Chapter 182: Expected Troublemaking

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Wan Family Fort was not the top power among the eighteen large forces, but it was a prominent clan with at least a thousand years of history. The restaurant built for guests to stay in was called Xianke Ju, and its decorations were very luxurious. According to the social customs of the Free Alliance, a garden-style hall was set up, which could accommodate at least a thousand people for dining. It provided a place for heroes from all walks of life to meet, socialize, and build friendships.

Where there were people, there was conflict. Although the world was large, it was inevitable that enemies would meet here by chance and need to settle personal grudges. Or perhaps some guests did not like each other and wanted to find a place to spar with their Fighting Techniques. There were even some people with special skills who wanted to show off in front of the heroes and make a name for themselves.

Based on these various needs, Xianke Ju set up a fighting ring in the center of the garden hall, which was watched over by dedicated staff. It could be used for sparring or for life-and-death battles. This not only solved the need for a place for various groups to fight, but also gave the idle guests some entertainment to watch while eating, drinking, and chatting. It was very thoughtful.

Of course, when no one was competing, Wan Family Fort would also have various opera troupes, song and dance groups, and acrobatic troupes perform to entertain the guests.

Just as Lei Qing brought Zuo Qianqian and the others to a table and were stuffing themselves with the free feast provided by Wan Family Fort, two strong men drove away the song and dance troupe on the central ring. They jumped onto the ring, glared at each other, and started shouting insults first. Then they began to fight noisily.

Both of them had the strength of Entry-rank Bronze, which was far from enough to qualify as guests. They were probably friends or subordinates brought by some guest. Listening to their insults, they seemed to be enemies meeting face to face.

After a messy fight with no winner, they each picked up their weapons and started clashing loudly. Their cultivation levels were average, and their Fighting Techniques were rough. Even Zuo Qianqian could have easily defeated either of them.

Generally speaking, unless one had a special status, only Silver-rank experts were qualified to be guests, and they could probably be assigned to Yellow-grade rooms. Each of them could bring ten subordinates. Do not be fooled by the size of Xianke Ju, but now at dusk, the dozens of tables dining in the huge hall only represented a few dozen guests. The rest of the hundreds of people were family members or Personal Guards following them to enjoy the benefits.

After glancing a few times, Lei Qing lost interest and focused on tasting the dishes here. Wan Family Fort was indeed worthy of being one of the prominent clans. They made huge profits by selling weapons and armor, and they were very wealthy. The ingredients used were carefully selected and cooked by master chefs, making the food delicious and exquisite.

Lei Qing had not tasted such exquisite dishes for a long time. The diet in the Northwest was mostly rough and bold, not refined. And for the last half month, he had mostly been traveling, eating very simple food.

Most of the people under Lei Qing were from bandit or poor backgrounds, so they had never eaten such exquisite, beautiful, and delicious food. They immediately started eating voraciously, wishing they could swallow their own tongues.

Although their eating manners were a bit ugly, Lei Qing did not mind. They were brothers who had gone through life and death with him, so how could he dislike them?

After a while, they finished all the plates. Li Sanba blinked his mouth, chuckled, and said, “Boss, the food is delicious, but it’s too little. I’m not full.”

“If you’re not full, I’ll order more for you.” Lei Qing did not take offense and laughed. He simply called a waiter over, paid out of his own pocket, and ordered more good wine and food to reward his Personal Guards.

At the table next to Lei Qing, there were only two people who looked like Young Masters. They were chewing slowly and eating unhurriedly. For a large table full of rich dishes, they only tasted a little bit of each, appearing to be quite well-educated.

But Lei Qing just glanced at them and realized that both of them had issues. The one on the left was wearing white fitted clothing. He looked handsome and charming. However, he kept talking and laughing about interesting news in the world, speaking eloquently and non-stop. He seemed to want to arouse the interest of the Young Master sitting to his right.

However, the other Young Master in green just listened silently. Although he was nodding slightly in agreement, his eyes were not focused and looked a bit scattered. He was probably just being polite and humoring the Young Master in white.

Moreover, that handsome Young Master in green had fair skin. Although he was dressed as a man and seemed to have handled it carefully, Lei Qing, with his sharp eyes, saw through this disguise at a glance. And that guy in white named Wan was probably from the Wan Family. He obviously saw that this girl was a fake too, and was constantly showing off his charm.

These things were none of Lei Qing’s business; he had his own purpose in coming to Wan Family Fort.

But many times, it was not that you went looking for trouble, but that trouble came looking for you. That guy named Wan had been talking nonsense for a long time but could not arouse any interest from the Young Master in green, so he was feeling very annoyed.

When he saw the eating manners of Lei Qing’s group, which looked like country bumpkins who had just entered the city, he immediately felt even more annoyed. Whether it was to vent his anger or to show off his strong arm in front of the beauty, he immediately called over the manager in charge of this area. After whispering a few words, he seemed to have found out Lei Qing’s identity. His expression changed from surprise to joy, and he snapped open his folding fan with a click. He sneered, “I was wondering who had such ugly eating manners? It turns out to be a group of uncivilized people from the remote Northwest border. Manager Wu, how does your Xianke Ju do things? Can even people of this low level be treated as guests?”

This was almost like pointing at their noses and cursing. Li Sanba and several other hot-tempered Personal Guards immediately slammed the table and stood up in anger. “Damn it, who are you calling a pretty boy?” Li Sanba was originally the one with the best talent under Lei Qing and a key target for training. Now, with Lei Qing’s support and his own efforts, he had reached High-stage Black Iron and had a chance to break through to Bronze-rank at any time.

“Manager Wu, does our Xianke Ju really serve such crude Black Iron-rank little soldiers?” That Young Master named Wan sneered a few times. He did not answer them but instead started yelling at the staff.

This kid named Wan was called Wan Rui. Although he was a branch member of the Wan Family, he was highly regarded and trained by the family because of his good aptitude. Originally, he just did not like Lei Qing’s group and wanted to find fault with them to show off his ability in front of the beauty.

However, after asking Manager Wu, he was surprised and delighted to learn that this group was actually the Black Flag Regiment, which had been causing a lot of noise in the Alliance recently. The leader was the famous Young General Lei Qing.

Speaking of this Young General Lei Qing, he was really bold. He had kidnapped Li Baobao, which meant offending the current direct descendant of the Wan Family, Wan Liyun. Although the Li Family had come out to clarify that the kidnapper only wanted money and did not touch a hair on Li Baobao, people had imaginations. After being kidnapped for two months, could it really be that nothing happened? As a result, various rumors spread wildly, saying that Li Baobao had long been deflowered by the bold kidnapper Lei Qing, and that she had fallen in love with the kidnapper. There were no less than ten different versions of such gossip.

Those boiling rumors were like slaps in the face of Wan Liyun. Before they were even married, he was already wearing a bright green hat. Rather than saying it hit Wan Liyun’s face, it was better to say it hit Wan Family Fort’s face. After all, Wan Liyun was an outstanding direct descendant of the Wan Family and ranked high in the line of succession.

Because of this, although the Wan Family did not say anything, they actually already regarded Lei Qing as an enemy. However, the Li Chamber of Commerce had not announced that they would look for trouble with Lei Qing immediately, wanting to wait for the three-year agreement. The Wan Family had no reason to jump out ahead of the Li Chamber of Commerce. Besides, Lei Qing’s backer, the Iron Cavalry Regiment, was not easy to mess with.

But this Lei guy was so bold that he dared to come to Wan Family Fort with just nine people openly. That was a different matter. The only problem was that Lei Qing had come according to the rules by submitting a visiting card, so theoretically, he was a guest of the Wan Family. It would not work to openly bully him, as it would lose face for the Wan Family.

However, conflicts and sparring between the younger generation were a good way for the Wan Family to regain some face. In fact, as soon as Lei Qing arrived at Xianke Ju, the news had already spread to the inner fort of Wan Family Fort. Many young disciples of the Wan Family were already rubbing their hands together, preparing to come and meet the recently notorious Young General Lei Qing.

Wan Rui was very proud in his heart. He knew that there would definitely be family members wanting to please Wan Liyun coming to find fault, but he, Wan Rui, got the advantage of being close to the water. He could both gain face for the family and please Wan Liyun, as well as have a chance to show off in front of the beauty. It was really killing several birds with one stone.

As for Lei Qing, since he dared to come to Wan Family Fort, he had already calculated many things. Submitting the visiting card and staying at Xianke Ju were suggestions made by Mr. Hao after his calculations.

Facing the endless provocations from the younger generation of Wan Family Fort, Lei Qing was also mentally prepared. But even the Wan Family would not have the face to send out strong elders to openly teach Lei Qing a lesson in front of so many guests. As for the peers, except for those very few, he really did not put them in his eyes at all.

Just when Li Sanba was furious and about to roar and rush up to beat the arrogant Wan Rui, Lei Qing raised his wine glass, drank leisurely, and said, “Sanba, sit down. A dog is barking over there. Do you want to bark back at it? Drink.”

“Yes, Boss.” Li Sanba’s anger vanished completely, and he sat down obediently.

Wan Rui did not expect that on the territory of the Wan Family, this Lei guy would still dare to be so arrogant. He stood up with a cold sneer, his face looking sinister, and said, “Lei boy, just for that sentence. If you kneel in front of Master Wan and kowtow three times, Master Wan will spare your life. Otherwise, we will meet on the ring.”

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