Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

Liu Zhu left the restaurant and headed down the city's main street, keeping an eye out for the manor Elder Chu had described. After a couple minutes Liu Zhu spotted the lion statue Elder Chu had mentioned and examined the property it was sitting in front of. The manor was smaller than the Liu Clan's estate, but it was still fairly large for being inside a city. Surrounding it were a few similar homes, and employees and servants could occasionally be seen tending to the premises through the gates.

A tired-looking guard approached the gate upon noticing Liu Zhu, and after asking for his name and purpose immediately opened them. Once he was let into the estate Liu Zhu was escorted to the drawing room, where Elder Chu and his friend were currently chatting. Upon entering the two glanced towards Liu Zhu, and Elder Chu's friend introduced himself as one of Elder Chu's subordinates in the last war against Hiqui Sect, Fang Qi.

"I'm sorry for the wait, I'm afraid it'll be a few more hours until I'm done here Young Master Liu." Liu Zhu nodded, not minding. "Alright then, just tell me when you're done." As Liu Zhu went to leave Fang Qi mentioned that Liu Zhu might get along with his grandson, and not thinking much of it Liu Zhu said he'd speak to him while he waited for them to finish their reminiscing.

Liu Zhu made his way upstairs to speak with Fang Qi's grandson and kill some time, but saw something very surprising along the way. A door on the upper floors was wide open, and glancing through Liu Zhu caught sight of a very familiar figure treating a few wounds on his face. Liu Zhu boisterously laughed at the sight, and the figure immediately turned towards Liu Zhu, shocked.

"I can't believe you followed me here! I-I'll call the guards! I'm not afraid of you!" Sitting there treating his wounds was Fang Wu, the arrogant teenager that Liu Zhu gotten into a fight with not even an hour before. Liu Zhu chuckled as he heard this, unable to hide his amus.e.m.e.nt given the situation. "If you're not afraid of me why would you call the guards? Anyways, are you Fang Qi's grandson?" In response to Liu Zhu's question Fang Wu put up a proud front, which immediately clashed with his miserable appearance. "Aha, I see you've heard of me. Yes, I am Fang Wu, grandson of Fang Qi and son of Fang Zhuchong. You came hoping to apologize after hearing about my grandfather then? I'm not a man to hold grudges, so..."

As Fang Wu ranted on, Liu Zhu interrupted him. "No, I'm not here to apologize to you. My name is Liu Zhu and one of my family's elders was your father's superior. Fang Qi suggested that I speak with you while they talked." Upon hearing this Fang Wu's face fell slightly, but he soon recovered. "I see. Well, as I said I don't hold grudges, so I suppose we can let bygones be bygones and start on the right foot, can't we?"

Seeing Fang Wu try to ignore what happened, Liu Zhu was amused. He laughed as he responded. "God, you're the most shameless person I've met." Fang Wu's face soured as he said this, but after hearing that Liu Zhu's family had one of his grandfather's war buddies as an elder, he didn't dare retort. "Hahahaha... yes, I suppose it is a bit shameless. I... I apologize, so can we forget about this?"

Figuring that this was the most entertainment he'd get while he was waiting, Liu Zhu continued leading Fang Wu on. "Mmmm... I suppose we can forget about it. Still, I do feel bad about beating you up." Pretending to come to a realization, he snapped his fingers and then looked towards Fang Wu. "I figured it out! You apologized, so I should apologize too. I fought back instead of letting you do as you wished, so clearly I'm at fault too. I mean, a child my age beating up my senior like that is truly regrettable..." Fang Wu looked at Liu Zhu, his eye slightly twitching, as Liu Zhu continued to mock him. "I'll just pop in with your grandfather and tell him I'm sorry for hurting you that much, alright?" Fang Wu's face paled as he heard this, and he stuttered as he replied. "T-There's no need to do that, al-alright? I-I'm fine without an apology, really!"

Liu Zhu pretend to be guilty and shook his head. "No, no, that really can't do. How could I leave without telling your grandfather everything that happened- I'd really feel bad." Fang Wu gritted his teeth, a distraught expression on his face, before Liu Zhu continued. "Well... maybe you could convince me otherwise." Fang Wu stared at Liu Zhu, looking confused, before Liu Zhu decided to make his intentions more obvious.

"Right now I'm a bit short on funds. Maybe a couple dozen gold coins would make me forget about everything." Fang Wu lost his composure as he heard this, shooting up from his chair and exclaiming "Shameless!" Liu Zhu sighed as he heard this. "Pot, meet kettle." Fang Wu's face reddened after hearing this, but he regained his composure after a few moments and sat down. "I have 20 gold coins on hand. I can give you 15."

Liu Zhu was satisfied upon hearing this, but realizing that he had the chance at a decent payday, kept pushing. "Well... alright, I won't tell him about our fight. Still, what about that woman? What's your grandfather's stance on that?" Fang Wu's expression grew even more frustrated as Liu Zhu continued. "Or does your family approve of acting like that? Did your grandfather teach you to bully people?" Fang Wu loudly swore before interjecting. "Shut up, shut up. I don't care anymore, I can get 25 gold coins if you give me a moment. Just don't tell that old man whatever you do, I'm not getting shipped off to join the military. I know that old war nut would do it if he found out."

Liu Zhu smiled at Fang Wu and put out his hand. "Let's shake on it then!" Ignoring him, Fang Wu left the room. Soon he returned with a nondescript pouch holding 25 gold coins. Liu Zhu took it and nodded appreciatively. "Well, I'm not sure what we were talking about, but thank you. Anyways, my name is Liu Zhu, it's nice to meet you." Fang Wu ignored Liu Zhu as he left to hole himself up in his room.

Since his new 'friend' was gone, Liu Zhu explored the manor and its grounds until Elder Chu finished chatting with Fang Qi. At that point it was late in the afternoon, and Liu Zhu was more than ready to leave the city. As Elder Chu was about to leave, Liu Zhu considered taking the chance to tell Fang Qi what happened with his grandson, but in the end decided against it. As much as he would enjoy getting that prick sent into the military where he could hopefully learn some manners, it would be unfortunate if this incident caused some awkwardness between Elder Chu and Fang Qi. Anyways, he was doing whoever would have to work with Fang Wu a favor by making sure he didn't get sent into the army.

Before leaving the two retrieved their horses. They lead them off of the main street before mounting them and continuing onwards towards the Yu Clan's home, Yu Mountain.