Chapter 545: Before the Banquet

Weise turned his head, as if he had just noticed her, or as if the person entering were a very close family member or friend, and said calmly, "You've returned?"

Chi Mingjing sighed, her mood calming a fraction more. She looked down at the youth: he likely hadn't been injured, the blood on him was someone else's, and her heart relaxed once more: although she wasn't close with this youth, they were companions on the same journey after all, and it was better for others to be injured than for a companion to be.

She tilted her head to look, and through the corner of the screen, she could see the scene of the banquet in the main hall outside. At the banquet, over a dozen gorgeously dressed guests each occupied a table, currently feasting; at the very top were two guests of honor, both with white hair, their temperament resembling that of people who had come down from Wangliang Mountain. The gorgeously and brightly dressed YoungMaster was accompanying them at the main table, and there were two or three children in the hall currently scrubbing the floor.

Judging by the color that had been mostly wiped away, they were scrubbing off bloodstains.

A battle had indeed occurred in the hall just moments ago, but the guests present were all in high spirits, and it did not look like anything unpleasant had happened.

She also saw that the two children scrubbing the floor seemed to be the slaves who had been penned up before, now released to do chores.

The children who had been looking after the running-water banquet outside earlier also seemed to be the former slaves; it appeared that in the few days she had been away, some changes had indeed occurred in the dye works, and these little slaves had been tidied up and brought out to be used as normal servants.

Although using these children, who were at most just over ten years old, to do labor was not a great act of kindness, it was still much better than being penned up. One had to know that even among "benevolent families" in the Central Plains, this was not considered harsh; the "maidservants" and "pageboys" who ran errands in wealthy and powerful households were all this age, and what work didn't they do?

Just looking at the state of those children, they certainly couldn't be described as glowing with health or looking brand new, but they at least looked like human beings.

Weise saw her staring at the hall and explained, "Slave dueling, an intermission program."

Chi Mingjing felt a chill, and pointing at the child sitting there covered in blood—who seemed to be called "Sixteen" or "Eighteen"—she said, "He went up to fight others to amuse those bastards?"

Weise nodded.

Chi Mingjing slowly let out a cold laugh and said, "Worthy of a banquet beneath Wangliang Mountain. I hear the YoungMaster entertains guests daily; does that mean he makes this child engage in life-and-death struggles every day? No wonder they are so happy, sitting at the wine table looking down on people tearing at each other like dogs; this kind of program must be what people like them love most. What about the YoungMaster? Does he love watching it too?"

Weise said, "Today was Sixteen's first time."

Chi Mingjing naturally heard the loophole and was just about to ask about the other slaves when Weise continued, "I was the one who went up before."

Chi Mingjing was stunned, and Weise continued, "This place indeed has the custom of sword fighting during banquets. It is divided into the Sword Guest Arena, the Slave Arena, and the Fighter Arena that they specially keep. Just as you said, they sit there looking human but acting like dogs, watching others tear at each other like dogs for amusement. Before, the YoungMaster would decline if he could, and if he couldn't, he would switch to the Fighter Arena or the Sword Guest Arena; usually, it was the Fighter Arena, as Sword Guests are still too valuable. Once, the Sword Guest Arena was taken by Master Xing Qi. If it required a fighter who was below a Sword Guest but above a slave to take the stage, that would be me."

Chi Mingjing sized him up and found that he was not injured either, saying, "Your YoungMaster feels for the slaves, but doesn't feel for you. And what about Xing Qi? He was actually willing to go up? He is quite an important person, isn't he?"

Weise said, "There is no need to feel for me, because I will win. Since we people have come here, we have prepared ourselves for battle; holding a weapon, where is it not a slaughter? The YoungMaster does not like to see children who understand nothing die, but fighters are Martial Artists who have taken money, so life and death are up to heaven. As for Master Xing Qi, I am naturally unwilling to let him take risks, but stepping forward is something he would do anyway, so how could I stop him?"

Chi Mingjing said in a low voice, "If you stand by the river long enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet. Don't be too confident. Since he has the heart to protect the children, why would he let Sixteen take the stage today?"

Weise said, "Today, people from Changyi Manor came. These two Manor Heads love watching slaves slaughter each other and do not look at the Fighter Arena or the Sword Guest Arena; if it were anyone else, the YoungMaster would naturally ignore them. But we have intentions... in order to cast a net, we can only lay the bait first. We had to satisfy them. We had no choice but to let Sixteen do it. Although he is young, he is trustworthy. He is a qualified warrior."

Sixteen smiled, a rare sight.

Chi Mingjing sighed and could not say anything more.

In truth, as she traveled the Jianghu, what filth had she not seen? She herself had not necessarily never done such things. On the road to Wangliang Mountain, she had seen even more disgusting things; when had she ever questioned them?

She was even a bit surprised why she had such high demands for this group of people. Clearly, it was just mutual exploitation; shouldn't they just turn a blind eye to each other?

Did she really want to treat them as companions, and thus have higher expectations?

How absurd!

She mocked herself, gave the two Manor Heads a death glare, then withdrew her gaze, memorizing the appearance of the two white-haired men, and said, "I remember these two fellows were also born as sword slaves; to think they only love watching slaves slaughter each other? Forgetting their roots, it shows they are heartless wretches. Both born of Wangliang Mountain, the difference between people is like clouds and mud. Worthy of Changyi Manor! Originally there were three Manor Heads, and now only these two remain; surely there was infighting?"

Weise said, "I don't know about that. It is indeed as you said; after the Changfazhuangyuanzhuren died, his three sword-guest subordinates all declared themselves Manor Heads, secretly murdered the heir, and jointly seized control of the manor. Somehow, they actually deceived Wangliang, managed to survive a Sacrifice, and have held the manor for several years, always stable. Last year, one of them died. Some say it was infighting, but no one knows for sure; it could also be that he just died. Sword guests on Wangliang Mountain do not live long."

Chi Mingjing nodded; her teacher had also said this. Whether it was sword slaves or sword guests, life on Wangliang Mountain flowed away like a flood, and the speed of aging was more than double that of ordinary people. When they died, it was not even a violent death, but death by old age.

It could be said that even if there hadn't been that battle back then, her teacher might not have lived until now.

Hearing this news earlier, she had felt a sense of urgency: if these Manor Heads died one by one, that would be fine, but if they all died out, wouldn't that be letting them off too easily? Wouldn't her trip have been in vain?

This was also the reason she had changed her plan on the fly, wanting to find them and formulate a more direct plan.

However, now that the two had joined together, surrounded by followers, it seemed there was no chance for them to separate, nor any chance for her to strike alone.

It was better to follow the original plan; with the help of allies, she could completely eradicate the two, which was more certain than her acting alone.

She said in an objective and calm tone, "This is a good opportunity! If all three were there, although they would fight for power, they would keep each other in check, and the situation would be relatively stable. With only two left, it is unstable; the east wind and the west wind will surely clash. We will take them down in one fell swoop, then seize the Changyi Sacrifice, and the manor will be ours."

She looked toward the side of the curtain and said, "If, as in the plays, we were to ambush five hundred axemen behind the curtain and throw a cup as a signal..."

Weise said calmly, "I don't understand things like killing people to seize a manor; that depends on the YoungMaster's planning. But the YoungMaster would not do anything disrespectful to guests at his own banquet."

Chi Mingjing also knew that a trap was impossible. If she were planning it, she would likewise not take action at her own banquet; even if the whole world knew she had done it, she would still have to cover it up slightly. They weren't provincial officials; how could they act so brazenly? Moreover, this was Yulang City. Compared to the cold and distant relationships between the manors on the mountain, the connections between people in Yulang City were much closer, and the atmosphere was much more relaxed.

At this time, everyone was here to talk business, finishing the social activities accumulated over three years within a month or two, using the battles of slaves and fighters to buffer the infighting and competition. If you insisted on breaking this relaxed atmosphere and starting a bloodbath, making everyone feel insecure, wouldn't that be lacking in tact? Wouldn't it be worth being attacked by everyone?

Moreover, in order to build a reputation for hospitality and for the sake of longer-term plans, the YoungMaster had been spending money like water these days without blinking an eye. This golden reputation was not easy to build, but breaking it was too easy; not to mention axemen, even the sword fighting before the banquet just now—if they failed to satisfy the other noble guests a few times and couldn't blend into their bloodthirsty and combative atmosphere, being ostracized, the money spent on the wine and food would have been wasted.

And besides, if one does not endure small things, one will mess up great plans. Chi Mingjing had just been thinking that holding banquets for so many consecutive days must have some purpose, right?

In any case, Chi Mingjing did not believe that entertaining so many people and spending so much money was just for this one test of Changfa Manor.

There must be many other purposes, right?

Among them might be a few harmless banquets, interspersed with a few that had ulterior motives—false and true, real and fake; no one could guess who the YoungMaster truly wanted to meet, test, or guard against through the banquets.

This was hiding a tree in a forest.

Chi Mingjing, this half-companion, only knew the purpose of the Changfa Manor event, but she could guess that many things had already quietly happened during these banquets.

After all, the more she came into contact with these people, the more Chi Mingjing felt there were many mysteries about them. Compared to them, she could even be considered someone with a clear background and clear purpose.

However, she was happy to see the YoungMaster and his group stir up trouble on Wangliang Mountain—the more Wangliang Mountain was ravaged, the better. Whoever wanted to make things difficult for Wangliang Mountain and the various Manor Heads on it, she, Chi Mingjing, would definitely help out.

Moving her gaze away from the faces of the two disgusting people, Chi Mingjing remembered another matter and said, "Do those two Manor Heads have other sword guests under them? Is there a sword guest named Xing Ruo?"

Weise frowned and said, "I have never heard of this person. However, there are a few sword guests beside them, sitting below and being accompanied by our manor's Xing Wu and Xing Jiu—look. See if there is the one you mentioned?"

He pointed below the steps, where several small tables were also set up, and a few white-haired sword guests were feasting at the tables, among them Xing Wu and Xing Qi. Although they also had seats, both the banquet spread and the seats were of a secondary rank, clearly a notch lower in status than those above. If a sword fight at the level of sword guests were to be held in a moment, some of them would immediately have to take the stage for a life-and-death struggle.

In essence, they were just high-ranking servants.

Chi Mingjing glanced at them; she had never seen Xing Fei, so naturally, she couldn't tell from their faces, so she said, "If we can find a way to make contact in a while, that would be good. This person has ties to my late teacher, perhaps we can win them over..."

Just then, in the banquet hall, the YoungMaster raised his wine cup and said, "Come, come, let us toast the two of you once more. When my late father was alive, he always admired the First Rank Manor. If my father were still alive, how happy he would be to see this grand scene today, with all the worthies gathered together?"