Chapter 129: Thank You for Your Patronage

Despite Murong Fu speaking through gritted teeth with a fierce expression, Fang Xu, seated in his chair, remained completely unperturbed.

Momento later, Fang Xu exchanged a glance with Gu Bei standing beside him, and Gu Bei stepped forward to pick up the money pouch from the ground.

After inspecting the fine silver within, Gu Bei nodded toward Fang Xu.

"Since Young Master Murong Fu has paid up, let him choose one! But remember! Only one!" Fang Xu rocked leisurely back and forth in his chair, looking at Murong Fu with a smile.

Hearing Fang Xu’s words, Murong Fu nearly shattered his own teeth from biting down so hard.

If it weren't for his desire to thoroughly exterminate Fang Xu, Murong Fu wouldn't even have bothered playing such games.

He kept telling himself in his heart to stay calm, knowing that soon enough, he would have Fang Xu crying tears of regret.

However, Fang Xu was utterly unconcerned. After all, who could possibly have guessed that the priceless heirloom luminous pearl had already "met its demise"?

Right now, Fang Xu had nothing to fear and simply sat back to watch Murong Fu make a fool of himself.

Murong Fu walked over to the pile of dolls, looking down at them with a complex gaze.

Then, he cast a sideways glance at his guard, clearly asking which doll contained the priceless luminous pearl.

The guard pointed at the doll that Old Wu had previously inspected and nodded, causing a faint smirk to rise to the corner of Murong Fu's mouth.

"I choose this one! I wonder if you will hand it over, Fang Xu?" Holding the doll in his hand, Murong Fu asked Fang Xu, who was currently lowering his head to take a small sip of wine.

"Oh? Since Young Master Murong Fu has paid for it, naturally it is yours." Fang Xu raised his head, glanced at Murong Fu, and nodded.

Upon hearing this, the smile at the corner of Murong Fu's mouth grew even wider.

In Murong Fu's view, how could he possibly fail to destroy Fang Xu this time?

Yet little did Murong Fu know that Fang Xu, currently lowering his head again, also wore a faint, amused smile.

When Fang Xu had first discovered the trick earlier, he had already instructed Old Wu to restore the doll and place it back into the pile. What Fang Xu hadn't expected, however, was the sheer value of that luminous pearl.

Had he known, Old Wu probably wouldn't have smashed it to pieces so casually.

After all, it was an unavoidable situation. Why say so?

Naturally, because who could have anticipated that in order to frame Fang Xu, Murong Fu would actually use such a wildly expensive, priceless heirloom luminous pearl as a prop for his trap?

One could only say that Murong Fu was truly willing to spend a massive fortune.

Yet what could be done? Since matters had already reached this point, Fang Xu could only hope to squeeze whatever he could out of Murong Fu.

How could Murong Fu possibly guess what was going on in Fang Xu's mind right now? Grasping the doll's head tightly, Murong Fu gave it a fierce yank, and the doll instantly tore apart into pieces.

Just as Murong Fu waited in eager anticipation for the heirloom luminous pearl to appear and shock the entire crowd, he discovered that there was absolutely nothing inside!

This discovery instantly filled Murong Fu with confusion, and his gaze shifted toward the guard standing behind him.

Clearly, the guard had also panicked, because this was the exact doll the guard had secretly planted among the others. By all logic, he couldn't possibly have identified the wrong one.

But if he hadn't mistaken it, why was there nothing inside now?

At this, both Murong Fu and his guard panicked. After all, the price of that priceless heirloom luminous pearl was truly astronomical!

More importantly, as far as Murong Fu was concerned, he had merely borrowed it from his father's collection to take a look. If he had to tell his father now that it was lost...

Murong Fu didn't even dare to imagine the consequences. Gritting his teeth, he stepped close to the guard's ear and fiercely demanded to know if this was truly the right doll.

The guard was utterly dumbfounded; even he no longer knew whether this was the correct one or not.

"Young Master Murong Fu, have you found what you were looking for?" Fang Xu swayed in his chair, holding a cup of warm wine, and asked with a smile.

"Damn it! Did you tamper with this?" Murong Fu stared at Fang Xu with a contorted expression and interrogated him, but Fang Xu couldn't help laughing out loud.

"I wonder what kind of tampering Young Master Murong Fu thinks I could have done?" After taking a sip of his wine, Fang Xu twirled the wine cup in his hand and asked with a smile.

"You! You! You!!" Murong Fu was instantly rendered speechless. After all, he understood very well—

Right now, he could not expose the fact that he knew the luminous pearl was hidden inside in the first place, nor could he reveal that he knew its whereabouts.

Therefore, even if Fang Xu had indeed meddled with it, Murong Fu was like a person who had eaten Coptis chinensis—he had to swallow his bitterness in silence, unable to voice his grievances!

"This one doesn't count! I'm going to look again!" Furious and exasperated, Murong Fu tossed the torn doll onto the ground and strode back toward the pile of dolls.

However, before he could take two steps, he was blocked by Fang Xu's guard.

"Fang Xu? What on earth do you mean by this?" Murong Fu asked, staring at Fang Xu with extreme dissatisfaction, but Fang Xu's lips still curved into a smile.

"Has Young Master Murong Fu forgotten something?" Fang Xu asked as he toyed with the hundred taels of fine silver Murong Fu had thrown down earlier.

"Damn it! Bring me another hundred taels immediately!" Murong Fu roared in a low voice to the subordinate behind him, and the subordinate hurriedly and frantically fished a pouch of silver from his tunic, handing it over with trembling hands.

"Humph!" Murong Fu couldn't be bothered to waste any more breath on Fang Xu, a development that Fang Xu was more than happy to see.

"Many thanks for the hundred taels of fine silver, Young Master Murong Fu. Thank you for your custom!" Fang Xu said with a grin, causing the veins on Murong Fu's forehead to bulge visibly.

Afterward, Fang Xu handed the two hundred taels of fine silver to Gu Bei by his side, clearly leaving him in charge of collection.

Gu Bei now admired Fang Xu to the point of complete submission. Why would one say so?

Just ask yourself, who else would dare to openly and blatantly extort money from the scion of a powerful aristocratic family? And looking at the way things were, the other party had no choice but to pay up. This truly opened Gu Bei's eyes.

Old Wu had nothing to say, and his favorable impression of Fang Xu deepened even further.

Murong Fu couldn't be bothered to care about the strange looks coming from the surrounding onlookers anymore. If he didn't know for a fact that the heirloom luminous pearl was supposed to be in there, would he really be acting like an absolute fool?

Two hundred taels of fine silver! That was a full two hundred taels of fine silver!

One had to know that an ordinary family of three could survive for a lifetime on perhaps just a hundred taels, and yet he had just handed over two hundred taels in one go!

While this amount wasn't enough to truly hurt Murong Fu financially, the thought that he had simply given it away for nothing to Fang Xu still caused a dull ache in his heart.