Chapter 7#

“Profit from water transport on the Jing and Wei rivers, totaling 125,400 taels and 7 mace this year. Ship repairs cost 30,000 taels of silver…”

“Profit from wine shops, tea houses, and inns in Bizhou and Xuanzhou, totaling 81,900 taels exactly this year. Expansion of tea houses and entertainment venues cost 16,000 taels…”

“Profit from brothels and entertainment districts, totaling 77,340 taels and 9 mace this year. Turnover expenses were 6,700 taels…”

Hua Qianjue leaned on the long couch in the White Tiger Room. having just bathed, his semi-long black hair was still dripping water. He was barefoot, stepping on the white tiger skin, wearing a dark red bathrobe with the front half open, looking nonchalant. He listened to the hall masters and managers of various businesses below the steps reporting the fortress’s expenses and profits for the year one by one in detail on this day. He looked down from above, seeing faces old and young, familiar and unfamiliar. His eyes were lazy, but occasionally flashed with a sharp light like a wild beast as they wandered.

A woman with her silk dress half-undone knelt at his feet, looking up and kissing the hem of his robe embroidered with black flame patterns. Her fair and soft hands teasingly reached into his robe, stroking his firm abdominal muscles. Hua Qianjue half-closed his eyes until the end of this year-end gathering. Luo Xiaofeng, the old and frail Hall Master of Qiyun Hall, walked to the center of the hall, knelt respectfully, and said in a hoarse and aging voice: “This old man is advanced in years and is unable to handle most of the affairs in the hall. I implore the Fortress Master to grant… grant this old man permission to resign.”

Hua Qianjue narrowed his eyes, letting the woman lean in his arms, and said faintly: “Granted.” Luo Xiaofeng was overjoyed, kowtowed repeatedly, then looked up at Hua Qianjue high above and reported: “Fortress Master, the Little Young Master is naturally intelligent. The more this old man teaches him everything I know, the more I feel ashamed to be his teacher, delaying the Little Young Master’s wisdom instead… After resigning this time, I ask the Fortress Master to spend some thought and hire someone better.”

Hua Qianjue paused, slowly opened his eyes, and an imposing manner that was majestic without being angry instantly made the White Tiger Room colder out of thin air. “Little Young Master?” He repeated softly: “Hua Jinian? How long has it been since I saw him, since the Mid-Autumn Banquet? I seem to remember… the Slaughtering Cattle Banquet, the Grand Ceremony Banquet, the Wine Banquet… he must attend all of these, right? Could it be that I remembered wrong?”

The people below the steps looked at each other, their faces seemingly panicked. They knelt down together and shouted: “Please show mercy, Fortress Master!” Hua Qianjue waved his hand impatiently: “I don’t ask him to greet me morning and evening or ask about my warmth in winter, but these most basic rules…”

Su Meiniang replied tremblingly: “Little Young Master… Little Young Master is still young after all. He is ignorant as a youth. Please punish him leniently, Fortress Master.” After she finished speaking, everyone in the hall echoed repeatedly.

Hua Qianjue sneered: “Punish leniently? You basically hope I won’t punish him, right? Whoever advocates strict punishment, stand out now. I will reward him with five bushels of bright pearls and ten beauties.”

After he finished speaking, he looked around below the steps and saw everyone kneeling properly, with no one standing up. After a long time, he laughed loudly. He smiled and said: “Good, good, excellent. I really didn’t know you were more loyal to such a fourteen-year-old doll than to me.” Wu Qiuping seemed to react only then and forced a smile: “Subordinates are only loyal to the Fortress Master… only because he is the Fortress Master’s own flesh and blood. Subordinates are loyal to the Fortress Master, that’s why… If the Fortress Master is angry with him, why not call him here and ask him to apologize to the Fortress Master personally?”

Hua Qianjue didn’t answer, obviously acquiescing. The hall masters below the steps all breathed a sigh of relief. The maid who went to call him saw a turn for the better and hurried out. After a while, she walked in with a mournful face, knelt on the ground and kowtowed incessantly: “Fortress Master, Little Young Master he… he reported sick and said he couldn’t come.”

Hua Qianjue was stunned and asked: “Said what?”

In her shock, the maid was so scared that she brought out the original words: “He said… Little Young Master said, he said he would rather die than see the Fortress Master. He said he doesn’t recognize this father.”

There was a deathly silence in the White Tiger Room. Hua Qianjue sneered a few times, pressed the hand of the beautiful woman in his arms, and asked grimly: “Didn’t you tell me about ruler, subject, father, and son?”

Knowing his temperamental nature, the woman forced herself to be calm: “Maybe he doesn’t respect you much, or the father-son relationship is discordant… There are often unfilial people outside, beating, scolding, and killing people happen. How would I know so much?”

Hua Qianjue snorted coldly, let go of his hand, looked at the people below the steps who were silent as cicadas in winter, and asked: “Tell me, where did I do wrong?” He looked at everyone and saw no one speaking. He frowned his sword eyebrows and said casually: “Geng Yong, you have always cared for your family the most. I heard your son is also a rare purely filial son. Why don’t you teach me?”

Hearing his name called, Geng Yong’s forehead was covered with sweat beads the size of soybeans. He said tremblingly: “I… no, this subordinate is at home, often reuniting with my dog of a son, and… and didn’t do anything much. Just teaching him martial arts, telling him the way of being a human. If someone bullies my son, no matter who the comer is, I will stand up for him. Occasionally I also drink with him, chatting about troublesome things from all over the world…”

Hua Qianjue looked at him thoughtfully, thought to himself, and suddenly asked with an evil smile: “You said teaching him martial arts? Did Hall Master Luo also mention this just now? Although his martial arts seemed stubborn and ineffective a few years ago, it must be so to show my ability.”

The people below the steps were silent. For a time, the White Tiger Room was silent. Hua Qianjue waved his sleeves, ending this messy annual meeting.

At this time, Hua Jinian was still practicing swordsmanship alone in the small woods behind Chaohua Pavilion. A set of Returning Wind Sword Technique was executed smoothly like flowing clouds and water. Set against the oily green branches and leaves in the lush woods, it seemed to make people truly feel the oncoming spring breeze. Unknown when, a man stood on the treetop behind him, with wide robes and loose sleeves, black hair unpinned, and a touch of evil smile at the corner of his mouth.

Hua Jinian instantly sensed the aura of that person smelting coldness and scorching heat in one furnace. His breathing stopped suddenly, and his straight back stiffened there. A feeling of extreme annoyance churned from his bones. For a moment, he didn’t know whether he should turn back or not.

Hua Qianjue looked at his stiff back with a smile, and said in a deep voice mixed with sarcastic laughter: “Didn’t you say you were sick? However, seeing your sword momentum weak like a full-month-old baby, and your moves slow like a ninety-year-old man, you do look somewhat sick.”

Hua Jinian was silent for a while, suddenly turned his head, didn’t look up, and knelt directly in front of him. His forehead respectfully touched the green grass under his feet, stained with a few broken leaves. He said in a flat tone: “Jinian respectfully welcomes the Fortress Master.”

Hua Qianjue frowned unhappily, reached out to support the boy’s shoulder, but found a strong force coming from under his hand, sticking to his hand. At the same time, the boy kneeling under him shot a silver light from his sleeve, pointing straight at his lower abdomen. Hua Qianjue was stunned, then raised his right foot, bent and stepped, stepping on the sword edge under his foot. Fallen leaves rolled up wildly around them. Hua Jinian’s precious sword flew out of his hand, the web between his thumb and forefinger cracked, bleeding incessantly.

Hua Qianjue sneered as he watched the internal force confining his hands break by itself. He lowered his head and asked him: “Do you submit?” Hua Jinian frowned. After a long time, he laughed angrily: “I submit… I submit to your big head ghost!” Before his voice fell, he had already pounced on him bare-handed, disregarding his life, pinching Hua Qianjue’s neck and wrestling without any rules. A look of surprise appeared in Hua Qianjue’s eyes. He was pushed down by the momentum, watching the boy with messy hair riding on him, fists falling mercilessly.

“Enough.” Hua Qianjue subconsciously withdrew his protective true qi and took several heavy punches. Even with his proud martial arts and thick skin, it hurt somewhat. As Hua Qianjue spoke, he impatiently grabbed Hua Jinian’s hands, exerted force suddenly, and pressed the boy who was baring his fangs and brandishing his claws under him. Watching his long hair fall out of the jade crown for binding hair, a pair of bright black eyes shining between the hair strands, Hua Qianjue frowned: “Is there no end to this?”

As soon as Hua Jinian was pressed by him, a look of extreme humiliation appeared in his eyes. He pursed his lips tightly, struggled with his hands vigorously, fire almost bursting from his eyes. A layer of angry thin red covered his handsome face. “Get away, get lost.” The anger hidden in Hua Qianjue’s eyes finally erupted when Hua Jinian lost control and bit his neck. He threw him away forcefully, watching the boy fall into the bushes, his face full of anger.

Hua Jinian crawled backward using both hands and feet like a small beast. The grace and elegance of the young noble master had long been thrown to Java. Hua Qianjue stared at him, took a deep breath, faintly feeling somewhat helpless, and began to try to ask him word by word: “Fine, be angry. But you have to tell me, what did I do wrong? If I remember correctly, it was just… the first time we met, we didn’t know each other, so we had a fight and said a few words of deficiency. Just this, is it worth you being so angry?”

Hua Jinian stayed there speechless. Hua Qianjue glanced at him: “Besides, your martial arts were indeed far inferior to mine back then. I didn’t say anything wrong…” The boy’s water-red thin lips opened and closed several times, but still couldn’t make a sound. He seemed to be stumped by the question.