Chapter 1015: Tonight's Main Course

Chapter 1005: Tonight's Main Course

Just then, four waiters from Nuanxiang Restaurant entered, carrying an enormous silver platter, which they placed on a wooden stand next to the table.

This silver platter was specially made. It was five feet long and two and a half feet wide, topped with a massive silver lid.

All three men had excellent hearing and could still hear the sizzling sound of oil coming from under the lid. It had clearly just come out of the oven.

He Lingchuan rubbed his hands together. "We have a chef at Nuanxiang Restaurant who came from Ya Country," he said, "and he's a master at roasting whole pigs and sheep. Tonight's ingredients are exceptionally rare; even I've never had the pleasure of tasting them before."

No one responded, but he continued speaking to himself, completely unfazed.

The waiters quickly withdrew, closing the door behind them.

Inside this spacious private room were also seven or eight guards, including Lü Qiuwei, standing scattered in the corners of the room. Only Qiu Hu stood behind He Lingchuan, first setting up a sound-insulating barrier around the entire room, and then keeping a close eye on the other two guests.

"I'm starving!" He Lingchuan picked up his silver chopsticks and was the first to pick up a piece of sizzling squid pen. "Don't be shy, gentlemen, please enjoy!"

The squid pen was perfectly cooked, combining a smooth, crisp texture with tender softness and a delightful char. Each piece was filled with rich roe in the middle, and paired with its unique sauce, it had successfully become He Lingchuan's second favorite dish in the Yangshan Archipelago.

Wan Qifeng was preoccupied with his thoughts; he had no appetite to pick up his chopsticks.

He Lingchuan urged him, "Eat, why are you just sitting there?"

"Come on, try everything!" He Lingchuan was as enthusiastic as an innkeeper. "This mugwort was just picked from the shores of Ding Lake this morning; it's perfectly in season, crisp, tender, and incredibly fresh."

Wan Qifeng reluctantly picked up a bite of stir-fried mugwort shoots but tasted nothing.

Yu Zecheng slammed the table. "Island Master He, stop pretending!" he demanded. "Where are my subordinates?"

"What subordinates?" He Lingchuan asked, feigning surprise. "Aren't all the people you brought, Master Yu, right here in Nuanxiang Restaurant?"

Yu Zecheng's face was ashen. "Stop playing dumb!" he retorted. "The Yangshan Archipelago is just a tiny speck, and you, a small island master like a barbarian, dare to detain a Bega warrior?"

"Bega warriors?" He Lingchuan turned to Qiu Hu. "Are there any Bega people left on our island?"

Qiu Hu replied earnestly, "According to Ni Zi, there are a few Bega merchants staying on Suoding Island tonight, but none of them are at the Hot Spring Villa."

He Lingchuan said, "Oh. Master Yu brought merchants too? But I don't admit to any crime of detention…"

Before he finished speaking, Yu Zecheng slammed the table again. "He Xiao," he thundered, "don't think that having the State Preceptor of Mou backing you up means anything. The demons Bega pursues and the people Bega wants to kill cannot escape, even if they flee to the ends of the earth! Release my people now, and we can consider this matter settled; otherwise, you will be burned to ashes by the wrath of State Preceptor Frostleaf and Bega!"

Remaining on Suoding Island, from the start of the plan until now, he had never worried about his own safety. What if he joined forces with the Bailong people? What if he intercepted Zhu Erniang? Did this He fellow truly dare to harm a single hair on his head?

The doors and windows were tightly shut, and the sound of the table being slammed echoed inside the room, the reverberations lingering.

He Lingchuan looked at him, slowly letting his smile fade.

"Master Yu wants to show his hand? Fine!" As his face hardened, a fierce, ruthless aura emerged, making him seem like a completely different person from the handsome, gentle Island Master He of moments ago. "Then let's show our hand!"

"A'Hu!" He Lingchuan gestured with his chin toward the enormous, specially made silver platter. "Bring out tonight's main course!"

Qiu Hu immediately walked over and lifted the silver lid.

An extraordinary aroma of roasted meat wafted out, making even the preoccupied Wan Qifeng involuntarily swallow. Just from this rich aroma, it was clear that Nuanxiang Restaurant's chef truly had exceptional skills.

He Lingchuan had said the chef excelled at roasting whole sheep and pigs, but this golden-red, slightly browned creature was much leaner than a pig, and with sharp teeth, it wasn't a sheep either. The fat on its skin was still sizzling.

Yu Zecheng had no idea what this thing was, nor how it related to "showing their hand." He merely looked at it with suspicion. "What is the meaning of this?" he began, "Don't try to confuse…"

He Lingchuan unhurriedly said, "Fubao, announce the dish."

"Distinguished guests, this is our Secret Fragrant Meat!" Wang Fubao announced cheerfully. "Our Chef Wang at Nuanxiang Restaurant excels at making fragrant meat, and he has a family secret recipe. However, we didn't have any dog meat tonight, but the kitchen happened to catch a wolf demon, so we used wolf meat instead. This is truly Chef Wang's specialty—a whole wolf roasted in a hanging oven, guaranteed to be fatty, fragrant, and juicy! Wolf meat is a bit tougher, but it's wonderfully chewy…"

Yu Zecheng was first incredulous, then suddenly stood up, each word squeezed through gritted teeth: "He Xiao, do you truly have a death wish?"

With a few clangs, the nearby Yangshan guards drew their swords, pointing them at the guests.

Wan Qifeng didn't understand what was happening, but Yu Zecheng, of course, knew that among the subordinates he had sent east to capture Zhu Erniang, there had been a wolf demon! This fellow actually took his subordinate, made him into a dish, and then served it to him to eat! This He fellow, so young, was truly malicious and utterly insane!

Besides shock and rage, Yu Zecheng's eyes were filled with disbelief. "You don't want to live, and you want to drag everyone on the island to their graves with you, is that it?!"

"Is there a problem?" He Lingchuan raised an eyebrow, and Qiu Hu immediately picked up a silver knife from the side, sliced off a fragrant piece of rib meat, and offered it to him.

He Lingchuan picked up the meat and put it into his mouth, slowly chewing a couple of times. "Delicious, indeed!" he declared. "Old Min wasn't wrong; high-ranking demons really do taste different!"

"A'Hu, cut Master Yu a good piece too."

Yu Zecheng said, his voice strained, "He Xiao, how dare you turn a Bega warrior into…"

"Yu Zecheng!" He Lingchuan called him by his full name for the first time, using his true power. "Mind your words!" This low growl was like a muffled clap of thunder on a clear day, instantly cutting off Yu Zecheng's next words.

Wan Qifeng was initially bewildered, but looking at the dish, then at the enraged Yu Zecheng and the triumphant Wang Fubao, he seemed to understand something. Wolf meat? A wolf… a wolf demon?

No way, right? Facing a Bega general, how could Island Master He's retaliation be so brutal? This island master must be insane to offend Bega to such an extent!

He Lingchuan, however, turned to look at him. That gaze was bottomless, sending a chill down Wan Qifeng's spine. Turning a Bega demon into a dish and serving it to a Bega envoy was something no ordinary person could do. If Island Master He treated Bega people with such methods, how would he treat them, the Bailong people? How could he have thought Island Master He was gentle and easygoing? In that instant, he truly wanted to slap himself. Naive, foolish! How could he have found such an opponent for the Bailong people!

He Lingchuan pointed at the roasted whole wolf. "This is a stray wild wolf demon," he said. "We also caught several stray barbarians on Suoding Island. Yu Zecheng, are you saying these were all sent by Bega?"

Yu Zecheng opened his mouth to answer, but He Lingchuan spoke first: "You'd better think carefully. The Yangshan Archipelago will not bear such an accusation, nor will I. Therefore, anyone who dares to slander me will not leave this room alive!"

Qiu Hu had already sliced off a few ribs and casually plunged the silver knife into the table with a dull thud. The hilt still trembled.

Yu Zecheng, furious, laughed instead. "Good, good," he scoffed, "you dare to threaten me?"

"Haven't you heard, 'trouble comes from the mouth'?" He Lingchuan said with a cold, fake smile. "Say the wrong thing, and heaven's wrath will strike. Tonight, with both a hurricane and Emperor's Nectar, even the Suoding Island pier might spontaneously explode. This private room might even be struck by lightning and catch fire, with guests unfortunately dying."

"If heaven wants someone to perish, it doesn't matter if you're from Bega or not," He Lingchuan said, picking up another piece of wolf meat and chewing it slowly. "Later, if Bega investigates, I can only say that the celestial phenomena were unusual tonight, and that Master Yu's life was cut short by heaven; truly regrettable."

Yu Zecheng was precisely relying on his identity as a Bega military official to dare stir up trouble on his island, fearless of consequences. He Lingchuan now wanted him to know that tonight, that identity he was so proud of was nothing but a paper-thin facade! Once punctured, his confidence would lose its support, and his arrogance would be riddled with holes.

"Ah yes, by then Master Yu would no longer be among the living, so naturally, he wouldn't know of these subsequent events."

This translated to: Even if Bega comes to settle accounts with me, you will die before I do! If his own life was gone, what reliance or leverage would he have left?

Yu Zecheng stared intently at him. This young man was so calm and collected. Was he bluffing, or did he truly dare to kill him? Should he test him, should he take the gamble?

"Showing your hand would only be to your disadvantage, why bother?" He Lingchuan picked up a piece of crystal pork hock. "Sit down. My neck is getting a bit tired from talking like this."

Yu Zecheng was not Wan Qifeng, who would simply sit when He Lingchuan told him to. Instead, Lü Qiuwei and two other men behind him immediately moved closer and grabbed his shoulders.

"Our master told you to sit!"

Yu Zecheng was not one to simply submit and await his fate. He tried to overturn the table while simultaneously turning sideways and raising his leg to attack the Rongshan men behind him. In an instant, he exchanged two blows with each of the three men, his attacks incredibly fierce. But the table wasn't overturned, because He Lingchuan placed a palm on it, causing the various dishes to merely hum with a vibration, without a single drop of soup spilling.

Halfway through his fight, Yu Zecheng felt a slight breeze by his temple—it was Qiu Hu's fist, as large as a sand bowl, arriving. He took two punches from Qiu Hu, feeling an unusual pain in his wrists. This fellow possessed strange strength. All retreat paths were blocked, and he alone truly couldn't defeat the four opponents.

He Lingchuan called out at the opportune moment: "Stop!"

Qiu Hu's fist indeed stopped just half an inch from Yu Zecheng's chest. The latter pushed Lü Qiuwei away and bitingly said to He Lingchuan, "Do you act without considering the consequences?"

"You're quite considerate of my welfare, but it has nothing to do with you," He Lingchuan said evasively. "Let's be direct: do you want to live or die?"

(Whew, pretending is quite tiring.)

Yu Zecheng did not answer. There was no way to answer that question.

"Is this wolf demon one of Bega's?" He Lingchuan asked, pointing at tonight's main course. "Think carefully before you answer. Yes, or no?"

Qiu Hu also strolled back to the table and pulled out the silver knife. If Yu Zecheng gave an affirmative answer, this knife would find its use.

Yu Zecheng ground his teeth, making a grating sound. This fellow was going too far!

"Why are you so insistent?" He Lingchuan sighed helplessly. "Saying no won't cost you a piece of flesh; but if you say yes, what value would your sacrifice tonight have? Will Bega declare you a martyr, or be proud of you?"

"If you die here, this whole affair will be nothing but a joke." He Lingchuan asked him, "Do you want to use your death to prove your incompetence?"