Chapter 516: Friends Well Worth Having
There is a grand restaurant within the Capital that often saw to a great amount of customers and such during its normal business hours. But today, it was a little more quiet than usual, and not even a single customer was to be seen on the first floor.
It was the expansive second floor that had the only customers of today. The floor had all sorts of waitresses and waiters lined up at the walls, and a constant stream of delicious cuisine and drink was brought onto the floor.
“Haha! Come, brother Bai, let us toast! It was with your assistance that we four brothers evaded danger! We won’t ever forget this, if you’ve ever need the help of Jin Manlou, then all you have to do is ask! As long as I’m capable, I’ll do it!”
A veritable mountain of food was being placed on top of the dining table, and only five men were gathered there to eat it. One of the diners--a fat young man--wore an exquisite gold robe as he raised his crystal glass up into the air to toast to the plain-clothed male in front of him. There was a great look of appreciation in the fatty’s eyes as he made his speech, sounding earnest and excited.
“There’s no need to be so polite, brother Jin, it wasn’t anything major. I’ve said it before, Zheng Kai saved me once, so it was only right for me to return the favor.”
Bai Yunfei smiled, though he raised his cup up to toast. His face was slightly flushed, though that would return to normal in time. With his current strength, it wouldn’t take long for his soulforce to flush the alcohol out from his system despite his intolerance for it. With that, Bai Yunfei was free to drink and be drunk unless he didn’t want to be.
Zheng Kai and the others had led Bai Yunfei to the Hundred Aliments a little after they entered the Capital. With a gesture from Jin Manlou, he had the restaurant kindly pay for the meals and escort the other diners elsewhere while his group was led to the second floor to eat.
Bai Yunfei was by no means a foodie or expertise on the fine dining of foods. He had his fair share of food from steamed buns to other meals from decent restaurants on his travels and delicacies, but today, Bai Yunfei had to admit the food he once called ‘good-tasting’ before had absolutely nothing on the food he was eating here today…..
Prior to eating, Zheng Kai and the others pardoned themselves for a moment to freshen up. The battle had them looking worse for wear, and now that they were all refreshed and redressed, Bai Yunfei could clearly see their faces in their normal times.
Zheng Kai looked completely like what a confident but easy-going young lord would look like. His long hair was tied neatly behind his head, his skin smooth and lustrous, and his face handsome enough to give more than enough credence to the ‘rumors’ of him being a lady-killer. But Bai Yunfei had to admit, he didn’t see any traces of reason why he was called the ‘Sex Lord’. Zheng Kai right now looked very much like a free-minded heroic young man.
Huang Bin looked very dignified, just like a respectable older brother. The one known as the ‘Temper Lord’ didn’t talk much, but he did give Bai Yunfei the feeling of being a ‘heroically upright’ and ‘straightforward’ person that would treat people right and the other way around.
Chen Qiantan had hair that reached his shoulders, and a face that wasn’t all too bad, though he spoke very little. As soon as he sat down, in fact, he took a large vat of wine and began to drink from it, thus earning his name of ‘Wine Lord’.
The last one to speak of was ‘Avarice Lord’ Jin Manlou. The young lord of the empire’s most richest family. Bai Yunfei had a decent impression of him, as he was a great speaker and very considerate of others, though Bai Yunfei did have the feeling of him being a flatterer at best and a person who hide his intentions behind a smile at worst. Even with Bai Yunfei who wasn’t good with speaking with others, he felt quite at peace talking to Jin Manlou.
Their conversation hadn’t been very long yet, but Bai Yunfei had learned a decent deal about their personalities as a whole when they talked about the day. It was only a simple conversation, but Bai Yunfei learned from them that Jin Manlou had been kidnapped by someone earlier that day. The other three were given a message to come out without help, and even though they all knew it was a trap, the three went anyways. To Bai Yunfei, that spoke a lot about their persons.
But Bai Yunfei knew there was more to the story than just that. A kidnapping of a person like Jin Manlou like that never was, but with Bai Yunfei not being very close to the four, he didn’t dare ask for more details.
“Ah, brother Bai, now that you’re in the Capital, where do you plan to stay? Why not stay at my place if you don’t have anywhere else? All you need to do is but ask.” Zheng Kai smiled.
Thinking about it, Bai Yunfei nodded his head, “If it’s not too much trouble, lord Zheng. I don’t know anyone in the capital, so it would be my honor to stay at your residence.”
Zheng Kai waved his hand. “No need to sound so polite, brother Bai, just call me by my name and treat me like a friend like you would anyone else. Since you’re new to the Capital, we four can take you here and there. There’s plenty to see and do here, I’m sure you’ll love it here.”
“That’s right!” Jin Manlou piped up, “Allow me to do the honors and guarantee your satisfaction, brother Bai! Tomorrow, we should….”
The doors to the second floor suddenly opened up, revealing a stern-faced man as he walked in.
Jin Manlou looked incensed by this interruption, “What’s the meaning of this?!” He stood up. “I had orders that no one should be allo—”
Since his back was facing the door, he hadn’t seen who it was that came in. His words died in his mouth when he turned around and saw an elderly person standing there, “A--ah,” he gulped, “uncle Wu, what brings you here?”
The one who came in had been an ashen-haired old man. He was dressed in the robes of an attendant, but his aura was absolutely overwhelming to the senses.
“Soul King!” Bai Yunfei appraised with a wide eye.
Not even sparing Bai Yunfei a glance, the old man nodded to Jin Manlou, “The Lord has instructed me to escort you home, young master.”
“Er….”
Seeing him hesitate, the elder continued, “The Lord knows about what happened today. Seeing this is no trivial matter, it is best that we return now, young master.”
He eyed Huang Bin and the others and nodded, “I came across the men of the Huang and Chen on my way here. They should be here soon to take the young masters back with them.”
A series of footsteps came to greet the ears of the inhabitants quickly afterwards. And then, the previously spacious room began to grow quite crowded.
Needless to say, the men from both the Huang and Chen houses came by just like the elderly man said they would. Because of their arrivals, Huang Bin and Chen Qiantan stood up with helpless looks on their faces when they looked at each other.
“That’ll be enough for today, Zheng Kai. You bring brother Bai back with you, we’ll meet another day.” Huang Bin whispered to Zheng Kai.
……
The group left almost as quickly as they came. When Huang Bin and the others left, all that remained was Bai Yunfei and Zheng Kai. Bai Yunfei had been watching the entire procession happen in front of him with a stunned expression; the ones who came to take the three of them were all Soul Kings!
Zheng Kai stood up after that. “Well!” He sighed, “Since they all left, we should be heading back to othen. This way, brother Bai….”