The rise of the poor

"Luo Longwen!!! Heh, didn't you just say your name was Luo Xia?! Cowardly as a mouse, you even lied about your name, hiding and concealing it. With such dishonesty, how dare you talk business with our King?!"

"If the names you've given are all fake, then the business you're talking about must also be fake. Tell me, who sent you to swindle our King?!"

"Why waste time on such a despicable person? Just drag him out, skin him alive, and cook him in a pot!"

Upon hearing Luo Longwen's real name, the Japanese pirates in the hall slammed their fists on the table and began to curse, clamoring to skin Luo Longwen alive and cook him.

Even the Japanese pirate who had been speaking loudly and had a hideous demon tattoo on his neck jumped into the arena, grabbed Luo Longwen by the collar, and tried to drag him out to be tortured.

"No, no, spare me! I didn't mean to hide my name. I just wanted to avoid the news getting out and affecting the big business deal we were about to discuss."

Luo Longwen's body trembled like a sieve, and as he was dragged along, he repeatedly waved his hands and begged for mercy.

"Still trying to argue!"

The tattooed Japanese bandit dragged Luo Longwen outside. Luo Longwen was like a pitiful worm in his hands, struggling uselessly. He was about to be dragged outside and skinned alive, which scared Luo Longwen so much that he wet his pants.

"Hahaha, look at this coward, he's scared to death." The Japanese pirates in the hall noticed that Luo Longwen's pants were wet and couldn't help but laugh.

"What the hell is this bad luck? If this thing goes into the pot, we should throw the pot away, skin it alive, and feed it to the dogs."

A burst of laughter immediately followed.

Human joys and sorrows are not something that can be understood. Dragged along, Luo Longwen could only tremble with fear and couldn't control his urine.

Just as he was about to be dragged out, Wang Zhi, sitting on the tiger-skin chair, called out, "Alright, Haifeng, spare his life for now. It's not like we'll lose a little time. Listen to his big business deal. If he has bad intentions, we can skin him and cook him later."

The tattooed Japanese bandit, Mao Haifeng, threw Luo Longwen to the ground like a dead dog with a loud thud. "Hmph, Your Majesty is merciful and will spare your dog's life. Now kowtow to Your Majesty to express your gratitude."

Luo Longwen was thrown flat on his back. His ribs were still injured and he was sweating profusely from the pain. He didn't care about wiping them away at this moment. It was a matter of life and death. He quickly endured the pain, scrambled to his feet, and knelt on the ground in a flat-bottomed position, kowtowing repeatedly. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for sparing my life! Thank you, Your Majesty, for sparing my life!" He kowtowed more than ten times, until his forehead was bleeding.

"You call yourself from the capital? Is this how you express gratitude in the capital?! Just a few dry words of thanks?! And nothing more? Even commoners know to bring a couple of jars of wine."

"Exactly, they have no manners at all."

"This kind of person dares to talk to us about a big deal?!"

The Japanese pirates present looked at Luo Longwen with unfriendly expressions, mocking him, each one eager to watch the spectacle.

"Yes, yes, of course I have. I am honored to present this gift. It was specially chosen by my master for Your Majesty before I left the capital."

Luo Longwen, who was kneeling on the ground, quickly spoke up and took out something wrapped in layers of yellow silk from his bosom. It looked square and he could hold it perfectly in both hands. He crawled forward on his knees to the bottom of the high step and presented it with both hands.

"What is this? It's so small, it's really stingy." Mao Haifeng cursed as he stepped forward, snatched it from Luo Longwen's hand, and presented it to Wang Zhi, who was sitting on the tiger-skin chair.

"Feng'er, open it and let everyone see what the important person from the capital has given as a gift." Wang Zhi did not take it, but instead had Mao Haifeng open it in front of everyone so that all the Japanese pirates in the hall could see what the gift was.

"I guarantee I will not disappoint Your Majesty." Luo Longwen, who was kneeling below, raised his head, his face full of confidence.

"As ordered."

Mao Haifeng then opened the silk in his hand in front of everyone, revealing an exquisite sandalwood box, square in shape.

He opened the box again, revealing a golden seal inside, and Mao Haifeng's expression changed slightly.

"What's inside?" The group of Japanese pirates in the hall stared wide-eyed with curiosity, wondering what was inside the box.

Mao Haifeng didn't play hide-and-seek with everyone; he simply took out the seal and showed it to them.

"What is this? A large seal?! And made of gold?!"

"Why is this person bringing a seal as a greeting gift?! Quick, take a look, what's engraved on it?"

"Even if it's gold, it's probably just a radish seal you carved yourself? And you guarantee it won't disappoint our King?! Are you kidding me?! Does our King even care about your paltry amount of gold?!"

The Japanese pirates below the hall started to make a fuss. They were both curious and sarcastic about the seal. They were curious about what kind of seal it was, but they were sarcastic about what kind of shoddy seal it was.

"Bring me paper and inkpad," Mao Haifeng called out to those below, gesturing with his hand.

Soon someone brought over a sheet of Xuan paper. Mao Haifeng looked at the man and asked, "Where's the inkpad?" The man shook his head, saying he couldn't find the inkpad for the time being. That's understandable; they were a group of Japanese pirates who killed, burned, and robbed people for gold and silver, not inkpads.

Mao Haifeng went down and pulled Luo Longwen up. Luo Longwen had a bad feeling, and sure enough, it came true the next second.

"If there's no inkpad, then I'll borrow your blood." Mao Haifeng said, pulling out a small knife from his waist, grabbing Luo Longwen's arm, and stabbing him. Luo Longwen screamed as blood gushed out and flowed into a plate. Seeing that it was enough, Mao Haifeng threw the screaming Luo Longwen aside.

Used and then thrown away, typical of Japanese pirates.

Next, Mao Haifeng pressed the seal onto the plate, shook it from side to side to soak the bottom of the seal with blood, then picked it up and pressed it heavily onto the white paper.

Several Japanese pirates gathered around, curious to see what characters would appear on the white paper, and thus knew what kind of seal it was.

"Wang Xiaoyi, you can't read, what are you doing here?" someone said with a laugh from behind.

Among the Japanese pirates who surrounded him was Wang Xiaoyi, who said, "Can't I just be curious? I'll treat it like a painting."

After Mao Haifeng pressed the seal, he picked it up and left four large, blood-red characters on the white paper: "Imperial Seal of the Prince of Hui".

"The Imperial Seal of the Prince of Hui?!" Mao Haifeng couldn't help but exclaim.

"What? The seal of the Prince of Hui? The Prince of Hui?! Isn't that our king's title?"

"The seal of Prince Hui, this cowardly bastard forged it to curry favor with our king, isn't it?!"

"Yes, yes, that must be it. They're quite cunning, using gold to forge a royal seal. But a fake is a fake, what value does it have? We don't even care about this little bit of gold, let alone our king."

The group of Japanese pirates present erupted in chaos, unanimously believing that the imperial seal of the Prince of Hui was something Luo Longwen had privately forged to curry favor with Wang Zhi, and was not genuine. (End of Chapter)