Chapter 173 Before the Storm

Ye Muyang was most afraid of Qin Sheng rejecting him. If so, he did not know how to explain to Yan Chaozong. After all, he had said with beaming confidence that he could take care of Qin Sheng. If his actions go against his words, Yan Chaozong would definitely look down on him. He had always wanted to mingle into Yan Chaozong’s big social circle. However, the bunch of people did not take notice of him. This time around, as long as he helped Yan Chaozong to settle this matter, it would serve as a stepping stone to his goal.

Hearing Qin Sheng agreeing to his request, Ye Muyang finally felt relieved. He muttered in his heart, “Qin Sheng, Qin Sheng, you’re like a brother, but it’s a pity that you’ve offended Yan Chaozong. I can only sacrifice you, hope that you won’t blame me.”

After hanging up Qin Sheng’s call, Ye Muyang immediately called Yan Chaozong to tell him the good news. He burst out, “Chaozong, it’s working! Qin Sheng has agreed to go to Mount Jiuhua!”

“Are you sure?” Yan Chaozong’s eyes lit up instantly.

Ye Muyang answered proudly, “How can I lie to you about this? I plan to take action at 11, be prepared on your end.”

“Okay, when you reach Mount Jiuhua, someone will contact you. When you come back, I’ll hold a grand party to welcome you back,” Yan Chaozong said excitedly. In his opinion, as long as Qin Sheng goes to Mount Jiuhua, there would be no return. Everything would be settled.

After chatting with Ye Muyang, Yan Chaozong immediately gave orders to his men at Mount Jiuhua. Everything was going according to plan. They were now just waiting for Qin Sheng to walk into the trap himself.

When Lin Su received the call from Qin Sheng, she was having fun with her girlfriends. She changed her outfit twice and still felt that it was not right. Tan Jing was speechless. She felt that Qin Sheng the loser was not worth Lin Su doing this. What did he do to deserve such a beautiful woman like her?

Hearing that Qin Sheng was going to Mount Jiuhua and could not shop for houses with her, Lin Su was evidently slightly disappointed. Other than that night where he stayed over at her place, both of them had met up only a few times recently. They basically kept in contact via phone and WeChat messages. Any women in love would more or less be clingy, just that some might not show it that obvious. For example, Lin Su. She thought that Qin Sheng would be able to spend the weekend with her, but now that he suddenly had something else to do, she could only remain calm. She would not make a fuss over a small thing like this.

“Why are you going to Mount Jiuhua?” Lin Su asked in confusion. Mount Jiuhua was in Anhui’s Chizhou. It was some distance from Shanghai.

Qin Sheng explained, “Boss Ye’s son asked me to go burn incense with him. We’re going today and should be able to return by tomorrow afternoon. By then I’ll come and find you. I’ll take the day off on Monday and spend it with you.”

“It’s okay, you can do your thing. I’ll get Tan Jing to go house-shopping with me. Anyways, she’s free today,” Lin Su chuckled.

Qin Sheng nodded silently. “Okay then. I feel a.s.sured with her keeping you accompany.”

“Go and do your stuff, remember to eat lunch,” Lin Su smiled as she reminded him. In the past, she did not know how to care for others and always felt that she was a little cold-blooded. After she confirmed her relationship with Qin Sheng, she realized that it was not like that. There was just no one to care for.

At 11 am, Ye Muyang came over in a Land Rover Range Rover to pick up Qin Sheng. Both of them brought nothing with them and headed for Mount Jiuhua with light baggage. Ye Muyang seemed to be in a good mood, he was always seemingly half-smiling. Qin Sheng was confused. Ye Muyang smiled and said, “My biggest luck this year was to meet a brother like you.”

It has to be said that Ye Muyang’s trap was indeed deep. Each step was a lead-up and he progressed gradually. Eventually, Qin Sheng fell into the ditch. It was not that Qin Sheng was not wary, it was just that he did not feel that Ye Muyang would do anything to him. After all, Boss Ye and Jiang Xiangbang had a connection, which was why he chose to go closer to Ye Muyang.

The car ride from Shanghai to Mount Jiuhua took about five and a half hours. Qin Sheng and Ye Muyang took turns to drive. On the way, they chatted about random things. Eventually, Ye Muyang fell asleep.

Jiuhushan was previously known as Mount Ling-yang and Mount Jiuzi. It was one of the four famous mountains in Buddhism. It was located in Qingyang County, Chizhou City, Anhui Province. It was dubbed as the Number One Mountain in Southeast China. Legend has it that in the Tang dynasty, Li Bai wrote in “Looking at Jiuhua, For Wei Zhongkan of Qingyang”: I used to row the boat on the great rivers of Jiushui and look at the Huashan peak faraway. The waterfall was like great rivers pouring from the sky, the mountain peaks were like nine hibiscuses bloating beautifully. Hence, its name was changed to Mount Jiuhua.

Qin Sheng believed in Buddhism and Taoism. He would enter both kinds of temples and pray. He would always encounter interesting people and stories. The four famous mountains in Buddhism were: Wutai Mountain in Shanxi was the dojo of the Manjushri, Emeishan in Sichuan was Puxian Bodhisattva’s, Putuo Mountain in Zhejiang was for Guanyin Bodhisattva, while Jiuhua Mountain in Anhui was the dojo of the Tibetan King Bodhisattva.

Qin Sheng liked a line from “Di Zang w.a.n.g Shi Lun Jing” a lot, it says: Holding it in and remaining as calm as the land, thinking silently and deeply, like a secret. Majority of the people who came to know the Tibetan King Bodhisattva was because of the line “If h.e.l.l is not empty, one can never become Buddha”.

It was already 6 pm when they reached Mount Jiuhua. On the way here, they rest for a while at the service area. The sky was already turning dark. Ye Muyang and Qin Sheng went ahead to the hotel first. It was located at the entrance of the site. This place looked like a small town, it was filled with old houses of Jiangnan style. There was a small bridge over the stream that flowed into people’s houses. The area was also surrounded by mountains. The view was indeed not bad.

Actually, both Qin Sheng and Ye Muyang did not know that when they left Shanghai, there was a car that left right after, following closely behind them.

Ye Muyang had booked two rooms in advance. He was not willing to stay with Qin Sheng, in case he was to receive a call or something like that and Qin Sheng might notice a loophole. His explanation to Qin Sheng was that he snores really badly at night and was afraid that it would affect Qin Sheng’s rest. Qin Sheng actually felt a little touched.

Both of them headed to their room to rest and would head out for dinner later to taste the local dishes. After returning to his room, Ye Muyang quickly notified Yan Chaozong. “We’ve arrived.”

Within a few minutes, Uncle Zhao called him. He said politely, “Welcome Young Master Ye to Mount Jiuhua.”

“You are?” Yan Chaozong asked in a low voice.

Uncle Zhao laughed, “Our Young Master made me call you, my name is Zhao Xuan.”

“Oh, since you’re Chaozong’s people, just tell me, how should I cooperate with you guys? When do we start the action?” Ye Muyang asked in a lowered voice. He wanted to quickly hand Qin Sheng over to Yan Chaozong’s people. His job would be considered done and he would have lesser things to fret about. And as for what they were going to do to Qin Sheng, that was none of his business anymore.

Uncle Zhao squinted his eyes. They had already planned out what they should do and now they were just waiting for Qin Sheng to get into the game. Hence, he said slowly, “After you guys are done with dinner, use the excuse of bringing Qin Sheng to walk around and drive directly to the peak of this small hill. I’ll send you the coordinates later. It’s not far from the small town, so he won’t find it suspicious. The best view is at the Seaview Pavillion here. You can just bring him here and you’ll be done. If he isn’t willing to go, I’ll contact you by then and give you plan B.”

“Okay, then I’ll do according to what you guys said,” Ye Muyang said thoughtfully.

After resting for a while, Ye Muyang came out of his room and knocked on Qin Sheng’s door. When Qin Sheng opened the door, Ye Muyang said casually, “Let’s go and grab something to eat. I heard my friend say that there is a good vegetarian restaurant here.”

Qin Sheng smiled and nodded. The duo then left the hotel. Up until this point in time, Qin Sheng had yet to realize the dawning danger. Perhaps all these were fated. His life had been very calm and peaceful all the way until he graduated from college. Indeed, not many can experience what he had gone through these past few years.

Other than vegetarian food, Mount Jiuhua was also famous for its 18 local dishes per table. However, Ye Muyang was here to burn incense and worship Buddha, so he would naturally not eat meat. Hence, both of them chose vegetarian.

During their meal, Qin Sheng and Ye Muyang talked about Buddhism, like Tibetan Buddhism and Han Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism, Esoteric Buddhism, and Tantra. Qin Sheng could go on and on about them. Ye Muyang was just stunned. He definitely did not know that Qin Sheng’s major was philosophy and he was the best student in his year. Initially, he was recommended to go abroad to further his studies or to directly enter the Youth League Community to work. However, Qin Sheng was unwilling. Those who studied philosophy would naturally study religion. Qin Sheng, who originally liked all these, did further research than others.

After lunch, Ye Muyang cleaned his teeth with a toothpick. His relaxed behavior showed his true self as a rich second generation. He smiled and said, “We have nothing to do after we’re done eating and it’s still so early, I can’t fall asleep as well. My friend said that there’s a Seaview Pavilion not far from here. The clouds surround the place at night and it is a special sight to see. What do you say about going there to take a walk?”

Ye Muyang was careful with his words. It may seem like he said it very casually, but he was very cautious.

Qin Sheng thought for a moment and said, “The starry sky is very bright tonight. I’ve stayed too long in Shanghai and has already gotten used to the flashing neon lights. It’s so rare to see such a beautiful starry sky.”

“Then let’s go! The sky is already dark, we should come back earlier, I’m afraid it might get cold at night,” Ye Muyang said quickly, for fear of Qin Sheng regretting.

They made an impromptu decision and both men got up immediately and headed off. Qin Sheng took the wheel while Ye Muyang navigated, in case they went the wrong way.

The Seaview Pavilion was not far from here. It was just a slightly more than 10-minutes drive. Standing at the mountain top, they could have a birds’ eye view of the whole town and also the Mount Jiuhua scenic area opposite them. It was very beautiful to be it day or night.

On the way here, other than giving directions, Ye Muyang barely said anything unnecessary. He was too afraid that he would give it away.

After slightly more than 10 minutes, they finally arrived. Qin Sheng asked, “Where do we go next?”

Ye Muyang turned off his phone and pointed to a place not far away. “You can park the car here. The Seaview Pavilion is over there, we can just walk there.”

Hence, the duo got off the car and walked towards Seaview Pavilion. From Ye Muyang’s perspective, this was where Qin Sheng was going to die. It was also Ye Muyang’s place of blessing.

When the Land Rover Range Rover appeared, Uncle Zhao, who had been hiding in the trees, had a wide grin on his face. He called Yan Chaozong and said, “Young Master, he’s here.”

“I’ll wait for your news. Hope you don’t disappoint me this time,” Yan Chaozong gave a burst of cold laughter and said.

Uncle Zhao answered with full confidence, “Young Master, don’t worry. Unless he is a G.o.d, otherwise, he will not be walking out of here alive tonight.”

When the Land Rover Range Rover drove upwards, a Jeep Wrangler followed behind. It kept a great distance between the two, in case they were discovered. The driver was a middle-aged man. His hair had all turned white already. Those who did not know his age would probably think that he was in his 50s or 60s. Indeed, he looked old. His face was full of wrinkles.

This was a mountain road, there was no intersection in the middle, so he was not afraid of losing them. To be able to follow them from Shanghai to Mount Jiuhua, this man was quite capable.

However, he saw that the Land Rover Range Rover had suddenly parked at aside. The man frowned slightly and continued driving forward. He did not dare to park his car here, in case he was discovered. When he drove forward another few hundred meters, he found another three cars parked at the side and the car plates showed that they were all from Shanghai. The man realized that something was wrong.