Chapter 846: Valley Scenery (I)

No conversation for one day, the next day is Double Ninth Festival.

One year ago today, the heroes of the martial arts world held the Central Plains Martial Arts Conference on Mount Huashan.

At that time, Luo Tianjin was as powerful as a dragon and roared like a tiger, and he was invincible. Liu Xunyi's skills at the Huashan Sword Contest were amazing, and Luo Tianjin announced that he would take him as his son-in-law, which made him a hot figure in the Central Plains martial arts world. Nine out of ten heroes in the martial arts world admired him, and almost everyone expected that Liu Xunyi's future would be bright.

However, one year later, Luo Tianjin's name has gradually faded from the Central Plains martial arts world, and Liu Xunyi has fallen from a much-anticipated rising star in the martial arts world to a traitor and villain despised by everyone.

As the saying goes, "Fortunes change over time, thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west." Now, in just one short year, Liu Xunyi has gone from "the east" to "the west". The world is unpredictable and changes so quickly that it can't help but make people sigh with emotion.

In the morning, Qingfeng, who lived a secluded life, led Guxing and Guyue out of the inn for the first time and came to a teahouse called "Gufengxuan" in the north of Lin'an City.

Gu Feng Xuan is nominally a teahouse, but in reality it offers everything from food to drinks to entertainment.

This area is one of the most prosperous areas in Lin'an City, with wine shops and teahouses lined up one after another. However, unlike West Lake Langyuan, the business here is of the upper class in terms of scale, grade and content, and the expenses are not comparable to West Lake Langyuan. The price of the same pot of wine in the two places may differ by several times or even dozens of times.

There are countless businesses like "Gufengxuan" which are disguised as teahouses but are actually wine cellars, restaurants, brothels and gambling houses.

However, the guests here are mainly dignitaries in Lin'an City, and ordinary people rarely set foot here. Naturally, few people know that most of the "wine shops" and "tea houses" on this street have their own secrets.

"Three Taoists, we have prepared the best tea for you. Please go to the private room on the second floor!"

Following the waiter's enthusiastic greetings, Qingfeng and the other two went upstairs directly, seemingly well prepared.

A moment later, a handsome and elegant young man strode into Gufengxuan, looked around, and walked towards the second floor.

This person is Li Haitang in disguise.

"Sir, please stay!"

A handsome waiter hurriedly stopped Li Haitang, looked him up and down, and asked with a smile: "Sir, you look unfamiliar. You must not be a regular customer of our store?"

"What's the matter?" Li Haitang raised his eyebrows, "Does your teahouse only serve regular customers?"

"We are open for business, so we welcome guests from all directions. However, our store has a rule that the private rooms upstairs only welcome familiar customers. Since this is your first time here... please take a seat in the lobby."

Although the waiter was always smiling, his tone and expression revealed a hint of arrogance, as if he disdained to do business with Li Haitang.

"Regular customer?" Li Haitang glanced at the second floor meaningfully and asked, "What kind of customer is considered a regular customer?"

"At least... spend one thousand taels of silver in our store."

"One thousand..." The waiter's answer almost made Li Haitang drop his jaw in shock. "Who can spend one thousand taels of silver on tea?"

"Don't be surprised, sir. This is the rule of our restaurant."

Looking at the waiter with a fake smile, and weighing the purse on his waist with his hand, Li Haitang, who had been confident, suddenly lost all his momentum. Under the "enthusiastic" guidance of the waiter, he walked towards a table in the corner of the lobby with a dusty face.

"What kind of tea would you like, sir?"

Facing the waiter's weird attitude, Li Haitang was indignant, but he had no way to vent, so he deliberately made things difficult: "This young master likes Gu Zhu Zisun, do you have any?"

"Good taste, sir!" The waiter's eyes sparkled, and the smile on his face gradually became earnest. "Our store has just received a batch of new Huzhou tea, including the top-quality Guzhu Zisun. Please wait a moment..."

"Wait a moment!"

Seeing the waiter readily agree, Li Haitang couldn't help but panic, and asked hesitantly: "Well...how much is a pot?"

"The price of tea in our store is always fair to everyone. Guzhu Zisun is 180 taels per pot."

"One hundred and eighty... eighty taels?" Li Haitang was shocked and smacked his lips repeatedly. He didn't want to be laughed at by the waiter, so he hurriedly replied, "First, give me a pot of mountain tea to rinse my mouth."

"Sir, please wait a moment."

The waiter seemed to be accustomed to this kind of scene. He nodded and turned to leave.

Li Haitang looked around and saw that there were only a few guests in the lobby. He couldn't help but mutter in his heart: "Qingfeng and his two companions have not left the inn for many days. Why are they here today? It's a bit strange to come here to drink tea so early in the morning. What's even more strange is that Qingfeng is far away in Wudang, how could he be a regular customer here?"

"Sir, a pot of tea worth three taels."

After a while, the waiter came over with a pot of tea, interrupting Li Haitang's thoughts.

"This……"

Looking at the mountain tea that he could drink for just a penny elsewhere, Li Haitang felt like a dumb person eating bitter herbs, unable to express his pain.

However, when he was about to put his hand into his pocket unwillingly, a dozen Wudang disciples holding swords rushed into Gufengxuan in a hurry, whispered to the waiter at the door, and then swarmed to the second floor.

This scene shocked Li Haitang and made him even more confused.

"Sir, tea money..."

"Oh!"

Li Haitang, who was distracted, reported it and took out ten taels of silver from his purse and threw it on the table.

"Sir, this is..."

"Tea money, the extra is yours."

"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!" Seeing Li Haitang's generosity, the waiter couldn't help but smile and bowed to him repeatedly.

"I'm a newcomer here, and I don't know much about the customs and people of Lin'an. Could you please teach me a thing or two?"

"Sure! Sure!" The waiter was blinded by money and answered every question. "What do you want to ask, sir?"

"Your teahouse is very impressive. I'm sure the owner must be an important person."

"You are right, the owner of Gufengxuan is Dongshan Trading Company."

"So it's the business of 'The Richest Man in Song Dynasty'." Li Haitang nodded with a smile and pretended to be absent-minded and asked, "By the way, those people just now... are they also regular customers of your store?"

"No, no, no! They are all guests of Lord Bai, and this is the first time I've seen them."

"Master Bai?" Li Haitang asked suspiciously, "Which Master Bai?"

"Minister of the Western Palace, Lord Bai Jin." When Bai Jin was mentioned, a hint of awe subconsciously flashed in the waiter's eyes.

"Oh!"

Li Haitang pretended to be calm on the surface, but in fact, his heart was in turmoil. He never expected that Qingfeng was actually involved with the court.

"Sir, this money..."

"Take it!" Li Haitang handed the clerk ten taels of silver, took out a few taels of silver from his purse, stuffed them into his hand, and said, "So, this Mr. Bai is a regular customer of your store?"

"Everyone in Lin'an knows that our guests at Gufengxuan range from royal relatives to wealthy merchants." The waiter was smug and talked freely, "Any guest upstairs is not simple."

"So many 'big shots' are regular customers of your store. You are not simple people."

"In terms of distinguished guests, our Gufengxuan is not the best in Lin'an. The truly powerful ones are our 'brothers'."

"Oh?" The man's words immediately piqued Li Haitang's interest. "What do you mean?"

The waiter smiled mysteriously, turned around and pointed at the door, and said proudly: "The 'Jingyun Pavilion' across the street is a place that even Prince Rong often visits."

"Jingyun Pavilion?"

Li Haitang looked in the direction the waiter pointed, and saw a red-paved brothel with carved beams and hanging buildings across the street. In front of the door stood a pair of lifelike unicorns and above the lintel hung a red plaque with three large gold-plated characters "Jingyun Pavilion" inscribed in a flamboyant style. It was indeed an extraordinary sight.

"When a tiger roars, Gufeng arrives; when a dragon rises, Jingyun goes. Jingyun Pavilion and Gufengxuan both belong to the Dongshan Company, but Jingyun Pavilion is more mysterious than Gufengxuan. It only entertains court officials, not ordinary people. In other words, in our Gufengxuan, as long as you have money, you can enjoy yourself, but in Jingyun Pavilion... you need not only money, but also power."

"I see." Li Haitang was thinking about the secret collusion between Qingfeng and Baijin, and had no intention of getting entangled with the waiter. "You go and get busy!"

"Please do as you please, sir!"

The waiter took the money and walked away happily, but Li Haitang frowned, pondering the relationship between Qingfeng and Xifu in his mind.

For a moment, the more he thought about it, the more strange it became, and the more worried he became. Although he didn't know Qingfeng's true intention, Li Haitang subconsciously felt a sense of foreboding.

"No! This is a serious matter. I must tell Brother Liu as soon as possible."

With this in mind, Li Haitang no longer cared about tasting the expensive "mountain tea". She suddenly stood up and walked towards the door with a worried look on her face.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

However, before Li Haitang stepped out of the door of Gu Fengxuan, the sound of gongs suddenly came from the street.

Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages and sedan chairs came slowly with gongs clearing the way and armored soldiers guarding them. They stopped in front of Jingyun Pavilion one after another, attracting passers-by to stop and watch.

"With such a large scale, I guess some official is hosting a banquet in Jingyun Pavilion."

"Look, the leader seems to be Prince Rong, and the little prince."

"Not only that! Lord Jia from the East Palace and Lord Qian from the West Palace are here too..."

"Eh? Isn't that Mr. Li from the west of the city and Mr. Zhao from the east gate? They are also bringing their families..."

"What day is today? Why are so many masters gathered in Jingyun Pavilion at once..."

……

Looking at the group of men, women, young and old with rosy faces and brightly dressed, many curious people on the street began to talk about it.

Although these people were not all court officials, they were all, without exception, prominent figures in Lin'an City.

In front of the bustling Jingyun Hall, people came one after another, bowed to each other, and greeted each other, creating a very lively scene.

Li Haitang, who was preoccupied with something, had no interest in the excitement in front of him and was about to turn around and leave, but he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye, which made him pause and look subconsciously.

When he could see the man's face, he couldn't help but stare at him, and he was suspicious. In a trance, Li Haitang thought of Qingfeng who had appeared on the second floor of Gufengxuan and the Wudang disciples holding sharp blades. His heart sank immediately, and his face turned pale as paper.

Across the street, Liu Xunyi, with a beaming face, was chatting and laughing enthusiastically with officials and citizens passing by, and slowly walked into Jingyun Pavilion among the crowd.

……

(End of this chapter)