Chapter 783 - 783: Night Pearl
Liu Yuan had finished dealing with the affairs on his side, said goodbye to Ye Qing, and went back to attend to other matters.
Just then, as evening arrived and everyone had spent the whole afternoon tiring themselves and hardly eating at noon, they were almost all starving; it was just the right time for dinner.
Now that the South and North Xingyi Gate were united, although there had been a fight, as the saying goes, "No fight, no acquaintance." Having merged into one, the Southern Xingyi School as hosts had taken good care of the members from the Northern Xingyi School, who were naturally very grateful. This merger, with Wei Hua from the Southern Xingyi School becoming the new sect leader meant that the future of the Xingyi School would be primarily based on the Southern Xingyi School, which pleased its members too.
The mood was uplifted on both sides, and it was just the right moment to have a drink together. Originally, Wei Hua had planned to organize a meal at the Xingyi Martial Arts School, but just then, Li Lianshan returned from the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena, and upon hearing of Ye Qing's return, immediately planned a banquet to welcome him back. Ye Qing, not one to stand on ceremony, asked Li Lianshan to set up a few extra tables and invite the people from the Xingyi School to join them.
The place where Li Lianshan set the tables was at his newly opened hotel. Now, a third of the entertainment venues in Shenchuan City were owned by Li Lianshan, and these venues were the most profitable ones in the whole city. The remaining venues, though not owned by Li, were more or less under his control. Thus, it could be said that Li Lianshan had truly created an unprecedented era in Shenchuan City, becoming the real underground ruler of the city.
Of course, the key reason Li Lianshan could become this ruler was Ye Qing. After all, it was Ye Qing who had ceded this position to him. Li Lianshan and Ye Qing were now like brothers, hardly distinguishing between each other.
When Ye Qing and his group arrived at Li Lianshan's hotel, everything was already prepared. Li Lianshan's hotel was very large, having renovated an entire seven-story building into a hotel. And Li Lianshan had reserved the entire seventh floor for the Xingyi School members to dine.
The decor of Li Lianshan's hotel was incredibly upscale, having spent a lot of money to have the best designer, recommended by Liu Yuan, work on it. Therefore, as soon as they entered, even someone like Wei Hua, who lived in Shenchuan City, couldn't help but marvel at the luxurious atmosphere. As for the people from the Northern Xingyi School, there was even less need to say how astounded they were, their eyes wide open in amazement—they had never seen such a luxurious place.
"Big brother, look at that big pearl on the ceiling, isn't it beautiful? Could it be a Night Pearl?" a member of the Northern Xingyi School whispered.
"How could that be a Night Pearl? That's a light bulb, it's electric," Du Fei carefully replied, not really understanding these things himself, but he was sure it wasn't a Night Pearl.
"A light bulb can look this good?" Several of the younger brothers widened their eyes in surprise; they had of course seen light bulbs before, but they had never seen ones like this.
In fact, even Ye Qing was taken aback by this big pearl, which didn't look very bright but was really dazzling. To think it was a light bulb; he had never seen such a light bulb before. Moreover, in such a splendid setting, placing a light bulb in the central position seemed a bit out of place.
Just then, Li Lianshan received a message and hurried down from upstairs. His left arm was still wrapped in bandages; although it had been awkwardly reattached, this left arm was virtually useless now, and he found it extremely difficult to move. Ye Qing had always felt somewhat guilty about this situation, but Li Lianshan seemed quite okay with it—trading an arm for entire control over Shenchuan City was worth it after all. Many gang founders risked their lives and ended up only grabbing a small territory; his sacrifice was indeed minor in comparison.
"Damn, you're finally back!" Li Lianshan punched Ye Qing as he came down and said, "I thought you were planning to settle in Xi Hang!"
"How could that be?" Ye Qing laughed, "Shenchuan City has so many brothers of mine, I definitely had to come back!"
"Now that's a proper human response!" Zhao Chengshuang, who had walked in at some point, jumped in at just the right moment. Next to Zhao Chengshuang was a girl, and upon closer look, it turned out to be Huo Pingping.
Seeing Zhao Chengshuang and Huo Pingping arm in arm, Ye Qing widened his eyes in surprise and exclaimed, "This... this... what's going on here?"
"This is what you call true love, you wouldn't understand!" Zhao Chengshuang said proudly. Just as he was about to boast, he was slapped by Huo Pingping, who said, "What true love; you're just relentless. I'm here to console you out of pity, get it?"
"Yes, yes, consolation, consolation…" Zhao Chengshuang quickly nodded and bowed, then covered his mouth with his hand and mouthed something that looked like "consolation" to Ye Qing and Li Lianshan.
Seeing the two behaving like this, Ye Qing and Li Lianshan couldn't help but laugh. Zhao Chengshuang was too flirtatious and indeed needed someone who could keep him in check; Huo Pingping's fiery temper should handle him well, which would be good for him.
When brothers meet, they inevitably chat for a while. Li Lianshan and Zhao Chengshuang had no fondness for Wei Hua and the people from the Southern Xingyi School, except they were somewhat okay with Xiang Yunpeng and Du Tianyi. So, they only greeted Xiang Yunpeng and Du Tianyi, mostly ignoring the people from the Southern Xingyi School.
In the end, it was Ye Qing who first interrupted Zhao Chengshuang and Li Lianshan's conversation and arranged for the Xingyi School members to go upstairs, thereby alleviating the awkward atmosphere.
"By the way, Old Li, what kind of light have you installed on the ceiling? It looks pretty," Ye Qing pointed at the big pearl above and asked.
"What light?" Li Lianshan looked up and immediately widened his eyes, exclaiming, "Damn, this... this isn't a light, it's a Night Pearl!"
"What?" Ye Qing immediately widened his eyes and said, "Are you kidding? This... this is a Night Pearl? How can there be such a big Night Pearl!"
Li Lianshan instantly became interested and said, "I don't know either, I found this at Li Wenyuan's, that crafty old fox's place. Initially, I just thought it was pretty, but didn't know what it was. Later, I had someone appraise it and they told me it was a Night Pearl that attracts wealth. I specially hung it here in my big hotel. Hey, don't doubt it, every time someone comes in, they specifically look at this Night Pearl and ask about it, and the popularity here has soared!"
"Really?" Ye Qing still doubted it. He had heard of Night Pearls, but never imagined they actually existed! And such a big one, how much could it be worth?
"Who did you have appraise this?" Ye Qing asked.
Li Lianshan pointed to Old Wang Ba, who was munching on a banana nearby, and said, "There, it's Wang Baye!"
"Gosh..." Ye Qing almost spit out a mouthful of blood on Li Lianshan, believing Old Wang Ba, that old swindler? No one even knows what this guy does, and he can appraise antiques? You should know, when this guy was broke, he even squatted on the streets, filled walls, cured corns, and helped kids with their homework. Antiques appraisal, what a joke?
Feeling everyone's gaze on him, Old Wang Ba stuffed the last bit of banana into his mouth and mumbled, "It's a Night Pearl, it is a Night Pearl, Eighth Master doesn't make mistakes, absolutely not!"
"See, Eighth Master said it himself!" Li Lianshan spoke with a proud look.
"You see, I told you it's a Night Pearl!" someone from Northern Xingyi School muttered softly.
"Wow, such a big Night Pearl, how much money is that!"
"Who knows, probably sell you and still couldn't afford it!"
"As if selling you would afford it!"
The group from Northern Xingyi School all grumbled softly, clearly amazed by the Night Pearl.
Seeing so many people around, Ye Qing couldn't bear to expose Old Wang Ba, only weakly saying, "Since it's a Night Pearl, Li, aren't you afraid of someone stealing it by placing it here? There's a saying, don't flaunt your wealth publicly; this seems a bit too ostentatious!"
"Afraid of what!" Li Lianshan said, "For this Night Pearl, I've gone all out, not only buying huge insurance but also having a bank set up a security system for me, foolproof. Even if it gets stolen, the insurance company will compensate me, so I won't suffer a loss. Besides, in Shenchuan City now, who dares to steal my stuff!"
Ye Qing was even more speechless and said, "Well, you'd better keep a close eye on it, don't let it get accidentally damaged."
Li Lianshan patted his chest even more, saying, "No worries, it's hung so high, unless someone can fly, they can't even think about smashing it."
Ye Qing was completely speechless and no longer talked about this matter, just lowering his head and running upstairs.
Along the way, Li Lianshan excitedly introduced everyone to the renovation of his building. It was evident that Li Lianshan had spent a lot on the renovations of this building, looking utterly splendid, truly astonishing. Ye Qing had been in Shenchuan City for quite some time, and he thought the renovations at Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena were already impressive. But Li Lianshan's building was even more beautifully decorated, absolutely stunning!
After walking for a while, Ye Qing suddenly felt something was off, turned his head towards Li Lianshan, and said, "Old Li, I was only in Xi Hang for a week, and your place got this nicely done up? It can't be that quick!"
"Hey, you hit the nail on the head there!" Li Lianshan immediately smiled and said, "Truly, if I had to choose the location, sign the contract, and manage the design myself, it really would take a while. I wouldn't have enough time in just over a month. But, what you don't know is that I had bought this building long ago, I had my eye on this place already. Initially, I just wanted to fix it up simply, planning to open a hotel to make some money. However, as it developed to this stage, I realized it couldn't be just a simple fix-up. The foundation was already set, and I asked Liu Yuan to come over, pulled in more than a dozen construction teams to work together. Three days, in just three days, everything was done. Ye Zi, Liu Yuan really gets things done well, I'm planning to let him handle the renovation of the other few venues I own!"