Editor: Nyxnox
Chapter 133 Feast
The war between Golden Roc Castle, Waning Moon Hall, and Great Desolate Sect had so far consisted of a lot of crying and very little action. The ones who died were inconspicuous pawns and innocent victims. Gu Shenwei now understood that the war in the city was a feint, while the Great Desolate Sect's real target was the castle itself.
Tie Hanfeng didn't care about any of this. After working hard for the castle for two straight days, he finally had some time to take a rest and was glad to help his disciple pacify an enemy. Especially if this enemy was Meng Fifth Gongzi, a famous young rich man he had long wanted to meet.
The feast had signs of plunging into chaos from the very beginning.
There were two reasons for Meng Mingshi to accept a humble servant's invitation. One was that he couldn't easily refuse due to Big Head God's fame, and the other was that he suddenly missed Xu Yanwei.
Meng Mingshi was fifteen years old when he first snuck off to Southern Jade City to fool around. His protector and teacher of debauchery was exactly Big Belly Buddha, and the first woman Big Belly Buddha had introduced Meng Mingshi to was his own daughter.
Meng Mingshi was still lacking in experience when he first entered in a brothel. Xu Yanwei, a teenager of his age, however, was a veteran. She had taught Meng Fifth Gongzi techniques that he was still using today.
On the night before the feast, when they heard that they would be treating Meng Mingshi, Xu Xiaoyi told many funny stories about this Meng Fifth Gongzi and was still a little nostalgic about him in his speech, "There's a saying in this trade: men will always fall in love with the first woman they sleep with. Meng Fifth Gongzi fell in love with my elder sister at that time. He was so madly in love with her that he dropped numerous silver coins, but they all fell into that old dog's pocket."
Xu Xiaoyi still felt aggrieved when talking about his father.
Tie Hanfeng raised his head and recalled the first prostitute he had slept. Soon he revealed a smile and nodded, "That's true. Ahh, if you didn't mention it, I would have almost forgotten about that woman."
Only Gu Shenwei wore a cold face. He still had piles of unsolved trouble and the two in front of him couldn't help at all.
Xu Xiaoyi also raised his head, showing an expression similar to Lame Tie's, "Therefore, one must be careful in visiting a prostitute for the first time. Look at me, I'm still looking for someone."
"That' because you have no money." Tie Hanfeng gave no face and revealed Xu Xiaoyi's real situation. "If you want to go whoring, you have to explain to me where the money came from."
Xu Xiaoyi smiled embarrassedly and switched the topic back to Meng Fifth Gongzi, "There's another saying in this trade: a prostitute should never fall in love with her first man."
"Why?" Although Tie Hanfeng was a frequent visitor of brothels now, he hadn't heard of this. "I was wondering why that woman had suddenly stopped bothering me."
"It's all a matter of experience." Xu Xiaoyi sipped a bit of wine and talked as if he had richer experience than Tie Hanfeng. "A young kid thinks that making love is better than anything else. When he first starts whoring, he will pin all of his fantasies ono the prostitute and will want to do anything for her. When he gets tired of watching and playing, he will start thinking of looking for the next prostitute and then discover that there's nothing special about the first one and that there will always be someone out there better than her. Therefore, if the prostitute is moved and falls into the snare, once she is abandoned, she will have neither face nor money and not evena place to cry. Let's take Fifth Gongzi as an example. He loved my sister so much those days, but he didn't miss her at all when my sister and I were in trouble last year."
That was obviously not something Xu Xiaoyi could think of. Gu Shenwei wasn't interested in the 'Prostitute's Dao', but Tie Hanfeng was deeply moved. He kept saying 'so that explains it' and suddenly felt sadness welling up from deep inside. He drank one cup after another and continued muttering incoherently in his sleep after going to bed.
Tie Hanfeng restored himself to normal as soon as he opened his eyes the next day.
Shortly before noon, Meng Fifth Gongzi arrived with a group of footmen. The first thing he did was talk to Xu Yanwei about how much he had missed her. He even shed some tears without caring about the other people's presence before he changed into a smiling face and greeted Tie Hanfeng. For Servant Huan, 'the sabre-wielding' kid, his only gesture was a nod.
Gu Shenwei clearly knew in his heart that this feast would be a waste of time. He had not only offended Meng Mingshi, but had also seen the ugliness of Meng Fifth Gongzi at a critical moment. This kind of hatred was something that could never be resolved.
This meeting was only meaningful for Luo Ningcha and Tie Hanfeng, the former showing her control over a family servant, and the latter acquainting himself with an important figure. Tie Hanfeng had met Meng Fifth Gongzi before, but this was the first time they had a drink together.
The banquet was set upstairs. Gu Shenwei formally expressed his apology. After he obtained Meng Fifth Gongzi's vague forgiveness, his task was over and no one paid any more attention to this brown-belted killer anymore.
Meng Mingshi spent more than half of his time flirting with Xu Yanwei. Memories of the events they shared years ago reappeared in his mind, and this woman seemed to be filled with charm in his eyes again.
Meng Fifth Gongzi had brought three parasites with him. The first one was responsible for making jokes and making sure that there was no awkward silence. The second one didn't talk much and spent most of his time putting food in his mouth, but his eyes were always on Meng Fifth Gongzi. He would clap his hands now and then to say 'good'. When Meng Fifth Gongzi was at a loss for words, he would quickly explain it to him with some simple words. The third one was here to specially serve Tie Hanfeng. The two happily competed in drinking with each other, and it seemed that they would become brothers before they finished drinking.
Xu Xiaoyi ran up and down, directing the temporarily hired servants to serve food and drink.
So, when Gu Shenwei sat alone at the window and thought about his own worries, no one even noticed that he had already left the table.
The autumn wind was rustling and comfortable as it blew on his face. Gu Shenwei urgently needed to clear his mind.
The retention alley was deserted during the day and the street was now almost empty. All the brothels were closed and people were taking a rest, except for one of the maidservants in the opposite building who was tidying up the bedclothes and beating the dust. The thudding noise came now and then, as if the hustle and bustle of the whole street came from the banquet behind Gu Shenwei.
In the scene that seemed like a still painting outside the window, a masked man in black was walking quietly along the ridge of the house, his back crouched like a cat and the narrow sabre in his hand unsheathed.
When he reached the exact opposite side of Gu Shenwei, he turned back and looked at Gu Shenwei for a moment, as if he had no fear of exposing himself at all. Then he leaped onto the eaves, flipped over like a sparrowhawk and jumped into the building. He lifted his sabre and cut down. The maidservant who was beating the bedclothes fell. The man in black rushed forward and held her with his arm to avoid making any noises.
Two more black-robed men appeared from behind the ridge of the house and jumped inside at the same time. They chose a different direction from the first black-robed man to search for the target and soon went downstairs.
None of them cared about Gu Shenwei's eyes.
Gu Shenwei knew the three of them. They were all brown-belted killers of the small flag battalion. One of them was even a member of the former Bi Nu Gang and was very loyal to Servant Huan. Although he had been masked, Gu Shenwei could still recognize him.
Performing an assassination in the middle of the day wasn't the Golden Roc Castle's style, but Gu Shenwei quickly realized that day and night were reversed at the retention alley. It was very busy at night, but cold and deserted during the day so the brown-belted killers' choice made sense.
What happened next made Gu Shenwei puzzled again. The men in black didn't retreat quietly along the way they came. Instead, they opened the door downstairs and released an elderly woman servant who had almost been frightened to death. As soon as she was released, she cried out with great grief: "Murder!"
The feast behind Gu Shenwei abruptly stopped.
Tie Hanfeng was the first to jump to his disciple's side, looked out and said, "Liu Yin'er at the opposite side was killed."
Xu Yanwei shrieked and hid behind Meng Mingshi's back, shivering. The parasite responsible for making jokes seemed to haven't noticed the situation, saying, "Liu Yin'er was Fifth Gongzi's lover. Who dares to kill her? She must have wanted the Fifth Gongzi to stay with her."
Liu Yin'er was not only one of Meng Mingshi's lovers, but also a whore who was protected by the Meng family force. These days, the brothels in Southern Jade City had been almost turned over by the sabremen hired by Golden Roc Castle, but no one dared to touch the retention alley because the prostitutes there all had strong backers behind them.
Meng Mingshi caressed Xu Yanwei's shoulder with one hand and held a wine cup with the other hand. Like the parasite, he also hadn't realized the seriousness of the matter, "Annoying bitch, she dares disturb my good mood for drinking. I'll go kill her myself later."
Meng Fifth Gongzi didn't have to go there in person now. The elderly woman servant in the opposite building seemed to have known that he was drinking here. She stumbled up here and Xu Xiaoyi was surprisingly unable to stop her.
"Meng Fifth Gongzi, my lord, my ancestor. My god, murder, girl … Miss …"
The woman servant babbled incoherently, but the large bloodstain on her lap clearly showed that a bloody event had occurred in the building across the street.
"Yu Gongzi has come,." Gu Shenwei reminded, and vaguely understood the purpose behind this blatant assassination.
Shangguan Yushi had led ten brown-belted killers and galloped here. She stopped at the opposite side downstairs, listening to a black-robed teenager's report.
The woman servant's cries had awakened the whole retention alley, and nearly every building had a person sticking their heads out to see what was going on.
Meng Fifth Gongzi's face suddenly changed. He dropped his wine cup and let go of Xu Yanwei, running to the window in a few steps, "You … Yu Gongzi … What are you doing? Why did you kill my people?"
Shangguan Yushi raised her head and glanced him, but didn't answer. She walked into Xu Yanwei's small house and walked upstairs with heavy steps instead, still ignoring Meng Mingshi. When she arrived, she stated, "Servant Huan, you seem to have forgotten that you're a killer of the small flag battalion."
Shangguan Yushi had requested for Servant Huan and Lotus to report their progress between 5 and 7 PM every day. Gu Shenwei was so entangled with his troubles that he had surprisingly forgotten about it yesterday, "I was busy finding clues and didn't return in time."
"Where's Lotus?"
"She's monitoring the situation."
Meng Fifth Gongzi's face turned from pale to red, "Stop, stop. You two go somewhere else to talk about your own matters. Give me an explanation first, why did you kill my woman?"
Shangguan Yushi seemed to have just noticed Meng Mingshi, and she proudly replied, " Your woman? She was a disciple of the Waning Moon Hall. Is Fifth Gongzi very familiar with Golden Roc Castle's enemy?"
"How could it be possible? She's not …"
"I have evidence."
"You're trying to frame me. You want to revenge on me. Come, let's go to Golden Roc Castle to ask for an explanation!"
The two quarreled with each other, and no one else dared to interrupt.
Shangguan Yushi had come prepared, so she had the upper hand. She could even occasionally turned to Servant Huan, cursing him of betraying Tenth Gongzi. In her view, Meng Mingshi was Shangguan Ru's enemy, Servant Huan had dared to drink together with the enemy, which was an act of outrageous betrayal.
Whether Liu Yin'er was a disciple of Waning Moon Hall or not, Gu Shenwei didn't know. But he knew Shangguan Yushi's intentions. She just wanted to make this matter worse and let everyone know that Servant Huan had become a man of the Meng family. By that time, she wouldn't even have to open her mouth. Someone else would pass the news onto Shangguan Ru's ears.
Shangguan Yushi perhaps had never heard about the saying of 'cutting connections' before killing, but she was following this principle to cut Servant Huan's connection with Shangguan Ru.
It seemed that Xu Yanwei's small building was not lively enough. No one knew who had sent the information, but the Commanding Lord Guo Xiansheng (Mr. Guo) also came not long after. He came to reprimand the small flag battalion for leaving their assigned area and running to the retention alley to kill.
There were more and more people in the house, Gu Shenwei was pushed aside to the window and almost had no room to even turn around. Then he heard someone chanting Amitabha Buddha. He looked back with surprise and saw two monks appear in the retention alley, one with transparently white skin, and the other as strong as a reincarnated King Kong.