Feng Celebration's First Battle

"Fifth Master, someone has broken into our warehouse. The shelves have been overturned and the goods are scattered everywhere."

"The KTV was also broken into, and all the cash was taken away."

Ma Wu rubbed his forehead. He had just woken up in the morning and heard so much. He felt like his home had been ransacked.

Thinking about it, it really was similar to ransacking someone's home. Thieves broke into his and Li Banfeng's ten-mile territory, and several key places were turned upside down.

Ma Wu's men wouldn't do such a thing.

Hunters who regularly engage in business wouldn't dare to do such a thing.

Who did this?

Without a doubt, it's Lu Xiaolan.

She sent people into the Land Block last night, Ma Wu was completely unaware of it.

If she had committed murder last night, would Ma Wu have been able to defend himself?

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Ma Wu's eyes were glazed over, and he was sweating profusely.

He slept with Aqin last night, so he's relatively safe.

From now on, apart from Yanzi and Aqin, you can't easily stay overnight at other people's places.

Li Banfeng returned to Shili Land Block and entered his wooden house, only to find it ransacked.

"Who did this? They practically ripped the floorboards off..."

Boom!

Li Banfeng almost sank into the ground.

Several floorboards were indeed lifted up, and then put back in their original positions.

What are they trying to do? Demolish my house?

Li Banfeng saw a letter next to his desk. He opened it and found only three lines of text.

First line: You must repay what you owe.

The second line: A debt must be repaid with a life.

Third line: Lu Xiaolan.

You know what, Lu Xiaolan is quite polite; she even left her signature on her letters.

But you've come all this way, and instead of bringing me anything, you're asking me for something. Is that appropriate?

When you said I owed you something, were you referring to Red Lotus?

When you ask me to return it, do you mean return it to you, or return it to He Jiaqing?

However, this matter is not important; no matter who it is, Li Banfeng has no intention of paying it back.

What does "owe a life" mean? Does it mean I owe you my life?

That doesn't make sense. You were the one who harmed me in the first place, so if anyone owes me anything, it's you who owes me.

Just then, Ma Wu entered the room. "Someone from the local area came last night, and I suspect it was..."

Seeing the scene in Li Banfeng's room, Ma Wu knew he didn't need to explain anymore.

"It's Lu Xiaolan," Li Banfeng said, waving the letter in his hand. "She even wrote me a letter saying that I owe her my life."

Ma Wu gritted his teeth and said, "What the hell does this bastard want? Seventh Brother, hurry up and burn the letter. We can't keep the spying stuff; there might be a hook on it."

Li Banfeng burned the letter, returned to Portable Abode, and cleaned the dust out of his Wife's computer case.

My Wife has been a bit resistant to applying Machine Oil lately, but she can still accept routine maintenance like cleaning dust.

Sizzle~

The Wife snorted twice and said, "Hey, husband, you use a duster and brush to clean the ashes. What are you using behind Little Slave?"

Li Banfeng replied righteously, "A brush!"

Huff~

The Wife said angrily, "Aren't you bullying Little Slave? We don't have a brush this size in our house! And you're using so much force, did something unpleasant happen?"

Li Banfeng nodded and said, "There's a traitor among my men."

The Wife felt this deeply. "We're always on guard, but it's hard to guard against a traitor within the family. An internal spy is the most hateful. Husband, do you have any leads?"

"It's precisely because there are no leads that I feel so frustrated. My Wife, have you ever encountered a mole before?"

"I've encountered it before. It's certainly hateful, but it's also quite interesting."

"What does it mean?" Li Banfeng asked, puzzled.

"Finding and killing the traitor is pointless; finding him but not killing him is much more interesting."

"What's the point of not killing them?"

"Interesting, I'll keep it and play with it slowly!"

Li Banfeng couldn't understand. "What if I can't find the mole?"

"If you can't find him, it'll be a bit of a letdown, but you can still give him a token gesture."

Li Banfeng somewhat displeasedly, "Wife, don't speak in riddles, your husband won't understand."

My nemesis this time is Kui Xiu. She might have connections to an inside man. If I don't find this inside man, my every move will be under their watchful eyes.

"Peeping into cultivation? That's even more interesting, but that depends on where the hook is placed!"

Li Banfeng leaned forward and hugged the record player. "Wife, what exactly do you mean? Tell me in detail."

"My lord... my lord, please take out the brush first, the place is wrong..."

Inventory the warehouse, repair the cash register, and inspect the entire area. Destroy any suspicious or unfamiliar items to prevent any spying or leaving clues.

After a whole day of commotion, Ma Wu returned to the Council Hall and sat down to drink alone.

Chuanzi delivered the newspaper again, and Ma Wu saw his own news again, on page two.

Ma Wu gave a bitter smile and said, "We can't get our goods out, and someone has infiltrated our territory. I reckon we'll go bankrupt in a few days and then we'll be on the front page."

At the Lu Family, Monkey Qiu was reading the newspaper in his small building, with Lu Yuanshan and Lu Yuanhai keeping him company.

Previously, the Lu Family held meetings at the main residence, but recently Monkey Qiu has been spending most of his time in the small building.

Lu Yuanshan chimed in, "There's been a lot of news about Ma Wu lately. I heard his business in Blue Poplar Village is booming!"

Monkey Qiu nodded and asked, "What did Lu Maoxian say?"

Lu Yuanshan was taken aback. "Why are you suddenly asking about my great-uncle?"

Monkey Qiu put down his newspaper and said, "Aren't these news articles written for him?"

Lu Yuanshan was puzzled.

Lu Yuanhai nodded repeatedly. He was in charge of finding out about Lu Maoxian's whereabouts. "This morning, my great-uncle was complaining to the relatives that the business in Blue Poplar Village was given to the Ma family by my brother and me, and the Lu Family's ancestral property will be ruined by my brother and me."

Monkey Qiu sneered, "The old man is getting anxious. He used to scold me, but now he dares to scold you brothers directly. He has forgotten his own status. No matter how high his seniority is, he is not a member of the Lu Family's Direct Lineage."

Lu Yuanshan smacked his lips. "But it's not a solution to let him keep cursing like this. How about this, I'll talk to Ma Wu tomorrow and ask him to pay more Bonus Money."

Monkey Qiu lit a cigarette. "It's no use how much Bonus Money you pay. Even if you pay 95%, the old man will still say you paid too little."

Even if we take back Blue Poplar Village and drive Ma Wu out, the old man will still scold us for wasting money.

He'd ask why they didn't take back the Bai Le Men? He'd ask why they didn't take back all the businesses Lu Dongjun had sold off?

Lu Yuanhai nodded. "It's just like what Uncle Qiu said. My great-uncle has mentioned these things to the relatives. He brings them up again and again. In his words, we are not worthy of being the head of this family."

Lu Yuanshan sighed, "It seems that no matter what we do, we can't shut Uncle up."

Monkey Qiu took a deep drag on his cigarette. "The old man's mouth isn't even on his body, so how can we shut him up?"

There's one thing he definitely won't say: he won't let us take back the Sea Eat Ridge business.

Lu Yuanhai thought about the recent situation and realized it was just as Monkey Qiu had said, "Uncle never Sea Eat Ridge!"

Monkey Qiu took another puff of his cigarette. "That's because the Ling family stole Sea Eat Ridge's business."

Lu Yuanshan suddenly realized. "My great-uncle has dealings with the Ling family. His great-uncle's mouth is practically attached to the Ling family!"

Monkey Qiu stubbed out his cigarette and asked Lu Yuanshan, "Yuanshan, how's the newspaper business going, which I asked you to get started?"

Lu Yuanshan looked rather troubled. "Uncle Qiu, this isn't so easy to handle. The newspapers I run have been out of publication for too long, and picking them up again won't be a matter of a day or two."

Besides, the Ling family's business is growing bigger and bigger. Let's not talk about anything else, just look at Green Water City. Their newspapers cost five cents a copy and they never have trouble selling them. I'm offering three cents, and people still don't buy them. If I try to lower the price further, we won't make any profit. We really can't compete with them."

Monkey Qiu laughed, "So you think you can't win this argument?"

Lu Yuanshan said helplessly, "Newspapers that have ceased publication have a bad reputation. Long-time subscribers will think we have no credibility, which is the biggest taboo in the newspaper industry."

Monkey Qiu picked up his wine glass and took a sip. "What if the Ling family's newspaper also stops publishing?"

"How could his newspaper possibly stop publishing? They publish it every day..." Lu Yuanshan paused for a moment, then understood what Monkey Qiu meant.

He straightened his clothes, got up and was about to leave when Monkey Qiu called out to Lu Yuanshan, "Don't do it yourself. Don't ruin your reputation over something like this."

The dirty work needs to be done by specialists. Zhang Xiuling of the Hundred Flowers Gate has always wanted to make connections with the Lu Family; why not give her a chance?

Council Hall, a record player was playing melodious dance music. Ma Wu was playing chess with Li Banfeng. Ma Wu was absent-minded, while Li Banfeng was very focused, thinking very carefully about each move.

Towards the end of the game, General Li Banfeng and Ma Wu conceded defeat. "Seventh Brother, I want to discuss something with you. I plan to personally escort the next shipment."

Li Banfeng frowned. "If you personally escort the shipment, will Lu Xiaolan stop robbing it?"

"She'll definitely try to steal it again, so I'm going to risk everything to lure her out. I'll bring Yanzi, Aqin, Xian Xian, and Qiao Cui with me. I refuse to believe I can't take her down!"

"Where is Zuo Wugang?"

"I won't bring it anymore; I still don't trust him."

Li Banfeng held the chess pieces, carefully examining the chessboard. "These people are still useful in Xindi, but what will happen when they leave Xindi? I don't know about Aqin, Bagworm Moth Madam cannot leave Xindi."

"Aqin can't leave Xindi either; she has a contract with Qiu Luoye," Ma Wu also thought of this. "Lu Xiaolan is also wanted by the Lu Family; I reckon she wouldn't dare leave Xindi either."

If she dares to make a move outside of New World, I'll accept my fate; it just means I'm not as crazy as her!

Li Banfeng put the chess piece back on the board and nodded. "That's one way. I'll go with you."

Ma Wu was taken aback, then shook his head and said, "You can't go. You can't let Lu Xiaolan know you're here."

Li Banfeng shook his head and laughed, "Fifth brother, you're too busy to remember. She's already written to me, she must know I'm here."

Ma Wu rubbed his forehead; he was genuinely confused. "If you go, who will guard our territory?"

There are two masters of the territory, and one of them has to be left to shed blood.

Li Banfeng put the chess pieces back into the chess box, lit a cigarette, and looked at Ma Wu:

"This territory was fought and won by us brothers. If something happens to you, what use is the territory?"

"As long as we brothers join forces, we can definitely kill Lu Xiaolan. Whether inside or outside Xindi, who have we brothers ever been afraid of?"

Ma Wu clenched his fist, nodded, and said, "Okay!"

As they spoke, Li Banfeng kept setting up chess pieces on the board. "Brother, want to play another game?"

"Still playing?"

"What are you doing when you're bored? Just killing time."

After several moves, Li Banfeng kept jumping his horse, but he still didn't move the chariot.

Ma Wu chuckled and said, "Your moves weren't very good."

Li Banfeng shrugged. "Let's wait and see who wins in the end."

Ma Wu paused, staring at the chessboard for a moment longer.

He Jiaqing was listening to the live broadcast in the hospital. As he listened, he smiled:

"He's still as crazy as ever. We've only provoked him twice, and he's already ready to fight to the death."

Another voice came through his ear. "I sent a few of the best fighters from Iron Sheep Mountain to take care of Ma Wu this time."

"No matter how good the people of Iron Sheep Mountain are at fighting, can they beat Bagworm Moth Madam? Ma Wu has three Lady Moths on his hands."

"Then let's fight outside the new land; none of them will escape."

"Outside the new land, how much noise do we have to make? Are you afraid people won't know what good stuff we're looking for?"

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"He and Ma Wu have made full preparations and want to fight you to the death, so why do you have to confront them head-on?"

Their territory is empty, except for Zuo Wugang, who is indecisive and difficult to deal with.

Wash their territory clean, burn down all their houses and goods, kill a few hunters, and tell them they are not allowed to do business here again. Then all their possessions will be gone.

"Let the bandits of Iron Sheep Mountain handle this; that's what they're good at."

"You mean, you're letting Lu Xiaolan go again?"

"Lu Xiaolan has only been up the mountain for a few days? She's not up to the task. Tell the big boss to send the Three Heroes of Iron Sheep; they're the most experienced in this kind of thing."

After it's all done, I'll have Lu Xiaolan ask my friend for the things. Surely he won't refuse then?

"I see."

PS: The first battle of Feng Celebration has begun.