Following the younger man, Lan Jin looks around him and realizes that, despite the older men coming in with their sons, he can’t see any of their sons around right now. In fact, every part of the restaurant that he can see right now is just a bunch of mature older men sitting alone at tables while slowly drinking tea.
Shaking his head, Lan Jin feels their actions are amusing and ridiculous. He doesn’t understand how any of them think that what they are doing is okay; they clearly all know what everyone else is doing here, and he’s sure none of them are stupid enough to believe that Sun Meirong doesn’t know what’s going on, but they are still acting like they didn’t all track Sun Meirong down through a city just to sit around in a room and wait.
Lan Jin sighs before continuing his way through the restaurant and ascending a staircase to the second floor. From there, he is led through a hallway lit by oil-burning lamps and into a private room kept separate from the rest of the restaurant by a pair of sliding wooden doors.
Inside, the first thing Lan Jin sees is a group of more than a dozen young men illuminated by the light pouring in from a paper window, each wearing white or brown robes, and each of them with looks on their pale faces ranging from outright mockery as they look at his blue robes stained by blood, to annoyance, and even open disgust as they look at his face.
In that instant, Lan Jin decides that he doesn’t like any of them. But, considering that the only way out now is through a pair of doors that just closed behind him, he makes his way to the only remaining seat and promptly plonks himself down in it.
“That is not your seat!” The younger man who had led him here yells at him and, as Lan Jin turns his head to look at him, he sees that whatever kindness had been on his face before, it was gone now.
Shrugging his shoulders, Lan Jin asks, “Then which seat is mine?”
“You think you deserve to sit among us?” The man scoffs. “You are not our equal. And were it not for the fact that Lady Sun is playing games she is bound to lose, you wouldn’t even be worth our time! Now stand up!”
“Yeah, no. Not happening.” Leaning back in his new seat, Lan Jin then says, “The way I see it, you guys want me to answer some questions. And if you want anything out of me, then you’re going to have to be polite. Because, the way I see it, I don’t care how any of you see me because you’ve already made it very clear that you don’t like me. And since you don’t like me, I don’t really care if you like me any less.”
Someone else scoffs at him from across the room and says, “Do you think being polite is the only way we have to get anything out of you? We don’t have to be polite to you at all, and we can still learn everything you have to say.”
Turning to the man who had spoken to him, Lan Jin says, “Doubt it.”
“Really? You are the only person in this room who isn’t nobility, and any of us can do anything to you and get away with it. So do you really think you can even afford to make that bet?” The man gives him a vicious, condescending look.
“Sure, that might be true if this was just a thing between you guys and me. But, if you guys want to drop status, then just so you know, I’m a guest at the Great Physician’s house. And even some guy called the young master of the Feng Clan had to be polite to him. So I kind of wonder if any of you are more important than a guy who is related to the royal family. And not only that, but Sun Meirong is right downstairs and she’s already told me that she’s stronger than any of your daddies. So, do you really think that threatening me is the smartest way to talk to me right now?”
Truth be told, Lan Jin is a little intimidated by them. But, he didn’t grow up believing that people are beneath each other. And he thinks that if he had the guts to give ultimatums to a literal immortal, even if he didn’t understand how scary she was at the time or that it would come back to bite him later, then a group of people his age are hardly worth mentioning when he has two big umbrellas, namely the Qiang family and the Great Physician, to hide under.
Several of them look at each other, but whether it is his mention of the Great Physician or reminding them that Sun Meirong is just down the stairs, the next person who speaks decides to change the tone of the conversation.
“None of us are here because we want to flaunt our status by eating at such a small restaurant. And I’m sure you know that already. All we want to know is what happened earlier, and Sun Meirong is making that difficult for us. So I hope you can be reasonable and help us understand things because we are all a little frustrated right now and our tempers are running high.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Lan Jin says, “That’s fine. But I’m not one of you guys’ servants, and I think I’m a pretty reasonable guy when people are polite to me. But, since I was invited for drinks, I only think it’s fair that I actually get to drink something before we start talking about what happened earlier.”
A few people give him looks of annoyance, but he ignores them until someone finally decides to grab a server and order several bottles of wine for everybody.
This server ends up moving much more quickly than the greeter downstairs, and in just under a minute, the wine as well as the cups are laid out in front of everybody. There is also an additional chair brought in for the person whose seat Lan Jin had stolen, and that man glares grumpily at him from across the room.
However, Lan Jin ignores him entirely as he is served some wine.
Then, taking a drink from his glass, he looks at the man and asks, “So, you wanted to know what happened?”
“Yes,” the same man who had changed the tone of the conversation says after drinking from his own cup. “That’s really the only reason why we’re here.”
Nodding slightly, Lan Jin says, “Well, unfortunately, I can only really tell you what happened before Qiang Yu tripped us because I was unconscious after my head hit the ground.”
“Unconscious? Really?” The man asks him.
“Yup,” Lan Jin acknowledges. “I’m a soul cultivator, not a body cultivator. I can’t take a hit like that very well, and the ways I have of protecting myself are through using spiritual energy and soul attacks. When Qiang Yu grabbed my wrist, I used a small soul attack to force her to let go. Unfortunately, rather than letting go, she tripped and brought me down with her. Because of that, I hit my head on the ground and lost consciousness, and she apparently hit her forehead on my chin and lost consciousness as well because she wasn’t able to brace herself.
“According to what I heard later, she was apparently lying down on top of me for a few minutes because the girl with her, Lulu, thought she had been seriously injured since she was unconscious.
“As for what happened after that, when I regained consciousness, her mom had already arrived and she was taking care of Qiang Yu. And I’m pretty sure you guys know the rest, because after that we came to the restaurant.”
Sitting back in his seat, Lan Jin drinks some more wine while watching the expressions of the other men in the room. He doesn’t know if they believe him or not, but he’s already done his part so Sun Meirong can’t complain that he didn’t at least try.
“I heard she struck you first. Why did that happen?” Someone else asks him.
Shrugging his shoulders, Lan Jin says, “She claims she doesn’t like my clothes, but I think she’s just offended about what happened last night.”
“Then do you have any designs on Qiang Yu?” A different person asks.
“Designs?” Lan Jin laughs. “Like what? Are you asking if I want to get with her?”
“Yes,” the person states firmly.
A sneer forming on his face, Lan Jin says, “Hell no.”
“Really? Then you have no interest in marrying her?”
“None,” Lan Jin states resolutely. “Look, I get that she might have some strong points, and I’m sure she’ll be one hell of a woman here in a few years judging by how her mom looks, but she’s already looking for marriage when I’m just trying to figure out this city. I know nothing about her personality, I only know some superficial information about her family, and I’m not about to insult your culture or laws, but where I’m from, younger teenagers don’t get married. It’s both illegal and unethical, and if my parents somehow managed to learn that I got married to a girl before she even turned eighteen, then I know they’d both lose all respect for me. And my mom would probably kick my ass.
“So, no. I’m not interested in marrying her. And I’m not interested in marriage in general right now.”
***
Back at the table in the main dining area, the three women continue eating in silence. The only differences between now and before Lan Jin left to join the group of young men are that Lulu is no longer being made to serve Lan Jin copious amounts of tea and Sun Meirong is now serving herself instead of waiting for Lan Jin to do it for her.
This silence continues for several minutes before Sun Meirong turns to her daughter and says, “Yu’er, go check on Lan Jin and inform him we are nearly finished eating and that I intend to leave soon.”
“Yes, Mother.” Qiang Yu bows her head slightly as she stands and, her face impassive, looks at Lulu and says, “Lulu, come with me please.”
Without a word, Lulu stands up, walks next to Qiang Yu, and follows her example as she bows her head toward Sun Meirong. Then, under the gazes of numerous older men watching on from nearby, the two girls depart and head back through the restaurant.
Along the way, they get directions to the private rooms from a server and begin heading toward them, their movements elegant and refined as they walk.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
But, once they are no longer under the watchful gazes of a bunch of old men, Lulu shakes out her body and groans before saying, “Ugh! I hope that stupid pig head is suffering right now! I hate sitting around so quietly! It’s unnatural!”
“Lulu, shh!” Qiang Yu whispers a warning. “If it happens then we can feel content about it later, but don’t forget that he is still technically a guest of the City Lord’s Estate! At least on the surface, we need to have his interests at heart. When he leaves, that’s when we can feel content about his fate. And besides, it’s not like sitting around was really that bad. I don’t like those old men either, but we spend more time in silence while cultivating than we did sitting at the table.”
Lulu frowns and waves her arms as she dances in front of Qiang Yu before grabbing her hands. “Do we have to have his interests at heart? He hasn’t even entered the estate yet, so he can only be considered someone who will be a guest, but he isn’t a guest yet, right? I think we should do something to him while we still can.”
Qiang Yu frowns at Lulu and says, “He might not be a guest yet, but we already got in trouble earlier, and Mama hasn’t made her stance toward him clear yet. She might still be looking for an appropriate role for him to fill, and if we start playing around and cause another incident, even a small one, it might force her to have him fill a less suitable role.”
The two of them continue walking until Lulu asks, “Then can we do something small just to mess with him a little?”
“Mess with him how?” Qiang Yu asks, her eyes glittering slightly.
Lulu scrunches her eyebrows and thinks for a minute before saying, “Well, if he’s a guest, then we should be polite to him and treat him well. But we have no clue about any of his preferences, and your mom didn’t let him eat anything but pickled vegetables so it’s not like that could tell us anything. So would it be rude of us to serve him different dishes to see what he likes most? Say, a lot of spicy food?”
Qiang Yu shakes her head and turns to walk up a set of stairs toward the second floor. “In theory, that might work. But we can’t force him to eat anything. So instead of messing with him, we will have wasted food and Mama won’t be pleased.”
Lulu hurries to catch up and says, “But what if it’s actually good food? I’m sure there are spicy dishes made out of vicious beast meat, right? He isn’t rich, and vicious beast meat is expensive. Even if it’s spicy, he’s sure to eat it, right?”
Qiang Yu stops again and nods her head. “There should be. But vicious beast meat takes a while to prepare, and if Mama already intends to leave, then I don’t think we will have the time to order anything.”
Lulu frowns. “But it will only be harder to mess with him once he arrives at the estate! Then he really will be a guest and we’ll have to follow the rules and be respectful toward him!”
Qiang Yu sighs, “I know, but… why do you even want to mess with him? I know why I’m upset with him, but I can’t understand why you’re upset with him.”
Lulu blinks and shakes her head. “I’m not upset with him.”
Narrowing her eyes at Lulu, Qiang Yu asks, “Then why do you want to mess with him? Is it for my sake?”
Lulu shakes her head again. “No, I just want to mess with him.”
Qiang Yu snorts. “That’s it? He didn’t do anything to you?”
“Hmm? He didn’t do anything. But normally when I do something to people they blame you for my behavior and you end up having to defend me. But when I kicked him and when I bugged him, he didn’t turn to you to resolve it, he blamed me and started insulting me. So I just think it’s fun because I can mess with him and he can’t do anything about it, and because it doesn’t impact you, I don’t have to feel bad.”
“How does it not impact me?” Qiang Yu scowls at Lulu. “Did you forget which one of us came up with that prank earlier and which one of us suffered because of it? Or who is going to have to write the family rules ten times later? That will take me hours!”
Lulu blushes, but she turns her head to the ground and says, “I’m not the one who told you to jump on a man, you did that yourself. And I suffered too! I had to serve him so many cups of tea!”
“You think you suffered?” Qiang Yu’s scowl deepens, but after thinking over Lulu’s game with Lan Jin, she begins smiling. And when Lulu looks at her smile, a bad feeling begins growing inside of her.
“You’re right, being required to serve him tea is really too much of a punishment. Tonight, you should come and write the family rules with me so we both know we have received the same degree of punishment.”
Lulu’s mouth drops open and an indignant expression appears on her face, but before she can say anything, the two of them arrive in front of a pair of sliding wooden doors and hear a group of men speaking loudly inside, and one voice in particular is more noticeable than the rest.
“So, why do you guys all like Qiang Yu anyways? Like, I get she has a powerful family and a cute face, and I guess she’s probably pretty rich, so that’s a plus, but I feel like she’s probably not the only girl around who meets those qualifications. So what gives?”
Qiang Yu and Lulu both look at each other and wordlessly agree to remain silent as they hear Lan Jin’s voice coming from inside the room.
And shortly after, they hear someone respond to his question.
“Like? A cute face?” A scoff sounds, loud enough to penetrate the door. “Her face is wasted on her, and no one cares about her for her appearance in the first place. There are only two good things about her: the first is her temperament which she learned from Lady Sun, and the second is her ability to produce children.”
Listening to the unknown man speaking behind the door, Qiang Yu’s hands clench into fists and Lulu’s face darkens, but neither of them say anything as they continue to listen on.
“What?” Lan Jin asks, confusion and annoyance evident in his voice. “Look, I don’t like her. She’s a pain in the ass and she lost her temper way too easily earlier. And I want to smack her upside the head for punching me in the face. But you shouldn’t be talking about her like that. I don’t know how old she is, but even if she’s already looking into marriage, the answer is not old enough for us to be talking about her having children. That’s just fucked up.”
The laughter of numerous people fills the air.
“We shouldn’t be talking about her having children? Then what else should we be talking about? The point of marrying her is to produce good heirs. Otherwise, there would be no benefit to it. Even her parents realize that which is why they’re adding a proper young lady to the mix to accompany us instead of just delivering a house-broken barbarian for us to raise children with.”
Qiang Yu’s body jerks and her face flashes red with anger, but as she reaches forward to yank the door open, she pauses as she hears Lan Jin’s voice again.
“What do you mean a barbarian? Are we still talking about Qiang Yu? Is she supposed to be the barbarian or the proper young lady?”
“Who else would we be talking about? Do you really not know she is a barbarian? And the ‘proper young lady’ we’re speaking of isn’t her, it's her handmaiden. Were it not for her having a common upbringing and learning how to behave poorly due to Qiang Yu’s influence, she could even be considered one of our peers. It’s really a shame, because of the two, she would make a far better wife than her master.”
“Uh huh… Yeah, I don’t get it. She seems like she’s wearing normal clothes to me, and if she’s not freaking out over something stupid, she at least seems like a proper young lady to me. As for Lulu, she’s a pain in the ass, and I’m pretty sure her behavior is one hundred percent her. Are you sure you're thinking of the right girls?”
“She can wear whatever she wants, but the fact is that she still looks like a barbarian. And it is obvious that her handmaiden isn’t naturally aggressive because a servant exists to obey the bidding of their master. That much alone should tell you that her master is the one controlling her actions.”
“Yeah? I don’t see it.” Lan Jin says, the annoyance in his voice building. “I don't see the connection between her and a barbarian at all, and I don’t get why you would be calling a girl you’re trying to marry and have kids with a barbarian. That just makes no sense to me.”
The other voice from earlier speaks up and a tone full of derision fills the air as he says, “Really? And what does a barbarian look like to you?”
A second later, Lan Jin says, “Basically the polar opposite of Qiang Yu. She is wearing a nice dress that covers most of her skin and she has a small sword. But where I’m from, barbarian women are completely untamed, they wear skimpy little fur bikinis or loincloths that barely cover their tits and the other important bits, and they also carry giant axes, bastard swords, or spears, and sometimes they ride on tigers, wolves, and other animals. And it’s really hard for me to imagine Qiang Yu walking around wearing something that revealing or carrying such a massive weapon. And I can’t even begin to imagine her running around, hunting large game, and pillaging a bunch of villages.
“So, no. I don’t think she looks like a barbarian at all, and I don’t get what the hangup is over her appearance. In fact, I think it’s really fucked up because, unless I’m missing something and she has a tattoo across her chest saying ‘hunt, pillage, destroy’, she just looks like a random pretty girl you might meet anywhere.”
Outside of the room, Qiang Yu’s face brightens further, and even she herself can’t decide if she should be angry or completely embarrassed about the conversation going on about her. She thinks she’s being defended, somehow, but it also feels like she’s being insulted, degraded, sexualized, and flattered all at the same time. And with Lan Jin’s open and very vocal dislike of her announcing his stance, she can’t understand which message she should be receiving. And, as the conversation behind the closed doors continues, she finds herself growing more confused with every passing second.
When she looks at Lulu to see if she can make some sense of the conversation, she finds that Lulu is just as confused, offended, and embarrassed as she is, and she can’t help but look down at her darker skin and compare it to Lulu’s pale, white skin. If anything, she knows her own temperament is better than Lulu’s, but because of the skin, hair, and eyes she inherited from her father, people always believe she is the less ladylike of the two of them.
Shaking her head to clear out those uncomfortable thoughts, Qiang Yu looks down at her blue dress. She realizes that she has never once thought to ask about the types of clothing her father’s tribe might have worn before he met her mother and left them behind him, and she had never really cared because even her father either wore his armor or wore the robes that the people around here so often wore. Not knowing what to imagine, she starts to consider what she would look like if she were to wear the clothing Lan Jin described. However, the second she pictures herself in such revealing clothes, her face begins shining bright red again. Then, she turns back to face Lulu and asks, “If he says it’s really hard to imagine me wearing such scandalous clothing, does that mean he thought about me wearing them, or that he couldn’t think about me wearing them?”
Lulu considers Qiang Yu’s question while looking at her lobster-red face for a minute. Then, her head tilting slightly, she starts to hum.
“I think it depends. If he is defending you, then he might have tried comparing the version of you he has seen to the image of a female barbarian in his mind to try to make sense of the conversation. But it feels like he isn’t defending you at all. I think he might be irritated by what they are saying, and not who they are saying it about. So he might have imagined you as his version of a female barbarian and decided that the image didn’t make sense to him. But I don’t know because it could also have been a figure of speech.”
“Then he might have imagined me wearing… wearing something like that?” Qiang Yu asks, her voice trembling and her face growing more red as her fists clench so tightly that her hands turn white.
Uncertain, all Lulu can say is, “Um… It isn’t impossible, I guess. And men do like picturing women in compromising positions, so it would make sense for him to do it. But it's dumb for him to admit it, so I don't know.”
“Lulu, do you think he’s defending us or insulting us?”
Lulu doesn’t answer for a little while, but after thinking things over, she says, “He definitely isn’t defending me, but I don’t really feel too insulted with what he said because it’s the truth. But, between offending or defending you, I think he’s probably doing more to offend you than defend you.”
Gritting her teeth, Qiang Yu declares, “I need you to help me think of a method to punish him! And it needs to be something we can do quickly!”
“But, didn’t you say we’d have to follow the rules? It’s hard to think of something so quickly when there are so many rules to follow!”
Qiang Yu’s face lowers to the ground for a moment, but when she returns her gaze to Lulu, her eyes are full of conviction. “We are constrained by the rules, but so is he, and he doesn’t even know it yet because Mama hasn’t had a chance to tell him that there are rules! And if it takes a small sacrifice on my part to get back at him for this embarrassment, then I don’t care if I have to break a rule and get in trouble to get even with him!”
After a short pause, she says, “If I have to suffer, he can suffer with me! And it’s best if I can insult those dumb boys while I’m at it!”
Looking at Qiang Yu’s face, Lulu feels uncertain. But when she thinks over the conversation they overheard, she decides that insulting a large number of the city’s youngest and dumbest boys would be a good way for both of them to release some stress.
“Okay! I will think of something.”