Chapter 1761: Chapter 1761: Tongfu Inn
Chen Ping’an watched Li Feng for a long time before finally speaking, "You’re playing with fire and will end up burning yourself."
"Don’t underestimate the strength of the great Families."
Li Feng smiled faintly, looked at Chen Ping’an and said, "I never underestimate my opponents. I just hope they, in turn, grossly underestimate me."
"You don’t need to trouble yourself over my side. I have my own plans. As for the others, do you have a foolproof arrangement, sir?"
Chen Ping’an looked at the utterly confident Li Feng but didn’t press the issue. He also needed to weigh whether this Li Feng was worth them investing more in.
"You can rest easy about that. Aside from the Zeng Family, probably not many will pay attention to a Family that’s already fallen. They’re not a threat, so naturally no one will scheme to keep a close eye on them."
"I already have a full plan for their evacuation. As for the details, you’d best not ask too much."
"You do what you need to do, and leave the rest to us."
Chen Ping’an said.
"Good."
At this moment, Zi Yan came in carrying tea and poured a cup for each of them, but Li Feng didn’t touch his. He stood up and looked at Chen Ping’an opposite him.
"If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave first. I’ll trouble Mister Chen with everything."
Chen Ping’an gave a grunt: "Take care, I won’t see you out."
Li Feng rose and left. Seeing this, Zi Yan glanced at Chen Ping’an, then hurried after Li Feng and caught up to him in the courtyard.
"Li Feng, you really plan to take this risk alone?"
Zi Yan had clearly overheard some of their conversation and spoke with a trace of worry.
"Heh, relax. Anyone who can actually kill me won’t be coming. As for those who can’t kill me, no matter how many come, it’s useless."
"I’m actually more worried about you all."
Zi Yan bit her cherry lips and said, "Everything on our side is already arranged properly. Someone will take care of Lady Fang. Although we can’t send everyone out in one go, this route is very safe."
"I’ll go back to the village with Lady Fang once to get things settled. Luobing should be very safe at the Flowers Pavilion. As for Ran Yue, she said she wants to see you. It seems she doesn’t plan to go with us."
Zi Yan said.
There weren’t many people around Li Feng, and those he truly cared about were basically Zi Yan and Xiao Luobing. Zi Yan, because they’d once had a physical relationship, even if it was for certain reasons; as for Xiao Luobing, she had come from the outside world with him and was somewhat related to him by blood, so naturally he had to look after her.
As for the others, Ran Yue counted as relatively close, and then there was the Fang Family mother and son. Fang Zhoushan had indeed taken him as his master, so the two had formed a bond, but if something happened to Zhoushan, it wasn’t to the extent that Li Feng would be heartbroken.
Of course, as long as it was within his power, Li Feng wouldn’t just ignore them either.
As for the rest of the Fang Family, Li Feng didn’t feel that much obligation. If not for his promise to Tian Wenxin, he wouldn’t have bothered to burn so many brain cells.
"Mm. On your side, you and Lady Fang can discuss how to act. But there’s one thing: if you run into danger, you put your own safety first. Those people are Fang Family people, not Li Family people. Understand?"
"I understand."
Zi Yan nodded.
"Once I leave, you all must leave the city immediately as well. I’ll leave the city tomorrow. Three months from now, I’ll return to Ancestor Dragon City. Of course, if I don’t come back, then you shouldn’t ever come back either."
"Alright, no need to see me off."
"As for Ran Yue, tell her to look for me at Tongfu Inn."
Seeing that Li Feng was about to go, Zi Yan stepped up from behind and hugged him, saying, "I’ll wait for you to come back."
Li Feng said his farewell to Zi Yan and left the Strangers’ Carriage & Horse Firm.
Then he concealed his identity and made his way from the Eighth Ring all the way to the Ninth Ring. By now dusk was falling. Li Feng headed straight for Tongfu Inn, one of the four major powers in the Ninth Ring.
Back at the Heaven Tower, Li Feng had crossed Tongfu’s little shopkeeper Tong Ling’er. That Little Shopkeeper Tong had even declared that she’d make Li Feng pay the price, but nothing had happened afterward.
Now that Li Feng returned to Tongfu Inn and planned to stay for the night, he naturally had to leave some traces, draw some people’s attention, and provide cover for Zi Yan and her party.
Tongfu Inn was a nine-story wooden building. In the Ninth Ring of Ancestor Dragon City it was truly dazzling. Night had only just fallen, yet Tongfu Inn was already ablaze with light from top to bottom, visible from several miles away.
When Li Feng first arrived in Ancestor Dragon City, he had only wandered past this building. After all, the prices here were anything but cheap, and it wasn’t a place he could afford back then.
This time, he didn’t plan to miss out.
He stepped straight into the main building of Tongfu Inn, and a waiter immediately came up to welcome him. "Honored guest, will you be dining or staying?"
"Both dining and staying."
Li Feng didn’t even look at the waiter. His gaze swept across the main hall. Despite the exorbitant prices, the flow of people was not small; those coming and going were all dressed in luxurious clothing.
Even though the Lower Three Rings were not as deep-rooted or resource-rich as the aristocratic power Families, there were still some forces and poor-born Families. Before the elite Families, these poor-born Families were hardly worth a glance, but in the Lower Three Rings, these poor-born clans still lived in silk and brocade, lofty and high above.
The waiter said with a smiling face, "I don’t know whether the honored guest plans to dine here in the hall or in a private room upstairs. As for lodging, Tongfu Inn has four grades of rooms—Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow—for you to choose from, with prices differing accordingly."
Listening to the waiter’s questions, Li Feng instead said, "I heard Tongfu Inn has nine floors, and the higher you go, the more rarefied it gets. If I want to go up to the ninth floor, what then?"
At that, the waiter was momentarily stunned, then looked Li Feng up and down once more. His smile remained, but now it carried a bit of perfunctory air.
"The honored guest jests. Tongfu Inn does indeed have nine floors. Anyone can come to the first-floor hall, but from the second floor up, it’s no longer a place ordinary people can afford. Even if you don’t order a single dish, just the fee for a private room starts at one White Spirit Stone."
"The third floor is one Blue Spirit Stone, the fourth floor one Golden Spirit Stone, and the fifth floor requires ten. The cost increases tenfold each level: the sixth floor costs a hundred, the seventh a thousand, the eighth ten thousand, and the ninth floor requires a full hundred thousand."
"Tongfu Inn has stood in the Ninth Ring for a hundred years, and to this day, the ninth floor has never openly received a single guest."
"Don’t mention the ninth floor—just the seventh floor only receives fewer than five esteemed guests over the course of a year."
The waiter spoke, the corner of his mouth carrying a touch of ridicule. "Honored guest, if you can really produce a hundred thousand Golden Spirit Stones and go up to the ninth floor, you’ll be Tongfu Inn’s most honored guest. Whatever you want, as long as Tongfu Inn can accomplish it, we’ll absolutely do it for you, and let you enjoy the most ultimate service."
"We might even have our Shopkeeper personally come out and pour you a cup of wine."
"But that’s only if you have a hundred thousand Golden Spirit Stones. That’s a hundred thousand—we’re talking about an amount that would force even the richest among the poor-born to sell everything they own to maybe scrape it together."
"Honored guest, I think it’s better if I arrange a table for you in the hall. Even if you order a whole table full of dishes, it still won’t cost you a single Golden Spirit Stone."
Li Feng turned his head to look at the waiter. "Heh, you just said, if I go up to this ninth floor, even your Shopkeeper would humble themselves to pour me wine. That’s true?"
The waiter lifted his eyes toward the still-not-giving-up Li Feng and rolled them. "Mhm, why would I need to lie to you? That’s something our Shopkeeper said personally."
"But if you want our Shopkeeper to pour you wine, you’ll have to cough up a hundred thousand Golden Spirit Stones. Can you manage that?"
