The Birthday Banquet

As the sun rose and the moon set, the stars shifted across the sky. The passage of time changed for no one.

Even though the City Lord had been found dead in his residence, the Liu family still had to hold the birthday banquet.

Not only would they hold it, they would make it a grand affair. They intended to use it to draw out the undercurrents lurking in the dark and wipe them all out in one fell swoop.

The army, weapons, and experts—spurred on by the deaths of both father and son, the City Lord and his son, within two days, and by Liu Zhengde staking his own reputation as a guarantee—had left the entire Pei Commandery fully prepared to face any enemies who came calling.

The Liu family's main estate stood on a broad plain. A river nearly ten meters wide ran through its center, dividing it into eastern and western sections. The east was the residential area, while the west was reserved for receiving guests. The birthday banquet was being held in the western section.

People came and went throughout the banquet grounds, and powerful, influential figures could be seen everywhere.

Since the banquet had yet to officially begin, its guest of honor had not appeared. One thing worth mentioning was that Liu Tian's younger sister, nicknamed Hua'er, had been born three days ago.

Unlike Liu Tian, Hua'er had inherited her father's dark eyes. She was still so young that her hair had yet to grow in, so no one could tell what color it would be.

"Little Hua, Little Hua." Liu Tian had no interest in meeting new people. While Liu Yun went to keep their grandfather company—a man Liu Yun had barely met—Liu Tian stayed beside his mother, Sophie, amusing himself with his baby sister. After nearly six days of exhausting travel, he couldn't be bothered to think about anything.

"Hmm?" Perhaps because they were blood relatives, Little Hua wasn't the least bit afraid of her tall, strapping older brother. Her round, black eyes followed Liu Tian's finger as she smacked her lips and sucked hard on her bottle. But with her tiny lungs, she could only manage a little at a time.

"So adorable." Liu Tian had always been patient and affectionate with human babies he didn't have to look after himself. He gently teased her.

"Alright, stop fooling around!" Sophie held her daughter in her arms and rocked her gently, watching the siblings interact with satisfaction. "At a banquet this grand, why not go meet a few people? There are plenty of cousins here. Your mother isn't so old that you need to stay by my side."

"Because someone might recognize me." Liu Tian shrugged and glanced over the crowd. Among them were representatives of several families he'd visited in disguise over the past few days, as well as quite a few people he knew, though only on his side.

He'd learned his lesson back then: he'd not only covered his face, but also disguised himself. Still, he couldn't be sure no one had recognized him from his build, voice, movements, or even some so-called intuition.

Though he wasn't worried about it now, he couldn't be bothered to invite trouble.

"I think you're just lazy," Sophie said with an indulgent smile. "Apart from Wenhan and Wenqian, who here would even know you?"

"You never know." Liu Tian shrugged, in excellent spirits. "Someone like me stands out like a white crane among chickens. I'm so conspicuous that plenty of people might already have heard about me."

"I can't argue with you. Do as you please, son." Sophie hadn't really meant to make Liu Tian socialize with people he might rarely see again. "If you don't want to, then don't. What's that old poem from the empire? 'Steal half a day of leisure from a busy life.'"

"Exactly. Stealing half a day of leisure from a busy life." Liu Tian spoke as he silently tallied the protectors stationed openly and in secret: at least two dozen martial artists and a hundred fully armed guards, not to mention the troops stationed nearby, ready to move at any moment. The Liu estate's defenses were formidable.

With strength like that and terrain that was decent enough, even that snake they'd encountered earlier wouldn't have had a chance to break through.

Liu Tian silently assessed the situation.

"The two sitting in the corner over there—are they your Fifth Uncle's wife and son, the ones you'd only heard about but never met?" Bai He nudged Liu Wenqian in the chest. "That older brother I've never met looks pretty sturdy. He looks like he can really fight."

"What does being able to fight matter?" Liu Wenqian rolled his eyes. "This is the age of technology. Ten years of martial arts training can't beat one gunshot. Unless you train until you're a martial artist like my dad, and that's no easy feat."

"That's true. Ever since I pretended to faint last time, my dad stopped forcing me to practice our family's martial arts," the chubby Li Hua put in. "Training is exhausting, and it's not even useful..."

"Exactly, exactly." Bai He nodded in agreement. "I think having people protect us is enough. Why do we need to train ourselves? I've practiced for almost ten years and haven't even gotten through the door..."

The group gathered around them consisted of young scions from Pei Commandery and several neighboring commanderies who were close friends. They had two things in common: they were around the same age, and none of them wanted to practice their families' inherited Secret Martial Arts.

They'd known one another since childhood. Later, their similar circumstances—and their shared desire to find a permanent way to avoid training—had brought them even closer. By now, they were close enough to talk about anything.

Liu Wenqian was always the one who came up with ideas. He was well respected in their little group and had the most tricks up his sleeve. The idea of pretending to faint to get out of training, which Li Ye had used, had come from Liu Wenqian. It had worked splendidly.

"Let's not talk about that. I heard you've had thieves around your way lately?" Liu Wenqian waved a hand, changing the subject.

Giving up on martial arts was a subject none of them liked to bring up. Li Ye was the only one who truly had no interest in training. The others weren't necessarily unwilling to practice.

They simply lacked the aptitude. No matter how hard they trained, they saw little improvement. After years of hard work, they still hadn't made it through the door; they remained laymen, hovering outside it. And as technology advanced, their families no longer needed them to train and rely on martial arts to protect the family legacy. So, one by one, they gave up.

"Yeah!" Chen Qichao, who had been quiet until then, replied. He was a family scion from the neighboring Changhe Commandery. "Though it wasn't exactly a break-in. The family treasure room was turned upside down. They say nothing was taken, but it still gave my dad quite a scare. Otherwise, he wouldn't have let Uncle Peng leave the family this time."

"You know, Uncle Peng had never left Changhe Commandery for as long as I can remember. But I get to see the thief this time, so I had an excuse to insist on coming along. Those tutoring classes are such a pain..."

"Speaking of which, we had a thief too. The same thing happened to us. I wonder who's capable of pulling off something like this. From what I've heard, every family in the surrounding area has been visited, but no one's managed to catch the thief. All they ever see is a figure disappearing in the distance," said Bai He, the best-informed of them. "According to Old Feng, the thief must be an expert who's cultivated Secret Martial Arts and broken through to become a martial artist. Unless you surround someone like that and trap them in a dead end, there's no way anyone can catch them."

"I'm so jealous. I wish I could run as fast as he does. Then I wouldn't have to learn all that other useless stuff."

"Yeah, I'm jealous..."

While the little groups from all over mingled and grew closer, Liu Zhengde and Liu Yun arrived, pushing the guest of honor of tonight's banquet.