Chapter 609: At the Banquet

Upon hearing it was about asking after someone else, the Manor Master of Fuhu immediately lost interest and said offhandedly, "Didn't see him."

Only after saying these three words did his brain start to turn. He first realized who Tang Zhao was, then carefully recalled, and discovered he truly hadn't seen Tang Zhao for a while.

He was indeed somewhat puzzled. When he went for a walk in the courtyard in the morning, he had seen Tang Zhao there, and the two had crossed paths. By the time the Deep Shadow Society began, Tang Zhao was gone, nor was he seen discussing business with anyone, let alone enjoying fine food and wine.

Perhaps that Sword Hero was actually uninterested in low-end gatherings like the Sword Guest trading fair and had only come at the Manor Master's invitation to hold down the fort. Now that the formalities were over, he had already returned to rest.

Thinking of this, the Manor Master of Fuhu could not help but feel extremely jealous: why could a playboy YoungMaster of Changfa Manor invite such a powerful external aid, while he only had those useless servants on his side?

He could not help but mutter, "I wonder what that YoungMaster relied on to win over such a figure?"

His words reminded Liu Hu. Liu Hu immediately thought: That's right, having been rejected by Tang Zhao before, it must be that the price he offered was insufficient, or perhaps wrong, so he wasn't tempted. If he blindly raised the price, the abyss of desire would likely be hard to fill; he should prescribe the right medicine and ask the person who successfully hired Tang Zhao what he actually likes.

Tang Zhao was hard to find, but the Manor Master was easy. He saw that luxuriously dressed young gentleman drinking fine wine at a table in the center, with several people fawning over him.

Liu Hu smiled and said, "Manor Master of Fuhu, are you familiar with the Huanri Master? Could you introduce me?"

The Manor Master of Fuhu was not actually familiar with the YoungMaster; they had only drunk together twice, and he basically didn't remember what was said at the table. But as he was currently planning to abandon his properties in Wangliang Mountain to enjoy life elsewhere, he valued Liu Hu, a wealthy patron who could show him the way, and took it upon himself to say, "That's no problem, we have the friendship of drinking together. I'll take you to meet little Jian right now."

The two passed through the hall, walking past people of all sorts discussing business, with various sounds rising and falling in their ears.

These people didn't hide their business dealings, clinking glasses and speaking loudly, "tens of thousands of taels" and "hundreds of thousands of taels" on their lips, as if they were afraid others wouldn't know they were rich.

The Manor Master of Fuhu looked down on them. Thinking back, how grand, mysterious, and elegant the Deep Shadow Society had been in previous years? At that time, they didn't mention money when discussing business, only referring to interests in code, and never argued or haggled excessively; a single deal was like a romantic affair. Looking at these remaining crude and vulgar people who were about to fight, he deeply felt that this Wangliang Mountain was doomed.

Passing by one business stall, someone called out to the Manor Master of Fuhu, saying loudly, "Manor Master of Fuhu, this brother here has a group of high-grade sword slaves, half of which are high-grade. I've looked at the catalog, the quality is really good. It's just that the number is too large for me to take on alone, and this brother is unwilling to sell them separately. How about we pool our money to buy them?"

The Manor Master of Fuhu immediately shook his head and said, "I don't do this sword slave business anymore. It's exhausting and thankless; they are all ingrates, eating and drinking your fill only to turn against you in the end. It's all for nothing, and whoever does it is a big fool." Having said that, he left.

The slave trader who was discussing business was left bewildered. Having kindly invited him to do business only to be rejected and called a big fool, he was naturally unhappy. He pointed at his back and discussed him with others: "Is he sick? Slaves are meant to be used, one batch after another; once used up, you just buy more later. Who actually wants loyalty? And what ingrates are there?"

"He's just deceiving himself. He thinks he's a kind master and treats his sword slaves well, so the servants must be loyal, serving him faithfully even without forced measures, just like the loyal servants in stories—hahaha."

"A kind master? How kind? Does he sit on equal footing with the sword slaves, or has he set them free? Or does he let them live to a hundred without sacrifices? Do his sword slaves live longer than others'?"

"Who knows, anyway, they don't live as long as he does. Hahaha... We are all Manor Lords, all started by eating off slaves; if we don't do sword slave business, what do we do? I don't know what he's acting so high and mighty for."

Those voices were not intentionally lowered, and the Manor Master of Fuhu naturally heard them, trembling with rage.

Liu Hu comforted him, "No need to pay attention to these people. They will only stay in Wangliang Mountain for their whole lives; what skill is there in only knowing how to be a petty villain? They won't be able to move an inch once they go outside. On the contrary, your style is very suitable for being a powerful figure outside."

The Manor Master of Fuhu felt slightly better. He had originally intended to go out and be a wealthy man, so there was no need to haggle with these frogs in a well.

But after walking two steps, he suddenly felt something was wrong:

Was this a compliment?

The two arrived before Jian Dashaoye and saw him drinking and deep in thought, his temperament vastly different from when he was Sword Fighting, possessing a sense of depth and sensibility.

Beside him, a merchant-like person was chattering away, seemingly trying to sell him something good, but Jian Dashaoye only focused on savoring his wine, ignoring him.

At this moment, he looked up and saw the Manor Master of Fuhu, raising his hand to say, "Old Brother Fuhu, come have a drink."

The Manor Master of Fuhu was overjoyed. He stepped forward and sat opposite him with Liu Hu, taking the opportunity to squeeze out the salesman. YoungMaster Jian poured them each a glass of wine with a glass cup. The wine was bright red, as if it were blood.

The Manor Master of Fuhu reached out to take it, and as his gaze met the YoungMaster's, he noticed the other's eyes were unfocused; looking closely, there seemed to be tears in them.

No way? He's crying?

The Manor Master of Fuhu felt a bit awkward. He should have pretended not to see, but since he was already there, sitting opposite, and Liu Hu was by his side, it would seem as if he wasn't close to him if he didn't show concern. He had to bite the bullet and say, "Virtuous Brother, are you drunk from the wine?"

YoungMaster Jian turned his head to look at him, his eyes indeed filled with water, and said, "It's the Manor Master of Fuhu, I just remembered my late father..."

Once he said this, the Manor Master of Fuhu remembered—this YoungMaster had a habit of crying for his father at banquets; he had seen it twice already!

Speaking of his father, the Manor Master of Fuhu remembered that the old Manor Master was still lying in his old, dilapidated manor back home, unburied.

He then said offhandedly, "Now that you are a Second-tier Manor Lord, your late father can naturally be given a grand funeral. Why not move the coffin here for the funeral? Upgrade the specifications, and write 'Late Second-tier Huanri Manor Lord' on the spirit tablet; I'm sure no one would object."

Jian Dashaoye sniffled and said, "What the Manor Master of Fuhu said is excellent. Isn't that exactly the day I've been waiting for? When my late father's funeral is held, you must come to have a cup of vegetarian wine. Actually, I planned to send the coffin over yesterday, but I must personally go down to escort the spirit. There are a thousand things to do here, and I really can't get away. The carriages were also sent down the mountain, and I couldn't even spare one; I can only wait until after the Sacrifice. I really feel guilty just thinking about it..."

With him crying and sniffling like this, the Manor Master of Fuhu could only sigh along: "Virtuous Brother, you have truly paid too much for Wangliang Mountain..."

Seeing that the relationship was about where it needed to be, the Manor Master of Fuhu said, "Virtuous Brother, this is someone from Jingcheng..."

Before he could even say Liu Hu's surname, there was a sudden *bang*, the main door was pushed open, and someone stumbled in, shouting, "Help, Virtuous Brother, help!"

The hall went silent, and a wave of panic erupted rapidly.

Everyone in the hall had experienced that great upheaval; even though they had started to indulge in luxury again, the trauma in their hearts had not healed. At this moment, their stress reactions flared up, and they all became panicked.

The YoungMaster also trembled slightly, spilling the wine in his cup, but his expression didn't change much. He looked closely and said, "Brother Tu?"

The person who arrived was actually Tu Fei.

Tu Fei and Jin Jiu were the Manor Heads of Changyi Manor and the first Wangliang Mountain Manor Lords that the YoungMaster had hooked up with. Especially Tu Fei, who had run around for this Sword Fighting event and spent a lot of Heart Power. Although he had been paid, and because he opened a betting pool on the "dead creditor," a once-in-a-lifetime good thing, he had gained a large sum of gambling money, but strictly speaking, Changfa Manor owed him a favor.

Because the two Manor Heads often traveled up and down the mountain, they brought their own Airship. Previously, when Tu Fei came to Sunset Manor, he had taken an Airship, but it had crashed due to the Ghost Disaster. Airships in Wangliang Mountain were very expensive; even Changyi Manor didn't have many. It was only because Tu Fei had received benefits from Changfa Manor and for the convenience of traveling up and down that he had barely managed to buy a small one again.

YoungMaster Jian had asked everyone to stay for the Deep Shadow Society, but Tu Fei and Jin Jiu had planned to return first, probably because they were truly tired. Jin Wu couldn't keep them, and since they were heading up the mountain and not back to Yulang City, he figured it would be fine.

However, Jin Wu used the excuse that his own Deep Shadow Society should be lively, hoping they wouldn't take anyone else with them. Tu Fei naturally gave the big financier face, and neither he nor Jin Jiu informed anyone else, sneaking away that very night. Most people didn't even know that someone had been able to go home.

Yet today, less than two days later, Tu Fei had actually run back in such a disheveled state.

Seeing it was Tu Fei, "YoungMaster Jian" felt relieved in his heart, secretly thinking: "You scared me, I thought there was some accident on the Master's side. Since it's him, then it doesn't matter."

That's right, the one currently playing YoungMaster Jian in place of Jin Wu was Wei Se, who had the best acting skills.

Originally, with Wei Se's cultivation as a Sword Student, he was not enough to play YoungMaster Jian, who had always presented himself as a Sword Guest to the outside world. But there was no help for it; manpower was currently extremely scarce, and the relationships around YoungMaster Jian were intricate. It was best to have someone who had followed along from the beginning and knew the ins and outs to play the role so that mistakes wouldn't happen. In the end, he had to let Wei Se guest-star, hoping he could use his acting skills and quick wit to handle these two days.

Of course, there were also powerful thugs left in the manor; if things went south, they still had the ability to flip the table.

Seeing it was Tu Fei, Wei Se instantly guessed what had happened. His emotions were stable, but he pretended to be concerned, stepping forward to say, "Brother Tu, what happened? Quick, support him!"

Several White-haired Swordsmen serving at the banquet gathered around and helped Tu Fei to the table to pour tea and water. Tu Fei took a sip and immediately shouted loudly, "Virtuous Brother Jian, lend me some men, no, help me invite Sword Hero Tang to come forward! There is a rebellion in my manor, traitors have united with outsiders to rebel!"

Everyone was surprised to hear this, but they didn't care; a mere rebellion of sword slaves was nothing. Hadn't Tu Fei and his brother risen up through rebellion themselves?

The Manor Master of Fuhu, however, immediately thought of his own affairs. His nerves were instantly triggered, and he blurted out, "Long Life Society! It must be the Long Life Society again! They are stirring up trouble everywhere, and they've actually invaded a First Rank Manor!"