Chapter 13: Xingfeng Manor (Part 1)

  "Master, it's time to set off!" Li Da said as he walked into the house. He took a look at Zhang Da Shu and smiled mischievously.

  "Uncle Zhang, we're about to set off soon, are you going to get ready?" I said with a smile to Uncle Zhang, who was still basking in the praise I had just given him. Upon hearing my words, he took a while to react, looked at me and Li Da, cleared his throat, and then replied:

  "I'll be fine, I don't have much stuff." Uncle Zhang stood up and was about to enter the house. Suddenly, Zhang Yu, who had four or five large and small bags hanging from his body, walked out of the house and smiled at his father, Uncle Zhang:

  "Dad, I've got everything ready and packed. We can set off at any time." It seems that Zhang Yu was extremely delighted to hear Zhang Da Shu's sincere expression of fatherly love. The usually cool Zhang Yu couldn't stop smiling today, and it's estimated that the number of times he smiled today exceeded the total number of times he smiled in an average month.

  I looked at them and couldn't help but smile too, the small bamboo house was filled with warmth. I said loudly:

  "Let's go!"

  When we got down the mountain, Wang Ge and Yu Jie had already loaded the large boxes filled with gold and silver into the horse carriage. Seeing us arrive, Yu Jie walked up to us and said:

  "Master, everything is ready. Our carriages are not enough, so we took two from the bandits' hideout. The one in the middle has an iron box inside. Shall we set off immediately? Please give your order!"

  I took a look around at the people, and from then on they became my most basic crew. Our stage was in the capital city, where we would show off our skills, and it was also the place where I, Zhang Xingfeng, would first reveal myself to the Zhang family.

  "Let's go!"

  I let out a loud shout and everyone immediately got into the arranged carriages. The wheels of the horse-drawn carriage began to turn, and we continued our journey to Beijing.

  Father, you just watch, I will let you know my ability, I want you to regret the decision at that time. I sat in the carriage looking out of the window at the blue sky and secretly said to myself

  "Ah! We've finally arrived, haha!" A group of people shouted loudly outside the city gate of Jingcheng, the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

  After nearly six days of rushing, we finally arrived at our destination. The exhaustion of the past six days turned into wild joy in an instant.

  I gaze at this city built with granite boulders and shout in my heart: Capital City, I'm here! Zhang Xingfeng is here!

  We, a group of nine people, entered the Silver Storage Merchant House built during the Ming Dynasty with 850,000 silver notes on us and came to a nearby wine house called Fengyu Building. What we didn't expect was that this wine house turned out to be the best in the entire capital city! Its exterior looked ordinary, but its interior environment was simply too great!

  I really admire the person who designed this wine house, they actually changed "Tian Feng Yin Yu Zhen" into a formation that serves people instead of being used for battle. The entire hall has eight small rooms, each one is a VIP room located in the eight directions of "Kan, Li, Dui, Zhen, Xun, Qian, Kun, Gen". The original "Tian Feng Yin Yu Zhen" was meant to confuse the enemy's vision by creating wind and rain, but after being modified, it makes the entire hall have a gentle breeze blowing through and a hint of rain mist, making the whole place feel refreshing and comfortable. Eating and drinking inside feels unlike anywhere else, it's as if you're in a mountain meadow after the rain.

  We naturally called a small room for VIPs, but there are actually better VIP rooms upstairs, it's just that they're not places you can enter with just money.

  On the table since I saw, my three apprentices didn't dare to eat before me. After saying "you guys do whatever you want", Li Da and Li Er immediately started a rapid eating contest. My big brother Lang Feng, who is only ten years old, is obviously much better than my two seventeen-year-old apprentices. As for my third apprentice, it's even more unnecessary to mention. He usually has a cool expression and only smiles slightly when facing his own people, but this also has its advantages. Just now, as soon as we entered the wine house, more than half of the women in the hall cast admiring glances at him, but he remained calm as if nothing had happened. We immediately pulled him into this private room to escape.

  "Brother Wang, we will be living in the capital for a long time. After you finish eating, take Yu Jie and Li Da and Li Er to find a large manor house. The main thing is that it must be big, expensive or not doesn't matter, we are going to live there for a long time. And most importantly, the foundation must be solid, I plan to build an underground secret room. That's all, let's go take a look after eating. We will soon be living in the guest house behind Fengyu Building, I have already asked Xiao Er to book five high-end rooms for us. Brother Wang and Yu Jie one room, Li Da and Li Er one room, Big Brother and Big Sister-in-law one room, Ah Yu and Zhang Da Shu one room, and I will have one room myself. Alright, that's all, let's eat." I picked up my rice bowl and reached for the food on the table with my chopsticks, but then I froze - half of the dishes on the table were gone, only the dish in front of me was untouched.

  I gazed at my two good apprentices, Li Da and Li Er, who smiled foolishly at me. Looking at their empty rice bowls, I knew who had devoured the food! Just as I was about to scold my two apprentices, they chimed in unison.

  "Master, we don't have enough food. Can you give us some?" Two pairs of big eyes stared at me, full of expectation.

  "Get out, you scoundrels! You're suffocating me!" I shouted loudly. Li Da and Li Er were stunned, staring at me, poor Xixi, it was the first time I had ever scolded them!

  "You guys won't even ask for seconds! You're actually eating my food, what am I supposed to eat?!" I cursed with a smile at the two of them.

  Li Da and Li Er suddenly stiffened, then reacted and shouted loudly: "Thank you, Master! Thank you, Master!" Turning around, Li Da said to the small second who was serving at the door:

  "Waiter, I'll have the 'Braised Pork Knuckle with Soybeans', 'Wild Mushroom Braised Ribs', 'Duck with Soybeans', 'Steamed Chicken Feet', 'Pickled Egg Rolls', 'Roasted Chili Peppers', 'Hanging Roast Pigeon', 'Honey Glazed Pig's Trotters', 'Fresh Fish Sashimi', 'Pig's Hand King', and 'Spicy Snail'."

  I was stunned. The only ones who remained calm at the table were Li Er and Zhang Yu, as well as Uncle Zhang.

  Looking at the smiling Xiao Er, after listening to one side, he immediately shouted out loud from head to toe without missing a single word. I was stunned and could only sigh "The quality of this Fengyu Building's Xiao Er is indeed high, no wonder it's the number one wine house in Beijing."

  After having enough wine and food, Wang Ge and others went to find the villa, I returned to my room to rest comfortably.

  "Knock, knock." "Young master, I'm Wang Ge, can you open the door?"

  Good heavens! I just got into bed and hadn't even taken off my clothes yet! And then Wang Ge came, he was only out for a few minutes!

  Although I was very angry, I still reluctantly went to open the door for my brother Wang.

  "Brother Wang, what's going on? I just got into bed and hadn't even lain down yet when you arrived. Didn't I tell you to go find the villa? Why are you still here?" I vented my dissatisfaction at Brother Wang. Brother Wang and Rain Sister have been watching me grow up, and only in front of them can I throw a tantrum like a young master.

  Young master, I've found the estate. It's just north of this tavern and it's huge. The asking price is 2 million taels of silver. It used to be a prince's mansion, but he died without an heir, so the emperor took it back. The emperor set the price at 2 million taels, but no one has bought it in a year. Mainly because it's expensive and too big, ordinary people don't need it. I heard that the original prince was a fan of formations and had gathered countless formation experts in his lifetime. As a result, the entire backyard and some houses can't be entered because they are surrounded by a large formation, which is also one of the most powerful ones set up by ten top experts at that time. Now, no one can open this formation anymore. This has led to no one buying this house, even if someone buys it, they won't be able to enter the backyard.

  "Oh, it used to be the mansion of a prince, and outside the backyard, there's an even more impressive formation. It's interesting! Alright, I'll go take a look with you right away. Let me tidy up my clothes first, and you go gather everyone else, we'll all go together to check out our new future home, come on, let's hurry!" I said to Wang Ge.

  "Yes, young master, I'll go and arrange it right away." Wang Ge replied to me, turning around to inform the others.

  I walked in front of the copper mirror and carefully tidied up my clothes. Not bad, I still look quite cute as a kid.

  I walked out of my room and found that everyone else was already standing outside waiting for me. I felt a bit embarrassed, so I straightened up and said to them:

  "Come on, let's go take a look at what our future place is like, ah, come on!"

  "Haha, we have our own turf in Beijing too!" Li Da is always like this, I've told him countless times, but it's no use.

  "Big brother, how big a house do you think the master will give us?" Li Er is also as stupid as his big brother, why did I take such an apprentice!

  "Nonsense, as the master's top disciple, of course we will have a very good house, no need to think about it. Alas, having you as my younger brother is really a sorrow for me, Li Da. Luckily I have an excellent master, right Master?" And then Li Da started flattering me again.

  "Shut up!"

  I glanced at them and turned into the north-facing road, having walked less than fifty steps when a huge mansion appeared before me. The two massive stone lions at the entrance were as majestic as they had been back then, seeming to look down haughtily on those entering the royal palace.

  Two bailiffs were leaning against the gate on both sides, with two large knives still tightly held in their arms, and they had already dozed off to sleep.

  "Hey, you two officials, we want to buy this estate! Hey!" Yu Jie ran up and said to the two bailiffs, but that last shout was really too loud, poor two bailiffs!

  "Who, who disturbed my good dream? Ah, what did you just say? You said you want to buy this estate, is that true?" The older bailiff found it hard to believe that these people in front of him would buy this large estate which had been on sale for a year without finding a buyer.

  "Really, I'm telling you clearly, we're going to buy this estate."

  "Heavens, I can finally leave this place! A whole year, a full year of being battered by wind and rain, the heavens have finally opened their eyes!" The bailiff shouted loudly. The other bailiff beside him muttered to himself:

  "I can finally leave here and start my own business, my wife hasn't let me into bed for half a year already"

  We were all stunned for a moment before we realized that they were just too excited.

  "Ajun, hurry up and go to the government office to report, I'll bring a few guests into the palace for a tour. Everyone, please follow Xiaode inside to take a closer look!" This guy just woke up and was yelling at us, now he's suddenly putting on a humble attitude. It seems he also knows that we're not people he can afford to offend, since we're the ones who bought this estate!

  The official took out the key and opened the gate of the former royal palace. We all walked together towards our future home!