anovelconsole Chapter 352 The Gao Family Banquet, Gao Zhan's Invitation
Chapter 352 The Gao Family Banquet, Gao Zhan's Invitation
Inside the cubicle, Lü Ci and Lü Qian had anticipated the old man's arrival. In fact, when the old man from the Gao family started cursing, Lü Ci leisurely enjoyed watching his angry expression.
"Oh my, who do we have here? Isn't this Gao Zhan? I didn't invite you to my birthday banquet back then, and I thought you were buried in the Black Soil Ditch long ago. Now you suddenly appear, giving me quite a fright."
Lu Ci sat up from the bed, pointed to the empty seat opposite him, and invited, "Sit down. I may not say anything nice, but you, Gao Zhan, must have wool stuffed in your ears. I have to beg you like this before you'll show your face."
Seeing Lü Ci's act of turning the tables on him, as if he had already forgotten all the bad things he had said behind his back, the old man from the Gao family named "Gao Zhan" could only glare at him angrily and sit down opposite Lü Ci.
His anger subsided somewhat, and then Gao Zhan looked at Lü Ci with amazement and shock. He looked at Lü Ci in disbelief, unsure whether the sharp-looking old man in front of him was the same Lü Ci he knew.
"Lü Erbi?"
"Hey, why is my dear grandson calling me grandpa?"
"Go to hell, you shameless old man."
Seeing that he had been taken advantage of by Lü Ci again, Gao Zhan cursed in annoyance, but he was also certain that the Lü Ci in front of him was indeed real, but the "Hedgehog Lü" he had known decades ago.
Lu Ci had been wanting to tease Gao Zhan a bit when he saw an old friend, and Gao Zhan's sullen and silent state gave him a renewed inspiration to play a prank.
"Xiao Qian, where were we? Oh, I remember now, the Gao family are a bunch of farmers, clinging to this patch of black soil."
Lu Qian picked up where Lu Ci left off, providing a timely transition, "But Grandpa, how much income can farming generate? The Gao family can't have started out selling grain, can they?"
"How can selling grain support the cultivation of the Gao family's extraordinary individuals? They are selling things that are more valuable than grain."
Lu Ci mercilessly exposed the other party's true colors: "We cultivators rely on two things: cultivation and diet. This diet includes not only water, grass, and rice, but also precious medicines containing the essence of heaven and earth."
"Especially for those of us who rely on martial arts, you have to understand that bumps and bruises are inevitable when practicing martial arts. In order to avoid leaving hidden or old injuries, the best medicines can be life-saving."
"The Gao family has a family-inherited skill that can control sunlight. In other words, as you young people would say, they can control electromagnetic waves."
"With sunlight, there must also be fertile land. Over thousands of years, where else on this land can the soil compare to the white mountains and black waters here?"
"So it's not wrong to say that the Gao family has been farming for generations."
Gao Zhan had anticipated and was not surprised by the sarcasm and veiled insults that Lü Ci uttered.
He scrutinized the Lü family grandfather and grandson with his aged eyes, his brows slowly furrowing, his lips parting as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.
"Alright, you old codger, you abdicated to your son Gao Lian more than ten years ago, and you've never crossed the Shanhaiguan Pass in all these years. The Gao family also ignores the other three of us."
"You suddenly showed up at the train today to ambush someone; you must want something from them, right?"
Lu Ci lay back down on the bed, gently tapping his knees with his right hand. "And judging from your inability to defecate, your request must be quite substantial, right?"
"Ugh!"
The teasing from old acquaintances always manages to hit a sore spot unintentionally. Gao Zhan, the former head of the family, suddenly bent over and sighed, "It's all our own doing, harming future generations."
"Hedgehog, you should know what I'm talking about, right?"
"Da Luo Dong Guan - Gu Qi Ting, has your Gao family really managed to acquire this of the Eight Extraordinary Skills?"
Upon hearing this, Lü Ci paused in his actions. Although the older generation had long suspected the whereabouts of the Eight Extraordinary Techniques, the changes in the Gao family over the years had further confirmed their suspicions.
In retrospect, the Gao family's quiet years have not been a blessing for them, and the Eight Extraordinary Techniques may even have brought them worse misfortune than the Lü family.
"Hahaha......"
Lu Ci suddenly laughed, his laughter containing not only mockery of the Gao family but also a great deal of relief for the Lu family's fate.
Sometimes people aren't afraid of bad luck, but they are afraid of no one being more unlucky than themselves.
Seeing Gao Zhan's hesitant and timid appearance, Lü Ci, who was originally somewhat annoyed, suddenly felt relieved. "Gao Zhan, back then you dared to charge even a Japanese regiment, but now you're so fearful and hesitant that you won't even talk about your family's dirty laundry."
"So what? Even if your Gao family is in a bad situation, can it be worse than my Lü family?"
"Hmph, not every family can produce a Celestial Immortal. If it weren't for you, my great-grandson, I should be the one laughing out loud today."
Seeing that Lü Ci had not rejected his test, Gao Zhan relaxed a bit and shook his head unwillingly, saying, "You immoral old hedgehog, have you given up the chance to be reborn as a human in your next life, and yet you still have such a great-grandson in the end."
"I took far more heads from the Japanese devils back then than you did. Why don't I get to have such good fortune? I don't even have a great-grandson!"
"Hmph, you can ask the King of Hell about that after you're buried."
Lu Ci clapped his hands, suppressing his initial amusement, and asked seriously, "So how do you plan to resolve this? Are you going to follow my example and throw a birthday banquet?"
"We can't hold a birthday banquet, but we can hold a family dinner."
Gao Zhan waved his hand to reject Lü Ci's suggestion, then took out two large red papers from his pocket and handed them to Lü Ci in front of him.
The paper is exquisitely made, with a dark, deep red color. The character "高" (high) is outlined in gold thread, and it shimmers with a subtle golden light under the illumination.
"This time, the Gao family is going all out for this family banquet, aren't they?"
When Lü Ci heard the words "family banquet," he was taken aback at first, then solemnly took the two letters, opened them and glanced at them, then closed them again, his expression becoming increasingly serious.
"A grand banquet for the Gao family, a once-in-sixty-year event. The last time we held such a lavish banquet was back in our fathers' generation. Even your abdication was just a small banquet. How can you be so generous as to put in such a show now?"
"We have to come up with something real. This time, we not only need to solve the problems from back then, but also lay the foundation for the future of the Gao family."
Gao Zhan unfolded his sleeve, revealing stacks of large red paper slips hidden inside. They looked exactly the same as the ones in Lü Ci's hand, and were all invitations to be sent to various factions.
After showing the invitation, Gao Zhan gathered his sleeves, glanced at Lü Qian, and then looked up at the window, where the snowscape of the northern land was pure white and flawless.
"I have been observing the world of supernatural beings outside Shanhaiguan for the past two years, and it is becoming increasingly incomprehensible. All three of your families have changed over the years, and my Gao family must also prepare to enter a new era."