He Was Nothing but a Speck of Dust

Chapter 1: He Was Nothing but a Speck of Dust

Chuff! Chuff!

The pitch-black Train Head spewed white steam as it traveled along the tracks.

Clang! Clang!

The crankshaft pulled the connecting rods, driving the wheels at high speed as they rhythmically struck the gaps in the rails.

Whooo!

A whistle sounded.

A train with only five carriages passed through a tunnel, entered a mountain valley, and headed toward the vast wilderness of Pro State.

In the third carriage, a beautiful woman was drawing her eyebrows before a dressing table.

Why was there a dressing table in a train carriage?

Why was she putting on makeup in a train carriage?

Not only could she put on makeup in the carriage, but she could dance there as well.

Because she was the only person in this carriage.

She was Zhuo Yuling, the second concubine of Lu Dongliang, head of the Lu Family.

This train was the private train of the Lu Family, one of Pro State's great clans.

At present, she was the mistress of this train.

The first carriage was loaded with coal.

The second carriage held luggage and the train's daily supplies.

The third carriage was divided into a corridor and two guest rooms.

The fourth carriage contained a dining room and a card room.

The fifth carriage was the master's bedroom.

Zhuo Yuling wore her hair in finger waves. Her eyeshadow was deep, but her blush was light; her fair cheeks set off her vivid red lips.

She wore an indigo high-collared Qipao made of indanthrene cloth. Its hem fell just to her knees, and the slits on either side revealed a hint of lace from her underskirt. Her tightly cinched waist and delicately padded beauty shoulders gave her an enchanting, luxurious air.

Zhuo Yuling was nearly forty, yet her refined clothes and makeup made her seem not even thirty.

Creak~

The carriage door was pushed open, and Lu Dongliang, head of the Lu Family, appeared beneath the pale yellow wall lamp.

The fine creases of her smile rose along with the beauty mark at the corner of her mouth. Zhuo Yuling smiled sweetly at her reflection in the mirror.

Zhuo Yuling disliked wearing shoes. Barefoot, she crossed the dark yellow floral carpet to Lu Dongliang and called tenderly, "Master."

Lu Dongliang, already past fifty, pinched Zhuo Yuling's cheek. He always felt that she was still as charming as when they had first met, able to offer him a trace of comfort whenever he needed it.

But only a trace.

The exhausted Lu Dongliang took off his suit jacket, unbuttoned his vest, loosened his tie, sat down on the sofa, opened a bottle of foreign liquor, and poured himself a glass.

By the time he had drunk half the glass, the gloom in his heart had already spread across his face. Lu Dongliang could not help but sigh.

Sitting beside him, Zhuo Yuling took a cigarette from an iron case and placed it between her red lips. She struck a match, lit the cigarette, and offered it to Lu Dongliang. "Master, what has put you in such a foul mood?"

Lu Dongliang took the cigarette and drew deeply. "He Jiaqing is returning tomorrow. I was playing cards with his eldest aunt, He Yuxiu, earlier. From the sound of things, he may want to break off his engagement with Xiaolan."

He Jiaqing was the legitimate son of the powerful He Family of Pro State.

Lu Xiaolan was the daughter of Zhuo Yuling and Lu Dongliang.

Had the He Family not declined in recent years, its legitimate son could never have married an illegitimate daughter of the Lu Family.

Zhuo Yuling smiled calmly. "Master, didn't we discuss this before? Xiaolan will not let He Jiaqing return to Pro State alive."

Lu Dongliang bit down on his cigarette, his brows tightly furrowed. "That boy from the He Family is exceptionally gifted, and he has the Mystic Life Crimson Lotus in his hands. He will not be easy to deal with. I'm worried about Xiaolan..."

Zhuo Yuling shook her head. "Master is overthinking it. That boy from the He Family is nothing but a mediocrity. Instead of cultivating diligently during the best years of his life, he ran off to Huan Kingdom to study. Four whole years, wasted just like that. What did he gain?"

Lu Dongliang stroked his thin mustache. "Young people are more prone to playfulness. If he were to take charge of the He Family estate..."

Zhuo Yuling rose and walked to the gramophone. "Anyone unable to rein in his playful heart is a mediocrity. When a mediocrity holds a supreme treasure, he ought to become a dead man. Once he boards the train, he is bound to die."

The gramophone stood a foot taller than the bedside cabinet, with one large and two small golden horns on top.

Zhuo Yuling picked up an iron cup and poured two cups of water into the small horn on the left.

Lu Dongliang looked at Zhuo Yuling. "I heard that the young Gang Leader of the Jiang Xiang Gang also wants to get his hands on the Red Lotus. He has standing in Huan Kingdom, so he will not be easy to handle either."

Zhuo Yuling sneered. "Master means Xiao Zhengong, doesn't he? That fool does not even qualify as a mediocrity. He is a cockroach, a cockroach that sickens people.

"If he had not relied on his father's name, Xiao Zhengong would have been stomped to death long ago. With that little bit of scheming in his head, how could he possibly contend with Xiaolan?"

Zhuo Yuling bent down, opened the gramophone cabinet, and lit the wick inserted into the grease in an iron box filled with congealed fat.

Whoosh!

A pale blue flame sprang up. Before long, a little white mist sprayed from the horn on the left.

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

This was a steam-powered gramophone.

Pro State was a special place. Fuel could not be stored there in large quantities, nor could electricity be used on a large scale. Steam engines had been pushed to their utmost limits.

Driven by gears, the gramophone's turntable began to rotate amid bursts of steam.

Zhuo Yuling took out a shellac record and placed it on the gramophone turntable.

Lu Dongliang extinguished his cigarette and leaned back against the sofa. "It is not that I don't trust Xiaolan. I'm worried that..."

"Master simply does not trust Xiaolan," Zhuo Yuling said with a helpless smile. "From the day I gave birth to her until now, Master has never truly looked at her."

As she spoke, Zhuo Yuling lowered the needle onto the record.

Amid fine crackling static, a mellow cello prelude began to play.

After the prelude, piano and violin laid out a gentle rhythm, followed by a steady, profound singing voice:

The moon~light~ is so blurred.

The earth~ is shrouded in night mist.

Oh, the one in my dreams,

Where~ are you~

"Dream Lover" was Zhuo Yuling's favorite song.

No electricity, no discs—this ancient gramophone needed only the friction of needle against record.

Zhuo Yuling stepped forward gracefully, pulled Lu Dongliang up from the sofa, buried her head in his chest, embraced him, and slowly began to dance to the beautiful melody.

Lu Dongliang wrapped an arm around Zhuo Yuling's slender waist, but worry still filled his face. "If He Jiaqing dies, won't the Mystic Life Crimson Lotus end up lost in Huan Kingdom?"

Zhuo Yuling's brows drew together slightly. At a time like this, she did not want to talk about such trifles. "Xiaolan has already looked into it. He Jiaqing has a friend named Li Banfeng. Using him, she can find the Red Lotus.

"After killing He Jiaqing, Xiaolan can go find Li Banfeng. Naturally, she will have a way to bring the Red Lotus back."

Lu Dongliang had not heard clearly. "That friend of He Jiaqing's you just mentioned—what was his surname again?"

"Li Banfeng."

"Half-crazy?" Lu Dongliang froze. "What a strange name."

Zhuo Yuling smiled. "Master, there is no need to remember his name. It is unimportant. Once Xiaolan learns where the Red Lotus is, he will no longer be in this world either."

"What kind of person is he? Is he another mediocrity?" Lu Dongliang was exceedingly cautious, afraid that anything might go wrong at any link in the chain.

Zhuo Yuling sneered. "He does not even qualify as a mediocrity. He does not even qualify as a person."

Lu Dongliang stroked Zhuo Yuling's hair. "Then, like Xiao Zhengong, he is also a cockroach?"

Zhuo Yuling shook her head. "His life is cheaper than a cockroach's."

Lu Dongliang grew even more curious. "Then what kind of person is he?"

"How should I put it?" Zhuo Yuling did not know how to describe him.

A wisp of black ash drifted from the gramophone's fuel tank and landed on Lu Dongliang's collar.

The gramophone's filter needed cleaning.

Zhuo Yuling wiped Lu Dongliang's collar with her finger. Looking at the black ash on her fingertip, she smiled faintly. "His life is as cheap as this speck of dust. No parents, no relatives—he has nothing.

"He grew up in an orphanage. He hauled bricks, carried heavy loads, and ran street stalls before he finally made it to university.

"A person like that dies when he dies, just like blowing away this dust. No one would care."

With that, Zhuo Yuling gave a light puff and blew the dust from her fingertip away.

Whooo~

A whistle sounded.

The train jolted violently.

Lu Dongliang's Dance Steps remained steady. That was the foundation of a Travel Cultivator.

Fine, dense fur grew from the soles of Zhuo Yuling's feet, gripping the carpet beneath them tightly.

This was the talent of a body cultivator.

After the jolting subsided, the two continued dancing in each other's arms.

The next day.

Huan Kingdom, Yue East Province, Yuezhou City, Yue Province University, Dorm 6, Room 606.

Li Banfeng lay on his bunk, taking an afternoon nap.

In his dream, he was steering his own yacht, surrounded by a group of young beauties as they enjoyed the sea breeze together.

The Best Actress winner of the previous Golden Yuan Awards took Li Banfeng's hand and entered the yacht's bedroom with him...

Hugging his pillow, clear drool streaming from his mouth, Li Banfeng was just about to reach the pinnacle of life in his dream when he suddenly heard someone calling by his ear:

"Banfeng, save me."

PS: Dear readers, Salad is here! The author with the greatest conscience is here!

"Dream Lover" was a famous song from the Republican era. It was used as an insert song in Stephen Chow's film Kung Fu, where the Landlord and Landlady danced together to it.

Dear readers, invest in the new book as soon as possible. Our Banfeng certainly will not disappoint you all.

(End of Chapter)