Chapter 61
Book 6 Chap 5 – Making a strange encounter
After the duel, King Zhuangxiang summoned Xiang Shaolong and w.a.n.g Jian into the Palace to offer his encouragement. He also praised Lu Buwei in public, impressed with his wonderful suggestion.
That night Lu Buwei held a private feast at his residence and the only people invited were Xiang Shaolong, Wu Yingyuan and Meng Ao. On his side, besides Lu Buwei himself, there was only his trusted aide Tu Xian and a few respected houseguests. Li Si is still not qualified enough to be part of such high cla.s.s and intimate gatherings.
During the feast Lu Buwei was in high spirits and kept encouraging Xiang Shaolong to drink more.
Meng Ao witnessed Xiang Shaolong’s extraordinary swordsmans.h.i.+p and how he faced death heroically and was thoroughly impressed and changed his opinion of him.
Wu Yingyuan was even more ecstatic on seeing how his beloved son-in-law has made such a great contribution.
Wine was pa.s.sed for several rounds as the singers and dancers have ended their entertainment.
Lu Buwei chortled and told Xiang Shaolong who was sitting opposite him, "Recently the Qis have sent me 3 song courtesans who are all rare beauties and well versed in music, chess and dance. A beauty is a match with a hero, I will in turn offer them as gifts to Shaolong, Mister Wu and General Meng, please do not decline."
Wu Yingyuan and Meng Ao were secretly thinking that the beauties Lu Buwei is giving out must be good and expressed their thanks happily.
Xiang Shaolong thought to himself that he already cannot handle his beautiful wives and pretty maids at home and he’s also not used to the thinking of the people during the warring states period where they regard women as tools or decorations so he hurriedly rejected, "Shaolong is appreciative of Premier’s kind intentions but the journey to Handan is like an arrow already pulled on the bow and must be fired. Shaolong does not wish to be distracted by beauties for now and I hope Premier will forgive me."
Lu Buwei saw that he is not greedy for beauties at all and a sense of respect welled up in his heart. On top of that he was not conceited about his feat, so Lu Buwei said with a smile, "Then I will ask Mister Wu to keep her for you and Shaolong can enjoy yourself after you’ve captured Zhao Mu."
There was uproar as everyone made fun of Wu Yingyuan, saying that he might not be able to hold himself back and use the beauty for himself instead and the atmosphere became festive.
Xiang Shaolong saw that there’s no way he could object so he can only accept the gift with a wry smile.
Meng Ao asked, "When does Shaolong plan to leave for Zhao."
Xiang Shaolong thought of Ji Yanran and wish that he could set off immediately. He took a glance at Lu Buwei’s houseguests and hesitated.
Lu Buwei knew what he was concerned about and said with a smile, "It’s all our own people in here, Shaolong can just speak your mind."
Xiang Shaolong said in a low voice, "We’ll set off immediately as soon as Xiao Jun recovers."
Lu Buwei nodded his head and said, "I will bring this matter up to his Majesty and when the time comes we’ll just find an excuse, maybe say that we want you to go somewhere on a mission, then Shaolong will be able to secretly go towards the Zhao border without anyone noticing."
Right now he has full confidence in Xiang Shaolong and although he does not know how Xiang Shaolong intends to capture Zhao Mu alive, he truly believes that he will succeed.
Lu Buwei changed the subject and said, "Xiao Jun must be avenged, how does Shaolong plan to deal with that Qiu Risheng and Guo Xing?"
Wu Yingyuan seems a little worried about this as he asked, "If this matter gets out of hand, will his Majesty be displeased?"
Lu Buwei replied with a laugh, "Don’t worry! I have brought this matter up to his Majesty earlier and he is also very unhappy with Qiu Risheng’s despicable methods so Shaolong can go ahead and do whatever you want. I will bear responsibility if anything happens."
Xiang Shaolong was extremely furious that Jing Jun was almost killed and his gaze turned icy as he said coldly, "Shaolong knows what to do now." After staying in this era for such a long time, he is long familiar that a lot of matters have to be settled through brute force, otherwise sooner or later he will be the one who will be in danger. If not for the fact that Jing Jun managed to escape this time, otherwise they won’t even know who has killed him. So he can’t be too bothered by allowing himself to become Lu Buwei’s fighter for once.
If he does not teach the other party a hard lesson, the same thing can happen to Tao Fang or Wu Yingyuan and by then it’ll be too late for regrets.
The feast continued amidst such festive atmosphere until both the hosts and guests have drunk their fill before they all went home.
On the way back Wu Yingyuan was feeling tipsy as he said with a sigh, "To have such a fine son-in-law like Shaolong, not only is it Tingfang’s good fortune but also the Wu family’s good luck. If not for Shaolong, how can we possibly have such lavish lives in Qin."
Xiang Shaolong has developed deep feelings of his astute father-in-law. Almost right from the start, Wu Yingyuan has supported this son-in-law of his without asking for anything in return and even married his beloved daughter to him, so how can he not feel grateful.
Hot tears flowed out of