As the best courtyard in Chuxiu Inn, it was much bigger than any of the courtyards that Ren Jiapei had in the Ren family household. Within, there were fifteen rooms: five master bedrooms and ten rooms for the servants.
The five master bedrooms were lined up in the middle of the courtyard, while the servant rooms were distributed in the two corners closer to the door. Ten servant girls stayed in the rooms.
“Welcome to the Chuxiu Inn.” As Zhou Donghuang and the rest walked into the courtyard, the ten servant girls stood in two rows and bowed in greeting. They then rushed forward to grab the bags from Fu and Aunt Mei. A few of them stepped forward together to take the black iron spear from Fu.
Clearly, they could tell that it was a spear made entirely of black iron and was immensely heavy. If not, they would not have come forward to take it together. This detail did not go unnoticed by Zhou Donghuang. “These servant girls have good judgement.”
But after a while, he realized: what kind of place this was—Chuxiu Inn, the best guest inn in the Chu royal city. Furthermore, since these servant girls had been sent to wait on the guest in the best guest courtyard, they must have gone through careful selection.
“No wonder it costs a thousand liang to stay here for a night… they really put on quite a show,” Zhou Donghuang muttered to himself as his eyes flashed. Of course, he was only mildly surprised to find such extravagance in the Chu royal city; in his past life, he had stayed in even more prestigious guest-houses as he had travelled around the universe. This inn could hardly hold a candle to those guest-houses.
The whole courtyard was split into the front and back yard, divided by the five master bedrooms in the middle. The servant girls spent most of their time in the front yard, sometimes going into the master bedrooms in the middle to clean them. They would not step a foot into the backyard unless the guest instructed them to tidy it up. This ensured the guest’s privacy.
This was all introduced to Zhou Donghuang’s party by a slightly older servant girl among the ten of them.
“In the past, I had only heard of how terrific the best guest courtyard in Chuxiu Inn is; this is my first time here… This is much better than the courtyard I have at home,” Ren Jiapei exclaimed. She turned to Zhou Donghuang and said with a cheeky smile, “Brother Zhou, look… the four of you will only take up four rooms. How about leaving the last one for me?” Ren Jiapei pouted as she looked expectantly at Zhou Donghuang.
“If you want to stay here, how can I stop you?” Zhou Donghuang replied with a laugh. If Ren Jiapei stayed here, Zixi would have a buddy; of course, he was happy to oblige.
That Yang Zixi was suddenly thrown into such a circumstance; he felt like comforting her, but he never did. After all, in his past life, he had traversed across the universe all alone for millennia. Clearly, he was not adept at dealing with women. Although he never lacked women, he was still never interested as he chose to focus on his practice.
Of course, if he was being honest, it was also because he had never met someone whom he had really liked, and he was not willing to settle either. Hence, he had stayed alone all the way.
This time, if I really meet someone whom I fancy and who is suitable… I don’t mind trying an intimate relationship. Zhou Donghuang had thought this way more than once before.
“It’s settled!” Hearing Zhou Donghuang’s words, Ren Jiapei’s eyes lit up as she called Yang Zixi, “Zixi, let’s take a look at the rooms.”
With that, she dragged Yang Zixi into one of the master bedrooms. But they had not entered the one in the middle. Of the five master bedrooms, the one in the middle was clearly the biggest, followed by the two on each side, while the two at the ends were even smaller. The smallest rooms had been taken by Fu and Aunt Mei. Both Yang Zixi and Ren Jiapei knew to leave the biggest room to Zhou Donghuang.
Settling down with a roof over their heads, Zhou Donghuang did not forget about the matter of standing up for the young girl. “Zixi, I’ve already asked the servants to prepare our meal… after eating, I’ll go with you to the Shi family.”
“Mm,” the girl replied. “Thank you, Brother Zhou.” She had already asked Aunt Mei to secretly ask Fu to confirm that Brother Zhou indeed did not fear the Shi family, so she was no longer afraid that he would be harmed by going there.
“I’ll come along.” Ren Jiapei’s eyes flashed, eager to be part of the fun.
…
The Shi family was a tycoon family. Even though they were considered to be among the bottom of the tycoon families, they had some status in the Chu royal city. Although the Shi family household did not occupy as much land as many other tycoon families, it was not small either and was situated close to the city center.
However, something had stirred the peace at the Shi family household today.
“Chief! Trouble!” A family disciple rushed into the courtyard where the Shi family chief, Shi Hao, was staying, and said hurriedly, “Someone has broken into our house!”
“Who is so bold?” The door to the courtyard pushed open, and a muscular, fearsome man walked out. This was none other than the current chief of the Shi family, Shi Hao.
“It’s a young man and two young girls,” reported the disciple. “The young man injured many of us with just a blow, then made one of us bring them to the hall. He told the rest of us to inform you, the old chief, First Young Master and Medicine Master Xiao to come over.”
This Shi disciple was one of the few who had been tasked to guard the front door that day. He grabbed his left arm with his right hand, his face pale. His left arm had clearly been injured by the young man.
“All of you are so useless that you couldn’t even defend against a young teenager?” Shi Hao’s eyes flashed coldly as he asked furiously.
“Chief, that young man is too powerful, we could do absolutely nothing,” replied the Shi disciple. Quietly, he thought: If he was not powerful, how would he dare to barge into their Shi household? Of course, he did not think that the young man could compare to their chief. After all, their Shi family chief was a level-seven adept, whereas the most powerful guard was only a level-three adept.
Though the fact that the young man could overpower so many of them surprised him… because that teenager looked only sixteen or seventeen. He thought to himself: Even the most talented sons of the Chu royal family could not have such power at such an age.
“Hmph!” Shi Hao grunted, then turned and walked towards the hall. Along the way, his anger subsided somewhat, and his thinking became clearer. Just now, he had been furious to learn that someone had broken into their household. His first thought had been that the intruder was incredibly bold.
But he had missed something out. Or rather, he had not had the chance to consider some things. “Teenager?” In the Shi family household, even the weakest among the disciples guarding the door was a level-two adept, and there was at least a level-three adept as part of each team of guards.
They could not defend against a teenager? As he thought of this, Shi Hao’s expression turned darker. He did not consider that the disciples had lied to him because he knew that they did not dare to.
Soon, at a distance from the hall, Shi Hao saw an old man walking in the same direction. The old man’s face was filled with worry.
“Father!” The old man was in a loose gray robe with a huge figure and eyes that resembled Shi Hao’s. This was none other than Shi Hao’s father, Shi Ji.
Shi Ji was the previous chief of the Shi family and the only level-eight adept in the family. The Shi family had ascended to become a tycoon family five years ago solely because this old family chief had entered level-eight of the gathered qi.
“Do you know who that teenager is?” Shi Ji asked Shi Hao worriedly.
“No idea,” replied Shi Hao as he shook his head.
“Just now, I found out that… the few of them together were not even his match. And there was a level-three adept among them,” said Shi Ji with fear in his eyes. “Which means… that teenager is at least a level-four adept, or even level-five!
A level-four or five adept doesn’t mean anything… but for a teenager who looks just sixteen or seventeen who is a level-four adept, do you know what that means?” As he spoke, he sounded increasingly fearful.
“At least in the country of Yunyang, even in the imperial court, I’ve never heard of any prince reaching level four of the gathered qi at just sixteen or seventeen years of age!” Shi Ji breathed in sharply, his eyes turning frightened. “I suspect… he could be from the Valley of Medicine Masters!”
“Valley of Medicine Masters?!” As soon as Shi Ji mentioned the word, Shi Hao’s expression changed drastically as his eyes narrowed. The Valley of Medicine Masters was a sect so strong that the Shi family could only fantasize of it. It transcended the country of Yunyang… with just a word from its chief, he could easily change the ruler of Yunyang country.
“Even if he is from the Valley… why is he here?” Shi Hao was utterly flustered. He could not help but lose his cool—since that young man has come to them in such a manner, it meant that he was not here on friendly business nor as a guest.
“Hmph! I’ll have to ask you what you have done!” Shi Ji’s face darkened as he remarked coldly. He breathed in deeply, as if to muster his courage, then continued towards the hall.
To him, that young man whom they suspected to have come from the Valley of Medicine Master definitely did not barge into their home for no good reason. Someone in the Shi family must have offended him!
Comments