Finding the Patron

Third regular chapter!

“You know this tea?”

Murong Youruo stared at Du Shaofu with a surprise look.

“I don’t.”

Du Shaofu shook his head and said.

“I don’t drink tea as much as I drink wine. Although I don’t have much knowledge and experience in tea, I am able to see how distinct this cup of tea is. The more delicate the tea is, the better the quality,” he added.

He paused momentarily and continued, “The colour of the tea is light yellow and clear. Its taste is marrow and palatable, with a sweet aftertaste. The aroma of the tea rises and enter one’s nose with a domineering aura. When the tea enters one’s mouth, its marrow taste comes in, along with the strong aroma. After swallowing it, and before the aftertaste kicks in, the domineering aroma rushes towards one’s nose, making people lost in their thoughts.”

As Du Shaofu’s dialogue faded, he lifted his head upwards and made another big sip. “This tea is really good!”

Murong Youruo’s eyes were analysing him while listening to his comments. Then, her red lips moved before she spoke. “Despite you having no prior knowledge about tea, your comment regarding the tea was delicate and detailed. You said that you didn’t know but you actually know better than anyone. It’s like the saying in ancient times ‘Great modesty comes from great wisdom and great wisdom comes from great modesty.”

“Great modesty comes from great wisdom, great wisdom comes from great modesty…”

Du Shaofu recited it once more before he shifted his gaze to Murong Youruo and said, “This tea should be your most favourite tea right? Maybe that’s why you have it at home.”

“Brother Shaofu is amazing! This tea was made personally by my aunt. It’s not for sale. I can’t drink this tea normally though, I don’t like it, because it tastes like strong liquor. It doesn’t taste like tea at all.” Dai Xingyu said.

Du Shaofu was slightly surprised and turned to Murong Youruo. “I didn’t know that Miss Murong knows how to produce tea. I wonder if this tea has a name.”

“The name of this tea is phoenix.” Murong Youruo hesitated for a moment, before adding another sentence. “You are the first one to know the name of this tea.”

“Phoenix. A wonderful name. It suits this tea very well.” Du Shaofu gave a slight praise.

“You all continue talking. I will go outside and play with Little Loops.” Dai Xingyu carried the demonic scale tiger in her embrace and left the living room, she felt that she could no longer stay on the same page as them.

The demonic scale tiger was staring at Du Shaofu, with eyes crying for help, but it was a pity that Du Shaofu pretended not to see it.

“If you leave Lan Ling City now, you can avoid plenty of troubles.” Murong Youruo’s gaze fell back to Du Shaofu.

He knew what she was talking about. He shook his head and replied, “I just arrived in Lan Ling City yesterday. There are things that I haven’t done yet. Once I have finished my tasks here, I will leave.”

Murong Youruo paused for a moment before speaking again. “How about I help you figure out some solutions? I hope they could help.”

“As long as you two don’t cause any extra troubles.”

From the tone of Murong Youruo, he knew that a friendship was built between them. He would be able to put away his concerns when they are safe. Then, he asked, “Miss Murong, what are the backgrounds of the four young lords?”

“The four young lords of Lan Ling City have different backgrounds, but the support they have was enough to conquer the entire Lan Ling City. Guo Kun and He Jun are two of them, the other two are Meng Laicai and Han Xin.” She said.

After listening to her, Du Shaofu now knew how strong the support of the four young lords had.

There were countless amount of forces with varying strength in Lan Ling City, but the strongest forces were‘ White Tiger Sect,’ ‘Story Garden’ ‘Treasure Trading Sect’ and etc.

White Tiger Sect has the strongest force in Lan Ling City, that’s why they had gained control most of the black markets.

Treasure Trading Sect was the greatest trading business establishment in the city. According to rumours, it said that its wealth was enough to affect the economy of the city.

Despite the romantic scene in Story Garden, no one could deny that the place was enormous. It was the most bustling location in Lan Ling City. As the place symbolized status, one had to spend an extravagant amount of money, if one entered that place. According to some people, one should be a member in order to enter such a place. The cost of one membership card was over a hundred thousand xuanbi.

One of the four young lords, Guo Kun, is the son of the owner of the Treasure Trading Sect. He Jun, on the other hand, is the young master of White Tiger Sect and Meng Cailai is the young master of Story Garden. Lastly, Han Xin is the young master of Lan Ling Prefecture.

Thus, naming the four youngsters ‘four young lords’ matched their strong background.

The other reason for calling them ‘four young lords’ was because the four of them were hated by the people of the city.

Guo Kun had prurient interest on females, often seizing girls he found beautiful or suited his desires.

He Jun was a person that liked to fight and rob people’s things. He would always start a fight even if its just a small disagreement in a conversation or other simple things. Some said that He Jun was backed by Han Xin. The two of them collected protection fee from most of the businesses. In other words, they were blackmailing.

As for Meng Laicai, he was gentler. He only did business and had brains for trading. There wouldn’t be any business that he couldn’t earn money from. However, the thing that made everyone feel aggrieved was that this young man would also rob other people’s business that made money and kicked the owner out of business. Furthermore, no one was allowed to interfere with his businesses.

“They are truly the ‘young lords’ of Lan Ling City.”

Du Shaofu smiled mildly after knowing the backgrounds of the four men.

She stared at him, exuding an aura of elegance and said. “There is still some time if you wish to leave now.”

“Not now, I still have matters to attend to.” Du Shaofu stood up and prepared to leave.

“Okay, be careful. As I’ve said, I would figure out some ways to help you.” Murong Youruo reminded Du Shaofu.

Before he left the old house, he implicitly instructed the demonic scale tiger to accompany them to relieve his worries for their safety.

The street was bustling with people as always. Any newcomer would marvel at the prosperity of the city.

He was heading for the Lan Ling Prefecture to find the Lord. He knew that he needed some support after beating Guo Kun and He Jun up.

Naturally, he wanted to get the support of the Lord of Lan Ling Prefecture, Ouyang Ling. His drunken father knew him, which meant their relationship was quite close. Thus, if he sought for the lord’s temporary assistance, there wouldn’t be any problems in his safety. He always believed his drunken dad’s foresight.

His concern wasn’t actually directed at himself. He would be leaving the city after he was done with his task, but Dai Xingyu and her aunt wouldn’t. Perhaps, this was because the little girl reminded him of his real sister every time he thought of her.

“Shao Jing.”

While walking on the street, he was mumbling. His sister’s name was Shao Jing. It was a nice name and she was a very pretty girl. She must have been a very uncommon girl as she was a Heaven Born Supreme Saint.

He didn’t feel envious of her at all, he felt proud of her instead because that was his sister, his twin sister.

Lan Ling Prefecture was situated in a quiet place in Lan Ling City. The perimeters had a palace and courtyards. The thick and tall walls of the courtyards was enough to impress anyone who gaze upon it.

It wasn’t very difficult to find the location of Lan Ling Prefecture in the city. You could just simply ask someone for the location or find it yourself.

However, it didn’t mean that anyone could see the Lord of Lan Ling Prefecture at their whim.

The Lord was one of the powerful figures in the kingdom, so not everyone was eligible to see him. Due to this fact, he couldn’t enter Lan Ling Prefecture.

Outside the grand door, there were two lion statues that looked very intimidating, they were placed on the left and right side.

He could feel the pressure of an indescribable Qi from the peaceful atmosphere in Lan Ling Prefecture. He thought that this was because of a powerful cultivator staying in the compound.

There were also six brawny men in armor that stood guard in front of the grand door. From their fierce Qi, he could tell that they were cultivators of intermediate Xiantian realm. As for the leader of the guards, he had reached the peak of Xiantian realm. He stared at Du Shaofu and said, “Want to see the Lord? Do you have any idea how many people would come and request to see the Lord every day? I could see that you are still a kid, or else, I would have thrown you away from this area.”

“You can’t throw me away because I am a relative of your Lord.” Du Shaofu said solemnly to the brawny leader.

“Relative? Little brat, did you know how many of them tried to use this tactic to get pass me before? Off you go! Go back to where you face from!” The brawny leader waved his fist that was as big as a casserole before Du Shaofu. “Do you believe that I will hit you?”

Du Shaofu was left with no other choice when he heard that there were many who tried to use this trick before. He turned his gaze to the brawny leader and asked, “You must have been a guard for a very long time, yes?”

His big fist stopped waving and he then replied proudly, “That is true of course, I have been guarding Lan Ling Prefecture and the Lord for a very long time so that I can see him often.”

“But you haven’t gotten promoted for a long time as well, I believe it must have been very long. Many of your peers who are of the same cultivation level with you were promoted and some have even gotten great benefits that boosted their cultivation level even more.” Du Shaofu said to him in a serious tone.

“How did you know that?” The brawny leader looked at him doubtfully. After feeling a slight awkwardness, he pushed up his chest and said, “Brat, don’t talk nonsense in front of me.”

“Initially I wanted to give you some tips regarding your personal matters. Since you are not interested, then forget it. Ai…” Du Shaofu sighed slightly while carrying a sympathetic face and turned to leave.

“Hey…”

The leader gritted his teeth and called the kid. “Brat, tell me more. I will treat this as a way to relieve my boredom.”

Note:

All name of skills will not be capitalized as they are considered common nouns. Some terms are subject to change when better suggestions are selected.