Li Gen came to the gate of Lin Xiaosu's courtyard and bowed. "Young Master Li, my prince invites you down the mountain for a gathering. Might you oblige?"
"Who is your prince?"
"The Prince of the Northern Pacification!"
Lin Xiaosu smiled. "So it is His Highness the Seventh Prince! Then I shall gladly accept."
"The carriage awaits at the pavilion entrance. This way, young master!"
"Qing Ying, come along as well!"
"Yes, Executive!"
Li Gen led the way, with Lin Xiaosu in the middle and Qing Ying following behind.
The three crossed the vast platform outside the Heart Pavilion and stepped onto the flagstone path. Ahead lay a gravel carriage road. They boarded the carriage and glided down the mountain.
In the basement, He Fanglue narrowed his eyes slightly, an expression he wore when thinking.
"Father, what is the meaning of such a brazen move?"
"It is indeed brazen. However, it is not Li Chengnian being brazen, but the Seventh Prince," He Fanglue said. "A test?"
The Heart Pavilion was a very special place.
In the martial world, it was a place of impartiality, harboring neither prejudice nor private motives. It simply took money and did the work. Only with such an image could the various factions feel safe entrusting it with their affairs.
Impartiality was its very lifeline.
Thus, the people of the Heart Pavilion generally followed one principle: anyone could come up the mountain, and they would take payment to do the work.
But the people of the Heart Pavilion did not follow the powerful down the mountain.
Going down meant becoming entangled with a clique, which did not help cultivate their impartial image.
Yet today, the commander of the Seventh Prince's guards had swaggered up the mountain, asked for Li Chengnian by name, and invited him down.