The Overlord of Puluo

”Oi ya! Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha! Let’s dance! Everyone! Don’t be shy! Don’t be shy! Oi! Ya! Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha! Rumba’s old news, samba’s lost its spark...”

The song ”I Love Chachacha” was currently trending in Puluo Province. Once you hear it, it would easily get stuck on endless repeat in your mind.

Liao Zihui really liked this song today. He kept singing it and dancing to it in the office. He danced for an entire afternoon without feeling tired at all. This behavior was really because the ones investigating his work along with the Balancer left.

”Commissioner, Liu Guocai, the Border Controller of Kinless Township, is here,” Ling Sujun said as she entered the office:

It was like Liao Zihui had never been dancing there as he settled back behind his desk so quickly. He nodded and said, ”Let him in.”

Liu Guocai came in, once again offering apologies for what had happened before.

Liao Zihui waved him off dismissively. ”Guocai, you don’t have to keep apologizing. That’s all water under the bridge. Get back to Kinless Township and focus on the real work. The railway link to Ink Fragrance Shop has been down for way too long. It’s about time we get it fixed. Have a good talk with Li Qi, make sure neither side starts trouble, and try to get the construction started before the new year.”

With the new year being only a few days away, this task had quite the tight deadline.

Liu Guocai wasted no time and went straight to Deputy Commissioner Tang Huanjie as Tang Huanjie was the one mainly in charge of the railway construction.

Tang Huanjie had everything ready. ”Guocai, go ahead with it. The approvals are all in order, and the equipment’s already prepared. I have got a dinner to rush off to right now. We will catch up later if anything comes up.”

Liu Guocai couldn’t help but feel something was off. Lately, every time he ran into Tang Huanjie, the man was always dashing off to some banquet.

Back in Kinless Township, Liu Guocai made some basic preparations and sent word to Li Qi that he was going to start repairing the railway.

His man went to pass on the message. However, when he came back, he said to Liu Guocai, ”I didn’t get to see Li Qi.”

Liu Guocai brushed it off. ”As long as you manage to pass the message that we are starting construction tomorrow...”

Liu Guocai hadn’t been in Puluo Province for a long time, and he never had a good impression of Puluo Province. He knew Li Qi was trouble, but at the end of the day, Li Qi was still a native of Puluo Province.

Previously, he suspected that Li Qi could control the boundary line, so he was afraid of him. He was afraid that he would be implicated and lose his job because of Li Qi. However, it turned out to all be a misunderstanding, so Liu Guocai figured Li Qi was just like any other rich businessman.

The fact that he could activate a whole territory meant that he was somewhat capable, but no matter how capable he was, he would still be a native of Puluo Province.

And as for why Liao Zihui made such a big deal out of Li Qi, even giving him huge breaks on shipping costs, Liu Guocai had no idea and he had no intention of knowing.

Liu Guocai had never liked Liao Zihui’s way of doing things and that was part of why he had bypassed him and reported straight up the chain.

The construction starting ceremony went ahead as planned, and Liu Guocai showed up in person.

The materials came straight from the Outer Provinces, and so did the technical crew. The laborers, though, had to be hired locally, and so far, they had not hired a lot of laborers. Still, Liu Guocai didn’t think that it would affect the big picture. The most important thing for a kickoff was the vibe and the show of force.

At the site, Liu Guocai heaped praise on the work being done, but also made sure to point out a few problems. The truth was that he knew nothing about construction. Still, he had to say something. It wasn’t like anyone would correct him if he got it wrong anyway.

He walked over to the pile of stones and immediately called out that they were stacked all crooked. He started giving some serious scoldings, ”This might look like a small thing, but it’s exactly the small things that reveal the real problems. This is a fundamental failure of awareness and attitude...”

The crew dutifully pulled out their notebooks to jot down the Border Controller’s demands. But suddenly, the stone pile gave way and collapsed, killing Liu Guocai on the spot.

***

Liao Zihui took the report and let out a long, heavy sigh. ”Guocai, oh Guocai... Why wasn’t Li Qi at the ceremony that day?”

The one delivering the report was Zhang Xinglai, the Deputy Border Controller of Kinless Township. Liao Zihui had asked him to deliver the report. Naturally, there was a reason for that.

Zhang Xinglai said, ”Commissioner Liu didn’t invite Li Qi. He just sent someone to notify him.”

Liao Zihui was somewhat displeased. He had originally wanted to pin this matter on Li Qi. However, even though Li Qi hadn’t shown up, he could still find a way to blame him for it. And even if he couldn’t, it didn’t really matter. The important thing had already been taken care of.

”Xinglai, you have been in Kinless Township for quite some time now. With Guocai having died in the line of duty, the burden of the Border Control Office in Kinless Township now falls on your shoulders.”

Zhang Xinglai immediately rose to his feet and solemnly declared that he would fulfill his duties with dedication and diligence. With that, Zhang Xinglai went back to Kinless Township.

He had spent many years in Puluo Province, longer than Liao Zihui in fact, and he knew exactly what kind of people he couldn’t offend.

That night, Zhang Xinglai paid Li Qi a visit with gifts in hand.

Li Qi had just finished building a new compound and was enjoying a hotpot dinner with Ma Wu. When he saw Zhang Xinglai appear with gifts, he was very pleased and remarked, ”Brother Zhang, you have better manners than your commissioner.”

Zhang Xinglai smiled. ”With the New Year just around the corner, and me having just taken up this new position, I came especially to pay my respects to Master Qi.”

”Brother Zhang, you are being too courteous,” Li Banfeng said as he stood up. ”Old Wu, grab an extra chair. Let’s cheers to Brother Zhang’s promotion!”

After the usual pleasantries, Zhang Xinglai raised his glass. ”Master Qi, I am a plain-spoken man, so I won’t waste time on flowery words. Qi Qiu City is yours to rule. From today on, I will be looking to you for protection.”

This man knew how to talk and not just sweet talk either. Everyone had called this place Kinless Township for who knows how many years. However, Zhang Xinglai called it Qi Qiu City instead, which meant that he genuinely respected Li Qi.

The three raised their glasses and downed them in one go.

Zhang Xinglai went on, ”Regarding the railway construction, we are shorthanded. I hope Master Qi can help us out.”

Li Qi nodded. ”That’s easy. Leave it to Old Wu.”

Ma Wu interrupted, ”We have got plenty of workers, and we can talk about prices too. If Brother Zhang thinks we are worth it, come to Junyang Avenue tomorrow. I will set up a private session and we will hash out the details then.”

The one and only main street in Kinless Township had been renamed to Junyang Avenue.

Zhang Xinglai raised his glass again. ”With Master Wu’s word, I feel much more at ease.”

Li Qi said, ”With the matter regarding the railway construction, let’s help each other out. Brother Zhang, I just ask that you take care of us when charging us fees for imports and exports.”

”Master Qi, don’t talk like we are strangers. I will file a report to the Commissioner first thing tomorrow. I know that you get a discount of fifty percent for the imports and exports. I can’t control other places, but I will try my best to get you a seventy percent discount for items coming in and out of Qi Qiu City.”

Li Qi didn’t say anything. They had managed to get a fifty percent discount previously because there had been several rounds of serious deadly fights happening secretly. And now, with just one promise from Zhang Xinglai, they could get a seventy percent discount? There was no way Li Banfeng believed this so easily.

Ma Wu smiled and said, ”Border Controller Zhang, I don’t think Commissioner Liao would agree to that.”

Zhang Xinglai looked at Li Qi and Ma Wu and lowered his voice. ”I wouldn’t even bring it up if this were anywhere else. However, this territory never really had much being imports and exports happening anyway. We always had a train station, but it’s just a train to move a few passengers now and then, as well as some daily supplies. It never really generated much freight revenue for us. Now that it’s in the hands of you two, Qi Qiu City is going to thrive. As long as I can still turn a little profit so I don’t end up in a tight spot, we can work out almost anything.”

Zhang Xinglai had said exactly what needed to be said.

The three of them hit it off more and more as the night went on, and the drinking carried on until late.

When the railway work finally started, Ma Wu’s men were indeed the ones brought in. Li Banfeng had made a point of telling Ma Wu, ”Don’t overcharge for the labor. Even if we have to cover the difference ourselves, that’s fine.”

He called Little Chuan back from Blackstone Slope and had him slip in among the workers.

Little Chuan had been hoping to pick up some of the Outer Provinces’ railway construction skills, but after just two days, he came back with his head hanging low. ”Master Qi, they had us work on the middle stretch of track, but there’s nothing special about laying sleepers and putting down rails. I already know how to do it. They did, however, seal off the tracks on both ends, the ones near the regional borders, with boundary lines. They won’t even let us get within spitting distance. I won’t be able to learn the crafting skills there.”

The tracks on both ends were the real key, since that involved how the trains actually crossed the regional borders.

Li Banfeng had expected this to happen. If it was that easy to learn that crafting skill, the people of Puluo would have learned it ages ago.

The real reason he had sent Little Chuan to mingle with the workers was to look into one thing: Was the material used on the middle section the same as the material used on the ends?

If the materials were the same, that meant Artificer Cultivator abilities were used during construction, which would make things tricky. Li Banfeng wasn’t an Artificer Cultivator, and he had no way of learning those abilities. But if the materials were different, that would mean special materials were used for the parts crossing the boundary lines, which would be a lot simpler. It wouldn’t be that difficult for Li Banfeng to get some of those materials back.

Little Chuan answered without hesitation, ”Master Qi, it’s all the same stuff. When they first unloaded the shipment, the border side had over-ordered and even sent some extra over to our side.”

It turned out that Artificer Cultivator ability had been used, which made this whole thing much more difficult.

That night, Li Banfeng changed into work clothes and headed to the construction site near the regional border.

The place was dead quiet. No work happened at night, and the area was lit up with a glowing barrier, keeping everyone out.

Li Banfeng pulled the trigger on the device, which opened up a way through the border for him. After he had sent a cabbage person through as a test and ensured that it was safe to pass through the border, he then crossed through it.

What was he going to do at the site? He didn’t know anything about construction, and besides, no one was working at night anyway. For this, he would have to rely on the Pocket Dwelling. Wherever the key went, the Pocket Dwelling followed. It didn’t matter if Li Banfeng couldn’t figure things out, as long as the Pocket Dwelling could.

There was a half-finished stretch of track ahead. Li Banfeng walked up and down the rails a few times, then sat down beside them.

Old man, you take a good look. The switch only works once a day. I am stuck here anyway, so take your time and study it.

***

The construction at the Noble Qi Restaurant in Junyang Avenue had already started.

The blueprint that Chu Shaoqiang had designed was excellent. The restaurant featured one main building and two auxiliary buildings, with verandas and pavilions interspersed between them. Behind the main structure was a garden, and within the garden, six private VIP rooms had been specially arranged.

It had both classical charm and the distinctive extravagance of Puluo Province. Ma Wu fell in love with the blueprints at first sight and paid Chu Shaoqiang a handsome fee. Still, he couldn’t remember who this designer of the blueprint was.

Chu Shaoqiang had casually made up a fake name. Ma Wu was somewhat suspicious but didn’t rush to investigate. Instead, he invited Chu Shaoqiang to his house for a private dinner, hoping to get some information out of him. Unexpectedly, Ma Wu got drunk first halfway through the dinner.

Chu Shaoqiang took out a clone and made it continue feasting and drinking with Ma Wu. His real form walked out of the house and headed toward Qiu Luoye’s house.

The New Year was just around the corner. Qiu Luoye was at home drinking with tiger. They had already drunk two jars and tiger was about to open a third jar when Qiu Luoye’s ears flapped. Immediately, he asked the tiger not to move. He walked out of his house and stared into the distant forest.

Chu Shaoqiang’s figure slowly came into view and Qiu Luoye immediately asked, ”Who are you?”

”You are Qiu Luoye, right?” Chu Shaoqiang said with a smile. ”I have heard about you in the Inner Provinces and I have seen your iron deed.”

”Inner Provinces?” Qiu Luoye spat on the ground and fixed his gaze on Chu Shaoqiang. ”What do you want?”

”Don’t be so nervous. I came to see you because I want to help you. I heard that you turned your territory, a deep land, into a Proper Land. The Inner Provinces think that you are very capable and you are very well known now.”

Qiu Luoye remained expressionless. ”Cut the crap. I don’t have time for your nonsense.”

Chu Shaoqiang nodded. ”I like your bluntness. I have brought you three things this time. The first thing is money. A territory that has just turned into Proper Land would need many new things and all those things cost money. I have bought you so much nice and shiny silver that you can spend to your heart’s content. The second thing is cultivation. Now that you are a land deity of a Proper Land, you will be facing bigger problems and tougher opponents. We promise to help you break through to the next level. The third thing is manpower. The Inner Provinces have sent over quite a few people and they will help you run this land...”

Qiu Luoye cut him off with a laugh. ”I don’t want your money. I have got brothers who can earn money. I will build my cultivation at my own pace. The Inner Provinces can save its concern for someone else. As for your people, take them and get the hell out of here. As far away as possible.”

Author’s Note:

PS: In the end, someone from the Inner Provinces still showed up.