Just as the atmosphere at the scene was about to fracture, Lian Yu suddenly spoke up, “There is no need to apologise. If we keep dragging this out, can we even drink this wine? The matter is in the past. Everyone, please do me a favour and let us drop this, alright?”
Yu Qing, who was being cornered by his senior martial brother and could not step down, naturally went along with the flow, repeatedly agreeing, and sat back down with a sigh of relief.
On the surface, the matter seemed to have passed, but no one knew what the reality was.
Although Liang Ban had given Lian Yu face and said nothing more, he was clearly in a spoiled mood, and the glances he occasionally cast at the two martial brothers were obviously unfriendly.
After noticing this, Yu Qing felt like slapping himself twice. He did not even know what he had been thinking. Knowing full well that Old Nine had a stubborn streak and was prone to acting on “emotion”, how could he have asked Old Nine to do this with him? Dragging him through a mountain of swords and a sea of fire would have been better than doing this sort of thing!
Making enemies just by coming to eat a meal, Yu Qing truly had to admire Mu Aotie.
There is no medicine for regret in this world, and it was already too late to regret. Facing Lian Yu raising her cup to invite him to drink again, he perfunctorily raised his cup as well. His mind was no longer on the banquet. Things like the “honey trap” were thrown to the back of his mind, and he was already thinking about how to clean up the aftermath.
Putting down her wine cup, Lian Yu smiled at the people in the two rows on her left and right, “You are all top gangs in Tianji Mountain. I heard you have all registered for this year’s ‘Bronze Sparrow Martial Event’?”
Speaking of the “Bronze Sparrow Martial Event”, her gaze casually glanced at the reaction from Yu Qing’s side.
This so-called “you” naturally did not include Yu Qing and Mu Aotie, but it was enough to surprise the two of them, making them quickly size up those gang leaders.
In this area of Tianji Mountain, they really had little experience. They had been here for too short a time. Even if they had learned from the waiter earlier who these gang leaders were, they did not know that the gangs these people belonged to were the top gangs in Tianji Mountain.
Hence the surprise and suspicion, were these people the top gang leaders in Tianji Mountain?
They had truly never heard of them before. The short time they had been here was one aspect. Furthermore, there were no long-lasting top gangs in this place of Tianji Mountain. One careless move and they would be replaced, or they would suddenly disband. Therefore, the lifespan of these gangs was actually not long. People who had not been here for a long time truly could not grasp the situation of the gangs here.
What the two martial brothers did not expect even more was that these people were all from gangs that had registered for the “Bronze Sparrow Martial Event”.
In other words, if they also registered, would they not become competitors with these people?
Thinking of this, the two of them could not help but formally size up these gang leaders.
The ordinary-looking leader of the Tianhong Gang, Shen Wukong, chuckled, “What top gangs, the proprietress is overpraising us. For example, the Shanhai Gang, when they controlled Copper Sparrow Lake in the past, might have counted for something. Now they are split in two. Due to internal strife, the Zhenshan Gang was also formed. This strength, naturally, is halved. I am afraid they have nothing to do with being a top gang. I really do not know where Brother Gu and Brother Wei get the confidence to participate in this ‘Bronze Sparrow Martial Event’.”
The tone was obviously mocking.
As soon as he spoke, Yu Qing and his martial brother heard the full competitive tone, and were also surprised. They could not help but look at Gu Renshan and Wei Yue a couple more times, not expecting that these two gangs were originally on the same side.
Although Wei Yue’s face usually wore a cheerful smile, after all, he had broken away from the Shanhai Gang to establish his own faction. There was somewhat a suspicion of rebellion, which was unfavourable in normal moral concepts. Being mentioned in public, his smile was somewhat uncomfortable.
Gu Renshan spoke, his expressionless face responding calmly, “So you are saying that only Brother Shen’s Tianhong Gang deserves to be called the top gang of Tianji Mountain?”
Shen Wukong pretended to be humble, “Since the proprietress overpraises us, our Tianhong Gang can barely count as one.”
Gu Renshan, “No wonder the Tianhong Gang was not as good as the Shanhai Gang in the last ‘Bronze Sparrow Martial Event’. If you know it is a struggle, do not force it. People must have self-awareness.”
Shen Wukong’s face darkened slightly, retorting, “People indeed must have self-awareness. If you cannot even sweep your own doorstep clean, you still dare to come out and make a fool of yourself. In my opinion, you should sort out your second-in-command first before thinking about competing with us.”
This was equivalent to dragging in Wei Yue, the leader of the Zhenshan Gang and the former second-in-command of the Shanhai Gang.
At this moment, Wei Yue was actually unwilling to stand with Gu Renshan. However, a certain grandson kept dragging him into the insults. No matter how many smiles he had, he could no longer maintain his composure. He scoffed, “Shen Wukong, you are a crow, how do you have the nerve to call others black?”
“Oh my.” Shen Wukong let out a strange cry, “Birds of a feather really do flock together. Everyone, look, the first and second-in-command of the Shanhai Gang are standing side by side against outsiders again.”
Just as Gu Renshan had said earlier, his Tianhong Gang had indeed lost to the Shanhai Gang in the last “Bronze Sparrow Martial Event”. In this process, Wei Yue at the time was also one of the main culprits, so he was naturally dragged into the insults as well.
Gu Renshan and Wei Yue also understood the purpose of this sarcasm. It was nothing more than wanting to incite others to suppress them together once the competition started.
Wei Yue responded with a smile still on his face, “Among those present, is there anyone who established themselves as a gang leader as soon as they arrived in Tianji Mountain? Who did not first borrow a precious piece of land to familiarise themselves with the situation before making other plans?”
The slightly plump and dark-skinned leader of the Jinchin Gang, Chen Jinchan, laughed and teased, “Wei Yue, saying this is surely not taking Leader Zhu seriously enough.” He raised his chin towards Yu Qing.
Yu Qing was stunned, thinking, I am just here to watch the fun, why drag me into this? With a piece of food just pushed into his mouth with chopsticks, he did not know for a moment whether he should chew or swallow.
The crowd also looked over one after another. They only heard Chen Jinchan continue, “Leader Zhu is not like you. Even when the Scorpion Gang was scattered by others, he still remained inseparable from the Scorpion Gang and rebuilt it. You cannot assume that everyone in the world has the same narrow mind as you.”
Saying this was not to help Shen Wukong, but rather dissatisfaction that Wei Yue had dragged everyone else into it. You can argue amongst yourselves, but what does it have to do with us?
Furthermore, everyone was a gang leader, and no one liked to see someone like Wei Yue among their subordinates.
Wei Yue opened his mouth and mocked, “Chen Jinchan, can you make such a comparison? What is the leader of the Scorpion Gang, can he compare with us?”
Yu Qing, who had just chewed a few mouthfuls of food, was speechless. His chewing cheeks froze again. Who had he offended to be inexplicably scolded like this?
However, his reaction was not strong. He continued eating his own food. It was not that he was broad-minded, but he felt the scolding was not wrong. The Scorpion Gang was probably truly worth less than nothing in the eyes of these people. Even if he got angry, he could not win. Besides, the other party was not intentionally targeting him to scold him.
He could only swallow the insult and pretend he did not hear it.
When the big shots fight, a small fry like him has no need to get involved and be crushed.
He did not want to get involved, but someone seemed unwilling to let him sit by and watch.
Lian Yu, who had been letting these people bicker, glanced at him twice and suddenly laughed, “Leader Wei, it is fine for you big gangs to argue, but Leader Zhu was inexplicably scolded as nothing by you, which is quite innocent. Be careful not to anger him into also registering for the ‘Bronze Sparrow Martial Event’ and giving you a little competitive pressure.”
Regarding this remark, everyone treated it purely as a joke to lighten the atmosphere. No one took it seriously. How could such an insignificant “Scorpion Gang” give them any pressure?
Wei Yue decided to give Lian Yu some face. He immediately raised his wine cup, bowed his hands to Yu Qing, and apologised, “Leader Zhu, I, Wei, have absolutely no intention of humiliating you. It was purely a slip of the tongue in the heat of the moment. I specially toast you a cup to apologise, and I hope you will be forgiving.”
After speaking, he tilted his head back and drank first as a sign of respect.
Although it was called an apology, it naturally carried a tone of forcing acceptance. To put it bluntly, he still did not take the person seriously at all.
This was truly “hard to refuse such great kindness”. Yu Qing could only raise his cup, force a smile, and accept it, “Leader Wei, you make it sound too serious.”
As he tilted his head back to drink along with him, his heart was cursing the other party’s ancestors.
The bystander Liang Ban snorted while waving his folding fan, his face full of mockery, enjoying the sight of Yu Qing being humiliated.
Mu Aotie watched with a tense jaw. He had more or less noticed the changes in Old Fifteen. He was indeed more adaptable than before.
Lian Yu spoke up again, “Leader Zhu, since fate has brought us to sit at the same table, it is so boring to just eagerly watch their fun. Why not just participate in the ‘Bronze Sparrow Martial Event’ and compete with them for fun?”
“…” Yu Qing opened his mouth and was dumbfounded, not knowing what to say. Agreeing was impossible, but if he did not agree, what would it look like if he ended up participating later?
He felt a bit cornered again, feeling that this dinner banquet was very uncomfortable, with constraints everywhere.
Wei Yue also laughed heartily, “Since the proprietress has said so, Brother Zhu, just have some fun. We welcome you.”
The leader of the Xingyue Gang, Gu Yang, also smiled, “If you have a lot of money and do not mind throwing away ten million, you can indeed come and have some fun. I, the Xingyue Gang, guarantee not to make things difficult for you.”
Wei Yue also waved his hand, “That is right. If you really want to play, my Zhenshan Gang will not make things difficult for your Scorpion Gang either.”
Yu Qing’s eyes flashed repeatedly, and he could not help but ask, “Is that true? If none of you make things difficult for me, does that mean you will just let my Scorpion Gang take over Copper Sparrow Lake?”
The other gang leaders felt this topic was boring and could not be bothered to express their stance.
Only Chen Jinchan gave a faint reply, “Each relies on their own ability.”
Without getting promises from everyone, Yu Qing, who wanted to take advantage, could only sit down with a dry smile, not stating whether he would register or not.
Everyone also laughed off this topic, and basically no one would take it seriously.
However, Lian Yu then leaned her body to the right under the watchful eyes of the crowd, and actively raised her cup to urge Mu Aotie to drink, “Brother Zhang, why are you silent? Are you dissatisfied with Lian Yu’s hospitality?”
When she toasted Liang Ban on her left, she just sat upright. Only with Mu Aotie did she always have the feeling of wanting to press her body against him.
Mu Aotie, who mostly kept his eyes straight ahead, did not notice this anomaly. Seeing the strange looks everyone was giving him, he thought it was because of the previous matter. At this moment, he just raised his cup and made a polite remark, “I would not dare.”
After speaking, he drank first as a sign of respect.
Afterwards, it was basically the big shots chatting and laughing at the banquet. Yu Qing did not make much sound either. His status was indeed not high enough to chat with them, and he had no mood to care about other things.
It was just that Lian Yu’s “interest” in Mu Aotie was becoming increasingly blatant. Even a fool could see it, and Liang Ban’s face was practically covered in gloom.
Yu Qing was a bit scared. Being afraid of Liang Ban was secondary. The problem was that he had never dreamed that the “honey trap” could be so successful. He had only pulled Mu Aotie’s clothes open a bit to reveal some flesh, but he did not expect the effect to be so astonishing, like a shark smelling blood.
The successful “honey trap” he wanted was for Mu Aotie and Lian Yu to develop a romantic relationship in secret. He would rather die than have a public scene. He did not expect Lian Yu to be so completely without reserve.
Are you kidding? Lian Yu is the mistress of the city lord of Kuilei City. Getting involved with Nie Rifu’s woman in public, is this not looking for death?
They did not have a background as powerful as Liang Ban’s, which even made Nie Rifu apprehensive.
The grandmaster Yu, who had concocted the honey trap, could no longer see the surprise of Lian Yu taking the bait on his face. There was only shock now. Only now did he know what it meant to be unable to afford to play!
He kept drinking wine in silence, already considering running away after the banquet.