A Family Banquet

Restaurant, main hall.

Steward Li stared blankly at the empty space around him and at the plates before him, licked cleaner than a face. The scene from moments ago replayed in his mind.

That bunch had eaten like starving ghosts, wolfing everything down as if they hadn't eaten in eight hundred years.

"Steward Li, h-here's the bill. Sixty taels in total," the manager said respectfully from the side.

Steward Li came back to himself with an "Ah."

"So expensive?"

Had they been eating gold?

Three tables of people had eaten sixty taels' worth.

"Steward Li, all these dishes are rare delicacies, especially the wine. It's thirty years old."

"Bring me the abacus."

Soon, the manager brought the abacus over. Steward Li compared it against the bill, his fingers nimble as the Phantom Butterfly Hand burst into action. After a rapid flurry of clacking, he widened his eyes and took a look.

Sixty taels and three mace.

The manager had even rounded down for him.

At least you know how to behave, though you haven't quite got the hang of it.

Steward Li took a deep breath and pulled out two silver ingots: one large ingot worth fifty taels and one small ingot worth ten.

Had this meal been worth it?

He thought it had been, at least because he'd made contact with Lin Fan. But if he had to say it wasn't worth it, well, that seemed true too. They'd spent the whole time eating, and no one had talked. Even he hadn't put down his chopsticks once, since it had been so long since he'd eaten this well.

"Thank you, Steward Li. Thank you, Steward Li," the manager said gratefully.

"Mm."

Steward Li remained seated, dazed, thinking only about those three tables of food costing sixty taels.

An ordinary family earned two or three hundred copper coins a month at the low end, five or six hundred at most. These days, five coins could buy a pound of pork. The spread before him was certainly lavish, but still, how could it cost so much?

Street.

"Everyone's full, right?"

As if he didn't already know.

Lin Fan looked at the underlings following him. Their mouths were all greasy, and they rubbed their bellies with satisfied expressions. That meal had clearly sent them into a frenzy.

The underlings crowded around him.

One of them spoke through tears. "Brother, that food was just too good. I've never eaten anything like it in my life."

"What are you keeping in your arms?"

"A chicken leg. I snuck it away. I want to take it home so my kid can try it."

Lin Fan nodded. He'd once been a low-level thug himself, so he knew how hard life was at the bottom. If there was a fight and you stood out, you could earn an extra reward. But if you didn't, you had to wait for your monthly wages—which came to only two hundred copper coins.

You could get by, sure, but living comfortably was hard.

"When I get the chance, I'll suggest to the hall master that we raise our brothers' wages. I won't say anything else, but we've got to make sure the brothers get meat every day."

At this, the underlings' eyes lit up. They cheered excitedly, "Long live Brother Lin!"

Lin Fan smiled and returned to the warehouse, where he resumed cultivating. As for Steward Li, he didn't give him another thought. He'd figured out the man's purpose.

Not bad.

Once there was a first time, there'd be a second. It wasn't easy to come across a situation like this, so he had to cherish it.

Before transmigrating, he'd watched plenty of plots about green tea girls hooking up with rich guys. The key was to keep the man on the hook: maintain some distance, then draw closer now and then. As long as you were careful and didn't mess up, the rich guy would shower you with money even more fiercely than some old geezer.

Dusk fell beneath a veil of sunset.

After tidying up, Lin Fan left the warehouse. He didn't head home; instead, he was going to attend a family banquet. Someone had come by that afternoon to tell him the hall master had invited him over for dinner.

He knew the hall master had noticed his talent long ago.

The matter at Cui Jing Tower in particular had made the hall master regard him as a trusted confidant among trusted confidants. But before going, he had to buy a few gifts. Showing up empty-handed would be rude.

Of course, there was no need to buy anything expensive. What could the hall master's household possibly lack?

A token gesture would do.

The Wang Family.

In the hall, Wang Changhai sat drinking tea while his wife bustled about, personally cooking the dishes. One plate after another, laden with delicacies, was brought out.

The once-empty table was soon covered with mouthwatering food.

"Madam, that should be enough. Let the servants handle the rest," Wang Changhai said.

His wife shot him a look. "What do you mean, enough? It's his first time visiting. Everything has to be perfect. And why are you still sitting there? It's about time. Hurry to the gate and wait for him. See if he's arrived."

"I'm the hall master," Wang Changhai protested, making a point of asserting his position. He wanted to remind his wife: He was my confidant. What hall master went and waited at the gate for his own confidant?

"The hall master? Don't make me laugh. When that little vixen had you wrapped around her finger, did you remember you were the hall master? You don't know your own worth, stuffing your face at home while eyeing what's in someone else's pot. With what little you've got, what would she even see in you?"

His wife's gaze landed rather aggressively on Wang Changhai's crotch.

The meaning was clear.

He folded after just a few thrusts and couldn't even satisfy his own wife, yet he went around stirring up those wanton women, not knowing the height of the sky.

Wang Changhai's old face reddened. "Madam, don't put it like that. When he gets here, you have to save me some face. I'm still the hall master, after all."

His wife had been with him since she was fifteen. Back then, he'd been a low-level thug in the Loyalty Hall, and life had been hard. Later, things gradually improved, and the two of them had children.

"Wow, it smells so good! Mom, there's so much food today."

Two children ran in happily, their schoolbags on their backs. Seeing the table full of delicious food, they leaned over and took a deep breath. They reached out to grab a bite, but their mother smacked their little hands away twice.

"We have a guest today. Hurry up and go do your homework."

"Oh."

The two children drooped their heads, looking pitiful. They took several steps, glancing back again and again at the food on the table, reluctant to leave. Then they slung their schoolbags over their shoulders and left the hall.

Seeing her husband still sitting there, his wife immediately marched over and pinched his ear. "You think my words are going in one ear and out the other? I told you to go wait for him. What are you still standing around for? Go!"

"Right, right, I'm going."

Wang Changhai stood up, feeling utterly helpless. That woman had him wrapped around her little finger. If he were in another household, what wife would dare treat her husband like that?

Was there no order? Did he have no status in his own home?

Just then.

Lin Fan arrived near the hall master's house. He glanced at the surrounding buildings. The area was quite nice; clearly, anyone who could live here was among the upper crust of Yong'an City.

Either rich or noble.

The hall master had been in the Loyalty Hall for so many years and was in charge of Jili Pier. It was only natural that he could afford a residence here.

As he walked toward the gate, he spotted the hall master standing there, looking this way and that.

Wang Changhai quickly spotted Lin Fan carrying gifts and greeted him with a beaming smile.

"You should've just come as you were. Why bring anything?"

"Hall master, it's my first time visiting. I couldn't show up empty-handed. I didn't know what to buy, so I got sister-in-law some rouge and the kids some snacks they like."

"All right. Your sister-in-law's been waiting impatiently."

.