Magistrate Ho glanced at the rice merchants who were calling for a nomination of a new head of the rice merchants.

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and he tried to think of something.

Amidst the shouting, he recalled that the Qing Feng Sect was having some struggles with the Six Pulse Sword Sect.

And their proxy in this struggle was Sima Ye and Ruo Zhi.

If Sima Ye were coming for his life, then maybe Ruo Zhi would be able to help him.

Magistrate Ho stood up and shouted at the rice merchants, "Silence! I've got an idea."

He successfully got the attention of the rice merchants.

They shut up and glanced at him.

"I hope it's not something stupid like sending someone to kill that Lin Xuan Qi."

"Yeah, it better not implicate us and get the Sima Family on our backs."

"Come on, we don't have all day, the price of the rice might drop any moment."

The mention of the price of the rice made them anxious and they demanded that Magistrate Ho brief them on his idea.

Magistrate Ho raised his hands, gesturing them to calm down and said, "We can make use of the Six Pulse Sword Sect to take care of the Lin Xuan Qi and subsequently the Sima Family and the Qing Feng Sect for us."

"Six Pulse Sword Sect..." The rice merchants lowered their heads and pondered.

They knew what it meant to seek help from a cultivation sect.

Money, lots of money.

It might be more profitable for them to let Lin Xuan Qi dispense his charity porridge instead.

Seeing how they were doing their calculations and not looking too convinced, Magistrate Ho said, "Are you sure you can take the loss when the rice price drops? Do remember at what price you've bought the rice from the rice suppliers."

The rice merchants went silent again.

Magistrate Ho was right.

In their greed they had purchased the rice at a high price, thinking that with them holding onto it, they would be able to make a killing from it.

And for some of them, it had gotten out of hand.

They would be at risk of bankruptcy if the price of the rice fell drastically.

"I think we should consider the Magistrate's suggestion."

"The price of the rice must be kept high; we are in too deep for it to drop."

"I agree, there's no turning back for us now."

Some of them began to try and persuade others, and they succeeded.

All of them came around to Magistrate Ho's suggestion, and they would pool the money required.

Magistrate Ho smiled and picked up his wine cup from the table.

He proposed a toast to all of the rice merchants and said, "Here's for the big killing we are about to make!"

"Prosperity for us all!" The rice merchants cheered and downed the wine in their wine cups in a mouthful.

Magistrate Ho smirked and glanced at them.

All he needed to do next was to seek help from the Six Pulse Sword Sect.

Unaware that the Governor was ready to get rid of him when Lin Xuan Qi's plan to get the price of rice to drop succeeds.

...

Lee Zhen Ren's Residence.

Ruo Zhi who had taken over the residence was surprised when Magistrate Ho requested for a visit.

She had sent the servant to let him in.

It didn't take long, and Magistrate Ho entered the guest room with a few men carrying a few wooden chests.

"Welcome, Magistrate Ho." Ruo Zhi said and gestured for him to sit in one of the guest seats.

Magistrate Ho, although he was feeling not too pleased, knew better than to keep quiet about her attitude.

"Mistress Ruo Zhi, I'm here to request your help." He bowed at her and said.

Ruo Zhi raised an eyebrow at him and said, "I don't recall seeing you much but what's the thing you need me to do?"

She tried to figure out his motives.

Magistrate Ho told her his purpose directly.

"There is someone that's causing trouble for us.

"He is trying to destabilize the price of rice, and it would cause so much more suffering if the price of rice went unstable again.

"It took me so much effort to make it so and that man is trying to undo all of it."

"Oh? That man is a cultivator?" She asked.

"No." Magistrate Ho shook his head.

She frowned and asked, "Then, why don't you just arrest him?"

Magistrate Ho sighed and said, "His backing is the Sima Family, and I wouldn't want to anger them and those behind the Sima Family."

Ruo Zhi nodded, and she figured out why the Magistrate had come to seek her help out of all the people.

Cunning old fox.

But it didn't matter.

She too wasn't someone green and naive.

Ruo Zhi decided to play along and said, "What's in it for me?"

"We've prepared some gift for the Six Pulse Sword Sect, hope it's enough for you."

The Magistrate clapped and his men opened the wooden chests that were on the ground.

Glare from the gold and silver taels inside of the wooden chests made the guest room bask in a glow of golden and silver glow.

She nodded her head and said, "Don't worry, I will send someone appropriate to deal with the man. What's his name?"

The Magistrate's eyes opened wide when he heard her agreeing to his request.

"The man's name is Lin Xuan Qi from the Lin Clan."

"I will ask one of my disciples to take care of him." She said.

The Magistrate tilted his head and asked, "Your disciple? I thought it would be you personally."

To his astonishment, Ruo Zhi laughed heartily and pointed at the wooden chests.

"With so little, it's not enough to get me to move."

Magistrate Ho frowned and bowed at Ruo Zhi while he cursed her silently in his mind.

This Ruo Zhi was shameless!

Now, he became worried that the disciple Ruo Zhi sent wouldn't be powerful enough to take care of Lin Xuan Qi.

And the infuriating thing for him was that he couldn't ask Ruo Zhi to return the wooden chests back to him.

Such is the way with cultivators.

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