Chapter 206 1/3

This Taoist, if nothing else, certainly had an appearance that could fool people into thinking he was a true immortal with his crane-like hair and youthful face.

Yet, such a person knelt without hesitation!

Li Qingzhi found it amusing—these con artists really knew how to humble themselves.

The Taoist had one hand held by Li Qingzhi while the other held several ingots of silver, the money he had just earned.

Li Qingzhi took the largest ingot and put it in his pocket, then said, “You’d better con people less often in the future, or you might get beaten up.”

The Taoist smiled at Li Qingzhi, “Master Juren, I know I was wrong. I won’t con people anymore!”

He said this, but inwardly, he was already cursing.

This Taoist’s surname was Lu, and his full name was Lu Mingshan.

He came from a poor family. When he was seven, his parents sent him to a dyeing workshop as an apprentice.

The workshop was small, run by a Zhang family, and all the dyers were from the Zhang family. The Zhang patriarch had four sons, who each had their own families, producing over twenty grandchildren.

The Zhang family had over thirty members, with the four brothers constantly fighting to inherit the dyeing skills and workshop. They didn’t lack workers and wouldn’t teach the dyeing skills to outsiders. They hired apprentices just to get free labor.

Lu Mingshan was made to do various chores, from washing clothes to cooking and babysitting, working from dawn to dusk without rest. If he didn’t do well, he was scolded and reprimanded.

Fortunately, he was clever. In the Zhang family’s “big dyeing vat,” he learned to read people’s expressions and flatter a few members, allowing him to get by.

At a young age, he lived day by day without thinking about the future. However, when he was twelve, one of the Zhang grandchildren got into a fight and killed someone. The Zhang family wanted Lu Mingshan to take the blame.

He refused, but his parents, having taken money from the Zhangs, persuaded him to confess.

If he confessed, he would die! Pretending to agree, he seized an opportunity and escaped.

After fleeing, he met a con artist who brought him into a gang, where he was mentored by the group’s leader.

They operated in a prefecture city, and all con artists there had to obey the leader, or they would be killed. The money they conned had to be handed over to the leader, who then distributed it as he saw fit.

Being young and good-looking, Lu Mingshan was specially trained by the leader to con more money.

Of course, if he didn’t learn well, the leader would beat him severely.

Lu Mingshan stayed with the leader for six years, learning to read, various conning techniques, and amassed a lot of money.

They were punished if they didn’t con enough money, so Lu Mingshan was either learning conning skills, conning people, or on his way to con someone.

He had swindled a mother of the money she had painstakingly saved for her son’s education and taken the money a son had saved to buy a pig for his father’s medical treatment.

Trained by the leader, he even pretended to be a young master from a wealthy family, swindling over a thousand taels of silver from other towns.

Most of that money went to the leader.

Later, the leader was killed by his subordinates.

Having been frequently beaten and scolded by the leader, Lu Mingshan had no loyalty towards him. He took the chaos following the leader’s death as a chance to escape.

Homeless, he wandered, conning money when needed and spending freely when he had it, living a carefree life.

He was good-looking, and the leader had trained his demeanor, making it easy for him to gain people’s trust and con money.

Once, while conning money from a wealthy family, he saw them abusing a skinny child of four or five and decided to take the child with him.

The child’s parents had died, and the family believed the child was cursed, so they didn’t care for him. A few words from Lu Mingshan and they gave him the child as an apprentice.

Lu Mingshan then continued his wandering life with the child.

Despite his white hair, Lu Mingshan was only in his thirties, being a premature grey.

As Li Qingzhi suspected, he was a congenital grey hair.

For the past year or two, he had been posing as a Taoist to con money.

He wasn’t greedy and would move to a new place after staying for a while, so he rarely got caught.

Today, he and his apprentice entered this county.

He sent his apprentice to gather information while he also listened in at the dock, hearing some useful details.

For example, the couple who ran the noodle shop had their son return.

This man, though back, was delayed at the dock due to moving goods, and Lu Mingshan overheard his conversation, providing him with a perfect opening.

Even without this man, he could have convinced Wu Baichuan and others to give him money.

He had hoped to make a big score from a merchant team from Jiang’an Province, but Wu Baichuan and others didn’t give much. Worse, the scholar in their group pursued and caught him.

Lu Mingshan, in his prime and quite fit, had learned some martial arts for convenience. But this scholar was exceptionally strong, holding him firmly.

Was this really a scholar?

Unable to escape, Lu Mingshan could only plead for mercy, though inwardly cursing Li Qingzhi profusely.

Li Qingzhi noticed his dissatisfaction and said, “You won’t con people anymore? Just looking at you, I can tell that’s a lie.”

Lu Mingshan said, “I’m speaking from the heart, not a single false word! Master Juren, I’m forced to con by circumstances and have long wanted to leave this line of work.”

The Taoist’s expression was particularly sincere, though not a word was true. It was quite interesting.

Li Qingzhi looked at him, suddenly thinking of something…

“Let go of my master!” a voice called out.

Li Qingzhi had already noticed the Taoist’s apprentice returning. Quickly, he pushed the Taoist towards the apprentice, who inadvertently struck the Taoist with a dung fork.

Lu Mingshan let out a howl.

Li Qingzhi couldn’t help but laugh.

The apprentice, stunned, raised the dung fork to strike Li Qingzhi, but Li Qingzhi, pulling Lu Mingshan’s arm, made him press against the fork again.

Li Qingzhi then let go of Lu Mingshan and grabbed the apprentice’s clothes, lifting him up.

The apprentice, upon being lifted, opened his mouth to curse, “You…”

“If you dare curse or hit me, I’ll send your master to the authorities. Conning a scholar means he’ll end up in prison,” Li Qingzhi said.

The apprentice dared not struggle.

Li Qingzhi looked at the Taoist, “I’m taking your apprentice.”

Li Qingzhi had come to the capital with an agenda.

He hadn’t decided what to do yet, but after meeting the Taoist, he suddenly had an idea.

If he had such a person helping him, things would be much easier.

People were quite superstitious in these times!

However, he needed trustworthy help.

By taking the child, the Taoist would likely follow, allowing for cooperation.

If the Taoist didn’t follow…

If the Taoist didn’t care for the child, there was no way he could let a ten-year-old continue with a life of deceit.