Chapter 31 Surrender (1/2)

The first day of the first month of the year 1228 in the Ziyun Era.

As the saying went: “A new year, a new beginning.” On the first day of the year, many ordinary families in Qingshan Town were willing to splurge on a meal at the expensive Yunxuan Restaurant.

This year, however, they realized upon arriving at the main entrance to Yunxuan Restaurant that it was not open for business.

There was a notice on the tightly shut door:

Yunxuan Restaurant will be closed temporarily. There will be a special promotion on the first day of reopening—all food and drinks at half price.

—Zhou Donghuang

“Yunxuan Restaurant is closed?”

“I suppose it’s because of what happened yesterday.”

“I heard the chefs, waiters, and servant girls of Yunxuan Restaurant have all fled… except for Fu. I thought it was just a rumor, I didn’t expect it to be true.”

“When Yunxuan Restaurant next opens for business… I fear the boss might no longer be Zhou Donghuang.”

…

After some debate about the matter, the group of people gathered outside Yunxuan Restaurant gradually dispersed, making their way to other smaller restaurants.

Zhou Donghuang had maimed the young masters of the three elite lesser families from the prefecture capital the previous day. The staff of Yunxuan Restaurant, fearful of retaliation due to their association with Zhou Donghuang, had fled as a result.

In the end, big as Yunxuan Restaurant was, only Chief Steward Fu remained. Therefore, Zhou Donghuang allowed Fu to close Yunxuan Restaurant as staying open would be pointless.

All the staff had fled, and without manpower, doing business was impossible.

Of course, not only had the staff of Yunxuan Restaurant left, the servant girls and guards from the Magnolia Guild had also left.

Just like the staff of Yunxuan Restaurant.

Faced with the three elite lesser families of the prefecture capital, they also had no confidence in Zhou Donghuang and were fearful of being dragged down with him and dying at the hands of the three elite lesser families.

Suddenly, the whole compound behind Yunxuan Restaurant had become eerily quiet.

When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter.

Sitting at a stone table in the front courtyard and drumming his fingers on the table, Zhou Donghuang shook his head with a rueful smile. He was not displeased because he could empathize with these people.

Now, all in all, there remained only Granny Lian and Fu other than him and his mother.

“Fu, you have manifested your qi, haven’t you?” Zhou Donghuang asked, smiling at Fu who was standing to the side respectfully.

He was surprised that Fu had stayed. After all, faced with the possibility of death, no one else had been willing to face it together with him when their own lives and those of their families were at stake.

“Boss, Fu has not been blessed with talent and is able to manifest only two or three hundred jin of strength,” Fu replied, scratching his head with an embarrassed smile.

“Who else is in your family?” Zhou Donghuang asked again.

“I am an orphan.”

The smile on Fu’s face faded, and he lowered his eyes, a look of dejection flashing across his face.

“In the future, my mother and I, and Granny Lian as well, consider you our relative,” Zhou Donghuang said with a gleam in his eye. “And you don’t need to call me boss, just call me ‘Young Master.’ Also, during these two days, expend all the qi in your body. I will pass on to you a new technique and give you some qi-gathering elixir… if all goes well, you will be able to attain level-one of Qi-gathering within half a year, regardless of how little talent you have.”

That Fu had stayed proved that he was willing to gamble his life on Zhou Donghuang, and Zhou Donghuang would not shortchange such a person.

He also intended to pass on a technique to Granny Lian and provide her with some qi-gathering elixir.

Difficult times bring out true character. What had happened so far had caused him to no longer view Granny Lian and Fu as outsiders.

“Young Master, don’t trouble yourself.” Fu shook his head with a bitter smile.

In his view, there were only several days left to live, and there was no need for such trouble.

“Why not? You think I cannot deal with those three lesser families?” Zhou Donghuang easily guessed what was on Fu’s mind and was unable to stifle a laugh. “Fu, you stayed… just to wait for death with me?”

“Young Master, those three lesser families are all elite lesser families… they have more than ten level-three adepts of Qi-gathering in total.”

Previously, when Zhou Donghuang had maimed the level-two adept of Qi-gathering from the Li family of the prefecture capital, Fu had feared for Zhou Donghuang and dreaded that people from the Li family would come seeking revenge.

Now that Zhou Donghuang had maimed the young masters of the three elite lesser families, he did not believe that Zhou Donghuang could survive their wrath.

He advised Zhou Donghuang to leave, but his advice had fallen on deaf ears. Therefore, he could only wait for death with Zhou Donghuang.

He had already given his life to Zhou Donghuang the day before when Zhou Donghuang had stood up to defend him.

“You…”

Before Zhou Donghuang could speak, Granny Lian burst into the front courtyard and reported respectfully to Zhou Donghuang, “Young Master, there is someone outside looking for you. He says he is called ‘Freezing Wind.’”

Freezing Wind?