Chapter 80: Turtle Grandfather
Lu Xiaofeng felt as if he had done something wrong and fell into anxiety.
From the moment Xie Huailing left, he was like a rooster being herded around, his hands behind his back, pacing anxiously back and forth in the room, occasionally asking Hua Manlou, "Won't I get into trouble?"
Hua Manlou smiled, making it impossible to tell whether he truly believed it or harbored ill intentions. He said, "Being troubled by Master Su? It won't be a huge problem, will it? At least no matter what, even if Master Su sends someone over immediately after receiving the news, you can still escape if you set off now. At worst, you'll just never go to Bianjing again and will avoid Jin Feng Xi Yu Lou wherever you go."
Lu Xiaofeng: "..."
He looked up at the sky and sighed, suddenly wanting to grab his past self from two hours ago. He grabbed his shoulders and shook him violently, then roared: "Why didn't you just go yourself? Why did you have to say that to her?! Now look what you've done, are you satisfied? What kind of talk is this? Why did you have to say that one stupid thing!"
Lu Xiaofeng tapped his head, as if trying to cross time and space to knock out the water inside.
By now, Xie Huailing should have arrived there long ago. He should think about what to do next first. Based on the image of Su Mengzhen that Xie Huailing had inadvertently created for Lu Xiaofeng, he imagined what might happen, constantly extending his thoughts, and then realized that the most effective thing he could do was sigh.
Realizing he had no better ideas, Lu Xiaofeng continued to circle around Hua Manlou, walking faster and faster, as if he were embroidering on the ground. If Hua Manlou hadn't been unable to see him, he would have been completely disoriented.
However, while Hua Manlou cannot see it, many others can.
"I already told you, if you're itchy, go take a shower." Xie Huailing was quite unhappy that the first thing she saw upon entering the room was a little Lu chick running around in circles. She frowned, a hint of confusion in her eyes.
Hua Manlou, who had already recognized her return from the sound of her footsteps, chuckled and pulled out a chair for Xie Huailing. He clearly knew things wouldn't unfold as Lu Xiaofeng had imagined, but he hadn't said it out of mischief.
Lu Xiaofeng strode forward, his steps so fast they created a gust of wind. He first looked Xie Huailing over from left to right, making sure everything was exactly as she had left it—not a single hair was disheveled, and she carried no other fragrance. She still maintained her incredibly deceptive, otherworldly beauty. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, his heart finally at ease. He then asked Xie Huailing, "Why did you come back so quickly? Didn't you go?"
Xie Huailing gave him a rather strange look, finding it hard to believe that this person was suddenly acting so strangely, and asked in return, "I went, and I came back as soon as it was over."
Lu Xiaofeng's heart jumped again: "You went?"
“I already said I was going, so of course I’m going.” Xie Huailing’s brows furrowed even more as he stared at the young man in front of him.
Within moments, she understood what this person was thinking, and suddenly realized what was going on. Hua Manlou laughed even harder. Xie Huailing said calmly, "I know, what are you thinking? You don't think I'm going to look for someone in the way you're thinking, do you?"
Hua Manlou, who had been holding back his laughter for a long time, wiped his mouth before saying to his friend, "Sit down, I told you it won't be a big problem."
Lu Xiaofeng finally understood what had happened and was so angry he wanted to jump three feet high. He glared at Hua Manlou and said, "You little brat, Hua Qitong, you knew all along but didn't tell me!"
"I'm innocent!" Hua Manlou laughed. "You didn't give me a chance to explain either, you were busy pacing around the whole time."
Lu Xiaofeng couldn't argue with him, and since she had indeed been spinning around non-stop, she let out a "Yaaaa!" and sat down angrily, waiting for Xie Huailing to speak again.
Xie Huailing didn't hide anything and explained it very clearly. She did go to see Master Guisun, but the method she used was unusual: "I didn't go inside, I just pulled him out. He should be delivered to Shaman soon. I'll go check on him with Shaman later."
"How did you manage to fish it out without even going inside?" Lu Xiaofeng asked.
Xie Huailing replied, "I bought it."
Lu Xiaofeng: "Huh?"
Without a moment's thought, Lu Xiaofeng's "Ah" flowed smoothly like water over pebbles, encountering no resistance whatsoever, naturally emerging from his mouth, leaving behind endless emptiness and blankness. With that "Ah," he felt as if his mind had been smoothed out, the wrinkles disappearing, as if he were strolling through a snowy forest, feeling completely relaxed, wanting nothing at all.
Xie Huailing took a sip of tea before finishing his sentence, saying, "The biggest brothel in this city no longer exists. I had it converted into a restaurant. As for those unfortunate girls, their contracts have been returned, they've been paid, and they've been placed in reliable jobs. Those who want to stay can work as waitresses. I've always had a dream of running a business simulation, and when I saw this place, I thought it was a great place. I immediately decided to give them some guidance on a business plan, which was written as..."
"Wait a minute." Lu Xiaofeng didn't understand, and mumbled, "No, wait a minute."
He didn't know what he wanted to say, but he felt he should wait a bit.
But Xie Huailing wasn't willing to wait for him. Xie Huailing continued, "With enhancing corporate cohesion as the core, we need to break through in the market and aim to become a top-tier restaurant. Internally, we need to align our granularity first, thoroughly understand the strategic consensus, then anchor ourselves in a competitive market position and clearly tell our differentiated story. I also plan to directly target the restaurant next door with a card-gathering—no, I mean, to poach key talent and quickly bring our service experience up to the top of the industry; as for the kitchen, we can reuse the existing supplies, and the chefs are our core assets, so we need to operate them deeply; finally, there's the matter of gold coins—no, I mean, initial capital..."
She was so engrossed in her world of a business simulation game—was this even possible?—that after she finished speaking, Lu Xiaofeng could only babble incoherently.
He didn't quite understand, but it seemed to make a lot of sense. However, something didn't quite feel right, or perhaps nothing at all was right, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Hua Manlou, standing beside him, congratulated him, saying, "I wish you success."
"Thank you." Xie Huailing was grateful for Hua Manlou's kindness.
"This isn't right!" Lu Xiaofeng finally realized where the problem lay and complained helplessly.
.
However, even though he wrote it all, his incompetent complaints were mainly about incompetence. In the end, Lu Xiaofeng couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong. Even though Xie Huailing was doing a good deed, he was still invited by Xie Huailing to cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony.
Lu Xiaofeng had never encountered anything like this in his life. Thinking that even if it was a ghost, he should still go and see, he agreed. He was genuinely curious about Xie Huailing's mind and how things had taken such a turn.
Su Louzhu must work very hard every day, Lu Xiaofeng couldn't help but feel a deep respect for him.
After leaving, Xie Huailing went to Shaman's place. She had done a fairly discreet job of bringing Master Gui back, so Shaman had also chosen a very secluded place to question him. Xie Huailing arrived just as Shaman had finished her round of questioning.
Since the questioning was intended to elicit answers, Shaman spoke politely. Xie Huailing had rescued the heavily indebted old man, so naturally, the old man had to at least give some response. She knocked on the door and saw a man with a hunched back, as if he would never straighten up, squatting on a stool. He held a pipe in his hand, something he had just redeemed. The old man's hand trembled slightly, then he slowly took a puff.
Perhaps being rescued like this was too rare an experience for him, or perhaps it was his cowardly and despicable nature that made him just like a turtle.
When Shaman saw Xie Huailing arrive, she stepped aside to make room for her, but Xie Huailing stopped at the doorway. Her deliberate gaze lingered on Master Guisun, like a scale, weighing something unreadable. Shaman noticed that she wasn't about to speak, so she stood back down and patiently continued, "Can you answer my question now?"
Master Gui exhaled a hazy smoke ring, and the ash fell from the pipe onto his cloth shoes, but he didn't notice. He said, "That's enough. Let me take another puff."
Having said that, he exhaled the last wisp of smoke from his mouth. Shaman frowned almost imperceptibly and pushed open the window of the room. A breeze rushed in, and Old Master Guisun shivered, but at least the smell of smoke wasn't so bothersome anymore.
The second smoke ring was quickly stretched by the wind into a dirty white ribbon, drifting away. Old Master Turtle coughed twice, then slowly said, "Alright, what do you want to ask me?"
"You once drank with Lu Xiaofeng, and when you were drunk, you talked about the background of the young leader of the Beggars' Sect, Nangong, saying that he was a child adopted by Ren Ci in this area," Shaman asked. "Is this true? How did you know this?"
Master Gui Sun tapped his pipe on the ground. He curled up without raising his head, his lips moved slightly, and he squeezed out a voice: "It was me who said it. I... used to work with Da Zhi Da Tong, so I know a little bit."
"So it's true?"
"……true."
Shaman nodded slightly. She didn't press Dazhi Datong about it. Since they were in the martial world, there was no need to dig deep if they had no grudges. The Golden Wind and Fine Rain Pavilion wasn't an organization that had to hold grudges against anyone.
She patiently waited for Master Gui Sun to take a few more puffs, then had someone pour him some tea before asking her second question: "Besides this, do you know anything else about Young Master Nangong's background?"
Old Master Gui suddenly stopped, his back bending even more deeply. His pipe trembled in his hand. He seemed to want to say something, but then hesitated. Before he could reach a conclusion, Xie Huailing, staring at his figure, suddenly spoke up: "You don't need to lie to us."
Then Master Gui Sun collapsed, as if something long buried for years had been unearthed. He suddenly calmed down and said, "I need to think for a while, and then have a smoke."
Shaman gave Xie Huailing an inquiring look, and Xie Huailing nodded. The two went out and closed the door, waiting for Master Gui Sun to finish the remaining half of his pipe.
"Da Zhi and Da Tong are truly capable people. Even after so many years, those who followed them back then still know some of the secrets of the martial arts world." Sha Man sighed with emotion. "Master Gui Sun's relationship with them is really quite good. I wish I could meet them again if I could learn so much from them."
"Of course we have a good relationship. After all, we needed to find Master Guisun first before we could find Dazhi Datong." Xie Huailing's tone was low and pointed. "As for meeting him, apart from Master Guisun, no one in the martial arts world has ever seen Dazhi Datong. How could we possibly meet him?"
Shaman sighed and said, "Indeed, the only one who showed up from beginning to end was Master Turtle."
Xie Huailing glanced into the room, and in her peripheral vision, she saw a pathetic man, like a turtle, looked down upon by everyone, dragging his withered body as he smoked. Her eyes were dark and gloomy: "Yes, from beginning to end, there was only that turtle-grandfather."
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