Martial King’s Retired Life

Book 16: Chapter 3

“Lord Zi, why did you drink so much alcohol?!”

“N-no, it was Shifu who drank the majority of this. Shifu can out-drink ten people. I cannot even drink one-tenth of what he can.”

“What? You drank… thirty jugs? Ming Feizhen!”

“No, I meant that figuratively… Wait!”

Although he heard all the fuss, Ming Feizhen was stuck in his own world and unwilling to leave. It had been ages since he saw Yu Feiyuan up so close. The last time he hugged her was when she was still a young girl whom he would tease every now and then and carry back home after they were done training. Their reunion in Huzhou was short, and they had to part in a hurry, so he did not notice her transformation since they trained together ten years ago. Her increased height and maturity were noticeable in Huzhou, but there were some things that he did not notice so much last time… such as her assets that had grown considerably.

Ming Feizhen knew it was not the best time and place to hug her, but it would have been cruel to push her away when it had been a long time since they met, right? If he did not push her away… With her arms folded and sporting an emotionless look, Shen Yiren whistled, but she kept her head down and eyes on Yujing. Bai Lian, who showed up late and had finished hearing from Li Zizi, was fuming and ready to get physical. Then there was Elise, who was still hiding underneath the mountain of plates, mouthing, “Get off him! Who do you think you are, woman?!” Thus, Ming Feizhen could only raise his hands up to express innocence. Thankfully, Yu Feiyuan soon released him.

“Oh, I came here for something else.” Yu Feiyuan pushed Ming Feizhen away when it dawned on her that the purpose of her visit was not to catch up with Ming Feizhen. Instead of blushing, she appeared as serious as if hugging Ming Feizhen was rightfully her right and only stopped because she had business to handle. “I brought something with me. Please wait a moment.”

Yu Feiyuan popped into the stack of plates. Impressively, she did not bump into any despite her height thanks to her deft and clean movements in moving them.

Since Ming Feizhen was standing free, Bai Lian rushed over and questioned, “What’s the deal?!”

“Which her?”

“Oh, oh, I forgot to introduce you. She is my childhood friend, Yu Feiyuan. She’s not really that impressive; she’s just a stand-in patriarch in Hangzhou, hohoho.”

Needless to say, Bai Lian had heard about Yu Feiyuan, but she did not expect to meet the latter under these conditions, so she could not resist a second look.

“So she’s, wait! When did I ever ask you about her? I’m talking about Lord Zi.”

“Lord Zi? Uh… nothing… You know, some drinking, flirting, pretty good stuff.”

“Huh? Flirt-”

Before Bai Lian could finish, Tang Ni whacked Li Zizi over the head, prompting Bai Lian to shout, “Hey! Why did you hit him?!”

“His blood and qi are clogged. I was just helping him,” Tang Ni replied in a pitiable and innocent voice, only to shoot Ming Feizhen a glare.

Clueless as to how he ended up on Tang Ni’s bad side, Ming Feizhen gave her a warm smile, stoking her flames.

Before Ming Feizhen could speak to Shen Yiren, Yu Feiyuan had returned.

“Brother Feizhen, this is it.” Yu Feiyuan handed Ming Feizhen a thin red booklet with gold edges, decorated with a phoenix and dragon artwork.

Ming Feizhen first grumbled under his breath upon reading it until a memory made him panic.

“Oh, my bloody shifu is getting married… Oh, wait, didn’t I set this up? He’s going to kill me… Ah, uh, this is wonderful! Ladies and gentlemen, did you know that my shifu, Mount Daluo’s patriarch is going to marry the patriarch of Wutong Jin Yuxuan? This is a merry occasion for everyone.”

Opacity may create opportunities, but too much opacity would make it impossible to see opportunities. Mount Daluo still had no idea Ming Feizhen had unilaterally decided on the matter in Huzhou. Of course, that meant they had no idea he was behind it, either. He had no qualms declaring so then, but it was now scary as the date edged closer. If Ming Huayu found out Ming Feizhen was behind it and copped beatings from his wives for it, it was dead certain that Ming Huayu would come for him. Then, his shiniangs would come for him… There was no way he could handle all that. Now that it had come to this, his last resort was to create enough confusion that covered his responsibility in the matter.

“This is wonderful.” Forcing a smile, Ming Feizhen continued, “This is fantastic…”

Yu Feiyuan took Ming Feizhen’s hand and wore on a small smile. “You also think it’s great, Brother Feizhen?”

“Yes, absolutely. Make it as grandeur as possible hahaha… Lass, just one invitation won’t be enough. Umm… How many people are you inviting?”

Yu Feiyuan stretched out four fingers.

“Four hundred people?” Ming Feizhen looked a little troubled because it would have taken ages to invite others, so he started plotting other methods of reconciling the situation.

Yu Feiyuan cheerfully shook her head. “All four corners of the world.”

Shifu, how about you just marry her? There’s no way to cancel it!