"Ah?" Gu Pengzhan started. The man's sudden intrusion had given him quite a fright. "Might you be Mr. Wei Zhizun, the Sovereign?"

"Wei it is!" The man in Daoist robes nodded. "Your security here is pathetic. That sort of skill, and they dare show themselves in public?"

No sooner had Wei Zhizun spoken than the telephone on Gu Pengzhan's desk rang. With a bitter smile Gu Pengzhan picked it up; sure enough, it was the head of security calling, saying that an extremely domineering man had barged straight into the company, demanding to see Gu Pengzhan by name, and had already beaten two guards.

Gu Pengzhan was left speechless. But at a moment like this, he could hardly blame Wei Zhizun; after all, until Uncle Qing's junior fellow disciple arrived, he still had to rely on the man. So he merely told the security chief that it was nothing, and to send the two injured guards to the hospital for treatment.

"Mr. Wei, your skills are extraordinary, but there is no need to brawl with ordinary people, is there?" Gu Pengzhan set down the phone and rose to his feet. "The safety of my daughter and of me, Chu, will from now on rest entirely on you, Mr. Wei!"

"Well said, well said!" Wei Zhizun said with great arrogance. "This Wei is a Mystic-rank Sovereign expert; keeping you safe is no problem at all. But as for the commission..."

"The people at the Vanguard Company have already told me. Two hundred thousand a month, no problem at all!" Gu Pengzhan nodded. In his heart, though, he was thinking of Wei Zhao — thirty thousand really had been dirt cheap. But that price had been set by his own father back then, and he had had no authority to interfere.

"No, that is the company's price!" Wei Zhizun shook his head. "That money goes to the company. You will pay me an additional three hundred thousand a month!"

"This..." Gu Pengzhan was dumbfounded. He had not expected Wei Zhizun to ask for quite such an exorbitant sum.

"What? You cannot afford it? Then this Wei has no choice but to take his leave!" With that, Wei Zhizun rose to go.

"Mr. Wei, do not be angry. Very well, three hundred thousand it is!" Gu Pengzhan had no other choice but to agree. Half a million a month to hire himself a lord and master — and yet he had no choice but to keep him!

"See, I told you — half a million a month for a Mystic-rank Sovereign, and you are getting a truly enormous bargain!" Wei Zhizun nodded and laughed heartily.

Gu Pengzhan did not have a clear grasp of the power tiers and had no idea what sort of strength a Mystic-rank Sovereign actually represented. But it sounded impressively formidable, so the man's strength could hardly be weak; otherwise, without real ability, he would never have dared to raise his price so brazenly on the spot.

"Very well, then, according to the contract, the trial period is one month, and the salary is settled in full starting next month?" Gu Pengzhan asked.

"That is the company's rule!" Wei Zhizun shook his head. "This Wei's rule is a trial period of one day. The salary starts from tomorrow!"

"Fine, no problem!" Gu Pengzhan sighed. These Vanguard people were far too full of themselves. Just who was the employer here?

Still, the man was not wrong. A Mystic-rank expert, coming to serve as a bodyguard for ordinary folk — without some great profit to drive him, how could that be possible?

But while the two of them were still talking, the office door was pushed open again, and in swaggered three men!

This time the security chief downstairs had not dared to stop them either. Who knew what sort of people would come calling today? Earlier an odd old fellow in Daoist robes had turned up and, at a single cross word, struck out and injured people. And now these three — without a word, they too came charging angrily inside!

"Where is Gu Pengzhan? You have nerve, provoking even the Xiao family!" The moment Xiao Ji entered, he seized the initiative with a thunderous shout.

Gu Pengzhan had met Xiao Ji before and knew he was of the Xiao family; the Gu Group and the Xiao family had done business together in the past. He also knew a thing or two about the Xiao family's recent troubles, and he knew they had come to Songshan City to invest. What he did not know was why the Xiao family would suddenly appear in his office — and appear, by the look of it, to demand an accounting.

"Mr. Xiao, might I ask how I have offended your Xiao family?" Gu Pengzhan looked in bewilderment at Xiao Ji and Xiao Ben, both bristling with murderous intent. Had the two of them made some mistake? The Gu Group's recent business had nothing to do with the Xiao family, much less any offense against its people.

"Your daughter humiliated my wife, Gou Huli!" Xiao Ji sneered. "We have only just come to Songshan City, and already you want to give us a show of force? Do you take us for a family that has collapsed now that our old master has just passed away? A tiger brought down to the flatlands is mocked by dogs!"

"Mr. Xiao Ji, what do you mean by that? When did my daughter ever humiliate your wife?" Gu Pengzhan frowned. "And as for a show of force, that is even more unfounded. The Gu Group has done business with the Xiao family before. I would be glad to welcome you here as investors — how could I possibly bully you?"

"Hmph! Fine words! A lean camel is still bigger than a horse; the Xiao family stands above the likes of you. You are one of the biggest groups in this city — of course you fear that once we come, we will take your business!" Xiao Ji snorted. "So you set your daughter on my wife, to heap every insult upon her, and in that way strike at the Xiao family's standing in Songshan City!"

"Mr. Xiao Ji, the more I hear, the more muddled I become. Business is trade; since it is trade, there must be buying and selling, and it is only with many players that there is business at all. Why would I fear you stealing my trade?" Gu Pengzhan was perplexed, yet Xiao Ji spoke with such circumstantial conviction that a vague unease stirred in Gu Pengzhan's heart. By the look of it, the Xiao family had come deliberately to make trouble.

"Enough, Mr. Gu. We are all sensible men; there is no need for so much idle talk!" Xiao Ben, who had stood silent at one side all this while, now spoke. "Whether it happened or not, ask your daughter and you will know. She and someone called Xiaoshu together bullied and insulted my sister-in-law Gou Huli — could we be making this up?"

Gu Pengzhan was taken aback. Since Xiao Ben said it was his daughter together with Xiaoshu, then clearly it was no idle fabrication. Could Yaoyao have offended that Gou Huli again?

"Very well, since Mr. Xiao insists, let me first verify it with my daughter..." Gu Pengzhan had no choice but to nod.

"Be quick about it. Our patience is limited!" There was a note of command in Xiao Ji's words.

Gu Pengzhan sighed inwardly. Misfortune truly came in waves for his household of late. Out of nowhere they had provoked a Zhen Yingjun, who had not only abducted his daughter but extorted a great sum of money from him — and worst of all, had injured both Xiaoyi and Li Fu!

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