Honghua Pavilion

When there was a commotion at the entrance of Zhenyuan Escort Agency, the second floor of a cloth store not far away noticed it. A beautiful woman got up from behind the desk and came to the window to take a look.

The woman was wearing a waist-length ruqun (a traditional Chinese dress). Her upper body was dressed in a dark red collared shirt that wrapped around her full bosom. The waistband was just right to hold in her waist, and there were green beads hanging from it to weigh down the skirt. The skirt was a light white pleated skirt. Her eyes were almond-shaped, and her lips were painted with vermilion rouge. Coupled with her intellectual temperament, she was beautiful and at the same time, exuded a sense of stability and maturity.

Seeing Ye Jingtang, who had come to cause trouble, the woman didn't get angry. Instead, her naturally charming almond-shaped eyes lit up:

"He has a noble and solemn bearing, being both wild and chivalrous, as well as gentle and refined... What a handsome appearance."

The maid behind her stood on tiptoe and looked into the distance: "Yes, he's really handsome. But he looks a bit simple-minded. He didn't even find out the background before challenging the escort agency. Should we say hello to him, in case Chen Biao is too harsh..."

Peng—

After a soft sound, Chen Biao was pinned down, and the street fell silent, making the two women speechless.

"My father is Pei Yuanfeng..."

When the clear and resonant voice came, the flirtatious look in the beautiful woman's eyes when she was looking at the handsome young man instantly turned into a serious gaze, and then it showed a burning eagerness like "encountering rain after a long drought".

However, this reaction didn't mean that the beautiful woman had improper thoughts about Ye Jingtang.

The woman was called "Third Miss Pei", and her real name was Pei Xiangjun. Judging from her attire, she seemed to be a female family member of an ordinary merchant family. But beneath this beautiful and gentle appearance, she had another identity—the current leader of the prestigious martial arts family in the martial arts world, Honghua Pavilion!

The Great Wei Dynasty had been established for less than sixty years. Now, with an empress ruling, there were powerful enemies eyeing from the north, and within the country, the princes had ulterior motives. In this chaotic situation, an unprecedentedly prosperous "martial arts world" was born.

Those who could dominate a region in the martial arts world could be called grandmasters. Among the grandmasters, the "One Immortal, Two Saints, and Eight Great Champions" were the eleven most powerful people in the world. Even the imperial court had to treat them with caution.

Pei Cang, the previous leader of Honghua Pavilion, was the "Champion of the Spear" among the Eight Great Champions and ranked seventh in the world. This showed the prominent status of Honghua Pavilion in the martial arts world.

Pei Cang, the Champion of the Spear, was Pei Xiangjun's master and Pei Yuanfeng's biological father. Calculating it, he was also Ye Jingtang's adoptive grandfather.

Pei Yuanfeng was originally the second son of the Pei family. He had amazing talent since childhood, but he had a dispute with his family and left home, vowing not to return until he became famous in the world.

The result was obvious. Pei Yuanfeng remained unknown until his death. The reason he didn't teach Ye Jingtang real martial arts skills was not that he didn't want to, but that he didn't want Ye Jingtang to repeat his mistakes.

After Pei Yuanfeng's death, asking Ye Jingtang to leave home with nothing and go to the capital city was not a test of Ye Jingtang's character, but a "visiting card" to the family.

Normal people wouldn't be so "loyal to their feelings and keep their promises" as to listen to a dead person's words and give up their family property to become a homeless wanderer.

But Pei Yuanfeng knew that Ye Jingtang would do it. His action was just to let the family see this so that Ye Jingtang could enter Honghua Pavilion and become the next leader and the "Champion of the Spear"—this was the real inheritance that Pei Yuanfeng left to his son.

However, Pei Yuanfeng might not have expected that the Pei family was not doing much better than he was now.

Pei Cang passed away many years ago. The eldest son inherited the position but died at the hands of an opponent. The title of "Champion of the Spear" changed hands, and it could only be taken over by Pei Xiangjun, his little apprentice, as the leader of Honghua Pavilion.

Pei Xiangjun was a woman. Although her martial arts skills were not low, she was far from the level of the "Eight Great Champions" and simply couldn't shoulder the responsibility of leading a top martial arts family in the martial arts world. As a result, with a young leader and the doubts of the people, the prestige of Honghua Pavilion plummeted.

Outside, martial arts forces were trying to annex their financial resources, and inside, the various hall masters were vying for power. Pei Xiangjun's position had long been unstable. She even sent people to secretly look for the whereabouts of the "Second Master", hoping that he could come back to support the situation.

Pei Yuanfeng's death and burial were obviously a bad news for the Pei family. But Ye Jingtang's return to the "family" was already a glimmer of hope for the crumbling Pei family. The Pei family now desperately needed a brilliant "young master" to be the stabilizing force and suppress the internal and external troubles of Honghua Pavilion!

That's why, after Pei Xiangjun found out that Ye Jingtang had good martial arts skills and learned his identity, she showed such an "eager" expression.

Seeing that Ye Jingtang was about to leave without saying goodbye and passed by the window, Pei Xiangjun pushed open the side window on the street. With a gentle push of her slender hand, she pushed the support rod down.

Dangdangdang~~~

Ye Jingtang, who was leading the horse and passing by on the street, raised his head. The reflection of the beauty by the window appeared in his eyes, but he didn't show the same amazement as an ordinary man:

"Why are you so careless, miss?"

Pei Xiangjun was very beautiful, and few men could remain indifferent when they saw her. Seeing this, she secretly nodded and pretended to be displeased:

"You're so impolite. My name is Pei Xiangjun. I'm your adoptive father's junior sister. Everyone in the family calls me Third Miss. You're the son of the Second Brother. Now that you're back home, why are you leaving without saying hello?"

My adoptive father's junior sister...

My aunt?

Ye Jingtang only knew that his adoptive father's family was in the capital city from his adoptive father's letter and knew nothing else.

His adoptive father asked him to give all the family property to the Pei family. As a man of seven feet, since he had given away the family property, he naturally wouldn't live under someone else's roof and rely on them for food.

But the seemingly delicious "soft rice" (referring to relying on others for a comfortable life)...

He definitely couldn't accept it!

After Ye Jingtang understood Pei Xiangjun's identity, he raised his hand and saluted:

"I pay my respects to you, aunt. My adoptive father asked me to deliver these things. Now that the matter is done, I still need to go to the yamen to exchange for a token. After I settle down in the capital city, I will come to your residence to pay my respects."

These words were obviously a polite refusal, indicating that he didn't want to visit.

But the big white bird perched on Ye Jingtang's shoulder wasn't so polite.

Hearing that she was a relative, the bird, which was very friendly, flew up to the window on the second floor and landed on Pei Xiangjun's rather ample chest. It opened its beak:

"Jiji~"

This snow-white bird was Ye Jingtang's hunting bird, named "His Majesty Bai" (the character "bai" here implies "free-riding" in Chinese, meaning a person who takes advantage of others). According to reason, it was a bird, but it had grown into a ball.

Ye Jingtang didn't know exactly what breed it was. When he was drying grains at home when he was young, this bird came to mooch food. He caught it and started raising it.

He originally thought it was some kind of "auspicious beast in the mountains and swamps", but after raising it for so many years, he found that besides being able to eat, sleep, and act cute, this big fat chicken had no special abilities. Sometimes it even liked to act stupid.

Just like now, it ran up on its own initiative to beg for food. It landed on the woman's chest. Its little claws slightly sank into the soft fabric. Presumably, it felt that the texture was good, so it stepped back and forth twice. With its eyes shining brightly, it turned back to look at Ye Jingtang:

"Jiji~"

It probably meant—It's so soft~

This action made Pei Xiangjun's face turn red. She quickly picked up the naughty bird:

"Eee~ This bird is so clingy~"

Ye Jingtang looked embarrassed and scolded it:

"Come back."

"Jiji..."

Only then did the bird obediently fly down from the second floor and land on Ye Jingtang's shoulder.

Pei Xiangjun smoothed her clothes and continued:

"You'd better just call me Third Miss. Calling me aunt makes me sound old. The Second Brother is really something. He adopted you as his son but asked you to bring the family property here. If the Pei family accepts it, we'll definitely be criticized by the neighbors. Since you're here, we're family. You don't need to be so polite. You'd better take the money back. From now on, you'll be the young master of our Pei family. The escort agency outside will be allocated to you for operation. What do you think?"

Ye Jingtang sold the escort agency in the small border town and got more than one thousand taels of silver. It might not seem like a lot, but according to the purchasing power, it was roughly equivalent to more than one million yuan in his previous life. For an ordinary person, it was by no means a small amount. And the price of an escort agency located in the capital city was at least ten times higher.

A real man doesn't accept charity. Regarding this offer, Ye Jingtang directly declined:

"Thank you for your kindness, Third Miss. But since my adoptive father's will is arranged like this, I won't go against it. My adoptive father's relatives and friends are my relatives and friends. If you need anything in the future, you can just ask Escort Yang to inform me. These escort guards are all old members of the family. I hope you will treat them well in the future. I'll take my leave now."

Pei Xiangjun saw that Ye Jingtang was honest and kept his promises and didn't want to accept gifts without merit. She liked him even more in her heart. She didn't try to keep him any longer. After some more polite words, she watched Ye Jingtang leave.

Soon, one person, one horse, and one bird merged into the crowd on the street and disappeared at the street corner.

Pei Xiangjun's smile gradually faded and turned into deep thought until Ye Jingtang disappeared from her sight.

The maid Xiuhe, who had been standing behind, finally showed her head and whispered:

"Miss, did the Second Master send us such a precious treasure back? Young Master Ye is really handsome. When he looked at me just now, my legs went weak..."

Pei Xiangjun narrowed her eyes slightly and looked a bit displeased, but soon nodded:

"I really didn't expect that the Second Brother could adopt such a handsome adoptive son. Just looking at him makes me feel distracted... Not to mention his martial arts skills and character, just with his appearance, he can surely make a name for himself in the capital city."

Xiuhe giggled: "What about Young Master Ye's talent? Have you seen through his底细, Miss?"

Pei Xiangjun thought carefully: "His breath is as chaotic as tangled vines, but he has a majestic internal energy. His punches and kicks have no pattern at all, but his muscles and bones are no less powerful than those of a dragon or a tiger. The Second Brother should have only laid the foundation for him and didn't teach him real martial arts skills. At only eighteen years old, he has such a level. He can be called a prodigy. As long as someone is willing to teach him real martial arts skills, it's not impossible for him to become famous in the martial arts world in just a few years."

A serious look appeared in Xiuhe's eyes: "So what should we do now? Should we find an opportunity to tell Young Master Ye about the affairs of the pavilion and teach him the spear skills and cultivate him as the future young master?"

Pei Xiangjun slightly shook her head: "He followed the will and delivered the family property from a thousand li away. He seems to have excellent character, but it's hard to know a person's heart even if you know his face. Martial arts skills are techniques for killing, and they can't be passed on lightly. The scale of Honghua Pavilion is too large. The choice of the future leader can't be decided by me alone. We still need to observe him for a while."

"But Young Master Ye seems to have a very strong character and doesn't want to live under the Pei family's roof. How can we observe him?"

"Young people who are new to the martial arts world are all proud. I'll go and persuade him tonight, and he'll soften up..."

"Miss."

"Hmm?"

"These words sound a bit strange..."

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