Chapter 613: The New Upstarts
“The more one is afraid of troublesome things, the more they will come knocking on his door.”
Using this sentence to describe Tang Xiu now couldn’t be more suitable, since what he feared the most nowadays was precisely facing the media. While gazing at Chang Hao’s astounded expression, he firmly insisted, “Tell them that I don’t want to be interviewed. If they still protest and are unwilling to step back or send the paparazzi to stalk me, then I will protect my privacy under the law while also rallying a large number of people to judge their wrong conducts!”
Such a great opportunity to get famous, and yet it was thrown away by Tang Xiu. This was quite unexpected to Chang Hao. Moreover, there were even threats in his statement.
But why, then?
Chang Hao couldn’t figure it out at all, yet he didn’t have the courage to question Tang Xiu. If he was to tell who was the person he feared the most in the world, he would firmly say that it was Tang Xiu without any hesitation. He was one of the witnesses and beneficiary of the last incident where Tang Xiu commenced a bloody strike to decimate his enemies.
He respected Tang Xiu, but also dreaded him.
“I understand what you want, Mr. Tang. I assure you that I will never let the media disturb you. Please let me know if you have other instructions,” said Chang Hao respectfully.
“Sorry for troubling you!” Tang Xiu nodded.
Chang Hao spoke a few polite words before bidding farewell and leaving.
Tang Xiu then shifted his sight to Long Zhengyu, who wore a strange and puzzled expression. He then spread his hands and said with a wry smile, “It’s not like I really wanted this to happen. I just wanted to act as a sage for once, a good man who does philanthropic stuff, yet it then led to the situation you see at present. Anyways, let’s take our time eating, shall we? I’m going back home after getting my belly full, and I won’t go out for the next few days.”
“What’s this really about?” Asked Long Zhengyu.
Tang Xiu then narrated the event when he followed Long Xueyao to the Bluestar Welfare House. Then he finally concluded, “I’ve decided to adopt Little Blind, but I’m hella sure that people will notice me if I go to Bluestar Welfare House again in this short time, and 90% of these people are definitely from the media. Therefore, I can only ask Long Xueyao’s help to bring Little Blind to South Gate Town.”
A smirk appeared on the corner of Long Zhengyu’s mouth. He gave Tang Xiu a thumbs up and praised, “Sometimes you really are merciless and ruthless, but more often than not you also express your kindness in the most incisive manner. I really don’t understand you at all, but I like this disposition of yours. You should belong to the type of character who is both righteous and evil If you were put in a Wuxia novel.”
His comment made Tang Xiu unable to hold his laughter, and then said, “Leave out the garrulous talk, will you? Anyways, are we gonna order the food here or are we going to the box?”
“Let’s eat here!” Said Long Zhengyu with a smile.
Suddenly, Long Zhengyu’s expression moved. He looked to pondering over something for a short while before he let out a faint smile and said, “Everyone in the whole country surely already knows that you’re in Star City since you’ve made that big sensation. How about going with me to Blue City to play? That kiddo Huang Xu called me a few times recently. He said that he and some of his buddies opened a club in Blue City, and he invited me to join in the fun.”
Tang Xiu gave it a thought before shaking his head and saying, “Forget it! Just in case we come across some annoying things, after all…”
“Stop saying ‘after all this, after all that’ will you?” Long Zhengyu interrupted him and smilingly said. “You sound like an old geezer. Alright, it’s set then. We’ll leave tomorrow… no, we’ll set off to Blue City tonight! I’ll call Huang Xu and make him prepare food and drinks. Worry not, I won’t make you bleed tonight.”
“Really?” Tang Xiu’s eyes lit up and a smile immediately appeared on his face.
Long Zhengyu’s expression turned particularly odd as he looked at Tang Xiu and asked, “The reason you weren’t moved tonight, it couldn’t be because of the dishes, right? Even if a full banquet of Manchurian-Chinese delicacies is indeed comprised of various special dishes, it would probably cost you only a few hundred thousand yuan. You… would not go so far for this reason, right?”
A few hundred thousand yuan, ONLY?
Tang Xiu rolled his eyes at Long Zhengyu. Having a meal worth a few hundred thousand yuan? This was so extravagant that it could make one bristle in anger! With his mind full of saving money, Tang Xiu replied, “Well, it would be kind of unreasonable if I refused your kind offer, no? Let’s go now ,then! I’ve never been to Blue City, though, but I heard it takes less than two hours to drive there!”
The more Long Zhengyu listened to Tang Xiu’s words, the more certain he was that Tang Xiu was trying to save money. This conclusion made him at a loss between laughter and tears. After all, Tang Xiu now owned at least tens of billions in assets, yet he still cared about hundreds of thousands spent on a meal? This was really… admirable!!
A few minutes later, Tang Xiu and Long Zhengyu had quietly arrived at the underground parking lot and then sat on the BMW X5 SUV Long Zhengyu drove here as they began to drive toward the outside. Yet, Tang Xiu felt quite helpless as several reporters were waiting outside when they left the underground parking lot, rushing over while taking their cameras.
“Speed up!” Tang Xiu didn’t want to deal with the reporters and immediately exclaimed.
Long Zhengyu slightly nodded. Taking the opportunity when the reporters hadn’t had them surrounded, he sped up the car and quickly entered the main road and blended with the traffic on the road toward the highway. Snowflakes were still falling from the sky and the road was much better with the snow being swept, yet it was still tricky to drive on. The duo felt a bit helpless after entering the highway since the road was very slippery. They could only slowly drive on since the car had no anti-skid chains. The originally two hours changed into three hours before the duo finally arrived at Blue City.
“Strange, what the hell is Huang Xu doing now? He didn’t even pick up my call.”
As the BMW X5 SUV kept moving on Blue City’s roads under the street lights’ illumination, Long Zhengyu threw the phone to the side, frowned and grunted in a low voice.
“Since you can’t get in touch with him, let’s just find a place and have something to eat, and then find a hotel to spend the night!” Said Tang Xiu. “We can wait until tomorrow to contact him again.”
“No, let’s just head straight to his clubhouse!” Long Zhengyu shook his head; “This brat has texted me the address of his club before.”
Tang Xiu glanced at his watch. It was nearly 9 PM and exactly the liveliest time in places like clubs, so he nodded in approval.
Clearlake Club.
The club was considered an upscale establishment in Blue City, and only the haves could visit the venue despite it not being set up as a private clubhouse. There were currently a few people casually spending their time playing there, and not even one looked awkward or anything. Most important of all, the Clearlake Club had just opened for a month, while the venue was opened by a few scions of reputable identity in Blue City and therefore had a strong protective shelter, so there were endless streams of visitors who were willing to come here to spend the night.
Their car was stopped by the security just as it arrived at the big entrance of Clearlake Club, and then was allowed to enter after filling in the registration. In addition, following the sign mark inside, they quickly parked in front of a five-storied half-moon shaped building with over a hundred meters high. After bypassing the fountain pool and stopping at the entrance, Long Zhengyu got off the car and threw the car keys to the waiter who was welcoming them. He then asked him, “Is Huang Xu inside?”
Clearly, the waiter knew Huang Xu was. There was a suspicious look on his eyes as he sized up Long Zhengyu and Tang Xiu and found that the duo were new faces and immediately said, “Sorry, I don’t know.”
Seeing that the waiter didn’t know, Long Zhengyu didn’t want to nag any longer since he also asked casually. H then entered the building along with Tang Xiu.
Splendid, resplendent and magnificent!
It was the first impression Tang Xiu had on the place. The aureate flooring, canopy, and the murals on the wall that depicted flying dragons and dancing phoenixes, along with the misty quartz lamp with lights of several colors, all of which gave off a classy look.
“Welcome, Sirs. May I ask what program would you like to play? I will take you there,” a woman in black suit and wearing an earphone set approached with a smile.
“Take us to the best box in your place. We will have a meal first before picking up something else,” said Long Zhengyu.
“All right. Please follow me.”
The woman brought the duo to the third floor by elevator. After passing two corridors, they finally stopped before the door to a box. She pushed the door and gestured for them to enter, “Two gentlemen, this one is our best box.”
Long Zhengyu walked inside and looked around. Then, he immediately sneered, “Tell me, does your place want to deceive your customers? Or do you think we’re some ignorant hillbillies who know nothing? If this ox is the best dining box in your Clearlake Club, then we’ll leave immediately.”
“This…”
The woman hesitated before replying carefully, “Two gentlemen, this box is indeed not our best one, but the price here is really good and costs only tens of thousands of yuan to enjoy delicious culinary here, whereas the most upscale private dining box’s price is…”
“We dare to pick your best box, meaning that we are not short on money,” said Long Zhengyu. “Speak no more, just take us there!”
The woman looked a bit upset since her good intention was met with a rude reprimand from the other party, making Long Zhengyu and Tang Xiu give her a bad impression. After cursing ‘what upstarts’ hillbillies’ inside her heart, she then took the duo to the fourth floor.
“Sirs, this fourth floor has a total 18 boxes. No. 1 Supreme Hall and No. 2 Soaring Dragon Hall are not open to the public, whereas the 3rd to 6th are currently occupied by other guests. I can bring you to the No. 7 Seacraft Hall if it is agreeable to you.”
“Alright!”
This time, Long Zhengyu didn’t make things difficult for the woman and followed her to the Seacraft Hall. After entering and looking at the spacious space of hundreds of square meters inside and its luxurious decorations, it was obvious that this one was several times better than the box on the third floor. After Long Zhengyu and Tang Xiu took seats on the sofa, the former then asked, “I haven’t eaten since noon, so tell your master chef to hurry and prepare your club’s specialty dishes. Just pick the passable stuff as you wish.”
“And the drinks?” The woman in suit gently nodded and a light glinted in her eyes.
“Do you have Gods Nectar here?” Asked Long Zhengyu.
The woman in suit stared blankly for a moment before shaking her head and saying, “I’m sorry, we don’t have it.”
As a matter of fact, the Clearlake Club did provide Gods Nectar, but since it only had a few bottles, it was impossible to sell them to the guests unless it was several bosses who asked. There were, of course, some exceptions, such as those who could sit in the No. 1 Supreme Hall or the No. 2 Soaring Dragon Hall.