Chapter 465.1: Dance! (1)

At Qianyue Restaurant in Greenwater City, Lu Dongliang held a banquet and announced that he was taking control of the Lu Family again. Invitations had been sent to both the main family and the outer family. Anyone who came that night was showing that they still accepted Lu Dongliang as the family head.

The first to arrive were members of Lu Maoxian's branch, the same people Lu Chunying had driven out of the family. For them, this was a chance to return to the Lu Family.

Some of Lu Dongliang's loyal supporters also came back. They had never accepted Lu Chunying, but while Lu Dongliang was gone, they had nowhere else to go and did not want to join another family. They could only serve Lu Chunying for the time being. However, now that Lu Dongliang was back, these people naturally came back to support him.

Lu Dongliang still had plenty of influence. Ten tables had been prepared for the banquet, and seven were already filled. Besides members of the Lu Family, he had invited quite a few other guests. One of them was especially important: Ma Chunting, the head of the Ma Family.

Everyone at the banquet was a little puzzled when they saw Ma Chunting arrive.

Previously, Ma Junyang had a conflict with the Outer Provinces, and Ma Chunting later sent his other son to attend the song gala at Freewind Wharf. Because of that, everyone thought that Ma Chunting and Ma Junyang had put their past differences behind them and finally reconciled.

But now, Ma Junyang was obviously on Lu Chunying's side, while Ma Chunting was on Lu Dongliang's side. It seemed like this father and son were once again against each other.

A few people quietly discussed it among themselves. They felt that Ma Chunting really was getting old. At his age, he could no longer see things clearly, and worse, he did not even seem to realize it himself.

At seven o'clock, the banquet began right on time. Lu Dongliang raised his glass first. "I have been away for quite some time, and the Lu Family has gone through many changes in my absence. I am sure this has caused everyone quite a bit of trouble. Let me offer this first drink as an apology."

With that, Lu Dongliang downed his glass of liquor in one go.

With that bearing, that presence, and the way he knew exactly what to say, who would dare say that he was not Lu Dongliang?

After finishing his first drink, Lu Dongliang raised his glass again. "Now that I am back, the Lu Family's old rules need to be restored as well. I will start with three things. The first thing is that a member of the Lu Family will always be a member of the Lu Family. No matter what grudges or disagreements there were before, let bygones be bygones starting from today!"

The moment he finished speaking, the crowd burst into cheers.

As the head of the Lu Family and one of the biggest bosses in Puluo Province, Lu Dongliang spoke with such a domineering tone.

He continued, "The second thing is that the Lu Family's money will always belong to the Lu Family. While I was gone, some of our businesses were handed over to others. We are taking them all back!"

Plenty of people still cheered upon hearing this, but some showed no reaction.

The Lu Family had indeed given away quite a few businesses during Lu Dongliang's absence, and most of them had gone to Li Qi.

Li Qi was a ruthless man. He had dared to challenge the Border Controller and had not lost out. Instead, he had even managed to get the freight charges reduced by half.

He had also turned an entire stretch of New Land into Proper Land. Now that it was connected to Kinless Township, it had become his own Qi Qiu City.

Li Qi was riding high at the moment. If Lu Dongliang wanted to take all those businesses back from him, it would not be that easy.

No one at the banquet wanted to offend Lu Dongliang, but neither did they want to offend Li Qi. They would have to see if they could come up with a solution that kept both sides satisfied.

Lu Dongliang continued, "Thirdly! A friend of the Lu Family will always be a friend of the Lu Family. Eldest Master Ma came today, and all of you came as well. I, Lu Dongliang, will always remember the support you have shown today. Please also pass a message to those who did not come today. I, Lu Dongliang, will remember this grudge too. I have never been a forgiving man. If they run into trouble in the future and come asking me for help, they should not blame me for giving them a hard time!"

Cheers rang through the hall. Everyone secretly felt relieved that they had not refused Lu Dongliang and caused him to lose face.

After three rounds of drinks, everyone began eating. Lu Dongliang ordered his men to prepare the contracts. If they only came for the meal without signing anything, then the meal would have been for nothing.

One of his men went to a private room and asked, "Are the contracts ready?"

He Jiaqing smiled. "They have been ready for a while. I will take them to the master now."

One of Lu Dongliang's men stopped him. "Who do you think you are? Is this even your place? Give me the contracts!"

He Jiaqing frowned. "I have been the one keeping these contracts all along. It wouldn't be suitable to hand them over to you now, would it?"

"Why do you have so much to say? Just hand over the contracts..."

The subordinate stopped mid-sentence. He stood there with a blank look in his eyes, unable to move.

He Jiaqing glanced over the contract and laughed. "If you will not let me talk, I cannot be bothered talking to you either. Look at this. Everyone who came today counts as his relative. I have an Alliance of Brothers, so maybe he should start an Alliance of Relatives."

Why had He Jiaqing come here disguised as one of Lu Dongliang's servants? Of course, he had no interest in serving Lu Dongliang. He had only disguised himself as a servant because he wanted to borrow something from this unusual "Lu Dongliang."

Since they had met before, He Jiaqing had put extra effort into his disguise. He took the contract, bent forward respectfully, and carried it over to Lu Dongliang.

Lu Dongliang glanced at it. "Have everyone sign the contract."

He Jiaqing nodded several times before he slipped and accidentally bumped into Lu Dongliang.

Lu Dongliang frowned, and He Jiaqing quickly apologized again and again.

Lu Dongliang did not pay much attention to the young man. Most of his subordinates had only recently been recruited, so he was not very familiar with them.

He Jiaqing took the contracts and handed them out one by one. Everyone read them carefully. Someone even passed around fountain pens, but no one was in a hurry to sign.

Could something unexpected still happen?

Lu Dongliang stood up and raised another toast, urging everyone to sign the contracts. Everyone agreed, but still no one was in a hurry to put pen to paper.

Lu Dongliang sent his men to find out what was going on. However, they had all been recruited recently and were not very reliable. Even after a long while, they still had not found out why, and by then, quite a lot of guests had already left.

Ma Chunting stood up. "Little Bro Lu, I am getting old. I can't stay up late anymore. I have to be in bed by eight."

Just last night, Ma Chunting had still been out at a Literary House at two in the morning. Now he was saying he had to be in bed by eight?

Lu Dongliang did not try to stop him and saw him downstairs. After Ma Chunting left, the other guests began leaving one after another. Before long, almost everyone was gone.

What is going on? Did they all change their minds the moment I asked them to sign the contracts?

Lu Dongchun finally found out what was going on. "Lu Chunying is holding a banquet at Freewind Wharf the day after tomorrow to welcome the head of the family home."

"Welcome who?" Lu Dongliang did not understand.

Lu Dongchun knew how awkward this was, but she repeated it anyway. "The head of the Lu Family, Lu Dongliang."

"Where did this Lu Dongliang come from?"

Lu Dongchun could not explain it. "You will have to ask Lu Chunying about that. The 'Lu Dongliang' they found has already been accepted by Duan Shaoxia and moved into the Lu Family residence. The invitation just arrived. I think everyone here got the news, which is why they left."

Lu Dongliang looked at the invitation and cursed through gritted teeth. "This person needs to die!"

Lu Dongchun asked, "Big Brother, do you mean Lu Chunying or Duan Shaoxia?"

"They should all die! But killing them won't solve anything," Lu Dongliang said as he tucked the invitation into his clothes. "Since the banquet was held at Freewind Wharf, it was Li Qi's idea."

Lu Dongchun said, "Since they dared to send us an invitation, we will go. Once we reach Freewind Wharf, we will confront them face-to-face and expose the impostor. Duan Shaoxia allowed a man of unknown origin into the Lu Family residence, so her reputation is already ruined. She has to be killed. Lu Chunying has accepted an impostor as her own father, so she cannot be spared either. Li Qi has been stirring up trouble from behind the scenes. From now on, he is an enemy of the Lu Family, and any member of the family must kill him!"

It was rare for Lu Dongchun to say so much, but Lu Dongliang knew her very first suggestion was already out of the question.

"You want me to go to Freewind Wharf and confront a fake Lu Dongliang in front of Li Qi? Who do you think I am? The moment I do that, I would have already lost."

"Big Brother, then what do you plan to do?"

"Find a chance and get rid of Li Qi first."

"He's unpredictable and difficult to track, so it won't be easy to find such an opportunity. And he's a Wanderlust Cultivator. He's very good at getting away."

A cold glint flashed in Lu Dongliang's eyes. "I have a way to make sure he can't."

***

Two days later, Freewind Wharf was overflowing with guests and every seat in the main hall had been taken.

Lu Chunying stood by the entrance welcoming arrivals, while Duan Shaoxia held tightly to "Lu Dongliang's" arm and led him around the hall to offer toasts.

Duan Shaoxia had something different to say to every guest. "Lu Dongliang," on the other hand, would say just one line. "Anyone willing to come today is family to the Lu Family!"

This was something the muskmelon person had only just learned. Unfortunately, there were only so many responses he could manage, and the more he said, the more likely he was to give himself away.

He Yuxiu and Chu Huaiyuan did their best to help, repeatedly raising their cups and keeping the mood lively. Even so, a lively atmosphere could only do so much. This "Lu Dongliang" was a little too stiff, and the guests could hardly help growing suspicious.

Before long, whispers began spreading through the hall. Everyone had heard about the fake "Lu Dongliangs" traveling around Puluo Province and swindling people. What made this one any different? Why were all the others impostors while this one was supposed to be real?

Duan Shaoxia looked anxious as she lowered her voice. "Where did Li Qi go?"

***

In the basement beneath Freewind Wharf, Luo Zhengnan fed coal dust finer than flour into the furnace through the coal hopper. Flames roared inside the furnace, heating the boiler tubes as the water within them rapidly turned to steam. Once the steam pressure reached the required level, the main steam valve opened and the turbine began to spin.

Every enchanted artifact belonging to the Sound Cultivator path was running at full power, sealing away the noise.

Luo Zhengnan drew two wires from the end of the discharge machine. He attached one to Li Banfeng's head and the other directly to his own.

"Master Qi, I still have to warn you. This method of yours is far too risky. If there's something you want to say, just tell me. I can pass on everything I hear to them. I can even transmit the music from your Music Box. There's no need for you to suffer through this with me."

Li Banfeng shook his head. "This can't be passed on through someone else. I have to tell them myself, but they can't know the words came from me. I need them to feel as though they realized it on their own."

Luo Zhengnan understood at once. Li Banfeng wanted the people on the dance floor to hear a voice without ever realizing that anyone had spoken to them at all. The words were supposed to feel as though they had crept quietly out of their own thoughts, rather than being pushed in from the outside.

Luo Zhengnan could do such a thing. He could already make people hear the Music Box playing inside their heads. The trouble was that the dance floor was packed with people, and reaching every last one of them would take a dreadful toll on him.

"Master Qi, if we really do this your way, the moment the current goes through me, I am going to pass out. You have to stay alert and keep it under one minute. Any longer than that, and we are both finished!"

Luo Zhengnan had placed his life in Li Banfeng's hands, so naturally Li Banfeng did not dare take the matter lightly.

The moment the current came on, Luo Zhengnan's eyes rolled back and he fainted right away.

Li Banfeng, meanwhile, felt his eyebrows twitch. Then, quite unexpectedly, a small smile appeared on his face. That buzzing sensation at his temples was oddly addictive!

He quickly pulled on his fedora to keep the wires from slipping loose, then began repeating the same words inside his head.

"Lu Dongliang is standing right here! Look at his build. Physical evidence! Look at his face. Physical evidence! Look at that yellow wool coat. More physical evidence! And the Lu Family members are here too. His wife is a witness, his daughter is a witness, and every last member of the Lu Family is a witness! Witnesses! Evidence! Ironclad and Mountain-Solid Evidence! Who else could he possibly be? This is Lu Dongliang!"

He repeated the words three times. Just over thirty seconds later, Li Banfeng cut the power, removed the wires, and woke Old Luo.

Old Luo gasped for breath and stared at Li Banfeng for a long moment before finally recognizing him. He immediately said, "Fort Lord, I want to follow you. If you will have me, then from now on, I am a man of Iron Gate Fort!"

Li Banfeng froze for a moment, then helped Luo Zhengnan sit up. "Old Luo, rest for a bit. You will feel better once you catch your breath."

He pulled the lever and shut down the turbine.

Whoosh!

The boiler's exhaust valve released a great cloud of steam, which the extractor fan sucked into the ventilation system and carried all the way into the sewers.

The white mist kept billowing upward through the drains until it burst out onto the street. From outside, Freewind Wharf looked like some fairyland in the Cloudborne Layer, frightening the cleaner at the entrance so badly that he hurried up to the second floor.

Inside the main dance hall, the guests took turns raising their cups to Lu Dongliang. Not a single person suspected that he might be an impostor.

Even Lu Chunying's knees were beginning to feel weak. "Big Sis Yuxiu... that really is my father, isn't it?"

He Yuxiu knew perfectly well that this Lu Dongliang was nothing more than a muskmelon person, yet even she was beginning to feel that he might actually be the real Lu Dongliang. For a moment, she even wondered whether he might come after her for revenge.

Duan Shaoxia was the most nervous of all. She felt as though Li Qi had tricked her, and that the real Lu Dongliang was standing right beside her. If she went home with him tonight, he would surely kill her son.

Li Banfeng escorted Old Luo back to his room to rest, then straightened his suit and tipped his fedora slightly upward. He pushed open the doors to the dance hall and walked inside.

He did not use any of his Homebound Cultivator abilities. Instead, he entered the dance hall openly, under everyone's watchful eyes.

The moment the guests saw Li Qi, they hurried over to greet him.

They did not want to offend Lu Dongliang, and they did not want to offend Li Qi either. Tonight, they had finally found a way to please both sides.

Miss Chu came over and lowered her voice with a young lady's bashfulness. "Big Bro Qi, may I have this dance?"

A gentleman was not supposed to refuse when a lady asked him to dance. Besides, Miss Chu had been a tremendous help today, and Li Qi was in an excellent mood, so he agreed.

Onstage, Jiang Mengting had originally planned to sing Blossoms Under the Full Moon. But when she saw Miss Chu asking Li Qi to dance with such remarkable ladylike modesty, she turned to the band and told them to switch songs.

A lively orchestral introduction began, carrying the distinctive jazz flavor of Puluo Province. With a perfectly sincere smile, Jiang Mengting dedicated the song to the ever so dignified and reserved Miss Chu Huaiyuan.

「 Fake and phony, fake and phony,

Why pretend so much in life? 」

It was the song The Pretender...

Miss Chu's expression twisted ever so slightly. It was rare for Miss Chu to get a chance to dance with Li Qi, and of all the songs Jiang Mengting could have chosen, she had picked this one.

If Li Qi had not been there, she would have stormed onto the stage and clawed Jiang Mengting's face to shreds. Still, Miss Chu quickly composed herself as Li Qi was dancing with so much energy. It seemed like he really liked this song.

Before long, Miss Chu was struggling to keep up with his steps.

The cleaner was sweeping one of the private rooms on the second floor when He Jiaqing's voice sounded in his ear. "Is Lu Dongliang still in the dance hall?"

The cleaner tapped his broom against the floor three times, signaling that he was not sure.

"Go take a look."

The cleaner entered the dance hall and spotted Lu Dongliang. He was just about to send word back to He Jiaqing when Jiang Mengting sang the second chorus of the song.

「 Don't act so serious, don't be that way,

Don't put on that stiff face and scare us away! 」

Jiang Mengting sang this part especially loudly, and He Jiaqing's cheek twitched again and again.

"Get out of the dance hall. Now!"

The cleaner froze, completely baffled by what He Jiaqing was trying to do. A moment ago, He Jiaqing had told him to go into the dance hall. Now he was ordering him to leave as fast as possible.

The cleaner hurried out. Once the singing had faded into the distance, He Jiaqing rubbed his ears and cursed under his breath. "Damn it, not this song again!"

When the dance ended, Miss Chu was still reluctant to stop. She pleaded with Li Qi, "Big Bro Qi, dance one more with me. Can we change the song this time?"

"What's wrong with this one? It's so cheerful!" Li Banfeng grinned and gestured for Jiang Mengting to sing it again. And Jiang Mengting actually did.

Miss Chu badly wanted to dig her nails into Li Banfeng's back, but the thought of getting another dance out of him made her feel like it was still a win for her.