Shun Gao looked around the crowd of people greeting him. No one important seemed to be present, or at least if they were, they hadn’t come to greet him. The ones surrounding him all belonged to pretty minor families, if they were of nobility at all. Not that it mattered, he wasn’t here to do politics after all. As the first child of his father who was in turn the direct heir to his grandfather, the head of the mighty Gao Family and advisor to prince Luo, his position was absolutely secure and few in the city could match his standing. Instead, he was here to unwind.

Shun grimaced. He was still in a pretty sour mood as the last days had been anything but pleasant. A few weeks ago, some orphaned boy from a lower family branch had picked a fight with one of his idiotic younger cousins. That fight had escalated to the point where the two had officially dueled before an audience of family members. Unexpectedly, said boy had won and even seriously injured his cousin, which had in turn made more people mad and so on and so forth.

In what should have been the end, that brat had been put before family trial but instead of accepting his punishment, had disappeared. As if that hadn’t been enough of a headache, several important cultivation manuscripts as well as the family’s research into the inheritance that had been the hot topic of conversation behind closed doors lately had disappeared alongside him, and now everything was in complete disarray. It was made even worse by the fact that with the festival coming up, his family really didn’t have time for these things right now.

That all was to say, there was a lot on Shun’s mind and right now, he wanted nothing more than to lay back and relax a little in the presence of good company, food and drinks. That combination was hard to find so he had settled for the rather mediocre company a visit to the Scarlet Rose usually provided in exchange for the much better food and drinks.

“Honored Young Master, I’m sure you are, in your never-ending wisdom, already aware of how much my daughter idolizes you! I know, of course, that you are out of her league entirely, but if you would allow me to say so, a union of our families would be greatly beneficial to both sides, I am sure of that. If you could put in a good word with your grandfather, I am sure that one of your esteemed cousins…”

“Young Master, your martial talent is truly only rivaled by the brilliance of your mind! Inspired by your greatness, allow me to make a proposal. I’m a merchant, you see, and my company has recently gained a foothold in several cities to the south-east. I believe a partnership…”

“I have heard great things about the young master, but seeing you in person, I must say you truly exceed all rumors or perhaps you simply elude the ability of words to describe a person! If you would be willing to hear this lowly one out, I believe there is something that might be of interest to you. You see, my family operates several workshops in town and if you could forgive my bragging, I daresay that nobody in the entire region matches our woodworking skill…”

Shun raised his voice and spoke in the friendly but commanding tone he had perfected for so long now:

“Alright, alright, I hear all of you. I would gladly talk about these things at length, but before that, I would like to properly arrive and enjoy one of this establishment’s exquisite drinks. I suggest you all make way for now and perhaps do the same. I will inform you once I am ready to speak.”

With that he waived them aside and stepped further into the room, focusing in on one of the waiters he knew from his rather frequent visits as the numerous petitioners slowly trickled back to their seats.

“I would like a table for me and my companions.”

“As you say, Young Master. Any particular table you would like?”

“I’ll look around for one that suits my interests. In the meantime, you can prepare a couple bottles of wine for us. And, as usual, whatever you can wholeheartedly recommend as a menu today.”

“Your wishes shall be my command, Young Master.”

With a deep bow, the waiter excused himself, finally leaving Shun free to enter the restaurant. As he surveyed the room for any people he ought to greet for their status, his eyes fell on a pair, a man and a woman, that was seated in quite a central position. Their clothes clearly announced their status as nobles, probably of a rather high standing, but he recognized neither of them. That wasn’t that unusual, though to his instincts it felt like they were the kind of people he should know.

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Their clothes were not remarkable in their surface quality but the composition was surprisingly tasteful. Most lower nobles just threw as many layers of gold and glamour on themselves as they could reasonably afford and carry. The two were also build quite well, at the very least training, if not cultivating. Last but not least, they were simply very good-looking.

Shun was quite proud of his looks, he had inherited a good foundation from both his mother and his father and he had built upon that foundation from the second he had hit the Body Reformation Realm. Despite that, he had to admit that the man, though probably a little older than him, was probably his equal in that regard. The woman was equally pretty, though her hair was regrettably done in a way that didn’t empathize that too much.

In any case, he had to know who these two were and whether or not his instincts were correct so, after pointing to a table for his companions to occupy, he casually strolled over to the pair, ignoring the looks of envy that were shot at him from all across the room.

„Greetings! “, he exclaimed as he came to a halt before the table of the two strange individuals.

“I don’t believe we’ve met. I am Shun Gao, Young Master of the Gao family. May I know who you are?”

The Lady seemed slightly stunned by his sudden approach, perhaps she recognized his prestigious name, but was quick to follow her male companion who had stood up without the slightest sign of disturbance and was first to answer.

“We are pleased to meet you, Young Master Gao. I am Boqin Cui; this is my sister Mingzhu Cui. We hail from Brittlestone Town and are currently visiting Moonlake city on family business.”

That explained why Shun Gao hadn’t seen them before. Brittlestone, a town well known for its production of high-quality ore was quite a distance from Moonlake City after all. It wasn’t enough however, to sate his curiosity.

“I understand. If I may ask, what does your family do?”

This time, it was the lady who spoke up.

“We have a long history of trading within and beyond the city. We also own and operate several of the city’s mines.”

“Well, that’s a coincidence. The Gao Family is in the merchant business as well. We are actually one of the major suppliers of luxury goods to the Lunar Peaks Sect and have been so for several generations. Several of our ancestors were even members themselves. Needless to say, we are in quite a good standing with them.”

Shun Gao enjoyed the sight of the eyes of the two widening at the realization of who they were talking to, but he didn’t give them any time to respond.

“Now, as much as I am enjoying this conversation, I don’t want to leave my companions waiting for me. Besides, as you may have witnessed, there are quite a few people here who wish to talk to me, so I will have to excuse myself. It would be a shame, however, not to follow up on this happy coincidence. I’m sure you have heard that our city will be celebrating the festival of the seven heroes in a couple of days. Come and see me at my family’s estate at noon on the first day and I will graciously show you around the festival’s attractions personally.”

The two exchanged a look before the lady answered.

“We gratefully accept your offer, Young Master.”

“I know. Well, I will see you later, then. Goodbye.”

With that, Shun Gao turned around left, pleased with the outcome. He would have all the time in the world to find out what was so intriguing to him about the two. And while he was at it, maybe he would introduce the lady to one of his cousins. As far as he was aware, his family didn’t have significant change in Brittlestone. If he could be the one to change that by setting up a nice and stable alliance and using that to help his family swallow up some of that delectable ore production, he might be able to further secure his favored position.

There was lots of potential for both entertainment and gain here. And most importantly, the sweet flavor of distraction was already starting to wash away the bitter taste the last few days had left in his mouth.

…

Qingge’s gaze lingered at the back of the young noble who was strolling away from them with the confident steps of someone who had just effortlessly won the final round of a martial tournament.

He reminded her of the progeny of the pillar families, with the one key difference that his senseless bragging and abundant confidence was backed up by much less actual power.

In the wake of the recent increase in smuggling activity, the Enforcement Hall had been more actively involved in monitoring transport of goods to and from the sect, so she was vaguely aware of the Gao Family and the role it played to the sect.

The ‘luxury goods’ Shun Gao had been talking about were some occasional deliveries of wine, silk and other things cultivators usually had little use for. They were not special in any capacity and were also exclusively for the use of the pillar families. If the Gao Family truly believed their standing to be worth anything meaningful to the Sect, they were sorely mistaken. Qingge knew the pillar families well enough to confidently say that a single wrong word or look would be enough for them to drop and replace the Gao Family without batting an eye, no matter how long their relationship had lasted.

His invitation was truly a stroke of luck though. With how the other people around treated him, his family was most definitely prestigious. The Li family was extremely powerful, but their influence mainly extended over the city’s military and the countryside. A family with good connections within the city was bound to open some doors which would otherwise have remained closed.

That aside, the coming festival had already peaked Qingge’s interest before Shun Gao’s invitation. Occasions like this one were always fraught with underhanded activities and they also tended to loosen people’s tongues on information that they might normally not give out. If they were lucky, they might find some interesting clues to who was pulling the strings on the smuggling operations.