"Who asked you about the rent!" the young man bellowed in fury. "Why would I ask you about the rent? What use do I have for renting your rundown building?"
The waiter was evidently terrified by the young man's imposing manner, his words stumbling and stuttering. "G-Guest, you didn't ask clearly. I... I didn't know you couldn't afford it."
"You!"
The young man's commotion was far too ostentatious, quickly drawing the attention of the surrounding diners.
"Isn't that Li Zhuo, the youngest grandson of the Left Prime Minister?"
"He's the Li Zhuo known as one of the Four Young Masters of the Imperial City! Word has it the Left Prime Minister dotes on this youngest grandson of his in particular."
"Good heavens, isn't the fellow matching wealth against Li Zhuo going to suffer terribly?"
"You can say that again! Who in the Imperial City dares to steal Li Zhuo's thunder?"
"And that waiter—he's probably in for trouble too."
Lu Yang was not very familiar with prices in the Imperial City, so he asked curiously from the side, "Is the rent for Tianxiang Restaurant very expensive? Why does it look like he can't afford it?"
Beside him, Meng Jingzhou yawned lazily. "He's just a pauper, understandable. Nothing more than puffing himself up to look rich, trying to save face in front of his female companion. If he tightens his belt, he can scrape together enough for a pot of wine and a few side dishes, but this rent? Even if he snapped his waist in half, he wouldn't be able to pay it. Waiter, I'll pay a year's rent on behalf of your Tianxiang Restaurant!"
Hearing this, the waiter was overjoyed and rushed over to Meng Jingzhou's table to attend to him, rubbing his shoulders and pounding his legs. "Thank you, honored guest!"
Li Zhuo's face flushed red and pale by turns. He was a man who cared deeply about saving face and acted ostentatiously; he had never suffered a setback here before.
He even felt that the patrons who recognized him—who previously looked upon him with awe—now looked at him with very different eyes.
He quickly calculated how many spirit stones he could muster. "What's a single year of rent? I'll pay two years for Tianxiang Restaurant!"
The waiter was thrilled and scurried over to Li Zhuo's side, rubbing shoulders and pounding legs with practiced ease.
"Three years," Meng Jingzhou said languidly without even lifting an eyelid. To him, this was petty cash.
The waiter immediately defected back to Meng Jingzhou's side.
"Three and a half—four years!" Li Zhuo genuinely dreaded parting with so many spirit stones, but at the thought that saying half a year would diminish his momentum, he tacked on another half year.
"Five years, plus put everyone's tab today on my bill," Meng Jingzhou said offhandedly. He was eating happily today and would spend his money however he pleased.
The waiter dashed back and forth, wishing he could manifest an avatar to massage both benefactors simultaneously.
Li Zhuo was so furious he wanted to curse out loud. Where on earth did this nouveau riche come from? Once this was over and he found out the man's identity, he wouldn't let him complete a single deal in the Imperial City!
"Six years!"
He narrowed his eyes, glaring at Meng Jingzhou's detestable face. "Wait. I can produce this many spirit stones, but can you?"
"Since you just shouted five years, you need to prove you actually have that many spirit stones!"
Meng Jingzhou let out a soft laugh. "Never mind five years of rent, I could produce six years. I just can't be bothered to argue with you."
"You said it!" Li Zhuo refused to believe the other man could produce so many spirit stones. Coughing up that much all at once put immense pressure even on him.
"Go summon someone from the Meng Family to collect the rent!" Li Zhuo commanded his guard. Tianxiang Restaurant was Meng Family property. At the same time, he sent the guard home to fetch spirit stones, as he did not have that much on hand.
Before long, Chief Steward Xu You arrived. In the past, he had always been the one to collect rent from Tianxiang Restaurant.
With an aching heart, Li Zhuo pulled out a storage ring and handed it to Xu You. This was six years' worth of rent scraped together from all his resources; if his father and grandfather found out about his antics today, they would probably fly into a towering rage.
No matter. As long as he could vent this pent-up fury right now, it was worth it.
Xu You inspected the storage ring with his divine sense. It was indeed six years' rent.
"Now it's your turn!" Li Zhuo glared fixedly at Meng Jingzhou. "Let me see how you're going to cough up six years' rent!"
Meng Jingzhou turned his head and held out a hand to Xu You. "Uncle Xu, give me some spirit stones."
Xu You handed the storage ring he had just received to Meng Jingzhou. Although Meng Jingzhou was in disguise, this was the exact look he had worn when entering the Imperial City, and Xu You had already seen it.
"Look, six years' rent."
"You're from the Meng Family?!" Li Zhuo realized the truth, unable to suppress his fury any longer. He felt like a clown who had been played for a fool.
"You're damn right I played you! Since when do you get to act righteous while driving away customers?" Meng Jingzhou dropped the act completely and peeled off his mask.
At this sight, Li Zhuo felt as if doused with a bucket of ice water. The rage on the verge of erupting vanished completely. He stood dazed on the spot, then pointed a trembling finger at Meng Jingzhou, stammering, "Y-You're Meng Jingzhou?!"
How did this guy come back!
Why didn't anyone inform him?
Or was he the very first person to find out Meng Jingzhou had returned?!
"Yo, Li Zhuo, you've grown bold, haven't you? Daring to call this young master by his full name?" Meng Jingzhou gave a sinister grin, twisting his neck and rolling his wrists until they cracked loudly. He took step after step toward Li Zhuo. So terrified was Li Zhuo that he didn't even care about the glamorous female companion in his arms, stumbling backward again and again.
The diners watching the spectacle had never imagined that the person daring to engage in a battle of wealth with Li Zhuo would actually be Meng Jingzhou.
"The Eldest Young Master of the Meng Family is back!" Someone who knew what this signified shuddered inwardly. The Imperial City was not likely to know peace in the coming days.
"Who is the Eldest Young Master of the Meng Family?" asked someone unfamiliar with the Imperial City.
"Meng Jingzhou, the Eldest Young Master of the Meng Family! Haven't you heard of him? The one who joined the Dao Seeking Sect."
"Then between him and the Four Young Masters of the Imperial City, who's more formidable?"
"The Four Young Masters aren't worth a fart! Back when Meng Jingzhou hadn't left the Imperial City, how would those four dare show their faces? This lord is a ruthless character who even dared to beat the young prince!"
"I heard Li Zhuo was once taught a lesson. Was it this Meng Jingzhou who did it?"
"That's right, him!"
"Then who's the person sitting next to Eldest Young Master Meng?"
"No idea."
Li Zhuo's face was deathly pale, scared out of his wits by Meng Jingzhou. He forced a smile. "Young Master Meng, what are you saying? It's just that having not seen you for so long, I was momentarily too overwhelmed with excitement and forgot my manners."
"Old Lu, what do you think? Now you know my status in the Imperial City, right?" Meng Jingzhou bragged triumphantly. This was a rule he had set back then: whenever Li Zhuo and the others saw him, they had to address him as 'Young Master'.
Lu Yang rolled his eyes, too lazy to acknowledge him. What was the big deal? Back at the Dao Seeking Sect, he was even acting as Sect Master.
"'Old Lu'... He's Lu Yang!" Someone who recognized Meng Jingzhou's identity and was thoroughly versed in the *Legend of the Dao Seeking Sect* easily guessed Lu Yang's identity, crying out in shock.
In terms of fame alone, Lu Yang was even more renowned than the Left Prime Minister.
People might not know the Left Prime Minister's name or what he had done, but they certainly knew about Lu Yang's deeds.
"That disciple of Daoist Buyu, the next Sect Master of the Dao Seeking Sect, Lu Yang?!"
"That's him! Who else dares to go by the name Lu Yang these days!"
"Why did both of them come to the Imperial City?!"
Chapter 908