilated, and the muscles on his face convulsed in a series of twitches.

In mute astonishment, the others around stared at the two unconscious bodyguards with dull eyes!

Slowly, Chu Xun retracted his hands. As if he had done nothing, he said flatly, “21 million yuan!”

It took the others a long time to regain a little of their senses. Blankly gazing at each other, they were all at a loss what to do for the moment!

Chu Xun landed his eyes on Boss Zhou. “Will you continue to bid for it?”

Before Boss Zhou could say anything, a figure rushed in. It was Chen Hanlong.

Chen Hanlong ignored the others. Upon seeing Chu Xun, he hurriedly went straight to him and apologized with respect, “Sir! I’m sorry. I’m so late.”

When all the others present heard his sincere apology, their hearts missed a beat. “Chen Hanlong is so respectful to this young man. Is he from any great family? But this is not right. How can someone from such a family be so poor?”

“I’m sorry to trouble you with the errand.” Seeing Chen Hanlong sweating all over, Chu Xun knew how anxious he was along the way.

“Sir, what happened?” Chen Hanlong glanced around the other people, and his eyes became vicious.

“Nothing serious. It was just that an item here hit my fancy. But since I was short of money, I could not offer a higher bid than Boss Zhou could. Then I had to ask you for help.”

Chen Hanlong fixed his eyes on Boss Zhou with a somber look. “So, you indeed have a much deeper pocket!”

Just as Chen Hanlong came in, Boss Zhou realized that he would be in big trouble because his transportation business was within Chen Hanlong’s territory. To placate him, Boss Zhou had to put up a smiling face. “Chairman Chen, it was just a misunderstanding. I’d like to apologize to this little brother!”

“Little brother? How f*cking dare you call him like that?” Chen Hanlong broke out into curses. In fact, even he had to call Chu Xun Mr. Chu respectfully.

But without giving Boss Zhou any chance to explain, Chen Hanlong turned around and bowed low to Chu Xun.

“Mr. Chu, trust me. Leave this thing to me!” Then, Chen Hanlong glanced around and said coldly, “From now on, you can bid for the item freely. But no matter how much money you pay, I will pay 20% more.”

In previous, they teased Chu Xun only because no one believed that Chen Hanlong knew this guy.

Now, everything was pretty clear, plus Chen Hanlong was reverent and respectful to Chu Xun. It turned out that the fact was very different from what the others had expected. At this time, if anyone stupid who was ignorant of the present situation jumped out and bid, he was asking for trouble.

Therefore, after Chen Hanlong finished speaking, no one uttered a sound.

Chapter 8 A Lack of Money

“I’ll have to owe Chen Hanlong a favor again.” Chu Xun smiled wryly to himself.

“Can I make a call?” Chu Xun looked at Hong Ling.

“Sure!” Hong Ling nodded. No big deal, just a phone call. He must be going to ask someone for money. If so, she could get more commission.

“May I borrow your cellphone?” Chu Xun walked up to Hong Ling, stretching out his hand.

“Ugh!”

His request struck Hong Ling dumb at once.

When the others seeing this, they were stunned, and then exploded in roars of laughter.

“You poor wretch, don’t you even have a cellphone?”

Hong Ling sobered up soon from her complete state of shock. Watching him with a most curious expression, she said, “Tell me the number. I’ll call!” Her mobile phone stored many secrets about Gujiang City‘s bigwigs. How could she lend it to others casually?

“I don’t know his number. But I think you must have it on your phone.” Chu Xun had already noticed that Hong Ling had her upsides. She must have a broad network of contacts, which could enable her to bring so many wealthy men together to such a small place. Perhaps, many antiques that he saw in Chen Hanlong’s office were from here.

As Chu Xun stopped speaking, everyone present was petrified again. Even Hong Ling got an odd look on her face, as though she had just eaten a pile of shit.

“He has neither a mobile phone nor a phone number. Did this guy escape from a mental hospital?” Someone teased.

Boss Zhou was fuming, suffering from violent stomach pains. He had never expected that a crazy guy could make a fool of him. It seemed to him that his 20 million yuan was certain to be wasted.

Hong Ling’s face also fell. Chu Xun’s perfect composure deceived her, so she let him in without verifying his qualification. She didn’t expect him to make such a farce.

“Merely a phone call, is it that difficult?”

Seeing Hong Ling make no answer, Chu Xun asked emotionlessly.

“Then, who are you calling?” Hong Ling’s tone was sharp with anger.

“Chen Hanlong. Tell him I’m waiting for him here.”

“Chen Hanlong? Chairman Chen of Tianyuan Corporation?” Hong Ling looked at him with astonishment. “Do you know Chairman Chen?”

Chu Xun thought for a while and then said, ‘”I have seen him once!”

Hong Ling’s face turned red as she listened. With anger, she nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Of course, she knew Chen Hanlong, and so did all the people present. Though everybody present had more assets than Chen Hanlong’s, they were very afraid of him for one reason: he controlled half the underworld in Gujiang City even after he gave up the old business.

However, Chu Xun asked her to call Chen Hanlong, even if he had met him only once! It was true that Hong Ling had built a well-connected network among Gujiang City’s bigwigs. But if she offended Chen Hanlong, she knew for sure that few of them would be willing to stand up and speak for her.

“This guy is simply not in his right mind.”

“You brat, I don’t care if you escaped from the mental hospital. Since what you did today cost me 20 million yuan, I hope that you are ready to die!”

“What a shame to have been fooled by such a nut the whole time!”

Hong Ling’s pretty face was ablaze with anger. As this incident today embarrassed these rich people here, it seemed that she had to cost an arm and a leg to restore her relationships with them. Within her, the hatred toward Chu Xun uncontrollably became strong to the extreme.

Hong Ling was going to ask some men to throw Chu Xun out, but the latter first said, “It’s just a call. What if Chen Hanlong comes? Think Twice about it!”

His words put Hong Ling in a dilemma. “He is right. What if Chen Hanlong wants to come? If I throw him out, I’ll offend Chen Hanlong. But if I call, I may also upset Chen Hanlong...”

This situation gave Hong Ling a headache.

“Miss Hong Ling, take it easy. I’m sort of a friend of Chairman Chen. I’ll call him. I don’t believe Chairman Chen knows this guy. Let me expose his lie.” A middle-aged gentleman stood up and said.

“Then thank you, Chairman Li.” Hong Ling was deeply grateful. After all, it would be best if someone else could make this call for her.

“Miss Hong Ling, you’re welcome! But remember to invite me to dinner later on!” The gentleman smiled lightly.

By making this call, he could succeed in doing two things. First, as he solved Hong Ling’s problem, she would be thankful. Second, it was a great chance to show his social circle to others.

For Chairman Li, he did Chu Xun a favor merely in passing.

Chen Hanlong answered the call soon.

“Hello, Chairman Chen! This is Li Tian,” the gentleman man said, smiling.

“Ah, Chairman Li. What’s up?” Chen Hanlong‘s voice passed through the phone.

“Well, I’m now in the House of Treasure. As an interesting thing related to you is happening here, I call you to verify it.”

“Related to me? What’s going on?”

“Here is the thing. A little buddy wants you to come to the House of Treasure. He said he knew you.”

“Does he know me? What’s his name?”

“It seems to be Chu Xun.”

“Chugga... Doo doo doo...”

It sounded that Chen Hanlong slammed the phone down. Then, there left only the beeping tone.

Upon hearing the name Chu Xun, Chen Hanlong immediately threw his cellphone away as if he had gotten an electric shock from it. Like an arrow, he ran out of the door, yelling, “Hurry up! Get a car ready for me!”

Their telephone line went dead. But in a daze, Li Tian still held his phone at the other end of the line. He then called again. However, no one answered.

“What did Chairman Chen say?” someone asked Li Tian.

“He hung up.” After a short silence, Li Tian replied with a puzzled look.

“Chairman Chen hung up. It proves that he didn’t know this guy at all.”

“That’s right. Once again, this crazy man fooled all of us.”

But Li Tian frowned. He always felt that Chen Hanlong’s reaction was a little strange. Why would he hang up in such a hurry after hearing Chu Xun’s name?

“Do you really know Chairman Chen?” Li Tian looked at Chu Xun. He sensed that Chu Xun didn’t lie to them.

But eyes half-closed, Chu Xun made no response as if he heard nothing.

“How dare you still put on a mystic air! Miss Hong Ling, ask your men to throw this guy out quickly.” Someone shouted.

“Miss, how can we trouble you with this kind of rough work? Just leave him to me,” said Boss Zhou, in a malicious voice. Then he took out his phone and dialed a number.

Before long, two burly men in black came in. They went straight to Boss Zhou and asked in unison, “Any orders, sir?”

“Take that guy out. Disable him and feed his flesh to dogs.”

The others looked delighted as if they could derive pleasure from Chu Xun’s misfortune. As Boss Zhou’s anger appeared to be real, this guy was screwed.

The two burly men nodded and came over, staring at Chu Xun with malevolent eyes. In their eyes, Chu Xun was too thin and weak for them to take seriously. They directly reached out to grab Chu Xun’s shoulders, trying to get him out as if they were merely catching a chick.

Abruptly, Chu Xun opened his originally drooping eyes. A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he pointed to the two men with his index fingers without warning.

“Swoosh! Swoosh!”

Two light sounds! It sounded like a sharp blade piercing through the leaves.

The two burly men felt a piercing pain in their palms and looked down. As soon as they found that a finger had run through the center of the palm, they screeched.

“Noisy!”

Chu Xun delivered two violent punches, aiming at the throats of the two beefy men. Their screams stopped abruptly. Meanwhile, the shock of the blows sent them flying out and fell heavily before Boss Zhou. Then they passed out.

Boss Zhou’s pupils dilated, and the muscles on his face convulsed in a series of twitches.

In mute astonishment, the others around stared at the two unconscious bodyguards with dull eyes!

Slowly, Chu Xun retracted his hands. As if he had done nothing, he said flatly, “21 million yuan!”

It took the others a long time to regain a little of their senses. Blankly gazing at each other, they were all at a loss what to do for the moment!

Chu Xun landed his eyes on Boss Zhou. “Will you continue to bid for it?”

Before Boss Zhou could say anything, a figure rushed in. It was Chen Hanlong.

Chen Hanlong ignored the others. Upon seeing Chu Xun, he hurriedly went straight to him and apologized with respect, “Sir! I’m sorry. I’m so late.”

When all the others present heard his sincere apology, their hearts missed a beat. “Chen Hanlong is so respectful to this young man. Is he from any great family? But this is not right. How can someone from such a family be so poor?”

“I’m sorry to trouble you with the errand.” Seeing Chen Hanlong sweating all over, Chu Xun knew how anxious he was along the way.

“Sir, what happened?” Chen Hanlong glanced around the other people, and his eyes became vicious.

“Nothing serious. It was just that an item here hit my fancy. But since I was short of money, I could not offer a higher bid than Boss Zhou could. Then I had to ask you for help.”

Chen Hanlong fixed his eyes on Boss Zhou with a somber look. “So, you indeed have a much deeper pocket!”

Just as Chen Hanlong came in, Boss Zhou realized that he would be in big trouble because his transportation business was within Chen Hanlong’s territory. To placate him, Boss Zhou had to put up a smiling face. “Chairman Chen, it was just a misunderstanding. I’d like to apologize to this little brother!”

“Little brother? How f*cking dare you call him like that?” Chen Hanlong broke out into curses. In fact, even he had to call Chu Xun Mr. Chu respectfully.

But without giving Boss Zhou any chance to explain, Chen Hanlong turned around and bowed low to Chu Xun.

“Mr. Chu, trust me. Leave this thing to me!” Then, Chen Hanlong glanced around and said coldly, “From now on, you can bid for the item freely. But no matter how much money you pay, I will pay 20% more.”

In previous, they teased Chu Xun only because no one believed that Chen Hanlong knew this guy.

Now, everything was pretty clear, plus Chen Hanlong was reverent and respectful to Chu Xun. It turned out that the fact was very different from what the others had expected. At this time, if anyone stupid who was ignorant of the present situation jumped out and bid, he was asking for trouble.

Therefore, after Chen Hanlong finished speaking, no one uttered a sound.