Chapter 269

Shang Yan Fei holds the clan banquet outdoors in a roomy, rather old courtyard, with a dozen or so tables arranged in a circle. Three sons are already seated and talking when Wei Yang leads Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing in: Shang Qiu Niu, the eldest at nearly thirty, calm and closed eyed; Shang Chao Feng, who runs the city’s Gu fighting arenas; and Shang Pu Lao, who manages the red light zone. Pu Lao has already picked up some talk of why the banquet was called, and his ears catch the newcomers’ footsteps before the gate even opens. Wei Yang explains the courtyard’s history, that Shang Yan Fei lived here after stepping back from the young master position under pressure from rivals, and keeps it as a reminder for every banquet since. He seats the guests without naming them, and the three sons, too sharp to press an introduction no one offers, only exchange looks of bewilderment. Fang Yuan gives the false names Hei Tu and Bai Yun. ^{ch. 269}

More young masters arrive as evening nears, each named for a domain they run: gambling dens, restaurants and silk stores, auctions, substitute refinement, and Shang Ya Zi, already known to Fang Yuan from the recipe sale. Shang Bi An rushes in last, thin and sharp eyed, in charge of the city guard. Shang Yan Fei then arrives in a blood colored flash of flame, white robed with gold cuffs, his scarlet hair loose to his waist. He waves seven colored lights down onto the tables, a gourmet food box Gu, a rank five Gu for storing and preserving delicacies. Fang Yuan recognizes it from his previous life. Shang Yan Fei fed tens of thousands of soldiers with it during the righteous alliance’s siege of Yi Tian mountain, back when Fang Yuan, using his advantage as a transmigrator, had risen only to a small boss of the lowest level in a caravan sub-branch moving supplies for that same alliance. Seeing the Gu years early, now as an honored guest, is by his own reckoning the enormous advantage his reborn life holds over the one he remembers. ^{ch. 269}

Shang Yan Fei orders his children to toast the guests, starting with the eldest, and each son in turn offers a short greeting as they drink; Bai Ning Bing drinks only water. More of Shang Yan Fei’s children are introduced in passing around the table, among them the tenth son Shang Bi Xi, who looks plain and unremarkable but whom Fang Yuan knows to be hiding strength several times greater than his own. Shang Chi Wen, the sixteenth daughter, enters apologizing for lateness. Once every guest has toasted, Shang Yan Fei raises his own cup to Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing and thanks them for protecting Xin Ci the whole way, the reason, he says, that he now has a new daughter. Everyone present is stunned by the announcement. ^{ch. 269}