Chapter 179: New Residence
This welcome ceremony congratulating the move was put together by Lu Tong’s son Lu Bang and a bunch of his old neighbors from north of the Luo River.
Lu Bang has a father who is an Elder, so his days are fairly comfortable, but his own abilities are limited, and he can’t stir up much fuss; he can only bide his time waiting for Lu Tong to step down and see if he can inherit his position as Elder. But this sort of thing is very unreliable; without someone backing him up, it’s hard to say he won’t get squeezed out by someone else’s family. In that case, he’d have no choice but to follow in his second uncle’s footsteps and slink off to south of the Luo River.
Because of the conflict between his father and second uncle, Lu Bang hadn’t associated with his younger cousin’s family for many years. When Lu Xin returned to the capital, he did think about whether to go over for a visit to ease relations, but Lu Tong firmly stopped him. Lu Tong said that even if they were to associate, his nephew had to come pay respects to him, the elder uncle, first. Lu Bang didn’t dare go against his father, so he temporarily set the idea aside.
Who would have thought that after Lu Xin and his son returned to the capital, in less than half a year they were making waves: first Lu Xin became the Lu Clan’s ninth Grandmaster, and right after, Lu Yun won the championship in the clan’s exam, becoming the first disciple from south of the Luo River to participate in the Grand Competition. At this point, Lu Bang couldn’t sit still and once again tried to persuade Lu Tong.
But at that time, the Elder Council was just about to use Lu Xin as a target to deal with the Clan Leader. Lu Tong felt that Lu Xin wouldn’t last much longer before running into trouble and was afraid of getting implicated, so he still firmly refused.
In the end, they didn’t wait for Lu Xin to meet his downfall but instead waited for Lu Yun to be taken as a disciple by the Vice Sect Master; at this point even Lu Tong couldn’t sit still. That day when he returned from the Small Bamboo Forest, he sighed long and hard, not knowing how the house’s Feng Shui had all shifted to the second brother’s door?
With a Heavenly Rank Grandmaster as this protective talisman, who could touch his own grandnephew? It seemed not only that his own son couldn’t compare to Lu Xiang’s son, but even the next generation of grandsons was even more incomparable.
By this time Lu Tong had already seen clearly that the rise of Lu Xin and his son was unstoppable; if he could repair relations with his younger brother’s family, his descendants would surely receive more protection in the future. But it was he who had insisted on splitting the family back then, forcing Lu Xiang’s family to south of the Luo River, and later his sister-in-law had passed away in depression, which was probably greatly related to this matter. Lu Tong really couldn’t bring himself to swallow his pride, nor did he have the courage to step through his younger brother’s door.
Over this past month or more, father and son had been racking their brains at home every day on how to repair relations with Lu Xiang’s family without losing face for their own; just as father and son were dragging their feet on this, Lu Xin surprisingly became a Steward in the clan! When Lu Tong saw this result, he was completely undone; he had thought with the Elder Council blocking it, Lu Xin definitely couldn’t become this Steward. Otherwise, he would have long swallowed his pride and gone to make up with Lu Xiang.
Who knew Lu Xin would actually become one? If Lu Tong went now, the flavor would be completely different. In others’ eyes, he would become a sycophant currying favor with the powerful! And most critically, what would the Great Elder think? Would he see him as an opportunist leaning toward the Clan Leader?
This left Lu Tong so worried that he couldn’t sleep all night long. But Lu Bang could no longer hold back; he said to Lu Tong that his second uncle’s family was moving back to north of the Luo River, and if they didn’t take this chance of their move to meet face-to-face, it would be even more awkward later. If Father had concerns and didn’t want to step forward, he would go! No matter how impersonal the Great Elder was, he couldn’t stop a nephew from associating with his uncle, right?
Lu Tong felt this made sense, so he had Lu Bang contact a group of neighbors to properly organize a housewarming for Lu Xiang’s family. Those neighbors had long had the same idea, and as soon as Lu Bang mentioned it, both sides hit it off immediately. That’s how today’s scene came about.
The crowd welcomed Lu Xiang’s family off the carriage, then escorted them into the new residence prepared for them in the clan. This house covered about ten mu of land, which was already quite large in the land-scarce Luojing City. Within the Lu Clan, it was second only to the residences of the Clan Leader and Great Elder, and comparable in size to those of several Stewards.
The entire house was divided into front yard and backyard; the front yard was for banquets and receiving guests, while the backyard was the family’s residence. Separating the front and back yards was a garden of three or four mu, with rockeries, courtyards, and chrysanthemums in splendid bloom—a fine home landscape. The guests sat briefly in the front yard, then tactfully took their leave; since they had just moved into the new residence and things weren’t settled yet, they naturally couldn’t disturb too much. Even if they wanted the hosts to treat them to a meal, they had to wait a few days until they were settled.
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After Lu Bang and the others left Lu Xin’s home, everyone was in high spirits. Several elders laughed to Lu Bang: “Your second uncle is soft-hearted after all; he didn’t refuse to recognize you as his nephew, did he?”
“Today is a special day, and with so many people around,” Lu Bang also breathed a big sigh of relief, but put on a bitter face and said: “I’ll go again later; it won’t count unless he doesn’t chase me out then.”
“That’s true; you can’t get angry on moving day—you really schemed well, kid.” The neighbors happily started joking around. Since even Lu Xiang could restore relations with Lu Bang, and they had no conflict with Lu Xiang, resuming contact would definitely be no problem.
As they were talking, they saw Lu Ren walking toward them from the street corner. Among the crowd of neighbors, there happened to be the one he had called to Yue Xian Lou that day, who pointed at Lu Ren and cursed loudly: “You still dare to show your face? You screwed us over badly that day, you know?” Seeing Lu Ren pretend not to know him and try to pass by, the man angrily reached out to grab his collar: “I’m talking to you—stop!”
Who knew this sure grab of his would miss completely; he didn’t even touch Lu Ren’s clothes and could only watch him walk past.
“Stop right there and pay back the money!” That clan member jumped up and cursed like he’d seen a ghost, and even wanted to chase after him. Lu Bang and the others nearby hurriedly held him back and said: “Don’t get worked up over nothing; even if you catch him, what then—can you search money out of him?”
“Exactly; anyway, that meal ended up in your stomachs, so just consider it spent and stay away from him from now on.” The clan members held back that man and watched Lu Ren enter Lu Xin’s home. The neighbors couldn’t help sneering: “This kid still won’t give up! The Third Steward won’t use anyone impossible like him!”
“Naturally.” The man laughed with relief: “This Lu Ren is just a jinx; he finally got an assignment, but Lu Jian fell, and the one who replaced him is someone he deeply offended!” Lu Ren had spouted off wildly at the banquet when Lu Xin returned to the capital, only to slip on a watermelon rind and fall headfirst into vomit, which had long become a laughingstock.
“Sigh, so a person has to watch their mouth no matter when; who knows when the other side will turn things around?” Lu Bang seemed to be talking about Lu Ren, but also about himself, drawing nods from the crowd.
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After Lu Yun’s family settled in the backyard, Madam Lu plunged straight into the Buddhist hall, leaving Lu Xiang dumbfounded. The old man had thought his daughter-in-law was still resentful about Lu Xin falling on hard times and leaving the capital back then. But now Lu Xin had taken back everything he’d lost and gained even more, yet his daughter-in-law showed not a hint of smile, paid no attention to the new residence, and still spent her days with the Buddhist hall.
This made Lu Xiang realize there must be some other major conflict between his son and daughter-in-law. So he asked Lu Yun and Lu Ying, but the brother and sister didn’t dare tell the truth, only saying they didn’t know about their parents’ matters. Lu Ying quickly changed the subject, acting spoiled: “Grandfather, you haven’t even glanced at the new home I worked so hard to decorate!”
“Alright, alright. Let’s go take a look at little Ying’s handiwork.” Lu Xiang didn’t know if it was because he was old and easy to fool or if he’d seen through and didn’t want to meddle, but he stopped pressing the matter. Accompanied by Lu Yun and Lu Ying, he started strolling around the new residence.
With so many people before, the old master hadn’t looked closely at the new residence; now that things were quiet, as he wandered around, emotion and shock came one after another. This place was much larger and more luxurious than their old residence in south of the Luo River!
