Urban Martial Saint

The people from the South and North Xingyi Gate were called over, and after their taste preferences were tallied, Li Lianshan summoned chefs from four cuisine styles to start cooking for everyone.

Of course, the folks from the Northern Xingyi School mainly stuck to Northern cuisine. Having been in Shenchuan City for so long without much Northern food, they struggled with the Southern cuisine they had to eat every day. As soon as the dishes hit the pan and the familiar scent of Northern cuisine wafted through the air, these people couldn’t help but salivate uncontrollably, their faces filled with anticipation.

Even Senior Du Yongwu closed his eyes slightly, stroked his beard, and said, ”Ah, finally, I smell the taste of home again!”

Ye Qing laughed and said, ”Senior Du, if you want to eat, you can come here in the future and just order them to cook for you!”

Seeing that Ye Qing was courteous to Du Yongwu, Li Lianshan didn’t hesitate and added, ”That’s right, feel free to come over. In a bit, I’ll go down and let them know. As long as you’re here, you can eat whatever you want, it’s on me.”

”How could that be alright?” Du Yongwu quickly waved his hands and said, ”This is a hotel, after all. There’s no such thing as a free meal!”

Li Lianshan laughed heartily and said, ”Old gentleman, you don’t need to worry about that. My hotel really doesn’t make money from food. Just go ahead and eat.”

”The food doesn’t make money?” Du Yongwu exclaimed, ”Then... what does make money in this hotel?”

Li Lianshan smiled again. He had opened this restaurant primarily intending to create a private club to gather the wealthy. Wherever the rich congregated, it was especially easy to make money. Hence, his hotel was extremely lavishly decorated. To think of recouping the investment through the dishes was simply out of the question. What he truly wanted were opportunities for lucrative partnerships with these wealthy patrons!

Of course, this was something beyond Du Yongwu’s comprehension. After all, Du Yongwu had spent most of his life farming in the countryside, far from the complexity of such business concerns.

The chefs were quite swift. Ten minutes later, the first batch of dishes was served. At Li Lianshan’s invitation, everyone sat down at several tables to start the meal properly.

It goes without saying that Li Lianshan had invested a lot of effort in this restaurant. Not only had he hired chefs from various culinary schools, but more importantly, these chefs were highly skilled; they could bring out the authentic flavors in each dish, leaving everyone thoroughly enjoying the meal. Even Du Yongwu repeatedly expressed his admiration, saying that the Northern cuisine they were eating was far better than what they had had previously.

Even though the people from the Northern Xingyi School often ate Northern food, what they had been eating before paled in comparison to the dishes prepared by Li Lianshan’s chefs, which amazed everyone with their culinary skills.

As for the Southern cuisine, it was even more authentic. Even those from the Northern Xingyi School who had been unaccustomed to Southern food began to dig in. It wasn’t that they didn’t eat Southern cuisine; the key was how it was prepared. The Southern dishes made by those before must not have been up to the mark, hence their reluctance to indulge.

The meal lasted over three hours, from daylight to dusk, and after three rounds of drinks, everyone’s spirits were significantly lifted. The people from the South and North Xingyi Gate had now become one family, slinging arms over each other’s shoulders, and it seemed that any minor rifts from previous sparring had been completely dissolved.

This was exactly the scene that Ye Qing and Du Tianyi wanted to see, and they were both very pleased. After all, the Southern Xingyi School was left by Tie Yongwen, and regardless of what Tie Weihua had done to them, they had to help support the Southern Xingyi School. Now, with the union of the South and North Xingyi Gate, the strength of the Southern Xingyi School was boosted, ensuring that it would have enough power to deal with anyone looking to challenge them.

The meal was supposed to continue a bit longer, but just when everyone was in high spirits, a minion hurriedly ran in from outside and whispered a few words into Li Lianshan’s ear.

”Dammit, who is so bold!” Li Lianshan immediately slammed the table and stood up, his face full of rage.

The dining crowd immediately turned to look, especially Ye Qing, who frowned slightly, sensing that something was amiss. Although Li Lianshan was impulsive in his actions, he wouldn’t lose his temper unless he was pushed too far. Especially on an evening like this, there should be no reason for him to get angry unless something serious happened.

”Old Li, what happened?” asked Zhao Chengshuang, who was still quite sober as he hadn’t drunk much. Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t like to drink, but Huo Pingping was keeping an eye on him, so he didn’t dare to drink too much.

Seeing everyone’s attention on him, Li Lianshan quickly waved his hands and said, ”It’s nothing, nothing. There’s a small situation downstairs. You keep eating, just enjoy your meal. I’ll go down and take a look—it’s nothing!”

After assuaging everyone, Li Lianshan immediately followed the minion and left. Ye Qing, feeling uneasy, also followed them downstairs. Seeing Ye Qing leaving, Black Bear and the others naturally didn’t stay either and followed suit.

In the hall downstairs, it was chaos incarnate, with several male servers bloodied and lying on the ground, tables overturned, and dishes, utensils, and food strewn everywhere. In the middle of the hall stood a dozen men in black, their faces arrogant and brazen.

”Didn’t I already say last time? This hotel is not allowed to open for business!” The man at the forefront, who had long hair, was holding a broken bottle and glare at the waitstaff downstairs, said, ”Who allowed you to open? Huh? Who gave you the permission to open?”

This man’s attitude was extremely arrogant; he didn’t take anyone there seriously at all. And these waitstaff, who had come to work here, seeing the terrible state of a few of their colleagues on the ground, of course, also dared not say anything.

Li Lianshan came downstairs, saw the situation here, and without another word, he picked up a bottle from the side and headed straight for the man.

The man, with his back to Li Lianshan, had no idea someone was coming up behind him, still holding the bottle and cursing arrogantly. Before he knew it, Li Lianshan had reached him from behind, grabbed his long hair with one hand, and smashed the bottle on his head.

The bottle shattered with a loud crack, and the man fell to the ground, his head bleeding profusely; he was seriously injured.

Li Lianshan’s action was so sudden that the man’s companions were stunned, not knowing what to do. Without hesitation, Li Lianshan picked up another bottle and smashed it on the man’s head just like before.

This startled everyone once again. But before they could recover, Li Lianshan had already picked up the third bottle and was about to smash it on the man’s head again. His manner was such that he seemed to be aiming for the man’s life, leaving everyone around in shock.

Fortunately, Ye Qing came over in time and stopped Li Lianshan, saying, ”Alright, stop hitting him. If you continue, it might lead to death!”

Li Lianshan then exhaled, threw the bottle aside, and said indignantly, ”Damn it, each of these tables of mine cost over three thousand. These dishes and stuff, a few hundred each, all good quality. And this main door, a single pane of glass costs over eight thousand, just look at how many he has smashed. Bastard, he’s caused damage of seventy or eighty thousand to me, smashing him with a few bottles is nothing!”

”Don’t be angry, don’t be angry,” Ye Qing said, having Black Bear pull Li Lianshan aside, and then turned his head to look at the group of men, saying, ”What’s going on? What exactly happened?”

Ye Qing was no fool. He knew that with Li Lianshan’s current strength and status in Shenchuan City, no one would be foolish enough to come and smash up his place. Since these people dared to come here, it must mean they have someone strong backing them. And that support could very well be Wang Tian’an’s people from the Western Province. Therefore, Ye Qing didn’t dare to underestimate these hooligans, but instead, he wondered what kind of trick Wang Tian’an was up to!

The hooligans had already been dumbfounded by Li Lianshan’s actions just now, and upon hearing Ye Qing’s words, they just regained their senses. Several men immediately helped the beaten man up, while about a dozen more surrounded Ye Qing and Li Lianshan in the middle.

”Are you the owner of this restaurant?” one of the men asked Ye Qing with a glare.

”I guess so,” Ye Qing replied, since he did have shares here, so he really was an owner.

”That’s right then!” The man waved his hand and commanded, ”Hit him!”

Several men nearby immediately charged towards Ye Qing; Ye Qing was speechless at their audacity. Without looking at the situation, they called for assault? Without fighting back, he just stepped back twice, and Black Bear Mad Dog Hou San Chen Jun, and others had already rushed up and knocked the men down to the ground in no time.

These hooligans’ eyes widened in disbelief, never in their dreams did they imagine that these people in front of them were so powerful. Being pinned down, several of them were dumbstruck. The man who had spoken earlier urgently said, ”You... you dare to hit us, let me tell you, we are from Snake brother of the West Suburb!”

”Snake? Do you know this Snake brother?” Ye Qing turned to look at Li Lianshan.

”Know my ass. He’s just a small-time hooligan with three or four dozen underlings, making a living at West Suburb. He’s nothing special!” Li Lianshan said contemptuously.

The man who had been speaking suddenly became anxious and glared, ”How dare you talk about Snake brother like that, believe it or not, he’ll send someone to chop you to death!”

”Chop me to death?” Li Lianshan chuckled, saying, ”Sure, let him come quickly and chop me to death. If he’s late, I might go and chop him to death myself!”

Snake brother’s name was quite effective in the West Suburb area, but unfortunately for Ye Qing and Li Lianshan, he counted for nothing. Hearing this, the few hooligans were stunned.

”Hey, kids, what exactly brought you here to stir up trouble?” Da Fei couldn’t help but bend down, looked at one of them, and smiled, ”Do you even know who owns this hotel?”