Chapter 408 - First Clash: Lu Jin and Linfeng
In the huge mansion, a piece of classical music was playing in the background while people wearing expensive dresses and suits gathered themselves into groups, mainly to mingle and form connections with people from the same status or even above. Some took the chance to talk about various deals and opportunities to achieve their goals.
The main hosts and the celebrant were not here yet, thus, the banquet was a bit later than scheduled. However, it was no problem for the guests. This window time was perfect for them to fish connections amidst the gathering of big figures smoothly.
Hence, the mansion was lively, filled with low murmurs and gentle chuckles. Everyone was on their best appearances like a flock of peac.o.c.ks showcasing their feathers to each other.
However, amidst this peaceful atmosphere, an unexpected storm was brewing. A tranquil sea gathering strong currents underneath the surface would naturally brew strong waves that could disrupt the peace on the shore.
*******
A man in a shadowed corner who arrived earlier than most guests was elegantly drinking wine, trying to erase his presence as much as possible.
A person's prestige was bigger the more they sat nearer to the stage. His status could bring him to the front row, but he wished to sit at the back where people would not even look at him.
He observed the people coming into the banquet with calm and expressionless eyes. A stand-in butler at the side was quietly serving and pouring him vintage wine.
The place gradually was filled with people.
It was only five minutes before the supposed start of the banquet when the most powerful figures who were reserved for the front row came one by one.
One of them was the eldest young master of the Guan family, Guan Gu Ri.
"Hmm. So Gao Huan lost his seat this time?" His cold murmur sounded as he watched the man with light brown hair become surrounded by people on the way to his seat.
It was only a minute later when a silver-haired man appeared in the entrance. He caused more commotion than Guan Gu Ri.
Lu Yin Ze was tall and he was easy to spot even from the corner.
'…'
The man gently put down his wineglass and watched his younger brother slow down his pace, as he politely greeted the people who surrounded him.
"...Yin grew up." Lu Jin took the bottle of wine himself, poured it onto his wineglass, and leaned back on his chair.
Seeing his brother in pictures and seeing him in real life, the two were really different.
He lightly sipped on the glass. The corner of his eyes noticed another faint hubbub at the crowd in the entrance. It seems that another one from the legendary families came.
Tang, Gu, Lu. Then this newcomer must be from the Xiong family.
The heiress of the Xiong family came as he had guessed. The young girl, his brother's playmate, grew beautifully as well.
Lu Jin observed the young heiress intently.
'So this was the girl who was getting his brother preoccupied in the past years?'
Too bad he did not see the children from the Song and Gu here.
...!
As if sensing something, a glare was suddenly shot to his direction.
Lu Jin suddenly sat back straight. His expressionless eyes turned sharp in the blink of an eye as he turned to look at the man beside the heiress.
The man was a young butler with rather outstanding features. Still, he could easily blend in the crowd with his black clothes like the others if he kept his head down.
However, that seemingly normal butler was looking at his direction directly, giving an immense pressure to warn him.
'What was that?'
Lu Jin was confident in his abilities, whether in intellect, physical fitness, or qigong.
It was only his father that he could not surpass, the only person who could instill pressure onto his bones.
...But it turned out there was a peculiar man, though not as mature as his father.
Lu Jin did not back down and stared back from the dark shadows in the corner. Mr. Wei, his stand-in butler who was beside him, finally felt the immense pressure coming to him. He only then realized the two's quiet exchange of qigong.
He was instantly alarmed. He glared at the butler from afar. Who was rude enough to challenge his Master?!
Mr. Wei gritted his teeth.
"Master, do you want me to settle things for you?"
Lu Jin took back his qigong, but his dark eyes were still on the distant butler.
"No need. This is the Tang Mansion, so we should behave ourselves. Besides, I don't want my brother to notice me soon." After all, he came here to know what was going on with the Tang family and the Lu family. No matter how much they investigate, there seemed to be no issues between the two families as of now.
Why did the eldest young miss beat his brother up, then invite him personally to come here? Was their previous dispute related to this event? This was confusing for him and he wanted to know.
Besides, he was also here to check the power struggles in the country with his own eyes. Knowing from reports and seeing them with his eyes were different things.
"En. Then do you want me to silence that insolent butler who looked at Master directly in the eyes and threatened Master?"
Lu Jin found the question of his stand-in butler amusing. "Silence him? Can you do that? You couldn't even manage to gouge his martial strength before he deliberately released his skill."
"...." Mr. Wei was fl.u.s.tered and looked down in shame. His master's message was clear.
That butler was a lot stronger than you, and you say you want to kill him?
This was ridiculous. Mr. Wei glared at the butler who was now making way for his Young Miss.
The quiet exchange earlier had not been noticed by anyone. It meant that in this amount of space, only his master and the butler were strong enough to recognize the exchange. Other masters were either too preoccupied with something or were too distant from here. He was lucky enough to recognize it because he was near—which was by his master's table.
That butler...was good enough to not be pushed back by his master's qigong. How strong was that man? He didn't know that there was such a person here, aside from the Tang family's expert.
But his pride could not let this matter go.
"If Master wants, I can deploy the team after the ban—"
"Wei. He is the official butler of the heiress of the Xiong family. In this place, based on the abilities he showed me, only I, Mistress Tang, and my father could beat him. Even the eldest young miss of Tang family who was famous for her martial arts possibly could not defeat him. How can you, a mere guard, beat him?"
This was the first time his master spoke so much about a person, but it was all painful truth that stabbed on him.
Mr. Wei bowed down in shame and apologized. "I apologize for my carelessness. I thank Master for his guidance."
Lu Jin ignored the man and looked at the distant butler again.
He remembered that this man was mentioned by Guan Gao Huan many times as the heiress' dog.
Lu Jin raised the corner of his lips.
"He must be... Linfeng?"
Zhou Linfeng, the treasured genius of the Zhou family. It seemed that there was a reason for that.
'Gao Huan, that's not a dog, but a tamed lion that could kill.'
******
Additional Scene:
(E/n: Or shall I say earlier scene?)
Linfeng was escorting his Young Miss towards the reserved seat.
When a hand from a familiar person reached out to his Young Miss, he deflected him away skillfully with a smile.
"Mr. Wang, it's been a while. There must be a lot to catch up with. Please wait until Young Miss arrive to her seat. It will be a pleasure chatting with you."
When a man was too close to his Young Miss's body, he would 'gently' push him away.
"Young Master Shi, thank you for greeting us. Please let my Young Miss sit first. The night is still long."
When a man talked too much that a faint mist of saliva seemed to float in the air—which was in Linfeng's paranoid mind, because everyone was in fact acting in their best possible manners in front of the heiress—he discreetly swooped in to block and smiled politely. "Young Miss seemed to be having a great time sharing ideas with Mr. Yan. Alas, she has been tired recently and appears to be needing rest. If Mr. Yan could excuse Young Miss for a while...I know Mr. Yan understands, right?" Still with that polite smile on him.
When a pair of eyes were intently scrutinizing his Young Miss from head to toe, Linfeng turned towards that man to stare back 'politely' with his qigong.
Humph! A pervert man in the corner spotted!
'Stop looking at my Young Miss with your perverted and disgusting eyes! '
Linfeng unconsciously added immense amount of pressure to make the distant man in the corner breathless.
But...
*shiiing...!*
His qigong was blocked. The man did not back down but stared back instead.
Linfeng stilled for a while, surprised.
How could a man like him be at an inconspicuous corner...?
He turned serious.
Thus, a short battle of qigong happened.
However, it was not even a minute yet and the man pulled back.
Linfeng also gathered himself and returned to escorting his Young Miss, as if nothing had happened.
He was confident of his abilities. Be it in studying, business, or martial arts, he was positive that not many people could beat him. After all, he never went all out in a fight with anyone yet. So far, he could not find such people. Even Tang Xinyang for him was 'mediocre' at best.
But this man...
Who was he?
And why was he staring at the Young Miss so intently? Was it just because of curiosity?
His looks... He was rather familiar...
Where did he see him?
He was positive that he was not just 'anyone' who should go unnoticed, unlike his seemingly 'low-key sitting in a corner', which usually meant the lower background of the guests invited.
Top qigong masters were respected in their circle, and he was obviously one. He should be in a much popular seat.
This man was obviously a big shot trying to hide his presence.
But why?
He had some guesses. Perhaps, he should look into one of the great families' picture—
"Linfeng?" A cool but faintly concerned voice sounded. Xiong Zhi tapped his arm. "Are you alright? You seem out of it."
He recovered his wits, smiled assuredly at her, and focused on the present. "I was just thinking of something. I am alright, Young Miss."
He then guided her towards her seat.
Xiong Zhi looked at him faintly for a while then slightly turned her head to look at where Linfeng was staring at earlier.
Was there something unusual over there?
She saw some people at the back. But it was too far and a bit dim in that area.
'Maybe, I'll ask again later.'
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